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a, McGill, News

McGill renews its approach to sustainability with Vision 2020

by Victor Tang on

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On Oct. 16, McGill University launched the Vision 2020 Sustainability Strategy, a blueprint for increasing social, economic, and environmental sustainability in the McGill community. Over a hundred and fifty students attended the launch event at the Y-intersection last Thursday afternoon.

Developed under the mandate of the McGill’s 2010 sustainability policy, the strategy divides sustainability at McGill into five categories: Research and governance, administration, education, operations, and connectivity. It also outlines 14 priority actions that fall into the five categories, including increased student research geared towards sustainability, the development of campus hubs to foster a culture of sustainability, and a greater commitment towards green building standards.

The construction of the sustainability strategy was spearheaded by the McGill Office of Sustainability (MOOS) and funded by the Sustainability Projects Fund created in 2009. The consultation process took place over the span of two years.

“Since February 2012, over 1,000 McGill community members have contributed their visions and action ideas to this process through more than 20 public events, dozens of presentations, and online,” reads the document. “Students, staff, and faculty were engaged in countless conversations, world-café style discussions, flash consultations, one-on-one interviews, and working groups to imagine and plan for a more sustainable McGill.”

While previous drafts of the strategy included up to 51 priority actions, the final document was pared down to 14. The final draft was approved by the McGill senior administration in March of 2014 and was then later presented to the university’s Senate and Board of Governors.

Senior Communications Officer of MOOS Julia Solomon said that although the strategy specified a two year time frame from 2014-2016 for its objectives, the vision and goals would be relevant for many years to come.

“We chose a short period so that the actions would be tangible, and there would be a sense of urgency about moving them forward and reporting back on progress,” she said.

According to Solomon, the actions detailed by the Sustainability Strategy will be implemented by partners across the McGill campus. Vision 2020 has formally identified key institutions for accomplishing each action and the MOOS aims to facilitate the connection of departments and individuals in pursuit of these actions.

“Each of the priority actions has a lead partner—usually an administrative unit—who will work with many other groups, including student groups, to move that action forward,” Solomon said. “It’s also important to remember that the Sustainability Strategy is about more than the Priority Actions. The vision and goals are written so that anyone can identify with them, and there are many, many ways for individuals to contribute.”

Alan Chen, U3 Arts and Science and projects coordinator at the McGill Spaces Project, expressed optimism on the launch of the strategy.“With the principal’s name on the strategy and the Board of Governor’s approval, hopefully we’ll have a complementary administrative front to grassroots initiatives from students and staff moving forward on each of the priority actions listed in the Sustainability Strategy,” Chen said.

Kristen Perry, U3 Science (Agricultural and Environmental Sciences), also praised the strategy for bringing together sustainability efforts with a larger vision.

“There is already lots of wonderful work being done by various student groups and individuals on campus, but these have often been conducted in a certain degree of isolation from each other, so the strategy serves to create some overarching goals and help to bring people together around specific actions,” Perry said. “It also goes a long way in getting higher-level buy-in so that these initiatives can be more supported by McGill as an institution.”

Solomon noted that the project creates a conversation on campus about sustainability.

“The completion of the Vision 2020 Strategy is a huge milestone for McGill,” Solomon said. “We are in a great place now to make major progress on sustainability in the next few years­—partly because of what’s in the Sustainability Strategy, and partly because of how we all built it together.”

a, Opinion

Commentary: Public prayer in council meetings an intrusion of church into state

by Julie Vanderperre on

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The Supreme Court of Canada has reversed its decision regarding the constitutionality of public prayer at municipal council meetings. (more…)

a, Opinion

Commentary: Cameras guilty of obstructing justice

by Harry McAlevey on

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Two major murder trials have caputred global attention: Luka Magnotta’s alleged murder of a Concordia student, and handicapped Olympic star Oscar Pistorius’ shooting of his girlfriend in South Africa.
(more…)

woman grabs head
a, Arts & Entertainment, Theatre

Theatre Review: Monster

by Elizabeth McLellan on

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It’s difficult to describe the plot of Tuesday Night Café’s (TNC) one-person show Monster in words without dwarfing the experience. Narratives and characters are intricately interwoven, all powerfully represented by actress and co-director Laura Orozco, and the play achieves a sense unity and commonality despite the seemingly different stories. The acting was both mesmerizing and nearly flawless. Combining the elements of performance and design with an innovative set, the production manages to present a disturbing, meaningful, and dark exposé on the lives of those struggling with their demons.

