Earlier this year, the Simone de Beauvoir Institute – the Women’s Studies College of Concordia, which encompasses all faculty, students, and research associates in the department – took a strong stance against tuition hikes, releasing a document outlining why tuition increases will have a particularly significant impact on women.

WSSA VP External Gabrielle Bouchard explained that the WSSA decided to take this official position a step further by going on strike.

“We needed to go on strike, because just voicing our disagreement with [the tuition hikes] didn’t work. I think the government hasn’t heard this disagreement over the last two years, and we just have to go on strike because it is going to affect people we are going to class with,” Bouchard said.

When WSSA voted in favour of a strike, they became the first association at Concordia to ever participate in an unlimited strike. 50 out of about 150 students in the department voted at the GA. Quorum is set at 10 per cent of students.

“We wanted to join the National Movement. Never in Concordia’s history have there been associations like ours voting for open-ended strikes. It never happened. So this is kind of historical,” noted Bouchard.

Not only is the WSSA the first Anglophone association to officially join the Quebec student strike, but it is also the first feminist organization to do so.

“A feminist perspective on the tuition increase is missing, and when I say feminist, it’s not just for women. A feminist position is really to understand marginalization and how people are affected and but because of their life or class or race may not be able to come to university, or, if this increase happened, may face stronger barriers to access, and that’s not being taken into account right now,” Bouchard said.

Molly Swain, president and communications coordinator of McGill’s Gender, Sexuality Diversity, and Feminist Studies Student Association (GSDFSSA) agreed.

“The Simone de Beauvoir Institute released a really great document stating why the tuition raise is a feminist issue. We absolutely support that document, and we believe that a strike is a great way for people to stand up. Not only is it an injustice about money and class. This is also about gender,” Swain said.

The GUSS was the second student association at Concordia to vote for a strike on the same day at their GA.

According to GUSS VP Finance Trevor Smith, students first discussed the possibility of a strike informally, and then a motion for strike was proposed. It was amended as necessary, with some portions being borrowed from the WSSA strike mandate. It was then voted on and passed by about forty students out of around 750 in the Geography and Environment Departments. Quorom is twenty people.

Both strikes are going well, according to Bouchard and Smith.

“There has been a lot of organization on the part of the strike movement. The degree to which people have been able to organize and mobilize and perform information dispersal is unprecedented. I’ve never seen this kind of activity ever before,” said Smith.

Both associations have formed soft picket lines outside of classrooms, meaning that no one is blocked from entering classrooms. Students and professors alike are largely respecting these picket lines.

Bouchard explained that “no students or professors forced the picket line, and they were all supportive of the idea. People who didn’t come to vote actually are going with the mandate that we voted as a whole… The Institute is not that big, but we still had 21 people showing up to celebrate this strike.”

Professors have been showing up to teach their geography classes, but once they see that students are picketing, Smith explained that they don`t bother to push through. They have been instructed not to break picket lines by Concordia University Faculty Association (CUFA) and Concordia University Part-Time Faculty Association (CUPFA), the full and part-time faculty associations.

Smith also explained that there has been tension between students and the upper administration.

“There has been tons of misinformation going around. We are just trying to get information out and not have people be intimidated. There is a lot of upper administration saying that if we go on strike, we will probably lose our semester or lose all your money and you won’t graduate. It’s all BS,” he said.

If it weren’t for CUFA and CUPFA clarifying what the exact policies around the strike are, there would be a lot more confusion, he added.

Some Geography students are hesitant when it comes to the strike.

“The goal of the strike coordinators is to shake the student body out of this apathy that everyone seems to be in. There are a lot of students with individualistic goals. They’ll say, ‘I’m all for you guys having your strike and being democratic, but I want to go to class and I want to learn.’ We respond by challenging them to think about what learning is,” Smith explained.

He also noted that the GUSS has received personal attacks and verbal harassments from a few students displeased with the strike vote.

“I just want to tell people we are doing our jobs. If you are angry with the coordinators, talk to them, get informed, have a discussion,” Smith added.

The Graduate Students’ Association (GSA), Fine Arts Student Alliance (FASA), Political Science Student’s Association (PSSA), and Students of Philosophy Association (SoPhiA) also voted to join the strike following WSSA and GUSS’s votes.

The Concordia Student Union (CSU) voted on March 7 to join the unlimited student strike from March 15-22.

WSSA voted on March 9 to renew its strike mandate for another week.

The post Women’s studies and geography society lead Concordia strike action appeared first on The McGill Daily.

The GA rapidly reached quorum, with nearly 1,800 attendees. There were three additional locations other than the main one in room H-110 of the Hall Building, one of which was The Hive at the Loyola Campus. All locations were in contact with each other for votes, and CSU VP External Chad Walcott’s opening speech in favor of the strike, which took place in the main location, was broadcasted to the three satellites.

Technical difficulties prevented the GA from running smoothly; Walcott had to repeat the first half of his speech after he was made aware that the live broadcast was not reaching the satellite locations. He asked the audience to bear with him, as it was the first time that the CSU had attempted to use these new methods to connect their satellite audiences. It was also the first time a CSU GA has had satellite locations to accommodate the large number of students attending.

“The technical difficulties revolved around having this broadcast live on four different locations,” explained Walcott afterwards. “We had internet cut out. We had mics cut out, anything you would have when technology is spread widely.”

The original motion to strike faced two amendments, both of which passed.

The first amendment was to have the strike begin on March 15.

The motion originally stated that the strike would begin March 22, but the date was changed after a student proposed an amendment, stating, “I think there is a bit of an issue with the date that the strike is to begin. As was announced yesterday, the provincial budget is being released on [March] 20, which means that we are going to be going on strike two days after the budget is released as opposed to mobilizing before that, which would be more effective.”

The second amendment added a clause that banned the blocking of teachers and students who wished to enter classrooms during a strike.

According to Walcott, “It was never our intention to block buildings. As our resolution originally stated, studio times will be respected, lab times will be respected, internships won’t be blocked. So that was always our intent.”

