The McGill Daily - Vol104Iss16

Volume 104, Issue 15 Monday, January 26, 2015

McGill THE

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MOVING BEYOND EUROCENTRIC ARCHITECTURE PAGE 13

Editorial:

Free Mohamed Fahmy Page 23

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News 03

January 26, 2015 www.mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

Mac campus students fight rent and fee increases

NEWS

High stakes negotiations at Mac campus Queer McGill defends safe space

University insists on name changes for clubs

Roma family faces deportation J-Board case settled in mediation Downtown occupation coming this spring Head & Hands outreach program reinstated Admin pushes for international tuition deregulation

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COMMENTARY

Radical libraries build communities Adhering to diplomatic immunity forces us to accept rights abuses Readers’ Advocate: The Daily is too polite

13

FEATURES

Questioning Eurocentrism in the McGill School of Architecture

17

SCI+TECH

Students host tutorials on mobile app development Myths about hackathons dispelled New breakthrough in memory research

19

SPORTS

The NCAA legacy of extortion

20 CULTURE New multimedia project makes trash attractive “Engine Room” exhibit examines our modern psychology Reviewing Players’ Theatre’s genesis-inspired production

23 EDITORIAL Mohamed Fahmy deserves to be free

24 COMPENDIUM! Cuts, cuts everywhere Crossword: Political animals

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Emily Saul The McGill Daily

T

he Macdonald Campus Students’ Society (MCSS) has begun negotiations with the administration regarding its Memorandum of Agreement (MOA), the document that defines the MCSS’s legal relationship with the University. The two parties met on January 7 to discuss the MOA, set to expire on March 31.

Last Tuesday, MCSS hosted an open meeting at the Ceilidh Pub in Mac campus’s Centennial Centre in order to discuss the proposed changes facing MCSS and the students they represent.

“Back in 2010 the MOA was not properly negotiated,” MCSS President Mathieu Rouleau said at the meeting. “McGill waited until they transferred the [executive], so the new [executive] came in a couple days later, and McGill said it ‘was already negotiated, you just have to sign it.’ So the document we’re dealing with currently has not been properly negotiated with the student society.”

Following rates negotiated in the 2010 MOA, MCSS was scheduled to pay $14 per square foot of space for the 2015-16 academic year, with a $1 per square foot increase per year. However, the administration’s current draft proposes a jump to $16 per square foot for 2015-16, and maintains the annual fee increase of $1 per year.

MCSS currently pays just under $50,000 annually to the administration for revenue-generating space – such as the kitchen, bookstore, and the campus bar – but the proposed changes will increase fees to over $75,000. McGill has justified these increases by stating that other campus student associations pay this rate, and that the change is adjusting for a lack of fee increases in the past.

“We are so different,” said VP

Amos Gao | Photographer

The Centennial Centre at Macdonald campus.

Finance Valérie Toupin-Dubé during the meeting. “[It] is not possible to compare us to the other student societies.”

VP Communication and Student Life Jiawen Zhou highlighted that the distinct Mac environment is what makes the MCSS unique. “[Other] student associations have the same template, [but] it’s different here. [McGill] needs to take that into account. We want to preserve what we have here, and meet our mandate to students.”

MCSS executives who spoke at the meeting consider their responsibilities more extensive than those of other student societies at McGill. For example, they have been running the Mac campus bookstore since the 1990s, when McGill pulled out of the space, judging it unprofitable. MCSS bankrolls other campus initiatives as well, such as the peer helper program, staffing extra library hours during exams periods, and offering financial support to all Mac campus clubs.

The proposed budget increases

would significantly disturb the current role of MCSS on campus, and would severely limit its ability to offer services to an expanding population of Mac students.

“We have very limited space for the capacity of students who are on this campus,” Rouleau told The Daily after the open meeting.

“We want to be able to provide a space where they can come and feel comfortable and spend numerous hours here, while enjoying the landscape and the environment and everything on this campus.” “[We] don’t want this campus to be considered a satellite campus,” he added.

In discussions with the MCSS executive, the administration has called the decision “standard” but has not expanded beyond that.

Students present at the meeting also questioned the decision to hike fees.

“Where [are] their standards coming from?” asked Samantha Guillemette, a U3 Life Sciences student.

Vilma Di Renzo-Campbell, Director and Senior Policy Advi-

sor for the Office of the Associate Provost and the University’s representative in these negotiations, did not respond to The Daily’s requests for comment.

In addition to the fee increases, the administration has also proposed changes in nomenclature for all Mac clubs, requesting that “student” now be present in all titles. MCSS has interpreted this as a standardizing measure, and something that jeopardizes the clubs’ established legacies.

VP Internal Eric Brulé-Champagne said that MCSS will fight “to maintain the integrity of all of our clubs on campus.” “[They] have had a rich past and have been established for a while.

We want to make sure they can hold on to their name, and not have to conform to this liability clause.”

Brulé-Champagne continued, “Hopefully [we can] secure more student space [and] make sure the student space that we do have is sustainable in a way that our fees with […] McGill [aren’t] going to cause us to drown.”

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News

January 26, 2015 The McGill Daily | www.mcgilldaily.com

Queer McGill defends safe space

SACOMSS Sexual Assault Center of the McGill Students’Society

Rad Sex Week aims to destigmatize alternative sexual practices

Subhanya Sivajothy The McGill Daily

F

Free.

Confidential.

Non-Judgmental.

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We’re here to listen.

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rom January 26 to February 5, Queer McGill (QM) will be hosting its seventh annual Rad Sex Week, an event series seeking to explore and destigmatize antioppressive, feminist, trans- and queer-positive expressions of sexuality. The two-week-long event will be largely comprised of workshops to provide the McGill community with educational materials on more alternative or stigmatized sexual activities. “[We are] making an inclusive space for any people or persons who [vary] from what we would normally characterize as ‘vanilla’ sex,” said QM Events Coordinator Erin Strawbridge in an interview with The Daily.

Some of the workshops aim to facilitate discussions on topics like sex and disability, consent, and BDSM, while others offer a more technical, hands-on approach to sexual practices, such as flogging and piercing play.

Speaking to The Daily, QM coordinators noted that, although the week focuses on non-traditional practices, workshops touching on consent and ethics are applicable to any type of sex or sex education.

“We came together and decided which workshops we’d like to see based on diversity purposes but also where there was a need. Workshops that you typically don’t see – those were the workshops we wanted to have,” said Sabine Grutter, QM Resource Coordinator and one of the main organizers of Rad Sex Week.

Safe space causes online backlash On January 18, the organizers of the week had to deal with some unexpected backlash on the Rad Sex Week Facebook event page about one of the workshops, which will explore trans and queer people of colour’s (POC) sexual and romantic desires from a decolonization perspective. The event, entitled “Desires: A QT*POC Exploration,” is closed to queer and trans people of colour; some commenters argued that this was exclusionary.

“The QM page started being trolled,” said Grutter. “People who weren’t interested in the event started commenting about the fact that they didn’t agree with it and the politics surrounding it.”

The original comment thread reached about 200 responses. After QM published a response, more hateful and triggering comments were posted, which prompted QM to start deleting comments.

“Everyone whose comments we deleted, we sent [them] a message explaining why,” said Grutter, adding that QM has screenshots of all the comments.

As the comments in question were posted during a QM staff orientation session where most of the QM board was present, QM was able to quickly decide on a collective response.

The response acknowledged the institutionalized oppression of people of colour and the importance of providing a safer space for people who don’t want the voices of white people and the history of white supremacy and colonization weighing into conversations of POC romance

Calendar of Events: Sex and disability

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and sexuality.

The coordinators also commented on some of the misunderstandings and questions that arose on the events page, one of them being a misinterpretation of the acronym LGBT*QIA. “It’s a weirdly common mistake of assuming that in the LGBT*QIA, the A stands for ‘ally,’ which it does not – it stands for asexual,” said Strawbridge. “The fact [is] that allyship isn’t a foot in the door for any of these spaces. Allies should be the ones promoting the allowances of these spaces, not intervening on the basis of being an ally.”

Other commenters questioned who can be considered a person of colour.

“We do not want to bring up any instances of shadism or policing race; this event is open to anyone who selfidentifies as a person of colour and is queer or trans [who wants] to come to this space and take something away from it,” said Grutter. “If you show up to the space, and you are clearly there to devalue the experience [...] you will be asked to leave.”

The entire event page was eventually deleted by Facebook, after the QM coordinators’ account was reported for being “a community organization acting as a person,” according to Grutter.

Regardless of the backlash, the QM coordinators look forward to the events and encourage everyone to attend.

“You don’t have to be kinky per se to come to these events,” said Grutter. “The workshops are great, they’re free and accessible, they’re all bilingual, and in Montreal. ”

see online for event locations

Monday, January 26, 5:30p.m. to 7:30p.m.

Domination/submission switching Tuesday, January 27, 6:00p.m. to 9:00p.m.

The Daily and Le Délit is offering a 20% discount to McGill and SSMU clients for all new ad bookings in print or web!

Desires: a QT*POC exploration

Wednesday, January 28, 6:00p.m. to 9:00p.m.

Embodied consent

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Piercing play 101

Saturday, January 31, 1:00p.m. to 4:00p.m.

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Ethical kink: consent in BDSM

Monday, February 2, 7:00p.m. to 9:30p.m.

Flogging

Wednesday, February 4, 6:00p.m. to 8:00p.m.

Pole-dancing skill-share

Thursday, February 5, time TBD

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News

January 26, 2015 www.mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

Montreal Roma family facing deportation to Hungary

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Canadian government dismissive of upsurge of racist violence Saima Desai News Writer

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Roma family that has been living in Montreal since 2011 is due to be deported back to Hungary on January 28. Anasztazia Szilagyi, along with her husband Dezso Nemeth and children Mercedesz, 10, and Mark, 21, will be forced to return to Hungary after their application for permanent residence was rejected earlier this month. Szilagyi will be separated from her two older, adult children, Patricia and Dezso Jr., who will remain in Canada after having received asylum under a separate claim in June 2014.

The Roma people make up the largest minority of Hungary, and often face violence in their home country. Members of the Nemeth family were subject to beatings, verbal attacks, vandalism, and death threats in their hometown of Sárhida. “We didn’t want to leave Hungary, but we had to come to Canada.

We were afraid of racist violence in Hungary because we are Roma. We were scared for the lives of our children, and for ourselves,” said Szilagyi in a statement.

According to a press release from Solidarity Across Borders (SAB), a Montreal-based migrant justice network that is assisting the Nemeth family, the family’s refugee claim was heard and rejected in May 2013. They have also been denied a pre-removal risk assessment to determine whether they would be under significant threat upon returning to Hungary.

The family’s lawyer Éric Taillefer has submitted an application for permanent residence on humanitarian and compassionate grounds, as well as a request for an administrative

A

stay of the deportation. Their case will be brought before the Federal Court on January 27, the day before the scheduled deportation.

a long history of persecution, segregation, and repression of Roma people, despite its DCO label.

“We were afraid of racist violence in Hungary because we are Roma. We were scared for the lives of our children, and for ourselves.”

The Roma struggle for asylum Dafina Savic, founder and executive director of Roma-rights organization Romanipe, speculated that the 2008 economic crisis provoked Hungarian politicians to use the Roma people as a political scapegoat. “There have been various antiRoma marches organized […] where thousands of people gathered with swastikas, some of them dressed as Hitler, terrorizing Roma villages,” she told The Daily.

Economic negotiations between Canada and Europe in 2007 resulted in Canada removing visa requirements for Eastern European visitors. According to Savic, the subsequent rise in Roma refugees to Canada contributed to the Conservative government’s institution of Bill C-31 to curb the influx.

“Our generous asylum system has been abused by too many people making bogus refugee claims,” Kenney stated at 2012 press conference following the tabling of the

Anasztazia Szilagyi Leah Freedman, a member of SAB, spoke to The Daily about the varying difficulties refugees face in seeking asylum in Canada. “It really becomes this case-by-case situation where people are going through this extremely complicated bureaucratic system that is often not explained to them,” said Freedman.

In December 2012, former Citizenship and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney instituted changes to the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act with the passing of Bill C-31, which listed Hungary as one of many “designated countries of origin” (DCOs).

