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McGill, News

Hundreds join walkout for fossil fuel divestment

by Pascal Hogue on

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Gathered around the snowy steps of the McGill Community Square on Nov. 12, over 200 students and faculty took part in a walkout calling for the university to divest from fossil fuels. The protest was co-organized by Divest McGill, Greenpeace McGill, and Climate Justice Action McGill (C-JAM).

Protestors chanted and cheered as speakers called on McGill’s Committee to Advise on Matters of Social Responsibility (CAMSR) to support their demand that the university divests from the top 200 largest fossil fuel companies. CAMSR, who was meeting simultaneously in the James Administration Building adjacent to the Square, was finalizing recommendations on divestment to be approved by the Board of Governors on Dec. 5. Divest McGill organizers hoped that the protest would be loud enough to be heard from inside the building. 

Speaker Dr. Jen Gobby, PhD ‘16, returned her bachelor’s diploma in disapproval of McGill’s refusal to divest from fossil fuels. She expressed her disappointment with the university’s immutability on the issue. 

“It’s 2019 […] and still, this institution is invested, as in financially benefiting, from an industry that is killing people, ravaging ecosystems and threatening the future of its student body,” Gobby said. “McGill, […] by continuing to invest in fossil fuels, is strengthening the resilience of an energy system that needs to die.”

Gobby, who recently finished her PhD at McGill in economics in the Anthropocene program, also highlighted the socio-economic consequences of climate change.

“We know that climate change is exacerbating existing social inequality and injustice,” Gobby said. “That people already marginalized by systemic racism, sexism, poverty, and colonialism are bearing the worst of the impacts, first and hardest.”

Concordia student Emily Carson-Apstein, who spearheaded Concordia’s successful divestment campaign as the external sustainability coordinator for Sustainable Concordia, encouraged protestors to remain resilient and criticized both universities’ administration for their inaction to negotiate greener investments.

“I know that this is not a financial movement, it is a social one,” Carson-Apstein said. “Oil is holding up the capitalist colonial history of Canada. They can talk about percentages, and [socially responsible investing] and long-term goals, and we kept saying ‘sure, but there are kids out there who don’t have clean water’.”

Student organizer Laura Mackay, U4 Environment, stressed that McGill has historical precedents for divestment campaigns. She noted the university’s cessation of business ties with companies in South Africa’s apartheid regime in 1985 and divestment from the tobacco industry in 2007. 

“Now, in 2019, we’re demanding that the university follows its own precedent and divests from another injurious industry,” Mackay said.

Professor Gregory Mikkelson, professor of environment and philosophy and president-elect of the McGill Association of University Teachers, has been part of the divestment campaign since it began in 2012. He congratulated protestors on their tenacity, despite the meager progress the campaign has achieved in the past seven years.

“Our bosses failed in their gambit to wait until a few troublemakers graduated,” Mikkelson said. “Those troublemakers passed on their arguments, their stories, their passion and the professors they roused from this ivory cloister.” 

Despite the frigid temperature, most participants remained till the end of the protest, enthusiastically relaying cheers. For Katie Ross, U3 Science and member of Greenpeace McGill, the turnout demonstrated students’ eagerness for change.

“I think it sends the message that were a unified force,” Ross said. “[We are] not going to stop […] until we reach divestment from fossil fuels.” 

Student Life, The Tribune Explains

Tribune Explains: How to dispose effectively

by Alaana Kumar on

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The phrase “reduce, reuse, and recycle” is a staple of many elementary school classrooms. Students are often told to recycle their paper and plastic items, unaware that if they do so incorrectly, the whole batch of recycling can end up in a landfill. With the consequences of climate change becoming increasingly severe, the City of Montreal hopes to enforce proper garbage and recycling practices. By recycling correctly, residents can aid in reducing greenhouse gas emissions by decreasing energy consumption. For those confused about the correct way to go about trash day, The McGill Tribune has a guide to proper waste management. 

What should I know for trash day? 

The City of Montreal strives for clean streets, but on a windy day, your trash may end up strewn across the curb. To prevent this, the city recommends placing all garbage in either a 65 x 90 centimetre trash bag that weighs no more than 25 kilogrammes and has no holes, or in a tightly closed regulation garbage can. Montreal garbage pick-up days differ depending on where you live, so make sure to follow your pick-up schedule. 

