Tribune
9
The McGill
Editorial
www.mcgilltribune.com
Editor-in-Chief Shannon Kimball editor@mcgilltribune.com Managing Editors Sam Hunter shunter@mcgilltribune.com Holly Stewart hstewart@mcgilltribune.com Production Manager Iain Macdonald imacdonald@mcgilltribune.com News Editors Anand Bery, Eric Mauser, and Elisa Muyl news@mcgilltribune.com Opinion Editor Richard Martyn-Hemphill opinion@mcgilltribune.com Features Editors Kyla Mandel and Kat Sieniuc features@mcgilltribune.com Arts & Entertainment Editor Ryan Taylor arts@mcgilltribune.com Sports Editors Steven Lampert and Adam Sadinsky sports@mcgilltribune.com Photo Editors Ryan Reisert and Sam Reynolds photo@mcgilltribune.com Senior Design Editor Kathleen Jolly kjolly@mcgilltribune.com Design Editor Susanne Wang design@mcgilltribune.com Copy Editor Marri Lynn Knadle copy@mcgilltribune.com Advertising Manager Corina Sferdenschi cpm@ssmu.mcgill.ca Publisher Chad Ronalds
TPS Board of Directors James Gilman (Chair): chair@mcgilltribune.com Johanu Botha, Kathleen Jolly, Shannon Kimball, Iain Macdonald, Alex Middleton, Zach Newburgh
Contributors Liya Adessky, Rebecca Babcock, Graeme Davidson, Hillary Dort, Jeffrey Downey, Nathaniel Finestone, Jacqui Galbraith, Hannah George, Alexander Hamilton, Davide Mastracci Alex Knoll, Reid Robinson, Bianca
iPhones are a wasteful perk for SUS execs The Science Undergraduate Society’s (SUS) decision to spend up to $4000 over the next two years on four iPhones for their executives is an inappropriate and unnecessary use of funds, an expense which the Tribune doubts is in the best interest of science students as a whole. No other student association, except for SSMU, pays for their executives’ phone bills or equips those executives with phones. SUS executives are not the only students on campus dealing with an enormous volume of emails or coordinating events on a daily basis, but no other student executives—SUS and AUS councillors, SSMU committee mem-
bers, presidents of clubs and services—should expect that a smartphone will be provided to them as a part of those positions. Student executives need communication and organizational skills, for which technology is no substitute. SUS should consider what is in the best interest of science students when allocating funds, whether those funds are collected from student fees or donated by external sources. The increased efficiency in responding to emails from students and other SUS members—which SUS execs have argued is the main goal of the iPhone purchases—doesn’t benefit science students in the same way that other
potential uses of that $4000 from the sponsorship might have. For example, another printer in the basement of Burnside, which might reduce the paper jam from hell that happens every day when a few hundred science students decide to print all their course slides at the same time. It bears mentioning that there are thousands of computers on campus, and personal laptops, that SUS executivess could use to email each other and co-ordinate events. The Tribune has concerns that the iPhones—among the most expensive phones on the market— which are meant to be used for SUSrelated purposes only, will be put to
other uses. The monitoring system in place to ensure the use of those phones may not be effective. Instead of approaching the SUS council openly with the motion, SUS executives chose to print it in the budget as an unexplained expense, defying any and all consultation procedures. Even if the iPhones were a justifiable purchase, the Tribune questions the method in which the iPhones were written into the budget, and only turned into a motion when others inquired about the expense.
