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According to MSU President-elect Justin Monaco-Barnes, the most difficult part of the two-week campaign period was not the rigorous events schedule or grueling series of debates and interviews. It was waiting for the results after the polls closed on Jan. 28. “After a hard day, a hard couple of weeks of campaigning, we were all exhausted, but then it's the mental stress of waiting that's the hard part,” he said.
Results night was certainly drawn out. It took 11 hours for the rankings to be released, leading to a tense, sleepless night for the candidates and their campaign teams. “At like, 4:03 my phone started vibrating and I looked down and I saw Ehima's name on the caller ID. It was a very surreal moment. Apparently [the phone] rang eight times, but in my mind it had only rung once,” said Monaco-Barnes, who was seemingly still a bit shocked the following afternoon. “People keep asking, 'How did you feel?' I can't even tell you. It was everything. Every emotion I could imagine was in that moment.”
"I plan to work really hard to achieve what they started and take it to the next level.”
While Monaco-Barnes seemed somewhat shocked when he spoke with The Silhouette, his campaign manager Shaarujaa Nadarajah was anything but. The two became friends at this year’s MSU Retreat. She said she knew Monaco-Barnes would be a different kind of presidential candidate. “We were eating some awful camp sloppy joes and I was expecting him to ask me about my future plans in the organization because that's what everyone around me had been doing, but he just sat beside me and asked me about my family,” she said. A member of the Student Representative Assembly, Nadarajah was eager to take on the role of campaign manager. “It's hard to articulate, but when you have an infinite amount of faith in one person and their abilities, you just want to be in a role that is able to best support them. I wanted to be there for everything,” she explained. “The good, the bad, the challenges, the successes.”
Monaco-Barnes was happy to see fellow candidate Jonathon Tonietto was favoured in the polls as well. “During this process we really got a chance to talk a lot, and I got to know him better, and he's a really genuine person, so I was happy to see that he did well and that the student body could see what I saw as well.” The two candidates shared a passion for sustainability, and in earlier interviews with The Silhouette, Tonietto expressed his approval of Monaco-Barnes’ plans to make McMaster a more environmentally friendly institution. Monaco-Barnes added he was upset to see Sarah Jama disqualified from the race on results night. “I feel for her. I know what she put into it, what all the candidates put into it, and I totally understand how hard that would be,” he said.
The failing of the VP election referendum by what translates to approximately 20 votes was a reality check for the President-elect. Originally neutral on the issue, Monaco-Barnes came out in favour of the referendum partway through the campaign period. “I remember seeing the number and I was just kind of shocked. Because 20 votes, 20 votes. That's a tutorial,” he said. However, he noted that more students abstained than voted against the referendum, a sign he believes indicates the need for more education on the matter. “I think knowledge is power, and the more students know about the MSU and their school, the more they'll get from it.”
Reflecting on the campaign, Monaco-Barnes is proud of the work his team put into the election. “We ran a campaign that was just us. We were staying true to ourselves, and I think the student body really connected with that, and saw that it was a genuine campaign,” he explained. He cited the dedication of his campaign team as one of the reasons why he and his platform survived the campaign with relatively little negativity.
“I think knowledge is power, and the more students know about the MSU and their school, the more they’ll get from it.“
Over the next few months, Monaco-Barnes will wrap up his role as the service coordinator of the MSU Underground and complete his degree in English and Cultural Studies. During this time, he hopes to start working with current MSU President Ehima Osazuwa to ensure a smooth transition into the role of President and CEO of the MSU.
He plans to continue the current Board of Directors’ work on lobbying for lower tuition at McMaster and across the province. “It’s something that means a lot to me,” he said. “They've invested so much time and you never want to see something like that go to waste. I plan to work really hard to achieve what they started and take it to the next level.”
Photo Credit: Yung Lee/ Photo Reporter
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By: Saad Ejaz
DeltaHacks, an event organized by the HackitMac, held their second annual student hackathon at McMaster University on Jan. 16 and 17. The event proceeded with great momentum as over 300 students across Ontario came together to hack for positive change.
Beginning on Saturday morning, teams from different disciplines worked together for 24 hours to create a hack for positive change. A number of professionals, including doctors and professors, assisted the student-led teams. Coding mentors were also present, and helped students apply their ideas.