What can I recycle?

Montreal, unlike some cities, makes recycling quick and easy. Paper, cardboard, glass, metal, and plastic are all recyclable. Some items commonly mistaken as recyclable include pizza boxes, take-out containers, meat trays, styrofoam, photos, rubber, No. 6 plastic, and porcelain. The city asks that residents prepare their items for recycling carefully: Though they do not require you to sort these items, they do ask that you thoroughly rinse cans and jars to prevent mould, smells, and animals from invading the bins. To find out dates and times for recycling in any Montreal borough, students can go to Info-collectes and enter their postal code. Additionally, many stores, including Provigo, offer cash back for glass bottles or other recyclable items in addition to regular recycling pick-up. The program, called Consignation in Quebec, creates a win-win situation by ensuring that items will be recycled correctly while providing you with a little extra grocery money. 

What should I know about composting? 

In recent years, Montreal has begun taking steps to turn food scraps into compost. Composting food scraps saves water, helps soil hold moisture, and reduces runoff water. Recycling organic resources also helps conserve landfill space. This year, residential buildings in the northeast sector of the Côte-des-Neiges neighbourhood received food-waste collection bins. If you live in this area, make sure to only compost food scraps and biodegradable items like houseplants and soil. Students outside of this area looking to shop more sustainably can purchase compostable items to help ease the strain on the city’s landfills. Some paper food packages, dishes, paper towels, and tablecloths are also compostable and can make for better buys. Several large- and small-scale Montreal businesses are joining the fight by committing to using reusable serving materials and have managed to eliminate vast amounts of non-compostable and non-recyclable waste. McGill has also joined the movement with biodegradable materials and composting stations in all dining halls, as well as ending the sale of plastic water bottles in vending machines. 

What types of waste need special disposal? 

Some hazardous waste requires special attention to be properly disposed of. Paint, batteries, aerosol cans, medication, compact fluorescent bulbs, and other chemical and electronic products are not safe to toss in the garbage bin. Luckily, Montreal has the perfect solution, with seven ecocentres located around the city. These centres offer free access with just a government ID and proof of residence and help ensure Montreal residents are doing all they can to reduce waste, alleviate the stress on our landfills, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. 

Art, Arts & Entertainment, Automotive

Breaking into the art scene with Norval Morriseau

by Vanessa Barron on

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McGill’s Department of Art History and Communication Studies welcomed Carmen Robertson to present her research on the artist Norval Morrisseau on Nov. 14. The event was the latest in a series of lectures hosted by the department which aim to provide opportunities for discussion on current research in the field of art history. 

Robertson, a Scottish-Lakota professor of art history at Carleton University, took questions on her archival research on Morrisseau’s work. Her work examines Morriseau’s relationship with art dealers during the 1960s, when he first emerged into the Canadian and international art scene. 

Robertson sees Morrisseau as the grandfather of contemporary Indigenous art. He initially rose to prominence in Toronto and Montreal in the 1960s. Born in 1931, the Anishinaabe artist grew up in the Sand Point reserve in Ontario, learning the stories and traditions of his people from his grandfather—many of which would become the subjects of his paintings. 

Curated by Jack Pollack, Morrisseau’s first gallery exhibit took place in Toronto in 1962. Before this landmark exhibit, most Indigenous artwork shown in Canadian galleries was by Inuit artists. However, Morrisseau’s first show was such a success that all of the paintings sold on the first day it was open. Later in the decade, Montreal’s Expo 67 commissioned a mural from him, and Morrisseau continued to gain international recognition with the help of art dealer Herbert T. Schwarz.

Robertson’s ongoing research on this period started with a donation from the archival sources of the Art Gallery of Ontario. She did, however, note that while she relies on these sources for her research, this archival approach is problematic for studying Indigenous art. Archives overrepresent written records, while much of Indigenous cultures, histories, and traditional knowledge are passed down orally. 

“[Morrisseau’s] life and art demand engagement outside of conventional art discourse,” Robertson said.

He learned many stories and traditional knowledge from his grandfather, but was also forced to attend residential school at a young age. As opposed to the extensive archives of traditional western painters, much of Morrisseau’s life, influences, and education is missing from the writings and materials in an archive. 

