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a, Science & Technology, Student Life, The Viewpoint

Beyond the brain: Perspectives on mindful meditation

by Audrey Carleton and Stephanie Fehertoi on

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How meditation eased my anxiety

Audrey Carleton

I’ve grappled with bouts of anxiety and obsessive negative thinking for years now, without realizing what a negative space they took up in my life.  As a mechanism to enforce deadline-induced productivity, I frequently overcommit to far more extracurricular activities than I should. I often joke that I thrive academically in an environment in which I constantly feel under pressure—even panicked—and this was never more true than last semester. This pressure, however, reared its ugly head as I watched my anxiety wear away at my relationships with others, my schoolwork, and myself. A few panic attacks later, I had the realization that I needed to make my mental health a priority, and the first step to doing so was to establish good habits and routines. In addition to exercising and getting more sleep, I resolved to try meditation, something I’d never done before. Not knowing a better place to start, I turned to the app store on my iPhone and downloaded a mindfulness meditation app called Calm. Complete with a meditation timer, soothing noises, and recorded guided meditations, this app made sitting down to meditate for several minutes every evening before bed feel less daunting.

Fear of challenge and failure has kept me from meditating in the past. While I’ve always known in theory that meditating eased anxiety, the idea of intentionally doing nothing for several minutes a day seemed like a waste, and clearing my mind entirely seemed impossible. As I expected, my first few sessions were frustrating. As the guided meditations I was using steered my thoughts toward a single place—the movement of my breath in and out of my body—I struggled to keep my focus there for more than a few seconds. Feeling frustrated by my inability to let go, I was reminded of my own obsessive thinking that brought me to meditation in the first place. Committed to keeping the habit, however, I continued to sit each night for three to five minutes, and with time, I grew calmer, realizing a drifting mind is not only normal, but expected in meditation. Under the instruction of a guided meditation recording, I grew stronger at calmly and non-judgmentally bringing my focus back to the movement of my breath when my thoughts wandered.

One night, I experienced what I’ve only ever heard described as a breakthrough—I was able to maintain a clear head for more than a few seconds while meditating. In that moment, I lost awareness of my surroundings and felt distanced from whatever source of anxiety had occupied my thoughts that day. From there, meditation grew easier and easier.

I didn’t truly see the impact of meditating in other aspects of my life until a few days later. Sitting on the sixth floor of McLennan, writing myself a to-do list for that day, I felt strangely calm and accepting of the list of tasks I had to complete. Several months before this point, the thought of working through an overwhelming to-do list would have worked me into a panicked frenzy. That day, I was able to recognize objectively that I had a lot to do, but that I would eventually complete everything painlessly. Astounded at the sense of calm I felt in the moment, I realized it was likely the regular meditation that had helped me alleviate the ongoing mild feelings of dread that are characteristic of anxiety disorders.

By testing my ability to let go of all thought—good and bad—meditation has taught me how to substitute negative or anxious thinking in daily life for productive thinking and focus on tasks at hand. While this is certainly no cure-all for anxiety, nor a suitable replacement for traditional therapy or medication for diagnosed anxiety disorders, I would highly recommend taking on the practice of meditation to anyone who, like me, often feels panicked by daily life.

For those starting off, I recommend Calm’s “Seven Days of Calm” challenge, or Headspace’s “Take Ten” program to ease users into the basics of meditation while building habit. Ensō and Samsara Lite are simple and user-friendly meditation timers for those seeking the freedom of meditating without guidance. Take and Break! and Smiling Mind were designed for those meditating with the intent of calming depression, anxiety, and stress, as I was. 

The science behind meditation

Stephanie Fehertoi

Originating in Buddhist traditions, mindfulness meditation is defined as paying attention to one’s experience including thoughts, sensations, and emotions without judgment and in the present moment. It focuses on training attention to disengage from undesirable patterns of behaviour and cognition, and this meta-awareness is a main goal of meditation. Most practices aim to improve concentration and executive efficiency, achieve existential insight and clear-thinking, and promote psychological well-being. In fact, scientific findings suggest that meditative practitioners do reap benefits, in addition to an aura of calm.