The event was focused around encouraging students to build and hack for social change. This could include health and wellness, sustainability or education.
The event yielded a total of over 50 unique project submissions. The winning project was a healthcare initiative by “Hips Don’t Lie”, a team of three: Mushfiqur Rahman, Hassan Muhammad and Stephen Murray. The trio worked with a McMaster orthopediatrician to create a web-app that uses x-ray images to diagnose a physiological condition known as femoroacetabular impingement through image processing algorithms.
Mohamed Fouda, a member of HackitMac, explained that the initiative started with the intent of creating positive change. “Here at McMaster we have great attention to social impact … we have a society program, we have Engineers Without Borders, we have Doctors Without Borders … we thought, okay, our hackathon should focus on projects that have a meaning to them. So we tried to encourage students to not just build anything, but try to give a thought before building, for a problem your hack would be able to solve,” said Fouda.
Students were encouraged to continue refining and building their projects even after the competition. Melissa Lam, a second year mechatronics student and a member of HackitMac, stresses on the importance of trying new things. “You got to go out and try new things … you got to give it a try, you got to fail,” she said. “You got to see the road, and that’s what university is for, to go out and do new things.”
Fouda added that the group hopes to do more in the future. “In terms of our long term vision, we have hit our milestones but we are still far from [finished]. The reason why we have HackitMac and DeltaHacks is because we are trying to create this community of people here at Mac just building stuff. They are trying, they are failing, and then they are trying again and then they are failing again … And they keep learning from mistakes and keep building … collaborating between different faculties, backgrounds, they share knowledge, they innovate and they build and solve problems.”
The team at HackitMac and DeltaHacks has received a great response and support in their first two years. They hope to continue inspiring groups to take on new ideas and work towards positive change.
Photo Credit: Jin Lee
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By: Crystal Lobo
Jan. 18 marked the start of MSU Diversity Services’ annual “Diversity Week.” This year, the theme of the week was “Constructing Our Stories,” a theme meant to emphasize the importance of sharing stories and narratives as a method of personal and societal growth. The service collaborated with many organizations such as Perspectives on Peace, Soul Foods, and external speakers, to present workshops relating to Diversity Services’ four pillars of diversity: multiculturalism, interfaith, abilities, and Indigenous affairs.
“We tried our best to reflect our pillars … Each of the workshops were sort of reflective of one of those topics in a nuanced way,” said Ryan Deshpande, Assistant Director of MSU Diversity Services.
“One thing we really tried to get away from is the idea of having a day for a pillar … That's not how people work and that was something that was definitely one of our major objectives, because being truly intersectional isn't going ‘these two things exist,’ but going ‘oh these all exist and they're all part of the same narrative,’” said Sophie Geffros, Abilities Coordinator.
On Jan. 20, one of the week’s primary events took place at TwelvEighty when keynote speaker and notable activist Kim Katrin Milan hosted a workshop.
“She built her talk around the theme [of the week] but talked specifically about issues of marginalization, identity, intersectionality and how we can own our narrative,” said Deshpande.
“She really captivated the audience. We had a full house in TwelvEighty. I got multiple messages afterwards of people being like, ‘That was so amazing. I'm so happy I came to see that.’”
Both Deshpande and Geffros stated that they viewed Diversity Week as a success. “I think everything went according to plan. The week was very successful and I don't think anything happened that I wasn't anticipating,” said Deshpande. Geffros was enthusiastic as well, “Events like this week are a really great opportunity to recharge your batteries because you get people who are both educated and not educated in these issues but who want to learn and talk and genuinely believe in these things, and it’s amazing,” she said.
While the event was successful, Deshpande and Geffros both cited ways that Diversity Week could improve for next year. Deshpande cited promotional strategies as an area that could grow. He believes that promotions have improved from last year, but is hoping to continue to promote the event to a wider audience. Geffros explained her hopes for a more ambitious Diversity Week in the future. “I think we should go bigger,” she said.
“Going forward I would like to have more complex conversations.”
Overall, MSU Diversity Week created multiple workshops and events for the McMaster community pertaining to its theme. “We want people to own their narratives and take charge of their identities in a way that empowers them,” said Deshpande.