“Methods of research require academic unlearning in order to make space for Indigeous ways of being and knowing,” Robertson noted. “Morrisseau’s art did not follow traditional trajectories.” 

Robertson’s research draws on writings from Pollock and Schwarz that documented Morrisseau’s entrance into the gallery scene. By analyzing the relationship between the artist and the dealers, she found benefits and problems alike associated with the negotiation between the two parties. While Schwarz and Pollock brought Morrisseau’s art to a broader audience, they were exploitative and verbally abusive toward him. Robertson concluded her talk by addressing the need for Morrisseau’s unmediated voice to be preserved—the archive only shows the artist from the problematic perspective of non-Native art collectors, not from the artist’s own experiences.

The lecture attracted an audience of both McGill students and members of the public.  McGill art history professor Angela Vanhaelen organized the lecture series and invited Robertson to share her traditional archival perspective on a contemporary Indigenous artist—an uncommon approach within the Canadian art world.

“It’s always interesting to hear about [researchers’] processes and their work in progress, because if they read something they’ve already [finished], it’s not quite as open-ended and you can’t ask as many questions,” Vanhaelen said. 

The department will continue its lecture series with Finnish media scholar Susanna Paasonen on January 23.

McGill, News

Deputy Provost compels McGill Daily to publish letter about Zionism

by Kyle Dewsnap, Katia Innes, & Gabe Nisker on

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The McGill Administration recently demanded that The McGill Daily publish a letter to the editor that critiqued the publication’s definition of Zionism. The letter, written by two Jewish law students, argued that the Daily had defined Zionism in a way that was both inaccurate and malicious. Michael Aarenau, 3L Law and one of the letter’s authors, decided to contact Deputy Provost (Student Life & Learning) Fabrice Labeau after the Daily ignored five attempts at submitting the letter.

“[It is] important to note that in order to reject [the letter], they would have had to actually formally acknowledge it, which they never did because they repeatedly ignored it,” Aarenau wrote in a message to The McGill Tribune. “They finally wrote [to] us […] on Oct. 25 after the provost threatened action against them.”

Josh Shapiro, 3L Law, asked Labeau to compel the Daily to publish his and Aarenau’s letter on Oct. 7. 

“[The Daily] has effectively refused to publish our piece,” Shapiro wrote in an email to the Provost. “We believe that we are being ignored due to the content of our letter, in violation of […] the Memorandum of Agreement [(MOA)] between McGill and the Daily.” 

The Daily Publication Society (DPS), which manages both the Daily and Le Délit, maintains a MOA with McGill University that allows the two papers to operate on campus. Section 10.2 of the document compels the DPS to publish letters sent by students, even if the letter does not conform with the opinions of the editorial team. After Shapiro sent his email, Labeau met with the chair of the DPS; soon after, the Daily reached out to Shapiro with an offer to publish the letter on Nov. 4. 

“On Oct. 22, [the Provost] wrote [to] us [and] we were pleased with his actions,” Shapiro wrote in a message to the Tribune. “[The letter] was not edited. That being said […], the manner in which they published the letter [was undesirable].”

Aarenau took issue with the format in which the letter was published, and the letter was prefaced by a response from the Daily’s editorial board.

“They wrote a response […] which mischaracterized our arguments, defamed our characters, engaged in tokenism, and outright encouraged their readers not to read our letter, apologizing for its existence!” Aarenau wrote.

In print, Aarenau’s letter was opposite a copy of the Daily’s response which was printed in larger font; the letter itself is also hidden from the publication’s home page on their website. The response claims that Labeau had threatened to enter into arbitration with the DPS for breaking their MOA, which would have the potential to jeopardize the future of both publications.

The response also cites the DPS’s Letters Policy, which guides the Daily and Le Délit in publishing letters from students. The policy states that editors have the authority to reject letters whose content is racially or ethnically prejudiced. According to a representative from Independent Jewish Voices (IJV) McGill, the Daily’s response to the letter is justified.

“The Daily was in no way being antisemitic in their initial definition of Zionism nor in their response to the letter,” the IJV McGill representative wrote in an email to the Tribune. “I do agree [with the Daily] that the letter is harmful in the way that it [omits] to the point of gaslighting the systematic oppression and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians crucial to the Zionist project.”

