SSMU VP Clubs & Services Stefan Fong told The Daily, “One of SSMU’s main criticisms is that [it] doesn’t listen, and [it] isn’t relevant […] we want to combat that and address that.”

The survey is also meant to provide the administration with clear numbers and trends regarding student discontent, and provide stronger supporting arguments for SSMU when pushing for student initiatives and defending community concerns.

“There are some hard truths that will come out of the survey, clear trends are already emerging,” Fong added.

“There are some hard truths that will come out of the survey, clear trends are already emerging.” 

The survey, which takes about 15 to 20 minutes to complete, is incentivized: the first 500 users to complete the survey were awarded a coupon for a free slice of pizza from Pizza Navona. In addition to this, Fong testified that increased student participation would “unlock prizes,” hinting that once the threshold of 1,000 surveys has been met, more prizes will become available. Additionally, all who complete the survey will be entered in a raffle for prizes that are unknown as of print.

Inspiration for the survey was taken from similar projects on other Canadian campuses, according to Fong. He cited a survey done at the University of British Columbia (UBC) that found that students in the faculty of science were the only ones consistently dissatisfied with student services, leading UBC to restructure science advising.

“We’re not afraid of getting shit on, ourselves,” Fong told The Daily. “That’s what we want to know – what people have to say.”

The post SSMU launches survey on quality of life at McGill appeared first on The McGill Daily.

This year’s executive, currently entering the final days of its time leading the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU), has demonstrated leadership in areas such as austerity mobilization and support for student-run services, often going above and beyond to advocate for the University to make student voices a priority when making decisions in these areas.

SSMU made a big effort at its general assembly, which was much more organized that the Fall GA, revised the Equity policy in response to issues raised by students, and hosted many teaching events and forums, thus showing an increased push for student consultation this year. However, there definitely remains room for SSMU to improve in this area. Overall, despite bumps along the way, this was a much better year for SSMU compared to previous years.

Click on a position to see its end-year review.

President — Courtney Ayukawa

For many students, the SSMU General Assembly (GA) is the most visible part of the President’s portfolio. Similar to last semester, the Winter 2015 GA was one of the central events of Ayukawa’s term. Indeed, it was very well-organized compared to the fall — while also the site of multiple controversial motions and with an initial turnout of over 500 students, it did not see the same time and security delays present at the Fall GA, and went much more smoothly. However, like the Fall GA, attendance dropped significantly after the first motion on Palestine solidarity, and quorum was lost for the last motion.

Ayukawa was also behind a number of small sustainability initiatives this year, including the introduction of a SSMU composting program and the broadening of the Green Events Coordinator and Green Buildings Coordinator job descriptions. Ayukawa also plans to do interviews with the incoming SSMU executive for the 2014-15 Sustainability Assessment, which will take place in May.

Additionally, Ayukawa has shown initiative in her negotiations with the administration, as she made an attempt to open Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) negotiations with the University one year early. This attempt, however, was unsuccessful due to a lack of cooperation from the administration. She has also been one of the less vocal members of the student Senate caucus this semester. While the bulk of the Presidential portfolio concerns Human Resources and is thus oftentimes less visible, it is important for the head of a student society such as SSMU to have a visible leadership presence, which has ultimately been inconsistent throughout Ayukawa’s term.

VP External — Amina Moustaqim-Barrette

As the member of the executive charged with representing SSMU’s interests outside of McGill, VP External Amina Moustaqim-Barrette has motivated a variety of initiatives this year. Aided by her previous involvement with Divest McGill, Moustaqim-Barrette helped organize SSMU’s involvement with the People’s Climate March, and also initiated SSMU’s affiliation with anti-pipeline group Étudiant(e)s contre les oléoducs (ÉCO), which now represents over 100,000 students across Quebec.

While environmental initiatives at SSMU have quieted down this semester, anti-austerity organizing has picked up. Initiatives such as the recent anti-austerity activities night, actions of the mobilization committee, and the hiring of a mobilization officer are commendable attempts to increase engagement with ongoing issues in Montreal and Quebec. However, the mobilization of McGill students has not been particularly successful — this lack of student interest in the VP External portfolio was highlighted by the fact that no one ran for the position in the first round of SSMU executive elections last week. Although two candidates are now running in by-elections, dwindling student engagement in external issues is a problem that both the current and future VP External should seek to improve.

One of Moustaqim-Barrette’s recent projects has been to explore the possibility of starting a new student federation. In light of SSMU’s disaffiliation from the Table de concertation étudiante du Québec (TaCEQ) last year, and the possible dissolution of the Fédération étudiante universitaire du Québec (FEUQ), this move to maintain and improve McGill’s connection with other Quebec universities is a necessary step forward.

VP Finance and Operations — Kathleen Bradley

Kathleen Bradley has done well as this year’s SSMU VP Finance and Operations. She succeeded in bringing a more clearly presented budget to Council. A huge change from last year was Bradley’s outreach to the media concerning this year’s budget: when the budget first came out at the beginning of the year, Bradley sat down with campus media and explained it to them in full, demonstrating a clear dedication to transparency and willingness to communicate with students. However, further initiatives to increase the visibility of SSMU’s budget among the student body as a whole, and to make students more aware of where their fees are going, would have been beneficial.

Bradley told The Daily she was glad to help SSMU break even on its budget and see sales rise at student-run cafe The Nest. She said that the continued expansion of student-run operations is one thing she hopes will be continued by next year’s executive as well. At SSMU Council meetings, Bradley has asserted that she expects the Nest to break even next year.

Bradley has done a great deal of work this year to promote student-run operations beyond the explicit demands of her portfolio, and we commend Bradley on her involvement with the Food Coalition and for leading SSMU in its support of student-run services, which have been under constant attack from the administration this year. A minor criticism of Bradley, however, is that throughout the year she has been reluctant to give as much time to campus media inquiries as compared to other members of this year’s executive and past holders of Bradley’s current position.

VP Clubs & Services — Stefan Fong

During his second year as VP Clubs & Services, Stefan Fong has endeavoured to make clubs more accessible to students and to increase student consultation. Fong told The Daily that he hopes that the Club Hub, a club management portal Fong has been developing since his first year in office, will finally be implemented under next year’s VP Clubs & Services, as the research and consultative phases have been completed.

In working toward achieving the Club Hub, Fong obtained constitutions from clubs that he identified as being active this year, thereby updating the list of functioning clubs. Additionally, Fong told The Daily that he wants to see the development of a co-curricular activities record, wherein participation in SSMU clubs would be recorded on a student’s transcript. While this is a worthwhile endeavor, it is still in developmental phases and is unlikely to be implemented this year.

Fong also showed initiative by rewriting the bylaw book for clubs and services. Overall, Fong has been an active member of Council, taking one of the executive positions often perceived as more mundane and very much making it his own. However, Fong has also faced criticism from various clubs and services for failing to consult with them before SSMU imposed clubs regulations. While this is a near-inevitable side effect of improving the organization of the Clubs & Services portfolio, the future VP Clubs & Services should seek to maintain and improve SSMU’s relationship with its clubs to help facilitate future cooperation.

VP Internal — Daniel Chaim

Daniel Chaim has prided himself on amassing larger amounts of revenue than last year’s executive in every social event that he has run as VP Internal, including 4Floors. Although some of the events still ran a deficit, Frosh almost broke even, missing the mark by a margin of only 0.35 per cent.

He also assisted in the restructuring of the Students’ Society Programming Network (SSPN), which increased overall volunteer involvement by delegating more responsibilities to volunteers and giving them more experience with event planning. Chaim noted that he had worked closely with SSPN this year and said that the committee played an integral role in the running of SSMU’s social events.

Chaim has not had many visible accomplishments this year outside of the standard organizing of these events; his proposed publications fee, for example, has as of yet failed to materialize. He has done little to go beyond the minimum requirements mandated by his portfolio; for example, he has failed to use the listserv as a tool to promote political engagement. This lack of drive to do more than the basic requirements of his portfolio was the most concerning aspect of Chaim’s performance this year.

