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The Silhouette sincerely apologizes to Glenn De Caire for the false contents found in the previous version of the article "The hiring and requested firing of Glenn De Caire,” published on thesil.ca and distributed across campus on March 24, 2016. The disparaging statements made about Glenn De Caire are entirely untrue and are hereby unconditionally retracted by The Silhouette. Amendments to the online article were made on April 4, 2016.
On Dec. 18, 2015, McMaster announced that former Police Chief of Hamilton Police Services, Glenn De Caire, had been hired as the Director of Parking and Security Services, a senior administrative position within the University. De Caire announced his retirement from Police Services this past November and began his role on campus on Jan. 17 amidst a protest outside his office. The protest, organized by the Revolutionary Students Movement, was against the influence of police patrol on campus and has since spit-balled into a larger petition and campaign and a motion by the Student Representative Assembly for the Students' Union to advocate for De Caire's removal. While the student body is taking actions to protest De Caire's place on campus, members of the hiring board stand by their decision and the process that went into his eventual selection for the job.
Hiring the Director of Parking and Security Services requires a committee of known stakeholders from across the University’s administration. This year’s committee featured six McMaster employees, all from different departments of the University. This year’s board included: outgoing Director, Terry Sullivan; Assistant Vice President and Chief Facilities Officer, Mohamed Attalla; Assistant Vice President and Director of Teaching and Learning at MIIETL, Arshad Ahmad; Assistant Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer, Wanda McKenna; Director of Public and Community Relations, Gord Arbeau; and President of the McMaster Students Union, Ehima Osazuwa.
“This was a national search,” said Arbeau.
“There were a series of advertisements across the country to encourage applicants. I think we had well over 100 applicants for this position.”
“The job description was developed — it was the existing job description that was updated from the last time we hired a director — and it is quite a lengthy document … and then there were a series of advertisements across the country to encourage applicants. I think we had well over 100 applicants for this position,” he said.
The search committee had no shortage of applicants, with resumes coming in from across the country. To compile this extensive list, three members of the committee — Atalla, McKenna and Sullivan — worked with a third party hiring group to narrow down the search.
“I never knew the 100 people that applied, they narrowed it down to five people,” said Osazuwa, another member of the hiring committee.
“I got to read the applications and we had an interview process with each of the five candidates,” he said.
Terry Sullivan, the outgoing director and one of the key stakeholders in hiring, is a former employee of Hamilton Police Services. Previously working as a Superintendent and Division Supervisor with the HPS, Sullivan became Parking and Security Director in 2005. Him and De Caire have been known to be in touch through their connection to HPS, making his selection for the top five unsurprising.
“We looked for an understanding of McMaster, an understanding of its traditions and culture of inclusivity, an understanding and awareness of how this role fits into this inclusivity and its culture, and the committee would hear from the various applicants about how they would fit into this existing culture,” said Arbeau.
While the University stressed inclusivity in their hiring, the HPS and its members have a history with the controversial practice of carding, or “street checks.” Street checks were originally developed as a tool to document illicit activities in municipal areas and were previously known as Field Information Reports. The process allowed a registered police officer to stop and question someone on the street asking for personal information like their name, age, height, eye colour and a description of their activities at the time. Over time, carding in North America became a practice used to racially profile predominantly young non-white men, and legally document and target their actions through police surveillance. While De Caire denounced the racial profiling element of the practice, carding is still stated to be a violation of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and as of March 22, 2015, an amendment to the provincial Police Services Act states that carding will be an officially illegal practice as of January 1, 2017.
Information about HPS’ use of this practice over the past few years was publicly available, but the University did not present any of these details to the hiring committee. It was up to their own initiative to do any background checks outside of what would have been done by the three hiring committee representatives in the preliminary hiring stages.
“I expect the university to do that background [check] before presenting candidates to me,” said Osazuwa.
Osazuwa also mentioned that during the hiring committee’s assessment of De Caire’s interview, resume and cover letter, none of the members brought up the darker details of his history with Police Services.
After the interview process, De Caire was selected for the job and offered a Letter of Employment from the University. The letter does not define a set amount of time for De Caire’s role on campus, and instead the position will exist for him as long as he chooses to continue in the job and is not removed from campus.
