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a, News, PGSS

PGSS disputes fee creation for Rutherford Park, Midnight Kitchen

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Graduate students will be able to vote on seven questions in the Post-Graduate Students’ Society (PGSS) Winter referendum period from  March 13 to 21.

Fund for Rutherford Park

One question seeks to levy a non-opt-outable fee of $3 per semester for PGSS members, up to and including the Winter 2019 semester. The fund would raise a total of $230,000 to $250,000 and will go towards updating Rutherford Park (Reservoir Field).

PGSS members have not previously paid such a fee, according to PGSS Academic Affairs Officer Adam Bouchard, as they traditionally use the athletics facilities less than undergraduate students.

Rutherford Park renovations, which would be coordinated by McGill Athletics, would include an artificial turf, a full sized soccer pitch, and lighting for evening events, which could be used by PGSS members.

“PGSS and its members will benefit greatly from this improvement in infrastructure right next to our building,” Bouchard said.

“Recently PGSS has been working with Drew Love, the director of athletics, to adjust the user fees and propose this project,” said Bouchard, who is also the chair of the “Yes” campaign for the question.

Elizabeth Cawley, PGSS members services officer and chair of the “No” campaign against the question, cited the $116.42 fee PGSS members already pay to McGill Athletics.

“Graduate students pay this high fee every semester and yet almost every service within athletics is pay-per-use—you have to pay an additional fee to take classes, for intramural sports, for access to the fitness centre etc,” she said. “I think that this fee should be voted down and athletics should be forced to re-evaluate their use of student money before asking us for a fee increase again.”

—Cece Zhang

Midnight Kitchen fee

This question proposes an opt-outable $0.50 per semester fee to fund Midnight Kitchen (MK), an organization that provides by-donation lunches to students throughout the week. It is currently financed solely by members of the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU).

Lorenzo Daieff, PGSS councillor and chair of the “Yes” campaign for the question, said Midnight Kitchen provides a valuable service to the entire student body.

“It seems fair and desirable for graduates, who currently do not support the MK in such a way, to make a similar—if not equal—contribution to a service that is, has, and always will be accessible to graduates,” Daieff said.

However, Jonathan Mooney, PGSS secretary-general and chair of the “No” committee, said the PGSS currently already pays over $4,000 annually to SSMU for access to its services, and the proposed fee would be an overlap.

“When you pay a personal fee to a service—rather than just through PGSS—you should be guaranteed the legal right to oversee how it is spent,” Mooney said. “Since Midnight Kitchen is a service of the SSMU, PGSS members would gain no legal right to determine how Midnight Kitchen is operated by paying this fee [….] We would simply be giving away money with no added accountability in return.”

Daieff noted that MK does not receive any funding from SSMU, so the new fee would not constitute a “double-pay.”

“[We] stress that grads are not “buying their way in” into the MK via the levy; they’ve always had access to the MK, and will continue to, even if the referendum fails,” Daieff said.

—Cece Zhang

uApply fee

Another question addresses the uApply application service fee charged to all graduate students. Currently $102.60, the question would increase the fee to $120.00 gradually over five years, starting this June. Mooney explained that the fee increase would benefit future graduate students.

“McGill made a big investment in the UApply system; graduate students can […] pay one fee for two graduate programs in two different departments, [whereas] before you would have to pay two fees for two applications to different programs,” he said. “[Changes have] made it a simpler process.”

According to Mooney, McGill spent more money than originally budgeted to create these changes, so the application fee increase is a way to balance out the costs.

There is no “No” campaign against this question.

—Chelsey Ju

Needs-Based Bursary fee

Another referendum question deals with a decrease in the Needs-Based Bursary Fee from the current amount of $4.01 to $1.01.

The Needs-Based Bursary fee was originally increased to $4.01 with the purpose of providing financial aid to students who demonstrated need. Priority for receiving this fund was given to students who were caring for dependents, or experienced specific hardships.

PGSS Financial Affairs Officer Erik Larson explained that the purpose of modifying this fee originally was to generate more revenue than would be required during a fiscal year. Now, the target amount of $150,000 has been reached for the fund.

“This additional revenue was to be used to create an endowment fund, which would be matched by the university,” Larson said. “At this point, we have the money ready to be endowed, and are negotiating the terms of endowment with the University.”

After creating this endowment, the idea is to use interest generated by the fund itself to meet the financial needs of the program.