According to the Government of Canada website, the classification of DCOs is meant to prevent the “waste” of resources caused by processing refugee claims made by people from “countries that do not normally produce refugees, but do respect human rights and offer state protection.” However, Hungary has

“The shocking part of the decision is the fact that half of the family has been granted status, whereas the other half wasn’t.”

Dafina Savic, founder of Romanipe

Lia Elbaz | The McGill Daily bill. The recent rise of extremism in Hungary has led to another influx of unrecognized Roma refugees, most of whom will face the same immigration roadblocks as the Nemeth family.

“The rate of acceptance of Roma asylum seekers in 1998 was about 98 per cent, and since the application of Bill C-31 in 2012, it has gone down to 8 per cent,” said Savic. “We’ve been working with lawyers, and when they have a Roma case, they’re almost sure that it won’t be accepted.”

The Nemeth family’s refugee claim was rejected by Anna Brychcy, an adjudicator on the Immigration and Refugee Board appointed

by Kenney. According to the Toronto Star, she granted asylum to just 6.45 per cent of refugee claims

in 2010, and has no law or immigration background.

“What Bill C-31 did was to put a lot of power in the hands of the commissioners and so unfortunately [the decision] is, in some sense, arbitrary,” said Savic. “The shocking part of the decision is the fact that half of the family has been granted status, whereas the other half wasn’t.”

“Our whole life is here in Montreal, with our children and grandchildren. If my husband, Mark, Mercedesz, and I have to go back it will break my whole family,” Szilagyi said in her statement.

SAB has requested letters or phone calls be sent to Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Chris Alexander asking him to stop the Nemeth family’s deportation.

SUS Council endorses safe space for queer people of colour

t its second meeting of the year on January 21, the Science Undergraduate Society (SUS) General Council (GC) voted to support Queer McGill (QM) in its intention to hold a discussion exclusive to people of colour, and discussed the upcoming 2015-16 budget.

Endorsement of Queer McGill event for people of colour As part of its ongoing Rad Sex Week, QM will hold a discussion on sexuality and romance for queer and trans people of colour, exclud-

ing white people to provide a safer space and a more open environment for people of colour. After receiving online complaints against this event, QM approached various campus groups to speak in support of such closed events.

According to VP External Emily Boytinck, the GC’s decision to endorse the workshop fits with the SUS Equity Policy, which strives to provide fair treatment and safe space for all McGill students.

“Conversations can be held differently if white people who don’t

experience racism aren’t present,” said Boytinck.

McGill Society of Physics Students representative Laurent Lanteigne disagreed, saying, “This is a right step in the wrong direction. [...] If the ultimate goal is to have everyone on an equal stance, then everyone should be able to speak equally.”

Microbiology and Immunology Student Association representative Joy Tseng voiced concerns about taking a stance in the first place.

“This is a touchy issue for SUS to

be involved in this event,” she said.

“It should take a neutral stance.”

Boytinck noted that similar discussions closed to people of colour had been used successfully

by SUS itself at its equity retreat this month.

The motion passed, with eight votes for, five votes against, and five abstaining.

Budget presentation VP Finance Eileen Bui presented an overview of the planned budget for 2015-16. Over 64 per

cent of funds will be allocated to the departmental associations, she said.

“The rest of the funds are being distributed to committees that have the greatest impact on students,” said Bui. Such initiatives include student appreciation events, such as free cookies during exam seasons, and the setting up of a laptop lending program to aid students who are in need of laptops on a short notice.

—Lunan Zhao

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News

January 26, 2015 The McGill Daily | www.mcgilldaily.com

J-Board to release recommendations on General Assembly rules Settlement reached in case alleging bylaw infractions in Fall GA

Jill Bachelder The McGill Daily

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settlement was reached on January 17 in the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) Judicial Board (J-Board) case filed by Nadir Khan and Zain Ali Syed against SSMU’s Legislative Council and Speaker. Despite the petitioners’ original intention, the settlement was reached in mediation, and there will be no special General Assembly (GA) to discuss the controversial Palestine solidarity motion that was postponed indefinitely at the Fall GA, as the petitioners had originally called for.

The terms of the settlement require the J-Board to make recommendations concerning two issues: first, whether or not article 5.2.2 of bylaw I-5 allows Council to institute a special standing rule requiring a two-thirds majority in the place of a simple majority for

‘‘

a motion to postpone indefinitely; and second, whether article 5.2 of the same bylaw obliges SSMU to adopt simplified Robert’s Rules for GAs, and, if it does, how SSMU should go about doing this.

The recommendations to be outlined by the J-Board are not binding, and would need to be adopted by the Council in order to take effect. At the October 23 Council meeting, following the GA, several councillors expressed concern about the confusing nature of Robert’s Rules.

The petition called for a special GA to be held, deeming several of the proceedings of the Fall GA unconstitutional according to SSMU’s bylaws, and claiming that these mistakes were why the Palestine solidarity motion was never debated.

Khan and Syed, who initially wanted to forgo mediation and have a hearing last semester, said that they had agreed to compromise due to the fast-approaching date of the

Winter GA, to be held in March. “It became clear that the effectiveness of our requests would no longer be feasible as the date of the Winter GA drew closer,” the petitioners told The Daily in an email.

While the J-Board has not yet delivered its recommendations as per the settlement, Ayukawa insisted that SSMU did not break its bylaws.

“The SSMU has followed its bylaws throughout this, and [it may be that nothing will change] in the upcoming GA. Only the petitioners have said that SSMU did not follow the bylaws. Furthermore, whether or not bylaws were broken at the first GA is not mentioned in the mediation agreement,” said Ayukawa in an email to The Daily.

The petitioners cited the JBoard’s lack of quorum during the end of last semester, and the subsequent pushing of the hearing of their case to the Winter semester, as reasons for these delays. Khan

The Fall 2014 GA.

Tamim Sujat | The McGill Daily

and Syed also explained that the settlement was reached over the course of one mediation session, facilitated by J-Board Chief Justice Muna Tojiboeva.

Overall, Ayukawa was content with the mediation settlement.

“I am happy that we were able to come to a common ground with the petitioners that everyone is content with,” she wrote.

Khan and Syed indicated that they will not take further action

if the impending J-Board recommendations are not in their favour, and expressed hope that they had at least succeeded in shedding light on some of the problems that exist at SSMU. “Fighting this for nearly three months now was an exhausting process, and we hope we were able to at the very least raise awareness on some of the fundamental flaws of our General Assemblies,” they wrote.

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January 26, 2015 www.mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

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Housing rights activists to set up occupation camp this spring Group to protest social housing cuts, pressure government for subsidies June Jang News Writer

T

he Front d’action populaire en réaménagement urbain (FRAPRU) – an organization that fights for housing rights – will set up an occupation camp in downtown Montreal this May, the organization announced in a statement released on January 8. With the camp, FRAPRU aims to increase pressure on the government in response to cuts to funding for social housing.

“Basically, the goal of the camp is to be right in the face of the government, and say, ‘look, the more you cut back, the more people will live in the street – and here we are, we are not going anywhere,’” Fred Burrill, community organizer at the Projet d’organisation populaire d’information et de regroupement (POPIR), a FRAPRU member organization, told The Daily.

About 140,000 low-income housing units exist in Quebec, with over 40,000 people on waiting lists across the province; however, both the provincial and federal governments have failed to renew expiring government subsidies for social

housing. As of this year, 25,000 social housing units in Quebec will lose long-term federal subsidies, which will result in rent increases of up to $300 per month, according to FRAPRU. “Right now we are seeing two different levels of cuts. The federal government is cutting the longterm subsidies to co-op and nonprofit [housing…] and at the same time, in Quebec, we are seeing that [in] the AccèsLogis program, which is a program the government invests in to actually build the units for social housing, they decided to cut back,” Émilie Joly, community organizer at FRAPRU, told The Daily in an interview.

“For people living in co-ops funded by the federal program, we are actually seeing several people recently lose their subsidies entirely,” added Burrill. “So their rent can go from $200 a month to $600 or $700.”

FRAPRU’s decision to set up an occupation camp aims to give visibility to this issue and push the government to guarantee the right to accessible housing, according to Joly.

“We are going to have different

Occupy Montreal camp in Square Victoria in 2011. kinds of workshops, whether it be on housing issues, on tenants’ rights, on how to build a co-op, and then the larger portrait: everything regarding the environment, for example, the construction of pipelines and Indigenous land rights. We’re really trying to have a broad perspective,” said Joly. “We really want to put the fo-

Nicole Gileadi | Photographer

cus back on the issue that everyone deserves things like housing.”

In 2011, Occupy Montreal protesters occupied Square Victoria for more than a month, before former Montreal mayor Gérald Tremblay ordered that police dismantle the camp.

According to a Montreal Gazette article published on January 13,

current mayor Denis Coderre has not indicated whether or not he will allow FRAPRU’s camp to exist.

“We really hope that the city understands we are trying to convince the government to invest in municipal building and development, so the city should see us as an ally in this fight,” said Joly.

Head & Hands reinstates Street Work program Youth outreach project doubles capacity with new hire

Jasreet Kaur The McGill Daily

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ast November, Head & Hands hired a second employee for its Street Work program, restoring the program to the capacity it had before budget cuts forced its discontinuation in 2011.

The program was partially reinstated in 2013 with the hiring of a single street worker after substantial fundraising.

Head & Hands is an organization that caters to the needs of youth between the ages of 12 to 25 in Montreal who may not have access to certain resources, ranging from counselling to legal services to free condoms to clean needles.

Street Work is the group’s outreach program, whereby street workers move around the NotreDame-de-Grâce (NDG) neighbourhood to meet clients and provide services, such as active listening and on-the-spot counsel-

ling, while also conducting harm reduction and drug awareness workshops at schools, community centres, and group homes. “[The program] focuses on supporting marginalized youth using an educational approach that’s rooted in risk reduction,” said Victoria Pilger, Funding and Partnerships Coordinator at Head & Hands.

“We have a team of two street workers and […] they reach youth on their own turf – in bars, parks, metros, group homes, shooting galleries, basically anywhere where youth can be reached.”

Donald, a past client of Head & Hands, attributed many of his successes to the Street Work program in a video testimonial.

“Without it, people like me would continue to be on the streets. I wouldn’t be where I am today, I wouldn’t have an apartment, I wouldn’t be able to look for work, I wouldn’t be stable, I wouldn’t have my beautiful dog, I

wouldn’t have my beautiful wife.

You know, it helped me,” Donald said in the testimonial. “The Street Work program got me off the street.”

In 2011, the Street Work program was suspended after budget cuts forced the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) Montreal to cease funding for the program. According to Pilger, PHAC faced a near 13 per cent reduction in its budget.

“We’re seeing that government funding for all social programs [is] shrinking, especially for programs that are using a non-judgmental and harm-reduction approach,” said Pilger.

The program was partially reinstated in 2013 after Head & Hands began fundraising in the local community.

“We launched a two-year campaign and we turned to our community for support. Over those two years, we were able to par-

tially re-launch the program in the fall of 2013 – we raised the funds to bring back one street worker full-time,” said Pilger. This fundraising continued until another street worker was hired in the fall of 2014.

Since the program’s initial reinstatement in 2013, street worker Sara has managed to reach almost 500 youth around the city. According to Sara, the addition of an extra street worker comes as a significant achievement for the program, and will allow Head & Hands to expand its focus while continuing to provide resources for those who currently require them.

“I go into schools, community centres, and group homes for the most part,” said Sara. “There’s always so much to do, and there [are] so many dreams I have for the program, [such as] having a little bit more time to vamp up the drug workshops and spend time [on it]. Thankfully, we got a new

street worker, and we sort of shift our schedules so that we’re able to meet with more people.” “[I also get to] develop deeper relationships with clients because I’m able to spend more time with them, because I know there’s another street worker who can take certain calls or go to certain areas that I haven’t been to in a while,” Sara continued.

“Having our Street Work program back means that now we’re able to listen and hear what’s going in our neighborhood from really important voices – from youth who see NDG from the perspective of homelessness, poverty, social exclusion, from within the youth protection system, and other experiences of marginalization,” said Pilger.