The reprsentative also spoke on how IJV McGill and McGill Students in Solidary for Palestinian Human Rights (SPHR) both contributed to editing the Daily’s response.

“A member of IJV McGill told The McGill Daily to delete a paragraph that IJV members found lacked nuance in its description of Zionism,” the representative wrote. “They felt [that] it was important to do this because […] some members of IJV McGill [were] concerned that the Daily’s response could provide more fodder for claims that criticism of Israel and anti-Zionism are antisemitic, inspiring backlash for IJV and SPHR and threatening their work on campus.”

Aarenau remains unsatisfied with the Daily’s response and conduct with regards to his letter.

“I don’t know in what universe we allow people to shout over a minority group like this, where they try to [say] to Jews: […] ‘Actually, you’re wrong about what the movement for your own liberation is, let us educate you,” Aarenau wrote. “It’s blasphemous.”

Neither Labeau nor a member of the DPS responded to a request for comment.

Science & Technology, Student Research

The cognitive mechanisms behind depression

by Evan Kashton on

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One in five Canadians will experience some form of mental illness in a given year. By the age of 40, 50 per cent of the population will have had a mental illness as the result of a complex interaction between personality, biological, and environmental factors.

Bipolar disorder has a clear, established relationship with genetics. Though this is less true for Major Depressive Disorder, there is still a clear biological component. Specifically, scientists have linked depression to the hippocampus, a structure in the brain responsible for creating and storing memories. Stress causes this region to become smaller and also results in hyperactivity in the amygdala, a region associated with emotion. 

Researchers like Pascale Bockelmann, a Master’s student in the Department of Psychiatry at McGill, are still working to develop a full picture of the condition. Bockelmann believes that depression is, in part, due to a lack of cognitive flexibility, which can be described as the ability to change mindsets.

“The better your cognitive flexibility is, the faster you’ll be able to recover from depression, because a lot of the therapeutic techniques that are used to treat depression also use the same ability or skillset that relies on cognitive flexibility,” Bockelmann said.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is one such therapeutic technique for mild to moderate depression that, according to the McGill University Health Centre, focuses on restoring a healthy and productive balance to the interaction between thoughts, actions, and feelings. CBT is meant to be short-term (12-20 sessions), a departure from older psychoanalytic methods.

However, cognitive flexibility offers more than therapeutic value.

“There’s been research to show that cognitive flexibility is predictive of depression, so if you have high cognitive flexibility, you’re less likely to [develop] depression,” Bockelmann said. 

Bockelmann would also like to research how developing cognitive flexibility at a young age can be used as a preventative measure. 

“If you’re able to include tasks in elementary school education that promote cognitive flexibility, it can have a lot of benefits […] for problem solving and creativity but maybe also benefits in terms of being able to overcome mental illnesses like depression,” Bockelmann said.

She chose individuals from multicultural backgrounds—defined as being bilingual and having lived in three countries before turning 18—as the study population for her research on depression, since moving around has been linked to higher rates of depression. Bockelmann explained that this is because those who move around a lot often do not have a solid community that they are part of.

“It’s almost the cleanest group,” Bockelmann said. “There are not as many variables to consider, and you can look at culture in a more isolated way.” 

Bockelmann believes that studying multicultural populations can offer an interesting perspective in depression research.

A study that Bockelmann conducted found a possible link between multicultural background and creative problem solving, but it did not show a positive association with cognitive flexibility. She intends to replicate the study with a larger sample size to obtain clearer results.

As is the case with many scientists, Bockelmann became interested in the field of cognitive flexibility and in her study population as a result of personal experience. 

“I grew up as a third-culture kid and lived in many different countries […] and always wondered if it really made me see or think about the world differently than other people,” Bockelmann said.

As her research progresses, she may soon be able to confidently answer that question.

Sports

Instant replay holds officials to a better standard

by Adam Bell on

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The future of video review in the NFL changed at 8:59 p.m. on Jan. 20, 2019. The New Orleans Saints held the ball on the 13-yard line with 1:48 left in the game and a chance to book their ticket to the Super Bowl. Veteran quarterback Drew Brees, the all-time passing yard leader, dropped back and threw a dart toward Tommylee Lewis. Before the ball got to him, Lewis was hit by Nickell Robey-Coleman, an obvious penalty. New Orleans was awarded an automatic first down and ran out the clock to kick the game-winning field goal as time expired. Or, at least that is what should have happened. Instead, the officials did not call a foul, and the Saints were robbed of their 2019 Super Bowl dreams. This single play exposed a glaring weakness in NFL officiating: The need for video assistance in interpretive penalties.