According to the Raz Lab at McGill University, led by Psychiatry Professor Amir Raz, scientists generally classify meditation practices into two categories: Focused attention and open monitoring—though most techniques lie on a spectrum between the two. This involves sustained narrowing of attention on an experiential object, such as the breath or a mantra., whereas open monitoring involves a widening of attention to include the whole field of present-moment experience.

Scientists have discovered that meditation achieves clearer thinking and better concentration by generating different brainwave patterns, or neural connections, that alter the brain’s behaviour. One illustration of this is meditation’s ability to reduce anxiety and even depression. Anxiety decreases with mindfulness meditation because the practice weakens neural circuits that link upsetting sensations to the medial prefrontal cortex, or the self-referencing part of the brain that processes much of our “me” thoughts and emotions. By learning to circumvent this pathway, the lateral prefrontal cortex receives stimuli less intensely and responds more rationally. Because of this, it becomes easier for the mind to be aware of sensations, accept them, and let them pass without igniting fear or anxiety.

With daily practice, the mind can also learn not to get stuck in negative thought patterns, which is central to mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT), an alternative meditation treatment to help those suffering from depression.

This attention training is one research area of the Raz Lab. Their work suggests that meditation cultivates the ability to disengage, re-orient, and sustain attention, thereby improving the flexibility, sensitivity, and stability of awareness. Developing meta-awareness is crucial for honing focus and cognitive control, and the practice does appear to alter habits of spontaneous mind-wandering or over-thinking, as well as involuntary reactivity in response to strong emotions and pain. It has even been found to foster structural neuroplasticity in the brain, such as enhanced gray matter volume and connectivity between brain regions.

For instance, a study from the University of Wisconsin found that while normal participants would experience an “attentional blink,” or failure to detect a second stimulus that occurs quickly after the first, meditators responded more rapidly and easily to the concurrent stimuli. Electroencephalography (EEG) scans of their brains also revealed deeper rather than superficial information processing of the stimuli within brain areas. Working memory capacity and test performance, for example in reading comprehension on the GREs, also seemed to benefit from mindfulness meditation practice as it fostered better concentration levels, according to researchers from UC Santa Barbara. This increased focus might be due to the fact that long-term meditation practitioners of various types demonstrated reduced activation in neural structures related to spontaneous thought, called the default mode network (DMN), otherwise understood as “quieting” the mind, as demonstrated in the results of a 2011 study conducted by scientists from Yale University.

Researchers at Harvard Medical School also observed that those who meditated for about 30 minutes a day for eight weeks had measurable changes in gray-matter density in parts of the brain associated with memory, sense of self, empathy, and stress. In fact, a 2015 study from UCLA suggests less age-related gray matter atrophy in long-term meditators, meaning a slower decline in their brain deterioration as they age. Another recent study from Carnegie Mellon University found much lower blood levels of Interleukin 6, a biomarker of systemic inflammation, in newly trained meditators over time compared with those in the placebo group, as well as reduced activation of brain areas related to stress.

This growing body of research suggests that practicing meditation means a happier and healthier brain over time. So whether you want to gain a clearer perspective, reduce your anxiety levels, curb negative rumination, or enhance your attention, cognitive abilities, and even your empathy, mindfulness meditation seems like a good place to start.

a, Off the Board, Opinion

Off the board: Uber drivers require more protections

by Noah Sutton on

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The ride-sharing service Uber has exploded in popularity since it first launched internationally in 2014. Almost immediately, Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre said ‘UberX’—the app’s flagship service that summons an ordinary vehicle, rather than a cab—would operate illegally in Montreal. Despite this, Uber exists in Montreal. But contention is brewing amongst licensed taxi drivers who argue that the lack of regulations on UberX creates unfair competition. Taxi drivers have staged protests and in one instance even egged Uber’s Montreal office.

The sharing economy that Uber represents places labour in a precarious position. As Uber continues to expand, its growth depends on the drivers who voluntarily use the app to match them with a person in need of a ride. But as California’s Labor Commission indicated, Uber’s involvement is beyond simple logistics. Ridesharing drivers do not share anything; they sell their labour to Uber, who in turn, refuses to provide any stability for their position in order to keep fares low. Uber’s continued misrepresentation of the status of its drivers keeps their workforce easily expendable, without the basic provisions of the law. The most important first step is recognizing drivers as employees and granting them the collective bargaining rights so they may effectively negotiate with their employer.