“There is a great Junot Díaz quote, which is, ‘The only people who don't see reflections of themselves are monsters,’” Geffros said. “That is what taking diverse people out of the narrative does. It makes us monstrous because if you don't see yourself then you're almost dehumanized. So allowing us to come together and build those stories for ourselves I think is important.”
Photo Credit: Mike Beattie
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Not too long ago, McMaster made a new hire.
The university was in need of a new director of Parking and Security Services and looked to the community for an option. The person who was eventually hired was Glenn De Caire, the former Chief of Police for the Hamilton Police Service. Looking at title alone, De Caire sounds more than qualified to fill a security-related role at the university, but looking deeper into his background, one surprising detail sticks out.
Under De Caire’s leadership at the Hamilton Police Service, the organization began, and actively chose to continue, the controversial practice of carding. For those unfamiliar, carding is, in general, the checking of someone’s identity card to confirm an identity, age or address. But in the context of Hamilton Police, and many other police services alike, carding refers to the practice of arbitrarily checking the personal identification details of random citizens, often used as a tool of racial profiling, predominantly seen among black men. Carding is currently being challenged as a violation of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and was declared to be “wrong and illegal” by the Ontario ombudsman in a 2015 report.
According to a CBC Hamilton article, De Caire pushed Hamilton Police to continue carding as he claimed Hamilton would be “less safe, and crimes [would] go unsolved” if carding were abolished as a practice. In other words, he felt that profiling black men would help stop crime, as he perceived them to be the primary culprits.
When someone with a background like this is hired at a university with a diverse student body, I can’t help but wonder, how?
De Caire’s hiring involved a board of current university staff from different departments. It even included a representative from the MSU, our current student body president, Ehima Osazuwa.
At what point did this detail about De Caire’s career come up? Did it ever come up? How are the hiring practices at McMaster created without factoring in potential human rights violations at previous places of employment?
McMaster does a perfectly adequate job at hiring competent people. Our university runs smoothly for a reason, and that is in part due to the strong hires running across the faculty and staff. But a stain like this on an otherwise mostly clean record of hires makes it even more alarming.
This year’s Diversity Week emphasized the theme of “Constructing Our Stories.” Its goal was to help the McMaster community better understand the importance of being able to share your narrative and have people accept your story as an intersectional truth. A hire like this runs contrary to the messages of inclusivity and diversity that McMaster pushes. How will racialized students who have been profiled be able to openly tell their story knowing that the security enforcement will not believe them?
During these last few weeks, students and staff have seen firsthand how critical it is to have a space where we all feel safe and can tell our stories without being silenced. A hire like this is a step backward on a campus that is trying to move forward.
Photo Credit: Barry Gray/Hamilton Spectator
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McMaster researcher Hendrick Poinar and an international team of researchers have uncovered telling secrets from the grave. The research focuses on the recovery of DNA from fossil remains such as teeth from individuals who died from the bubonic plague in Marseille, France. DNA sequences can be used to trace the past and answer questions about the evolution of infectious disease.
“We are very interested in how diseases emerge and then continually re-emerge. We want to know if reservoirs are local or more distant. Are these epidemics repeatedly stemming from trade routes like the Silk Road from China and the Golden Horn from Kazakhstan or are they a localized epidemic?” Poinar explained.
This involves tracing back to Europe in 1346, during the time of the Black Death, when the bacteria Yersinia pestis wiped out a third of the European population.
“That was an epidemic like we have never seen before and hopefully will never see again,” said Poinar.
After an initial flare, the plague seemed to disappear in Europe. What followed its supposed demise is a series of little outbreaks that Poinar labeled as the “shouldering effect.”
“We are very interested in how diseases emerge and the continually re-emerge. We want to know if resevoirs are local or more distant.
“If you look over the course of decades, you see relatively nasty outbreaks. You have basically 400 years of repeated epidemics in Europe, until it disappears. The question has been if these are repeated epidemics that occur every 30 to 100 years, is the source of these epidemics a migration of pathogen from the East to the West.”
By analyzing the global phylogeny, a method of relating disease sequences and strains to each other, researchers observed that rodents are at the start of many diseases that reach human populations. The aforementioned rodents seem to have these basal strains or ancestral strains appear in the highlands of Mongolia and China and Kazakhstan. These sources are farther east from the European outbreaks, supporting research that the initial flare of Black Death was brought from the East along trade routes.