In March 2019, instant replay began to cover pass interference on a one-year trial basis. In theory, fouls should now be called correctly as a result, but this has not proven to be the case. Fans and coaches alike are more frustrated and confused about what constitutes a “clear and obvious” foul. In fact, only 17.5 per cent of coaches’ challenges, with regards to pass interferences, have actually resulted in a decision being overturned.

This is not a problem unique to the NFL. The NBA is now allowing coaches to challenge some of the officials’ decisions once per game. Again, these challenges have a low success rate and have left coaches frustrated. While it was amusing to watch Doc Rivers lose his mind when referees upheld a ridiculous offensive foul on Lou Williams in the Nov. 6, 2019 matchup against the Bucks, he expressed an exasperation that many people are also experiencing. 

Rivers brought up an important point: Nobody, including officials, wants to be wrong. This is especially true when it comes to judgement calls. When a judgment call is checked, the officials usually stick with their original decisions because each incident could be interpreted in multiple ways.

This leaves us asking whether leagues should still offer video assistance to their officials. The short answer is yes. The problem does not lie with the technology itself, but rather the lack of transparency in its use. While the flow of the game and, sometimes, celebrations are interrupted, spectators and athletes are often left in the dark as the officials deliberate. As a result, when the decision is unexpected, the crowd, teams, and social media blow up. This is a frequent occurrence with video-assisted refereeing in European soccer as well, especially in the Premier League.

Leagues around the world could learn from television match officials in rugby, which has been a tremendous success. Viewers at home and spectators who have purchased the ref link technology can listen to the discussions between the head official and the television match official. Fans and referees get to watch the exact same replays, and there is no lengthy process because officials do not waste time overanalyzing the incident on a screen off-field, but rather observe the big screen visible to all in attendance. In effect, the public is guided through the officials’ thought process, which humanizes these often-vilified individuals and minimizes the impact of interruptions by keeping everyone engaged.

Officials are people, and people make mistakes. Professional leagues across sports can, and should, use technological assistance to their benefit. If leagues make the communication between officials available for everyone to listen to, not only will the public be kept informed, but it could also prevent officials from being berated publicly after an unpopular decision. They should embrace the technology and maximize the audience’s experience. 

Commentary, Opinion

McGill should prioritize affordable housing

by Yuecheng Huang on

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For the past two decades, housing prices in Montreal have risen consistently by around five percent per year. While students from other Canadian universities, such as the University of Toronto and the University of British Columbia, have benefited from large scale affordable housing projects sponsored by their universities, McGill students are still waiting for theirs. This past October, the Students Society of McGill University (SSMU) took its first step towards providing affordable housing by approving a motion for the creation of an Affordable Housing Committee. This newly created group, however, has been hesitant in implementing concrete measures to address housing concerns. As students of a major Canadian university, McGill students deserve better than an indecisive housing committee.

The Montreal historically known to Canadians as relatively affordable is rapidly changing. Indeed, average rent has risen approximately $250 since 2008. Even more troubling, the city’s vacancy rate has just hit its lowest point in over 15 years, meaning that merely finding a place to rent can be difficult. Faced with higher prices and fewer housing options, students looking for a place to stay during the semester are confronted with a strenuous process. Due to high demand and low vacancy rates, more than 5,000 students in Montreal found themselves unable to secure a room in a university residence in 2016. While many cities comfortably provide school residences to more than half the students within the city, Montreal struggles to accommodate even three per cent of its student population. 

“The Montreal historically known to Canadians as relatively affordable is rapidly changing. Indeed, average rent has risen approximately $250 since 2008.”

Students living off-campus also face distinct challenges. Those choosing to reside downtown must deal with some of the highest rents in the city, while those living further away from campus deal with longer commutes and decreased access to campus activities. Moreover, as a result of the inflated rent of certain neighbourhoods such as the Plateau Mont-Royal, many McGill students feel compelled to work more than 20 hours per week. Of these students, a significant portion feel overwhelmed by the necessity of juggling both working and studying. Research suggests that there is a clear link between the quality of a student’s mental health and their perceived financial stress. McGill could improve students’ mental wellbeing by providing them with accessible housing.