“We were never going to block buildings,” he continued. “In fact, it would logistically be a nightmare to block buildings at Concordia. I believe that each department and faculty association will just feel empowered now to move forward with their mandates, adopt their own mandates, as well as ensure mobilization for their students. This is something that should happen class by class, department by department, and faculty by faculty.”

After 45 minutes of discussion following the proposed amendments, the students voted on whether or not to pass the motion. The vote resulted in 1,152 students being for the strike and 557 against it.

Nicolas Martel, a third year photography student who has been striking with the Fine Arts Student Alliance since Monday, said that, “[The result of the strike] is just a complete validation of what we are doing right now.”

The strike will begin on March 15 and last for five days, or one academic week, until March 22. After this period, the CSU will assemble again to vote on whether or not to continue with the strike, according to Walcott.

March 22 is also the date set for a provincial day of action against tuition hikes, with a march in downtown Montreal planned for that afternoon.

The post Concordia undergraduates vote to strike appeared first on The McGill Daily.

The strike aims to place economic pressure on the Quebec government, in order to force it to reverse its decision to raise tuition hikes by $325 per year over the next five years.

The demonstration moved through campus, making its way through the Leacock Building and McLennan Library, and pausing briefly at the Y-intersection. After about an hour, a smaller group of students moved off McGill campus, making their way to Université de Québec à Montréal (UQAM).

According to Kevin Paul, a U3 Cultural Studies student and member of the AUS Mobilization Committee, the event was organized by a group of independent students from McGill.

“I’m in my last year,” Paul said. “I won’t be directly financially affected. However, I want to live in a society that values education not as a commodity but as a fundamental right.”

Paul explained that he was pleased with the turnout from other Montreal schools.

“There are students that are on strike at other universities and CEGEP campuses coming to McGill. It’s a powerful show of solidarity as a strike vote approaches at McGill,” he said.

Cedric Lejeune, a first year Biology student at UQAM, spoke on behalf of a group of UQAM Science students who participated in the demonstration.

“When we hear that there is an organized protest, we try to give our support,” he said. “Tomorrow [March 1], we are going to Quebec City. There is a huge protest there. We hope [that there will be] over 10,000 people. We hope 100 Science students will be going tomorrow. From UQAM, there will be a lot.”

He said that if the tuition rates are to increase, it will affect many students at UQAM. “We will all need to work more and longer. We will have less time to study and less time to sleep. If we have to work more, it’s more stressful.”

Carolamn Beigeven, a student of the CEGEP du Vieux Montréal, explained that this was the first time she attended a tuition hike-related demonstration. If the government goes through with the increase, she said, she will not be able to attend a Quebec university.

Melanie Le Berre, a U2 Physical Therapy student at McGill who participated in the demonstration, shared similar sentiments. “I feel enraged for people who won’t have access. I feel we are collectively concerned and responsible for the others. I don’t feel people are concerned [at McGill], and I think it’s sad… This protest is very small.”

Not all students are against tuition hikes, however. Rasul Abdoullakhi, a U2 Chemical Engineering student from Montreal, was standing outside of the McConnell Engineering building, during the demonstration.

“There’s always going to be hikes,” he explained. “There’s always going to be inflation. I saw at least 10 people there wearing $500 to $700 jackets. If you can cut on that and spend that money for education instead of walking around yelling ridiculous slogans, you could get a decent education. It’s something that you have to accept.”

“I think it’s a bit ridiculous,” he added.

As the demonstration moved through McLennan, they were joined by a number of students and McGill workers. Nancy Crowe, a library assistant at McLennan Library and a MUNACA worker, clapped along in support as the students chanted.

“University needs to be accessible,” she explained. “I don’t want to speak for all of us, but a lot of us are sympathetic to this cause.”

“I’m from Quebec, and I went to university on loans and bursaries, so I know what it’s like,” she added.

With many universities and CEGEPs already on strike, the Arts Undergraduate Society and Science Undergraduate Society will vote on joining the strike in separate General Assemblies in March.

The post From the streets to the stacks appeared first on The McGill Daily.

Protestors stopped at McGill and Cégep du Vieux Montréal to gather more students. The march was organized by members of the Concordia and McGill Mob Squads.

When the march reached McGill, protestors chanted outside of McLennan library, marched through the Shatner building during the Public Service Career Fair, and outside of the James Administration building. A banner was dropped from the top of the Arts building reading, “même menace, même lutte.”

Escorted by police, the march ended at UQAM, where another banner was hung.

McGill students were notified of the march by an email sent by Associate VP (University Services) Jim Nicell. The email described the march as “peaceful” and promised that “more information will be sent to you when available or as needed.”

Nicell was not available for comment on why the administration deemed the email necessary, less than a week after VP (Administration and Finance) Michael Di Grappa sent an email to all staff and students warning of a demonstration that never took place.

Largely organized by Concordia students, the demonstration is part of the lead-up to a province-wide demonstration against tuition hikes on March 22.

Last month, the Concordia Student Union (CSU) called for a strike vote on March 7.

After CSU called for the vote, Concordia Provost David Graham sent an email to students clarifying the administration’s position on the call for a strike vote.

“Regardless of the outcome of the March 7 vote, Concordia intends to continue operating as usual… The university has a responsibility to provide services that are part of its agreement with our students, even if some of those students decide not to attend class as a form of protest,” the email read.

The CSU isn’t worried about the administration’s response. “There was no backlash against this letter. It was a predictable move. We see it as a positive thing because they are afraid and are trying to pre-empt and prevent [the strike] with fear-mongering,” said CSU VP External Chad Walcott.

Concordia administration did not show a strong response to Thursday’s march, according to Walcott. “We were only notified that banners had been dropped and that we could come and pick them up,” he added.

The post Concordia and McGill students march against tuition hikes appeared first on The McGill Daily.