At least in the case of the plague that overtook Marseille, the pathogen was found to be a descendant of the Yersinia pestis strain. Contrary to the constant dribble of plague down trade routes, the pathogen must have remained in a reservoir closer to home. What these reservoirs are thought to be is the next big question. Rats could be to blame, or soil, however no answer is currently known.
“We have had major outbreaks in Eastern Europe up until the 1800s. In mainland Europe, it hasn’t [popped up] since 1720. We have about 400 years that were clear of outbreaks.” This could be as a result of attenuation in the variance of the bug, or a rise in resistance among humans. One of Poinar’s students is working on just that, looking for signs of selection within the human genome. This involves searching for resistance to the epidemic in the genes of those of European descent whose ancestors survived to pass on their protective genes.
Interestingly, having resistance to the Black Death can also give someone resistance to various other pathogens. A genomic mutation known to give people resistance to the HIV virus by blocking the virus from entering the cell has been found in higher frequency in Europe, despite the virus’ origin in Africa. You would expect the exact opposite, where populations exposed to the virus in greater amounts would undergo greater selection and therefore greater resistance.
“When you try to date the [onset of resistance], most of those dates show up around the time of the Black Death. So there is the issue that those that underwent a selection against plague and survived because of this genomic deletion, they were protected from the bacteria of the plague and now protected from the virus of HIV,” explained Poinar.
Rising concerns about antibiotic resistance has shifted a focus towards what causes the reappearance of bacterial infections. By attempting to dig up the roots of infectious diseases, researchers like Poinar are looking to uncover more about pathogens and their fluctuating attacks.
Photo Credit: Jason Lau
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By: Lauren Beals
The newly formed DeGroote Women’s Professional Network wants to tap into the potential of bringing like-minded women together to work towards a common goal.
A collective of female leaders in the McMaster and DeGroote communities, the network is committed to bringing together passionate students, alumni, academics and local corporate partners to advance women in business and society.
Evolved from a breakfast series on women in business, the network was formally launched on Jan. 19 to a crowd of 200 attendees at the Burlington Ron Joyce Center.
Linda Morgan, President of the Clic Effect Inc., offered an exciting perspective on change management in a keynote address that included a four-step framework for change assessment and plenty of audience participation.
“It was a lot of fun,” said event coordinator and DeGroote School of Business Advancement Officer Kristine Leadbetter. “She looked at the different takes of people in the workplace and how they adapt to change. She also had the surprise element of dancing to demonstrate how when people are moving it is impossible to determine where they will go next and that unless you have a clear set of objectives you can lose focus from your ultimate goal.”
On a larger scale, the network hopes to tackle broader issues faced by women in professional settings through education and mentorship, laying to rest the storied “old boys’ club” of the corporate world. Encouraging woman to pursue leadership positions and nurturing ambition are also high priorities.
“[The network] is opening up the doors to have those conversations without needing a meeting with someone per say, that will hopefully encourage all woman to go for whatever it is that they want to do,” said Leadbetter.
On a larger scale, the network hopes to tackle broader issues faced by women in professional settings through education and mentorship.
More often than men, women must juggle to prioritize education, work and family, a balance Leadbetter is confident mentorship will help create. “Being a part of the network means finding like-minded women. Whether you are in the time of your life when priorities are close to home or are solely focused on your career it is great to talk to women who are going through the same situation and see if they have solutions, tips or advice. Even just running ideas off of someone outside your core group of friends can be helpful.”
Leadbetter was also quick to specify that despite the network’s name, the events are not offered exclusively to women. “We do have men that attend our events which is totally fine. It is great to have men that support our initiative, it is a very important part of it actually.”
In addition to the launch event, a wide range of opportunities to become involved are currently available, including a “Knowledge@DeGroote” lecture series with industry leaders and cocktail networking evenings. Students are offered free event registration and are encouraged to attend not only for employment connections but also for career advice and exposure to seasoned perspectives. They can also connect with the network through social media and professionally online through LinkedIn.
However, for women in business the path to equality is still paved with many obstacles.
“We still have a way to go … a lot of initiatives right now are showing that there is change, but also that change is still needed,” said Leadbetter.
Photo Credit: Mike Lalich
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By: Gabi Herman
This election, there has been a lot of thinking about mental health. Why is it such a huge issue, and what does each candidate have to say about it?
