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McGill, News

Black students and organizations reflect on Black History Month ahead of the annual programming

by Elena Lee on

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February 2022 marks the sixth official celebration of Black History Month at McGill, though members of Montreal’s Black community, including student groups at McGill and Concordia University, have been leading the occasion for more than two decades. This year’s celebrations were organized by the Office of the Provost and Vice-Principal Academic (OPVPA) in partnership with the Faculty of Science and will include four main OPVPA events and more than 10 general events spearheaded by students, staff, and faculty. 

Since 2020, McGill’s Equity Office has partnered with a different faculty each year to organize Black History Month events. This year, the Faculty of Science teamed up with student groups such as the Black Students’ Network (BSN), Black Students Financial Society, and the African Studies Students’ Association.

In addition to events organized by the McGill administration, the McGill African Students’ Society (MASS) hosts their annual Africa Speaks Conference, which covers a variety of contemporary Afrocentric issues, and aims to expand discussions about African society and culture beyond the oft-discussed topic of “development.”

According to Joy Sebera, U2 Arts, this year’s theme is “Africa in the Media.” As MASS vice-resident Education, Sebera is the lead organizer of the Africa Speaks Conference 2022, which will explore the evolution of Africa’s creative industries.

“‘Africa in the Media’ aims to engage content creators, authors, entrepreneurs, and more in conversation about African media and art as well as the African presence, or lack thereof, in Western media,” said Sebera. 

Hassanatou Koulibaly, MASS president and U2 Arts & Science, appreciated the administration’s inclusion of student groups in the planning process of Black History Month 2022 was welcomed, but says that more needs to be done to spread the word to the wider McGill community.

“I think generally we appreciate the efforts made and the events planned and the consideration for student groups and the activities we may have individually planned,” Koulibaly said. “But we feel that visibility and awareness of these events definitely need to be worked on so that students and faculty at McGill are aware.”

Beulah Omo-Idowu, U3 Science, however, believes the problem extends beyond a simple lack of awareness about Black History Month. Omo-Idowu told the Tribune she had attempted to organize a Black History Month movie night for La Citadelle residence, where she is a floor fellow, but that it never came to fruition.

“People don’t like to be confronted with conversations about race, because, especially in spaces like McGill where it emphasises how diverse it is and how diverse we are, no one ever wants to examine where maybe they’re not being exactly inclusive,” Omo-Idowu said. 

When it comes to McGill as an institution, James McGill’s racist and colonial history, alongside the administration’s efforts to downplay it, have been well–documented and protested. While McGill’s Action Plan to Address Anti-Black Racism 2020-2025 discusses the university’s problematic glorification of James McGill, the Strategic Equity, Diversity & Inclusion Plan 2020-2025 makes no direct mention of his connection to the enslavement of Black people.

“[McGill is] lacking in terms of actually doing things outside of February,” Omo-Idowu said. “[Black History Month] celebrations are nice but [in regards to] the policies in this school, […] at least in my program, I have not seen any Black staff or professors.”

There remain few Black faculty and students at McGill. As of September 2020, only 14 of approximately 1,750 tenure-track and tenured professors—0.8 per cent—were Black, and during the Spring 2019 convocation ceremony, a total of 40 Black students accepted diplomas on stage. Black students and staff, who often report feelings of isolation and lack of representation, would benefit from a designated space in which they could bond and interact, suggested Koulibaly. 

“I think also creating a space for discussion with non-Black persons at McGill in a less formal setting than a town hall, for example, would also help bridge a gap at McGill,” Koulibaly added. “Beyond just the month of February, it would be nice to still see some of the excellence that exists in the Black community recognized.”

McGill, News

Reddit posts show student restlessness and deliberations about dropping out of McGill

by Sabrina Nelson on

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On Jan. 30, Chloe Legault, U1 Arts, made a reddit post asking whether it was too late to request a leave of absence due to her mental health. Subsequent discussion threads posted to the McGill subreddit have revealed that a number of students are considering dropping out, deferring, or taking a leave of absence due to mental health issues. 

