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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. 

McGill, News

Staff and students face difficult trade-offs as they transition back to campus

by Sarina Macleod on

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Following 2.5 weeks of online classes spurred by the Omicron wave, the administration’s decision to transition back to campus for the remainder of the Winter 2022 term has stirred up both positive and negative reactions amongst staff and students. Many eating spaces on campus do not respect provincial health guidelines and there is currently no compulsory distancing in classrooms—factors which have fostered ongoing discussions of how McGill could better protect the health and safety of those returning to campus. Despite this, students are appreciative of the opportunity to once again learn in person.. 

In an attempt to aid in the transition back to in-person teaching, the administration offered professors the option to spend up to 20 per cent of the term—two weeks—teaching remotely. The grace period ended on Feb. 7 for professors who continued teaching solely online after the Jan. 24 return to campus. 

Samuel Guertin, U2 Management, noted that many professors in his faculty have opted to make material available both in-person and online, even after the grace period elapses. With factors such as zoom fatigue, isolation, the inability to concentrate, and a lack of mental health support, Guertin finds that grasping course material can be more difficult over Zoom than in person.

“A lot of profs in the management faculty teach hybrid, so they have Zoom open and students can either go online or in-person, but you are missing some things if you don’t go in person,” Guertin explained. “I feel like in-person is better for the learning, it’s better for the atmosphere, it’s better for the participation. You feel like you’re a real student.” 

Not all students, however, have found the transition to in-person instruction comforting. Executives from the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU), the Arts Undergraduate Society (AUS), and the Post Graduate Students’ Society (PGSS) feel that there has been a lack of preventative safety action on the part of the administration, creating a sense of distrust between the student community and administration. Claire Loewen, a McGill media relations officer, stressed that the administration is persistently working to implement protective measures for those on-campus.  

“The health and well-being of our community remain our top priority, and all necessary health and safety measures will continue to be implemented to ensure that our campuses remain safe places to learn and to work,” Lowen wrote in an email to The McGill Tribune. “Throughout the Summer and Fall semesters, ventilation in classrooms (and exam spaces) was optimized, and CO2 levels were measured in rooms without CO2 monitors already built-in.” 

The current ventilation system, MERV 13, was implemented prior to the pandemic and is capable of trapping less than 75 per cent of air particles that are 0.3-1.0 microns in size. Coronavirus particles are 0.1 microns in size. 

In an interview with the Tribune, Loïck Lépin, U2 Arts, explained that it has been difficult to remain on campus for extended periods of time due to the regulations around eating. In the few spaces designated eating spots on campus, social distancing is often not adequately practiced due to overcrowding and a lack of table separators. The administration has also removed many microwaves on campus, adding another barrier for students who pack food.

“Eating on campus seems like a logistics operation,” Lépin said. “You would think that more than two microwaves would be available to the 40,000 students on campus.” 

Library security, tasked with enforcing proper masking and “no eating” regulations, have faced disrespect from select students who do not wish to, or care to, comply with COVID-19 rules. 

As Quebec begins to loosen COVID-19 provincial restrictions, the administration plans to follow suit. Starting on Feb. 14, gyms in Quebec will be allowed to reopen at 50 per cent capacity and in-person extracurricular activities with up to 25 participants will be able to meet. It is currently unclear when, and to what extent, McGill will act in accordance with these provincial relaxations. At this time, SSMU continues to advocate for increased safety measures and accommodations directly from the administration. SSMU has compiled a crowdsourced list of accommodations provided by professors in over 60 courses, and continues to accept submissions for more. 

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, Montreal, News

Kanien’kehá:ka kahnistensera take McGill to federal court over suspected unmarked graves under New Vic Project

by Leo Larman Brown on

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A group of Kanien’kehá:ka kahnistensera (Mohawk Mothers) went to federal court against McGill University, the Ville de Montréal, the Quebec Government, and Stantec, on Jan. 14. The group is seeking an order to halt construction of the New Vic Project until a Mohawk-led investigation into potential unmarked graves on the previous Royal Victoria Hospital site is conducted. The New Vic Project is McGill’s proposal to transform a part of the Royal Victoria Hospital into a research, teaching, and innovation hub dedicated to Sustainability Systems and Public Policy—an interdisciplinary approach to environmental sustainability. The kahnistensera suspect that there may be unmarked graves of Indigenous children on the site, after it came to light that Dr. Donald Ewen Cameron experimented on a number of victims in the 1950s and 60s at the Allan Memorial Institute, which was then a part of Royal Victoria Hospital. 

In an interview with The McGill Tribune, Kahentinetha, a kahnistensera applicant in the court case and founder of Mohawk Nation News, said that evidence for the unmarked graves comes from oral history passed down in her community.

“We knew about the children in the school that disappeared,” Kahentinetha said. “We were never told what happened to them. Nothing. Not a word. We’ve always suspected, we always heard things like that from our grandparents and great-grandparents.” 

In a statement to the Tribune, McGill media relations officer Frédérique Mazerolle wrote that, based on a 2016 archaeological survey of the site, the administration believes it is unlikely that there are unmarked Indigenous graves. 

“According to this study, it is unlikely that Indigenous remains will be found on the New Vic Project site,” Mazerolle wrote. “However, McGill remains committed to collaborating with the government and First Nations communities regarding potential vestiges. Should such vestiges be found, it will be made public immediately, the work will be suspended.”