We can debate whether or not global warming is actually happening, but I’m not going to get into that here. What I will say is that, if it is happening, our winters will be shorter, there will be less snowfall, and I, eventually, won’t be able to ski on that natural, fresh powder that every skier dreams of. And that is a problem.

It is a well-recognized reality within the skiing industry that climate change is happening, and that it is already having an effect on the mountains.

“At this point, nobody [involved in the skiing industry in North America] is denying that changes are happening,” says Alexis Boyer-Lafontaine, Public Affairs Director of the Association des stations de ski du Québec (ASSQ). “Ski areas have to take into account weather patterns and climate change scenarios… It’s not something that will, at some point happen. It is already happening.”

Similarly, Catherine Lacasse, Public Relations and Communications Supervisor of Mount Tremblant, says, “We noticed in general, that the start of the season has been less cold in the past few years. We also seem to have more rain.”

“In our perspective, climate change is inevitable, and, at that point, it becomes a question of how we adapt to this change of circumstances and how can we still be able to offer skiers skiing conditions that are optimal for the perpetuation of the sport,” Boyer- Lafontaine continues, insisting that ski resorts in Quebec and all across North America “have been on the path to climate change adaptation for many years, probably before everyone else.”

Resorts in Quebec and other regions of the continent have been making more and more investments in snow making equipment since the 1980s. Ski resorts in Quebec are also now looking into how to do their part in reducing greenhouse gas emissions by instituting programs that will cut down on vehicle idling in ski resorts.

Mount Tremblant is one of the resorts to have implemented the anti-idling program. Named the “coupe ton moteur,” the program hopes to reach both employees and visitors, according to Lacasse. “We recognize that we need to improve some of our practices from year to year, for example: increas[ing] recycling rate, reduc[ing] water use, includ[ing] composting in some areas of the resort, [and] reducing CO emission through alternative transportation,” she says.

With all of these measures, there may still be hope for the future of skiing and other winter sports. The ASSQ has been involved with many scientific groups to learn more about the situation at hand, including the Montreal-based scientific consortium, Ouranos, which conducted data analyses to help give a more accurate picture of what is going on currently with ski resorts. When the ASSQ received the reports, the findings showed, according to Boyer-Lafontaine, that “the picture of the future of the ski industry is not black and white. There are both positive aspects and concerns. The positive aspect of climate change is that more precipitation is possible in the near future, which is good news.” More precipitation can lead to more snow during the winter. Even rain is preferable to dry conditions, as having sufficient amounts of water helps in the production of artificial snow.

Despite their efforts, nobody is capable of forcing nature to make snow. All that ski resorts can do at the moment is to produce more and more artificial snow when temperatures rise. According to Boyer-Lafontaine, “From the perspective of the industry being able to have snow conditions that are precise and stable over the course of the season is a major concern. It’s directly related to the financial concerns of being able to operate a ski area… [Climate change is] putting more pressure on ski areas to do a better job and become experts at being able to regulate all the snow making equipment.”

In light of this reality, Lacasse says that Mount Tremblant employees must “maximize the artificial snow production at the beginning of the season in order to make sure to have snow in case of rain or warmer temperatures throughout the season. This way, we can always rely on this bank of snow to compensate for the lack if need be.”

While Boyer-Lafontaine suggests that the alpine ski industry is incredibly resilient and capable of adapting to the current and coming challenges of climate change, the point still stands that those days of waking up in the morning to three feet of fresh powder, and making first tracks, will be fewer and far between if our current climate crisis is not abated.

The post Ski bummer appeared first on The McGill Daily.

While approximately 90 per cent of Tunisians residing in Tunisia turned out to vote, the Tunisian diaspora around the world also organized itself to participate in the election. Outside of Tunisia, the Instance régionale indépendante pour les élections des Tunisiens (IRIE) was the group responsible for the organization and implementation of the elections.

According to the CBC, many Tunisians living in Canada did not think they would get the chance to vote after the federal government said in September it would not allow the Tunisian embassy to open polling stations. The CBC reported that the decision was overturned in mid-October.

Bochra Manai, general secretary for the IRIE, said, “Canada only said that they didn’t want to be part of an electoral circumscription… They had this position since September, and they continued to have it in every meeting with the Tunisian ambassador.”

In an email to The Daily, a spokesperson for the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, Aliya Mawani, addressed the issue.

“Canada encourages foreign states to allow their citizens residing permanently or temporarily in Canada to exercise their right to vote in elections in their country of origin, namely by absentee ballot. All requests for foreign polling are assessed on a case by case basis,” she wrote.

In February 2008, the federal government established a policy to reject requests made by foreign states to count Canada as an extraterritorial electoral constituency.

Mawani defined an “extraterritorial constituency” as “a voting district or riding determined by a foreign state to include territory in Canada – essentially making Canada a riding of a foreign country.”

Manai attributed the federal government’s position to a misunderstanding. “They didn’t want Canadian citizens to be a part of a foreign assembly, but the fact that we are electing deputies for the [Tunisian] assembly doesn’t mean that they are representing us. They are not representing anyone [in particular]. They are representing all the Tunisians,” she said.

“We had the right to vote here because Tunisia and the [IRIE, who organized the election within Tunisia] thought it would be important to hear what the Tunisians outside the country have to say. There is no representation of Canada or any other country [in the Tunisian assembly],” Manai continued.

Haroun Bouazzi, a Tunisian citizen living in Montreal, said, “The Tunisian people really wanted to participate in this change… We saw that people were waiting in line for hours, even outside Tunisia. For the vote in Canada and other countries, the participation was very strong. The Tunisian people really wanted to be a part of this.”

Manai said that the IRIE was worried about accommodating the masses of people coming from all over and outside of the city to vote.

“A lot of people came from cities outside of Montreal. The people organized themselves and came in buses. We were scared of the number of Tunisians we would have to deal with,”   she explained.

“We had to deal with many challenges in every country, but it was part of the excitement,” she continued.

Borhene El Kamel, spokesperson for the Tunisian Embassy, said the election went “extremely well, in an ordered, democratic and transparent manner” in Ottawa.