Uber argues that drivers do not work for the company, but are more like partners operating independently of Uber. This model is by no means unique to Uber. The sharing economy rests on the idea that technology can act as a facilitator between people who have needs and people who can fulfill those needs. For Uber, the app brings drivers to people who need a ride. The term “sharing” implies that this transaction is somehow charitable or even personal, but as the Harvard Business Review opined, the companies in the sharing economy generate purely economic exchanges with “utilitarian, rather than social, value.” By this definition, the company supplying the technology simply facilitates an otherwise unlikely transaction between two people. Uber’s insistence on the autonomy of its drivers directly draws on this definition. Flexible hours, being your own boss, and the ability for anyone with a car to become a driver all create the false image that Uber drivers are more business partners than employees.

 

 

Driving for Uber is more than simply using an app to facilitate an exchange. There is a power relationship between the driver and the company.

But Uber exercises much more control over its ‘partners’ than vice versa. Drivers take on enormous and often understated liabilities and costs. They must pay for the maintenance of their vehicle, for gas, and for insurance, while at the same time Uber management sets their rates and terms of labour, including the right to deactivate drivers for a multitude of reasons beyond poor performance. In October 2014, Uber deactivated a driver’s account after he made “hateful statements regarding Uber through social media.” The hate speech cited was an article the driver tweeted out questioning the safety of Uber. Driving for Uber is more than simply using an app to facilitate an exchange. There is a power relationship between the driver and the company.

The sharing economy appeals to certain demographics, such as those who are already employed, as a way to make extra cash with low startup costs. Sites such as eBay, Craigslist, and Kijiji allow people to sell items and make money on something they otherwise might not have sold. Uber is different. In 2006, 50,110 people across Canada reported driving a cab as their primary source of income. Close to 40 per cent of Uber drivers have no other source of income. Uber doesn’t just attract potential drivers who are eager to work harder to supplement their income—it actively undercuts traditional taxi drivers and erodes the few protections awarded to those drivers in the first place. While Uber’s lower fares create a competitive edge against traditional taxi services, arguably to the benefit of consumers, this model is harmful to drivers for both Uber and traditional taxi services. In September 2014, Uber drivers argued that, “You can’t make a living working only for Uber.” This protest highlighted the core of what enables the service’s low pricing: The lack of collective bargaining power for its drivers.

Recently, the US Chamber of Commerce, a pro-business lobbying group unaffiliated with the US Government, sued Seattle for allowing Uber and Lyft drivers to unionize. A similar class-action lawsuit was launched by Uber and Lyft drivers who are seeking classification as full-time employees rather than independent contractors. Drivers argue their work deserves the basic protections awarded to employees such as a minimum wage, while Uber has argued the diversity of Uber drivers makes their classification as independent contractor necessary.

As traditional taxi drivers are squeezed out, more and more drivers are forced to move to Uber where they are stripped of their protections and considered increasingly expendable. So what’s to be done? A few have gone so far as to reimagine the future of Uber as a workers’ cooperative, in which workers who already own all the capital required to run the company control their own wages and collect the profits. But in the present, companies that expand precarious piecemeal work must be met with matching regulations to ensure the protection of their workers by recognizing them as employees, allowing their unionization, and providing benefits that full-time workers are guaranteed in other industries. As Uber continues to undercut traditional taxi companies and those drivers are forced to join Uber, this number will surely rise leaving many drivers without any basic protections.

 

 

 

a, Editorial, Opinion

Editorial: More inclusivity needed to improve the Co-Curricular Record

by McGill Tribune Editorial Board on

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The Co-Curricular Record (CCR) has been available through MyInvolvement since 2013. At the moment, students can track their involvement in athletics, student governance, McGill workshops, and Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) clubs. Administrators are currently discussing ways of expanding the CCR so that it can be used to improve student CVs. If this process continues, students will soon be able to request an official copy of the CCR signed by the deputy provost, thereby giving an activity official McGill verification. While these changes are designed to aid students in validating their extra-curricular activities, it also creates an arbitrary structure of what is considered valuable to the university. Rather than pitching the CCR as an essential component of the modern resume, it should be considered as a tool for students to track their engagement.