Simon Kidd, U4 Arts and a moderator for the Reddit thread, has noticed the number of posts related to mental health issues steadily increase over the pandemic—though he says they have recently decreased since the return to in-person teaching. Posts from students contemplating dropping out were nothing new, however: Kidd says they were only frequent during stressful academic periods of the semester prior to the pandemic, whereas now they trend throughout the year. 

“Often mental health, physical health, or loss in the family is the driving force behind dropping out,” Kidd wrote in a message to The McGill Tribune. “The pandemic has led to an uptick of posts with users expressing their desire to drop out of McGill.”

Though most of her classes are currently delivered in a hybrid format, Legault says she is experiencing burnout, and that taking a break from school would be beneficial for her mental health. She says that McGill has not been very accommodating throughout her struggles with depression and anxiety, citing a lack of accessibility to the Wellness Hub.   

“I wish I could say the university is accommodating,” Legault said. “They offer the idea, ‘Here are some mental health resources on the Hub,’ but usually the counselors or psychiatrists are too busy.”

Olivia Bornyi, U2 Arts and the mental health outreach coordinator for the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU), told the Tribune in an email that she, too, has noticed an increase in burnout and hopelessness due to the unique circumstances of the pandemic. 

“I think everyone is tired of feeling uncertain and having to constantly adapt,” Bornyi wrote. “I definitely believe that students feel overwhelmed during online classes with an ever-growing workload, not to mention other responsibilities such as clubs or part-time jobs.”

Bornyi noted that difficulty accessing mental health services has only compounded the struggle.

“Accessing student mental health services has been hard, with both the Wellness Hub having long wait times and provincial services lacking in accommodation for students that need immediate assistance,” Bornyi wrote. “Throughout Mental Health Action Week, the general sentiment seemed to be that people were feeling lonely and missing social interaction.”

Frédérique Mazerolle, a McGill media relations officer, stated in an email to the Tribune that the university had not observed a rise in university withdrawals throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. 

“Fall 2021 enrollment (39,267 students) is comparable to Fall 2020 (39,736 students) and Fall 2019 (39,664 students),” Mazerolle wrote. “In fact, withdrawal numbers are, since the first semester impacted by the pandemic (Winter 2020), down compared to the terms preceding the pandemic.”

Legault has, however, abandoned the idea of taking a leave of absence. Since the Arts OASIS notes that the request must be made before the withdrawal with a full refund deadline, she assumed that it was too late. 

“There is no definitive statement from McGill that I can find, but what I gathered is that you can probably get a leave of absence for mental health issues provided that you get the proper documentation,” Legault wrote. “If McGill wants to be more progressive about mental health issues, they must be more forward and transparent about [leaves of absence].”Students seeking support can contact the SSMU Mental Health team, and Keep.meSAFE. Students can also consult the McGill mental health webpage.

Science & Technology

Projecting global temperatures more accurately

by Sonja Soo on

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Estimating global climate change with any degree of accuracy is no easy feat. Although climate models all agree that global temperatures are increasing, the rate and extent to which predictions differ leaves us with uncertainty. For example, it is unclear when the Earth will surpass key temperature thresholds, such as the 1.5 degrees Celsius limit set out by the Paris Agreement, past which a slew of negative climate impacts will become inevitable. 

A group of scientists at McGill found a new way to project climate change more accurately using new mathematical equations that incorporate the Earth’s energy balance. These results were recently published in the journal Earth System Dynamics in a study led by former graduate student Roman Procyk and professor Shaun Lovejoy from the Department of Physics. 

“It is common in geophysics to start with a mathematical result or model and then try to find an application,” Lovejoy said in an interview with the McGill Tribune. “I proceeded in the opposite manner.” 