“That was the same case for the elections held in the other foreign countries as well as in Tunisia,” he continued.

Ennahda, a moderate Islamist party, was declared the winner early this week, with over 40 per cent of the vote.

Manai said that she thought that “a lot of people are really scared of what the party could say or do.”

She proposed that Tunisians should be patient, however. “If this new government will put in danger the freedom we fought for during the last year… I will, as [a] Tunisian, fight for them again. That’s my position for the moment.”

The post Tunisian voters in Montreal help complete 2011 revolution appeared first on The McGill Daily.

While these events are upsetting, at least they cause people to pay attention to a very serious issues: mainly, depression and concussions. There is no denying that hockey is a violent sport. There is a large debate over whether or not fighting should be banned, the idea being that if it was, both of these issues would be reduced greatly in severity. However, fighting has become an institution in the game and to remove it all together may not be possible.

Regardless of the proper solution to these issues, it is clear that something needs to be done. Lynn Bookalam, head therapist and manager of the McGill Sports Medicine Clinic and an expert on concussions, agrees. “Something has to be done at the higher levels to ensure the safety of their athletes,” she asserts, adding “both for the health of the players and because they are ambassadors to the younger players. If [the younger players] see bashes to the head, they will think it’s okay.”

A concussed player that is receiving an immense amount of media coverage right now is Sidney Crosby. One of the debates revolving around Crosby’s case is whether or not he should retire. Some believe that he has enough money and glory to be able to retire, and should not risk his health by continuing to play. They argue that the next concussion could be devastating. Others make the claim that hockey is Crosby’s calling, and to take that away from him would be like taking away his life.

Bookalam chimes in on this debate, pointing to science. “Right now, the science says that if [Crosby] completes the six step return to play protocol, he has as good a chance to return as someone who has never had a concussion. I don’t have any problem with Sidney Crosby returning to hockey if he has correctly gone through the return to play protocol and has been honest with himself about his symptoms. There is no lie detector, so a lot of it relies on the player’s honesty.”

The solution to the issue of depression in players who act as “enforcers” is much trickier. Many believe that  being put in a position in which you must be aggressive and ready to fight multiple times a week can be psychologically damaging. “I can’t say that an enforcer will suffer from depression. You won’t have any medical professional say so. I know that’s what they are trying to conclude in the news right now,” maintains Bookalam. She does add, however, that if a player becomes injured, as enforcers often do, this could lead to a period of psychological change. She asserts, “It’s not because you are an enforcer. It’s because you can’t do what you normally do.”

Despite all the media attention focused on these matters, Canadians still love hockey and still want to play the sport. There has been no decline in registration at the youth level, confirms Kevin Boston, Director of Marketing and Events for the Ontario Minor Hockey Association (OMHA). He asserts that the OMHA takes safety very seriously. “Our organization has always been one of the leading organizations in all of hockey to be on the forefront of any safety issue… We were one of the first organizations to implement many of the safety regulations that are in the game today.”

In a press release that the OMHA released on August 25, the OMHA said, “The 2011 Hockey Canada AGM has addressed the issue of head contact and continued commitment to zero tolerance measure in this area.” The press release goes on to outline rule changes that will take effect immediately and will hopefully help eradicate the problem of head contact.

McGill’s Sports Medicine Clinic is also concerned about the safety of their own players and of the younger players of the sport. Like Boston, Bookalam claims that there has been no decline in the interest of hockey. “I am particularly proud of how strict we are with concussions. I have spent a great deal of time helping to share my knowledge of concussions with the community. We have to influence young players on the risk of concussions and the right way to play. McGill has an opportunity to be an ambassador to the younger community,” she declared.

The post Hits to the head appeared first on The McGill Daily.

After concluding an investigation into McGill psychology professor Barbara Sherwin’s alleged academic fraud, the University has officially reprimanded her for failing to acknowledge a ghostwriter involved in drafting one of her articles.

The decision, which amounts to a censure, spares Sherwin from a harsher punishment, such as sanctions or suspension.

A McGill internal review committee investigated three allegations made against Sherwin in relation to an article she published in a 2000 edition of the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society. First, that she had participated in ghostwriting, second, that she had an untoward relationship with a pharmaceutical company, and third, that she failed to acknowledge assistance with the article. The committee cleared her of the first two allegations.

McGill’s investigation began in August 2009 after Sherwin’s name was brought up in a class action lawsuit against pharmaceutical company Wyeth, which has since been bought by Pfizer. In the case, 8,400 women claimed they were hurt by the hormone replacement therapy (HRT) drugs the company sold. The women’s lawyers also claimed that there had been insufficient information given about the potential harm of the drug.

According to a Maclean’s article published in May, Wyeth paid DesignWrite to produce articles on HRT, asking leading academics to sign their names to them, and then publish them in academic journals.

Sherwin was one of the academics mentioned in the case, prompting the allegations that she had both participated in ghostwriting and had been involved in an inappropriate relationship with a pharmaceutical company.

Sherwin has publicly admitted failure to properly acknowledge the assistance she received from DesignWrite.

Richard Janda, a McGill Law professor who advised Sherwin throughout McGill’s investigation, described how Sherwin “continues to be used as an example of how there are problematic relationships between corporations and universities.”

“If anything, this is a professor that has been scrupulous and almost paranoid about having involvement with pharmaceutical companies,” said Janda.

“She has always refused to take products even if it’s a matter of use in research. She has not taken drugs from pharmaceutical companies. She has not had sponsorship by pharmaceutical companies for her own work. She only had public funds for her own work.”

According to Janda, Sherwin never knew of the relationship between Wyeth and DesignWrite, who often do not disclose that they are working for pharmaceutical companies.

“If she had been asked to promote [the HRT drugs], bells would have gone off, but since that’s not what she was doing, there were no alarm bells that went off,” Janda said.

The article was a comprehensive, peer-reviewed paper, considering a range of possible treatments for cognitive disorders, including both hormonal and non-hormonal treatments.

