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Martlets, Men's Varsity, Sports

Team Challenge showcases McGill track and field

by Selwynne Hawkins on

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On Jan. 28 and 29, the Tomlinson Fieldhouse hosted the 22nd annual McGill Team Challenge. Nineteen schools from across Eastern Canada competed in the largest indoor track meet in the country.


Dominant Guelph, Laval, Sherbrooke, and Dalhousie squads captured the top four spots in both men’s and women’s team rankings. McGill was largely kept off the podium, with second-year pole vaulter Megan Dimler capturing the team’s only bronze medal. Despite the lack of hardware, the McGill team remained upbeat about their performance.


“I threw my season’s best [in shot put], so I was pretty excited about it,” fourth-year Vanisa Ezukuse said of her 11.30m throw at the meet.


Ezukuse currently sits eighth in USports shot put rankings, enough to qualify for the national championships held at the University of Alberta in early March. For now, however, she’s staying focused on meeting her personal standards.


 “Sixteen metres is my ultimate goal [and] I’m slowly getting there,” Ezukuse said.


Many other personal bests were shattered by McGill’s runners. In his first home meet, freshmen Gift (Seph) Marshall-Burghardt was able to cut eight seconds off his 1,500m time to finish in 4:11. Teammate Jeremy Briand also registered a personal record at the same event, finishing in 3:56.


 “Everything seems to be coming together,” Marshall-Burghardt said. “With the home meet, it was great.”


The McGill track team has worked hard to become a cohesive unit and maintain a sense of team spirit.


“If I’m at a meet, I’ll go see a cross-country person run, and cheer them on, or go to the shot put circle and ask how it’s going,” third-year long-sprinter Ariane Lismer said. “Meets [are] where we conglomerate and cheer each other on.”


The team will travel to New York next weekend before returning to host another meet the subsequent weekend. To end the season, the RSEQ championships will be held on Feb. 24 and 25 at Laval University. Sprinting Coach Marie-Eve Dugas is pleased with her athletes so far, and knows exactly where to focus her efforts for the remainder of the season.

“We [have] some technical aspects to [work] on, and a little bit of speed and speed endurance, as well as some exchange practice for the relays,” Dugas said. “But we should be good to go for provincials.”

Stats Corner: The fastest event at the meet, the 60m dash, was completed in just 6.85 seconds by Guelph University’s Kyle Thompson.

Key Moments: Vanisa Ezukuse beat her personal best and broke McGill’s record in the weight throw with a distance of 15.71m.

Quotable: “We work so hard every practice and it’s just awesome to be here with everyone at the track, with everyone cheering everyone on,”—Long-sprinter Ariane Lismer.

A previous version of this article published on Jan. 31, 2017 incorrectly stated Vanisa Ezukuse's record breaking performance in weight throw. The Tribune regrets this error. 

Montreal, News

McGill student bound for Women’s March on Washington denied entry into U.S.

by William Pang on

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Joseph Decunha, U3 Physics, was refused entry into the United States at the St-Bernard-de-Lacolle crossing border crossing on the night of Jan. 19. He was planning to attend the Women’s March on Washington, a day-long protest calling for action on a broad range of issues, such as women’s rights, racial inequality, and environmental justice.  

Decunha, a Canadian citizen, was travelling with two other McGill students when he was stopped and questioned by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). When he informed the officer that he was going to the Women’s March, he was directed to secondary inspection for further questioning.

“The first question he asked was, ‘Are you anti or pro-Trump?’” Decunha wrote in an email to The McGill Tribune. “Which sounds very malicious now knowing the outcome but was said in a very friendly way. I spoke briefly about the affordable care act and some of the racist remarks made by the [then] President-elect. His responses were friendly and I assumed that he also was not a Trump supporter.”

According to Decunha, the CBP officer also asked whether they were violent or radical protesters. After a series of questions, the officer noted that he would speak to his supervisor.

“He came back and first explained that he classified my behavior in the U.S. as ‘silent disruption,’ a term which he dropped on a number of occasions as though it were a legal term,” Decunha wrote. “After explaining that the events we were attending had official permits, he moved on from using this pseudo-legal jargon and then used a different explanation.”