VP University Affairs — Claire Stewart-Kanigan

Claire Stewart-Kanigan has been exceptionally active in student advocacy as VP University Affairs in many ways. On the policy front, she has been heavily involved in the continued development of a sexual assault policy for McGill, has helped update SSMU’s Equity Policy to allow for consultation with relevant student groups, and has worked on formalizing SSMU’s stance in opposition to harmful military research on campus. Stewart-Kanigan has also been central to the successful launch of SSMU’s mental health department.

Stewart-Kanigan has continued work on decolonization by seeking to bring a territory acknowledgement to Senate by the end of the year. Student researchers under her portfolio have also been very active, notably investigating equitable hiring practices at McGill. At Senate, Stewart-Kanigan has continued to provide a strong presence, and has acted as an effective leader for the SSMU Senate caucus.

Student consultation and collaboration have been a priority for Stewart-Kanigan. She has held forums and informational sessions, and has been receptive to concerns brought forward by students such as the women-only gym hours. Overall, Stewart-Kanigan has fulfilled her mandate exceptionally well, and has had a lasting impact on the university.

The post SSMU executive year-end review appeared first on The McGill Daily.

Like last year, several of the Post-Graduate Students‘ Society (PGSS) executive candidates are running as a slate, namely Danielle Toccalino, Sahil Kumar, Bradley Por, Brighita Lungu, and Behrang Sharif. The slate‘s common platform elements mainly consist of increasing the availability of the executive to constituents — in particular by holding consistent, visible office hours — and maintaining a regular presence at Thomson House, Mac Campus, McGill-affiliated hospitals, and PGSS events.

Click on a position to see the candidates’ overviews.

Secretary General

Danielle Toccalino

As former Science Undergraduate Society (SUS) President, current SUS Chief Returning Officer, and current representative to PGSS for the Graduate Student Association of Neuroscience, Danielle Toccalino has a wealth of experience with McGill student politics. In addition to sitting on the SUS Constitutional Affairs Committee — where she helped update the Society‘s governing documents and reform electoral bylaws — Toccalino has participated in a number of working groups with both McGill Principal Suzanne Fortier and Deputy Provost (Student Life and Learning) Ollivier Dyens. She noted that her terms in office demonstrate the organizational skills needed for the role of PGSS Secretary-General, which involves sitting on all of the associationís committees and acting as a bridge between graduate students and the University.

The PGSS executive committee suffered from strong internal divisions this year, with former Secretary-General Juan Camilo Pinto eventually resigning in January, citing personal reasons. Toccalino aims to promotes unity within the executive officers by making sure every executive officer has an equal voice. She also indicated that she would prioritize consensus-building on issues that polarize executive officers, aiming to work through proposals as a unit instead of relying on majority voting to make decisions. Divisions are not unique to just the executive, however, and Toccalino stated that she intends to shorten the gap between heavily committed PGSS members and apathetic ones.

As Secretary-General, Toccalino said that she would visit each of the 57 departmental associations meetings at least once a semester in order to solicit broad opinion. She is also advocating improved communication with graduate students by conducting more surveys and organizing more face-to-face events. Mental health and equity are also prominent parts of Toccalino‘s platform, and she would mandate each executive officer and commissioner to undergo equity and mental health first aid training.

---

Saturnin Espoir Ntamba Ndandala

Saturnin Espoir Ntamba Ndandala completed his undergraduate degree at the University of Cape Town, where he was president of the undergraduate student society. He has also occupied leadership positions while studying at the University of Sorbonne and the University of Toronto, and has helped in the development of a smartphone application that aims to promote electoral knowledge among minorities. At McGill, Ndandala currently serves as a member of the Policy and Structural Advisory Committee of PGSS and ran for interim Secretary-General following the resignation of Juan Camilo Pinto in February. He lost to Yony Bresler, winning only 29 per cent of the votes. Ndandala argues that his exposure to different cultural values will give him a good standing if elected. Furthermore, he describes himself as a fighter, citing his cancer survival as evidence of his tenacity and strength.
Of the two electoral platforms in the PGSS Secretary-General campaign, Ndandala‘s is the more radical. He is proposing to reduce the fees that graduate students pay to their association by eliminating PGSS executive salaries. In support of this, he argued that executive officers are only required to work for 15 hours per week, and that the heads of graduate departmental associations are also unpaid.

Raising awareness of sexual assault is also a key part of Ndandala‘s platform. He hopes to make it mandatory for all graduate students to take a course on sexual assault, sexual harassment, and gender equality as part of their degree. True to his international academic experience, Ndandala also wants to ensure that international students have an easier transition into McGill by starting a program that would pair Canadian and foreign students. He envisions the program as a cultural exchange that would promote diversity among the student body.

Members Services

Jenny Ann Pura

Jenny Ann Pura is currently an Experimental Surgery Graduate Student Society (ESGSS) representative on PGSS Council. She told The Daily that her experience there sparked an interest in joining the executive committee. She also participated in initiatives to train student volunteers in active listening while an undergraduate at the University of Victoria. Aside from her work for ESGSS — of which she is co-president — Pura indicated her having attended Council meetings as experience that would count in her favour as Member Services Officer. The office is designed to offer guidance to graduate students on accessing McGill services — such as career planning, health services, and mental health services — as well as managing the various services run by PGSS.

Pura said that it is difficult to pinpoint what is most crucial to the role, stating that all aspects of the portfolio are equally important. She also had difficulty expressing a clear platform, but emphasized that team building exercises, transparency, and dealing with conflicts in a timely manner were all crucial. Additionally, she suggested that services for post-grads should be centralized in a single online platform, similar to Minerva. Pura stressed that every person‘s voice should be heard. However, she cautioned that she could not guarantee the feasibility of every electoral promise, expressing reluctance to declare what she hoped to achieve if elected.

Brighita Lungu

Brighita Lungu, having completed her first term, is running for re-election to the position of PGSS Member Services Officer (MSO).

Given the year she has spent as MSO and as a member of the Graduate Architecture Students‘ Association (GASA), Lungu has built up extensive experience catered to the position. Although she characterized the learning curve of being a PGSS MSO as steep, Lungu said that given her increased familiarity with the terrain, she will be able to accomplish more in the next year if re-elected.

Lungu said that she thought that one of the biggest issues facing student leadership is the turnover that the positions often see. Therefore, highlighting institutional memory as a crucial factor for success, Lungu asserted that being consistent and running for the same position will give her an edge over her opponent.

With the brunt of the MSO‘s responsibility surrounding the proper representation of her constituents, Lungu cited a good working relationship with existing administrative organizations as a significant advantage. She also addressed the importance of teamwork, and said that she intends to require all PGSS executives to go through equity training and active bystander training.

Lungu was also very vocal about providing support mechanisms for graduate students, particularly with regard to mental health and counselling. She also noted potential future collaboration with the McGill Office of Religious and Spiritual Life (MORSL) as a way to ensure that graduate students who might not be seeking these services because of perceived stigma are able to access them safely.

Lungu said she believed that one of the challenges facing MSO is that the departmental associations are not centralized in one place, like at the downtown campus — instead, they take the form of eighty small groups around Montreal. She expressed her hope to work on improving the disjointed relationship between these associations if re-elected.

Internal Affairs Officer

Sahil Kumar

Sahil Kumar gained a sense for the position‘s portfolio through his involvement with the Internal Affairs Committee this year as a PGSS representative for the Experimental Medicine Graduate Student Society (EMGSS). He sat on the PGSS Equity Committee this year, and has past experience in student government; he was the Science Undergraduate Society (SUS) VP Internal in 2013-14, a position in which he coordinated orientation week and introduced changes to make Frosh more accessible. He was also the SUS executive administrator in 2012-13, and worked for Campus Life & Engagement.