“The new levy will be used to grow the endowment fund annually, which will allow the program to expand while reducing the current financial burden on students,” Larson said.

There is no “No” campaign against this question.

—Chelsey Ju

Increase to the PGSS membership fee

This question seeks to increase the PGSS regular membership fee from its current amount of $31.82 per semester to $33.33 starting in Fall 2014.

According to Larson, the additional money will go toward an increase in rent for Thomson House and the Coach House following ongoing negotiations with McGill.

“At this point just in our preliminary negotiations we realized that their increase in our rent is going to jack-up our rent prices a significant amount,” he said.

The increase has been calculated based on the expected worst-case scenario for the rent increase. Larson said any surplus would go toward new PGSS initiatives such as a free daycare service for members’.

There is no “No” campaign against this question.

—Sam Pinto

Increase in fee for PGSS Grants Program

This question seeks to increase the PGSS Grants Program fee from $1.26 per semester to $2.07 as of Fall 2014.

The program allows student groups to apply for grants in order to host either social or academic events.

Initially, the Grants Program was partially funded by PGSS, with the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies (GPS) matching contributions. However, last year the GPS withdrew their pledge due to financial issues, according to Larson.

Larson said the Grants Program has received more applications so far this school year than it has ever received before.

“What we’re hoping to do is to be able to get back to somewhat of the level that we were last year with this,” Larson said. “Unfortunately, it’s not going to cover nearly as much as the program needs, so in conjunction with [the fee increase], we’re also looking to revamp how the grants are being allocated.”

There is no “No” campaign against this question.

—Sam Pinto

PGSS Health and Dental Plan

The question seeks to renew the current PGSS Health and Dental Plan fee for three years, from September 2014 to August 2017. The proposed opt-outablefee would be at an annually adjusted rate not exceeding $242.04 for health insurance, and not exceeding $176.74 for dental insurance.

Callan Davey, a project manager for PGSS from the Alliance pour la santé étudiant de Québéc (ASEQ), said the plan is well-used by graduate students.

“It’s a very robust and well-used service, and currently we have over 7,000 PGSS members involved in the plan,” Davey explained. “Prescription drugs take up the most proportion of healthcare claims, and drives up the cost a lot. We want to make sure the financial side of the plan is balanced with the benefits, and make sure it’s meeting the need of students.”

There is no “No” campaign against this question.

—Cece Zhang

a, Student Life

Understanding unpaid internships

by Erica Friesen on

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Considering working for free this summer? In a grim labour market, unpaid internships seem to be a bizarre trend that has made life after graduation more even difficult. As internships are part of a grey zone often undefined and unregulated by legal frameworks, it’s important for students to be aware of the potential problems they may encounter in their search for an internship this summer.

Although internships have swiftly become the norm for young people entering the labour force, there is surprisingly little research conducted on the topic; for example, neither Statistics Canada nor Human Resources and Skills Development track statistics for interns, according to a recent article in the Toronto Star.

Andrew Langille, labour lawyer and founder of Youth and Work, a website aiming to spread information to young people about workplace law, said unpaid internships are most common in urban centres that have post-secondary institutions, a mature service sector, and an abundance of young people.

“Montreal has a huge problem with unpaid internships; tens of thousands of young workers are working for free every year,” he said. “The government is doing nothing.”

In much of the legal literature, in fact, internships don’t even share a common definition. A company can call a position an internship whether the employee is paid, unpaid, or receives academic credit for their work.

Unpaid internships, however, are usually the most troublesome for students.

“[An unpaid internship is] an experiential opportunity integrating knowledge gained in the classroom to an employment setting,” a statement from the Canadian Association of Career Educators and Employers reads. “The student’s work is supervised by a qualified professional and feedback is shared with the student on a regular or ongoing basis.”

Darlene Hnatchuk, director of McGill’s Career Planning Service (CaPS), said unpaid internships are supposed to provide more opportunities for learning than a typical position.

“Employment law varies by province and by territory, but typically any type of work where you are producing for the benefit of the employer or the organization should be paid work,” she said. “It’s about the amount of time you spend learning versus doing.”

If you’re not receiving adequate training or are stuck doing mindless busywork without pay, your internship may not even be legal. Additionally, you may not gain any valuable experience from the position—we’ve all heard the horror stories about interns stuck buying coffee and running errands for their employers.