In regards to whether or not a DesignWrite employee had ghostwritten Sherwin’s article, Sherwin told Maclean’s she offered editorial credit to DesignWrite employee Karen Mittleman – who typed and formatted Sherwin’s manuscript to fit the style of the journal – but Mittleman refused.

DesignWrite defends its position. Rosie Lynch, the CEO of DesignWrite, explained in an email to The Daily that Sherwin “authored an article that was medically and scientifically accurate and valid.  We assisted her in writing and editing the article, which was common practice in the industry.  She had control over the final product and final approval over the article. The article was published by independent peer reviewed journals that were completely autonomous in their decision to publish the article based on its scientific merit.”

When asked whether or not Sherwin was aware of the relationship between DesignWrite and Wyeth, Lynch replied, “The editorial assistance we provided to Dr. Sherwin was common practice in the industry and we have never had an author express any confusion in this regard.”

She did admit that Wyeth paid DesignWrite “to assist Dr. Sherwin with writing and editing the article,” but also stated that journals were never paid to publish the article.

In an email to The Daily, Sherwin said she had been advised “to not communicate with anyone in the media for the time being.”

Doug Sweet, McGill Director of Media Relations, said the University was not commenting on the investigation.

Due to editorial errors, the printed version of this article (News, Sep 8, pg. 4) contains several innaccuracies, which accounted certain facts in an erroneous manner and incorrectly portrayed Professor Sherwin.

We, the editors and writers of the McGil Daily, would like to sincerely apologize to Professor Sherwin for the printing of said article and any harm that may have been caused to her. We deeply regret our actions. We are reviewing our internal procedures to ensure a similar event does not occur in the future.

The following highlights the errors and corrections of the September 8, 2011 article: The article incorrectly identifies the nature of Professor Sherwin’s misconduct in the subhead; she was not reprimanded for falsely crediting her article. The article also incorrectly identifies the nature of Professor Sherwin’s misconduct in the article; she was not reprimanded for failing to acknowledge a co-author, but, rather, for failing to acknowledge Karen Mittleman’s assistance with the 2000 article. The printed article referred to Professor Sherwin’s reprimand as a ‘public censure’; this is technically inaccurate, as the University did not make their decision public. The article also identified Provost Anthony Masi as leading the internal review committee; such information is confidential and could not be confirmed.The article misrepresented the content of Sherwin’s article; the article dealt with a range of pharmacological treatment options for mild cognitive impairment, not Hormone Replacement Therapy, as the article stated. DesignWrite’s role in drafting the article was misrepresented; Designwrite provided modest editorial assistance to Sherwin. Professor Janda was paraphrased as stating that Professor Sherwin was “under emotional strain”; he did not comment specifically on her emotional state. The Daily regrets the errors.

The post McGill clears professor of academic fraud appeared first on The McGill Daily.

However, the people at greatest harm are probably most ignored and least heard from in the political world. Global protests made over the Beijing Olympics were about an international political issue that has received countless amounts of media coverage over the years. Yet, what happens to a country domestically as it prepares for the Olympics and similar events is rarely of interest to the rest of the world. When push comes to shove, major sporting events cost a lot of money for any country, regardless of developmental status.

When the government of British Columbia raised taxes in order to host the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, citizens were angered. Similarly, in order to build the Olympic park for the upcoming 2012 London Olympics, the city shut down Europe’s second-largest housing cooperative, Clay’s Lane Estate, displacing up to 450 tenants. One must wonder:  if the citizens of developed nations like Canada and the UK feel negative economic strains from hosting major sporting events, what happens to countries that can be classified as developing nations?

To answer this question, one only has to look at Brazil. The country is currently preparing for the 2014 Men’s World Cup and 2016 Olympics. As Dave Zirin notes on his blog, Edge of Sports, “In the 21st century, these sporting events require more than stadiums and hotels. The host country must provide a massive security apparatus, a willingness to crush civil liberties, and the will to create the kind of ‘infrastructure’ these games demand…That means a willingness to spend billions of dollars in the name of creating a playground for the international tourism and multi-national sponsors.”

In order to prepare for the two events, many Brazilian shantytowns, known as favelas, have been bulldozed in cities such as Rio de Janeiro, leaving many homeless without any other options. What’s more, many of these favelas were destroyed before residents had a chance to even recover their belongings. It is estimated that 1.5 million families will lose their homes in all of Brazil. McGill political science professor Rex Brynen, whose research focuses on the politics of developing nations, claims, “The effects [of major sporting events] are mixed, and in many ways hard to measure. On the one hand, redevelopment may come at the cost of poor communities who lose land that is used for sports infrastructure. There is also the ‘opportunity cost’ of investing in sports and tourist facilities, as opposed to other things like health, education, water and sanitation, and other services. Much of the infrastructure that remains (public transport, roads, airport upgrades, tourist facilities, and especially the sports facilities themselves) may be of far more benefit to middle and upper class citizens than the poor.”

Of course, one cannot ignore the obvious benefits of hosting a major sporting event. Events such as the World Cup and the Olympics bring about international recognition and attention. As Brynen notes, “public spending may create construction and other jobs, and international tourism represents a significant external injection into the economy. On top of this, there is the difficult to measure factor of international profile, and how that might affect future tourism, investment, and other areas.” Moreover, citizens of a host country may also gain an increased sense of pride in their nation.

With more and more developing nations winning the bids for major international sporting events, the call to reform the mentality around what is expected of host countries becomes ever more urgent. It is important to remember that beneath the veneer of polished excitement surrounding an event like the Olympics, there may lay hundreds, if not thousands, of displaced and disgruntled citizens.

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After struggling to meet quorum, council was finally called to order about an hour after the meeting commenced. In the interim, council speaker Raymond Xing called an informal question and answer period for the councillors that were present. Clubs and Services Representative Max Zidel asked about the progress of the creation of a committee to review and amend SSMU’s conflict of interest policy.