Early in his career, Lovejoy focussed on discovering scaling relationships between large and small structures, such as weather systems and clouds. This symmetry principle can be seen in objects such as “fractals,” which have patterns that, when zoomed in, repeat exactly the same pattern ad infinitum. For example, a tree has branches that also have smaller branches, and those branches have even smaller branches, all of which resemble trees at different scales. Understanding these scaling relationships in the atmosphere helped Lovejoy discover the macroweather regime—an intermediate period that is distinct from short-term weather, or atmospheric conditions in periods of less than 10 days, and long-term climate, or atmospheric conditions over decades. 

While other models projected climate by simulating weather in the long term, Lovejoy and his group projected their climate model based on this macroweather regime. To simulate weather, researchers must take many details into account, such as the shapes of clouds, altogether resulting in a huge computational burden. But by making the model directly in the macroweather regime, these details become irrelevant because variations in these details will average out over a long period of time.

Additionally, this new model incorporates equations for the Earth’s energy balance—an energy exchange between the solar energy input from the sun and thermal energy output to outer space. However, because of greenhouse gases which trap heat due to their molecular structures, there is less energy leaving than coming in, disrupting this balance and contributing to global warming. The key aspect of this new model is that it takes into account this extra energy stored on Earth by applying principles of scaling. Adding in the collective behaviour of other atmospheric structures such as clouds and weather, Lovejoy and his group were able to project climate temperatures to 2100.

 “Our projections overlap a huge amount with the IPCC projections,” Lovejoy said, referring to the projections used by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. “They fundamentally agree with each other, but our uncertainty range is quite smaller.”

This means that there is a narrower timeframe for reaching the 1.5 C limit. To date, human activity has caused global warming to reach 1 C above pre-industrial times. Many people have witnessed and suffered the effects of climate change in the last few years, with wildfires in California and severe floods in Europe. Lower-income countries have experienced food insecurity, increased poverty, and climate migration as a result of these extreme weather changes. Exceeding the 1.5 C threshold would mean that heatwaves, storms, and floods will become more and more frequent.

Climate projections have important implications for individuals’ everyday decision making, from planning what crops to grow to choosing where to live. At the infrastructure level, climate predictions guide mitigation policies, such as for managing floods or building seawalls. With the smaller uncertainty range projected by this new model, Lovejoy says that this means less “wiggle room” for politicians when it comes to reaching their targets—policies will have to be more stringent about reaching their goals.

With these promising results, his group hopes to extend this model to make regional climate projections. But first, they aim to further understand and improve the model by trying techniques such as testing its accuracy against satellite data. 

“This [model] is the beginning of something that will be going on for a long time,” Lovejoy said. “It’s going to be really interesting times.” 

Art, Arts & Entertainment

‘Landscapes, Colour and a Portrait’ exhibit adds colour and vitality to winter days

by Anna Berglas on

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Landscapes, Colour and a Portrait is a one-room exhibit currently hosted by Bradley Ertaskiran, a gallery nestled in the Saint-Henri area. Featuring pieces painted by Toronto-based Canadian artist Kim Dorland, the exhibit portrays 13 forests and a single portrait. As traditional depictions of winter landscapes are often seas of grays, the brightly coloured oil paintings of foliage and sky are an especially compelling collection. 

Dorland employs three-dimensional aspects of visual art to create a diverse array of texture-based effects, which add dimensionality—literally—to the viewing experience. Many of the artworks invite viewers into a dense, deep forest.  For instance, his large painting Black depicts a forest in monochrome black, with brush strokes creating tree-like shapes amongst what is otherwise a homogeneous canvas. Additional techniques are featured in Orange and Pink, which has globs of thick paint that curl downwards to resemble shrubbery. In The Fence, the paint is a translucent wash which reveals the canvas underneath.

Contrasting colours are also a focal point of Dorland’s work. In Pink and White, for instance, a neon pink background affronts the eyes, and the whiteness of the trees contrasts with a psychedelic sky behind it. The landscapes aren’t realistic, nor can they be tied to specific locations, but they nevertheless possess an air of nostalgia for a viewer familiar with the Canadian winterscape. The depth of paint strokes, as well as their wild direction, is reminiscent of thick foliage. The absolute white emerging from harsh colour is similar to the blinding reflectivity of freshly fallen snow. 