Kumar highlighted the importance of activities, communications, and committee recruitment to the Internal Affairs portfolio. He noted that there was room for improvement with orientation options — as a first-year graduate student, Kumar found orientation activities insufficient, even though a services fair was available. He hopes to create more welcoming orientation activities such as an activities night for committee positions, and to get students involved in committees, clubs, and departmental associations early in the year. Kumar also noted that he wants to provide more family-friendly events for PGSS members with children, and to take proactive action toward a sexual assault and harassment policy for PGSS.

Kumar considers mediating internal struggles to be an aspect of the Internal Affairs portfolio, noting that issues this year had detrimental effects on PGSS‘s public image, as well as on the atmosphere at Council meetings and Annual General Meetings.

External Affairs Officer

Bradley Por

Bradley Por decided to run for External Affairs Officer during the extended nomination period. Por is currently in his third year at McGill, as he has completed a Masters in Law and is just starting his PhD; he was previously the Academic Affairs Officer at the Graduate Law Students‘ Association (GLSA).

Por made it clear that he is not afraid to take strong stances, and indicated that resistance to austerity was a priority for him at a time when budget cuts are resulting in reduced funds for education services. In the wake of the possible collapse of the Fédération Étudiante universitaire du Québec (FEUQ), Por indicated that it was essential to rebuild a new organization based on open collaboration and communication in order to resist austerity.

Another key element of Por‘s platform is increasing communication between the External Affairs Officer and PGSS constituents. An Annual General Meeting twice a year, he noted, is not enough of a conversation with students. Por emphasized the importance for students to see their students‘ society as a tool for advocating for their interests, with regard to both the administration and the government.

Academic Affairs Officer

Devin Mills

Devin Mills served on the Undergraduate Curriculum Committee at Edgewood College in Wisconsin for three years, was an assessment graduate research assistant, and is currently the Education Graduate Students‘ Society (EGSS) VP Finance. If elected, communication and transparency will be at the forefront of Mills‘ priorities, as he has said that communicating with constituents is something that he would like to see PGSS do more of in the future. He hopes to make the policies that impact student life more clear to students, and thinks that, overall, PGSS could benefit from more transparency in its initiatives. He cites the Society‘s recent disaffiliation from the Canadian Federation of Students (CFS) as an example — PGSS members were unaware of the disaffiliation vote‘s potential effects on their fees.

Mills indicated that he was highly concerned about budget cuts at McGill, and also named increased research funding as an issue that he would prioritize in his advocacy. He said that filling all the Senate committee seats allocated to PGSS was a priority for him, and that he would seek to improve communication with PGSS members to that end.

After the controversies of this past year that resulted in the removal of Secretary-General Juan Camilo Pinto from his position on the PGSS executive, Mills said he would like to help PGSS regain respect from its constituents and re-establish its credibility. Overall, he says he would like to eliminate doubts that people might have regarding the organization in order to promote engagement.

Financial Affairs Officer

Behrang Sharif

Behrang Sharif has been involved in various PGSS committees since he began his graduate studies at McGill around three years ago, and was previously treasurer and president at a national association for pharmaceutical students in Iran. He has also worked in a financial capacity at a startup, has taken part in local, national, and international student organizations and federations, and has spent two years as a PGSS representative for the Physiology Graduate Student Association (PGSA).

Transparency and accessibility of the PGSS budget and its overall finances is of great importance for Sharif, especially given that PGSS is struggling financially following its legal dispute with the Canadian Federation of Students (CFS). He suggested seeking increased revenue to avoid hiking fees by encouraging people to hold meetings at Thomson House throughout the day in order to increase sales, for example.

Sharif‘s other portfolio-related goals include improving the partnership between PGSS and other campus organizations, and continuing the Thomson House lease negotiations with the University in case they are not completed by the current executive. He noted that there is currently a lack of clarity about the negotiation process on the part of PGSS executives. He also aims to to promote PGSS involvement among constituents.

The post Who is running for PGSS? appeared first on The McGill Daily.

Erin Sobat, Arts Undergraduate Society (AUS) VP Academic and undergraduate student member of the Senate Committee on Student Services (CSS), explained to The Daily that with the higher overhead payments next year, Student Services will be eating into its $6 million budget surplus more quickly than anticipated.

Originally, CSS had planned to spend the funds over a five-year period, this year drawing down on the surplus by channeling $500,000 into the Innovation Fund, and $500,000 to counteract the operating deficit. However, with the 2.5 per cent overhead fee imposed by the central administration increasing to 3 per cent, Sobat predicts that the surplus could be gone in as little as two years, meaning the only way to continue current levels of service would be through a significant student service fee increase. Particularly given that overhead charged in 2018 is forecasted at 5 per cent.

The overhead paid by Student Services to the central administration has increased drastically since the fee’s implementation in 2008, when then-Deputy Provost (Student Life and Learning) Morton Mendelson told CSS that the central administration would begin charging Student Services a flat overhead fee of $15,000. In 2010, an overhead fee of 1.5 per cent was applied to all non-fee revenue. The current rate of 2.5 per cent was established in 2013, meaning about $200,000 of Student Services funding was returning to the central operating budget.

Jim Ghoshdastidar, PhD student and member of CSS, characterizes the increase in overhead charges as “students […] essentially being levied with a back-door tuition increase.”

Members of CSS are especially concerned about the lack of sustainability surrounding this current model, given the importance, as well as vulnerability, of certain programs under the Student Services umbrella, such as the Office for Students with Disabilities (OSD).

The OSD is one of the many programs that McGill must offer under provincial law, yet its financial burdens have been incorporated into Student Services. Elizabeth Cawley-Fiset, postgraduate CSS member and Health Commissioner at the Post-Graduate Students’ Society (PGSS) told The Daily that this is but one example of a pattern in which McGill forces legally mandated programs onto Student Services.

“How can you say that […] students with mental health issues should have to wait on a five-month waiting list? Or that, if you have a scholarship, you should pay for the office that disburses it? And then, the worst part is, if you have a disability, you have to pay for your own supportive services.”

CSS has attempted to address concerns by proposing moving certain services, such as OSD, out from under the Student Services umbrella. However, CSS members have been unable to communicate with Deputy Provost (Student Life and Learning) Ollivier Dyens about this project, as he was unable to attend the March 20 CSS meeting, and will not be at the next one.

Cawley-Fiset noted, “There’s zero regulation, as far as I know, at this point in terms of what they can charge. So the people that are receiving the overhead fees and benefitting from this are also the people who decide what the percentage is.”

Transparency issues in provincial funding for student services

In an email to The Daily, Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) VP University Affairs Claire Stewart-Kanigan noted that, per her understanding, “money earmarked by the government as for ‘services for students’ that generally goes to Student Services may start going to more units across the university that do not fall under Student Services.”

Student Services is an office run on student fees, but, as Sobat noted, even if CSS does ask for a higher student services fee, it can’t be sure that all this money would be going into Student Services rather than the central administration.

Student Services Executive Director Jana Luker told The Daily that she acknowledges that many students “feel that services developed due to government regulations should not be paid for by Student Service fees.”

“It’s kind of a grey area, and the way that McGill has decided to do it is the way they’ve decided to do it,” was Luker’s response to these concerns.

While McGill receives money from the provincial government intended for student services, Sobat noted that there remains a lack of transparency regarding the allocation of these funds.

“We’ve never been able to see what the amounts are. [The administration] always refused to give us what the amounts coming from the government to [the] central [administration] have been for student services. […] We don’t know how much is coming into McGill, so we don’t know how much is getting transferred,” he said.

“We’ve never been able to see what the amounts are. [The administration] always refused to give us what the amounts coming from the government to [the] central [administration] have been for student services. […] We don’t know how much is coming into McGill, so we don’t know how much is getting transferred.”