Pieced together by a narrator, the play familiarizes us with the stories of various individuals, couples, and families, with characters ranging from a troubled young boy to a depressed man and his girlfriend. The temporality of events is mingled and confusing, but brings with it a dawning realization of the interconnectivity of the characters for the audience. At the start, we are presented with the story of a boy who tortures and kills his father. Initially presented from an outsiders’ perspective, the script quickly plunges directly into this world of hurt, with the story focusing on his parents in their youth and their surroundings. The narrator consistently returns from his monologues of various identities to cynically and almost angrily tie the stories together.

Orozco’s depictions of multiple men and women is convincingly real. Her shaved head and juxtaposing delicate features manifest both a gruff and depressed man and a perky yet delusional woman. Orozco’s appropriately confused and awkward depiction of a boy torturing his father is disturbing in a way that makes your stomach ache and your eyes burn. The presence of only one body on the stage allows all eyes and attention to be focused and engaged. This perhaps alleviated some of the stress of following both character movement and a complex story line; though complex, it certainly is.

The set featured a semicircle of chairs, a podium, a table strewn with booze bottles, a rocking chair that had been accessorized with a table holding cookies and a glass of water, and most notably, a screen looming behind with a number of still images projected in unison with the stories. They aren’t telling images—depicting  no more than the regular fixtures of a domestic environment—but when mixed with the bursting energy on stage, they explode into a visceral and all-consuming production. The sound effects are likewise elementary, but add to the eruption.

The play speaks to the devils inside all of us, affirming their existence, yet dealing with them in such a nuanced manner as to lead to no obvious, straightforward conclusion. Orozco’s performance, in combination with the set, creates a disturbing and dark scene. It was uncomfortable, taboo, and frankly, not for everyone. Some topics were so despondent that I felt they should not have been uttered—let alone embodied. It’s a performance that makes you think and ultimately feel. For many, this is undesirable, but as a work of art, it pushes boundaries and creates a passage for discourse about real world and existential issues—issues of mental illness, addiction, violence, identity, sense of purpose, and human nature. The production, however, leaves these issues open, and perhaps rightly so, as they contain no clear answers of hope, but serve as catalysts of highly important thought.

Monster runs from Oct. 22 to Oct. 25 at TNC Theatre (3485 McTavish) at 8 p.m. Student tickets are $6.

a, McGill, News

Project Salon 1861 aims to create community hub in Little Burgundy

by Morgan Alexander on

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This past Friday, Natalie Voland, president of Gestion immobilière Quo Vadis Benefits Corporation, discussed the link between architectural renovation and community growth during a Social Economy Initiative event as part of the Faculty of Management’s homecoming.

Voland received both her BA and her BSW from McGill University, after which she began working for a real estate firm, and has since worked to combine traditional business with community engagement. Presently, Quo Vadis is working on repurposing l’Eglise St. Joseph in the Little Burgundy neighbourhood into a cultural and entrepreneurial hub of the area. Voland stressed that the force driving this latest project was about addressing the needs of the community.

“We decided to listen to our clients,” Voland said, “And what a strange concept, because in real estate, people typically don’t listen.”

The transformed church, which is being referred to as ‘The Salon 1861,’ will house offices, conference centres, an area to be reserved for events, and a community centre that will have multiple exhibitions rotating throughout the year. The overarching goal is to encourage businesses to move into the area, thus boosting the economy and the overall livelihood of the community.