Viewers can then turn their attention to the uneasiness present in many paintings, which surfaces through the tangles of brushstrokes and unnatural neons. As written in the exhibit description, Dorland’s landscape follows the stakes of the climate emergency from vague concern to approaching palpable reality. In light of this helpful interpretive guide, one can see an undercurrent of climate crisis-related panic running through many of Dorland’s pieces. A particularly striking example is Smoke, which depicts the sky above a burning forest. At the bottom of the painting, the top of a black treeline lies beneath a red sky with trails of white smoke. Rather than drawing the viewer’s eyes to the forest below, the smoke situates the viewer’s perspective into the atmosphere, where the smoke from forest fires, which are ironically also often exacerbated by climate change, further contribute to the greenhouse effect. In Smoke, Dorland makes subtle, but poignant, social commentary: Just as a fire rages beyond the painting’s frame, the forces propelling climate change, such as the emission of greenhouse gases and building of pipelines, are invisible to many. 

The final photo, if viewers circle the room, is a portrait of a girl called Lori. She is bisected by different colours, and her face is demolished with thick paint smears. The brushstrokes leave traces of the canvas underneath, and there is a troubling sense of incompleteness as the featureless face confronts viewers at eye level. 

The masses of oil pants Dorland works with artfully impress depth and chaos to the forests and Lori. The journey from deep pink to pure black to olive green is a reflection of the turbulence witnessed in the environment today. The more time spent in Landscapes, Colour and a Portrait, the more the paintings reveal themselves to be a dreamlike meditation on the tensions of our relationship with the outside world. It is a thought-provoking and moving experience.

The art gallery is free and open to the public without reservation and can be visited during 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Wednesday through Friday, and 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturdays, until Feb. 26.

Album Reviews, Arts & Entertainment, Music

Saba’s ‘Few Good Things’ is a musical scrapbook

by Isabella González on

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Four years after the release of his second studio album, the pain-ridden CARE FOR ME, Chicago-based rapper Saba has returned with Few Good Things, released on Feb. 4. This new project takes a refreshing step away from the despair of its predecessor, with Saba reflecting upon what he loves and appreciates in his life through his lyrical storytelling. Although the songs lack musical cohesiveness, Saba’s exploration of new themes and emotions makes up for it, creating a stunning album packed with stories of his life.

For most of the 48-minute project, Saba remains in his comfort zone of melodic beats and rhythmic flow. In “Still,” guest features Smino and 6LACK flow well with Saba as he explains his fast-paced life, over airy percussion and a mellow bass line. However, Saba does occasionally venture into uncharted territory. Unlike his more mellow tracks in past albums, Saba successfully creates a joyful tone in “Fearmonger.” Here, he juxtaposes the bright beat of the song with an amusing monotone flow, a perfect addition to the playful character of the track. While Saba’s mix of style is generally pleasant, his experiments with rhythm and percussion in “A Simpler Time” are sloppy at best. Saba’s verses provide some stability in the song, but overall, the beat feels disjointed, with just a few ad libs, drum beats, and sound effects thrown around randomly.

The lack of sonic consistency in Few Good Things ideally paints Saba’s changing emotions and perspectives, despite the new musical endeavours not always succeeding. Saba contrasts hard-hitting, drill inspired songs like “Survivor’s Guilt,” which vividly details his adolescence in disadvantaged, marginalized Black communities, with ambient pieces like “2012,” where he candidly reflects on his meaningful and affectionate childhood. Thematically, the album is very consistent, exploring the topics of money, gratitude, and fame. On “Make Believe,” one of the most stunning songs off the album, Saba raps solemnly over fluttering synths about making it in the music industry: “Cause Black boys on this side of town not supposed to be on / the front page of the newspaper / For doing greater.”

Few Good Things feels like a scrapbook. Saba experiments with new sounds and instrumentation, sometimes succeeding and other times falling short. Although the album is slightly disjointed, overall it is an honest reflection of Saba’s emotions, capturing him doing what feels right musically. 