Kahentinetha explained that the Mohawk Mothers’ argument rests on the larger claim that McGill and the New Vic Project are situated on land that was never ceded to Canada and is, therefore, still subject to Indigenous law. Kahentinetha’s interpretation of section 35.1 of the Constitution Act, which reads, “The existing aboriginal and treaty rights of the aboriginal peoples of Canada are hereby recognized and affirmed,” is that this clause makes Indigenous law the highest law of Canada. She also referenced section 52.1, which “reaffirms constitutional supremacy,” as evidence for the sovereignty of Indigenous law.  

“Therefore, all the laws of Canada that are not recognized by our law and other true Indigenous laws are of no force or effect,” Kahentinetha said. “We are the very first people to ever bring this [section] to the court.”  

Sacha Delouvrier, the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) vice-president External Affairs, told the Tribune that SSMU does not support the New Vic Project, nor do they support the McGill Administration in the court case against the kahnistensera.

“As soon as the Mohawk Mothers spoke up, we definitely saw an opportunity to help them,” Delouvrier said. “We have to do what we can to strive toward the ideal of reconciliation, which is why we will support whatever position the Mohawk Nation takes.”

So far, the kahnistensera, the Ville de Montreal, the Quebec government, and Stantec have attended a two-hour court hearing on Zoom on Jan. 14, but the kahnistensera says the opposing parties are attempting to delay the proceedings by overwhelming them with court documents.

“They are using the protocols and documents to push us into the protocol swamp,” Kahentinetha said. “They don’t want the big question to come up […] about [sections] 35 and 52.”

Kahentinetha also explained that the kahnistensera are refusing to use lawyers in the court case because it goes against their traditional forms of justice, explaining that lawyers are part of a colonial system that oppresses Indigenous people. 

“We don’t want a lawyer because a lawyer has taken an oath to the exact thing we’re fighting right now, which is the laws that are killing and oppressing us,” Kahentinetha said. “We have to do this by ourselves and we have to do it according to our ways.”

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.”

Art, Arts & Entertainment

McGill professor examines elitism and pastoralism in 16th century Venetian art

by Suzanna Graham on

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On Feb. 3, Chriscinda Henry, one of McGill’s associate professors of art history, delivered a lecture for The Courtauld Gallery’s online speaker series on Concert Champêtre, a famous painting by Venetian Renaissance painter Titian. Henry exposed how Concert Champêtre, the title of which translates to “pastoral concert,” offers a window into how the elite youth in Renaissance Italy chose to spend their leisure time. 

Painted between 1509 and 1511, Concert Champêtre depicts a young man adorned in a lavish red outfit, playing his lute alongside a more simply dressed man and two semi-naked women. Although seemingly at ease, several qualities hint that the youth in the painting does not belong. Besides his clothing, his elaborate instrument is grand compared to the simple pipe that one of the women holds, suggesting his capability to create complex music compared to her simple tunes. Henry attributes his out-of-place persona to some art historians’ assumptions that the lutenist was a real, yet unidentified patron who commissioned Titian to insert his image into the pastoral scene. This artistic self-insertion was popular among the elite in the 16th century as a form of informal self-representation. 

“In the homes of certain Venetians, who might be considered as a cultural avant-garde, novel forms of intellectual exchange, music-making, theatrical performance, and collecting came to articulate a new mode of poetic self-fashioning and generational distinction on the part of young Venetian patrons,” Henry said. “The shepherd maschera, or persona, […] provided the ideal vehicle for a liberating poetic form of self-expression steeped in classical literary and theatrical culture.”

While he is participating in an artistic movement celebrating self-expression and leisure, the patrician’s outfit clearly boasts his high position in the Venetian political society. Henry noted that the youth wears Compagnie della Calza attire, identified by his cloak and subtly striped hose. The group, called “Company of the Hose” in English, was a fraternal youth society that collected and refined the sons of Venetian elite by having them host lavish spectacles for the public. The company included several different groups, all of whom sported distinguished colour combinations of hose. The youth in Concert Champêtre wears a white and grayish-green striped hose on his right leg and rose-coloured hose on the left—which is hidden in the painting—representing the so-called “happiness group.” This group prioritized the reciprocal exchange of friendship among guests and fellow patricians alike. 

The painting itself features the homosocial—or, as Henry argues, potentially homoerotic—friendship between the central youth and his pastoral companion, showing that the friendship has transcended beyond elite status. However, Henry argued that the similar body positioning between the urban elitist and pastoral shepherd reflects a sense of alter-ego. Therefore, Concert Champêtre reflects both the youth’s pride in his political status and the equal passion he feels for simple, pastoral life. 

“[There is an] intimate gesture of homosocial fellowship, almost fusion, between the two young men seated at the center of the composition—the elegant compagno, and his rustic shepherd counterpart,” Henry said. 

Although Venetian elite were free to live joyously and abundantly in their youth, their powerful parents expected them to renounce these luxuries and take on a more serious and political role upon reaching adulthood. In 1509, the youth had to abandon their lifestyle due to the War of Cambrai, instigated by a European alliance led by Pope Julius II and Louis XII of France, who aimed to disassemble the Republic of Venice. At that time, the Venetian government forbade all festivities and colourful hose to facilitate focus on war planning. Although the war ended in 1511—once again permitting festivities—the previous generation of elite youth had become Fausti, meaning soldiers, outgrowing the carefree privileges of their adolescence. Henry acknowledged that the pastoral theme of Concert Champêtre represents the generational nostalgia for both a simpler rustic life without war and for an adolescence celebrating life and art.

“If one of the young men of the Fausti had proved to be not only the central subject, but also the patron of the Concert Champêtre, this prompts questions about the painting, as a work that captures and commemorates for posterity, a brief and liminal stage of life that was already nearing its end for the Fausti by 1509, when the painting was likely commissioned and begun.”

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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