According to Langille, many problems with unpaid internships stem from the failure of laws to address unpaid work.

“These laws were often written 20 to 30 years ago, when intern culture wasn’t a very big part of the labour market,” he said. “It’s an issue of regulatory failure on the part of the government insofar as they’re not properly regulating the youth labour market [….] This [is a] grey area that isn’t well understood, and the employers have been making full use of it.”

In addition, Langille said the regulatory systems in Canada fail to actively hold employers responsible for their adherence to laws.

“Historically the regulation of employment standards has been voluntary to clients or people having to report their employer, so there hasn’t been a lot of proactive enforcement of employment standards laws across Canada,” Langille said.

Because laws dealing with internships are often unclear, Hnatchuk recommends that students assess potential opportunities before proceeding with the applications. In some fields, such as publishing and advertising, unpaid internships are far more common than in others.

“If you are in a field where it’s critically important to get an internship but they tend to be unpaid, then it’s going to be very important for you to evaluate whether or not the objectives for that internship match your own,” she said. “[You need to] be asking some questions: what kind of training will I be receiving? What type of evaluation supervision will I be receiving? [….] Is there an opportunity later on to be employed?”

If an internship looks like it could be illegal, or you’re unsure whether it matches your career goals, Hnatchuk said students can book an appointment at CaPS to discuss the opportunity.

Langille also emphasized the need for students to educate themselves about their rights before accepting a position.

“If you know your rights going into a situation, you can avoid situations where you’re going to be exploited altogether,” he said. “It’s a way to defend yourself proactively without getting into a big legal fight down the road.”

For improving rights for young workers in the future, Langille said much of the power to create change lies in the hands of the government.

“The federal and provincial governments need to really step up and take a look at this problem, and look at the exclusions that often deny critical protections to young workers,” he said. “Young people really have to put pressure on the government to address the situation of the labour market and to come up with a regulatory model that defends the rights of young people in the workplace.”

a, Arts & Entertainment

Giller nominee aims high but can’t hit all targets

by Zoe Hoskin on

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“Most of the people who knew my mother either slept with her or wished they had, including me.”

Thus, Wayne Johnston opens his ninth novel, The Son of a Certain Woman, long listed for the 2013 Giller Prize. With this tale, Newfoundland-born Johnston attempts his long-held goal to “one day do for St. John’s, Newfoundland, what Joyce had done for Dublin,” as he states in an essay published in the Random House Canada online magazine, Hazlitt.

Johnston indeed makes the setting a fictional force in itself, yet his desire to paint a detailed portrait of St. John’s Newfoundland leads him towards such consistency that it bordered on redundancy. He creates an interesting premise filled with tensions and the potential for a myriad of wild events, yet he releases the pressure in a slow and predictable way. Johnston is successful in capturing the essence of St. John’s in the 1960s, but he does so at the cost of narrative creativity.

The story is told through the perspective of Percy Joyce, a boy born with unfavourable—at least in the eyes of his community—characteristics. He has dark red birthmarks all over his face and a condition wherein his hands, feet, and lower lip are oversized. All this, the townspeople think, is because Percy was sinfully conceived out of wedlock to a whorish mother and a father who didn’t stick around.

From the first chapter, Percy’s experiences are filtered through his mother Penelope’s protection and reasoning. As the most open-minded, autodidactic and secular of the town, she shelters Percy from the area’s Catholic oppression and tendency to sort and assimilate people. As he grows, Percy begins to independently organize his world with a questioning disposition and lips as loose as his mother’s mind is open. Approaching his age of reason and sexual development, Percy begins to cultivate his world as a series of binaries that provoke an ever-building tension in his perception between religion and secularity; judgement and tolerance; public affairs and secrets; intelligence and ignorance. Meanwhile, he becomes aware of his mother’s place in the town as the wanted, beautiful woman to strive for, a body and face to be admired by all. Out of all of Penelope’s suitors, her son Percy falls the hardest for her.

Johnston retains unity within his setting, characters, theme, and style throughout this long work. Thus, he creates an immersive experience in the bigoted town of St. John’s circa 1960, and in the troubled mind of a mother-lusting protagonist. However, the novel lacks dynamics, as Johnston tells the predictable path of Percy’s ever-intensifying sexual desire for his mother.