Student Life

EDRSC event explores junctions of mental health, chronic illness, and eating disorders

by Monika Maneva on

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Content warning: disordered eating

On Jan. 29, the Students’ Society of McGill University’s Eating Disorder Resource and Support Centre (EDRSC) hosted the panel, “Intersection of Mental Health, Chronic Illness, and Eating Disorders.” The virtual event gathered four specialists to discuss how individuals’ backgrounds can affect their experience with eating disorders. 

Speakers included Dr. A.J. Rubineau, a family physician with experience working with people exploring their gender identity while struggling with eating disorders, as well as Jenna Jones, a social worker and psychotherapist specializing in eating disorders. Also joining the panel was Josée Lavigne, a representative from Anorexie & Boulimie Québec (ANEB), and Laura Ramesey, a content creator on social media who raises awareness for avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder and obsessive compulsive disorder. 

The event started off by addressing the common misconceptions regarding eating disorders and mental health. 

“The biggest misconception is that it has to do with food,” said Jones. “Eating disorders [are] ultimately a coping mechanism—[an] iceberg scenario. The eating disorder is what you can visibly see, but there’s all the factors leading up to the eating disorder.” 

Contrary to mainstream depictions, eating disorders are not always visible to the naked eye. This lack of clarity around what disordered eating looks like can stunt the journey to recovery.

“I think the biggest misconception is that dramatic weight loss and concern for your body image are required for an eating disorder diagnosis when they are not,” Ramesey said. “This is really damaging to those who need to get help.”

There’s also the dangerous myth that recovery is impossible. 

“If there’s one misconception I want to knock down, it’s that you can’t get better, because that’s just not true,” Rubineau added. “Treatment works, period.” 

The panellists went on to discuss the intersections of personality, genetics, and gender identity in the development of disordered eating. Researchers have hypothesized that certain personalities are more vulnerable to eating disorders than others.

“When it comes to anorexia nervosa, perfectionist tendencies have a strong link, and for bulimia nervosa, impulsivity is a link,” Jones said.

Genetics also play a factor. Lavigne explained that a person is more likely to get an eating disorder if others in their family have had eating disorders or other mental illnesses.

“Genetics loads the gun, and environment pulls the trigger,” Rubineau said. 

Certain personal experiences can also come with an associated risk. Drawing from her background working with those exploring their gender, Rubineau noted that transgender people are typically more vulnerable to eating disorders.

“Being a trans person in a body that’s not the body they feel at ease in understandably affects how food feels to [them],” Rubineau said. 

For many individuals, chronic illnesses can also intersect with eating disorders. These illnesses are defined as conditions that have long-lasting effects, such as postural tachycardia syndrome (PoTS).

The panellists discussed the difficulties of having to restrict certain foods due to chronic illness while also struggling with eating disorder-related restrictions. It can be easy, for instance, to be tricked into being afraid of a certain food because of its effects on your body due to a chronic illness. 

“I think the question is, how do you know when it’s your eating disorder [telling you to restrict], versus when it’s some other problem?” Rubineau said. 

Ramesey shared advice coming from her own personal experience with chronic illness. 

“I tell myself that the food isn’t the enemy […] the food isn’t necessarily bad, it’s just not the best thing for me,” Ramesey said.

Conversations during the panel also centred on changing the way we talk about eating disorders. People of varying ethnicities and body types experience eating disorders. But the importance of portraying that accurately in media is often overlooked. There is ultimately no single “look” to experiencing disordered eating. 

“I would also really encourage you to be inclusive of different types of disorders,” Ramesey said, referring to her own diagnosis of ARFID as an example, a condition associated with what may look like extremely picky eating to others. 

For those on their own recovery journey, Ramesey gave some advice.

“Since we are rewiring pathways in our brains each time we don’t avoid something, it eventually does become easier. It might take it a while [….] But the more you do it, the easier it gets. You will not be this scared the whole time, I promise.”