Newburgh, having planned to address this issue during his executive report, responded to Zidel. “I would like to make the policy a lot more specific and less ambiguous, and I think it would be really great to refer this to a committee,” said Newburgh. “Since I am the only student who has ever been charged for a breach of the conflict of interest policy, I think my perspective on this issue would be a valuable one.”

VP External Myriam Zaidi expressed similar concerns about the policy and agreed it needs to be reviewed. “The people who need to review it need to be people who uphold the most ethical standards ever. What I have envisioned is an ad hoc committee that would include student advocates from the student advocacy center,” said Zaidi.

Once quorum was met, there was a continuation of the conversation about the procedure to release the minutes from the confidential session during the February 3 council meeting.

Zaidi proposed a motion to suspend Robert’s Rules of Order to release these minutes. “The SSMU constitution comes before Robert’s Rules of Order, and doesn’t it provide for us to be as democratic and transparent as possible? Shouldn’t we be excellent in leadership, representation, and service? Shouldn’t we provide this service to the students and not keep everything confidential from them – especially in a situation like this?” she asked.

Clubs and Services representative Maggie Knight called for a compromise in which all members of council could go through the minutes and black out anything they personally said that they do not want released. The motion was postponed to next council, which will be held on March 16.

Lastly, in response to a previous attempt by Red Thunder to levy an opt-outable student fee, council passed a motion that will preclude any SSMU club’s ability to levy an independent fee. The new by-law reads: “No club or interest group may obtain a fee levy since all clubs and interest groups are internally funded.”

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Traditionally, a student in Quebec takes five years of high school, then a two year program at a CEGEP, after which they qualify to apply to a three-year university program.

Over the past few years, graduates from English high schools have found it increasingly difficult to get into English CEGEPs because of the rising number of applicants and subsequent overcrowding in the schools.

We are addressing an immediate need,” said Marcus Tabachnick, LBPSB chair. “They don’t really have a place to go,” he added, speaking of students who find themselves stranded when they do not get into an English CEGEP.

According to Tabachnick, the program will be modeled on the curriculum of several Ontario school boards so that the LBPSB will not have to invent a curriculum.The program will also be self-financed through either the government, by a tuition fee, or by a combination of the two.

“We will not redirect funds from our Kindergarten-Secondary [Five] grants to cover the costs of this program,” Tabachnick explained.

Currently the Quebec school system dictates that Quebec students must complete CEGEP before applying to university. However, Tabachnick hopes that Quebec universities will agree to accept Quebec Grade 12 students, just as they accept Grade 12 students from other provinces once the program is up and running.

“I am not sure it would be right or fair to deny the same to Quebec students, as long as the course of study being offered is of university-entrance calibre,” said Tabachnick.

Sabrina Nicholson, a U1 Education student who attended Dawson College in Montreal for CEGEP, was skeptical about the Grade 12 option.

“High school was a joke. It was really easy, but CEGEP was so hard. I had so much reading to do and so much homework, and it was a really big switch. But to think if I went from Grade 12 to university, it would have been too much,” said Nicholson. “CEGEP is a good middle ground between high school and university.”

The LBPSB has yet to develop or write an exact proposal for the Grade 12 program. However, there has been a lot of interest from the local community since the program’s public announcement last week, according to Robert Mills, the director general for the LBPSB.

“It’s a collaborative effort here,” he said. “Everybody has been really supportive in making [Grade 12] available to international students and now making it available to local students,” confirmed Tabachnick.

He added that the program went public a little before the board was ready.

Regardless, he is hopeful that the LBPSB will make an official announcement about the program in four to five weeks.
— with files from Erin Hudson

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“In many of the protests, demonstrators have brandished loaves of bread or displayed banners expressing anger about the rising cost of food staples such as lentils,” said the statement written by Josette Sheeran, the WFP’s executive director.

“These are the nutritional building blocks of life, and if people feel that rising prices are pushing these food items out of reach, growing anxiety adds to the general feeling of exclusion, resentment and despair,” the statement continued.

Shokry Gohar, a professor in the Islamic Studies department at McGill and originally from Egypt, agreed that rising food prices played a large role in public discontent, especially in his native country.

“The rise in food prices have had a very negative impact on the Egyptian people because annual income is very, very low. I don’t think the average Egyptian makes more than $2 a day,” he said.

“This makes it difficult for him to be able to buy supplies and all those sort of things for his family, so it has a very strong impact, and I think it is one of the reasons that has pushed the Egyptian people to take to the street,” Gohar added.

According to the WFP’s statement, “The UN Food and Agriculture Organization Food Price Index in January reached a new historic peak, rising for the seventh consecutive month and surpassing the peak of the 2007-2008 food price crisis.”

Gohar pointed out that rising food prices are not specific to North Africa and the Middle East. He noted that there have been significant hikes in global food prices over the past year.

“It’s not restricted to Egypt. It is a worldwide issue, but the Egyptian government did not respond to what is going on around the world,” he said. “In Egypt, the government did not react at all to this issue. It therefore became very difficult for the Egyptians to cope with the change.”

When asked if the Egyptian government could have done anything to remedy the situation, Gohar replied, “I think the government could have done a lot to cope with this problem.”

Jane Howard, the WFP’s public information officer, agreed that rising food prices are a global phenomenon, however, she also noted that it is an issue with varying degrees. “There is no suggestion that countries in North Africa and the Middle East are running out of food. Media reports say that in Egypt, for example, the government has sufficient wheat supplies to last until June this year,” she said, indicating that populations do not necessarily need to be starving for food prices to become an issue.

“Even in times of stability, many people throughout North Africa and the Middle East struggle to access the nutritious food they require for a balanced diet,” Howard said. “All governments are struggling with the rising cost of food globally…higher prices globally will mean less food for the hungry.”

“[Egypt’s] like everywhere else in the world but the governments of the world are trying to compensate [for the rise in food prices] through giving people a sufficient income so that they can deal with the increasing food prices,” Gohar said.