Proponents of the CCR contend that it will legitimize extra-curricular experiences for students and bolster their resumes post-graduation. Yet there is sparse evidence to suggest that a CCR is something that graduate schools or employers expect from applicants. At Queen’s University, for example, there was not enough student support for the implementation of a CCR and the project was abandoned. At Laurier, the program is voluntary and students must opt-in; its system also documents learning outcomes from involvement. At McGill, adding this nuance would improve the qualitative strength of the CCR, but cause problems in the process of validation. How the deputy provost, or any university administrator, would endorse the growth of a student in these terms remains unclear.

If the CCR is to take a more formal place alongside resumes, it must become more inclusive. In its current form, it suggests that volunteering one’s time is more valuable than being employed part-time. Students who are more financially constrained and unable to take less courses are disadvantaged by this line of thinking. The CCR is undoubtedly a useful tool for tracking involvement, but it must not become an additional burden for students who are unable to take unpaid internships or take on volunteer responsibilities.

The CCR is undoubtedly a useful tool for tracking involvement, but it must not become an additional burden for students who are unable to take unpaid internships or take on volunteer responsibilities.

Moreover, it is likely to encourage students to join more clubs at a superficial level. Quality may be accounted for by identifying how long a student has participated in a club, but, as SSMU Vice-President (VP) External Emily Boytinck has said, the CCR may encourage title-grabbing behaviour. This is not necessarily malicious—many students become members of various organizations throughout their time at McGill, but oftentimes that membership does not require full participation or engagement in the club or society. SSMU VP Clubs and Services Kimber Bialik has also argued that the CCR will be more beneficial to students who are involved in more organizations, thereby perpetuating superficial involvement. On the other hand, the CCR would help demonstrate how students use their time.

While there will be an expansion of the number of organizations and activities currently listed under the CCR, it excludes certain activities. Consequently, it creates a hierarchy that is both arbitrary and exclusionary. For example, positions for which you receive a stipend are ineligible; McGill-adjacent groups, such as CKUT and QPIRG, are not included; student activism is also excluded. Discouraging the voices of students, whether in media or activism, is a dangerous game. If a student participates in various activities, some of which are eligible for the CCR and some of which are not, the discrepancy would undoubtedly cause confusion with employers and reduce the value of the non-CCR activities. Students must be able to select which activities are included on the CCR.

The development of a CCR raises the need for the creation of a registry for clubs in SSMU. The CCR does require club supervisors to validate positions of executive members in a club, but how this verification will follow when students use the CCR after graduation is unclear. A complete registry would document membership through time so that employers may corroborate an applicant’s CV with greater ease. Rather than tracking down the individual who was president of the club after they themselves have graduated, students would have a secure place to direct potential employers. Instead of creating a hierarchical value system for student involvement, a registry would enable students to use the CCR as a tool while reducing the potential obstructions to verifying their involvement after graduation.

 

a, Opinion

Basic income tightens the belts of the most vulnerable

by Amin Guidara on

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The premier of Quebec, Philippe Couillard, has announced he was “serious” about implementing an unconditional basic income for all Quebec residents. This universal basic income, inspired by countries such as Finland, would replace all of the government’s current aid in revenue, such as welfare and tax credits. The Quebec Minister of Employment and Social Solidarity, François Blais, a proponent of this measure, said that it would be possible to initiate this reform in a span of 20 to 25 years. Universal basic income is a measure that all governments should consider as a potential solution to extreme poverty. But in this scary era of austerity, this aspiration to universal basic income is paradoxical.

It would take at least 20 years to implement basic income, but the government has, in less than two years, carried out severe budget cuts in several social programs. One such austerity measure is Bill 70, which can reduce welfare cheques if applicants refuse to enlist in programs to find a job or get more training. While it is easy to say that universal basic income is a ‘serious’ option, it seems like Couillard wants to make citizens forget about the harsh reality he has inflicted upon Quebecers. Thinking seriously about universal income does not help the many Quebecers who, at this very moment, have a considerably diminished quality of life due to the politics of austerity. Although basic income might reduce basic inequalities in day-to-day life such as housing, transport, and food, it cannot replace social programs.