Incoming SSMU VP University Affairs Chloe Rourke told the Daily that“It’s been very difficult as a representative to get any clear information, and I think it’s difficult for Student Services to get that information as well. And that’s why you get contradictory reports. The University needs to take on more responsibility [in terms of communicating this information] to the rest of the McGill community at all levels, not just Student Services.”

Rourke noted that she was also concerned that maintaining the status quo for service provision would not suffice under this new model. While all units are taking cuts, she said that “Student Services are critical to student success and are a backbone of our community and our institution.”

Cawley-Fiset shared this sentiment. “The University is in a massive budget crisis, I don’t doubt that. But Student Services, in the grand scheme of McGill University, is like a drop in the bucket, and it has such a profound impact on the student experience.”

The post Student Services budget faces threat of depletion appeared first on The McGill Daily.

The Tariq Khan Drama

The Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) saw its fair share of the short-lived SSMU President Tariq Khan this year. Elections SSMU invalidated Khan’s election as SSMU President on April 1, 2014 – a week after he was elected president by a margin of only 78 votes – due to SSMU bylaw infractions committed during his campaign. The violations included the participation of individuals external to SSMU in his campaign, the sending of unsolicited text messages to the public – for which he had been censured on March 21, the last day of the campaign period – inconsistencies in campaign expenditures, and the impingement of the spirit of a fair campaign and of the voting process.

Following his invalidation, Khan filed an appeal with the SSMU Judicial Board (J-Board), which upheld his invalidation on April 29. Khan later took this issue to the Superior Court of Quebec and filed a request on May 29 for a preliminary injunction to reinstate him as SSMU President until the full hearing for a permanent injunction. The Court dismissed his application on June 3, reasoning that his reinstatement would have incurred additional costs and caused undue inconvenience on the part of SSMU. Khan later withdrew his court case in October before its full hearing due to financial motivations and the decreasing timeliness of the case.

Khan resurfaced on the first day of the 2015-16 SSMU elections when screenshots of a Facebook conversation were released on reddit, revealing recently-elected SSMU President Kareem Ibrahim’s suggestion to hack Khan’s Facebook account last year. Upon news of the screenshots, he revealed his intentions to update the police report that he filed after his account was allegedly hacked on March 27, 2014.

—Emma Noradounkian

Campus unions get moving

Compared with 2011’s McGill University Non-Academic Certified Association (MUNACA) strike, the past few years have been fairly quiet on the union front. This year, however, has seen a flurry of activity at McGill unions.
Floor fellows began a union drive over a year ago in November 2013, driven by the University’s earlier push for a change in residence models. Since then, floor fellows have succeeded at forming a union, and joined the Association of McGill University Support Employees (AMUSE) last May. The process, however, has not been without hiccups: this January,collective agreement negotiations between the University and the floor fellows bargaining unit stalled over the exclusion of the “core values” of floor fellows (namely their anti-oppressive mandate and harm reduction approach) from the proposed agreement. The negotiations have started again and are currently ongoing.

McGill’s Teaching Union, AGSEM, has also been working to unionize undergraduate teaching support staff, which include course graders, note-takers, and teaching assistants (TAs). Despite receiving support from post-grads and undergrads, the process has not been without tensions: McGill challenged AGSEM’s promotion of its own union campaign due to disputing interpretations of the Quebec Labour Code. At the date of publication, the union drive is still ongoing.
This year also saw a merger between AMUSE and MUNACA, despite some internal trepidation over their differing sizes. Joint bylaws are on the way.

—Molly Korab

“I cannot celebrate the status quo of mental health support at McGill.”

The mental health landscape at McGill for the 2014-15 academic year has been a disappointing one. Though a working group was struck under the purview of Senate in October 2013, most of the recommendations issued by the group in June 2014 have yet to be implemented. Of the 36 initiatives on the roster, only two have been completed, the first being the development of a student services app, and the second publicly presented only as “further [development] of a robust early alert program.”

While both the administration and student government have been pursuing mental health services reform, they do not appear to be working closely. SSMU VP University Affairs Claire Stewart-Kanigan told The Daily in October, around the time the University announced its intention to create a ‘wellness portal,’ that the relationship between the two was “a consultative arrangement, not a partnership. Given that SSMU is named as a partner on the website, consultation is not enough.”

There have been no updates on the ‘wellness portal,’ projected to be launched in Winter 2015.

Most of the visible events that have taken place this year – in particular, the second annual Students In Mind conference on mental health in October and the Mental Health Awareness Week in November – were largely student-driven and student-led initiatives. Additionally, the most vocal advocates for mental health reform have been students.

In addition to managing the planning and execution of the Mental Health Awareness Week, Stewart-Kanigan oversaw the successful launch of SSMU’s new mental health department, which involved the hire of a coordinator and the development of a mental health listserv to promote peer and professional support services for students and forward student-led anti-stigma initiatives.

­

—Emily Saul

Tense debates at General Assemblies

After years of SSMU General Assemblies (GAs) that have failed to reach quorum or present particularly political motions, portions of this year’s GAs saw huge turnout – with over 700 students attending the Fall 2014 GA and over 500 students at the Winter 2015 GA – as well as plenty of controversy.

Most notably, both GAs saw motions that poked at the long-dormant Israel-Palestine divide on campus. At the Fall 2014 GA, a motion to stand in solidarity with the people of the occupied Palestinian territories and condemn Israel’s violence toward Palestine over the summer was postponed indefinitely, with 402 in favour and 337 against, after hours of debate. At the Winter 2015 GA, a motion to divest from companies profiting from the illegal occupation of the Palestinian territories garnered the endorsement of many campus groups (including The Daily), but failed by only 64 votes.

Despite the intense attention given to these two motions, a number of other political motions passed, mandating SSMU to take action on diverse issues such as unpaid internships, military research, climate change, and austerity. SSMU also saw a J-Board challenge after the contentious postponement of the Fall 2014 Palestine motion, where the judicial body ruled that simplified standing rules should be adopted and publicized at GAs to better facilitate debate.
More broadly, this year’s GAs have prompted a campus-wide (and still ongoing) dialogue on the political role of the student union – which most notably played itself out in the recent 2015-16 SSMU executive elections – with some students questioning whether SSMU should take stances on ‘divisive’ political issues.

—Dana Wray

Students against austerity

This year has seen a whirlwind of opposition against austerity measures and budget cuts set in place by the Liberal provincial government, which have reduced funding to social services, including welfare, healthcare, and education. In the fall, as part of an ongoing push that began even before this academic year, students at UQAM organized a group to allow students and community members to work together to protest these cuts: the Comité Printemps 2015, which helped mobilize around 80,000 students to go on strike on Halloween, and over 80,000 students planned to strike against austerity during March and April. This mobilization has not evaded McGill, as French language and literature students recently voted to go on strike for a week, and other departments have planned strike votes.

These student initiatives contrast with the stance taken by the McGill administration, which has been accommodating of austerity measures. McGill has been making cuts of its own, after undergoing $45 million in cuts from the provincial government over the last four years. The results of these cuts have been felt by workers at McGill, as the administration has set up a hiring freeze, decreasing the number of jobs available, and increasing the workloads of many employees. To combat the administration’s decrease in the number of full-time jobs at McGill, as well as the fact that many positions with benefits have been replaced with lower-paid, part-time jobs that do not receive benefits, AMURE recently voted to start a fund for counselling services for its members.

In response to the austerity measures taken by both McGill and the Quebec government SSMU and the Post-Graduate Students’ Society (PGSS) have taken stances against the government’s measures and asked McGill to oppose these huge cuts. At the SSMU Fall 2014 GA, students voted to add advocating against austerity to the portfolio of the VP External, and SSMU has since hosted an anti-austerity activities night to show students just how wide-reaching the damaging effects of austerity can be.