While the city’s government has recognized the problem of unaffordable housing and promised to build thousands of new rent-controlled living spaces by 2021, it is apparent that McGill is not following suit. The scope of the newly formed Affordable Housing Committee within SSMU pales when compared to the efforts put in by the city and by other universities. The committee aims to provide students with around 150 new units of rent-controlled apartments, though they remain unsure about how these units are to be funded, and seem to still be in the process of discussing whether temporary housing should be offered alongside apartments. 

L’Unité de travail pour l’implantation de logement étudiant (UTILE), the organization in charge of carrying out the construction of affordable units for SSMU, has estimated that a student fee of around five dollars per semester for 10 semesters would be enough to cover a significant portion of the cost of providing more affordable housing to students. Despite such a streamlined and straightforward way of acquiring funding, SSMU seems hesitant to implement this fee. 

“While the city’s government has recognized the problem of unaffordable housing and promised to build thousands of new rent-controlled living spaces by 2021, it is apparent that McGill is not following suit.”

Even in Montreal, however, McGill lags behind its peers. The Concordia Student Union’s housing project is similar to that of SSMU, but has been well under way since 2014 and is set to be completed next year, while The Université de Montréal’s newly constructed campus in Outremont comes with 225 units of affordable housing. 

In the face of increasingly expensive housing,  SSMU seems uncertain about how to react. Considering that McGill is already behind when it comes to affordable housing, the union’s Affordable Housing Committee would benefit greatly from a healthy dose of urgency. Students have been waiting long enough. 

Commentary, Opinion

Embrace the McGill lifestyle

by Jonah Fried on

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McGill is a quintessential ‘take it or leave it’ school. Far from fully supporting its students, many of the institution’s realities make it unnecessarily difficult for students to succeed. Most emblematic, academic advisors are overworked because the need to serve as many students as possible in the shortest amount of time supersedes the quality of the services being provided. As a result, students have expressed that advisors are frequently underinformed about the issues most relevant to them because advisors do not have the time to research them. Similarly, student health services are notoriously deficient and inaccessible—a complex issue that has had consequences like McGill’s decision to cut funding for services such as its Eating Disorders program. Especially where mental health services or student disabilities are concerned, McGill simply does not have enough resources to serve its extensive student body. However, despite the challenges it poses, McGill’s laissez-faire approach fosters a particularly independent student body, something which the administration recognizes and for which it affords students certain privileges.

Government budget cuts are to blame for the university’s financial troubles, but this does not absolve the administration of responsibility. Not only do students have to deal with the various academic and health service issues stemming from McGill’s funding problems, students are forced to search for off-campus housing starting in their second year. Consequently, amid dealing with their academic pursuits while simultaneously grappling with the various issues plaguing McGill services, students also have to manage their own living circumstances earlier than students at some other Canadian and American schools. Being a student at McGill requires a high tolerance for bureaucratic impediments, administrative controversy, subpar services, and the ability to make do without any handholding from educational and administrative staff. However, these kinds of issues are ones that students will be forced to face after graduation. In addition to the difficulties that McGill’s hands-off style presents, it also benefits students by building their independence and resourcefulness.

One example of the extensive independence experienced by the student population is the scale of student government at McGill. The Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) and its affiliated societies—such as the Science or Arts Undergraduate societies—comprise a complicated bureaucratic web that is as sophisticated as the administration itself. By way of representation within SSMU, students devise their own constitution, internal regulations, and policies. SSMU oversees a budget of over $3 million, a significant financial responsibility considering that SSMU is student-run. The rights that the laws of Quebec afford SSMU and other student unions in the province are relatively unique compared to other universities. Moreover, the extent to which SSMU exercises these privileges has tremendous consequences for the university as a whole, as exemplified by their recent passage of a moratorium on auxiliary funding until the Board of Governors commits to divesting from fossil fuels. 

“However, despite the challenges it poses, McGill’s laissez-faire approach fosters a particularly independent student body, something which the administration recognizes and for which it affords students certain privileges.”