Decunha believed that he was denied entry into the U.S. solely on political grounds.

“When we posed the question if simply attending the inauguration without going to the Women’s March would constitute tourism and satisfy that requirement, we were told [by the officer] ‘Sure, but now you’ve already told me the truth and to change your story now would be to lie to a federal agent,’” Decunha wrote.

Over 400,000 people cross the U.S.-Canada border each day. Due to a reciprocal arrangement between Canada and the United States, citizens do not need a visa to enter either country on a short-term basis.

Less than 0.1 per cent of travellers are denied entry, for reasons which include national security concerns or participating in prohibited activities. According to Evan Fox-Decent, an associate professor of law at McGill who specializes in immigration and refugee law, he has never heard of the term “silent disruption” as a reason to deny entry into the U.S..

“I’d be very surprised to find a judicial review decision to bar somebody from entering because they looked like they were going to […] be involved in some form of silent disruption,” Fox-Decent said.

Border control officers have the discretion to refuse entry, but officers must offer a legitimate reason in doing so, according to Fox-Decent. In Canada, Fox-Decent said, both citizens and noncitizens cannot generally be barred entry for protesting.

“Typically, the protections of the Charter [of Rights and Freedoms] extend to non-citizens as well as citizens. So if you’re here for a short period of time, you’re entitled to protest as much as […] a citizen,” Fox-Decent said. “The fact that you’re coming to protest, so long [as] there is no evidence you intend to do so unlawfully, or violently, […] that could not be a ground for barring entry.”

Fox-Decent acknowledged that he is not a U.S. constitutional scholar, but remains highly skeptical that protesting is regarded as sufficient grounds for barring entry into the United States.

“I would be very surprised if that [protest] could withstand scrutiny [as a valid reason to deny entry],” Fox-Decent said.  

Rex Brynen, a professor of political science at McGill University, believes that the United States government has every authority to bar Decunha’s entry.

“The U.S. has a perfect legal right to control the admission of foreign nationals and is under no obligation to admit protesters,” Brynen wrote in an email to The McGill Tribune. “Protest, it could be argued, doesn’t constitute a valid reason for entering the U.S.. In this case, there was likely heightened sensitivity for fear that anti-Trump protests could get out of hand or be targeted.”

Brynen added that it is unlikely for the Trudeau government to act in response to multiple Canadians being denied entry for attending the Women’s March.

“I’m not sure that Americans wanting to enter Canada to attend a protest would be admitted either,” Brynen wrote. “There’s nothing Canada would want to do [in response,] since we certainly would want to retain our own ability to bar Americans entering Canada.”

McGill, News

SSMU to assist clubs, independent student groups in transitions

by Margherita de Castro on

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On April 7, 2016, the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) Services Review Committee and the Board of Directors (BoD) prompted seven student groups to change their status within the SSMU structure. The Savoy Society, Elections SSMU, First Year Council, and the McGill International Student Network lost their status as independent student groups (ISG) and The Players Theatre, Organic Campus, and McGill Outdoors Club (MOC) gained ISG status.

In 2015, the previous SSMU Vice-President (VP) Clubs and Services Kimber Bialik–which has since been renamed the VP Student Life portfolio following executive restructuring in 2015-2016–reinstated the Services Review Committee for the first time since 2011. The committee evaluates whether listed services comply with the April 2016 modifications to the internal regulations of student groups.

The internal regulations of student groups specify that a service must provide resources and support to members while additionally providing referrals, awareness, education, or advocacy services. The final Services Review Report concluded that for various reasons outlined in the report, the five previously listed services did not meet the new requirements. On April 7, the SSMU Legislative Council ratified the committee’s recommendations to revoke these ISGs’ status.

The McGill International Student Network has since become a SSMU club, the First Year Council now falls under the portfolio of the SSMU VP Internal, and Elections SSMU is overseen by the SSMU General Manager. The Players Theatre and Organic Campus are transitioning into ISGs while SSMU is still considering the Savoy Society’s status, with plans to make it a programming department under the VP Student Life portfolio.