—Jill Bachelder

Sustainability at McGill

Many important initiatives that began in previous years were continued and strengthened over the course of this one. Divest McGill helped organize a bus to take McGill and Concordia students to the People’s Climate March in New York City, where over 400,000 people marched in the streets of Manhattan to protest the United Nations Climate Summit and raise awareness about global warming. Divest also submitted a new petition for McGill to divest from fossil fuel companies to the Board of Governors (BoG), making a comeback two years after its first petition was presented to, and rejected by, the BoG. In addition, over 100 faculty members signed on to an open letter submitted to the BoG in support of divestment.

SSMU also continued its efforts to promote sustainability on campus, starting a composting program in the Shatner building, and joining Étudiant(e)s contre les oléoducs (ÉCO), after the a motion passed at the Fall 2014 GA that mandated SSMU to stand alongside groups combatting climate change.

Finally, the McGill Office of Sustainability launched its Vision 2020 program, an initiative aiming to create a more sustainable McGill by the year 2020.

—Jill Bachelder

The post Year in review: News appeared first on The McGill Daily.

On March 20, Arts Undergraduate Society (AUS) representatives were told by Deputy Provost (Student Life and Learning) Ollivier Dyens that they had once again violated the terms of their Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with the University, this time by selling burritos.

The University alleges that it only recently became aware of SNAX’s burrito sales when the Office of the Deputy Provost was sent a picture of the illicit foodstuff.

AUS representatives met with Dyens in his office, where they were told the burritos fall under the same prohibited category as sandwiches: “processed or prepared” food.

Appendix E, the portion of the MOA that dictates what AUS may and may not sell, is one thing that AUS President Ava Liu says AUS is trying to rewrite, as the wording of the appendix is a bit ambiguous. She said that moving forward, AUS would like to make it more clear what is allowed and what is not, and to develop a coherent process for when violations occur.

Liu reiterated that AUS is not trying to set a precedent for any other group, particularly given that it’s “not as if other associations look to our MOA, […] it’s not going to be standardized, […] everybody is already on different terms.”

“We are seeing that this is perhaps more representative of his stance rather than our context.”

Liu stands by her past statements, saying she still feels Dyens has been unclear about the bargaining points AUS has presented to the administration.
She told The Daily, “He was just saying what he had said before, he didn’t really seem on the same page as the rest of us.”

Liu added that she feels the attitude Dyens has taken regarding the negotiations has little to do with SNAX or the association of AUS, but “is really a position that the Deputy Provost is taking regarding student services and activities.”

“We are seeing that this is perhaps more representative of his stance rather than our context,” Liu said.

During their meeting, Liu also alleged that Dyens told AUS representatives that if AUS doesn’t want to run a convenience counter, “we can take it off your hands.”

While Liu is hoping to conclude negotiations soon, she assured, “If this doesn’t go well, we will push back.”

The post SNAX wraps up burrito sales appeared first on The McGill Daily.

Lola Baraldi will serve as VP Internal, beating her opponent Johanna Nikoletos by only 13 votes. All those running unopposed secured seats: Chloe Rourke as VP University Affairs, Zacheriah Houston as VP Finance & Operations, and Kimber Bialik as VP Clubs & Services.

Voter turnout was 25.9 per cent, a slight decrease from last year’s 31.4 per cent turnout.

[raw]

[/raw]

Though Ibrahim was not present at the election results announcements due to personal reasons, he said in a statement released to The Daily, “I’d like to thank you for having trust in me and my ability to continue to serve this community with passion and expertise. Two weeks is an awfully short amount of time to gain one’s trust, let alone that of thousands of people.”

“I’ve made mistakes, this I won’t deny. I’m more than happy to admit my flaws. On the other hand, I’m also happy that in being a part of this community for three years now, I’ve demonstrated to enough of you that I do care about student life and that this is truly important to me.”

He continued, “Whether or not this outcome is what you hoped for and whether or not you think SSMU should exist altogether, I want to hear from you. […] SSMU serves all students, and I hope to do that as well.”

Ibrahim’s platform was based on transparent leadership and improving SSMU’s communications, inclusion, and accessibility. Prior to being elected president, he served as president of McGill Inter-Residence Council (IRC), as the Arts Undergraduate Society (AUS) VP External in 2013-14, and this year as an Arts Senator and Senate Caucus Representative to SSMU.

The 2015 campaign played out largely online, with each candidate posting heavily on Facebook. While the forum proved a useful means for members of the McGill community to question the candidates, it also became a very visible platform for a number of allegations, including leaked screenshots pointing to Ibrahim’s potential involvement in planning a SSMU Judicial Board (J-Board) case seeking the invalidation of Tariq Khan’s short-lived 2014-15 presidency and allegations against Simakov of unpaid debt.

Simakov, who ran as a protest candidate, told The Daily that, despite the loss, he was satisfied with his campaign.

“I’m disappointed, obviously – we really thought we had a chance at the end. In the last few days, I think the campaign took a really positive turn. We had a lot of support coming in from people who usually didn’t vote […] people who usually didn’t pay attention, people who were usually alienated and didn’t feel they have a voice – I hope at least this year I gave them someone to vote for who represented their views and interests.”

“We did our best,” added Simakov. “I’m really proud about coming out of nowhere, we didn’t prepare at all, we didn’t know what we were doing. […] We tried to make an honest campaign, a campaign where we answered the hard questions.”

Baraldi’s win was incredibly close, with Baraldi receiving 50.2 per cent of votes to Nikoletos’ 49.8 – a margin, in the end, of only 13 votes.

Baraldi has spent the past two years as a SSMU councillor, as well as a member of the Students’ Society Programming Network (SSPN), and is the current AUS VP External. She told The Daily that consultation of the student body would be a priority for both her as well as her fellow executives.

“I think all of us have made student engagement a really big point in our platforms and from working with all these people, I’ve worked with most of the incoming execs since first year, and I know that they truly do care about student engagement so next year could really be good for that,” Baraldi told The Daily.

Nikoletos said that her involvement in student life would definitely continue. “ I am more involved on the event planning side, so I am definitely going to keep doing those things. […] l’ll still be involved, but not really student government,” Nikoletos told The Daily.

Running unopposed, Rourke will be the next VP University Affairs, with 89.4 per cent of the vote. Rourke has served as the Arts & Science senator and a SSMU councillor.

“I’m really excited to work with the incoming executive. I think we’ll make a great team and hopefully we’ll do a lot of great work this year,” she told The Daily.

Rourke said that her priorities next year will be dealing with the impact of budget cuts, and also that current state of mental health resources at McGill. “I’ve sat on the [mental health] committee so I know how bad it is, and it is something that we really need to talk about.”

She also addressed those students who are critical of SSMU and may view experience with SSMU as a negative. “I think they might be worried that that the executives with experience in SSMU will be less open to changes, but I think that that is totally false. Many of the executives that did get elected […] were all very aware that we would like to see SSMU be more relevant and more engaging with students.”

Bialik was also elected unopposed, to the position of VP Clubs & Services with 89.4 per cent of the vote. In the past, Bialik worked as the SSMU Interest Group Coordinator, and is currently the president or co-president of three SSMU clubs. Bialik noted that her first project will be the completion and analysis of the club survey.

“We’re gonna get all this data, and I’ll be able to define my mandate based on what clubs really want, which is something that’s really needed right now,” she said. “I’m really excited to get into the data and seeing what people want me to do.”

Houston, the only candidate for VP Finance & Operations, won the position with 86.2 per cent of the vote. Houston sat on the SSMU Funding and SUS Finance Committees, as well as on SSMU Council and as the VP Finance for a club. “I am very excited – we’re going to work with a great team next year,” he said.

Elections SSMU also announced that current Science Undergraduate Society (SUS) VP External Emily Boytinck and Jewish Studies student Joanna Schacter will run in the SSMU VP External by-election, with the campaign period beginning on March 23.