The job will see a drop in salary for De Caire, with the most recent Director, Terry Sullivan, making $133,852 annually, but the long-term position also delivers a level of security that his previous police job did not offer.
BACKLASH
Nick Abrams, a fourth-year Anthropology and Religious Studies student, is a member of the Revolutionary Students Movement and one of the key planners in the initial protests and campaigning around De Caire’s hiring.
The first protest against De Caire’s hiring happened on his first day on the job. The assembled team of students eventually turned the protest into an online petition that received 228 signatures of support in its first week. Shortly after the release of the petition, the campaign was translated into a motion at the MSU’s General Assembly on March 14.
The General Assembly accepted proposed motions from across the student body, and the RMS, in partnership with the McMaster Womanists, the Revolutionary Communist Party, McMaster United in Colour, and several other student groups motioned for “the General Assembly [to] endorse this campaign to get Glenn De Caire Off Campus … call on the university to terminate Glenn De Caire from [his] position of head of Security and Parking … call on the university to end its campaign of increasing the presence of police on our campus.”
“We have to force awkward conversations between the President of the MSU and President of the University, which I’m excited about,” said Abrams.
The University has not officially attempted to increase the presence of police on campus, but the hiring of a former police officer has led some to speculate about the future of on-campus security.
“I expect the university to do that background [check] before presenting candidates to me.”
The full motion passed with more than 80 percent of voters in favour at the General Assembly. But since the GA did not reach quorum, the motion was taken to the Student Representative Assembly to make a final decision on the MSU’s stance.
At the March 20 SRA meeting, the governing body of the MSU voted in favour of the motion, meaning it is now a responsibility of the MSU to talk to University administration to advocate for his removal and clearer outlines for the future of campus security.
“The goal is to get him off campus … and to also implement something to ensure that something like this doesn’t happen again,” said Kayonne Christy, a fourth-year Life Sciences student, President of the McMaster Womanists and one of the campaign’s coordinators.
The motion also called for “the university to form a new hiring committee made up of students, faculty, and campus support staff to make the new hire.” The current hiring committee is not seen as fit to make a new decision if De Caire is eventually removed from the campus.
“Something like this should have been a lot more known. And the fact that they hired him during exam time seems pretty sketchy,” said Christy. “A lot of students are going home, a lot of students are stressed with schools, and no one’s really focusing on that… They should have been a lot more transparent and a lot more honest about this.”
“In general, it just seems weird that the university would hire someone that used to be a Chief of Police to the position — are the students criminals?” added Abrams.
NEXT STEPS
“Realistically speaking, the University is not going to get rid of Glenn because we ask them to. But I think it is important that we have these student voices,” said Osazuwa, the link between the MSU and University administration.
After the March 21 SRA meeting, Osazuwa spoke with President Patrick Deane about the motion, and hopes to continue the conversation with Deane and Gord Arbeau for the rest of his term.
“I read the motion as one way: trying to make the campus safer for more people. And if there are certain individuals people feel uncomfortable around, we need to address that issue… I don’t know if getting rid of Glenn is the best solution, but we need to do something,” said Osazuwa.
Osazuwa feels that there are a variety of measures that can be taken to create the safer space students are demanding. It is all part of an ongoing discussion and no concrete plans or intentions have been put forward.
“Part of me is also worried that summer months are coming and that the conversation is going to die off. I don’t think that is the right approach, I think we need to have this conversation head on and try to come to a solution that is best for all parties — the MSU, Glenn, the University, the people that are uncomfortable — I don’t want it to slip under the rug.”
While Osazuwa is the current liaison, some responsibility to pursue these changes also rests on the shoulders of incoming President-Elect Justin Monaco-Barnes who will assume Osazuwa’s responsibilities as of May 1.
“[Justin] has been very good at listening to what is happening… I’m trying to do this as best as I can so I don’t leave Justin in a very uncomfortable situation.”
“I recommended to Patrick [Deane] that the university should have Glenn talk about this. Glenn cannot hide, it is good for him to come out and have this conversation.”
Parking and Security Services has yet to reach out to the MSU about this conversation and has instead routed McMasters Public and Communications Department to address the situation.
“I recommended to Patrick that the university should have Glenn talk about this. Glenn cannot hide, it is good for him to come out and have this conversation.”