Resources for transgender and gender diverse people experiencing disordered eating: https://fedupcollective.org/. Support groups at McGill: https://edrsc.ssmu.ca/services/

Student Life

Tackling the strenuous art of the cover letter

by Chloé Kichenane on

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Cover letters often prove to be a challenge to write. With no straightforward structure to follow and only a blank page to stare at, they can leave students racked with nerves. However, with a solid foundation of guidelines and a couple rounds of careful proofreading, perfecting your cover letter doesn’t have to be such a stress-inducing process; it can be an opportunity to express yourself and highlight your assets. 

The McGill Tribune sat down with Linda Cicuta, a career advisor at the Career Planning Service (CaPS), to get advice on how students can write an impactful cover letter that accurately reflects their personality and accentuates their skills.

This interview has been edited for clarity.

Chloé Kichenane (CK): Writing a cover letter can be overwhelming when we don’t know where to start. What would the structure of a good cover letter look like?

Linda Cicuta (LC): I think the perfect structure starts with self-reflection, starting off by the introduction of who you are and how you stand out. Starting off with a bang is important. An opening line could easily be: “As a second year McGill student in economics, with six months experience in ‘x’ or in a related field, I’m confident I would be a great asset to your team.” Right away you’re different from everybody else. It also empowers you and builds your confidence, because in the end, you have to believe you can do this.

CK: It can sometimes be difficult for students to express what makes them stand out. Do you have any unique advice for writing those personal strengths into a cover letter?

LC: What sets you apart is everything outside of your degree: Soft skills are huge. Whether you’ve developed leadership skills or communication skills, those are fantastic things to highlight, and set you apart as well.

CK: What are the highlights of a good cover letter?

LC: I think it needs to be engaging, but it has to reflect your personality, […] and it needs to be in line with the industry and the position that you’re applying for. I think the highlights are proper

formatting and making the connection between you and [your potential employer].

CK: What are the things to avoid while writing your cover letter?

LC: Don’t be generic, that’s for sure. Be confident. Passive words like “think,” “feel,” and “believe” aren’t as confident as just stating you would be a good candidate, or you are a good candidate. But again, it has to reflect your personality, and you have to be comfortable writing it. A taboo thing would be to say “I” all the time. Don’t forget to proofread: Many times students have forgotten to change the name of the company, that will blow their application out of the water for sure.

And you don’t use pronouns if you are not sure. Don’t include the word “yours” at the end: You don’t belong to anybody.

CK: Any final tips?

LC: There’s nothing wrong with being bold and forward if you’re comfortable with it. No matter who you are, you have a lot to offer, U0 to U4. You’re all incredible students, you

all come from different backgrounds and you all have your own outstanding skill sets to offer.

For a more detailed guide to getting started on their cover letters, students can refer to McGill’s Career Planning Service guide. 

Recipes, Student Life

When in doubt, eat out (of your fridge): Veggie leftovers soup

by Lillian Borger on

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We all know the crushing feeling of opening the fridge and finding nothing to eat—with the exception, of course, of your leftover scraps, some languishing vegetables, and a bunch of mystery containers. Instead of giving in and going out, here’s how to save money, clean out your fridge, and minimize food waste by turning those random ingredients into a warm bowl of soup. This recipe is designed to be flexible, so you can use whatever ingredients you have lying around.

Part 1: The Broth

This is where you can get rid of any scraps left over from the last time you cooked, or any vegetables that aren’t looking so fresh––don’t worry, a bit of withering or staleness will not affect the broth’s flavour much. If you don’t want to spend too much time in the kitchen and just want to whip up a quick meal, skip to Part 2 to go straight to making soup with store-bought broth. 

