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a, News, SSMU

Equity policy could face revision following “Farnan-gate” backlash

by Jessica Fu on

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The Students’ Society of McGill University’s (SSMU) Equity Policy will undergo review in the upcoming weeks, following concerns regarding the processing of a complaint against Vice-President Internal Brian Farnan filed in October last year.

The issue arose after councillors raised concerns regarding the stages of the policy that led to Farnan’s Jan. 27 public apology in response to allegations of racial insensitivity. The apology has received widespread attention, much of it critical.

“The reaction on social media has been overwhelmingly negative, anyone who suggests otherwise is in denial,” said Arts representative Benjamin Reedijk.

On Oct. 17, Farnan sent out a weekly SSMU listerv that included a link to a .gif file of United States President Barack Obama kicking down a door, originally a clip that was manipulated and aired by The Tonight Show.

“There was a complaint issued; [and] the process was followed—the public process as equity complaints are done,” Farnan said.

According to the equity policy, a submitted complaint can undergo either an informal resolution or a formal resolution, which Farnan explained as the cause of the three-month delay between the submission of the complaint and his apology.

“When you add the informal, the formal, getting both sides to respond—each side has X amount of days—it just starts to add up,” Farnan said. “The goal is to solve it in an informal process. If it’s gone to a formal process, usually one can deduce that the informal process was not sufficient.”

Under the formal process, the complaint in question was forwarded to a SSMU equity officer, who made a recommendation upon investigation of the complaint.

“Depending on the nature and severity of the harassment, the remedies for policy violations may include, but are not limited to: letter(s) of apology, suspension of the respondent from their position within the SSMU, and […] dismissal of the respondent from their position within the SSMU,” the policy reads.

The recommendation was then brought to the confidential session of SSMU’s Dec. 5 Legislative Council meeting, where, according to the policy, it required two-thirds opposition to be overturned. Equity recommendations at this point cannot be revised.

According to Reedijk, an issue with this process is its reliance on the equity commissioner’s judgment.

“I question the power given to the equity commissioner,” Reedijk said. “[Farnan’s] case demonstrates that there are issues with the decision-making that occurs.”

Due to the policy’s confidentiality clauses, discussion of the issue is held in Council’s confidential session. Some councillors, however, have expressed concern with this stage, saying it lacks transparency.

“I’ve personally had people […] come up to me and say, ‘Why was this decision made; can you justify it?’” Science representative Devin Bissky-Dziadyk said. “The only thing I can say is [that] the equity policy was followed; we did what we were supposed to do, [and] everything was very, very official.”

Arts representative Kareem Ibrahim stressed the importance of protecting anonymity in this situation.

“A lot of the information would probably change the views of a lot of the people who are so quick to judge the situation and be critical of the decisions that were made,” he said. “[But] a lot of that information is confidential due to the nature of the process in order to protect those who have filed the complaints.”

However, clubs and services representative Elie Lubendo said the current system should be changed.

“The only thing that should be confidential is the identity of the [complainants],” he said. “Anything beyond that we should be allowed to say.”

Bissky-Dziadyk said deciding what could breach confidentiality would take longer than drawing an absolute line.

“SSMU has an obligation to be as open as possible; if that means a bit of extra work on our part, we should go through with it, as much as possible should be made public,” he said.

An overhaul of the policy had already been planned since the beginning of the academic year, according to SSMU Vice-President University Affairs Joey Shea, and will coincide with these recent concerns as a topic for upcoming Council sessions.

“At the beginning of September, we hired three researchers to do three equity research projects that were comparing SSMU’s equity policy with other universities’ equity policies, and those just finished,” Shea said. “It’ll be a consultative process, because there are a lot of people with a lot of different ideas about what’s wrong with it now.”

Bissky-Dziadyk emphasized the importance of creating institutional changes, such as the ability to revise equity recommendations to Council in the future.

“There needs to be a more dynamic process—that’s the reality of the world, a lot of decisions need a bit of back and forth,” he said. “We need to recognize that, as a group of students, [the policy] is just as malleable as any others.”

Changes to the equity policy are passed as motions at Council. Ibrahim said that despite negative response to the apology, the conversation is an important one to have.

“In reality, SSMU has gotten a lot of backlash […] from this complaint,” Ibrahim said. “I don’t think that there’s really a problem with how things have gone. It obviously could have gone a bit smoother, but I think it’s essential that the conversation that we’re having does happen.”