De Caire contacted The Silhouette after our initial editorial on his hiring [“On background checks,” Jan. 28, 2016] was released. After recent attempts to reach out to him, we were redirected to Gord Arbeau. He stated, “Any questions about the Director of Security and questions about the process in which he was hired would be referred to [him],” according to a recent policy implemented by the University during these past few weeks.
As the conflict surrounding De Caire’s hiring and request for firing develops, we hope to hear from the new Director himself in regards to his plans for his time at McMaster and his reaction to this motion from the student body.
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By: Biran Falk-Dotan
I’ve been a student at McMaster for three years, and every year the same controversy comes up. One side claims that Israel is a tolerant and peaceful nation; the other side blames Israel for the oppression and deaths of Palestinians. Each year, The Silhouette publishes multiple Opinions articles on this issue. During my time at Mac, this issue and Boycott Divestment Sanctions dominated two MSU General Assemblies, taking precedence over matters that were immediately relevant to McMaster students. My claim is going to be unpopular with both sides: as students, we should focus on other things.
The Israel/Palestine problem is complicated. On one hand, many Palestinians live in poverty and suffer legitimate oppression, but on the other hand many of Israel’s actions are in response to a real security threat. Everyone agrees that there is a problem, but nobody can agree on the solution. Should it be a one-state or two-state solution? Should other states actively accept Palestinian refugees? The MSU has endorsed a boycott, but boycotts must have specific policy goals in order to be meaningful. We should acknowledge that there is no widely accepted solution.
Even if the solution were clear, the Israel/Palestine issue has no implications for the personal, social, or academic activities of McMaster students. Case in point: BDS passed last year, and what difference does that make to McMaster students? The only people affected are those who are now unable to buy certain products, and those whose relatives live in Israel/Palestine. Meanwhile, we have plenty of important issues on campus that are not getting enough attention. Tuition fees, mental health support, and campus accessibility are all relevant and important topics that are compromised by us shifting our limited attention to Israel/Palestine. As McMaster students, we should focus first and foremost on the issues that affect us and our communities.
“We can’t just do what is good for us,” you might object, “we need to address humanitarian issues around the world.” My response might surprise you: I agree. On average, a few hundred people die annually due to Israeli/Palestinian violence, and that is a reprehensible loss that I take very seriously. However, I think there are more pressing conflicts in the world.
For each Palestinian who dies in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, about 100 Syrians die in the Syrian civil war. China executes thousands of people every year, often for non-violent offenses. Over 3000 civilians have died in the Yemeni civil war in only a year. There are dozens of grievous human rights abuses around the world in states like North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, Ukraine, Iran, Ethiopia, Burundi, and others.
Each of these results in greater loss of life than in Israel/Palestine, yet these abuses receive little attention on campus. If we really want to improve the plight of oppressed peoples globally, then each of these problems should receive at least as much attention as Israel/Palestine.
In fact, if our aim is simply to save lives, military conflicts are not even among the chief concerns. In 2015, over 200 million people had malaria, and nearly half a million died of it, even though it is easily treatable. According to the World Health Organization, five million deaths (including 1.4 million child deaths) occur every year because of polluted drinking water. Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in the world, and it is also treatable and preventable. In fact, even in Israel/Palestine, more people die of car accidents each year than of military violence and terrorism combined. If our aim is to save lives, I think we need to start looking at the options most readily available to us. By investing in medicine for the poor, we can save more people with greater certainty, and without divisive debates.
If our aim is to save lives, I think we need to start looking at the options most readily available to us.
Every life is important and each life is equally valuable. For that reason, I think our humanitarian efforts should focus on situations in which we can save the most lives, and in that respect the Israel/Palestine argument is only distracting us from the worst problems and the problems we can effectively address. The McMaster community, including the MSU, should focus on issues that are relevant to McMaster students, not the issues where a few small groups of people have made lots of noise.
Photo Credit: Jon White/ Photo Editor
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Many months of preparation lie behind the curtain in a performance that soulfully plunges within the heart of African culture. On March 19, the McMaster African Students Association hosted their annual Afrofest theatrical production at the McIntyre Performing Arts Centre at Mohawk College.