“Our street workers are able to be our eyes and ears on the ground [...] and hear the voices of youth that we might not have been able to hear without the program.”

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News

January 26, 2015 The McGill Daily | www.mcgilldaily.com

University voices support for international tuition deregulation Senate passes policy on late withdrawals after lengthy debate

Janna Bryson and Igor Sadikov The McGill Daily

S

enate approved a controversial policy on late withdrawals at its January 21 meeting.

The policy, which was debated but not voted on at the previous meeting, will allow a student to remove the courses and grades for an entire term from the official transcript if the student withdrew from all classes under exceptional circumstances. In response to students’ questions, members of the administration also clarified the University’s stances on international tuition deregulation.

Policy on late withdrawals The proposed policy on late withdrawals, originally brought to Senate at its December 3 meeting as part of the report of the Academic Policy Committee, came to Senate for approval again. It had not been voted on at the last meeting, as Associate Provost (Policies, Procedures & Equity) Lydia White withdrew the motion to approve the policy due to heavy debate and an apparent inability to reach a consensus.

Although several faculty senators reiterated concerns about preserving the “integrity” of the transcript, most interventions were in favour of the policy.

Responding to Arts Faculty Senator Catherine Lu, who had

Audio t en cont e! onlin

said that helping students deal with a difficult time was a poor rationale for altering the transcript, Deputy Provost (Student Life & Learning) Ollivier Dyens noted that it is “the responsibility of the University to support [students],” something it already does “all the time” by providing mental health services or making accommodations in class.

Arts Faculty Senator Philip Oxhorn argued that although explanatory notes can accompany the transcript for graduate school or employment applications, those means are often insufficient to ensure fair treatment. “Sometimes too much knowledge is counterproductive,” he said. “We can have all sorts of amendments [to the transcript], but they don’t get read.”

Speaking on behalf of the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) Senate caucus, SSMU VP University Affairs Claire StewartKanigan praised the policy as a “significant step” in supporting students. She added that earlier, the SSMU caucus had suggested amending the policy with a threeyear mandatory review clause – an amendment that White, the mover, had deemed friendly.

Post-Graduate Students’ Society (PGSS) Academic Affairs Officer Jennifer Murray, however, was not in support of the policy.

She expressed worry that discarding grades of W for some students and not others would weigh more

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heavily on the students who must keep them on their transcript, and as such have the “opposite effect” of the one intended.

The policy passed, with about two-thirds of senators in favour and two abstentions.

In an interview with The Daily, SSMU Arts Senator Jacob Greenspon expressed satisfaction with the result as a step toward more effective support for students.

“It’s very important to note that this is definitely not the end of the road. The major opposition we had to it last Senate is because we felt this policy didn’t go far enough,” he said. “I think it is good that we managed to find a compromise here [...] and I’m definitely happy [that the policy passed].”

International tuition deregulation In response to a question from SSMU senators asking McGill to clarify its stance on the deregulation of international tuition, Provost Anthony Masi stated that the University has been lobbying the Quebec government for the full deregulation of tuition fees from international students in all programs.

International tuition was deregulated for applied sciences, mathematics, engineering, computer science, management, and law in 2008, meaning that McGill has access to the supplementary fee paid by non-Quebec students that is normally redistributed by the government. The University is

Tamim Sujat | The McGill Daily pushing for this deregulation in all other programs.

When pressed by SSMU Arts Senator Kareem Ibrahim on whether or not students had been consulted when establishing this position, Masi insisted that the University has openly held this position for some time. “It has been our policy for six years that deregulation is the right road to follow,” said Masi.

However, Stewart-Kanigan told The Daily that the University’s stance on the issue had been unclear to student representatives and was likely not familiar to the student body as a whole.

“We have the information that we need now to conduct our own consultation with international students and disseminate this in-

formation,” said Stewart-Kanigan.

“More programs have moved toward deregulation [in the last six years], so international students are now actually paying those significantly higher tuition [fees],” she continued. “Now would be an appropriate time to look critically at that stance again and see what students are thinking, because deregulation is not [ just] an idea now, it’s something that students are actually experiencing.”

Greenspon echoed StewartKanigan’s assessment. “There’s definitely been whispers of this, [but] this is probably the first time they’ve come out,” he said. “I really hope that there’s a better way that can be found here to fund the university without putting more of that burden on students’ backs.”

McGill holds open forum on bookstore relocation

O

n January 19, McGill held an open forum to collect community input to help shape the vision for the new McGill bookstore. The bookstore will be relocating in 2016 when its current location is taken over by the Desautels Faculty of Management.

However, the new location, or whether the store will even exist outside of the internet, has yet to be determined.

About twenty people attended the forum, very few of whom were students. Attendees spouted a range of ideas for the new McGill bookstore including a lounge and cafe, or multiple kiosks and pop-­up stores around campus.

Sales at the McGill bookstore have declined by 16.8 per cent since 2008. According to consultant Bianca Barbucci, this is not a McGill-specific problem.

“Across Canada there’s a decline in textbooks and course materials overall. [...] There’s more competition, and there are a lot of new digital materials that are available.

People find their solutions elsewhere; they copy, or download,” said Barbucci at the forum. “It’s the same situation with music.”

The only sales category that has been increasing since 2008 is “Clothing and Insignia,” though at a rate of only of 2.8 per cent annually. For some students, this did not reflect the purpose of the bookstore that was most relevant to them.

“Some students mentioned that they felt that the store was existing for the sole purpose of tourism,” McGill Senior Campus Planner Paul Guenther said, relaying the opinions of students from an earlier focus group. “There’s definitely different perceptions on who the

merchandise is for.”

One student in attendance questioned the ethics behind the apparel sold at the bookstore.

“I know the McGill athletic store allows the suppliers [of branded clothing] to use sweatshops. I was wondering [...] about the suppliers at the McGill bookstore, and if they’re the same ones,” the student inquired.

The stores’ merchandise comes from a variety of locations – however, both stores obtain some products from Adidas, which has faced multiple sweatshop controversies over the past few years.

McGill will continue the consultation process on the bookstore move, which has also included focus groups and an online survey, in the coming months. ­— Celia Robinovitch

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January 26, 2015 www.mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

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No shushing here

Building community through radical libraries Nina Maness Commentary Writer

W

hen I started my undergraduate studies, I was painfully shy and lonely. I knew I wanted to get involved with activism, but I was way too intimidated by most groups on campus.

The first sense of community I found was in a small radical library.

There I was exposed to amazing books and zines, activist organizing, and new friends. Since then, I have been a part of several different radical libraries, and have been continually impressed by the dynamic ways in which they foster connections, radical thought, and community.

There are several radical libraries in Montreal that provide the community with materials that are hard to get anywhere else. Many of these libraries are integrated into activist organizations, such as QPIRG-McGill, a non-profit, student-run organization committed to environmental and social justice issues where I work. Part of QPIRG-McGill’s mandate is to take an intersectional approach to antioppression work. For the library, this means actively seeking out materials written by people with disabilities, people of colour, Indigenous people, trans people, queer people, and selfpublished authors. As such, library patrons interested in one area of antioppression literature will often uncover intersecting areas of activism they have never thought about before.

The radicalizing potential of such alternative libraries lies not only in the materials they provide, but also the connections that they facilitate.

The other day a new patron came into QPIRG-McGill’s library for the first time, looking for books about feminist perspectives on environmentalism. The topic was new to her and she was unsure where to begin. One of our regular patrons suggested that we started by looking for books written by Indigenous feminists. In doing so, she encouraged us to think about the role colonialism plays in environmental destruction.

What started as a simple request for books turned into a more complex look at the ways different forms of oppression are connected. More often than not, helping patrons find books is about more than just simply directing them to the correct shelf. It is about taking part in critical conversations about social and environmental justice.

There is also something to be said about the power of representation.

Being systematically erased from literature and mainstream media is in itself an act of oppression. Many people grow up never seeing themselves

QPIRG-McGill’s library. represented, or just as bad, seeing distorted homophobic, racist, fatphobic, transphobic, and ableist depictions.

Finding authors who speak to your experience becomes an aching need.

Many people grow up never seeing themselves represented, or just as bad, seeing distorted homophobic, racist, fatphobic, transphobic, and ableist depictions.

Finding authors who speak to your experience becomes an aching need.

To illustrate, while I was coming out as genderqueer, volunteering at a queer library felt like coming home. Being surrounded by queer authors and characters, when I’d grown up never seeing myself repre-

Tamim Sujat | The McGill Daily sented anywhere, was a healing process. I love getting to facilitate that process for other people. Conversations about what types of resources people need often bring up what they are going through in their personal lives. During my time volunteering at a queer library, I had one patron tell me I was the first person they came out to. While they could have gone to one of the many queer groups or peer counsellors just down the hall, they chose to come to the library first. I think what made that person approach a librarian first was the idea that talking about books could be a safe way to build connections. For shy people, joining radical libraries provides the space to explore new ideas at their own pace. This goes for our volunteers too, whom for the most part are volunteering in an activist organization like QPIRG for the first time.

Once, one volunteer told me he wasn’t confident in recommending books because he felt he wasn’t knowledgeable enough about antioppression activism. During the same volunteer shift, he pulled Michael Braungart and William McDonough’s book Cradle to Cradle from the shelf and started telling me how it’s written on this special recycled material that can be wiped clean and rewritten on. I’d never noticed this book before, and now it’s definitely on my to-read list.

This is why library volunteers are so vital to how the QPIRG-McGill library runs. An intersectional,

anti-oppressive approach to libraries means it can’t just be one person calling the shots. The library needs to bring together the voices of the community it is serving. This means that library committee meetings often become spaces for volunteers to exchange ideas and share skills.

During one meeting, library student and volunteer Alan Reed taught us how to tell whether books are independently published or come from small publishers by looking at specific numbers in the ISBN. Other meetings have turned into long conversations about different anarchist theorists, and how they fit with our anti-oppression mandate. By critically engaging with the types of materials we have or want to have, volunteers shape the role the library plays in the community.

The library at QPIRG-McGill also acts as a record of the Montreal activist community through our collection of zines, which are self-published, cheaply made, non-commercial works that are generally short in length and often have a do-it-yourself aesthetic. QPIRG-McGill has a collection of over 300 zines, many of which are created by local artists.

They are often beautiful and deeply personal works, some of which are now hard to find anywhere else or are completely out-of-print.

Preserving and providing access to these time capsules of the Montreal activist community in this way is one of the library’s most important roles. However, zines are also

a particular challenge to librarians: a librarian’s job, in part, is to create some semblance of order so people can access materials, but zines as a medium are purposively disorderly.

They are irregular sizes and made of flimsy paper, making them difficult to shelve. They rarely contain dates and often don’t even include the name of the author. Many of the volunteers at the QPIRG-McGill library are doing their Masters in Information Studies in hopes of becoming librarians, so one of my favourite exercises is to sit down with them and figure out how to catalogue zines, which can sometimes consist solely of doodles of naked bodies.

What makes radical libraries so fun and challenging is the ways they embrace an ethos of disorderly order.

If you haven’t already, I highly recommend checking out some of Montreal’s radical libraries at organizations such as the Union for Gender Empowerment, the Centre for Gender Advocacy, QPIRG-Concordia, and QPIRG-McGill. There you can browse through diverse collections of books, magazines, DVDs, and zines. However, radical libraries are so much more than just collections of resources. They are necessary spaces that allow people to discover themselves, develop connections, and allow radical knowledge to thrive.

Nina Maness is a Masters student in Information Studies.

To contact them, send an email to library.qpirgmcgill@gmail.com.

Commentary

January 26, 2015 www.mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

11

The problem with diplomatic immunity Vienna Convention forces us to accept harmful threats to our rights Nicolas Lénart Commentary Writer

T

he Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations governs diplomatic relations between most independent countries in the world; in total it contains 53 articles, two of which have incredibly disturbing real-world implications. Article 29 grants diplomatic agents a status of inviolability, thereby making them immune to all “form[s] of arrest or detention.” Article 22 grants the physical soil of diplomatic missions the same status of inviolability, thereby making them “immune from search, requisition, attachment or execution.”