The ability of student organizations to orchestrate events like the Open Air Pub (OAP), the Arts Undergraduate Society Bar (BDA) and Blues Pub also reflects the autonomy of McGill students in the same way that SSMU does. Such operations require immense logistical planning and force students to be mature organizers of large-scale events. The fact that the administration allows undergraduate societies to manage such events on campus, even allowing first-year residence councils and the Inter-Residence Council (IRC) to plan events with alcoholic beverages is telling. The administration expects McGill students to be mature and capable of managing their own affairs because they leave students with no other option. 

McGill is imperfect, but perhaps it should be. This dynamic, and sometimes even contentious relationship between the administration and the student body, is educational for students. After all, the world is imperfect, and ideally, McGill prepares students to live in it. Ultimately, students often have only themselves and their fellow students to rely on for support. For better or worse, this ‘trial-by-fire’ approach is how students have and continue to endure the McGill experience. It is a reality responsible for the distinctive character of McGill’s student body, bringing it to life, and it is sustained by successive generations of students who continue to gravitate towards a lifestyle built on independence.

 

Off the Board, Opinion

TikTok is unexpectedly revolutionary

by Leyla Moy on

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In 2010, I wrote my first ever social media post: “What is this Buzz thing?” I typed it out on the family computer, posted it to the now-defunct Google Buzz, and immediately clicked the like button on my own post. Looking back on it now, it’s difficult to believe it was ever new, since everything about the website seems comically antique—the plain-text posts could be “re-shared,” a phrase which itself seems immediately outdated, and the flat interface prominently features email among its sharing options. Still, on the hulking PCs in my school’s basement computer lab, Buzz felt fresh and immediate. Our blinking cursors became launchpads to shoot truncated words and emoticons across the room, like passing virtual notes. This is the same sort of feeling that apps like TikTok invoke today.

Comparing Buzz to the social media of today is a dizzying testament to how much has changed in the last nine years. Walls of text have been replaced by shorter, punchier tweets. YouTube videos have gone from advertisements to earnest diaries and back again, and apps have become the preferred way to socially connect, as our laptops have become places to work, or at least to pretend to.

“Our blinking cursors became launchpads to shoot truncated words and emoticons across the room, like passing virtual notes. This is the same sort of feeling that apps like TikTok invoke today.”

In 2018, the Chinese tech startup ByteDance revived the shell of the lip-syncing app Musical.ly into TikTok, which is now the world’s most downloaded app. On a cursory scroll-through, TikTok is both jarring and immersive as it pelts the viewer with a rapid-fire stream of looping clips. Unlike the rest of social media, TikTok is on the results of an algorithm rather than a user’s friends. The pedigree of ByteDance’s machine learning ventures shows in the ‘For You’ page, which uses artificial intelligence to tailor its content to your tastes over time and present a continual stream of user-targeted content, like a smarter Instagram Explore page.

The frenetic quality of the TikTok user experience is also partially due to the complex way memes proliferate through it. As social media evolved, the definition of a meme became increasingly difficult to pin down. Gone are the LOLcats days of image macros with blaring Impact font, visually alerting the viewer that what they are seeing is meant to make them laugh. Since videos are capped one minute, there is no exposition on TikTok, and therefore, hidden meaning needs to be condensed into sound. Breaking down the meme format to its bare essentials makes way for subtler forms of humour. TikTok, though initially targeted at the lucrative tween demographic, is an accidentally perfect vessel for sarcastic and absurd millennial humour. 

Memes aside, TikTok is a gem for burgeoning creatives. It uniquely breaks down barriers to content creation with its intuitive filming process, and the way memes propagate through the platform invites imitation and enables unknown accounts to go viral overnight. While the tag #shortfilms highlights the most artistic examples, viewers will be impressed by stylistic skill even in the simplest clips. In order to tell an effective story on TikTok, users need both an understanding of the app’s shared language and the basics of lighting, composition, and editing.

However, some of this creative appeal turns to cavities upon further inspection. In a culture becoming increasingly cautious about technology and privacy, TikTok is unashamed about mining your data. The looming corporate presence on TikTok surely stands to benefit from this, as the platform has been monetized through both ads interspersed in your scrolling and more subtle product placement. ELF Cosmetics recently commissioned the song behind the #eyeslipsface trend, and this encroachment of branding into what appears to be organic trends feels uncomfortable, if not surprising. 