This year’s production “Afrofest 2016: The Reckoning” serves as the third independent segment of a trilogy of shows. MacAfricans previously staged The Revolution in 2014 and Resilience in 2015. The story centres around the lives of two brothers from conflicting tribes, yet raised by a single father. With war presiding between the oppressive Brata people and the rebel Tsuli people, a muddled dilemma emanates.
"We want to be a club that gives back to the community and the people who make us who we really are.”
Oluseye Oduyale, Vice-President of MacAfricans and Biochemistry student at McMaster, shares the inspiration behind the performance held on Saturday. “The concept of The Reckoning was to show that there is a balance in the world — chaos and order, good and evil, just two different perspectives on life. Neither of them are necessarily wrong, but they need to co-exist in an [equilibrium].”
The premise of the Reckoning parallels the Rwandan genocide and the xenophobic attacks in South Africa. The themes extrapolated from the performance bring forth commentary on the consequences of terrorism and xenophobia.
In past years, Afrofest has also addressed topics ranging from social injustice, to corruption, to human trafficking. “We really tried to bring up current affairs and get people thinking about issues specifically pertaining to continental Africa and to raise awareness as a whole,” Oduyale added.
Afrofest also aimed to showcase the richness of African culture, done by the exhibition of dancing, singing and poetry weaved into the performance.
The proceeds from the Afrofest show goes into a $25,000 scholarship fund for African students at McMaster University. “We wanted to support African students who are coming into McMaster, and it gives Africans an incentive to come to university,” said MacAfricans club President Akinjisola Akinkugbe. The fund will be used to carry forth an annual $5,000 scholarship.
Primarily executed through the annual Afrofest shows, the McMaster African Students Association reaches out to educate, engage and entertain the McMaster student community in affairs and topics relevant to Africa and Africans in the diaspora.
“[MacAfricans’] number one priority is to educate people about Africa and to break the stereotypes that people have about Africa,” noted Akinkugke. Additionally, there is the concern of the underhand stigmas surrounding international students here at McMaster, for instance the assumption that “African students are unable to speak English.”
Another assumption made by many is the matter of club exclusivity, “People always think that you have to be African in order to be part of the club. That is not true. You just have to be one that appreciates culture and diversity and breaking these barriers,” expressed Oduyale.
“Over the years, we want to be a club that is an empowerment club. We want to be a club that gives back to the community and the people who make us who we really are.”
Photo Credit: Nelson Nwogu
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For the first time in its history, McMaster instigated a week-long break in the fall of 2015. This marked a major departure from the University’s previous practice which, following advocacy efforts from the MSU, included a short, two-day break added to a weekend at the end of October.
According to Heather Poole, a post-doctoral fellow working with the McMaster Institute for Innovation and Excellence in Learning, many universities and colleges across the country have introduced a midterm break in their fall semesters to help students cope with the stress that tends to accompany the accumulation of midterms, essays and extra-curricular commitments. The break is also intended to help prevent students from dropping out of school.
The addition of a week-long break is in and of itself unremarkable. More and more institutions are adopting the practice every year. “In spite of the fact that this has become a pattern across the country, nobody has really looked at whether it actually helps students to manage stress and whether it helps them academically, and so that’s what we’re seeking to do,” explained Poole.
As part of a team of staff from multiple departments and divisions within McMaster, Poole and her co-researchers have taken to scrutinizing the break from multiple perspectives, asking students, professors and other members of the University’s staff to participate in surveys prior to and after the break last fall, as well as a follow-up survey in January. “We were interested in whether students are actually using this for stress-relief activities, whether they are using it for studying, with those sort of being the goal set out by the University, or whether they are going home to a part-time job or to family responsibilities,” she said. In addition to the surveys, a small number of students volunteered to send the researchers text message updates over the course of their Fall Break, and others had cortisol samples taken before and after the break to examine stress levels as cortisol spikes when a subject is under pressure. Despite the small sample size, Poole commented that a change in cortisol levels was observed, however she would not confirm whether levels increased or decreased as a result of the break.
“In spite of the fact that this has become a pattern across the country, nobody has really looked at whether it actually helps students to manage stress and whether it helps them academically, and so that’s what we’re seeking to do.”