—Additional reporting by Abraham Moussako

a, Martlets, Sports

Volleyball: McGill eliminated at hands of Vert-et-Or

by Mayaz Alam on

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The goal for the McGill Martlets was straightforward heading into their matchup against the powerhouse no. 3 ranked Montreal Carabins: win the three sets needed to see themselves through to the post-season. Unfortunately, McGill’s Senior Night was not to be the magical send-off for seniors Marie-Christine Lapointe, Daphnée-Maude André-Morin, and Genevieve Plante, as McGill lost in four sets (25-11, 25-19, 22-25 25-19).

The Carabins jumped out to an early lead in the first game, winning by a lopsided score of 25-11. The pressure was on the Martlets to turn the game around in the second set as they needed to return to their gameplan.

“Against Montreal we need to serve very well—hard and precise—to force them to have an average serve receive and not be able to hit as well,” Head Coach Rachèle Beliveau explained. “Our first contacts of the rally serve or serve receive have to be executed very well in order to give us a chance to score a point.”

Throughout the game, the Martlets struggled to pass the ball consistently, with  broken plays in all four sets. However, sophomore power-hitter Ashley Norfleet made numerous hits off of broken plays to keep the Martlets in the game at the end of the second set. In addition to Norfleet, Plante showed veteran poise and leadership by scoring key points in the same set. The squad was aided by a string of unforced errors by the Carabins, which was ultimately not enough to make a difference.

A primary factor in the difficulty the Martlets’ defence had in setting up easy sets was the strength of the Carabins hitters. Any time the home squad began to mount a rally, the thundering strike of the Carabins’ Marie-Sophie Nadeau or Vicky Savard halted McGill in its tracks. The Carabins’ size was an undoubted advantage

“We also have to hit high and off the hands to score [against their height,]” Beliveau said. “We need to pass very well to permit us to use three hitters and create [favourable] one-on-one situations.”

One of the McGill squad’s defining characteristics was its grittiness. Whatever the Carabins threw at them, the Martlets refused to wilt under the pressure. It was a squad that played until the final whistle, giving multiple efforts on a consistent basis. This resilience proved to be the catalyst behind their third set victory. Lapointe and middle Marie-Pier Durivage combined for the clinching point on a monster block that was met with applause.

Norfleet led the squad with 15 points while Lapointe added nine along with a team-high 17 digs. André-Morin also had 17 digs in what was possibly the last home game of her career. The fifth-year senior still has one year of eligibility left, but has already left a legacy that any future libero will be hard-pressed to match. André-Morin was a two-time RSEQ Libero-of-the-Year, and also garnered CIS Libero-of-the-Year honours during the Martlets’ bronze medal winning campaign in the 2011-2012 season.

Following the loss against Montreal, McGill’s need was still one with only one game remaining—a winner-take-all matchup against Sherbrooke for a chance to enter the post-season. With their season on the line, the Martlets won the first set at Sherbrooke’s Pavillon Univestrie before dropping three consecutive sets. With their season forced to a premature end, all the team can do now is begin preparing for next year. All three graduating seniors have a remaining year of eligibility, but it will require a team effort for the program to make it back to the CIS championships.

“Our girls are very good workers.,” Beliveau said. “They train hard and are very much dedicated to the program. I have confidence that everyone will put the effort we need to improve over the off-season and our team will be ready.”

a, Martlets, Sports

10 Things: Curling

by Elie Waitzer on

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1

Curling is widely believed to be one of the oldest team sports. It evolved out of the medieval Scottish pastime of sliding smooth river stones, called “loafies”, on frozen lochs. Early forms of curling were especially popular among weavers, who adapted the rocks they used to weigh down their looms to the game by fixing detachable handles to them.

 

2

“Winnipeg, get ready to paint the town Burgundy… this is going to end terribly.” Last year, Ron Burgundy sent shockwaves through the curling world after announcing that he would be joining TSN’s coverage of Tim Horton’s Roar of the Rings—Canada’s official curling trials—as a commentator, proving that Curling has reached cult status.

 

3

From riverbed rocks and weighted jam-pails, today’s curling stones weigh a standard 42 lbs—equivalent to your average three-year-old—and can cost up to $700 each. Some other curling essentials include flexible pants, fibreglass brooms, and Teflon-soled shoes.