At first glance, the inviolability of diplomatic agents and of the premises of diplomatic missions appears reasonable. These two articles are supossed to protect foreign representatives against meddling from their host state. Upon closer examination though, it becomes evident that the status of absolute inviolability granted by these articles poses a serious threat to the rights and freedoms of people who come into contact with foreign diplomats in their own country.

The claim that the diplomatic agent’s person as well as the premises of the mission are inviolable is problematic. It assumes and makes the claim that the benefits derived from absolute inviolability always, and under all circumstances, outweigh all other considerations – even ones that may reasonably justify revoking a diplomat’s or a mission’s premises’ status of inviolability.

To illustrate: on October 17, I stood alone outside Montreal’s Russian consulate with a poster reading “End state-sponsored hate propaganda” to protest against Russia’s blatant mistreatment of queer people. Throughout the entirety of the protest, two workers located on the consulate’s soil harassed, humiliated, and mocked me with countless discriminatory comments. After twenty minutes of enduring their discrimination, I left disheartened, hurt, and angered by the events that had taken place, and no longer able to enjoy the rights and freedoms guaranteed to me by Quebec’s Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms. To remedy these rights violations, I contacted both the Quebec Human Rights and Youth Rights Commission and the Canadian Human Rights Commission. Both commissions refused to investigate my claims, rightly arguing that consulate soil is beyond their jurisdiction.

Normally these two commis-

sions view sexual orientation as a prohibited ground of discrimination and harassment. Under these particular circumstances though, articles 29 and 22 of the Vienna Convention deemed the discrimination that I experienced an irrelevant consideration. The only relevant consideration was that consulate soil is inviolable and thus not subject to investigation. Adherence to provincial, federal, and international law at the same time is not only harmful in this case, but completely contradictory.

Articles 22 and 29 of the Vienna Convention are problematic for another, equally important reason. Accountability is an essential mechanism through which individual rights are safeguarded and through which violations of these rights may be addressed. This accountability is an important – if not essential – aspect of justice, so we cannot readily accept the claim that diplomatic agents and the premises of their missions are inviolable. Making this claim has serious implications. The first implication is that neither diplomats nor people on the premises of a diplomatic mission can be held accountable for rights abuses. The second implication, which follows from the first, suggests that in the case of rights violations, in which the violator’s person is absolutely inviolable, the rights of the other individual are violable in an absolute sense.

Unlike rights that are merely violable, rights that are violable in an absolute sense do not require the violator to provide sound justification in the case of a rights violation – an important precondition of any rights violation – and cannot be redressed by means of accountability, if ever the rights violation is found to be unjustified. Rights that are violable in an absolute sense may be violated without good reason and can never be remedied. In short, they are rights that may be overlooked and abused again and again. In order to better understand what exactly differentiates a right that is violable from a right which is violable in an absolute sense, it might be useful to consider the following example.

Take the example of a government that strictly prohibits a NeoNazi from distributing pamphlets containing anti-Semitic discourse.

Let’s assume that in order to limit this individual’s freedom of expression, this government must provide a good reason, and to justify it. Let’s also assume, for the sake of argument, that if ever the justification underlying the rights violation (i.e.

Alice Shen | The McGill Daily the limiting of the Neo-Nazi’s right to full and equal recognition and exercise of his freedoms) is found to be unconvincing, there exists a course of action capable of holding the government accountable for erroneously curtailing this individual’s freedom of expression. In this case, I would argue that the Neo-Nazi’s rights, in this case, are violable, but not violable in an absolute sense, because it is a right whose violation may occur once a good reason has been provided in addition to being a right whose violation may be remedied by means of accountability. If one removes both the good reason underlying the rights violation and the possibility of remedying the violation, only then would the NeoNazi’s right to full and equal exercise of their freedoms become what I call violable in an absolute sense.

Keeping in mind the distinction between a right that is violable and a right that is violable in an absolute sense, I’d like to, once again, examine the circumstances surrounding the protest I held. Throughout my protest, the two workers making the

discriminatory comments were inviolable persons by virtue of being located on the premises of a diplomatic mission. As a result, my right to full and equal recognition and exercise of my human rights and freedoms was rendered violable in an absolute sense, because no good reason was required for the violators to be permitted to override my right, and because no course of action exists to remedy the rights violation I experienced. The absence of any good reason underlying the rights violation (and of any such course of action, I would argue) signals the absence of accountability and consequently, the absence of justice.

Because articles 22 and 29 remove the requirement that rights violations be justified and effectively prevent rights violations from being remedied by means of accountability, anyone who accepts the premise that accountability is central to social justice should be reluctant to accept these two articles.

Nonetheless, one might still want to argue that article 29 does not necessarily preclude all mechanisms by

which accountability is achieved.

After all, diplomats may be declared unwelcome if ever the host country deems their presence no longer desirable (as per article 9 of the Vienna Convention). It seems to me, however, that sending a person home does not qualify as holding a person accountable, for it fails to address the particularities of the offence – if there is one – and appears to be a course of action more suited to disciplining a misbehaving child.

Without a doubt, articles 22 and 29 serve some purpose; however, as things stand, they achieve these purposes by forcibly setting aside reason, accountability and justice, and thereby open up the door to irremediable and unjustified rights violations. If anyone is going to stand by these two articles, they must necessarily justify these significant concessions.

Nicolas Lénart is collecting signatures for a petition against diplomatic immunity. To contact him, and to sign his petition, send an email to nicolas.lenart@mail.mcgill.ca.

12

Commentary

January 26, 2015 The McGill Daily | www.mcgilldaily.com

The Daily is too polite Lack of anti-racist discourse in the paper

Hera Chan Readers’ Advocate

L

ast week’s Daily editorial titled “Cartoons with a context” (January 9, page 19) denounced the mainstream media’s reaction to the Charlie Hebdo events. The totally inoffensive editorial took a good liberal’s standpoint, that is: Islamophobia is bad, and the media shouldn’t frame terrorism to support those dichotomies. Racism was mentioned once, in regards to the content Charlie Hebdo actually puts forth into the world.

Criticizing mainstream media is crucial, but should it make up the message of a whole editorial?

The Daily’s editorial board reserves the second last page of every print edition to voice their collective concern, outrage, and calls for action. Throughout this entire academic year, the editorial board has taken no audacious stances – that is, using their platform to incite discussion – but instead, have behaved rather politely.

I start with the Charlie Hebdo editorial also because of its lack of discussion of systemic racism. It is the polite thing to do – the anti-confrontational method of discussing something, without really getting to the heart of the matter.

Another, perhaps more productive, way to discuss the Charlie Hebdo case would have been to call out the racist structures that already exist in France and elsewhere, which allow a publication like that to exist in the first place. By addressing the mainstream media as the sole agents of Islamophobia, The Daily removes the impetus of

Joelle Dahm | The McGill Daily individuals, all of whom are complicit in perpetuating Islamophobia and racism.

The January 19 issue also saw the “Black Lives Matter” hashtag take the front page, which was in reference to the feature article (“Ferguson, mon amour,” page 12-13) that discussed whether racialized police brutality was an all-American issue. Turns out, Canadian prisons also have an overrepresentation of people of colour; and yes, generally speaking, Canadian policies also promote colourblindness and, thereby, racism.

The feature usually takes

the centerfold, and is a work of long-form journalism published once per week. The reflection

by Margaret Gilligan is an excellent introductory survey to ways in which discourse on racism is erased on campus. And this discussion needs to be continued and taken further. Remember when The Daily published pieces such as “You are racist”?

Instead of taking to the sidelines of anti-racist discourse, The Daily can seek out those nittygritty pieces, the ones that make people uncomfortable, and address racialized experience while pre-

senting ideas about how to keep moving forward. Systemic racism is exemplified qualitatively by statistics of diverse representation, et cetera, but to prove systemic racism in the making is a gesture to the invisible. The term describes an absence, thus all so-called proof of its existence outside lived experience is limited to data that can only be generated retroactively – after the harm is done. It functions to erase the viewpoints and bodies of people of colour from institutional spaces. Not including or soliciting writings on race in an alternative student newspaper such

as The Daily is a way to erase that discussion from the university.

I get that an editorial board, with a majority of white members, would have discomfort as non-racialized bodies in taking the reins of promoting anti-racist methods, but that ability to ignore those issues itself is a form of complicit colour-blindness.

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January 26, 2015 www.mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

13

BEYOND EUROCENTRISM The slow death of academic colonialism in McGill’s School of Architecture

Written by Samer Richani | Illustrations by Alice Shen | Photos by Tamim Sujat

14

Features

January 26, 2015 The McGill Daily | www.mcgilldaily.com

M

cGill’s School of Architecture was founded in 1896 on the philosophy of universitas: a community of scholars devoted to architectural instruction. The school has consistently prided itself on its own diversity and its pluralistic teaching environment, where scholars are allowed to blossom within their interests and capacities without adhering to a certain set ideology, hence freeing them of constraints. Currently housed in the stately MacDonald-Harrington building on McGill’s main campus, the school declares on its website that its mission is “to educate professionals who will contribute to the socioeconomic and cultural development of Quebec, Canada, and the broader global community through responsible participation in the process of the design, construction, and interpretation of the built environment.” One of the principal ways the “built environment” is interpreted is through the teaching of its history, the knowledge of which is a critical tool in understanding the sensibilities prevailing within the field of architecture. It is from these required classes that students draw significant amounts of precedence and inspiration for their design projects, fusing, compiling, engaging, synthesizing, and experimenting with these aforementioned sensibilities. It is more often than not their first comprehensive introduction to architectural history as a subject, which, as of recently, has been drastically restructured, partially with the intention of globalizing our history curriculum and shifting the historical centre of gravity closer to early modernism.

Eurocentrism in architectural history Architecture is heavily rooted in academia, and what is defined as progress can best be understood by looking at the field’s past. In 1895, the year before McGill’s School of Architecture was founded, a book co-authored by Sir Banister Fletcher and his son called A History of Architecture on the Comparative Method was published in London. The book holds a formative position in English-speaking architectural institutions – McGill included – constitut-

ing the historical education of many generations of architecture students. Originally, the work was a modest survey of European styles, but in the fourth edition an important difference surfaced. The book was divided into two sections: “The Historical Styles,” which covered all the previous editions’ European content, and “The NonHistorical Styles,” which included Indian, Chinese, Japanese, Central American, and Arabic architecture.

The nomenclature of Fletcher’s work has been a topic of heated debate and is certainly controversial by today’s standards. Fletcher established a dichotomy of architectural styles and compared them through pseudo-scientific methods that led to the supposed indication and reaffirmation of European superiority and non-European inferiority. What adds to this absurdity is that the very process of identification of the ‘us’ as opposed to the ‘other’ is a European construct in itself. In the words of Annmarie Adams, the current Director of the School of Architecture, the book stands as one of the “culprits of Eurocentrism.” The infamous illustration is the “Tree of Architecture” (the frontispiece of Fletcher’s book), which depicts the sturdy upright trunk bearing the names of European styles. The ‘non-historical styles’ are supported by the Western trunk, with no room to grow past what appears to be the 7th century.

I am not claiming that Fletcher’s work provides the paradigm for Western historiography’s treatment and observation of non-Western architecture in its entirety – no work could ever take on such a charge or claim such a feat. However, Fletcher’s book has stood the test of time and is still in print today in its 17th edition. This “culprit” was taught as a part of McGill’s history of architecture curriculum up until the 1990s, almost a century after its original publication date, which is why the work bears significant relevance to this argument in the context of our university. The book, and many like it, has only recently started collecting dust on the shelves of McGill’s bookcases, symbolizing the gla-

Eurocentrism in architecture The comparative method is an excellent demonstration of how academic Eurocentrism operates. While there are various definitions, the one used for the purpose of this article – without claiming authority of this definition – is Eurocentrism as the disposition to view Europe as the focal point of

‘Vernacular architecture’ is probably the closest binary falling into the framework of the previous pattern, though there are also positive connotations behind this contemporary nomenclature. The word ‘vernacular’ itself comes from the Latin word vernaculus, which means domestic, indigenous, or pertaining to home-born slaves, and it is unsurprising that its frequency of use increased drastically over the 18th and 19th centuries. Obviously, language is prone to evolution, and in the context of architecture and its instruction today, there is an inherent appreciation and positive association with vernacu-

civilization and its ideals as the unique true source of ontological reality. Eurocentricity lends the ‘West’ a sense of unique historical density, envisioning the world from a single privileged point of view that centralizes and augments a flattened perspective of Europe.