While the group is still analyzing the multiple types of feedback they received, Poole has already been able to make some observations about some of the results, mainly the surveys thus far. Part of these surveys asked students to rate their perceived stress levels as well as check off items from a list of standard “stressors,” such as losing one’s keys or having to write a test. “When we look at what happened in patterns of pre- and post-Fall Break, the number of stressors that students were reporting was lower after the break, so they were actually experiencing … fewer stressful events after the fall break [however] they were reporting higher perceived stress after the Fall Break.” More analysis must be done before these results can be interpreted in a meaningful way, however the preliminary results show that the effects of McMaster’s Fall Break could be more complicated than simply reducing student stress levels. The team hopes to gain more insight into the complexities surrounding stress levels in follow-up focus groups.
The response rate for the surveys was higher than Poole anticipated.
“People seem to be really interested in it, which is really good and I mean it’s not always that typical in research.”
The questionnaires sent out immediately before and after the break garnered about 2,300 responses each. The January follow-up survey was filled out by about 1,150 students. Of those who responded to the first two surveys, close to 80 percent reported that the Fall Break was beneficial. However, the remaining 20 percent found it to be detrimental on the whole. Poole hopes to look at the latter group with greater focus.
“It’s possible that students in a particular faculty are saying that their stress has increased or maybe it depends on how many assignments or tests they had right after the break,” she explained. This information could be given to instructors to improve how courses are structured.
Much like the students, professors gave a mixed review of the break.
“A lot of professors are saying that it was useful for them personally as sort of prep time, but then others are saying, well it’s kind of too early for that … which was also a thing that came out in a lot of the students comments.”
Due to the extensive planning required to schedule the McMaster school year, students will not see any short-term changes to the structure of their academic year. “I would be surprised if any changes come about based on this research for next fall, but we certainly feel like it’s been a worthwhile study and we’ve gotten a good sampling of the student voice,” Poole concluded. Poole and her team plan to release further results in June.
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By: Anna Goshua and Arshia Javidan/ Meducator
Why do we get sick? Moreover, why do we get better? That essentially encapsulates the research being done by Dawn Bowdish and her team at McMaster University’s Immunology Research Centre. Bowdish is an Associate Professor in the Department of Pathology, and her research focuses on pneumonia, the most costly bacterial infection in Ontario.
The bacteria that causes pneumonia is initially found in the nose, where no symptoms are observed unless it enters the lungs, bloodstream or cerebrospinal fluid. Bowdish specifically investigates why the bacteria leaves the nose in the first place, with a focus on the aging population.
“We’re particularly focused on older adults, as they contract pneumonia at much higher rates, and the consequences can be very serious,” Bowdish said. The long-term complications of contracting pneumonia include increased risk of dementia, type II diabetes and cardiovascular disease later on in life. In order to shed light on why older individuals are more susceptible to contracting pneumonia, Bowdish researches age-related changes in the immune system that may be involved.
The data is compelling in demonstrating that as we age, our levels of inflammation increase. Inflammation is a cellular response to injury or infection that is carried out by the immune system. Many age-related diseases, such as conditions involving dementia, some forms of cancer and cardiovascular disease, are linked to inflammation.
“For reasons that we’re just beginning to understand, this increasing inflammation seems to impair white blood cell function. The bacteria is able to capitalize on these inflammatory changes in the immune system in order to thrive,” Bowdish explained.
“We think that we can target age-related inflammation as a way of improving immunity. We’re testing this in an animal model at the moment. By reducing their age-related inflammation, we can improve their outcomes from pneumonia, which is a finding we’re quite excited about,” she said.
If the preclinical testing phase determines that age-related inflammation is a viable drug target, then the next phase would be a drug-screening program that would further examine the effectiveness of anti-inflammatory drugs in improving immune function. This drug has the potential to decrease the risk of devastating illnesses such as pneumonia.
Bowdish has seen how older adults benefit younger generations. “I think grandparents are really important. There’s a lot of data to support the positive role of older adults in society. They volunteer more hours than younger people and they provide a lot of unpaid caregiving. So we want them to be as healthy as they can possibly be. Essentially, my research is about keeping grandchildren and grandparents together for many years to come.”
Photo Credit: Yung Lee/ Photo Reporter
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Only a month ago, McMaster celebrated its highest MSU Presidential election voter turnout in recent history. Nearly 50 percent of MSU members cast a ballot in a highly contentious election. The MSU administration, the candidates and their teams prided themselves on their ability to engage the student body at such a high level. For the two weeks of campaigning, campus came alive with political allegiances and discussion of important student concerns.