On May 24, the McGill Outdoors Club (MOC) had its club status revoked at a BoD meeting. Members of the Board believed that the size of the club made it better suited as an ISG. They worried that the MOC’s large transactions would look suspicious to auditors. In addition, the Board believed that the club’s activities posed risks to students not covered by SSMU’s liability insurance.

“Our internal regulations say that our clubs need to have bank accounts that are internally managed by SSMU,” Bialik said at the BoD meeting on May 24. “[The MOC has] their own external account that we know nothing about. They have their independent insurance policy. They manage property also. They have a lot going on. So they are already operating like an independent student group and this transition won’t change anything for them.”

According to MOC VP Communications Chris Mills, SSMU and the MOC had previously discussed the possibility of becoming an ISG, with inconclusive results. The BoD decision was made unilaterally and without the knowledge or consent of the MOC.

Mills said that the MOC has been actively appealing the decision, due to a long-term standing agreement with SSMU enabling the MOC to exist as a club while simultaneously owning a separate bank account.

“By their own constitution, ISGs have to be registered nonprofits,” Mills said. “You can’t take a club which doesn’t exist legally and turn it into an [ISG]. The club doesn’t have a legal standing outside of SSMU. [The 2015-2016] generation of executives did not necessarily appreciate all the differences between being a club and an ISG in terms of what it means for administrative and legal overhead.”

As an ISG, the MOC will have to register for legal status, file its own tax returns, and obtain necessary insurance. Mills explained that the added responsibilities associated with operating an ISG are a lot for a volunteer-run organization to undertake.

SSMU VP Finance Niall Carolan said that SSMU is willing to cooperate with the MOC with the possibility of reinstating its status as a SSMU club.

“Throughout this [academic] year we have been meeting with [the] MOC to try to find the best structure that works for them and that also works for SSMU,” Carolan said. “That may very well end up being a club. I am happy to keep them as a club as long as the support structure is there for them to succeed.”

SSMU VP Student Life Elaine Patterson plans to dedicate this year to assisting all transitioning student groups so that they will be more stable next year.
“The end goal would be to make sure that the groups transitioning into independent student groups status do become legally recognized by the province of Quebec as separate from SSMU,” Patterson said. “Then from there my goal is just to make sure that transition is as smooth as possible for these groups.”

Art, Arts & Entertainment

The selfless selfie: “Hypotheses” conference discusses narcissism and post-internet art

by Albert Park on

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Since the boom of social media, selfies have gained widespread popularity. It is an art form that is rarely given credibility, often being touted as evidence of the milennial’s supposed narcissism.

Last week, Hypotheses, an arts symposium, hosted a conferenced called “Posting The Self(i.e.): Performing Bodies and Post-Internet Art” at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. At the event, Marina Merlo, PhD Candidate in Film Studies at Université de Montréal, and Estelle Wathieu, M.A. Candidate in Art History at Concordia University, presented their papers, opening up a discussion about performative aspects in photographic selfies and post-Internet art.

In her paper, titled “Performance and Gesture in Selfies: Excellences and Perfections,” Merlo discusses Amalia Ulman’s 2014 work called Excellences and Perfections. In Ulman’s work, which was referred to by The Telegraph as being the “first Instagram masterpiece,” the artist performed and photographed a changing persona, and documented it through photos uploaded on an Instagram account. First, she presented a character of an aspiring artist, then a sugarbaby undergoing various issues, such as drug abuse and self-harm, and then showcased a phase of rehabilitation to become a character who enjoys fitness and travelling.

Merlo points out that Ulman’s project is a niche case study regarding concepts related to selfies, such female body image, celebrity culture, and authenticity. However, through her paper and her presentation at the conference, Merlo postured that that Ulman’s “selfie” photos, which are mainly taken in front of mirrors, were not traditional selfies.