During these 20 years before the implementation of a basic income scheme—while the province continues its austerity measures—standards of living will continue to diminish. First-time welfare applicants, who could have psychological problems, will have more difficulty getting enough money to survive due to Bill 70. Drug addicts will be left to themselves because financial assistance for rehabilitation has decreased from $750 to $200 a month, one of the biggest detox centres in Quebec, the Mélaric Centre, has closed, and 43 of the center’s patients have no other choice but to return to prison, even if it costs more for the government to jail them than assist them. Fields that are traditionally dominated by women, such as in teaching and nursing, will suffer a freeze in salaries. In that line of thought, Françoise David, spokesperson of Quebec Solidaire, said that “the government of Quebec has inflicted upon hundreds of thousands of female workers longer working hours and decreased salaries.”

Basic income has its flaws as a policy [….] It only helps the most basic needs, such as food and housing.

Basic income has its flaws as a policy. It is not the solution to all social problems. It only helps the most basic needs, such as food and housing. While this is an important achievement as currently one in six Canadian children face hunger every year, improving basic needs fulfillment does not solve other variables of socioeconomic inequality. Even with basic income, budget cuts in kindergartens due to austerity will affect kids in their lives later on. Basic income will not provide kids and teenagers who need the assistance of specialists, such as speech therapists and psychologists, to succeed. For example, a basic income scheme wouldn’t address the needs of autistic children, who only receive four hours of covered behavioural intervention instead of the necessary twenty. Small and medium-sized enterprises would become less financially stable as tax credits are cut as well. Workers who suffer a work-related accident or disease would still have less available compensation due to budget cuts in the Commission de la santé et de la sécurité du travail (CSST). The universal basic income is not the solution if there are no social programs in health and education.

Yet the real victims of these times of austerity—doctors and corporations—would be safe under a basic income scheme. Health and Social Services’ Minister Gaétan Barrette has offered a raise of “42 per cent for specialists and 34 per cent for general practitioners.” Bombardier received a bailout of “$1.3 billion no questions asked” to save the C-Series division that employs around 2,000 employees. These employees would be better off with a government-paid sabbatical year while finding another job, instead of supporting an unsustainable line of airplanes. After receiving the bailout, Bombardier has just announced the layoff of 2,400 employees in Quebec. In the end, the bailout did not even secure the jobs of Quebecer employees.

Even if universal basic income is a serious proposition, it cannot replace all social services that have been damaged by tremendous budget cuts. This ‘seriousness’ seems like a poisoned chalice; it looks good but it cannot solve everything, especially in health and education. The government’s obsession with a zero-deficit budget, which is the cause of so many cuts in social programs, looks to be more ideological than an actual economic necessity for Quebec. According to economist Pierre Fortin, austerity measures “could considerably damage economic growth, social stability and public administration’s effectiveness.” All in all, austerity measures are irresponsible in the economic and social sense. The government of Quebec needs to put a stop to austerity before seeking to resolve social inequalities through basic income. The timeline for its implementation is too long, and its results too ambiguous.

 

Amin Guidara is a first year Political Science and Software Engineering student. He enjoys watching soccer and Quentin Tarantino movies.

 

@McGillTribOp | [email protected]

 

 
a, Hockey, Know Your Athlete, Sports

Know Your Athlete: Melodie Daoust

by Zikomo Smith on

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Melodie Daoust is very busy. Jan. 8, half a day removed from captaining the Canadian Women’s Development team to a gold in Germany, the Senior physical education major stepped onto the ice in Martlet uniform to face Concordia.

“It is a lot of organization when you play for two teams, especially when you play for a team and you go to a school like McGill,” Doust said. “You try to balance your schoolwork with your hockey. It is possible for whoever wants to do it and put [their] heart into it.”

Daoust’s passion for hockey has driven her distinguished career. Her defining moment was making Team Canada Women’s that won gold in women’s hockey at the Sochi Olympics; she also represented Canada at the Under 18 (U18) level.  Daoust has dominated as a Martlet—winning titles in both the CIS and RSEQ league, as well as CIS Rookie-of-the-Year and MVP awards. In her childhood, she played multiple sports until deciding to follow in her family’s footsteps and play hockey.