None of that momentum was felt at the MSU General Assembly on March 15.
Attendance at the annual event peaked at around 50 students, a pitiful number, especially considering the gravity of the issues at hand. These included tuition advocacy, MSU vice presidential elections at-large and the termination of Glen DeCaire as Head of Campus Security. In order for quorum to be met and any decisions to be considered valid, three percent of the MSU’s voting members must be present at the General Assembly, around 660.
“We need to think about balancing [the voices] of the students who do come out, and making sure it’s an accurate representation of the student body."
Inna Berditchevskaia, MSU Speaker, knows the General Assembly can highlight an issue of great importance to students. “It has the potential to be very effective if we can actually get a representative sample of students in the room … At last year's GA we reached quorum because there was one issue that students cared a lot about, and I don't think it was the GA, I don't think it was the opportunity to speak to something on the MSU level that appealed to students,” she said, citing the example of the passing of BDS at last year’s General Assembly.
“I wish more people had come out. I was the one to organize this and I put a lot of planning into it, so it was unfortunate to see so few people come out,” Berditchevskaia said, adding that the MSU used all of its own avenues for advertising the event, plus the creation of a widely-shared Facebook event.
For Kathleen Quinn, an incoming SRA Social Sciences caucus member who put forth several motions at the General Assembly, the low turnout is an indication of a greater problem within the MSU. “I think that at McMaster, it's a cultural problem, first and foremost. When we look at the GA and the emphasis that's put on it as a democratic vehicle, as something that can help students, but I just don't see those conversations happening,” she explained. “I don't believe that turnout has traditionally been high because I don't think that the union sees itself as a democratic vehicle for change. It does have democratic principles at its core, but I don't think we educate students about the importance of this.”
Having experienced the student activism movement in Montreal, Quinn said universities in Quebec tend to approach their General Assemblies in a different way than McMaster. “It was really interesting to see how many people, when I said we only have one GA a year, were shocked. They were used to participating more often and on different levels,” said Quinn.
Despite the low turnout, both Berditchevskaia and Quinn were adamant that the three percent quorum not be changed, a decision that would require a constitutional referendum. “I don't think that lowering that threshold means that we get that plethora of voices. If we lowered quorum or didn't have quorum, a tiny group of us would be able to push through things. And we need to make sure we have those big conversations,” Quinn said.
Berditchevskaia agrees. “We need to think about balancing [the voices] of the students who do come out, and making sure it's an accurate representation of the student body, because we do need to keep in mind that the student body is 22,000 people.”
As the event did not come close to having the required minimum of 660 members present, the motions put forth will now be discussed by the SRA at their meeting on March 20 — a shift in the discussion that seems dubious, as very few SRA members were present at General Assembly.
Many of the members who were there spent the two hours laughing and chatting amongst each other, appearing unengaged by the debates and motions they will now have to discuss and vote on with no more formal expertise than the constituents they represent.
For the future, Berditchevskaia wants to see the attitude of the MSU shift. “I think we need to go about it from a perspective of not advertising for the GA but creating a culture in which students want to be engaged with the democratic process regardless of how contentious the issue that's being brought up is,” she said.
“I don’t believe that turnout has traditionally been high because I don’t think the union sees itself as a democratic vehicle for change ... I don’t think we educate students about the importance of this."
Quinn sees the transient nature of the student body as a reason there is so little commitment to improving campus for others. “You have a sense of, I guess, responsibility over your own future. Maybe that's why participation isn't happening. People don't feel like they are responsible for what happens next.”
Going forward, the issues — including a motion asking that the MSU advocate for a provincial tuition freeze — will be discussed at the March 20 SRA meeting. Any of the motions put forth could pass, be amended at the will of the assembly, or face all-out rejection.
Photo Credit: Mike Beattie
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By: Crystal Lobo
During the week of March 7, the MSU’s Women and Gender Equity Network hosted International Women’s Week on campus. The week consisted of panels, workshops and showcases among other activities. Topics discussed included feminism, intersectionality, trans and gender politics, and the harsh truths about sexual violence and physical assault.