“We need more jobs here,” Voland stated. “We need to stop losing out  [on] amazing students because there are no opportunities here [….] Montreal is the coolest city on the planet—we are creative, we are fantastic, but we need to stay here and invest in here.”

Voland took a moment to stress the importance of having all aspects of business—be it real estate, entrepreneurship, research, or social improvement—work together towards an ultimate goal of improving Montreal as a whole.

“We need to start working together towards a shared economy,” Voland claimed. “We don’t necessarily need to wear Birkenstocks to understand that we all live in the same world together.”

Beyond her goals for the local citizens, Voland spoke to Quo Vadis’ involvement with multiple faculties within McGill on the project, beginning with the Desautels Faculty of Management.

“We wanted to work together with the Faculty of Management. Why? Because we needed to change the way business is done,” Voland explained. “Part of that is going top-down to the big companies saying you need to change your set-up, or we could approach people who are mouldable and be able to change how you think about business. They came up with something called the social innovators lab, which is being formed. It’s in its embryonic stage, but stay tuned and get involved.”

From there, Voland spoke on getting involved with the Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences in collaboration with the School of Dietetics and Human Nutrition to institute gardens in the area and run nutrition programs in the local schools. Additionally, Voland expressed hope to work with the Faculty of Religious Studies, the Faculty of Law, and the Schulich School of Music as part of a larger goal circulated around improving multiple facets of community life.

Professor Michael Jemtrud, former director of the School of Architecture, emphasized the role McGill students—especially The Facility for Architectural Research in Media and Mediation (FARMM)—will have in the development of Salon 1861.

“We are heavily involved and I think it benefits students immensely.” Jemtrud said.  “The Salon 1861 initiative has allowed students to be involved in the analysis of the historic building, the digital documentation and design of the church [and] the programming of the co-working space. [We] will be involved in the implementation of the environmental assessment method for the renovation and in-use certification.”

The largest partnership involved in the renovation is with the Quartier de l’Innovation (QI), a group established by École de technologie supérieure (ETS) and McGill in 2013 that focuses on research, cultural, and business collaborations with neighbourhoods throughout the Montreal area.

William Straw, professor of communication in the Department of Art History at McGill, who works with the cultural sector of QI, spoke to McGill’s role within the communities and the impact its presence can have.

“Any presence of universities—which are public institutions, at least in Quebec and Canada—in the neighbourhood is preferable to more restaurants or boutiques inasmuch as university-based research can be said as contributing to the public good,” Straw said. “For the same reason, the expansion of Concordia throughout the Guy-Saint Catherine’s area has given public institutions a presence that marks the neighbourhood in a better way than […] simply [opening] new businesses.”

Jemtrud elaborated on the challenges the project faces going forward.

“Processes such as [these] are notoriously slow and bureaucratic but all things considered, I think it has gone as well as [could] be,” he said. “The refurbishment […] will require further investment from various partners, particularly with the high standard that has been set for the environmental performance of the building. This will present several challenges, but all of the primary partners are committed to this goal.”

While the church is still in the early stages of its renovation—restrooms need to be added, fire escapes need to be brought up to code, and the building is not yet handicap accessible—Voland was confident in the future economic success the project would have. Straw also supported this statement, emphasizing that for students, community engagement is key.

“Students will benefit from conceiving their relationship in response to the expressed needs and desires of the community,” Straw said. “McGill as a whole will benefit from coming outside of its walls and interacting with other communities.”

a, Arts & Entertainment, Music

Deep Cuts: Sappy Duets

by Eric Noble-Marks on

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Ain’t No Mountain High Enough

Artist: Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell

Album: Single

Released: April 20,1967

Devotion and loyalty are two subjects that are underexplored in pop music. After all, it’s easy to be in love when it’s convenient, but the best relationships are often quite the opposite. Call me old-fashioned, but I think there’s something to be said for sticking it out when the going gets tough. “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” is the ultimate ode to making long-distance work, something some McGill students can relate to. Add in hints of glockenspiel and a classic James Jamerson bass groove and you get a timeless example of Motown’s feel-good R&B.