Referendum results

All referendum questions passed, with the creation of the Educational Community Living Environment (ECOLE) project fee levy garnering 64.0 per cent of the vote, the SSMU Access Bursary Fund fee renewal receiving 75.2 per cent, and the creation of a School of Environment seat at SSMU Council passing with 80.7 per cent of the vote.

The post Kareem Ibrahim elected SSMU president by 225 votes appeared first on The McGill Daily.

VP candidates

The two candidates for the VP Internal position, Lola Baraldi and Johanna Nikoletos, both demonstrated an interest in accessibility and student awareness of events. In a statement read on behalf of Baraldi, who was unable to attend due to a personal crisis, the candidate expressed an interest in increasing the general awareness of what SSMU is doing, making information needed for event planning more accessible, and working with other non-francophone campus groups to expand the impact of the Francophone Affairs Commission (FAC) beyond the French-speaking community.

“I want to breathe new life into this portfolio, revive communications and outreach, propose dynamic initiatives, and institutionalize sustainability, accessibility, and inclusivity within event planning at McGill,” she wrote in her statement.

As VP Internal, Nikoletos said she would hold events accessible to everyone by increasing accommodations for non-drinking students at larger SSMU events, as well as creating smaller events targeted at smaller groups, to create a “common student identity.”

“We all do have one thing in common, and that is the fact that we are students,” stated Nikoletos.

She also plans to implement a “Frosh scholarship” to combat the financial inaccessibility of Frosh, as well as discuss with the FAC possibilities for making Frosh more accessible to francophones.

Regarding off-campus students, she expressed an interest in providing bus services for students who live far away from downtown, so that they don’t have to worry about transportation during Orientation Week. She also suggested that Rez Project be present in events such as Discover McGill for students who live off campus. Nikoletos noted that she supports current VP Internal Daniel Chaim’s proposal for a fee levy to fund SSMU publications, and would be interested in putting together a SSMU publication to better communicate with students.

VP Clubs & Services candidate Kimber Bialik cited consultation of clubs before policies are implemented as a top priority, and that if elected, she will continue to work on expanding Club Hub to be a resource for students organizing clubs.

She said she hopes to liaise with the VP University Affairs and the President to make sure that clubs and services are not overlooked in negotiations over SSMU’s Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with the University, especially considering the loss of the use of McGill’s name in SSMU club names.

VP Finance and Operations candidate Zacheriah Houston made it clear that financial stability of the Nest, the student-run cafe, is one of his top priorities. He further stated that he intends to achieve this by increasing catering at events within the SSMU building, exploring the possibility of catering outside the building – currently prohibited by SSMU’s MOA – and increasing food offerings.

He voiced strong support for creating a campaign with the other executives to raise awareness about how student fees are used, thus increasing transparency. He also stated that he will do as much as possible to make the budget more comprehensible to students by holding office hours and making the documents more accessible on the SSMU website.

Chloe Rourke, the candidate for VP University Affairs, said that mental health will be a priority for her, as she finds the current lack of resources at McGill compared to the huge demand for mental health services disturbing. “That is an indication to me that there is a much bigger conversation that needs to happen on why that demand [for mental health services] is increasing so quickly and what can we do as a community to address it,” she said.

Rourke also said that she will take hard line stances in her negotiations on issues that, in her opinion, overwhelmingly benefit students, and that for other issues that are controversial or political, she will go through many consultation processes before adopting a stance.

Presidential candidates

The presidential debates began with opening statements from each of the two candidates, Kareem Ibrahim and Alexei Simakov. The statements were followed by general questions from the press and from each of the candidates, and ended with audience questions and closing remarks.

Ibrahim went first, highlighting “strong advocacy on issues students care about” as important to him, especially in light of impending austerity cuts that might harm student services.

“I really want to prioritize student interests,” Ibrahim said.

Simakov asserted that he will go against the grain and take a different approach to SSMU presidency. “If you want a student government that is beyond an Orwellian micro-aggression enforcement policy, then I want to be your president. If you want a student government that focuses on services, on fiscal responsibility […] then I want to be your president,” he said.

The ensuing portions of the debate focused on a number of issues, including addressing budget cuts and student needs, increasing communication with students, and representing student opinion in the case of a student body as large and diverse as McGill’s.

Audience questioning was heated, with spectators leveling questions at both candidates. In one instance, SNAX employee Vivian Feldblyum approached the mic and accused Simakov of “piggy-backing” on the efforts of others and of having a superficial understanding of the situation at hand.

Another student asked if their strong personal stances could affect the policies they choose to pursue as president.

Both candidates emphatically declared that their personal opinions would not impact their decisions as president. “I know that what I believe in is not going to be what the student body believes in,” said Simakov. “I swear to God, I will spend the next year as president, you guys will not know my opinion on anything. I will have that on top secret […] That’s the kind of president I want to be for you.”

Ibrahim also noted that, when it comes to political stances, he would make sure these are informed by student opinion and not his own. “I think all students’ opinions should be considered, and when it comes to SSMU taking stances, that is something that we should make sure represents the majority of the student body,” he said.

In regard to how he would do this given the “inclusion and accessibility” portion of his platform, Ibrahim said that some of the changes he would make as president would not necessarily be informed by majority opinion. For example, the accessibility changes he has proposed to the SSMU website would not affect the students who are not visually- or hearing-impaired, but would make the website more accessible for those who are.

Closing statements were brief, with Ibrahim saying, “I genuinely care about student life. I’ve found my passion, this is my passion. […] I have the experience, I have the drive, and I am not dedicated to my opinion, but yours, and I know I can do so because I am experienced in that field.”

Simakov reiterated the ways in which he is different from a typical SSMU president. “I’m going to answer your questions, I’m going to expose myself, my values, my beliefs. Look at my page, and it’s going upset some of you, and some of you will think I’m wrong, but I’m going to show my opinions and my beliefs. I have principles and I have stands, and I have very clear core positions that go beyond empty rhetoric.”

Following the debate, Nicholas Renzetti, U3 Arts student and member of Simakov’s campaign staff, said he felt the event went well.

“I feel that Alex demonstrated strongly the positions that he wanted to make on fiscal responsibility, on political neutrality, and what he thinks he would be able to do as a the president,” Renzetti told the Daily.

He continued, “Despite the fact that people claim he has not had the experience his opponent has, that he is still a strong presidential candidate. That the experience that Ibrahim has is not the most constructive or helpful in representing all of the students’ views equally.”

Francesca Humi, a member of Ibrahim’s election committee, felt differently. Humi stated, “I think in [Simakov’s] concluding remarks, a lot of the irregularities and a lot of the fallacies of his platform were made evident.”

Amy Miller, a U2 Arts student, told The Daily, “One of the candidates seemed incredibly condescending, which is not in the spirit of what you’d want to see from this kind of debate, but overall I found it incredibly informative for that reason.”

One student, who preferred to remain anonymous, told The Daily that instead of crystallizing his vote, the debates had left him undecided.

“I don’t know who I’m going to support at this time. I’m torn in between. That being said, for me, the most important thing is that they will be neutral in the sense of not letting their own opinions affect the policy that is made by SSMU.”

The post SSMU candidates discuss platforms in first round of debates appeared first on The McGill Daily.

A cease-and-desist order on sandwich sales has been in effect since November, when AUS received notice from the administration that it was violating the terms of its Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) by selling the sandwiches. Since then, the subject has become a site of conflict in AUS’ ongoing MOA negotiations with McGill.

The sit-in, attended by roughly fifty participants, was organized with the intention of attracting the attention of both the administration and the student body at large.

“We want the administration to know that there are other people [than SNAX employees] on campus who think that this is something that’s important,” SNAX Assistant Manager Emma Meldrum told The Daily.

Deputy Provost (Student Life and Learning) Ollivier Dyens hosted a “meet and greet” style lunch in Redpath’s Première Moisson during the sit-in hours, but did not respond to The Daily’s request for comment about the sit-in or to tweets from the sit-in directed at him under the hashtag #SaveOurSandwiches.