 

4

If you’ve recovered from that sticker shock, most professional competitions require that your stone be fitted with an electronic handle known as the “eye on the hog.” This sensor detects if the thrower’s hand is in contact with the handle as it passes the foul line and costs another $700.

 

5

Curling debuted at the Olympics as an exhibition sport at the 1924 Chamonix Winter Olympics and became a fully recognized Olympic sport in the 1998 Nagano Winter Olympics.

 

6

Canada is currently the top-ranked nation in the sport according to the World Curling Federation, with a total of eight Olympic medals heading into Sochi 2014. A little further down the international rankings, past the Scandinavian powerhouses and the United Kingdom, lies China ranked at number seven worldwide. The sport has exploded in China; its victory over Sweden in the 2009 World Curling Championships marked the first time an Asian team has ever won a major curling competition.

 

7

Curling has unique physical demands. In major events, a team will play up to 35 hours over 14 games. The sweepers may have the most demanding task as they are required to reduce the friction underneath the stone and influence the curl of its trajectory.

 

8

Though Scotland is home to the World Curling Federation, the sport is most popular in Canada, where it was introduced by Scottish immigrants. Established in 1807, the Royal Montreal Curling Club is the oldest sports club still active in North America.

 

9

Above all, good sportsmanship is the most integral part of the game. Even at high levels of competition, players are expected to call their own fouls and it is considered good etiquette to concede the game if you have no chance of winning.

 

10

Curling has been referenced to as “chess on ice” for its tactical nature. Curlers can employ three different types of shots: guards, draws, and takeouts. Teams can either choose to go on the offensive and put more stones in play, increasing the excitement and likelihood for defeat. On the contrary, they can choose to play defensively and limit the on-ice interaction.

a, Opinion

Government settlement weak in UNB strike

by Julie Vanderperre on

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Classes at the University of New Brunswick (UNB) resumed yesterday after more than two weeks of faculty strikes.  This development, following a long period of deadlock in negotiations, comes as welcome news to many UNB students who were worried about falling behind on their coursework, and frustrated with their wasted tuition. The bigger problem with the handling of this situation, however, is the half-baked, government-brokered settlement that ended the strike.

Professors at UNB, whose salary averages lag behind those of professors in many other Canadian universities, were seeking a 20 per cent increase in pay over the next four years.  The university believed this sum to be unworkable within the limits of their budget. The strike that ensued left over 10,000 students with cancelled classes, and resulted in widespread dissatisfaction among the student body, with some students even taking to the streets in protest.  Nevertheless, both parties remained in a deadlock.

On day 15 of the strike, the government demanded that both sides resume bargaining talks, and appointed a third-party mediator to advance negotiations.  The teachers’ union stood opposed to government intervention, maintaining that government involvement would interfere with their right to collective bargaining.  According to a CBC article, the union believed that, “A third-party resolution would get us all back to class, but would interfere with our members’ legal rights, could have negative long-term effects, and would not resolve underlying problems.”

Fast-forward two days, and the mediated negotiations have already resulted in an agreement.  The settlement accorded the faculty a 2.5 per cent increase each year for two years.  This amount is significantly less than their original demands and lower, still, than the proposed 9.5 per cent increase that the university had put on the table before the mediated negotiations began.

The government’s intervention in the strike clearly expedited the bargaining process, and students will now be able to resume classes without further delays. However, the agreement that was reached with the help of the mediator seems more like a quick fix, and less like a real solution that will truly satisfy both parties.  If the issue re-surfaces, we must then wonder if the government’s intervention was the right thing to do.

A panel discussion on the legalization of students’ right to strike held at Concordia University last week revolved around a similar question.  When, if ever, is government regulation of university strikes favorable? Panelists generally agreed that engaging the government as a means of legitimizing or mediating strikes limits the power of the labour movement.  While legalizing student strikes might seem like a useful way to legitimize the  practice, the formalization of such a right will also result in its restriction.  The same explanation may be applied to the mediation of the UNB faculty strikes.  The involvement of a third party mediator likely required both sides to make concessions that they otherwise wouldn’t have if left to bargain freely.