Admin should not punish online sharing Morton Mendelson, Deputy Provost (Student Life and Learning), has raised concerns about note sharing websites like Wikinotes and docuum.com. These websites allow students to upload lecture slides, course notes and past exams onto the web, making some aspects of a McGill education freely available to the world. The university has responded with hostility to this new form of collaboration. In an email to course instructors, the Deputy Provost stressed the need for professors to display copyright symbols on their course materials; and he threatened “disciplinary procedures” on any online sharers who make “persistent infringements” of university copyright laws. The Tribune believes it is nei-
ther right nor practical to discourage online note sharing. We have consistently argued for the need for abundant freedom of information. We believe it is both a vital component for transparent, accountable governance and for galvanising education. Online sharing of McGill course materials does not supplant the need to actually take the McGill courses themselves; it merely supplements them. It does not undermine the unique value of studying at McGill; it advertises doing so. Having ready access to course notes and past exam papers can be extremely helpful for students both when choosing and taking a course. Furthermore, the trend of online sharing is on the rise: educational institutions like Oxford, Yale, MIT, Stanford, and many others all offer
online access to large amounts of their courseware freely to the public. As a public university, McGill has a duty to raise education levels of the public as well as its students. McGill should be looking to join this trend, not oppose it. However, there must be limits. We recognize the rights of intellectual property. We believe good ideas and thorough research should get the rewards they deserve, rather than just the “flattery” of outright plagiarism. We also recognise and accept the survival instinct of the university. It is understandable for McGill to be hesitant about sharing effective teaching methods, exam techniques, and research plans to rival universities. After all, McGill does have its position in the world university rankings to preserve.
A more nuanced approach ought to be adopted. Rather than unfettered openness or a locked ivory tower, McGill should collaborate with websites like Wikinotes. It should encourage the uploading of course notes that demonstrate the thorough nature of the university’s education; and it should shelter sensitive research that is yet to be finalised and risks being plagiarised. Each potential upload should be carefully thought through to make sure that no research is unfairly copied. And each upload should be examined on an individual basis to avoid this. Threatening to punish a website devoted to sharing and improving education is not the right move. Instead McGill should participate in a way that sets an example.
held solely accountable for their representation in the media. The bad press the columnist alluded to can (and has) happened, despite the overwhelmingly peaceful behavior of the protestors. Unjustifiable use of brutal force against civilian protestors has been well documented, but it is difficult to find examples of protestors employing similar tactics at this stage of the movement. Readers who have read the column should also be aware that the police may have induced the Brooklyn Bridge sit-down protest — an action which, two weeks after the movement began, finally gave the movement its current level of media attention, both positive and negative. Instead of regarding this peaceful assembly as a potential nursery for black bloc tactics, we should be questioning why is it that it seems to only take a few to "ruin" the ability for others to peacefully protest in a public space without being tased
or tear-gassed, when such peaceful objection is a constitutional right in the U.S. and Canada. Ways in which the police and protestors are (or are not) working together to ensure the safety of the swelling number of temporary residents in Zuccotti Park is an aspect of this historical moment that also deserves more attention than it has received. The duty of maintaining peace and personal safety in such a collective is not the sole responsibility of the participants; police and non-participating New Yorkers also play important roles and should be held accountable. The movement as a whole, and the protestors as individuals, should certainly not be above critique. But Occupy Wall Street has received more than its share of fair and unfair criticism in mainstream American media, chiefly for a perceived lack of clear goals, demands, and direction, and for assumptions about who is participating in these
protests. The protestors, despite maintaining peace, have already been dismissed as illegitimate troublemakers through these critiques, characterized as drumpounding, weed-smoking, in-debt students looking for a handout. A better picture of the movement’s participatory body is readily accessible at wearethe99percent. tumblr.com. As the occupants of Zuccotti Park now face eviction at the hands of Canadian company Brookfield Asset Management, and the possible dissolution of the movement's symbolic centre before it has succeeded in making the media comprehend its demands, there is a lot more to consider than reminding a peaceful protest that they are obligated to remain tranquil in tumultuous times filled with mischaracterization and violent opposition.
Van Bavel
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Marri Knadle
Preoccupied with occupy The Occupy Wall Street movement, especially as it spreads into Canada from its original locus in New York, deserves press attention and print space wherein its complex issues and implications for society are addressed. I was disappointed to see a recent column in the Tribune (“Peaceful Occupation,” Oct. 12, 2011) use this space only to entreat participants to commit to nonviolent protest, when nonviolence has been a core component of the movement since its genesis as a peaceful occupation of Zuccotti Park. I was also disappointed to see that the protestors were