This augmentation is all too literal in the case of European spatial evaluation practices literally belittling Africa cartographically and subdividing Asia into ‘Near,’ ‘Middle,’ and ‘Far.’ Another example is Greenwich Mean Time, which centralizes England as the regulator of temporal measurement and calibration. The abrasive, binaristic, hierarchical constructs that have manifested and infectiously proliferated under the ‘West’ and ‘East’ dichotomy as a result of Eurocentrism are innumerable: the word ‘nations’ stands opposed to ‘tribes’; ‘culture’ to ‘folklore’; ‘religion’ to ‘superstitions’; ‘philosophy’ to ‘religion’; ‘pedigree’ to ‘elders’; ‘art’ to ‘artifact’; ‘psychology’ to ‘behaviour’; ‘protests’ to ‘riots’; ‘defence’ to ‘terrorism’; and finally what about ‘architecture?’

lar architecture; however, oftentimes it is placed adjunct to what is considered established. It is in the distinction between this established breed of architecture and that subsidiary breed that the polarity is presented, subverting the latter by demoting it from its self-evident signification.

Architecture has, as Ipek Türeli, professor of architecture history at McGill, puts it, two schools: the school of the ‘Cathedral’ and the school of the ‘Bicycle Shed.’

This original distinction was made by Sir Nikolaus Pevsner, who argued that the Lincoln Cathedral is architecture and that the Bicycle Shed is a building. The former symbolizes architecture as most people conceptualize it, but the latter symbolizes the architecture with which the majority engages. The former has been infinitely legitimized, the latter persistently delegitimized. The former implies an extension of high culture and the establishment, while the latter implies quotidian utility and democracy. The former symbolizes ‘architec-

cial pace of this paradigm shift. The book itself is but a mere symptom of the assumptions of Western superiority prevalent at the time of its conception, but its prolonged survival is an indication of the slow death of academic colonialism.

Eurocentricity lends the ‘West’ a sense of unique historical density, envisioning the world from a single privileged point of view that centralizes and augments a flattened perspective of Europe.

Features ture,’ while the latter signifies ‘vernacular.’

Their purpose here is to serve as metaphors that embody the contrast between an École des Beaux-Arts outlook, in comparison to a Bauhaus outlook – two major schools of thought in architecture. Vernacular architecture used to be defined, in the imperialist sense, as a byproduct of dwelling requirements, or a mechanism for habitation, but not really as architecture. Today, however, it is defined as architecture without architects, hence exhibiting the paradigm shift.

In Fletcher’s tree diagram, all the buildings we see are monumental. This is due to the Western desire to draw parallels between European and non-European monuments, so it can seek self-validation and reaffirmation of its definition of architecture.

Teachings of McGill’s School of Architecture It is safe to say that Eurocentrism – any return to or manifestation thereof – would be, considering our post-colonial reality, not just a hinderance to globalizing movements and cultural pluralism, but literally reversing any legitimate intentions in that direction. Can we say we have or ever truly will distance ourselves from Eurocentrism at McGill’s School of Architecture or even the field in its entirety? The answer is probably no, based on the difficulty of such eradication, particularly with regard to the limitations of the recorded historical academia made available to us by the languages that we understand and are educated in. My advantageous position of being a student that underwent all four required segments of architecture history before the restructuring allows for observations on how we are ‘dealing’ with the constant presence of Eurocentrism in our teachings. My cohort, on the other hand, took these classes after the current restructuring, allowing me to compare my experiences to their own.

The first pre-reform segment of architectural history classes at McGill focused on antiquity to early Christianity – and in an excessively traditionalist manner, Greece and Rome are considerably stressed. This is the course Eurocentric historical trajec-

January 26, 2015 www.mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

tories unflinchingly take, from their roots in Classical Greece (constructed as ‘pure,’ ‘democratic,’ and ‘Western’) to imperial Rome and all the way through history to the metropolitan capitals of Europe and the U.S.; rendering Europe, isolated and unassisted, as the motor of progress as it ‘invents’ class society, feudalism, capitalism, and the industrial revolution. The Greeks and the Romans evidently had no notion of European identity beyond a geological one, and often times viewed the indigenous people of Western Europe as ‘barbaric’ and ‘backwards.’ In almost the grandest case of Stockholm Syndrome ever imaginable, the Western European obsession and fetishization of Roman culture could arguably be described as verging on sadomasochistic. The now-reformed preliminary segment still retains the same period and a similar stress on “European” topics with the only occasional stray toward a more holistic historical perspective.

The second pre-reform segment endured the most noticeable and the most admirable transition of all. The segment originally focused on Europe, from pre-industrial to early modernism, and then suddenly veered toward the U.S. to discuss the

Türeli presents history as an intertwined, complex reality, and actively deconstructs notions of European exceptionalism by spending as much time talking about the grain elevator, as she does talking about Daniel Burnham’s famous buildings (such as the Flatiron Building), stressing their relevancy to modernists and praising the ‘Bicycle Shed.’

The third pre-reform segment was both a literal and figurative step back, in that it stepped literally chronologically backward to look at Europe from the early renaissance to the industrial revolution, and in doing so, it stepped figuratively backward to look exclusively at Europe. I would like to be the first to state that the latter is rooted in subjectivity. I do admit that the class presented the valuable opportunity for a more extensive analysis of history as opposed to a diluted broader one, and that this is respectable. It was, however, the bombardment of Eurocentric undertones within this class that I found worthy of criticism. I also find it vital to reassert that it is not Europe or European architecture that I am choosing to polemicize, nor specific Europeans, but the notions of

Architecture as an organic extension of culture is paramount to its understanding and practice; it remains an integral part of our perceptions of reality and its construction. dawn of the skyscraper. This class has been vastly reformed and can be perceived as the School of Architecture’s most substantial and drastic response to combatting Eurocentrism. Focusing on the scale and fabric of numerous cities, Türeli’s class does not deal with the ‘West’ versus the ‘non-West’ but rather focuses on the connections and processes of how cities are made and how buildings come to be as part of urban conglomerates and transnational connections.

Eurocentrism and European exceptionalism. This segment was certainly the most complacent in its Eurocentric tendencies; existing under the age-old philosophy of ‘we have to teach Europe.’ I would like to clarify that it is not my belief otherwise, however, I do believe that we should not teach Europe alone. This view of history performs a gross disfavour to both history itself and its students.

The fourth segment was taught by the

15

director of the school herself, and operated in a way so as to peel back the cover to reveal the complex cultural, social, and political layers behind architectural developments in the twentieth century. It focuses on North American topics but dissects these topics intriguingly, and attempts to demonstrate their evolution in the context of their significant socio-political backdrops. The class discussed everything from gender topics to the vernacular, and even had classes that focused exclusively on Canada, a rarity.

Many may argue that Anglo-Americanism is merely an extension of Eurocentrism – in fact, in a more recent version of Fletcher’s book, a tree of architectures put the ‘American’ style at the pinnacle of the updated tree of architecture. My belief is that there isn’t a clear break between the two but a complex evolution and exchange that is certainly worth studying. It is evident that this class never actively addressed Eurocentricity but passively engaged with it by perceiving and addressing architectural history in a responsible manner that allowed Adam’s students’ perceptions of architecture to mature. Other classes in the School of Architecture that would be relevant to the discussion on Eurocentrism are History of Housing taught by Pieter Sijpkes and Cultural Landscapes taught by Robert Mellin.

It is important to recognize that the writing of history makes history, and disproportional perspectives of such can no longer be afforded. Eurocentrism permeates historical teaching, and is an everpresent concern in attempting to teach our past holistically, ethically, and realistically.

Architecture as an organic extension of culture is paramount to its understanding and practice; it remains an integral part of our perceptions of reality and its construction. The menagerie of imported styles of the buildings on this campus serve as a concrete reminder of how this reality has been historically distorted through the lens of eurocentricity and its ubiquitous hegemony. The eradication of this bias is a difficult one, and it is important for us as students to take agency and engage with the education we are receiving.

On The staff of

Thursday, January 29 will elect the rest of

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Sci+Tech

January 26, 2015 www.mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

Technophobes, fear no more

17

HackMcGill aims to introduce students to new computer skills Christopher Cayen Cyr The McGill Daily

T

hose who are intrigued by the inner workings of their favourite phone applications will be pleased by this semester’s instalment of Hack101, a tutorial series composed of five lessons that aim to introduce students to programming concepts. Organized by the student group HackMcGill, the tutorials will explore the basics behind building an Android app for your phone.

In the first tutorial, held on January 14, the attendees were shown how to create a tip calculator, which displays the desired tip based on the bill and waiter performance typed in by the user. The goal was to teach how to set up and use Android Studio, Android’s integrated development environment (IDE). The Android Studio simulator allows the developer to visualize the final result on a computer or laptop, without needing to buy an Android device.

Upcoming lessons will cover subjects ranging from simple activities to web development. Learning these skills can ultimately help developers to create more complex apps, and even potentially offer them on markets like Google Play.

Amiel Kollek, a U2 Mathematics and Computer Science student and a member of HackMcGill, leads the tutorials, guiding the developers-tobe through the code line by line, and answering questions when issues are encountered. Completing his own

code along with the audience, Kollek presented the process of creating a basic app.

“People are often unduly intimidated by applications and programming, even though it’s actually quite simple,” says Kollek. “Our goal is to get those intimidated interested in these technologies.”

Kollek mentioned that some background knowledge in the matter could be helpful. “A basic knowledge of Java programming is expected. COMP 202 [Foundations of Programming 1] might do you good.”

Nonetheless, many unfamiliar coding statements are clarified at the tutorials. There are also several online resources available for free, to get you started at your own pace.

Born of a desire to attract a new crowd, Hack101 covers one topic per semester, with all lessons and codes uploaded on Github, allowing programmers to catch up on the material from the comfort of their homes. The contents from last semester’s instalment of Hack101 are still available online, including lessons on the basics of HTML, deployment, and more.

While some may think trying to involve beginners in this endeavour is an idealistic goal, the tutorial proceeded in a friendly manner, and struggling coders were invited to come up with and inquire about solutions to their glitches at the end. This goes on to show that the successful development of a program comes down to one thing: motivation.

The first lesson drew a large

Participants at HackMcGill. crowd, filling every corner of the Trottier 3120 computer lab. “Last semester, we did an introduction to web development. If the tutorials remain very popular, we’ll keep them going,” adds Kollek.

The application development sector has been receiving a lot of attention in the past few years. It was announced last week that all three major app stores – the Apple iOS store, Google Play, and the Amazon store – have grown by more than 50 per cent in 2014. Google Play boasts the most impressive numbers, with a total of 388,000 developers and the highest number of new apps overall throughout the year. It also offers

Tamim Sujat | The McGill Daily the largest library, with a total of 1.43 million apps. This ever-growing community of app developers can be inspiring to many people eager to learn development-related skills, in the hopes of one day joining the crowd.

However, publishing on Google Play requires a one-time registration fee of only $25, while becoming an individual iOS developer requires one to pay $99 per year.

HackMcGill offers other opportunities to learn and perfect computer skills for students, namely hackathons and HackNights. The HackMcGill hackathons are timed events where coders race to code a certain program, while HackNights are occasions for

McGill programmers to meet and work on both personal projects and school assignments.

Although developing an app definitely relies on a certain amount of work and dedication, Hack101 represents an interesting learning opportunity for both the logical and creative minds. Whether you want finally to dive into the programming world or just to add another string to your bow, it is an event worth trying.

For more information on upcoming Hack101 tutorials and HackMcGill events, interested students should consult the HackMcGill Facebook group and hackmcgill.com.

A beginner’s guide to hackathons Tamim Sujat The McGill Daily

H

ackathons are events where people interested in software development come together to solve problems, start new projects, and learn or trade skills with each other. Since the early 2000s, hackathons have gained global popularity for the innovative projects they have produced. As some hackers like to say, hackathons are the most educational events in the life of a computer programmer.