Haroun Bouazzi, a Tunisian Montrealer who helped organize the recent Tunisia rally in Montreal and is involved with Collectif de solidarité au Canada avec les luttes sociales en Tunisie, echoed Howard’s view that food is not the main problem in Tunisia.

While “food prices did play a role in the discontent in Tunisia,” Bouazzi said, “it was not the main reason people went to the streets. It was the lack of hope. It was more political than anything else. It’s not because it’s expensive, it’s because they don’t have a job.”

Though food prices in 2008 did cause some protests in Tunisia, they are not an immediate concern in Tunisia at the moment, according to Bouazzi.

“Nobody is dying from hunger right now in Tunisia. The bread and other foods are subsidized. For sure, some people cannot buy meat and stuff like that, but it is not a major social problem, for example, to buy bread,” he said.

Howard further emphasized the fact that food is just one part of the greater picture.

“Rising food prices have undoubtedly been a contributing factor in the political turmoil in the Middle East and North Africa, but they have not been the central issue,” she said. “They are only part of a complex array of different issues driving the protests, such as unemployment, political reform and freedom of speech.”

However, the WFP statement warned that the rising cost of food should not be taken lightly as food and market volatility can quickly translate into unrest.

“When it comes to food, the margins between stability and chaos are perilously thin,” the WFP concluded. “It is still too early to quantify the role that rising food prices are playing in the current wave of discontent.”

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Canada needs a better way to monitor and respond to research misconduct, according to a report published by the not-for-profit Canadian Council of Academies (CCA) on October 21. The report, titled “Honesty, Accountability and Trust: Fostering Research Integrity in Canada,” was produced in response to federal government findings of 38 cases of abuse that have occurred out of 160 alleged cases of scientific misconduct in the last decade. The CCA’s report uses the Lethbridge College definition of research misconduct, which includes “fabrication, falsification and plagiarism…[and] conflict of interest omissions.”

Paul Davenport, former president of the University of Western Ontario, chaired the panel that produced the report for the CCA – a third of whose board members are nominated by the federal Ministry of Industry. According to its website, the organization is dedicated to “science-based, expert assessments to inform public policy development in Canada.”

In an email to The Daily, Davenport said academic misconduct is hard to track. “Canada, the U.S., and other countries, have no way of estimating what percentage of misconduct cases are actually reported,” he wrote. “It is not possible to state how many cases there are, what the trend in the number of cases is, and in what disciplines the cases occur.”

The CCA’s report calls for the creation of a Canadian Council for Research Integrity (CCRI), which would be independent from the federally funded Tri-Council, the body currently mandated to supervise issues of research integrity. The CCRI would “function as a much-needed educational and advisory arm on issues of research integrity. Its key role would be to build and promote a proactive approach to research integrity in Canada,” the report reads.

CCA Director of Communications Cathleen Meechan noted, however, that this report does not tackle specific cases of academic misconduct. “There is not any set of clear evidence that says one way or another about cases of misconduct and if there is an overwhelming amount of cases in one field or another,” she said. “There has not been enough research done on research misconduct itself.”

The report is meant to provide the federal government with information with which they can create policies around research integrity. “We provide a diagnosis of sorts and then the government determines what kind of prescription they want to pursue,” said Meechan. “This report was requested as part of a review that the Tri-Council is undertaking on research integrity. It will help to inform that review. We think that this is a good report to spur an important discussion within the research community about research integrity.”

The report concludes that there is a need to instill a culture of research integrity in Canada. In order for this to happen, the report continues, there needs to be a common way of approaching breaches of academic integrity across Canada.

“We need to have a much more systematic approach taken at the university level to research integrity,” said Meechan.

Davenport stressed the importance of creating a better system in dealing with academic misconduct. “We live in a knowledge-based society, where research is vital to our future social and economic health, and research can only be used for public policy if it is viewed as trustworthy by citizens and their governments.  Failure to deal with the research integrity issue ultimately will mean that even outstanding research will not have the impact on public policy that it should.  All Canadians have a very large stake in this issue.”

Sherwin review kept secret

McGill has completed an internal review of potential academic misconduct by professor Barbara Sherwin. In an email sent to The Daily on Wednesday, Provost Anthony Masi said that McGill will not make the results public. The message read simply, “The investigation into the allegations of research misconduct is complete. In accord with University regulations, the results are confidential.”

In August of last year, Sherwin was accused of putting her name to an academic article she did not write. The article, published in April 2000 in the peer-reviewed Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, explored various hormonal and non-hormonal pharmacological treatment options for age-associated memory loss. Sherwin did not receive financial renumeration for reviewing, and attaching her name to, the article.

Court documents from August 2009 state that the article was written by a freelance writer working with the firm DesignWrite, who was paid by Wyeth. The article was then sent to Sherwin, whose name eventually appeared alone on the article.

“It is an error I regret and which had never occurred before or since,” Sherwin told the Toronto Star last August.

In August 2009, the Star obtained court documents showing that Sherwin was contacted by DesignWrite about writing a second article about estrogen treatments months after the ghostwritten article was published. Sherwin told the Star she did not use any material provided by DesignWrite for the second article, which was published in 2003.

In McGill’s “Regulations Concerning Investigation of Research Misconduct,” it states that “the Provost shall determine whether any government agencies, professional societies, professional licensing boards, editors of journals or other publications, collaborators of the Respondent, or other relevant parties should be notified of the outcome of the investigation.” In Sherwin’s case, the Provost has decided to keep the information under wraps.

Doug Sweet, Director of Media Relations at McGill, confirmed that the review was completed at the beginning of the summer. When asked who conducted the review, Sweet replied, “The investigation was all internal, but I don’t know the identity of the panelists.”

Sherwin refused to answer any questions on the matter.

Due to an editorial error, in the printed version of this article (News, Nov 1, pg. 5) there are several inaccuracies. It was incorrectly stated that McGill decided to keep the results of its internal investigation confidential; it is in fact University policy to keep the results of such investigations confidential. The article also falsely credited Wyeth with publishing Sherwin’s April 2000 paper, the article was actually published by the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society. The contents of Sherwin’s paper were also incorrectly interpreted, stating that it explored the possible benefits of estrogen treatments in helping with memory loss. The Daily regrets the errors.