:Memes aside, TikTok is a gem for burgeoning creatives. It uniquely breaks down barriers to content creation with its intuitive filming process, and the way memes propagate through the platform invites imitation and enables unknown accounts to go viral overnight.”

Privacy concerns are compounded for younger users. Over its lifespan, TikTok has managed to attract a broad user base whose sheer demographic diversity is at times uncanny—it is odd to see cops, teachers, priests, and The Washington Post interspersed with high-schoolers. There’s an uncomfortable history of pedophiles on TikTok, and if it was difficult to talk to your kids about the net in 2010 it seems doubly so now.  

For an app best known for popularizing a Mia Khalifa diss track, TikTok is already remarkably culturally significant. The same structural mechanisms that produce viral content break down barriers to getting creative work seen. At the same time, it is a hallmark of the issues that mar the ever evolving internet, and the tradeoffs we have made to keep our entertainment free and constant.

 

Editorial, Opinion

Anti-immigrant sentiments hurt Quebec

by The McGill Tribune Editorial Board on

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Following through on campaign promises made by premier François Legault, the Quebec government proposed long touted changes to the Quebec Experience Program (PEQ) on Nov. 1. The PEQ is a provincial program that offers immigrants to Quebec who are studying at an educational institution fast track to permanent residency following the completion of their degree; the program also applies to immigrants working in Quebec. The changes that the government sought to put into law would have decreased the number of programs and degrees considered valid for entering the PEQ process. Specifically, Legault stated that the government wanted to focus on limiting the PEQ to accepting jobs which focus on “serving” Quebec’s labour market: This means that degrees in engineering, nursing, and information technology sectors would continue to be considered valid for the PEQ, degrees in the liberal arts, sciences, and other areas would not. On Nov. 5, a group of students went to the National Assembly in Québec to ask government officials to abandon the changes, speaking about the debasing effects it could have on immigrant students. Since then, after waves of public criticism, the government has suspended the changes.

The changes proposed to the PEQ are clear examples of racism and xenophobia, sentiments that have characteristic of the CAQ’s leadership thus far. The proposal of such a policy, as well as any similarly structured restrictive immigration policy that the government may attempt to pass in the future, are condemnable. Further, Premier Legault’s worth-based rationale for the PEQ policy changes are troubling and problematic. Evaluating the worth of immigrant residents in the province by a metric which attempts to quantify their contribution to the economy is both destructive and dehumanizing.

It would be incorrect to view the CAQ’s most recent policy proposal in a vacuum. In conjunction with other actions this administration has taken thus far in its tenure, the proposed changes to the PEQ unmistakably manifest from exclusionary nationalist sentiments. For example, the proposed provincial ‘values test’ that the government has proposed for immigrants hoping to settle in Quebec contains questions designed to identify and discriminate against test takers based on their individual and religious beliefs. Additionally, the government has already reduced the total number of immigrant residents in the province by over 25 per cent since assuming power.

30 per cent of McGill’s student body is made up of international students, making many of them potential immigrants to Quebec post-graduation. For many international students, the PEQ presents not only a valuable resource as a possible path to citizenship, but a crucial pillar of stability for their life in Canada and Quebec. A parochial shift in the PEQ with regards to which programs are eligible would be devastating for McGill’s international student population. This policy would leave current students, scrambling to figure out how they are going to operate following their graduation. In addition, such a policy would certainly deter future students from coming to McGill to pursue higher education.

McGill could support international students by sending out a message of support and solidarity, and directing students to resources which could help them prepare for the worst if the CAQ decides to attempt to pass a racist policy again. In addition, the financial resources which McGill offers to non-refugee immigrant students in terms of aid, stipends, or bursaries are lacking at both the graduate and undergraduate level. The university should expand these resources to all international students in the future. People should not have to be escaping unlivable, crisis situations to qualify for financial aid.

The International Student Services (ISS) office has a variety of resources on their website that students can use to assess their post-graduation options. In addition, while the Legal Information Clinic (LIC) cannot offer specific legal advice, they can offer information about immigration law. Canadian students have a role to play in this process as well, which includes remaining informed and knowledgeable about provincial politics and the ways it affects their peers and classmates, and providing emotional support to those students who might suffer the consequences of the CAQ’s future policies. The McGill community is made up of both future and current Canadians, and we have a responsibility to support each other in times of need.

 

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