Hackathons are not just for programmers, but for people in all fields interested in building new things. Anyone, including designers, engineers, or business and arts students can find an inquisitive role in a hackathon team. Last week, HackMcGill, a group of student hackers at McGill, organized an event called “Hackathon Bootcamp” to inspire

people who are new to hackathons.

The event targeted the key aspects of making a hackathon successful both as an individual and as a team.

The group dispelled certain hackathon myths, such as the misconception that sleeping is not allowed during a hackathon. In reality, hackathons don’t necessarily mean staying awake for 48 hours, and, in fact, adequate sleep and breaks are crucial for creating a productive working environment. Another myth equating hackathons with programming competitions was also dismissed. Hackathons are more akin to a learning environment than a competition; however, depending on the organizers, sometimes prizes are offered.

Deepanjan Roy, a U3 Computer Science student and the director of HackMcGill, gave some key insights.

For example, most hackathon’s entries are based on lotteries, and

there are no barriers for entry in terms of experience or knowledge, which means that even if someone does not particularly know programming, they can still get in. According to Roy, in order to maximize the hackathon experience, it’s important to have a positive attitude and be open to learning new things.

So don’t be shy, and ask questions, since in every hackathon, there are always people willing to help out in many ways. Among Roy’s other tips are staying hydrated, being aware of caffeine overdoses, and having some comfortable sleeping attire or even sleeping bags.

While hackathons are free to attend, transportation often poses a problem, as costs can easily become unfeasible on a student budget.

HackMcGill often organizes bus trips to larger hackathons in Canada and the U.S.. Recently, HackMcGill visited MHacks in Ann Arbor, Mich-

igan, and PennApps in Philadelphia.

These bus trips give students the ability to attend at minimal cost.

Some previous hackathon participants include Hannah Cohen, a U2 Computer Science and Linguistics student at McGill. Cohen worked on a Jedi knight game where the user can control a spaceship through movements with the help of the Myo armband, a gesture control bracelet, and Oculus Rift virtual reality headset at the Montreal-based hackathon WearHacks. According to Cohen, it was the first time she worked on a hardware-based project, and recalls it as being a great learning experience. Another participant, David Cottrell, a U3 Honours Computer Science student, worked with two other students to create FuzzBeed, which can be described as a computer-generated BuzzFeed parody.

FuzzBeed has gained recently popularity on Twitter and other social

media sites.

Ashin Vinodh, one the members of a top-ten team of PennApps. Vinodh, an engineering student at the University of California, Los Angeles, worked with three other teammates on a project called “3DJ.” The project uses the Myo armband and leap sensors to detect various motions and process them. The resulting program allows the user to compose music with spatial gestures.

Although there are some barriers to entry for hackathons in terms of transportation costs, they are still valuable educational venues open to students from all majors. In fact, there is a hackathon happening at McGill from February 21 to February 22, so you can experience your first hackathon without having to travel. Whether you choose to go as a beginner or expert, it could be a valuable experience to have.

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Sci+Tech

January 26, 2015 The McGill Daily | www.mcgilldaily.com

Breakthrough in memory research Researchers find FXR1P protein affects memory recall

Jill Bachelder The McGill Daily

“

We have unraveled a novel and specific mechanism through which memory storage and recall can be regulated,” Neuroscience PhD candidate Erin Nuro told The Daily in an email.

Indeed, in a groundbreaking development for neuroscience research, Nuro and then-McGill Neuroscience PhD candidate Denise Cook, along with their supervisor Professor Keith Murai from the Neurology and Neurosurgery department, recently published research demonstrating a previously unknown method of improving the memories of mice, with hardly any negative consequences.

These McGill researchers took mice in late stages of development and removed a protein, known as Fragile X Related Protein 1 (FXR1P), from certain cells in the front parts of their brains. They then compared these mice to mice who had not undergone the alterations. Astonishingly, the findings showed no indication of differences between the two types of mice for every indicator of behaviour and memory tested – physical abilities, anxieties, fear levels, ability to recognize objects, et cetera. As a result of the removal of FXR1P, long-term memory was seen to have been improved.

But why is it that adult knockout mice, laboratory mice which had the FXR1P protein removed, were better at both creating and remembering memories than their normal counterparts? Part of the explanation for this lies with a certain element that is very important to recollection of memory: GluA2. Intriguingly, as the study says, knockout mice showed much higher levels of GluA2 than their normal counterparts.

GluA2 is a component that makes a receptor in a brain cell.

Together, four GluA2 make up an AMPAR, a glutamate receptor, which then receives signals and relates them to the brain cell it is attached to. When the receptor receives a signal, it activates the brain cell. An increase in recep-

tors leads to an increase in the ability of brain cells to communicate with one another and be activated.

It was demonstrated in the study that FX1RP restricts the amount of GluA2 that can be produced. Since GluA2 is used to make the receptors, the FXR1P protein limiting the amount of GluA2 also in turn limits the amount of receptors produced. When FXR1P is removed, there is an increase in GluA2 and thus an increase in receptors.

The two main researchers involved in this study were Cook and Nuro, who worked on it for about 3 years each. Cook explained in an email to The Daily that she initially had the idea to study FXR1P when she began her PhD studies. In 2012, when she took time off to write her thesis, Nuro, who had just started her PhD under the supervision of Murai, took over the project. Both women are first authors of this paper, and many others collaborated with them to help conduct this study, including Neuroscience undergraduate Edith Hanna, who was “instrumental in the initial characterization of the FXR1P knockout mouse,” and is now in medical school, according to Cook.

Caveats and practical applications One effect that the removal of FXR1P had on the mice was a decrease in both spine density and length. “We don’t think the spine changes have an overall detrimental impact on the health of mice,” wrote Murai in an email to The Daily.

This, he explained, is due to the lack of difference between their behaviour and that of the normal mice. It could be that this is just to adapt to the large changes in memory ability, wrote Murai.

Cook wrote in her email that performing the same removal of FXR1P from children as was done to the mice would not really work. This, she wrote, is because FXR1P is everywhere in the body, especially in muscles, meaning it can be important for certain aspects of development. “In fact, mice that have FXR1P removed from the very beginning of development die shortly after birth because they are too weak to breathe,” wrote Cook. However, when FXR1P is removed during later

Nadia Boachie | The McGill Daily stages of development, there are no detrimental effects.

All three of the scientists interviewed agreed that, probably, the best way to apply these results to people would be to suppress the FXR1P protein’s function or imitate it, and achieving these results in humans may be possible in the future.

“At the moment I am setting up experiments that aim to further investigate FXR1P’s role in memory

processes including human clinical cases characterized by learning and memory deficits,” wrote Nuro.

Future studies Nuro said that in the future, it will be important for researchers to determine if the removal of FXR1P affects other factors outside of behaviour and memory, such as social abilities.

“Significant progress can be made in the next [five to ten] years

regarding potential novel targets for treating brain disease if resources are made available,” Murai wrote.

He said that further research in FXR1P regulators might lead to discoveries that could be used to heal brain diseases and disorders.

While the discovery offers significant insight into how the brain stores memories, there is still a big leap needed to extend the research findings to humans.

Bite-Size Science Check out our first Bite-Size Science Video!

Learn about particle physics research at McGill in an easy-to-digest way. mcgilldaily.com/category/scitech

Sports Madison Smith The McGill Daily

January 26, 2015 www.mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

Pay to play

19

Dispelling the myth of amaterurism

T

rouble is brewing in the kingdom of American college sports. If the professional pigskin prognosticators are to be believed, we may be soon be sounding the death knell of that dearly-held principle of college athletics: its socalled amateurism.

First of all, a little background for those of you not from the land of good-ol-boys and ‘freedom.’ In the U.S., college athletics is a seriously big business. It is governed by the National College Athletics Association (NCAA), which in 2013 raked in $912.8 million in revenue, most of which comes from television deals and other media and marketing sources, like lending its name to sports video games. The schools with top-level sports teams, like University of Texas, can earn over $100 million per year in revenue from their sports teams. Top football and basketball coaches earn millions of dollars per year. Yet, despite all this money, the NCAA prohibits players from being paid for their work in any form except receiving scholarships, and, more bizarrely, prevents them from earning money through any means related to their athletic performance, including selling their autographs or endorsing products. The NCAA even regulates how athletes may make money in their pre-college careers, making star high school athletes who accept endorsement deals ineligible for playing college sports.

The NCAA justifies making tons of money off of its players without compensating them by appealing to the hallowed amateurism that it argues has been the defining characteristic of college sports. The president of the NCAA, Mark Emmert, has argued that allowing players to endorse products and accept other corporate deals would leave them vulnerable to exploitation by big business. Harris Pastides, the president of the University of South Carolina, recently stated that a core part of the college sports experience was that the athletes were “not yet corrupted by money and other financial influences.” Another popular defence of the NCAA’s employment practices, taken here from an NCAA legal brief, is that by not paying student athletes, the organization is letting them do “what students do rather than trying to make as much money as possible, which is what professionals do”– in other words, making them focus on their education rather than on money.

Is amateurism really as important to the soul of college sports as

Alice Shen | The McGill Daily the NCAA argues? Probably not.

With regards to the ‘make them focus on their education’ defence, no one makes similar arguments about other on-campus jobs like working in the dining hall or at the bookstore.

Many college students successfully manage to learn and make money simultaneously. Similarly, who would say that somebody who worked at the campus bookstore was ‘corrupted’ by their paycheck?

Is everyone who receives money for the provision of goods or services ‘impure’ in some way? Why should college athletes be held to a different standard than the rest of society?

Getting back to the first defence, that college athletes would be exploited by corporate interests if allowed to capitalize on their fame financially, one is tempted to say that this is already happening, except the exploiter is the NCAA itself, and its partners such as ESPN and game manufacturer Electronic Arts (EA).

Emmert mounted the exploitation defense in a court case that pitted

the NCAA against Ed O’Bannon, a former U.S. college basketball star.

O’Bannon argued that the NCAA was making money off of the likenesses of players used in the popular licensed NCAA video games published by EA. The NCAA had tried to avoid this kind of lawsuit by making the players in the games nameless and creating intentionally inaccurate player models for them, but their jersey numbers and gameplay attributes made it obvious that the virtual players were meant to represent real players on real college teams. This was not the first time the NCAA has been caught exploiting the fame of specific players for financial gain; in 2013, ESPN college basketball commentator Jay Bilas found that when he searched for star players’ names in the NCAA online store he was taken to links to buy the jerseys worn by those players, despite the NCAA’s insistence that it does not make profit from individual players’ names or reputations. This revelation came during

a time when then-college star quarterback Johnny Manziel was under fire for selling his own autograph for profit. The NCAA’s anti-exploitation argument seems more like an ‘only we are allowed to exploit the players!’ argument.

Lest you think I protest too much in support of a student body population that is already coddled and showered with perks, consider this: yes, many of the players at top tier sports schools get full scholarships, but these do not cover the full cost of going to school. According to a recent study by the National College Players Association and Drexel University, the average university athlete with a full scholarship still had to cover $3,222 in expenses per year, and if they had no other source of income than their scholarship living stipend, 85 per cent of full scholarship players would live below the U.S. federal poverty line. Keeping in mind that not all college athletes come from a privileged background and that being a top-level college

athlete is a full-time job, it is easy to see how it would be hard for even students with scholarships to make financial ends meet.

Change, however, might be on the horizon. That court case I mentioned earlier, NCAA v. O’Bannon, was decided in O’Bannon’s favor.

The judge’s injunction was relatively tame, stipulating that the NCAA could not prevent schools from paying players up to the full cost of attending school, in addition to a $5,000 per year trust from a share of the media money to be received on graduation. Accepting endorsement deals and selling memorabilia is still forbidden for players. Nevertheless, this decision could be the beginning of a huge change in how the NCAA does business, depending on how other pending lawsuits are decided. Perhaps players will finally be able to earn pay for their work and for their image, like everyone else in the America theoretically has the right to do.