“Basically, I was five years old and my brother and my father were playing hockey,” Daoust recounted. “I was doing figure skating at the time and I wanted to just be like them. So I [asked] my parents to put me into hockey.”

Daoust was heavily recruited, but turned down multiple scholarships by American universities to play at McGill instead, which she described as a “perfect fit.” However, Daoust did take a sabbatical from the Martlet team in the 2013-14 season to successfully pursue her dream of representing Canada at the Olympics.

“It was either you are going to stay in school and play hockey, or go live your dreams for the first time and experience it,” Daoust said. “It was not a tough choice.”

She has always relished the opportunity to put on the red-and-white uniform.

“The first time I received a call from the U18 program, that was a dream come true at that point,” Daoust said. “Just wearing the Team Canada jersey […] was just the best experience of my life[….] I don’t regret anything. It was a lot of work to get there, but once you are at that level, it is just an amazing experience overall.”

Daoust and the CIS no.3 ranked Martlets now have their focus on the CIS Nationals. They lost the RSEQ finals in a 4-3 Game 2 thriller against the Montreal Carabins, but still have the national title to play for. Daoust was struck by the strength of play in the RSEQ.

“The RSEQ is probably the best league in Canada to play in,” Daoust explained. “All the teams in the conference are getting better. It’s awesome—the goaltenders in our league seem to have made a huge difference this year, because there are not a lot of goals in comparison to other years. You can see that women’s game has really grown over the years.” 

Daoust still has a year left of eligibility in her McGill career. As for her studies, which she described as “number one,” Daoust particularly prized the fieldwork aspect of her physical education degree.

“It made me know what I am going to do when I have graduated,” Daoust elaborated. “And I really enjoy teaching and sharing my experience with the kids.”

As for her future in hockey, Daoust wants to play professionally in the CWHL. She is definitely one to watch out for in the future.

 

McGill Tribune (MT): What is your favourite show?

 

Melodie Daoust (MD): The Bachelor.

 

MT: Which street do you prefer, Rue Sainte-Catherine’s or Rue Saint-Laurent?

 

MD: Rue Sainte-Catherine’s.

 

MT: Who is your favourite superhero?

 

MD: Spiderman, because he’s flying around.

 

MT: What is your favourite meal to cook?

 

MD: Tartar.

a, Recipes, Student Life

Recipe: No-bake energy bites

by Julie Vanderperre on

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In an ideal world, students would have the time to prepare three healthy, hearty meals per day, with neat tupperwares of leftovers stored in the fridge, prepped for the week. In reality, students often end up eating out, snacking, and skipping meals due to their busy schedules. These energy bites are a healthy solution when you find yourself on campus in need of a quick snack to hold you over for that three hour class or an afternoon packed with meetings. They are easy to pack into a Ziploc and also work well for breakfast. Most importantly, they only require a few ingredients (most of which you probably already have), and they can be prepared in under 10 minutes. 

 

INGREDIENTS

1 cup of oats

½ cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips

½ cup of chopped walnuts

½ cup of peanut butter

1/3 cup of honey

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

 

DIRECTIONS

1.Combine all the ingredients in a bowl.

2. Form into balls using your hands.

3. Arrange balls on a baking sheet and freeze until set, about 1 hour. 

a, Arts & Entertainment, Theatre

Bring Your Own Juice (BYOJ) is serious about silliness

by Selin Altuntur on

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2016 marks the fourth year of the original sketch comedy troupe Bring Your Own Juice (BYOJ)’s of bringing unabashed silliness to a relatively stodgy campus atmosphere. The group, consisting of 10 student members, delivered a preview of their upcoming show at Players’ Theatre that was an absurd, surreal, and entertaining representation of its constituent members’ talents.

From the moment the show opened with a number about the growing sexual tension between two news anchors covering an annual “Grandparent’s Day Parade,” it became clear that BYOJ is serious about not taking itself seriously. At McGill, the majority of theatrical productions are highly thought out affairs, aiming to be streamlined and professional, putting months of planning and preparation into an adaptation of a known play. 