Ingredients: 

  • Water

Possible additions:

  • Chicken—legs, wings, necks or back bones; with or without meat (If you are using chicken bones, split them open to maximise flavour)
  • Celery, including leaves
  • Carrots, including peel
  • Onions 
  • Mushrooms
  • Potato, including peel
  • Herbs (parsley, cilantro, etc.), including stems
  • Good seasoning options: garlic, bay leaves, rosemary, thyme, pepper

Steps:

  1. Cut all of your desired ingredients into medium-sized pieces.
  2. Put all of your ingredients into a big pot.
  3. Fill the pot with water until the vegetables start to float (it should be about ¾ full).
  4. Bring this to a boil and then let it simmer on low heat for at least 30 minutes. The longer you simmer, the more flavour the broth will have, so keep the broth on the heat for around 60 minutes for maximum umami.
  5. Strain the broth into a container. This broth will keep for 4 days in the refrigerator and 3 months in the freezer.

Tip: Start collecting your vegetable scraps instead of throwing them out. Keep a bag of kitchen scraps in your freezer and once the bag is full, make it into broth!

tasty.co

Part 2: The Soup

Your pre-made broth will be the base of your soup, bringing together any remaining leftover vegetables and miscellaneous ingredients. If you’re in a rush to eat, you can also use store-bought broth instead.

Possible ingredients: 

Possible ingredients: 

  • Any fresh vegetables: Onions, carrots, celery, potatoes, cabbage, etc. 
  • Frozen vegetables: Peas, corn, etc.
  • Canned tomatoes
  • Beans
  • Tofu
  • Meat
  • Cooked rice, noodles, quinoa, etc.
  • Seasoning: Some great options include garlic, fennel, black pepper, salt, and red pepper flakes

Steps:

  • Cut any large vegetables you have into bite-sized pieces. 
  • In a big pot, sauté vegetables in oil on medium heat for about 10 minutes or until soft.
  • Add your seasoning and stir.
  • Pour in the broth (and canned tomatoes if you have them).
  • Stir in any additions (tofu/meat, or rice/quinoa/noodles) and smaller vegetables (peas, corn, etc.). Bring the soup to a boil, then partially cover the pot with a lid and reduce the heat to a low simmer.
  • Simmer for 20 minutes or until the vegetables are tender. 

This soup will keep for three to five days in the refrigerator and one month in the freezer. Enjoy, and rejoice in your newly available fridge space!

This recipe is adapted from the following sources: tasteofhome.com, inspiredtaste.net, tasty.co

McGill, News

AUS General Assembly fails to reach quorum, blocking motion to strike for hybrid learning

by Ghazal Azizi on

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On Feb. 2, the Arts Undergraduate Society (AUS) convened for a General Assembly (GA) to discuss a motion to strike in opposition to McGill’s current reopening plans. The GA was scheduled after a petition organized by former Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) President Bryan Buraga received the required 200 signatures. Since the beginning of the pandemic, Buraga has been vocal about his disapproval of McGill’s COVID-19 management and of the school’s decision to resume in-person activities amid the Omicron surge in Quebec. 

According to the AUS constitution, the quorum to hold a GA is 150 AUS members, while the quorum to pass a resolution for an AUS strike or boycott is 500 students. At the GA, the number of attendees oscillated between approximately 145 to 160 students, prohibiting the motion to strike from being put to a vote and at times, when less than 150 members were present, pausing the entire assembly. 

Dhruv Mehndiratta, U1 Arts, consulted with Buraga in developing the petition to hold the GA and campaigned in favour of a strike. Mehndiratta believes that despite the GA’s inability to reach a quorum, the number of attendees reflects an increase in student willingness to participate in McGill politics. 

“Having 145 people consistently for the better part of two hours on a Wednesday night [during] midterm season is definitely an achievement,” Mehndiratta said in an interview with The McGill Tribune. “It definitely shows that the student body as a whole is getting more active in McGill politics.”

Since the motion to strike could not be put to a vote, it was amended to demand a well-defined stance from the AUS on the return to in-person learning instead. The amendments call on the AUS to oppose McGill’s current reopening plans and to affirm its solidarity with striking student associations. The new motion also demands that a COVID-19 Safety Mobilization Committee be established, with a mandate to organize a demonstration to advocate for safer in-person learning and hybrid options for immunocompromised students. 