Collective bargaining is a key tool that union members use to exercise their influence. Government involvement, even if only to mediate discussions, undermines the give and take relationship between union members and employers. Although the process of collective bargaining is often frustrating and characterized by periods of deadlock, it’s the only means for union members to have their requests met.  The mediated negotiations allowed classes to resume, but if the professors’ underlying dissatisfaction remains, this artificial peace will prove to be no solution at all.

a, Student Life

Student of the Week: Ameya Pendse

by Hailey MacKinnon on

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Whether he’s running one of the biggest student groups on campus or starting up his own company, Ameya Pendse is involved in a variety of endeavours that play to his skills in entrepreneurship, organization, and public relations.

Pendse is currently the Vice-President Internal for the International Relations Students’ Association of McGill (IRSAM), a student group with over 200 members that hosts a variety of events related to international relations. This includes the prestigious McGill Model United Nations (McMUN) Conference, where Pendse served this year as a crisis director and ran one of 26 committees.

Pendse says he was encouraged to become more involved in university life after serving as President of Royal Victoria Hall’s Residence Council in his first year.

“I came out of second year and had a gap in my life,” he says. “I was lucky enough to make it onto IRSAM, and really lucky to become VP Internal after only being on IRSAM for one year.”

As a board member, Pendse has expanded the McGill International Review, a journal that publishes work on subjects in international relations. Previously the journal was only published once a year in print, but under Pendse’s term it has become an online platform. The switch means content is plentiful and up-to-date.

One of Pendse’s favourite parts of IRSAM is the opportunity to meet the other participants and coordinators.

“You get to meet a lot of cool people—members of IRSAM [come from] about 15 or 16 or countries,” he says. “Board [members] become really good friends and you get to know secretariats of each model UN conference, McMUN, and [the Secondary School UN Symposium].”

In a couple of weeks, Pendse will even have the opportunity to meet the consulate general of Pakistan when she comes to McGill to speak about the role of women in Pakistan.

In addition to IRSAM, Pendse is the co-founder of a company called Carte M Card—a student discount card that allows students to get up to 15 per cent off at select restaurants and pubs in Montreal.

He recalls how he and his business partner, U3 marketing student Ben Koring, became serious about the idea one day while the two were having lunch.

“We were talking about it and decided, let’s just do it,” Pendse says.

According to Pendse, starting the company wasn’t easy.

“I missed a lot of class and just spent a lot of time going [around] to businesses, talking to [owners] and offering contracts,” Pendse says.

Carte M Card can be used at 70 different businesses, including popular destinations among McGill students such as Peel Pub, MVP, and Smart Burger. The card costs $10 and is valid for the entire year.

Although Carte M Card was only launched two weeks ago, Pendse says it’s off to a good start. The company already has fifteen sales reps, and they may even be looking to expand into the US.

“[Carte M Card] already broke even, which is very hard for a start-up [company] in its first few months of existence,” he said.

Pendse hopes to take what he has learned—both on and off campus—as he pursues a degree in either law or business after graduation.

“[Starting a business] was a lot of work but it’s a completely different experience from learning in a classroom,” he says. “[I’m] really interested in business; [starting the company] showed me what it’s like to work in the real world.”

McGill Tribune: If you could only eat at one restaurant for the rest of your life, where would you eat?

Ameya Pendse: Hands-down Red Lobster; those biscuits are amazing.

 

MT: What’s your favourite Internet pastime?

AP: Facebook wins, but I’m starting to use Buzzfeed more and more everyday.

 

MT: If you could host any awards show, which would it be?

AP: The Oscars, just because it’s the Oscars. I just want to say, “And the Academy Award goes to…” in a British accent.

 

MT: What celebrity, dead or alive, would you most like to meet?

AP: I wish I had the chance to meet James Gandolfini, a.k.a. Tony Soprano. Best. Show. Ever.

 

MT: Do you have any hidden talents?

AP: Yes. That is all.

 

MT: What is one thing no one could pay you enough to do?

AP: Work for Tim Horton’s or Krispy Kreme. Dunkin’ Donuts forever.

a, Science & Technology, Student Research

Mapping out the path to entrepreneurship

by Christine Tam on

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You have a great idea for a revolutionary app that will make a huge difference in how we view the current technological industry. The problem is that you don’t have the money, contacts, or know-how to transform this idea into a marketable, profitable product. What do you do now?

The Science & Policy Exchange  Monthly Networking Event held at Thomson House on Jan. 27 attempted to answer that question. Titled “The State of Entrepreneurship in Canada,” the event focused on the process of starting a company or business venture as a student, and the many resources available to help you accomplish this. It was organized by the non-profit organization Science & Policy Exchange (SPE), which consists of a team of volunteer graduate students and post-doctoral fellows whose aim is to bridge the gap between science and policy in Quebec and the rest of Canada.