The beauty of sketch comedy is that it is a completely different species of theatre.  It doesn’t aim to transport you to some foreign realm with high production value or engross you in its calculated plot. Being funny is its first order of business—everything else works at the service of this main goal. This isn’t to say that there is less thought or work involved in a BYOJ production compared to something out of McGill’s drama department. As member Abbey Hipkin emphasizes, “the group both writes and develops its entire show in about a month, with rehearsals every day.” With only a small time frame to come up with an entire production, BYOJ’s sketches have a certain charming, imperfect quality about them that many long for in an academic environment that seeks perfection.

McGill is actually pretty late to join the sketch bandwagon, according to members Courtney Kassel and D.J. Mausner. 

“I’m from the US,” Kassel said. “Most universities have a sketch comedy group that’s pretty well known.”  

Sketch comedy is actually a big deal outside McGill, and it is very understandable why—it offers a judgment-free, creative environment where negativity is left at the door and weirdness is embraced. And this is certainly clear from an audience member’s standpoint when watching the sketches in action. Plot points range from cleverly satirical to completely surreal, and the actors’ complete lack of inhibition makes for a comfortable and loose atmosphere. Every segment is completely unlike anything one has watched before; and this constant feeling of having no idea what to expect is part of what makes watching BYOJ such a great experience. The group succeeds in not only being hilarious, but also innovative, relevant and clever.

Mausner emphasized that being members of the student demographic is a huge part of its success.  

“We’re very connected and we know what’s funny or interesting to write about first,” Mausner said, mentioning the group’s active involvement in student life and in Montreal’s comedy scene. 

The sketches themselves didn’t follow a discernable formula or theme, but nonetheless connected with the audience over very important cultural references, like #freethenipple for one. But perhaps one of the most endearing things about BYOJ is a very tight-knit group.  

“After spending every day together, you become really close,” Hipkin said. 

This is clearly conveyed in the performance, where the actors appear to be playing rather than working together. They make a very cohesive unit and their energy is infectious. The sketches are approachable and make you feel like you’re in on every joke.

If the press preview was any indication, the show that will mark the full culmination of BYOJ’s efforts in the past month promises to be a good time. Laughter really is the best medicine, and likely a perfect cap off to the dreary midterm season. Go with one or five friends that know how to take a joke, and you won’t be disappointed.

Bring Your Own Juice will be performing March 10 to 12 in Players’ Theatre at 8 p.m.. Tickets are $6.

a, McGill, Montreal, News

Rent for Centennial Centre at Macdonald increases under new MoA with McGill

by Ashley Kong on

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On Feb. 4, the Macdonald Campus Students’ Society (MCSS) signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) with the McGill administration, reducing the area of space in the Centennial Centre– the central student hub on campus– and increasing the student fee paid into the space. The renewed MoA will remain valid until 2020.

According to the renewed MoA, the area of space in Centennial Centre, granted to the MCSS for revenue generating activities, will be reduced from 3784 to 3043 square feet. Additionally, from 2016-2020, the MCSS will now have to pay $15.00/sq ft for the space, compared to the previous $13.00/sq ft with the rent being subjected to a $0.50 increase every year.

Originally, the McGill administration proposed a hike to $16.00/sq ft with a one-dollar increase every following year. Negotiations began early in 2015, however,  a consensus was not reached until last month. According to MCSS Vice-President (VP) Finance Nihal Mandanna C.P., MCSS could not accept the initial proposed increase.

“The negotiations dragged on so long [because] we were not going to agree with the one-dollar increase [per year],” Mandanna said. “We can’t justify that increase towards students [.…] The jump from $13 to $15 is a roughly 15 per cent increase. We didn’t feel [such a raise] on top of the one-dollar increase every single year […] is reasonable.”

Mandanna recalled that the administration’s justification for the proposed increase was that the rent for student spaces on Macdonald campus should be comparable to that of the Downtown campus. However, Mandanna raised the point that the populations of the two campuses differ greatly in size.

“[The Macdonald Campus] has a total undergraduate population of around 1,400 students, versus almost 30,000 in Downtown [campus],” Mandanna said.

The two parties eventually settled on a $0.50 annual increase.

“We managed to negotiate it down to only [a] 50 cents increase every year,” Mandanna recalled. “The good side to that is in five year’s time, we will be paying $17.50/sq ft, compared to the [originally proposed] $20.00/sq ft”

According to Mandanna, despite the rent hike, MCSS is not planning to increase its student fees for the time being.