Nevertheless, Johnston’s style is a form of inventiveness in itself. He manages to portray intimate human relations by focusing on the rawness of their words while rarely using indicators such as “she said.” The resulting prose is translucent and tinted, like the beach glass of Newfoundland. Johnston also uses a unique listing technique, often through Penelope’s educated, allusive, spontaneous, and dramatic speech. In Penelope’s eyes, for example, St. John’s is “The City of the Sane, the Half Cracked, and the Unmistakably Demented. The City of the Open-Hearted, the Broken-Hearted, the Half-Hearted.”

Johnston’s verbal creativity is fitting as words hold great importance in the novel’s town. Johnston describes the small-town, closed-minded nature of his conception of St. John’s in the 1960s. The characters’ interactions centre on gossip, nosy speculation, teasing, and spilling secrets.

All in all, Wayne Johnston’s story starts with an exciting opening and closes off nicely; however, it sags significantly between these points. Johnston knows how to introduce and excuse his realistic, if static, painting of a unique boy born in a close-minded community.

a, Opinion

An & in the wilderness

by Esther Vinarov on

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Last year, I transferred from the Faculty of Arts into Arts & Science after falling in love with the Cognitive Science program. Having entered McGill from the U.S., I had actually expected Arts & Science to be the default––at most universities in the United States, it is the largest faculty, not one of the smallest. My fellow ArtSci peers have deemed this degree to be the best option for us, but we still worry a lot about our post-graduation plans—perhaps more so than most other students.

The McGill Bachelor of Arts & Science (BA&Sc) website cautions, “The breadth that is characteristic of the BA&Sc programs necessarily comes at the expense of depth in the Arts and the Science components viewed separately.” That’s all. Thanks for the warning, but McGill should do more to help assuage our fears. In an increasingly competitive job market, why are BA&Sc students content with spreading ourselves so thin? As one of many students unsure of the future, I am both comforted and terrified in my decision to choose an interdisciplinary academic program. I’m excited to be graduating with credits in philosophy, computer science, linguistics, neuroscience, and psychology, but I won’t be trained enough in any of these fields to stand out to a prospective employer in any specialized area. All I can hope for is that knowing the fundamentals in all of these disciplines will give me a unique edge, enough to propel me in my yet-to-be-declared future.

Recently, I came across a quote by science fiction writer Robert Heinlein, which captured the BA&Sc mentality: “A human being should be able to […] design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem […] cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, [and] die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.”

All ArtSci students will have to struggle with the benefits and drawbacks of our broad academic program. On the one hand, we are limiting ourselves from several higher-level courses and highly-specialized career opportunities, but on the other, we are striving for well-roundedness, holding on to the faith that a degree in Arts & Science will open more doors than it closes. We all have a conviction that dabbling in various fields is a better fit for us––personally, academically, or professionally.

Still, we need more exposure to interdisciplinary career opportunities, and we need encouragement to be creative and entrepreneurial. We need mentors and role models, and we need more integrative courses. The ampersand symbol is a source of anxiety as well as inspiration––it represents our rewarding multidisciplinary curriculum, but it also reminds us that we are caught between two faculties, without a real home. More often than not, we are swallowed up by the umbrella that is the Faculty of Science for issues related to advising and exchanges.

The ampersand thus serves as the perfect emblem for the Bachelor of Arts & Science Integrative Council (BASiC), which does what it can to relieve the anxiety and harness the creativity of Arts & Science students. While the university should be doing more to support its students, BASiC provides two initiatives through which students support each other: a conference and a journal, both entitled Ampersand, that serve as resources and outlets for the Arts & Science community.

This month, the conference will be bringing together students and leaders from all disciplines to network and engage with one another in order to generate dialogue and creativity. BA&Sc students stand at the intersection of potential cultural, technological, and artistic innovation, but McGill needs to do more to mediate discussion and engagement among its small population of Arts & Science students, and to give us the support we need to finish our degrees and do something useful with them.

Esther Vinarov is involved in organizing Ampersand: the Conference, which will take place on March 21 and 22. To learn more, join the Ampersand McGill Facebook group and follow the link to buy tickets ($7 for two days, $5 for one day).

a, Arts & Entertainment, Music

Run River North—Run River North

by Morgan Alexander on

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California based indie-pop group Run River North’s self-titled debut album exudes youthful passion and creativity that flows over kempt beats and calming lyrics. The six-member ensemble hailing from the San Fernando Valley area has perfected their unique brand of orchestral pop, trotting out one whimsical ballad after the another.