The article continues below.

[raw]

[/raw]

Ongoing MOA negotiations

Meldrum told The Daily that the inclusion of sandwiches in the official list of things that AUS is allowed to sell is the only change that SNAX is seeking from the negotiations.

“I think our goals remain the same, and I think the sandwich issue has kind of compounded and reminded us of the goals of SNAX,” said Meldrum.

“We are a service for students, so we’re trying to think of how we can give better service for students, and the sandwich issue has reminded us that part of our role is offering an actual meal to people; they don’t just need snacks, they need an actual, affordable meal that suits their dietary needs,” continued Meldrum.

The initial concern presented to AUS and SNAX by the administration highlighted liability concerns linked to the potential dangers inherent to SNAX’s nature as a food provider and the potential costs the University could incur if something went wrong.

“It just takes one for us,” Dyens told The Daily in an interview. “If somebody gets sick by eating some food, then most people will go after the bigger pockets, and the bigger pockets are McGill’s.”

AUS President Ava Liu denied the claim that SNAX might become a risk to the University.

“First of all, it’s just plain not true. AUS is a non-profit corporation, we have our own corporate status in the Quebec government, we have our own insurance policy. So that’s not true, and he knows that.”

In response to the initial concerns raised about liability, the SNAX team completed Quebec’s health inspection and certification process and compiled evidence to indicate that liabilities had never been an issue in the past.

Liu noted that the certification process is intended for those involved in the preparation of food. “We don’t make food, we don’t even serve food. All we do is sell food,” she said.

Dyens also cited issues other than liability. “I don’t have an issue with student-run business, but then they have to work with our current business structures.”

Inconsistencies in the administration’s arguments

Liu has occupied a primary seat at the table since the MOA negotiations began in the fall, and has been working with McGill’s Director and Senior Policy Advisor Vilma Di Renzo-Campbell, the University representative in the MOA negotiations.

“[The administrative stance] really is evolving,” said Liu. “At first, it was liability and health. Then it was competition, and then it was ‘slippery slope,’ [regarding] how they don’t want any increases of any rights.”

A recent statement from AUS notes that during negotiations, “The University has now outlined a hard-line policy against the ‘expansion’ of student-run food services […] based on the argument that concessions to one group will open the door to others making similar requests.”

When Dyens was asked about the whereabouts of this policy, he stated that there was “no policy on student-run services.” When asked to clarify the circumstances presented by Campbell, he said this unwritten policy is “something the University is presenting during these negotiations.”

Liu also alleged that Campbell had said things like “we do not support any increase in the rights for student-run services” during negotiations.

According to Liu, Campbell has also alluded to AUS representatives that AUS is “lucky” to have held on to SNAX for this long. “There was a lot of that – [Campbell] kept saying, ‘we support you existing, that’s why you still exist, this is a good deal, don’t make it bigger than it is, don’t make it worse.’ She kept saying the University could be really creative with the space […] and she’s said that many times.”

Dyens described SNAX as “pushing the envelope constantly.” He later said, “If students don’t want us to take a hard stance, then they have to respect the terms of the agreement.”

Dyens also said he was concerned about how SNAX might affect the University’s overall budget, and noted that revenues from traditional food service providers benefit the University.

Student-run space, questions of autonomy

“Why is student autonomy so bad? Why [is the administration] linking this to the whole slippery slope argument?” said Liu.

She continued, “The position the University is in looks very petty, and to be honest I think that we look petty too, because now this is about sandwiches, and obviously this is ridiculous. Obviously the bigger issue at stake is the issue of autonomy, especially when given proof that there is no issue of liability or risk.”

“It’s not SNAX per se, it’s opening the door to something,” Dyens told The Daily. He later said, “the fact that SNAX is such a big issue tells me that this is something that students want to do with other food things on campus.”

Meldrum touched on this point as well. “In my mind, [greater choice] is not a problem, of course, because it would be wonderful if other outlets on campus could sell anything that they thought that students needed and weren’t getting from Food and Dining Services.”

Misconceptions over the administration’s position

Both Meldrum and Liu clarified some common misconceptions surrounding McGill’s motives and stance; namely, correlations between this incident and the Arch Café closure in 2010 and pressure from other food service providers on campus.

“I think we’re in two very different situations,” said Meldrum, noting that the Arch Café had experienced financial issues, unlike SNAX.

Regarding competition from other food service providers on campus, Liu said that McGill’s Senior Director of Student Housing and Hospitality Services Mathieu Laperle and Food and Dining Services executive chef Oliver De Volpi had debunked allegations of increased competition from SNAX fare, comparing it to an extra samosa sale.

“They really don’t care. They said, ‘that’s between you and the University, it’s negligible.’”
Laperle and De Volpi did not respond to The Daily’s requests for comment.

Next steps

Liu noted that, in her personal opinion, the administration has not necessarily been acting out of bad intentions. “I think that, at this point, they’re just unprepared with negotiations, and they’re not really taking it seriously and that’s why they’re going back and forth between these positions.”

Meldrum spoke to SNAX’s future plans. “Clearly we can’t make guarantees about the next management teams,” she said, “but we’re doing our best to have that included in the contracts that they sign, and the training packages that we’ll give them at the end of this year.”

Liu said that their next goal for negotiations is to meet directly with Dyens. “No more meeting with Campbell – meet with [Dyens, and] ask ‘What do you really think, do you really care about this? why is this happening? Tell us what you really think, and we’ll go from there.”’

The post Students stage SNAX sit-in appeared first on The McGill Daily.

On January 31, Le Devoir reported that funds from Quebec’s education ministry – the Ministère de l’Enseignement supérieur, de la Recherche et de la Science (MESRS) – allocated to UQAM for services to students with disabilities were instead going to be used in other programs in the face of budget cuts.

The finding came to light on January 30, during a meeting of UQAM’s Comité de la vie étudiante (CVE). On February 3, it was condemned by UQAM’s Commission des études, or academic policy committee, which passed a resolution calling on the administration to “respect the allocation of dedicated budget, as established by the budget rules,” and demanding that the $900,000 allocated to help students with disabilities be used for that purpose.

UQAM’s administration denied the misuse of funds in a statement published February 3. It declared that the claims made against the university were false, and that the grant of $900,000 was “used according to the conditions provided by the Ministry.”

In an email to The Daily, UQAM management student association spokesperson Mathieu Oligny wrote, “the student associations equally represent all students, and that’s why we continue to hound the leadership on this issue.”

“Effectively, we will be short on our annual budget by 15 per cent starting next May, unless we obtain confirmation of other arrangements in place.”

In the past, disability service providers in Quebec were required to apply for the MESRS subsidy every August, and if approved would receive a direct annual injection of funds. According to Frédéric Fovet, the director of McGill’s Office for Students with Disabilities (OSD), this amounted to around $750,000 for all universities combined.

This model is being phased out by the MESRS this academic year, and is being replaced by a $7.5 million funding budget. For this academic year and the following, the funds will be allocated among universities depending on the number of students using disability services, and a new allocation process will be decided by a joint committee featuring MESRS and university representatives by the 2016-17 academic year.

Fovet said that the funding provided to McGill by the MESRS both this year and next year will be in excess of $1 million.

However, “[the OSD has] not yet heard from the central administration the basis on which these funds will be allocated within McGill and the method for determining which actors will play a part in shaping innovative practices these funds will now allow,” Fovet said.

Additionally, in November, the OSD was explicitly informed by the MESRS that it should now look to the wider allotment managed by McGill for its government funding. “Effectively, we will be short on our annual budget by 15 per cent starting next May, unless we obtain confirmation of other arrangements in place,” said Fovet.

This new system was implemented in an attempt to meet the needs of the growing number of students with disabilities who are now enrolling in higher education. According to a statement made by CVE member Gabriel Boileau to Le Devoir, the number of students in Quebec who require these services has risen by 25 per cent in one year, and by 600 per cent in the past five years.