“To readily identify a basic or traditional selfie, I argue that two things are important,” said Merlo. “Firstly, the photographer looks knowingly into the camera lens, and secondly, the photographic gesture must be very obvious. It must be clear that the photograph was purposely taken by the person in the picture [….] Considering these criteria, ‘Excellences and Perfections’ does not feature any traditional selfies. [For example] a self-portrait taken in the mirror makes the photographic gesture much less obvious, and the bodily interaction with the camera is drastically modified.”

In dissecting these differences, Merlo argues that a selfie is a voluntary and deliberate action. Through exploring the performative nature of selfies, she proposes that the common conception of the narcissistic nature of selfies is complicated. 

Merlo noted the difference between the selfie phenomenon and the myth of Narcissus, in which the Greek hunter falls in love with the image of himself in a reflecting pool. Although Narcissus is seeing his own image, at first he doesn’t recognize himself. 

“Narcissus is, therefore, othered as an image to a point that he believes it is someone else he is seeing [….]” Merlo said. “This form of mythical narcissism does not properly describe what is happening in a selfie, the selfie is always a voluntary action, just like for a performative utterance [….] [A selfie] can’t be an accidental photograph. This is very unlike what Narcissus is doing.”

Wathieu also brought up the topic of selfies in her paper entitled, “From ‘teen-girl tumblr aesthetic' to 'selfie feminism': evolution of the discourse around a complex and ever-evolving network of artists." She postured that the photography of Petra Collins portrays the experiences of racialized women through the lens of white women, thereby reducing the political potential of intersectionality in their project.

In analyzing their work and the political activism behind selfies, Wathieu brought up the topic of selfie feminism. She discussed the 2016 essay Closing the Loop by Aria Dean, where the writer claims that the selfie’s political impact as an act of feminism is limited as the “compounded male, white, and colonialist gazes blur Black women and femmes into oblivion.” Wathieu believes that the act of female self-imaging on the internet is not a cohesive movement that can be analyzed.

“While I agree on [Dean’s] arguments [….] I believe that [her] vision was biased, as soon as she named her object of study, selfie feminism, reducing it to politics of representation,” she said. “What I would like to propose today is to reposit this discourse […] and to propose a vision of this body of work as an ever-evolving and complex network more than as a fixed canon.”

Wathieu and Merlo presented different ideas about what a selfie is, and the role it plays in representation and feminine identity. It is clear that selfies are much more than a syndrome of millenial narcissism, and a practice that is difficult to define in current social and political contexts.

 

Errata: An earlier version of this article incorrectly named Estelle Wathieu’s paper as "Intersectionality and Post-Internet Art: Petra Collins and Lula Hyers” instead of the correct title, which is “From ‘teen-girl tumblr aesthetic' to 'selfie feminism': evolution of the discourse around a complex and ever-evolving network of artists." Furthermore, the earlier version incorrectly associated a point Wathieu made about the political potential of intersectionality of the works of Petra Collins to the work of Lula Hyers as well. The McGill Tribune regrets these errors.

Science & Technology

4 tips for a better night’s sleep

by Albert Park on

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Ever wake up feeling tired after getting over eight hours of sleep? You’re not alone. For an activity that we have been doing since we were born, sleeping—at least, sleeping effectively—is not always easy. There are a variety of factors and processes that can make it difficult for students to get a good night’s rest. Fortunately, there are numerous steps individuals can take and changes they can make to ensure that they will be more successful falling asleep, staying asleep, and waking up feeling well-rested.

 

Avoid laptops and smartphones before bedtime

Your penchant for watching lecture recordings and looking at memes on Instagram before bedtime is most definitely impeding your ability to get a good night’s sleep.  According to findings by the Lighting Research Center at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, the blue and white light emitted by digital screens can disrupt the body’s release of melatonin. Melatonin is a hormone that helps people sleep by maintaining their circadian rhythm—which is essentially a 24-hour biological clock programmed in the human body that dictates when one feels tired or awake.

Within an hour or so before bedtime, try doing something that doesn’t involve technology, such as studying with your textbook, flipping through a magazine, or reading the school newspaper.