Under Pressure

Artist: Queen & David Bowie

Album: Single

Released: 1981

I know everyone knows this song. I know everything meaningful to say about it has likely already been said. I know it’s played at nearly every wedding reception and bar mitzvah as an ironic “throwback” song and will most likely be continue to be played at such events far into the future. I know it’s your dad’s favourite song. But every once and a while, this song will come on the radio or come up on shuffle on my iPod and I’ll start grinning like an idiot and forget how grown up I’m supposed to be. It taps into a youthful innocence that few other songs touch and for God’s sake, it’s just so catchy. Hey, at least admit it’s better than that “Dancing in the Streets” abomination that Bowie put out with Mick Jagger later in the ‘80s.

Don’t Give Up

Artist: Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush

Album: So

Released: May 19, 1986

Cheesy? Maybe, but there’s a humanity that shines through Gabriel and Bush’s 80’s pop-rock that makes it hold up almost 30 years later. Sometimes the best songs are the simplest. Don’t be fooled by the flowing synthesizers and sparse production, Gabriel’s character is going through some tough times. When he croons “No one wants you when you lose,” it feels like a punch to the gut. All is redeemed by Bush’s warm and tender chorus, in which the simple phrase “Don’t give up”  has never been presented with more intimacy or immediacy.

Grandloves

Artist: Purity Ring ft. Young Magic

Album: Shrines

Released: April 23, 2012

This is synth-pop at its finest. Megan James’ robotic siren song serves as the perfect foil to Young Magic’s mumble. They duel over Corin Roddick’s swelling beats, perfectly capturing the feeling of painful love. As with any Purity Ring song, the lyrics are cryptic enough that you never really know what the song’s about, but they work towards producing a truly mysterious and fascinating track.

a, McGill, News

Students debate military research on campus at policy reform forum

by Abraham Moussako on

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The Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) hosted a forum on military research on campus last Thursday. Led by SSMU VP University Affairs Claire Stewart-Kanigan and VP External Amina Moustaqim-Barrette, the event aimed to solicit student perspectives on campus research policies prior to McGill’s review of its policy on the conduct of research.

Debate centred on whether research on subjects with the explicit intent to affect harm should have a place on the McGill campus.

Arts Senator Kareem Ibrahim cited the diversity of students at McGill as a reason why military weapons research should not be on campus.

“Military affairs affect a wide variety of global communities that are all represented here at McGill,” Kareem said. “Not everyone in the world is on the same page, and it wouldn’t be representative of our community at McGill if we were to be participating in [military research], as I’m sure the Canadian military isn’t representative of the interests of the global community,”

The discussion comes as McGill prepares to conduct another review of its research ethics policy.

Most of the students in attendance were in favor of tighter regulations as a means to a complete elimination of military research on campus.

VP Finance Kathleen Bradley argued that the issue of values needs to be focused on the end-goal of the research.

“Values to a university should be open enough that people can do the research that is beneficial or important to their degree—where the university needs [to] exercise control in making sure its values are met is in the end-goal of the research,” Bradley said.

Joseph Broda, a U3 Engineering student and an army reservist, was one of the few in attendance to express a different viewpoint.

“If we’re going to say that military operations are not ethical, then we have to say that Canada having a military is also not ethical,” he said. “If Canada is going to continue to have a military, then we need to have continuous development of these technologies in order to protect our own troops’ lives.”

However, Broda was happy the event created a space for discussion of these issues.

“I think it’s great that these discussions exist, and I […] wish that more engineering and science students would come out to these sort of things and have their voices heard.” he said.

Stewart-Kanigan explained that she thought the event succeeded in clearly defining the sections of the policy that students would like to see examined, although she elaborated that the forum could have featured perspectives from a wider range of programs at McGill.

“I would have been happy to engage with the broader range of students, discipline-wise,” she said, citing low attendance from the departments where this kind of military research often occurs, such as engineering.

In addition to future consultation efforts, Stewart-Kanigan also cited the cleanup of vague language in the policy as an area to focus on moving forward.

