A lament for the Laptop Lending Program

At the beginning of the semester, my roommate found herself without access to a personal computer for seven days. She managed to juggle switching classes and registering for conferences by running to the library between lectures or borrowing a laptop from a friend for a few hours. If this had happened last year, she could have avoided this hassle by participating in the library’s Laptop Lending Program (LLP).

University rankings: what are they worth?

Last Tuesday, McGill lost its claim as the top university in Canada to the University of Toronto, according to the 2013 Quacquarelli Symbols (QS) World University Rankings. With the release of more rankings approaching next month, the Tribune set out to understand what university rankings actually mean, and how students—both current and prospective—should approach them.

Seeing the invisible

On Feb. 21, the Toronto City Council passed a motion declaring Toronto a “sanctuary city.” According to the Toronto Star, the motion establishes a formal policy allowing undocumented individuals access to city services regardless of status. The statistics surrounding illegal immigration in Canada are unclear, but current estimates by Professor Peter Showler, director of the Refugee Forum at the University of Ottawa, conclude that between 35,000 and 120,000 undocumented immigrants live in the country.

Bike-gate

Living in Montreal, there’s a lot to be proud of, even more to be healthily suspicious of, and sometimes, quite a bit to complain about. Construction blocking your path for the fifth time this week? Narrowly avoided getting sideswiped by a rampaging cabbie yet again? Tuition fees continuing to rise while your wallet only gets lighter and lighter? These are all valid concerns, and are all felt by many of us here at McGill. Sometimes, however, people get up-in-arms about something so trivial that it begs the question of why anyone cares in the first place.

Where is my tuition going?

When it comes to paying your e-bill, you may wonder just where all that money really goes. While tuition fees vary greatly based a student’s place of residence, academic program, and degree, here is a brief description of the main categories of fees that you pay every semester at McGill.[Read More…]

PQ overstepping its bounds with ban on religious symbols

Last Wednesday, Sept. 4, the Parti Québécois (PQ) marked its one-year anniversary of minority governance. Over the past year the government has had various troubles, including, most prominently for this editorial board, the party’s complete duplicity on university tuition, first freezing tuition increases and then enacting harsh budget cuts. However, it seems as if the PQ has found itself a distraction from the year’s political missteps.

Student of the week: Brendan Edge

I’m the Vice President of the Beta Omega Chapter— McGill Chapter— of Delta Lambda Phi, which is a fraternity at McGill. It’s a fraternity for gay, bisexual and progressive men [….] We’re Canada’s first gay fraternity. We just participated in Pride [Week] this past summer, which we’re pretty proud of, and we’re starting our Fall rush coming up. Over the past two years, I’ve [also] participated in a number of theatre productions. I was in Sweeney Todd my first year —I was Tobey, the little kid— [….] The past two years, I was in the [McGill University Rowing Club (MURC)].

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