The amended motion passed with 124 in favour, nine against, and 30 abstaining. The resolution is now awaiting ratification, which is done through an online ballot sent to all AUS members. The referendum ballot was emailed to the student body on Feb. 7 and will close at 5 p.m. (EST) on Feb. 10. 

Shlomo Enkin Lewis, U2 Arts, also campaigned for an AUS strike. Lewis believes that institutional flaws restrain collective movements in the AUS. 

“While I was canvassing for this GA, I spoke with lots of students who were very supportive of the need for hybrid options, but did not know that the GA was taking place,” Lewis said in an interview with the Tribune. “There are real barriers both to how information spreads through the Arts faculty and the absence of the existing organized institutions taking charge and spreading this message.” 

Buraga was responsible for moving the motion to strike and for amending the motion for an AUS response. He believes that there are systemic barriers to organizing a strike in the AUS.  

“In the cases of the School of Social Work and the Faculty of Law, the way that those [faculty associations] are organized makes it so much easier for collective action,” Buraga said in an interview with the Tribune. “The Faculty of Law requires a referendum and a GA for discussion, whereas in the AUS having 500 people show up to a GA rather than just going to referendum poses an institutional challenge to organizing people collectively.”

Despite the GA’s inability to reach quorum, Buraga remains optimistic about the future of the strike movement. 

“I wouldn’t characterize [the low number of attendees] as the strike movement losing steam,” he said. “I would challenge this narrative and say that the strike movement is coming up along institutional barriers that have been set for them.”

McGill, News

Black History Month keynote highlights Black voices in STEM

by Joseph Pappas on

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McGill held its virtual opening ceremony for Black History Month on Feb. 1, featuring keynote speaker James Jones. Jones is a distinguished professor emeritus of psychology and Black American studies at the University of Delaware, as well as the director of its Center for the Study of Diversity. The event, titled “Diversity within Psychology,” was the first of McGill’s Black History Month series, which, in collaboration with the Faculty of Science this year, is centred on celebrating Black scientists at McGill and beyond.

The ceremony began with remarks from several guests, including Gracia Kasoki Katahwa, the borough mayor of Côte-des-Neiges–Notre-Dame-de-Grâce. Katahwa highlighted the measures that the current Montreal government is taking to build a more equitable future for Black communities, but acknowledged that more needs to be done.

“It is clear that as a society, we still have a lot of work to do to fight systemic racism and inequalities,” Katahwa said. “We are strongly committed to affecting these changes within our city with concrete actions. We have started by recognizing the existence of systemic racism and creating the Office of the Commissioner to fight against racism and discrimination to help our public services in this inclusive transition.”

Jones began his keynote address by expanding on the idea that Black History Month must go beyond the celebration of select Black achievements.

“Black History is more than celebrating consequential Black people,” Jones explained. “That is important, but it is more than that. Black history is the story of the human spirit, the will to live, the capacity to love, and the fortitude to endure. Black joy balances out Black trauma.”

Jones underscored the importance of diversity within the field of psychology, emphasizing that it is more than a mere box to check off; it is a crucial component in fostering scholarship in the field. Jones introduced what he described as one of his favourite concepts: Full participation.

“Full participation is a product of diversity, it’s not diversity itself,” Jones said. “It is an affirmative value focussed on creating institutions and societies that enable people, whatever their identity, background, or institutional position, to thrive, realize their capabilities, engage meaningfully in institutional life, and contribute to the flourishing of others.”

McGill’s dean of science, Bruce Lennox, offered the closing remarks, reflecting on his personal experience attending one of the first desegregated schools in New Orleans.

“As we celebrate Black History Month, I recognize that although we might have come far, at least from my first day of school, in New Orleans, we certainly haven’t gone far enough,” Lennox said. “In the present and future, I can certainly pledge that McGill’s Faculty of Science is going to be an active partner and leader in bringing the joys of STEM [and] the societal imperatives of STEM to Black students in the Montreal community, the academic communities of Quebec, and worldwide.”

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