“Greater specificity in regard to certain points of the regulation, such as terms like ‘morals’ and ‘ethics,’ and the practical translation of those terms into practice [are needed],” she said. 

a, Football, Sports

From the cheap seats: Rebuilding the Bills

by Morgan Alexander on

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The Buffalo Bills and the New England Patriots have a rivalry that extends back to the American Football League’s inaugural season in 1960. (more…)

SSMU Building at McGill
a, News, SSMU

Tariq Khan drops case against SSMU regarding the invalidation of his presidency

by Cece Zhang on

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Last Thursday, Tariq Khan withdrew his case against the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) and Elections SSMU regarding the invalidation of his electoral win as SSMU President in April 2014. (more…)

a, Features

A precipitous balancing act

by Caity Hui on

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Today’s academic landscape has drastically evolved from that of the past. As universities pump out an increasing number of graduate students each year, the grant money and academic positions once available to incoming researchers are now spread thin. This phenomenon has resulted in more efforts and minds contributing to the pool of scientific discovery—a state that, while beneficial for research progress, has led to greater job competion within the sciences. As such, women in science today must not only consider whether they want to start a family, but also how their rising career will fit into this equation.

One byproduct of this situation is that graduate students are now pursuing lengthier educations. Lauren Segall, the research facilitator for Natural and Health Sciences at Concordia University, explained that today’s competition in science has led to both women and men undertaking more extensive degrees. As a result, they are achieving financial security and job stability—two factors often considered before having children—significantly later on in their lives.

“Now, people are doing six years [for a] post-doctorate,” Segall said. “You’re graduating with your PhD when you’re 30 […] and then hopefully, you’ll find a tenure track position, meaning for six more years you’re working towards tenure furiously. So it takes until you’re 40 to have job security—is that when you’re going to have a family?”

This situation poses new challenges for both men and women; however, female scientists also face a biological clock that starts to tick quite rapidly years before reaching job security. As a result, they are, by virtue of nature, more pressured to make the decision earlier on in their careers as to whether they want to raise a family.

“In retrospect, it seems really crazy [to have decided] to have a child towards the end of my husband’s [and my own] PhD,” said Alanna Watt, assistant professor at McGill’s Department of Biology.

She emphasized that this decision should be made personally, depending more on mental preparedness than an exact point in one’s career. “It was kind of [an] unusual decision to have children so early in our careers. The challenges were mostly financial, but we kind of figured we could make it work, and we did manage.”

Karine Auclair, associate professor of chemistry at McGill, echoed Watt’s sentiments that, while financial security is a factor, starting a family is not restricted to certain stages of one’s work.

“I wanted to make sure I had a secure revenue to provide an unchanging environment for my future children,” Auclair said. “[But] I have heard of people doing it at any stage—undergraduate degree, graduate, post-doc, the very beginning of their job, or sort of like myself, semi-early in [their career.] I think it’s possible at all […] stages—it just depends on when the person is ready.”

Like any career, the demands of parenting and balancing one’s work outside of the home is far from a simple task. A career in research adds one more layer to this challenge, as many scientists are expected to take a more 24-hour approach to their research.

“In the hard sciences, there seems to be an expectation that you’re giving up one aspect of your life for another,” Segall said. “There’s no question that you’re in the lab. [If you’re not,] there is the sentiment that ‘you don’t take it seriously.’”

Auclair added that while pregnant, female researchers are expected to dedicate more time to their careers compared to women in other fields. Unlike many of her friends outside of science, she was unable to fully take a break during her maternity leave.

“I had to work and keep in touch with my research group,” Auclair said. “Despite the flexibility [science] offers, it was a difficult balance.”

Having a supportive partner, mirrored in one’s friends, family, and university department, is often the key to success for most women managing the balancing act between a developing career in academia and raising a family.

“My department is exceptional,” Auclair said. “We are very family oriented and there are lots of females in our department.”