 

Limit exposure to sound

Residents of crowded cities like Montreal are constantly exposed to a barrage of sounds and noises. While the screeching of cars and the enthusiastic shouting of bar-goers on St-Laurent might seem like minor annoyances initially, they could be seriously affecting students’ ability to sleep properly at night. Noise does not need to fully awaken a person in order to disturb their sleep cycle. According to the World Health Organization’s Night Noise Guidelines, even a sound as low as 30 to 40 decibels—such as quiet whispering—has the potential to cause sleep disturbance.

Make sure that all of your windows and doors are closed to limit the amount of external noises that can seep into your bedroom. For people living in particularly loud neighbourhoods, listening to white noise—steady, unvarying, unobtrusive sound—during sleep might be helpful. A study published in Sleep Medicine revealed that white noise increased sound arousal thresholds in sleeping individuals exposed to recorded sounds. In other words, white noise helps mask the effect of other, more disruptive noises. Check out Spotify’s white noise playlist or one of the many free apps available online.

 

Hands off the snooze button

Although it is a pleasurably cathartic experience to hit the snooze button repeatedly in the morning, (especially while dreading the walk to class through a labyrinth of construction), this is a practice that prevents people from feeling fully awake in the morning. By pressing the snooze button and drifting off into mini-sleep, the brain’s sleep cycle starts all over again.

A typical sleep cycle lasts between 90 to 120 minutes, making it impossible for anyone to complete a cycle in a standard snooze period. Therefore, the body is unable to reach a meaningfully relaxing stage of sleep. Even worse, the circadian rhythm ends up being confused in the process. The result is that after the snooze, people typically wake up feeling even groggier.

Instead, try using a smart alarm clock. There are various smartphone apps in this category, like Azumio’s Sleep Time, that generally work by tracking the user’s sleep cycle with the phone’s accelerometer. The alarm goes off within a period of a few minutes before the set time, specifically when the user is not in a phase of deep sleep, essentially waking the person up when their body is naturally ready.

 

Beds are for sleeping

The bed is a very comfortable piece of furniture—it is tempting to plop into it to enjoy a plethora of non-sleeping activities, such as watching Netflix, reading, or texting. Simple Pavlovian conditioning explains why this habit is not conducive to falling asleep at night. In order to fall asleep faster after getting into bed, people need to associate their bed, a neutral stimulus, with sleep, a biological stimulus. Reinforcing this connection elicits a response of sleepiness when somebody climbs into bed. By mentally linking the bed with another activity, such as watching shows or texting, the person weakens this conditioning.

The simple tip to overcome this: Don’t watch Netflix in bed.

Science & Technology

How McGill invented pain: 1970s pain scale still used today

by Izze Siemann on

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Has a doctor ever asked you to rate your pain on a scale from one to ten?

Over 40 years ago, McGill University’s Dr. Ronald Melzack and Dr. Warren Torgerson set out to create a quantitative measure for pain—that is, a numerical scale to analyze the condition of patients.

“The McGill Pain Questionnaire consists primarily of three major classes of word descriptors—sensory, affective, and evaluative—that are used by patients to specify subjective pain experience,” Dr. Melzack wrote in the 1975 issue of The Journal of Pain. “It also contains an intensity scale and other items to determine the properties of pain experience.”

In other words, doctor asks their patients to select which words best reflect their pain levels and to assign each a number of intensity. The words patients select each have an assigned quantitative value on the survey, allowing the health care professional to calculate a number for their level of pain.

With the McGill Pain Questionnaire, doctors guide patients through a series of questions, asking them first to select a single word from each group and then circle a specific number of words in specific categories. ‘Pulsing’ and ‘quivering’—both sensory words—are in category one. ‘Agonizing’ and ‘torturing’—both emotional words—are in category 20. ‘Troublesome’—an evaluative term—is in group 16. A quantitative measurement for pain is derived from their selections, coupled with a numerical value given for the intensity of the pain experienced.