The opening track “Monsters Calling Home” introduces the band’s vocal harmonies, which are infused into every track and make for an interesting acoustic choral sound. Looking to “Growing Up” and “Banner,” the band’s true talent is evident in these ethereal group choruses. Beyond these lyrical nuances lies the band’s knack for exuding West Coast calm, even in their more ominous, soul-searching tracks.

The band faltered slightly in its unwillingness to take any musical risks. While they’ve solidified their skills in graceful folk beats and expansive lyrical themes, they remained reserved in their more rock-fueled tracks, such as “Fight to Keep” and “Somewhere.” Understandably, this is only their first full album; but if the band wants to establish itself in the music world, it needs to be willing to leap out of its narrow musical box.

Undeniably cool, calm, and collected, Run River North is precisely as it presents itself to be: a folky collective enhanced by waves of electric hooks and chamber pop vocal backings, and creators of a very promising debut.

a, Martlets, Sports

Track and field: Men’s 4x400m relay team captures silver at Nationals

by Wyatt Fine-Gagné on

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After a long season, the McGill track and field team made its final trip of the year last weekend to Edmonton to compete in the CIS championships. McGill broke several records at the recently renovated Butterdome as the nation’s best competed in one of the country’s premier track and field facilities. McGill’s lone trip to the podium came from the men’s 4x400m relay, which captured silver on the meet’s final day, breaking a team record in the process.

This silver lining came on the heels of a frustrating weekend for the program. McGill’s women finished near the bottom of the pool, placing 20th of 22 teams. The men, on the other hand, managed a 12th-place finish thanks to the late medal.

“The men’s [4x400m team] winning a silver was definitely [a highlight of the day,]” McGill Head Coach Dennis Barrett said. “[We were] missing one runner who couldn’t make it out for personal reasons, which didn’t help our [4x200m] relay. But the guys who were there did well.”

The weekend was dominated by the York Lions and Guelph Gryphons, who captured the men’s and women’s championships, respectively.

For York—the winners of the McGill Team Challenge in January—this championship is its first in 30 years. The Lions’ score of 103 points was just good enough to top the defending men’s champions from Guelph, who finished with 97 points. The Gryphons’ women’s squad scored a point fewer than its male counterpart, but still came out on top for the second title in their program’s history.

The three-day event capped off what was a difficult year for the squad. The team battled injuries throughout the season and never fully hit its stride. Fortunately for McGill, a number of its key competitors should be returning in the Fall. Of the silver-medal winning group, Vincent Parent-Pinchette and anchor Javier Montaivo will be returning, with Alexander Steinbrenner and Eric Ellemo graduating after this year. The foursome earned a time of 3:17.86—barely a second back of the gold medal-winning group from York.

McGill’s sophomore high jump star Caroline Tanguay put in a solid performance with one of her best jumps of the season measured at 1.73m. The jump, however, left Tanguay short of medal territory as she placed fourth, just 0.03m back of third-place Rachel Machin of Calgary. Still, the fourth-place finish was an improvement from the 2013 Championships in which she placed seventh. With plenty of time left in her university career, Tanguay still has room to improve and will have her sights set on a podium finish come next season.

Another of McGill’s rising stars, Dylan Golow, also managed to come within striking distance. The junior from Barrie, Ontario placed fifth in the Pentathlon, scoring 3637 points, 45 points fewer than the bronze medal-winner. This is a big step in the right direction for Golow, considering he failed to crack the top 10 last year. Barring any surprises, Golow—like Tanguay—will be back in the Fall and could be a favourite to medal this time next year.

Barrett has high hopes for next season’s team­­—especially if McGill is able to land the top recruits that it is after.

“We try and recruit as best we can,” he said. “We need a lot of athletes for our track program, unless we get 10 blue-chip athletes for both the men’s and women’s side.  Some of the recruits on our list right now […] first [have] to get into McGill and then we go from there.”

a, Men's Varsity, Sports

Hockey: Redmen win fifth OUA East title in six seasons

by Remi Lu on

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After sweeping the OUA East quarter-finals and semifinals with ease, the McGill Redmen entered the OUA East Finals riding a seven-game win streak to take on the no. 4 Carleton Ravens. The Ravens began the series with a statement win of 5-2 over the Redmen before dropping the second game to a resilient McGill team, 3-2. The seesaw series set the table for the last match on Sunday at Carleton, in which the Redmen prevailed 2-1 off of a game-winning shot by defenceman Jean-Philippe Mathieu. The win clinched the Redmen’s fifth  OUA Eastern Conference Championship in six years.