WGEN wanted to account for different sentiments and accurately represent feminism in planning the week. “We worked with our passions to get people to plan things we felt would be useful, and then plan them in a way that was useful, allowing for the flexibility of different styles in facilitation,” said Hayley Regis, WGEN Coordinator.
WGEN used the week to reach out to largely unheard voices on campus. “One of my goals was to reach out to populations that are hardly accessed by the MSU. We had people come out that I never met or my executive team never met. I think we’ve been having that in our space, as well as having the space being something people are comfortable accessing whether they are heavily involved in services or looking for a place to be and to exist,” said Regis.
International Women’s Week ran as a pilot project last year. This year marked a special milestone for the event since it was the first time that the newly formed WGEN hosted it. Though a new addition to the MSU, WGEN still received support from community partners, professors, speakers and other allies in order to deliver the week’s events to the McMaster audience. The WGEN team faced hurdles in achieving their objectives but their efforts resulted in success.
“I think that the community has been really receptive to having this, which I think has been really awesome,” said Regis.
Noteworthy events of the week included an event for transfolk and non-binary folk to connect over discussion of art, Women in Academia Panel, Club Night, and Yoga conducted by the Brown Girl’s Yoga Collective. Moreover, workshops such as Faith in Feminism, Feminism 1A03 and Feminism 4QQ3 proved to be important platforms in the discussion of the complexities and nuances behind feminism.
“I wouldn’t say there was one event I would rank over the other ones,” said Regis.
“I think that the community has been really receptive to having this, which I think has been really awesome.”
Regis and WGEN are open to feedback from the McMaster student body regarding the event, as well as the service at large. Regis said, “If there’s criticism, I welcome it because I think it will make the service better and stronger in future years. Talk to me about anything. Support the service, because I think even if it’s not a service that caters to you, people need to recognize it as one that’s necessary.”
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By: Crystal Lobo
The “SHIFT: Environmentally Responsible Print Practice Exhibition,” is currently on display at the McMaster Museum of Art. Professors Judy Major-Girardin and Briana Palmer present this exhibit, which displays work from applicants across North America.
Printmaking typically consists of heavy chemical use and other toxic substances. This exhibition aims to approach this art form from an environmentally responsible perspective.
78 artists across Canada and the United States applied to have their work showcased. Only 28 were chosen.
“We really wanted to maintain a high standard of quality. So all along this initiative, the idea has been that we can do things in a more responsible way without sacrificing quality,” said Major-Girardin.
The exhibit served as one part of the greater movement towards environmentally responsible art. The second component was a symposium held on Fri., Feb. 26th. This symposium consisted of workshops displaying the processes used by the artists of the exhibit in creating their works. It also included a discussion panel, as well as showcasing of faculty and student work.
“It was a really kind of lively day of exchange. Everybody was able to talk to people who had like interests and really begin to build the network … We felt like we got the word out in a short amount of time with art pieces and the symposium,” said Major-Girardin.
The exhibit shows the McMaster community that meaningful change in society stems from small circles, something Major-Girardin takes great pride in.
“One of the quotes that I always reference is one from Margaret Reed that goes something like ‘Don't ever doubt the power of a group of small individuals in changing the world because really that's the only way that the world has ever changed with a group of small committed passionate individual.’ So I guess that's the message. We really are empowered to make change here and it starts with a small group but that builds and can build a whole movement,” said Major-Girardin.
Judy Major-Girardin would like to recognize the Forward with Integrity President’s Grant for funding this project.
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By: Nicholas Moore
From their course selection experience this summer, most of the student body is aware that Mosaic has not been implemented properly. These problems extend into graduate student payroll, and there have been a plethora of problems resulting from this faulty and poorly managed program. These issues were, and are, far from trivial.
On Oct. 10, dental benefits for Teaching Assistants and Research Assistants were suspended because McMaster University had not remitted premiums it had collected for the insurance company for a period of four months. The premiums were paid quickly after the suspension of benefits, but this situation, which never should have happened in the first place, was laid at the feet of Mosaic.
Administration proposes a “standing loan” program to “bridge graduate student needs between payments.” Ludicrous. Will they charge interest on these loans? Most likely.
There have been innumerable instances of general mismanagement. Anecdotally, I was charged double the correct amount of tuition in September, which took a few weeks to fix. A friend of mine was charged two-thirds of the correct amount. Another friend of mine has not been paid the full amount of scholarship the University promised.