Despite this support, Auclair noted that she and some of her colleagues have received negative comments for taking maternity leave. As labs often become a dangerous environment for women following conception—due to chemicals and other experimental techniques—they are unable to directly continue working on their research after a certain point in pregnancy.

“I can tell you that I have had [negative] comments made towards me and other colleagues regarding taking maternity leave, so I can’t even imagine the way it might be in other, [less supportive] departments,” Auclair said.

Segall also emphasized that one of the main barriers women face in science is taking a maternity leave. While women are no longer at risk of losing their jobs during pregnancy due to workplace policies now in place, many receive the distinct impression that both male and female colleagues interpret this decision as a lack of dedication to one’s research, consequently feeling pressure to return to the workforce as quickly as possible.

“I was TA-ing for someone who [decided to have a child and] was finishing up her PhD […] and two of her female colleagues in biology came up to her and said: ‘We’re disappointed in you; we thought you were more dedicated to your career than that,’” Segall recalled.

Watt added that the competitive nature of science might contribute to the pressure mothers feel when taking time away from their research. However, she noted that despite this competition, science’s meritocracy also means that starting a family ultimately shouldn’t impact a researcher’s career.

“I think there are very few people that would have a bias against you if you have children, if you are doing good science.” Watt said. “Science is merit based, and you are primarily evaluated by the quality of your work.”

However, a definitive stigma has existed within the sciences regarding maternity leave., according to Yvonne Myal, professor of pathology at the University of Manitoba. She explained that during her experience as a graduate student, this attitude discouraged many women in science from starting a family.

“When I was a young graduate student in the [1980s’] a number of my female colleagues chose not to have children.” Myal said. “I think male colleagues did not take you seriously [….] I even heard one of my older respected colleagues comment—upon hearing that one of the post-doctoral fellows was pregnant—that she could not possibly be a serious researcher. Those female colleagues who ‘dared’ to have babies always returned to work in a very short period of time.”

She notes that while this attitude has existed for decades, female researchers today are starting to see a change in the extent to which they are supported in raising a family.

“I certainly felt that women having babies was frowned upon [back then,] but that is definitely not the case these days,” Myal said.

One of the contributing factors to this shift in perspective is the more concerted effort made by funding agencies such as the National Sciences Engineering and Research Council (NSERC) towards offering solutions to female researchers to continue their research, unabated, following their pregnancy.

“Now, the agencies have this program where if you go on maternity leave you can extend your grant. So they will suspend your grant and [restart] it up, and even give you an extra year to spend your funds,” Segall explained. “Since the agencies themselves are making it easier for the researchers to start a family and support a family, the universities have also gotten on board.”

With progress, however, comes a reaction to the change. Segall acknowledged that some of her colleagues felt resentment within their departments for receiving an extension on their grants. There are also still many flaws within the system that continue to make the task of balancing academia and motherhood challenging. Auclair explains that even at McGill, where the system is normally supportive of women, loopholes exist that manage to fuel the stigma against women taking maternity leave.

She described an experience where, as an assistant professor, one of her research associates went on maternity leave. Auclair was under the impression that the Commission de la santé et de la sécurité du travail (CCST) would pay her associate’s salary during the leave. While the CCST did pay McGill, McGill used this money to cover alternate fees instead of her associate’s salary.

“If you think about that, it cost me thousands of dollars out of my pocket as an assistant professor [to pay my research associate,] so it would discourage anyone from hiring a female after that because [she might decide to have another child,]” Auclair said. “McGill is normally really good; you see [that] one of the best institutions that is trying to favour equality is still having problems, so I can only imagine those that are not trying their best.”

In the face of these challenges, these scientists emphasized the importance of women remaining resilient within the field of science. They stressed that while science may be tough and competitive, it is possible for women to balance academia and motherhood, especially when supported by their university, department, and family.

“Having a family while trying to establish oneself in an academic career is challenging but not unattainable or undoable,” Myal said. “It is a game-changer and involves re-strategizing and multitasking. I now see many of my female colleagues having […] families with much ease and grace.”

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