While the above adjectives seem to represent a variety of pain levels, other terms are more difficult to differentiate and quantify. For instance, how can ‘frightful’ and ‘horrible’ represent two different types of pain? What’s the difference between ‘nagging’ pain and ‘tiring’ pain? Although hospitals still use the McGill Pain Questionnaire today, many undeniable flaws have surfaced since its introduction in the 1970s.

Inherent shortcomings arise from translating subjective observations into quantitative measurements. A numerical scale, calculation, and ranking all vary based on the person’s past experiences. A mother with two children may consider childbirth a ‘10’—the worst pain imaginable, whereas a young girl with an ear infection might not be able to imagine any pain worse than what she is experiencing.

Most scientists and doctors agree that a less subjective measurement would be beneficial. No such test or questionnaire has yet to be published, but steps have been taken to pursue a less numerical method of categorization.

“There are lots of problems that come with trying to measure pain,” Professor Stephen McMahon of the London Pain Consortium told The Independent on Jan. 10. “I think the obsession with numbers is an oversimplification. Pain is not unidimensional. It doesn’t just come with scale […,] it comes with other baggage. How threatening it is, how emotionally disturbing, how it affects your ability to concentrate.”

However, turning this baggage into scientific data fit for analysis also poses many challenges, making the escape from a numerical system seemingly impossible. Dr. Adnan Al-Kaisy, head of the Pain Management and Neuromodulation Centre at Guy’s and St. Thomas’ Hospital in London, hopes that technology may uncover a way to measure varying types of pain.

“[We’re] trying to develop a tool […] which will give an accurate impression of how active or disabled they are, and tell us the cause of their pain from the way they sit or stand,” Al-Kaisy told The Independent.

Whether or not such a measuring device will be developed in the near future is unknown. However, as pain research continues at McGill’s Alan Edwards Centre for Research on Pain, there’s no reason why what began here can’t continue here. Perhaps the next McGill Pain Questionnaire won’t be a questionnaire at all; maybe it will be the McGill Pain Machine.

Creative

Unity Abroad: Solidarity and Resistance in the Year of Trump

by Alex Gardiner on

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The voices of McGill Students on their anxieties, hopes and fears in the newly tense atmosphere in the wake of the neighboring US election. 

Produced by Noah Sutton
Directed, Shot, and Edited by Alex Gardiner.
Rally footage and additional editing by Noah Sutton.

Music by Emmett McCleary/Easter.
"I Made This Bed and Now I Must Sleep In It."

McGill Tribune 2017

Montreal, News

Protesters worldwide demonstrate to express opposition to President Trump

by Grace Bahler on

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Crowds of more than 500,000 people gathered on the National Mall in Washington D.C. on Saturday, Jan. 21 to take part in the Women’s March on Washington. It was one of 673 marches throughout the world.

Occurring just one day after the inauguration of President Donald J. Trump, the marches were conducted by individuals from all corners of the world to send a message of power, resistance, and solidarity to the new administration.

The protesters were against Trump’s behaviour and policies. Based on a transcript with Billy Bush, Trump has reportedly condoned sexual assault of women. In addition, many women have issues with his intention to deny access to planned parenthood and his anti-abortion stance.

The streets were full of pink-knit hats, cleverly-crafted posters, and chants of dissent. By 9 a.m., the mall was packed and people were eager to rally. An hour later, the event commenced with a speech by Honduran-American actress America Ferrera.

“We will not go from being a nation of immigrants to a nation of ignorants,” Ferrera said to cheers of support.

Among the attendees of the Women’s March, there was a consensus about the importance of mobilization and resistance. A husband and wife, who asked to remain anonymous, had driven down from Long Island NY to participate in the event. The wife, who marched in Washington D.C. in 1970 to protest the Vietnam War, was deeply moved by the civil societal participation.

“It’s a repudiation of everything that Trump stands for,” the couple said. “What he stands for does not represent our America. Our strength is our diversity.”

Another marcher, Hannah – who declined to disclose her last name –  travelled across the country from Oregon and was marching for her grandmother, who had passed away from lung cancer before she had the chance to vote for Hillary Clinton. When considering the next four years with Trump in the White House, Hannah was reminded of the fascist movements that swept the world in the 1940s.