On Nov. 3, a letter was sent to graduate students from the Acting Provost and Vice President (Administration) which attempted to address the ongoing problems with Mosaic’s payroll system. In this letter, they acknowledge that there has been “ongoing confusion around ... scholarships, payments and benefits.” It is mostly a loose collection of vapid buzzwords, but somewhat sinister in its implications.
First, all they propose to do is improve “communication” with grad students and the throughput on our complaints. This includes setting up an email address for complaints, hiring staff to handle complaints, sending us emails more frequently and having “a series of open meetings” where we will be permitted to ask questions. They also propose to hand this functionality over to a brand new “customer service unit” that will handle this type of inquiry. This is a very telling Freudian slip, betraying the degree to which McMaster administration prefers to see graduate students as income units, rather than employees. No amount of communication, or “managing expectations,” will fix Mosaic.
Particularly egregious is the proposed “long term solution” to changes they made to our payroll system that have resulted in grad students going for entire semesters with only a couple thousand dollars in compensation. Students who don’t have a TA or RA position immediately after starting their grad studies have a particularly bad time. The old system compensated for this, and spread our pay more equally throughout the year. University administration proposes a “standing loan” program to “bridge graduate student needs between payments.” Ludicrous. Will they charge interest on these loans? Most likely. This is being paid in currency only tenable at the company store. This is Wal-Mart holding a food drive for its own employees.
The letter says they will “continue working on the technical and system issues underlying some of the problems.” Insofar as this is a circuitous, partial acknowledgment of faults in Mosaic, nothing further is promised, except to continue patching a broken system. No mention of increasing their efforts to get to the root of the problem, a fundamentally incompetent implementation of otherwise useful software system. I was shocked to learn that the University of Waterloo uses the same software package for the same purpose, but having implemented it competently, it is free from the deluge of ridiculous problems we have experienced with Mosaic. We educate software engineers here. It is not beyond the capability of this school to properly configure software.
Yet, here we are. Perhaps our administration is ensnared by the sunk cost fallacy, but they seem incapable of acknowledging something that anyone with a background in software (such as myself), and many with no background in software will tell you: Mosaic is a redo. Mosaic is a terminal patient, and the complaints resolution process is an iron lung. Mosaic is a hurdles runner hitting every hurdle because it has stale pretzel sticks for legs. Mosaic is a plantar wart; unless you crack it open and get to the root of the problem, it’s just going to get uglier and uglier.
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By: Bina Patel
Living in Hamilton comes with many perks. Last month, having a delicious piece of cake delivered right to your door became one of them. Calvin Smith, a computer engineering student from the University of Sheffield in England, began delivering slices of cake to doorsteps all over the McMaster Area. “I only launched a week ago so if you can imagine me cycling around in my bike in minus 20 degrees, delivering cake to peoples door. That’s kind of how it all started,” he said.
The idea was born out of a conversation between Smith and his friends about circulating baked goods to students around McMaster University. Among the many options were brownies and cookies, but they ultimately agreed on a slice of cake.
“There’s not that many things around the Mac area that do this kind of thing so it would be great to offer it,” he explained.
The process is incredibly simple. A customer texts the phone number found on their website, between the hours of 4 p.m. and 11 p.m. on Saturdays and describe which slice of cake they want along with an address for delivery. Within a half hour, a slice of apple pie with cream, chocolate truffle or red velvet cake provided by a local bakery, will be delivered outside of your home.
The time range in which to place an order is small at the moment, but Smith hopes to expand to Thursdays and Fridays and to improve the efficiency of the service. “There are loads more things we want to put on the menu, with the amount of requests we’ve had for gluten-free cakes and vegan cakes and maybe even things like brownies.”
The personal touch of hand-delivered dessert has certainly had an effect, as the response from the public has been positive. Last week, Smith found himself biking around for four hours in the bitter cold delivering cakes, and business is expected to pick up as word continues to spread. Over 300 people have already shown interest on Facebook.
“There are loads more things we want to put on the menu, with the amount of requests we’ve had for gluten-free cakes and vegan cakes and maybe even things like brownies."
It remains to be seen whether expanding the service will be a piece of cake after all.
Photo Credit: Kareem Baassiri/ Photo Contributor
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