Culture

January 26, 2015 www.mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

20

Toward a waste-free wonderland Multimedia project Alchemy of Waste exposes the treasures of trash Audrey carleton Culture Writer

G

enerally, when we think an object has outlived its use, we toss it into the trash or recycling. Alchemy of Waste (AOW), a multi-dimensional multimedia art project that uses predominantly upcycled materials, aims to change this. Project founders Kamee Abrahamian and Katelyn Partlow are producing art and media that tell the story of a waste-free wonderland, with the goal of changing the popular view of waste.

Upcycling is the process of repurposing used materials and waste, giving them a second life by turning them into new products. The term ‘upcycling’ was coined to indicate the intention of turning old materials into products of greater value or quality.

Unlike recycling, in which the consumer sends their waste off to a plant, upcycling is a first-hand process.

Painting and converting a used glass bottle into a vase, for example, creates a creative connection between the user and their trash, in contrast to just throwing the bottle into a recycling bin. Participants in the upcycling movement reduce their carbon footprint by limiting the amount of brand new goods they purchase, while simultaneously limiting the amount of old items they send to landfills.

AOW founders Abrahamian and Partlow are part of this growing movement, using art to reconsider the role of trash in their lives. Both have strong backgrounds in the arts: Abrahamian earned her Bachelor’s degree in Cinema and Political Science from Concordia, then went on to earn a Masters in Expressive Art Therapy with a focus on digital media and film; Partlow has worked on the production of a film called Fishing Without Nets, a winner at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival, and she also has an extensive portfolio of published photography. “[Humans] are the only creatures on this planet that produce useless output,” Abrahamian tells The Daily.

“We would like to be a part of the movement that changes that.” Abrahamian explains that she is “interested in producing work that allows participants to walk away feeling inspired to build on the upcycling perspective, and to find ways to integrate it into their lives.” Basically, Abrahamian adds, all upcycling folks are “trying to make trash cool.”

In order to make trash cool, it represents familiar artistic imagery in unconventional ways. The art in AOW utilizes trash in novel ways that stretch the limits of norma-

Alice Shen | The McGill Daily tive creation and consumption. One of the project’s pieces, a featurette entitled TerraCycle Bathtub, does this by turning a bathroom into a waste-playground. The featurette

“[Humans] are the only creatures on this planet that produce useless output [...]

We would like to be a part of the movement that changes that.”

Kamee Abrahamian, AOW co-founder stars New York-based cabaret performer Dangrrr Doll who lays in a large tub filled with thin scraps of paper and hair adorned with soda can-curlers, laughing and playing.

It makes bathing with scraps of discarded trash look fun and relaxing, nudging the audience to rethink the endless possibilities of using waste.

TerraCycle Bathtub is the second installation in the project’s ALL IS FOUND film series. The series is still in a work in progress and is open to submissions. “Our submission call out is meant to attract cre-

atives who have an idea for a short film that would feature character(s) who upcycle, such as artists, musicians, designers, [and] builders,” said Abrahamian. With ALL IS FOUND still in production, the series’s trajectory has been far from lacklustre. The first installation of the film series is an official finalist in the 2014 Yosemite International Film Festival.

Film is just one of the project’s many mediums. According to Abrahamian, the two founders are “constantly coming up with ways to produce different iterations of AOW.” Many of these iterations are particularly focused on encouraging public participation, such as the ALL IS FOUND submission call, and the project’s upcycling workshops , which are meant to teach attendees how to incorporate principles of upcycling into their regular lives. Most recently, Abrahamian and Partlow conducted a soldering and circuitbending event in Los Angeles, California. Circuit-bending is the creative practice of customizing the circuits within electronic devices to create unique sound generators. Workshop participants were asked to bring their own supplies, such as electronic kid’s toys and keyboards, to re-circuit and create brand new instruments.

Originally, workshops and video installations were not entirely what Abrahamian had in mind. “The project has developed quite a bit since we started. Mostly in the way

that it is constantly taking different shapes,” said Abrahamian. “It started off as an idea for [...] a big, high production, immersive show that only used upcycled materials as its set and scenography.” However, Abrahamian soon discovered the reality of doing large independent projects: funding is key. “We don’t want to just sit around and wait for funding. We also don’t want to resort to crowd-funding,” Abrahamian explained. The two creators have learned to take a different approach. “Now when we have an idea, we work on developing it first before we think of ways to fund it.”

The upcycling movement has gained support and momentum over the years, as made abundantly clear by just one visit to the AOW Tumblr. The blog showcases the work of many other upcyclers and dumpster divers turning trash into treasure, art, and useful tools. Still, the logic behind upcycling continues to be considered fairly radical by many. Trash has a bad rap in our Western consumer society, one that attaches great importance to purchasing new items – the most recent iPhone, the most current fashion.

Once an item has been replaced in the market, it is considered “waste,” devoid of value.

Yet from Abrahamian’s perspective, in the world of art, upcycling is a form of its own. “Waste is the medium. It’s a material that can be manipulated and repurposed,” Abra-

hamian said. “It doesn’t have to just be thrown away into a bag that goes on our driveways then disappears magically into an imaginary island full of recycling fairies that no one thinks about.”

Once an item is thrown out, consumers can easily forget about it and forget about where it is going: more often than not, to a landfill. Though recycling propaganda can be effective, Abrahamian takes a different approach to inspiring waste-consciousness. “We want to engage people through the arts, in a way that empowers them instead of making them feel guilty,” Abrahamian said. “Personally, I don’t think shoving sad images of birds with plastic in their stomachs is going to make a long-lasting change.

It shocks us, makes us aware of the problem, but leaves us walking away feeling really bad about the state of our being in the world and the environment.”

Alchemy of Waste is intended to inspire rather than shame audiences into becoming more eco-friendly and conscious of the waste they produce. Operating on the idea that positivity is more powerful than pessimism, the project is an artistic endeavour that not only presents an alternative way of seeing the world, but also an alternative way to live it.

Details on Alchemy of Waste can be found on their website at alchemyofwaste.com

Culture

January 26, 2015 www.mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

21

Our broken engines Multimedia exhibit reflects on the modern state of being Adam Salmond Culture Writer

condition: over-stimulated, distracted, and conflicted.

I

n an era where multitasking is the norm and access to bite-size information abounds, our minds are scattered across different spaces in any given moment. This is our modern mental condition, at least according to “The Engine Room,” the newest multimedia exhibit at the artist-run centre Skol. Curated

by Stéphanie Bertrand, the exhibition features works by three Greek artists, Katerina Athanasopoulou, Lena Athanasopoulou, and Zoe Giabouldaki, whose work reflects on this particular mental space — the engine room roaring in our heads.

In many of the pieces, use of crude juxtaposition mimics paradoxical states of mind. Lena Athanasopoulou’s untitled collage from 2011 shows pictures of sexual organs and other body parts superimposed on top of pages from a math textbook. Propped up on a plinth, the collage confronts us with both the sexual and rational aspects of ourselves. Reminiscent of teenage daydreaming in class, this youthful state of mind also acts as metaphor for the modern

“[People] might one day be at a champagne opening, and the next day protesting in the streets, and they feel that there’s absolutely no disconnect between these two things.”

Stéphanie Betrand, curator Argonautica, an animation by Katerina Athanasopoulou, similarly collides vastly different images and stimuli. Gears and spinning galaxies intersect, while binary code streams across the fore-

ground. In contrast to Lena Athanasopoulou’s collage, Argonautica reverses the relationship between the primal and the technical. Here, rational computation intrudes on a natural universe.

Many of the pieces brush up against each other and the effect is deliberately jarring. The choral music of Katerina Athanosopoulou’s animations echoes through the gallery space, crashing against the recurring beat of an octopus being tenderized in an untitled 2007 film from Giabouldaki. “The Engine Room” thus highlights how calculation and computation govern the modern world and clash with the organic. With aural and visual chaos, the exhibit recreates the stressful sensation which follows such a collision.

Bertrand explains that the sense of turmoil corresponds to the inner conflict of the modern human being who often holds incompatible attitudes and beliefs. Bertrand sees this conflict in people’s everyday lives, saying that “[people] might one day be at a champagne opening, and the next day protesting in the streets, and they feel that there’s absolutely no disconnect

between those two things.”

Aside from grappling with inner conflicts, the exhibit also features a somewhat foggy sociopolitical commentary. The Greek financial crisis, which Bertrand describes in her curatorial statement as “manic arithmetic,” is an intended backdrop for the exhibit. In her statement, Bertrand characterizes the pieces as reflecting on the crisis’ social and emotional consequences.

“The crisis has dragged on so long that a sense of apathy has developed,” Bertrand says. “It sounds cheesy, but I wonder whether art can inspire [Greece] again.”

However, exactly how some of the pieces engage with the financial situation may be unclear for visitors who are either unfamiliar with the particulars of the crisis or unable to read the Greek text in the works. Bertrand explains that she chose not to provide curatorial comments in order to let the works speak for themselves. While the omission adds to the disorienting experience, it does so at the expense of the accessibility of the works on a more local level.

Further, while Bertrand sug-

gests that art can usefully imagine alternatives to entrenched systems, she also questions whether it always plays a positive role in modern society. In fact, she expresses concern that art’s ability to portray paradoxes might help human beings to reconcile what are actually incongruous beliefs.

The works in “The Engine Room” seem to fall somewhere in between these two extremes: it is hard to find evidence of optimism for the future, but it is equally difficult to see any of the pieces as celebrations of the status quo. Even the humour on display, as in Giabouldaki’s video No More Tears, which compiles clips and animation from various shampoo commercials, feels wry.

Ultimately, “The Engine Room” seems more about an experience of fragmentation than any particular value judgement. The exhibit invites viewers to come in and feel their daily disorientation in heightened proportions, providing less solace than a loud wake-up call.

“The Engine Room” runs at the Centre des arts actuels Skol until February 7. Admission is free.

Rooftop garden film festival and the yellow door choir Rosie’s pick: The Yellow Niyousha’s pick: Rooftop Door Choir Garden Film Festival This Friday or Saturday, step inside from the cold air and let the Yellow Door Choir’s dulcet harmonies warm you up. In its 32nd year, the Yellow Door Choir is a staple of Montreal’s community groups, a charitable choir that partners with other local organizations for their spring and winter concerts to raise money for a good cause. This winter, their partner is AIDS Community Care Montreal.

In addition to their new partner, the choir is also working with a new director, Roxanne Martel, for this concert. Martel promises that this will be an “eclectic” evening that takes you around the world and back, from Chinese folk songs to Billy Joel.

So take a night off from Igloofest and lose yourself in some old-fashioned choral bliss from a local legacy.

The Concordia Greenhouse is taking all you could ever ask for on a chilly Thursday night and bundling it into one event.

The Rooftop Garden Film Festi-

val promises hot tea, free greenhouse-harvested snacks, and of course, short documentaries about creative community groups and their unique green spaces.

The informal festival will screen 12 documentaries in to-

tal, none of them longer than ten minutes. The documentaries explore urban green spaces and unique innovations by community groups across the world. The shorts include Growing Cities: A film about urban farming in Amer-

ica, which follows two filmmakers’ journey across the U.S. and Canada as they examine the effect of urban farming on various communities; and Brooklyn Farmer: A Portrait of Urban Farming, which looks at the Brooklyn Grange, the world’s biggest soil rooftop farm.

Vancouver’s 6 Acre Living Roof also takes an exclusive look at the grassland on top of Vancouver Convention Centre. The films in the festival all promise a nice dose of inspiration.

The Yellow Door Choir performs on Friday, January 30 and Saturday, January 31 at 5035 de Maisonneuve. Doors open at 7:30 p.m. and the show starts at 8 p.m..

Tamim Sujat | The McGill Daily

The Rooftop Garden Film Festival is on Thursday, January 29 from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.. The event is free but space is limited to the first thirty people.

22

Culture

January 26, 2015 The McGill Daily | www.mcgilldaily.com

Sympathy for the devil Players’ Theatre recreates the creation story Lauria Galbraith The McGill Daily

I

n her director’s note, Kristen Kephalas calls Arthur Miller’s The Creation of the World and Other Business “one of the worst comedies I’ve ever read.” A retelling of the Book of Genesis, this notso funny comedy explores the biblical story in a new light. It begins with the creation of Eve, and ends just after Cain’s murder of Abel, attempting to find the humour in humanity’s loss of innocence. Under Kephalas’ direction, the Players’ Theatre production leans away from Miller’s awkward attempt at humour and instead plunges the audience into darker themes — questioning the righteousness of God and reconsidering Lucifer.