“I see what people mean when they say [we’re] trading the moustache for the toupee,” Hannah said.

Hannah was not alone in her sentiments. Activist, writer, and feminist icon Gloria Steinem spoke against the new president, standing before crowds of admirers in Washington. During the march, she emphasized the importance of keeping the power in the hands of the people.

“I have met the people, and you [Trump] are not them,” Steinem said.

Over 30 “sister marches” were organized across Canada. In Montreal, nearly 5,000 people gathered at Place des Arts for Manif des Femmes, marching in solidarity with Washington.

Sarah Wimmer, U1 Arts, was one of the protesters at the Montreal event. Wimmer found that the most moving aspect of the march was when women were asked to raise their hands if they had ever been sexually assaulted. Countless hands rose in the air.

“I marched because I know change doesn’t come from silence, and uniting with all of the millions of other marchers proves that one man won’t be able to divide us,” Wimmer said.

A speaker at the event, Rachel Zellars, executive director of the Girls Action Foundation and a PhD candidate in the Department of Integrated Studies in Education at McGill, spoke at the event. She highlighted the value of collective action and unification in a time of such distress.


“Today signifies the end of our grieving because right at this very moment [673] other women’s marches are happening globally,” Zellars said. “We have never needed one another so much as in this very moment.”

News, PGSS

PGSS sends Legal Information Clinic Referendum Question to online ratification

by Julia Metraux on

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On Jan. 18, the Post-Graduate Students’ Society (PGSS) voted to send the Legal Information Clinic at McGill (LICM) Referendum Question to online ratification, considered an invitation to collaborate on Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS), and discussed Thomson House fees.

Legal Information Clinic Referendum Question

PGSS Council members voted to send the LICM Referendum Question to online ratification. The LICM offers legal counselling from law students to members of the McGill student body and the Montreal community. The LICM asked that their non-opt-outable graduate student fee be raised from $2.00 per semester to $4.50 per semester.

According to the LICM Director of Communications Sunny Yang, the LICM is seeking to raise the fee in order to better serve the McGill community by enabling them to rent more space. Yang said an increase would it to handle heavy demand from students and community members.

“With the additional $60,000 [raised from the fee increase], we’re able to rent out more space so everyone who wants to volunteer in the Faculty of Law can actually volunteer here,” Yang said. “We’d have the ability to not close lines and for faster intake.”

PGSS Internal Affairs Officer Mina Anadolu said she supports increasing funds for the LICM due to their effectiveness at providing legal expertise to graduate students.

“The [LICM] has been a huge help to the Internal Affairs Committee in terms of orientation,” Anadolu said. “For the past two years that I have been in this position, [the LICM has had] an active role in orientation and getting information out to students. Also, [the LICM held] information sessions, here at Thomson House, the most recent being ‘Renting an Apartment in Quebec’ [and] ‘Know Your Rights.’”

BDS Resolution Collaboration

On behalf of the AGSA, Anthropology Masters candidate Jason Hirsch requested to form graduate student groups in support of the BDS movement. AGSA has officially endorsed the BDS movement at McGill University.

“AGSA passed a motion in support of [the BDS] movement,” Hirsch said. “[The AGSA] wanted to come to [PGSS] Council for a proposition that [members] could pass this along to your PGSAs [Post-Graduate Students’ Associations]. We wanted to know if there are other groups that are willing to join us.”

Hirsch said the AGSA supports BDS due to the movement’s anthropological connection to colonialism. Meanwhile, Principal Suzanne Fortier previously sent an email explaining the McGill administration’s opposition to the BDS movement, accusing it of being contrary to McGill values of academic freedom, equity, and inclusiveness.

“We felt the need to go through [passing the motion in AGSA] as anthropologists because in our own discipline we have a colonial legacy,” Hirsch said. “Principal [Suzanne] Fortier made a declaration that McGill is opposed to this movement and we don’t feel that [this stance] properly represents the diversity of opinions of the McGill community.”