Characteristic to its starts in the two previous games in the series, the Redmen opened the match by scoring in the first period. This time the goal came by way of rookie Neal Prokop, who was assisted by 5’10” centre Cedric McNicoll and fellow left-winger Patrick Deslisle-Houde on the play. A frustrated Ravens team was unable to get on the board before the end of the period.

With its season on the line, Carleton increased its physicality as the match moved into the second frame, posting four penalties after a penalty-free first period. The Ravens’ scrappy play led to a goal at the 14:48 mark, which evened the score at 1-1. However, Mathieu paid Carleton back in turn, as the second-year defenseman scored on a power play with 2:43 remaining in the second period to clinch the game. The goal was Mathieu’s second of the series, after he netted a similar game-winner in Saturday’s matchup at McConnell Arena.

The Ravens were unable to get past McGill netminder Jacob Gervais-Chouinard in the third period despite posting an overall shot advantage of 34-27. The match improved the rookie goalie’s overall playoff record to 6-1.

The OUA Eastern Conference victory is the Redmen’s first since the 2011-12 squad, which went on to win the National Championship. Last year McGill finished its season with a disappointing loss to Nipissing University in the OUA semifinals after posting a conference record of 17-11. This year’s roster is relatively young, with 23 first- and second-year players, in contrast to the veteran-laden squad that hoisted the University Cup two seasons ago.

After the weekend’s loss, the Ravens will now go on to host the Lakehead Thunderwolves in the OUA bronze medal game. The winner of that game will earn a wildcard berth to the CIS National Championships.

The Redmen’s next task will be to face the Windsor Lancers in next Saturday’s OUA Queen’s Cup gold medal game. The series win against Carleton also guaranteed a spot for McGill at the CIS National Championships, which will take place in Saskatoon from Mar. 20-23.

a, Arts & Entertainment, Music

Deep Cuts: Songs to cure your insomnia

by Jacqueline Galbraith on

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Whiskey, Whiskey, Whiskey

Artist: John Mayer

Album: Born and Raised

Released: May 22, 2012

This peaceful track off of John Mayer’s fifth studio album stands out as a thoughtful lament, ornamented with simple harmonica and sparing guitar. Mayer’s soulful vocals create a comfortingly repetitive effect, evoking feelings of both melancholy and contentment in the listener. The barebones chorus manages to be both sad and beautiful in its minimalism.

Kiss Me

Artist: Ed Sheeran 

Album: +

Released: September 9, 2011

Singer/songwriter Ed Sheeran penned this ballad for his godparents, who got engaged after years of friendship. The couple asked him to sing at their wedding, but none of the covers he tried felt quite right, so he decided to write them their own love song. Sheeran dips into the lower end of his register for this one, and a guitar riff that can only be described as heartfelt make this number the musical equivalent of a warm hug.

A Cold Night Close to the End

Artist: Said the Whale

Album: Islands Disappear

Released: October 13, 2009

Vancouver-based indie rock band Said the Whale has a bevy of up-tempo tunes, but “A Cold Night Close to the End” slows things down, giving it a calming effect despite the slight rockabilly feel provided by the lead guitar. The band is known for incorporating natural imagery into their songs, and this tale about a nighttime hike in winter is no exception. This track will have you drifting off to its steady beat and gentle vocals in no time.

The Temptation of Adam

Artist: Josh Ritter

Album: The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter

Released: August 21, 2007

Ritter’s expert guitar skills set the perfect backdrop for this Cold War love story. Relaxing you into the rhythm, this number offers one lyrically intricate verse after another. The soothing instrumental breaks keep the track from feeling too busy and Ritter’s folksy vocals create a cozy atmosphere despite the final stanza, in which he raises the troubling question of temptation alluded to in the title.

a, News

Initiative seeks to create city-wide policy on affordable and accessible student housing

by Jenny Shen on

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A new initiative to study and develop affordable student housing in Montreal is gaining support from universities around the city.