“We are in pretty good financial standing,” he said. “So we don’t see the necessity to increase our student fees yet.”

He also pledged not to make The Ceilidh, the campus bar at Centennial Centre, a major source of profit for MCSS to cover its rent and expenses.

“I personally don’t necessarily agree with making money off alcohol, especially off your students,” he explained. “If we’re going to provide a bar, we want to provide a service—a space to hang out, a space to have a drink with friends or profs [….] At Mac, The Ceilidh is one of our only student spaces. As such, it is an essential part of Mac culture.”

According to President of MCGSS Nicolas Chatel-Launay, services provided by MCSS, such as The Ceilidh, form an integral part of graduate student life and welfare on Macdonald campus.

“The bar running well is a good thing for us [graduate students] as well,” Chatel-Launay said. “A lot of the bar staff are graduate students, and it is a tradition that the bar manager being a graduate student, usually a PhD. Also, it’s the social place here [.…] The bar is also open to staff and the department. When we have departmental seminars or parties, it’s in there, so everyone benefits.”

According to Post-Graduate Students’ Society (PGSS) Financial Officer Behrang Sharif, PGSS agreed to pay an annual fee to MCSS for members of its subsidiary organization on Macdonald Campus, the Macdonald Campus Graduate Students’ Society (MCGSS), to be able to use MCSS services.

 “We have recently negotiated and signed a [Memorandum of Agreement] with MCSS to pay $11 per MCGSS student to help fund services and clubs at Macdonald campus,” Sharif said. “This will be increased according to inflation every year.”

a, Letters to the Editor, Opinion

Letter to the editor: Tuition deregulation is a gamble at best, destructive at worst

by Alex Kpeglo-Hennessy and Erin Sobat on

More in a:

The Tribune’s editorial, “Deregulation at McGill should not necessitate an increase in international student tuition,” is inaccurate and unrealistic in depicting what tuition deregulation would entail for students.

First, it fails to clearly differentiate between equalization and deregulation policies; it is possible to eliminate the equalization model in Quebec without deregulating tuition fees. It also does not recognize the historical context of this system, which has been central in establishing francophone post-secondary education across the province. If Quebec international tuition fees primarily benefit McGill, mobilization against future increases might also be isolated to our campus.

In an earlier Tribune article, the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) Vice-President (VP) University Affairs, Chloe Rourke,  is clearly quoted as stating, “Every time tuition has been deregulated we have seen an immediate increase in tuition for international students.” While the university emphasizes the benefits of ending equalization, they are reticent to acknowledge the substantial increases made to fees in all deregulated programs, or the inevitable decrease in financial accessibility that follows. According to the Scholarships and Student Aid Office, despite increases to our financial aid program, in the  2013-2014 school yearthis covered only 25 per cent of tuition fees for international students in deregulated programs, compared to 54 per cent in regulated programs.

There is a particular risk of McGill using “market rates” to match international tuition to other Canadian or even American institutions. This follows the trend of deregulation here and at other schools, such as the University of British Columbia. If current trends continue, within a decade McGill programs deregulated in 2008 will have nearly tripled in cost. This is a reactionary process that shifts the burden of government cuts to students, rather than a real contribution towards improving the quality of education.

Thus, while it may be tempting to suggest that “McGill stands to benefit from deregulation,” it is unlikely that this scenario includes the diverse cohort of less privileged international students alluded to in the editorial. While the piece claims that international students have been more open to tuition increases, it is likely that those least opposed to hikes are also those who can already afford them.

We must be particularly wary of such assertions in our current climate, where the future plans of the administration are opaque at best. As student representatives, we are extremely concerned with both the quality and accessibility of our educational experience for a diverse student body. Significant budget cuts have severely threatened both of these values, and we are calling on the University to oppose provincial austerity measures instead of further offloading their impact on to students. Tuition increases, much like austerity, are not an economic necessity but a political choice.

Alex Kpeglo-Hennessy (U3 Honours Political Science) and Erin Sobat (U3 History) are the Arts undergraduate senators this year. They can be reached at [email protected] and [email protected]. This letter is co-signed by other members of the SSMU Senate Caucus: Benjamin Brunot (Law), Parvesh Chainani (Education), and David Benrimoh (medicine)

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