The play opens with God and Adam in the Garden of Eden. Adam (Alec MacMillan) is adorably naïve and utterly devoted. God (Frederic Rosenthal) creates a mate for Adam, whom Adam names Eve (Anna Queen). While they play together down in the Garden, the true conflict sets in with the introduction of Lucifer (Lucas Amato), who challenges God by advocating for Adam and Eve to find knowledge. The familiar struggle between ‘good’ and ‘evil’ results in Adam and Eve’s expulsion from the Garden, as well as the birth of their two sons, Cain (Clay Walsh) and Abel (Adam Almeida).

Thematic dichotomies run through the play with clear oppositions between Adam and Eve, God and Lucifer, and Cain and Abel.

“The go-to one is good versus evil, because God is questionable in his

Tamim Sujat | The McGill Daily morals,” Kephalas explains in an interview with The Daily. “But the other one that stuck out to me is this idea of blame and responsibility, because the characters are all really, really bad at taking responsibility for things.”

The narrative questions who holds the responsibility for humanity’s loss of innocence. While the play has a few light-hearted scenes that poke fun at the traditional story, like Adam naming the animals based solely on his favourite letter of the day or Eve

being unable to make sense of her pregnant body, the light-hearted tone disappears as soon as Adam and Eve are expelled. Kephalas explains that “once the characters leave Eden, it’s almost like Arthur Miller left Eden and wasn’t able to find the comedy again.” Kephalas, too, dumps the comedy for tragedy.

The transition culminates in a jolting scene as Eve goes into labour, her painful screams grabbing and shaking the audience.

The loss of innocence turns into a family drama as the charac-

Tamim Sujat | The McGill Daily

ters attempt to remain pious despite their misdeeds. While Lucifer tries to expose God as deceitful, Cain’s growing anger toward his brother Abel makes the audience feel a nervous anticipation at their every interaction. When the dreaded murder comes, it’s vivid and heartbreaking. Walsh delivers a moving performance. The genuine disbelief and sorrow in his realization after the murder is as shocking as the intensity of his anger during the crime. As the play approaches its end, his acting evokes sympathy for the most violent character. The finale features Angels singing Hallelujah, bringing the play to a powerful close. Their psalms, which they repeat throughout the play, ironically singing God’s praises even during times of doubt, leave the audience to take it all in on an eerie note of disenchantment.

For the most part, the actors mostly find their way around the intricacies of this dark comedy, moving fluidly from the lightheartedness of the initial acts to the intensity of the later scenes. However, a few scenes are not executed as seamlessly. Adam and Eve struggle in their chemistry, and their discomfort in intimate scenes disrupts the believability of their romance. Similarly, the depiction of God as an arrogant control freak never reaches its full height in commanding the stage. While believable, Rosenthal doesn’t fully realize the the character’s grandeur.

Still, it’s possible that this underwhelming acting actually matches the play’s direction, as it challenges conventional understanding of the characters: in fact, it’s Amato’s performance as Lucifer that steals the show, with Amato commanding every scene he’s in. His portrayal of the crazed and creepy Angel-Demon is undeniably captivating, featuring an over-the-top devotion to God and bursts of fury toward the humans that breathe life into the play. Even when he’s lurking wordlessly in the background, Lucifer’s plotting smirks enhance each scene with a sense of dread as he slinks around the characters.

Allowing us to delight in the devil, The Creation of the World and Other Business brings an old story into new and fresh perspective. The Players’ production artfully and painfully brings to light the faults of each character, casting a sympathetic light on even their most sinful moments. Kephalas throws the spotlight on Miller’s darker scenes, transforming the awkward comedy into a gripping tragedy that invites viewers to question their conceptions of good, evil, and guilt.

The Creation of The World and Other Business runs from January 21 to January 24 and from January 28 to January 31. The show starts at 8 p.m.. Tickets are $6 for students and seniors and $10 for adults.

Editorial

volume 104 number 16

editorial board 3480 McTavish St., Rm. B-24 Montreal, QC H3A 1X9

January 26, 2015 www.mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

Free Mohamed Fahmy

phone 514.398.6784 fax 514.398.8318 mcgilldaily.com coordinating editor

Dana Wray

coordinating@mcgilldaily.com coordinating news editor

Janna Bryson news editor

Igor Sadikov commentary & compendium! editors

Cem Ertekin Emmet Livingstone features editor

Joelle Dahm

science+technology editor

Zapaer Alip

Alice Shen | The McGill Daily

sports editor

Drew Wolfson Bell culture editors

Niyousha Bastani Rosie Long Decter multimedia editor

Alice Dutrut photo editor

Tamim Sujat illustrations editor

Alice Shen copy editor

Molly Korab design & production editor

Vacant

web editor

Vacant

community editor

Rackeb Tesfaye le délit

Joseph Boju

rec@delitfrancais.com

cover design Alice Shen contributors Jill Bachelder, Nadia Boachie, Katherine Brenders, Audrey Carleton, Hera Chan, Christopher Cayen Cyr, Saima Desai, Lia Elbaz, Lauria Galbraith, Daniel Galef, Nicole Gileadi, Fiona Higgins, June Jang, Jasreet Kaur, Sonia Larbi-Aissa, Nicolas Lénart, Nina Maness, Rachel Nam, Jonathan Reid, Samer Richani, Celia Robinovitch, Adam Salmond, Emily Saul, Subhanya Sivajothy, Madison Smith, Andy Wei, Lunan Zhao.

C

anadian-Egyptian journalist Mohamed Fahmy, working for Al Jazeera English in Egypt, was arrested on December 29, 2013 on ungrounded terrorism charges and has been imprisoned ever since.

Fahmy’s arrest took place shortly after General Abdel Fattah el-Sisi staged a military coup, overthrowing the democratically-elected Muslim Brotherhood. Egypt’s current government under el-Sisi is virulently against the Muslim Brotherhood and regards the group as a terrorist organization, a view supported by most Western governments. El-Sisi’s government wrongfully accused Fahmy of abusing his position at Al Jazeera to recruit people for the Muslim Brotherhood’s terrorist activities. The Canadian government has failed to take meaningful action and protect its citizen, instead choosing to prioritize favourable diplomatic relations with Egypt.

In June, Fahmy was sentenced to seven years in prison in what was widely regarded as a show trial, as no evidence for the government’s accusation was produced. He is currently being kept in abject conditions. Other Western leaders who also support the undemocratic Egyptian government spoke out: U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry called the results “chilling and draconian,” while UK Prime Minister David Cameron was “completely appalled.” The Canadian government, whose own citizen is being persecuted, passively asked that Egypt “respect the right of individuals, including journalists.”

Despite the government’s conciliatory language, many, including Fahmy and his family, expected the recent visit of Minister of Foreign Affairs John Baird to Egypt to resolve the case. While Baird did raise the issue, he also expressed “strong support for the Egyp-

tian government,” and praised its efforts against “the terrorist acts of the Muslim Brotherhood.” Due to this setback, on January 8, even as he acknowledged diplomatic subtleties, Fahmy called directly on Prime Minister Stephen Harper to intervene. To this date, Harper has refused to comment on the case.

The government has weighed the value of a diplomatic relationship and the life of a citizen, and has prioritized the former. This is all the more repugnant when the regime in Egypt it is supporting murders hundreds with impunity. Especially in light of Harper’s supportive statements for press freedom after the Charlie Hebdo murders, the Canadian government is being remarkably selective about its commitment to protecting journalism. Some believe that the apathy toward Fahmy has to do with his dual Egyptian-Canadian citizenship, and this may very well be the case. In a similar case, John Greyson and Tarek Loubani, who hold only Canadian citizenship, were charged with terrorist conspiracy by the el-Sisi regime, but the Canadian government lobbied intensely for weeks to secure their release.

All but abandoned by a disinterested government, Fahmy is currently facing the nightmare scenario of living out the next decade of his life in bleak conditions.

The Canadian government must fulfill its responsibility by actively pursuing Fahmy’s release; otherwise, it will continue to implicitly condone the punishment.

Political expediency is no excuse for not protecting the work of journalists – it is even less of an excuse for abandoning citizens who are unjustly imprisoned.

—The McGill Daily Editorial Board

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Printed by Imprimerie Transcontinental Transmag. Anjou, Quebec.

ISSN 1192-4608.

The article “Arts councillors press admin on sandwich sale ban” (News, January 9, page 5) incorrectly stated that Arts Undergraduate Society (AUS) President Ava Liu would be appointing a new VP Internal in the future.

In fact, the position’s requirements will continue to be filled by other AUS executives and an internal student administrator.

The Daily regrets the error.

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23

Compendium!

January 26, 2015 www.mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

24

Lies, half-truths, and pay-to-read content come next week!

So we’ve cut the budget again, eh?

What are you going to do about it?

Daniel Galef The McGall Weekly

G

ood evening, welcome back, and, most importantly, good evening. I address you as the University’s Dean of Treasury to inform you regarding the recent regrettable but necessary budget cuts. Since when have we had a Dean of the Treasury, and what happened to the Bursar, you ask? Why hasn’t he reported in, after the break? Why are the accounts information documents missing? I assure you, the investigation is ongoing.

Meanwhile, a few cutbacks will have to be instituted to preserve our reputation and maintain what’s truly important here: the football team. They’ve already run through the budget earmarked for the next quarter’s supply of steroids and caviar.

Obviously, Arts will just have to go. All of it. We’ll scrap the scripts and scalp the sculptors, pawn the poets Byron-get-onefree. Science will have to take one for the team, too: the swimming team, who will be flooding what is now lab space to practice

for regionals, our swimming pool having been foreclosed upon.

Worry not: we will press on, one way or another. Our Alma Mater is not going to roll over and die like Rutherford Burnside, local poutine tycoon and anti-education lobbyist, who just so happened to will us his fortune after his mysterious demise earlier this morning. No, we shall continue as best we can: still will we disassociate ourselves from the surrounding townie rabble, still will we secretly develop superweapons to bring about Armageddon, still will we spend months locked in committee arguing about how properly to break up arguments under Roddick’s Rules of Order.

We are still the same old college, so let’s give our new, bankrupt existence the old college try.

Naturally, some minor changes must be made. Mrs. Michaud, the college widow, will start charging. A toll will be collected at all university gates, and also at the doors to most classrooms.

Students graduating will be expected to tip the dean when you shake hands onstage.

A new grading system has

Snacks | The McGall Weekly

been implemented, under which, according to this handy chart that we can’t publish (printing charts is expensive), you may receive additional consideration in matters of merit in exchange for entirely uncompensated donations to the university. Professors’ salaries are to be cut from two cents an hour to one cent plus whatever crumbs they may scrounge from the faculty lounge, and adjuncts’ salaries are to be cut from nothing to paying the university for the privilege of working here. A $1 application fee will be attached to all handed-in assignments, with an included 20 per cent gratuity for not ‘accidentally’ losing it.

Lastly, all students will be put to work in the salt mines below campus in twenty-hour shifts eased with two thirty-second breaks for ditch-water and hardtack. Flashlights and digging implements will be reserved for Dean’s List students. Failing students will serve as canaries. Complementary whips will be provided, courtesy of the TAs. Thank you for your attention, and please insert fifty cents to continue reading.

Crossword: political animals Across 1.

4.

6.

7.

10.

12.

13.

Mostly associated with capitalists.

Anyone remember what Aristotle said?

One of the biggest causes of global warming Constantly asked to wake up, mostly by conspiracists Will remember everything, yet still vote Republican Mickey sold out, protect small interests!

Works all day, breaks a leg. Gets shot between the eyes, instead of being treated 14. Will do anything for bones, even vote Conservative

Down 1. Anarchist 2. Demonic creatures that possess the souls of a thousand dead politicians 3. Cowards, who would definitely refuse to die for the country 5. Only ursine member of the Warsaw Pact 8. Once in suits, always in suits 9. Likes jumping around and unjustly convicting journalists at trials 11. Only fowl member of NATO 12. The four-legged proletariat