After being approached by independent research organization L’Unité de travail pour l’implantation de logement étudiant (UTILE), the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) has begun to take part in UTILE’s citywide initiative.

UTILE is a non-profit organization created in Jan. 2013 by students from Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM), Université de Montréal (UdeM), and other Montreal universities. The organization is currently working on a project called Prospection des habitudes et aspirations résidentielles étudiantes (PHARE).

The purpose of the project is to collect data about student housing from a variety of universities in Montreal, with the intention of creating options for affordable student housing in the city.

“We created this non-profit because we realized that there’s absolutely no one that’s working on affordable student housing in Quebec,” Laurent Levesque, UTILE executive director, said. “One of the things we want to push forward is to record and have data on [the] Quebec student housing situation.”

According to SSMU Vice-President External Samuel Harris, UTILE initially approached SSMU and other student associations in the city in hopes of collaborating in data collection.

“There’s a lot of [data] about affordable housing, social housing—and those are very important—but [with] affordable student housing [….] a lot of advocacy and research has not been done,” Harris said. “There’s a lack of hard data, as opposed to anecdotal stories about the experiences of students.”

Similarly, the Concordia Student Union (CSU) also saw value in participating in this type of data collection.

“We’re very aware of the fact that housing is often a very serious concern for many students,” said Gene Marrow, CSU vice-president academic and representative for CSU in the PHARE initiative. “Through our Housing and Job Bank, which also acts as a sort of legal information clinic, we have the chance to learn about a lot of the individual situations facing students. However, without solid representative data, it is hard to dress a portrait of the average student at Concordia.”

On March 7, SSMU sent out a survey via email to a sample of SSMU members. It asked questions focused on the student’s current housing situations, factors considered when deciding on a new lease, and price ranges that are within the student’s budget.

“In April, we’ll have the data [and] what’s really exciting about this project is that the firm will produce the market […] for affordable student housing,” Levesque said.

After the data has been collected, UTILE and the student associations hope to use that information in order to develop student-housing policy. While a concrete policy has not been determined, the goal would be to ask the city to develop student housing policies that would make housing more affordable.

“We hope to publish this to make a case for the need for affordable student housing for Montreal , especially at a time where the need is recognized by private developers who are making luxury student housing in very high numbers,” Levesque said.

Levesque noted that the city has already expressed interest in the research.

“The city wanted to have more information on the student housing situation before going forward on the policy,” he said.

Alongside the current research initiative, UTILE is also looking for a location to build its first co-ops for student housing. Levesque said it will have 100 to 200 rooms, and construction will hopefully be completed by 2016.

“It’s already almost entirely funded […] from the government of Quebec, which created a pilot program [from] the Societé d’Habitation du Quebec (SHQ), which is funding our first building,” Levesque said. “Our project will be the first inside that program.”

Levesque explained that the co-op is just one example of the direction that UTILE hopes to take with this new concept of student housing. UTILE wants to create a more communal style of student living, with students from  different universities living together.

“We don’t want to only build student housing as we’ve been building [it] for 40 years,” said Levesque. “We think that it’s a great opportunity to rethink student housing and adapt it to the needs of students of the 21st century [….] The model we’re developing […] is based [on] communal living.”

a, Martlets, Men's Varsity, Sports

Sports briefs – Mar. 11

by Ben Carter-Whitney on

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Basketball

The Martlets completed a three-peat on March 1, claiming their third consecutive RSEQ title with a 63-50 win over the UQAM Citadins. Leading the way was RSEQ Player-of-the-Year, Mariam Sylla, who recorded a double-double—her 10th of the season—with 22 points and 13 rebounds.

The game featured a strong defensive showing from the Martlets, who held their opponents to a mere 21.2 per cent from the floor and 28.6 per cent from outside the arc. Particularly dominant defensively was co-captain Hélène Bibeau, who earned six of her nine rebounds on her own in what was her final RSEQ game.

The championship win came after a 46-35 takedown of Laval the day before, in which senior guard Françoise Charest led the way with 15 points. Sylla also had a strong night, chipping in seven points and 13 rebounds which, along with her performance against UQAM, earned her RSEQ Athlete-of-the-Week honours.

With the RSEQ title in hand, the Martlets will move to the CIS Championship weekend, to be held in Windsor, Ontario from March 14-16. They enter the tournament having placed seventh and fifth in the past two years respectively, and will be looking to continue their rise by improving on their past results.

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