“This is the first in a series of networking events that we will be holding in 2014 to facilitate cross-sector engagement between government, industry, academia, and the public,” said Fanny Dupuy, President of SPE. “These forums represent a great opportunity for graduate student professional development, which is often severely under-emphasized in their training curriculum.”

The night started with a talk by Charles Morand, an investment professional at BDC Venture Capital. The venture capital arm of the Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC) is a government-owned financial services corporation that specializes in early-stage technology investments. In exchange for funding, BDC acquires a portion of equity in the companies it invests in.

“Venture capitalists are basically private equity investors in that they own shares in privately held companies; but what differentiates them from other investors is that they take a primarily technology-based risk,” Morand explained.

And a high risk it is—the company invests potentially millions of dollars in struggling, inexperienced start-ups that could very easily fail and bring everyone involved down with them. For that reason, companies like BDC will only invest in extraordinary ideas that have a high potential for success.

“Venture capitalists will look for something that’s disruptive, or at least radical, meaning that the technology you bring into market has the potential to fundamentally transform and improve the way things are done,” Morand said.

While Morand’s venture investors cater to more established start-ups with fully formed ideas and teams, the second speaker of the night Helge Seetzen often works with as little as raw intellectual property or a single technology alone, with no marketable product in mind.

Seetzen is the CEO and co-founder of TandemLaunch Technologies, a technology-transfer company that specifically helps university inventors transform their project or idea into innovative products and companies.

Seetzen presented some eye-opening statistics. Despite boasting one of the largest investments in applied academic research in Canada, Quebec’s return on that capital based on the number and worth of successful companies produced is amongst the lowest in the country. Quebec university students are also steering clear from the entrepreneurship path.

“Quebec universities have the lowest [‘Yes’] response rate [in Canada] on surveys to the question of ‘Would you like to build a business?’” Seetzen said.

He added that this result may partially be due to the inefficiency of the innovation process at universities. Seetzen explained that the process of convincing your professor that your idea merits more than just a publication, gathering enough money from administration to file a patent, and finding the prospects to license or buy the patent is likely to go the usual snail’s pace of academia.

This is where Seetzen and his team step in. TandemLaunch seeks to tighten that feedback loop—they amalgamate the necessary funds, contacts, and corporate partnerships to jump-start your idea into a viable company in a matter of months when it would have taken at least two to three years otherwise.

McGill alumnus Alexander Danco, who graduated in 2011 with a B.Sc in physiology and received his M.Sc in neuroscience in 2013, and his back pain-tracking app “Backtrack” is one such tech sapling that is in the process of being nurtured and raised by TandemLaunch into a fully grown, stand-alone company.

“I started thinking about back pain […] when I was in grad studies here in the neuroscience program at McGill,” Danco said. “When I was approaching graduation […] the thought was, okay, once all this is published, have we actually cured anyone’s back pain? The answer was basically no, unfortunately.”

So Danco went through TandemLaunch’s Entrepreneur-in-Residence program to develop Backtrack, a wearable patch on your back that collects and correlates data on movement and pain in order to better treat the chronic ailment. Though still in its infancy, Backtrack is gaining momentum in the physiotherapy world, and you may be seeing this clever device on store shelves in the very near future.

The take-home message from the three presentations of the night was overwhelmingly urgent: university students need to start innovating and building companies, since our generation is the driver of future wealth creation.

Offering tips and advice to students looking to get into entrepreneurship, Seetzen recommended learning something about as much as possible, including finance, sales, business development, and people management, since all of these skills will be extremely useful in the long run.

“A start-up that understands how that technology translates into a business context and how it makes money and how those processes work, will always [overcome] a start-up that just has a good technology,” Seetzen said.

 

Full disclosure: Christine Tam is a blogger for SPE and a general member of the organizing committee.

a, Men's Varsity, Sports

Hockey: Redmen split weekend series with Lancers

by Wyatt Fine-Gagné on

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Back-to-back games can be gruelling tasks in the sport of hockey, but the McGill Redmen managed to look fresh during the second of two home games against the Windsor Lancers this past weekend. The Redmen dropped Friday night’s game 4-3 in the shootout, but managed to rebound for a 6-2 win in a physical affair Saturday night.