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The Opt-Out campaign accused QPIRG of attacking their “private property,” including the fliers and posters on the Opt-Out table, while two QPIRG board members reported that a member of the Opt-Out campaign grabbed a QPIRG board member and briefly prevented her from leaving.

Last Thursday’s incident led the Opt-Out campaign to call McGill Security. According to Pierre Barbarie, Associate Director, University Safety, who was not on campus Thursday to witness these events firsthand, “The people wanting to hand out fliers called us to make sure everything went smoothly while they were handing out their fliers.”

When asked if any physical attacks had occurred, Barbarie said, “Not according to our log entry. We didn’t witness physical incident. Often times, we arrive and things are over, and I’m not saying it didn’t happen, but I didn’t read anything that tells me that there was a physical altercation.”

However, Maddie Ritts, a QPIRG board member, said she was grabbed by Jess Weiser, former Conservative McGill president and current Opt-Out campaigner, after Ritts removed a pile of fliers and posters from the Opt-Out table.

“I had to push and fight him off of me…he would not let go of me,” she told The Daily.

According to an article this week in the McGill Tribune, Weiser denied any allegations that he touched Ritts.

However, Kira Page, a QPIRG board member and a witness to the event, confirmed that at one point Weiser physically held Ritts.

“Maddie was very frustrated [with the Opt-Out campaigners],” Page told The Daily. “She wasn’t there for long, but she ended up grabbing the fliers off the table. Then, Jess grabbed her and wouldn’t let her go. She was yelling ‘Let me go, let me go,’ and at that point I intervened and said physical assault is really a different thing than taking fliers, and I think you should probably let her go right now. … and he let her go, and she ran.”

In an email to The Daily, Weiser said it was QPIRG that acted violently. “QPIRG’s board members as well as their group of supporters grew in number, and their verbal attacks on campaign members became increasingly vial [sic], including racial slurs and stereotyping,” he wrote. The slurs included the phrase “rich white boy,” according to the Tribune.

Addressing Weiser’s charges of racism, Ritts said, “I believe that calling someone out for speaking from the stance of white privilege does not constitute a racial slur.” She said she was not speaking on behalf of QPIRG.

Ritts added that she was “frustrated and saddened” that Weiser would not “own up” to grabbing her. “I think that’s it’s deeply troubling when statements get made that emphasize harm to private property – which I don’t even think removing a stack of fliers constitutes – [and are then] conflated with physical restriction on to some one else’s movement,”  she continued.

Wesier maintained that “members of QPIRG board of directors” argued “aggressively with members of our campaign.” He also alleged that QPIRG board members “physically obstructed members of our camapaign from distributing flyers.”

Citing an Opt-Out press release disseminated the night of the confrontation charging that QPIRG “physically attacked” the campaign table, Page said the incident “is being turned into a ‘QPIRG is violent’ thing, and [the campaigners] are really playing into the line, which is that QPIRG is funding terrorism and anarchists and building pipe bombs, and this whole lie about what QPIRG does, which is totally incorrect.”

The period during which students could opt out of paying QPIRG’s $3.75 per semester student fee ended yesterday.

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QPIRG could not confirm that last week’s hack was related to the opt-out campaign, saying they are still in the process of discovering what happened themselves.

Sebastian Ronderos-Morgan, a QPIRG board member, told The Daily, “The groups who have been organizing against QPIRG in the past are well known and have been pretty public about it. That is not to suggest that hacking came necessarily from those groups.”

Following the hack, the link on QPIRG’s website titled “Working Groups” sent users to a webpage for Tadamon!, a pro-Palestinian organization affiliated with QPIRG that labels Israel an apartheid state.

Clubs as diverse as Conservative McGill and the McGill Hellenic Students’ Association accuse QPIRG of supporting radical political positions that “mainstream” students would not naturally support.

Fliers encouraging students to opt-out of QPIRG’s student fee have also been left in buildings on campus, including Leacock and Redpath, throughout the past week.

Outgoing Conservative McGill President Jess Weiser did not respond to The Daily’s request for comment.

The opt-out campaign, officially luanched on September 15, has developed a well organized web infrastructure; the Facebook group “QPIRG: Opt-Out!” features a 50-second video guide to opting out of student fees, including QPIRG and “Vegan” [Midnight] Kitchen, as well as a six-step guide to the opt-out process on Minerva, which the Facebook page says takes “less than three minutes.”

The QPIRG Opt-Out Campaign circulated an open letter addressed to QPIRG last night, signed by Conservative McGill, Free the Children McGill Chapter, and Swiss Club McGill, among others, decrying some of the research group’s political positions as “bigoted.” The letter’s coda reads, “We will no longer contribute to an organization that promotes hate, rejects student input, and neglects its stated aims.”

Ronderos-Morgan said the efforts of the individuals and groups involved in the opt-out campaign are “disingenuous.”

“I find it kind of hilarious [that these groups use the arguments they do] because they receive money from SSMU and faculty associations,” said Ronderos-Morgan.

“Conservative McGill, for example, received $750 of student money last year from SSMU, and students had no option of whether or not they wanted to opt-out of that. A lot of students on campus don’t find conservative politics very appealing and yet their money is going to fund Conservative McGill. … Students don’t really have the option to opt-out of that because it makes sense for there to be funds available for groups to add to student life without having to do bake sales all the time.”

Echoing Ronderos-Morgan’s chagrin with the groups involved in the campaign, Anna Malla, Internal Coordinator at QPIRG, said “we are not opposed to students knowing how to opt-out, but we are opposed to the fact that there are fliers being distributed all over campus that don’t give any information about who we are.”

“Students are finding out about a way to save money as opposed to finding out about who we are and what we do,” she continued. “It is obviously not a campaign that is trying to inform students. It is a campaign that is trying to suck the money out of our organization.”

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