For four years, the OSD has been seeking additional funding in order to create more accessible support programs for students with disabilities. “Faculty and administrators at McGill have often sighed that limited resources restricted the impact of such an initiative,” said Fovet.

With the new grant, Fovet said that he is hopeful that the projects will now be able to move forward with “renewed vigour.”

When asked by The Daily about the publication date of a report detailing McGill’s use of the new MESRS-allocated funds for disability services, Provost Anthony Masi responded, “We have not received from the Ministry specifications or deadlines related to reporting our expenditures for students with disabilities.”

When asked to clarify when a public report will be available, Masi said that the government had not yet asked for a specific report related to disability service spending, but that McGill “make[s] public all [its] financial statements once a year, after they have been audited, usually in late fall.”

Fovet said that he remains hopeful the sum will bring new opportunities for the OSD. “I am confident this injection of dedicated sums by the provincial government will open the door to a new, proactive, and campus-wide process of management of change, that will seek to rapidly and efficiently widen access for all diverse students,” said Fovet.

“With now-adequate funding, there should be few administrative barriers in achieving these goals.”

The post McGill disability services funding uncertain under new grant model appeared first on The McGill Daily.

Deferred maintenance plan, green chemistry initiative

The BoG approved the Building and Property Committee (BPC)’s proposed plan to address the university’s most pressing deferred maintenance needs, namely building infrastructure and technology.

According to the document, McGill suffers from “decades of underinvestment in infrastructure,” with an investment of about $1.58 billion being necessary to address infrastructure-related needs between now and 2021. However, even “by fully tapping all available sources of funds,” only $625 million is available, leaving a projected shortfall of approximately $953 million.

The plan recommends that the University request a new line of credit to facilitate borrowing for capital investments until 2019, and to issue a bond thereafter to finance the debt in the long term.

The BoG also passed a motion to enter into a grant agreement with the provincial government in support of “green chemistry” initiatives on campus. Associate Vice-Principal (Research and International Relations) Sarah Stroud called the initiative an opportunity for McGill to “step into a major leadership role in this field.”

Report on student life and learning

Deputy Provost (Student Life and Learning) Ollivier Dyens presented his annual report for 2013-14, emphasizing a number of initiatives. These included the launch of the McGill App, the development of the “Counsellor in Residence” program, the first inter-university Iron Chef competition, and a review of the Fall 2014 orientation, which Dyens called “the best frosh in North America.”

When BoG Vice-Chair Claude Généreux asked Dyens if McGill had seen an uptick in student satisfaction with their experience at McGill, Dyens responded that McGill’s score on the National Survey of Student Engagement is “okay, not great,” but that student engagement in student government is higher at McGill than at other universities.

Dyens also noted that students were highly critical of the University’s advising services, but that about 90 per cent of students would recommend McGill.

Post-Graduate Students’ Society (PGSS) Secretary-General Juan Camilo Pinto asked Dyens if the University had data on student mental health, and if there were mechanisms in place to help students deal with high levels of stress.

“We have mechanisms in place,” Dyens responded, adding, however, that some students choose to come to McGill for the challenging environment. He added that the administration was working to make regulations a bit more “understanding about what students are going through.”

The post Board of Governors outlines infrastructure maintenance plan appeared first on The McGill Daily.

Guimont-Mota, a third-year management student, was arrested in September 2014 following a domestic dispute. He was subsequently suspended from the football team, with the administration citing his plea of guilty and a prior conviction for assault in a bar fight in Quebec City in 2010.

Shortly thereafter, Deputy Provost (Student Life & Learning) Ollivier Dyens released a statement declaring that “the individual should not have been invited to join our team. That was not in accordance with the values of our community.”

Dyens’ comment led to former Redmen head coach Clint Uttley’s resignation. In a statement released on September 30, Uttley indicated that he favoured rehabilitation, and asserted that McGill’s statement did not “represent my personal morals or values with regards to sport, recruiting, and life in general.”

Uttley criticized McGill’s reaction, saying that at the time of Guimont-Mota’s arrival, “the University tolerated and accepted his presence and then proceeded to celebrate his accomplishments. For McGill University to now say that this individual should not have been allowed on our team in the first place because of his past deeply troubles me.”

Dyens told The Daily that the University’s current stance in no way contradicts the statement he made in the fall.

“What is different now is that, as far as we know, he has gone through the previous sentence and has done the whole sentence, so he has now paid his debt to society,” said Dyens.

“In general, we don’t think that somebody who’s under serious criminal charges or has pleaded guilty should be recruited by McGill Varsity to play for McGill,” he continued. “We believe that playing varsity sports […] or doing any of these things where you represent McGill is a privilege, and the University expects a higher standard.”

The McGill Redmen have been without a head coach since the incident, though McGill University Athletics Director Drew Love has said that he expects to announce a replacement for Uttley within the next two weeks.

Guimont-Mota represents McGill’s fourth football player to face criminal charges in the past two years.

The post Football player acquitted of assault charges, free to rejoin team appeared first on The McGill Daily.

The post Mac campus students fight rent and fee increases appeared first on The McGill Daily.

Already up and running, the vending machine contains all items that were available for sale at The Flat, such as inner tubes, bike lights, brake cables, tools, and promotional material. Because the machine was funded by a Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) Space Fund grant, prices will not rise to cover the cost of the machine, and all earnings will go back into running the collective, as they have in the past.

The idea for a bike-part vending machine was raised about a year ago by former Flat member Harald Kliems, with the goal of addressing the collective’s main constraints – lack of space, long wait times, crowds, and restricted hours. Since Kliems’ departure, the project has been spearheaded by Ainsley.

The collective hopes that the machine will allow cyclists to address any problems they might have outside of opening hours, or to forgo lineups at The Flat and simply head home or to the public repair stand by the Bronfman building on McTavish.

The vending machine was purchased from a local supplier, and has been custom-spaced to fit bike parts. At this point in time, it also looks like a very standard machine, but The Flat is hoping to change that: the collective is looking for a student artist to paint the machine, with the possibility of reimbursement.

The post Bicycle-part vending machine installed at The Flat appeared first on The McGill Daily.

Originally expected to reopen within two weeks of the start of the semester, MK remains shuttered because of a problem currently facing many buildings on campus: rodents.

Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) VP Clubs & Services Stefan Fong characterized the closure as a proactive measure meant to protect the kitchen against any possible pest invasions.

Though MK is, as of most recent reports from Fong, vermin-free, rodent activity has increased in the Shatner bulding, as the recently-completed construction on McTavish and cold weather have forced the rodents to seek alternative housing.

Mice have been reported as far up as the third floor. Fong said that SSMU is addressing this issue head-on because of the extent of last years’ mouse infestation, which affected the entire building. MK has been closed because, as a food service, it is at high risk for an infestation. At this time, no other food services have been closed.

In addition to the potential rodent contamination, MK’s operational permit is also due to expire on January 21, reported Fong. Before MK can reopen, collective members are required to attend a certification course given by Quebec’s Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, and Food, which will be offered before MK’s permit expires.

Ministry certification is a legal requirement for food service in Quebec, but it is something MK has trouble enforcing due to the high turnover of volunteers the collective sees each year.

While MK refused to comment on the issue, a message on the collective’s Facebook page indicated that the closure was “mostly out of the collective’s control.” The post also said that “SSMU is not permitting us to enter the kitchen or give out any food until these changes have been completed.”

This closure is not linked to the vandalism suffered by MK last semester, an issue which has, according to Fong, been resolved. However, the details behind the vandalism have not yet been disclosed publicly.

The kitchen will still be present in room 302 of SSMU on Mondays and Thursdays from 12 p.m. to 2 p.m. with free coffee and the occasional film.

The post Midnight Kitchen closed due to rodent risk in Shatner building appeared first on The McGill Daily.