The two teams combined for 76 penalty minutes Saturday evening over the course of a chippy three periods. The referees handed out three separate 10-minute misconducts—two to the Lancers and one to McGill’s Mathieu Pompei—and 23 minor penalties.

McGill’s Patrick Delisle-Houde opened the scoring 3:47 into the first period on a shot from the point that found its way through traffic and into the back of the net. Although it was their only goal of the period, the Redmen were strong right from the start, out-shooting Windsor and controlling even-strength play. This was a key difference between the first and second game, according to McGill Head Coach Kelly Nobes.

“You know, [a slow start] was our downfall in the game [on] Friday,” Nobes said. “In this league you have to play 60 minutes against the good teams.”

Although they have struggled as of late, Windsor remains in fourth place in a tough OUA West Division. They are also the second-most penalized team in the CIS, a possible factor in explaining the game’s rough play. At times it appeared as though players had forgotten about the puck and were simply focused on how best to hit or be hit. The Lancers and Redmen have not traditionally been rivals, but it certainly looked as though they were with emotions running high and scrums breaking out after the numerous whistles.

“One of the things that is important in a game like that is to keep your composure,” Nobes said. “We did a good job of it, knowing that if we kept working and being relentless, that we’d get our power-play chances.”

Nobes got his wish—20 seconds after forward Cedric McNicoll scored to put McGill up 2-1, left winger Delisle-Houde netted his second of the game on a power-play to make it 3-1. Delisle-Houde’s three points give him 24 on the year, tying his season total from 2012-13.

McGill’s dominant play against the Lancers continued to close out the game—the Redmen’s leading scorer Ryan McKiernan potted his 12th goal of the season to put the home team up 4-1 entering the third period. During the final frame McNicoll netted another goal and left winger Neal Prokop earned his sixth of the year, ending the game with a final score of 6-2.

Rookie goaltender Jacob Gervais-Chouinard was the unsung hero of the night, stopping 30 of 32 shots on his way to a win. Both Gervais-Chouinard and Windsor goalie Parker Van Buskirk faced significant pressure at times, but Gervais-Chouinard remained solid while Van Buskirk succumbed to the pressure, allowing four goals before being pulled at the end of the second period.

Saturday evening’s win brings McGill’s record to 19-5-2, good enough for 40 points and second place with two games left to play in the regular season.

“In the playoffs, the farther you go along, the more important it is to play 60 minutes,” Nobes said. “It’s so tight and there’s so much parity among the top teams.”

At this point in the season, the playoffs are a guarantee for the Redmen. No matter which team they draw in the post-season, however, the team will need to bring the type of full game effort they showed against Windsor on Saturday if they hope to succeed.

McGill’s next game is against UOIT on Feb. 7 at McConnell Arena. at 7:00 p.m.

a, Basketball, Behind the Bench, Sports

All-Star wars: the fandom menace

by Aaron Rose on

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In the week before the Super Bowl, the NFL launched its improved Pro Bowl format with teams being drafted by NFL legends, Deion Sanders and Jerry Rice. However, as much as the NFL tries to improve the Pro Bowl, the truth is that most fans see the event as a pitiful exhibition game that players don’t care about. Fans want to see the best players in the world compete at their highest level, and in a sport where injuries are abundant, the reality is that a competitive Pro Bowl is simply a pipe dream.

It seems that of the four major North American sports, only the NHL has figured out how to throw an entertaining All-Star weekend.  So how can the three other professional leagues improve their uninspired displays?

In 2003, Major League Baseball (MLB) made the All-Star game worth playing for when it decided to award the winning conference home-field advantage in the World Series. While the MLB got that one right, the decision also precluded other creative ideas for improving their All-Star weekend. For example, despite popular demand, Detroit Tigers pitcher Justin Verlander did not appear in the 2013 home run derby. Although nobody expected that Verlander would suddenly start launching moonshots, the MLB can rest assured that baseball fans would tune in to see the former CY Young winner take a few swings of the bat.

The NBA struggles with almost the exact opposite issue: nobody wants to participate in their supposed marquee event. For years now, the slam-dunk competition has been filled with a handful of no-name players. Fans want to see LeBron James soaring through the air—not afterthoughts such as former New York Knick James White. There are two easy fixes for this: new NBA commissioner Adam Silver can try to remind these players that they are both athletes and entertainers, or he can incentivize winners by giving a sum of money to the charity of the winner’s choice. You can be assured that James or any other superstar would sign up for the dunk contest if his reputation were on the line. The struggle now is for Silver to create a system that convinces stars to prove their worth against one another in this setting.