Thomson House fees

The allocation and transparency of Thomson House fees was discussed at the PGSS meeting. Although the budget for the operation of Thomson House comes from PGSS student fees, clubs are required to pay a booking fee to use some rooms and other space for events or meetings.

Anadolu said she understands the frustration over booking fees, but that they are necessary in order to compensate maintenance staff.

“As Internal [Affairs], we pay for the events that we organize here,” Anadolu said. “Everytime we use a room there are cleaning fees [and] staff fees. Especially if you book a room like [the Thomson House ballroom], you have to pay for the staffing and the cleanup that comes after. I understand the argument that it is counterproductive to charge PGSAs […,] but there are certain charges associated with large spaces.”

PGSS Health Commissioner J. Andrew Dixon, who served on the PGSS Board of Directors last year, said that transparency is an issue when it comes to determining Thomson House costs.

“There’s been a lot of murky water in terms of a schedule for how much everything costs and for what reason,” Dixon said. “So, I think what is really required here is that we need to sit down with the business [management and staff needed to run the restaurant, bar, and prepare rooms] and hash out the details of how much everything costs and why.”

Basketball, Sports

NBA midseason review

by Stephen Gill on

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Eastern Conference

Led by LeBron James, the Cleveland Cavaliers stand tall atop the Eastern Conference. Despite injuries sustained along the way, the defending champions have held the pace they set last season. They’ve made savvy deals and look ready for another deep playoff run.

The Boston Celtics and Toronto Raptors are Cleveland’s biggest threats to another Finals appearance. After signing Al Horford in the offseason, the Celtics have shown signs of improvement and could finally become legitimate title contenders. Like last year, Toronto has been on fire offensively, but considering how easily the Cavaliers dispatched the Raptors last season, Canada’s team might be more bark than bite.

After the top, there is a clear drop-off in terms of quality. Mid-level teams like the Atlanta Hawks, the Chicago Bulls, and the Indiana Pacers have clear flaws that prevent them from making a serious playoff push.

Western Conference

In the competitive West, the perennial remain on top. With newly-signed superstar Kevin Durant, the Golden State Warriors appear to be the best team in basketball, posting the league’s top record and point differential.

Just behind the Warriors are the San Antonio Spurs and Houston Rockets. Spurs Coach Gregg Popovich has once again proved his wizardry courtside, maintaining his team’s standard of excellence despite losing the legendary Tim Duncan. With a new coach and supporting cast, the Rockets’ rise is one of the league’s surprising stories, spurred by James Harden’s explosive offence and rotation to the point guard slot in the backcourt.

A step behind this top tier sit the Utah Jazz and Los Angeles Clippers. Utah has burst onto the scene after an injury-plagued 2015-16 season, in which they missed the playoffs altogether. With a set of familiar faces, the Clippers should once again prove a tough out in the playoffs, though they must stay competitive without star point guard Chris Paul unil he recovers from surgery in March.

Most Valuable Player

The race for Most Valuable Player has developed into a two-player contest between the Oklahoma City Thunder’s Russell Westbrook and Houston’s James Harden. Westbrook has seen his production escalate to triple-double averages with the absence of Durant, while Harden has posted slightly less flashy statistics, but with exceptional efficiency. Ultimately, Harden trumps Westbrook by virtue of leading a superior team that should be a major presence in the postseason.

Rookie of the Year

In a season filled with disappointing rookie campaigns, the Philadelphia 76er’s Joel Embiid is the clear favourite to win Rookie of the Year. He’s scoring over 10 points more per game than the league’s next highest scoring rookie while providing stifling defence on the other end. Most importantly, his efforts seem to have helped his team turn the corner, as the 76ers have started to show flashes of competence this season for the first time in years.

Finals Prediction

Despite the presence of two  pseudo-contenders in the East, the Cavaliers should sail relatively smoothly to the finals. In the West, the Warriors have a rockier path, but are still in a league of their own. James has shown that his teams are never to be counted out, but with Durant’s added star power Golden State will be tough to overcome. In a rematch of the last two seasons’ NBA finals, the Warriors should triumph.

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