The dunk contest is just the beginning of the NBA All-Star weekend’s flaws. Most of the other events are painstakingly boring. How about a free throw competition where the only prerequisite is to have previously received the Hack-a-Shaq treatment? Think about the entertainment value of watching DeAndre Jordan, Andre Drummond, and Dwight Howard struggle to make just half their shots. On a more serious note, how about adding a one-on-one tournament? I would certainly want to see LeBron James go head-to-head with Kevin Durant in a first-to-11-points contest.

With regards to the specific players playing in the big game: this is a choice that should not be left to uneducated fans. The league needs to let the coaches vote for the All-Stars, as fans are more prone to vote for big names and star power rather than rewarding those who are currently having quality seasons. When Kobe Bryant is named a starter during a season in which he has only played six games, it becomes apparent that the system is flawed.

Returning to the NFL, how can a sport where someone gets hit on almost every play have an All-Star game where every player is afraid to get injured? Easy; remove the hitting. Athletes don’t play hard because they don’t want to get injured. However, if you prevent the likelihood of injury, intensity will be ramped up. Turning the Pro Bowl into flag football might fundamentally change the game but it ensures that fans get to see the league’s best players play with some vigour. Another welcome addition would be a return to the skills competition the NFL had featured until 2007. In its first go-around the event had little marketing, but it would be an interesting way to pit the best players in the “No Fun League” against each other in order to make their all-star weekend more, well, fun.

While designing these events, the “Big Four” leagues face a precarious balance between intensity and entertainment. With a little creativity and effort, however, they can achieve a product that both fans and players will be proud of.

a, Editorial, Opinion

The Tribune’s SSMU Winter GA endorsements

by McGill Tribune Editorial Board on

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Tomorrow, Wednesday Feb. 5, marks the Winter General Assembly (GA) of the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU). The GA is one of the few places in which students are able to debate, discuss, and directly communicate with their student government in a forum. This week’s event presents us with several resolutions that have the potential to impact student life.

 

The guarantee of freedom of dress in the SSMU Building: Yes, with reservations

This motion seeks to prevent the infringement of the right to “freedom of dress” in the SSMU Building and at SSMU events, and also seeks to  overturn any standing blanket bans on student dress. The motion reportedly stems from an equity complaint concerning the signature lab coats of the Plumbers’ Philharmonic Orchestra (PPO), a student group in the Faculty of Engineering. The lab coats, which have various—and often crude—drawings and writings on them, were considered offensive by some students. An equity complaint was filed last year and the coats are currently banned from the SSMU Building. The Tribune supports the resolution’s principle of freedom of expression, but stands by the vision laid out by the SSMU Equity Policy. The reversal of blanket bans such as this may lead to numerous case-by-case rulings to the same ends; although inefficient, this process is crucial in justly implementing the Equity Policy.

 

Inclusion of Academic Assessment Rights on Course Outlines: Yes 

This motion is in reference to several provisions in McGill’s University Student Assessment Policy that regulate the scheduling and weighing of exams. The first of the two provisions in question prohibits final exams from counting for more than 75 per cent of a course grade unless students are given an alternative option. The second mandates that if there are exams that count for more than 50 per cent of a class mark, one of those exams has to be offered in the final exam period.

In an attempt to improve compliance with these rules, the resolution seeks  to have SSMU support the mandatory addition of the two provisions, as well as other academic rights, on both course syllabi and in the student handbook. Although there are questions as to how this will be implemented, and whether the administration and professors will be willing to add more content to syllabi, the Tribune supports this resolution. Aside from logistical issues of how this mandate may be put into practice, the increased visibility­—and compliance with­—academic rights is a  goal SSMU should be working towards.

 

Timely Distribution of Course Information: Yes, with reservations

This motion would compel SSMU to lobby for the distribution of course syllabi as soon before the start of classes in the term as possible, on the grounds that the current system exposes students to scheduling and financial strains due to an inability to prepare before the start of classes. While the Tribune supports the intent of this resolution, the standard should be something more specific than “as early and as accurately as possible.” Presuming such a resolution is to be taken to McGill administration in lobbying for these changes, a clearer expectation of punctuality could form a better negotiating position.

 

Motion Regarding Sustainability at the SSMU: Abstain 

With the elimination of the Sustainability Coordinator position late last year, SSMU also created an ad-hoc committee on sustainability. With no clear progress from the committee to this point, this motion sets a timeline by which recommendations are to be made to the student body.

Throughout the various changes to SSMU’s sustainability framework over the past semester, very little has been accomplished. The elimination of the coordinator position represents a drastic shift in SSMU’s approach to sustainability; the implications of this shift have yet to be seen.

While we believe that sustainability should be a priority for SSMU, we advocate an abstention for two reasons. First, a GA motion should not be necessary to force a committee into action. Second, an abstention would reflect a dissatisfaction with SSMU’s lack of transparency in handling this matter, and a desire to see greater communication going forward.

 

Regarding the TPP and CETA: Abstain

This motion, would seek to have the SSMU officially take a stance against provisions of two trade agreements with the European  Union; the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), and the Comprehensive and Economic Trade Agreement (CETA). The two trade agreements contain provisions on pharmaceutical patents that have caused controversy due to predictions of cost increases. While this is a very important issue that students should take the time to consider, there are two major problems with this specific resolution. First, the issue in question is not only external to SSMU but lacks a sufficient nexus to university students, let alone McGill students, to warrant a stance on SSMUs part. Furthermore, these trade agreements are very detailed proposals with complex public policy implications that require more time and nuance than part of a GA can provide. Therefore, the Tribune supports an abstention on this resolution.

a, McGill, News

McGill alumnus, province’s youngest mayor, talks politics

by Shrinkhala Dawadi on

More in a:

Recent McGill graduate Antoine Tardif is one of the youngest mayors in the country.

Last November, Tardif—a 23-year-old McGill Class of 2013 graduate—was elected as the mayor of Daveluyville, Québec. Daveluyville is a small town located 90 minutes away from Montreal in the Centre-du-Québec region, with a population of approximately 1,000 people.

At his election, the former political science and economics double major became the youngest mayor in Quebec, and one of youngest mayors in the country. Tardif grew up in Daveluyville and came to McGill to pursue his bachelor’s degree. He cites his experience at McGill as one of the reasons for his involvement in politics.

“I had a lot of Québécois politics classes,” Tardif said. “We had a guest speaker come in, who was the Directeur General des Elections du Quebec, and he told us that people who were studying political science […] should get involved in the next [round of municipal] elections that were coming up in November 2013. I had this in the back of my mind, that there was going to be a wind of change considering that there’s a lot of corruption, and voters are going to be happy to see new faces.”

As one of Canada’s youngest mayors, Tardif sees his election as part of a growing anti-corruption movement within Quebec society.

“[I came] in at 23 years old, coming right out of school, and being aware of the corruption that’s been going on and wanting to change things,” he said. “I haven’t experienced anything close to corruption [as mayor], so that’s good. I think this is a movement that is going around.”

According to Tardif, the transition from student to mayor has been smooth. He credits McGill’s rigorous academic expectations with giving him the stamina required to work as mayor.

“I can say that having studied at McGill for four years, [I’ve] learned how to be organized,” Tardif said. “At McGill, it’s all the best students. If you want to pull some good grades you definitely have to put a lot of work into your studies and be really organized. Since I came to office, I work from 8-5 and I have meetings at night. Doing a lot of hours doesn’t scare me. I know that if I want to be successful, I’ll need to put a lot of time into it.”

As mayor, Tardif is focusing on creating jobs within Daveluyville, aiming to retain the city’s youth.

“In small towns like mine, it’s been seen over the last decade or so that the young people go away for their studies and they don’t come back,” he said. “If we want the youth and students to be interested in staying here, then they have to have the right conditions and they have to have jobs.”

For example, over the next four years, the town will be looking to attract industries to its recently developed industrial park, a development project in collaboration with a neighbouring city.

“We’re working very hard with the city of Victoriaville on an industrial park that’s on the side of highway 20,” he said. “It’s been [built] now, and there can be around 15 companies that can set up there. In the next two or three years, we’re going to be working very hard to attract companies to our industrial park.”

Tardif shared some words of wisdom for students aspiring to go into politics.

“[Don’t] be scared and jump right into it,” he said. “Believe in yourself. If you have that flame in you that tells you to go, you should go.”

 

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