The problem:
According to the Canadian Association of Colleges and University Student Services, more students with mental health issues are pursuing post-secondary education than ever before. In addition, students say mental health issues have the greatest impact on their academic success. 57.9 percent of students feel overwhelming anxiety, and 40 percent have felt too depressed to function.
MSU initiatives, clubs and the university all have services in place to address mental health issues. The MSU has a number of peer support services, where student volunteers go through training to actively listen, provide advice and sometimes refer students to applicable professionals. A number of clubs also advocate for mental health. COPE, a student mental health initiative club, held their annual “Elephant in the Room” campaign last week, in efforts to reduce mental health stigma. Finally, the University’s Student Wellness Centre has one psychiatrist and a psychiatry resident, a number of counsellors and social workers and group counselling resources.
However, these services still do not meet students’ needs on campus. Many peer support services are notoriously underutilized. Some are difficult to find, and no directory exists with a listing of all peer support services. Student clubs can work to create community, but do not have the ability to directly help those who need trained professionals. The Student Wellness Centre has extremely long wait times for appointments, and students who cannot afford to see a private counsellor are often left without options.
Candidates have different ideas of how to address these problems.
Devante Mowatt
Mowatt hopes to address mental health issues by discussing them with students first. His Campus Chats initiative will bring presidential office hours to discuss issues like mental health and accessibility. He will also use MacTV, an MSU television initiative, to advertise mental health services.
Jonathon Tonietto:
Tonietto hopes to strengthen current initiatives by consulting with managers of peer support services, and says that talking about mental health is important. He wants to give peer support volunteers more training, give peer support more funding, and create a McMaster community that is a safe space for those with mental health issues. He has consulted with Student Accessibility Services.
Justin Monaco-Barnes
Monaco-Barnes hopes to reduce wait times at the student centre by hiring another psychiatrist. He also wants to build a McMaster community that is supportive of those with mental health issues through awareness initiatives and training. He consulted with SAS.
Mike Gill
Gill wants to be a part of re-writing the SAS policy. He hopes to allow students the option not to disclose a mental health diagnosis. He wants SAS to be responsible for communicating with students’ professors, and he would like to get rid of yearly intake appointments for those registered with SAS. He has discussed this point with multiple people, including MSU Maccess coordinator Alex Wilson and Tim Nolan, the SAS director. He wants to introduce a formal policy on academic leave for mental health concerns, create a minimum counsellor-to-student ratio, and put all peer support services in one location, a point he has consulted with several parties on, including Associate Vice-President and Dean of Students Sean Van Koughnett.
Sarah Jama
Jama has a short term and a long-term plan. Short term, she hopes to hire one counsellor for the North Quad, and one for the West Quad. She would like them to interact with students in residence. Long term, she hopes to hire counsellors for each faculty, a system she says is already in place at Waterloo. She also wants to create a peer support centre with centralized training and services. She has consulted with SAS, the Student Wellness Centre, and a number of initiatives.
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Ethan D’Mello
Mechatronics, Engineering and Management III
Did you feel like it changed your opinion?
Yes, it definitely did. I got to see who the candidates were in terms of personality, I got to see how they act under pressure. It was good to see how they interact with other candidates. I got more informed about their ideas. Before, they would tell me about their ideas and I was like “oh that’s good” but now after seeing rebuttals from everybody I have more of an idea of what’s feasible, and that’s really going to affect my decision.
Favourite?
I’m a strong supporter of Jama, right now. I could see the passion in her answers, and that’s what I want in a leader. They’ll do what it takes to get it done.
Did you come in with someone in mind?
I had nobody until now. Before the week I just met everybody and got to know their ideas.
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Daniel Tuba D’Souza
Biochemistry III
Personally I prefer to read platforms and see on paper what the individuals have thought out and their plans. I think debates are good because you really get to see the individuals on their feet and how they respond to each other, but at the same time, there are some individuals who may not be as good at public speaking and because of that some of their platform points, or their ideas and their ambition or the things they can accomplish for the school do get drowned out. I think that’s a little bit sad to see. But I think that it is good to have this visual out here, it draws people out, it gets their attention, especially the main points. Students should go further and research platform points to see if some of the statements candidates are making are backed up and if the are valid and what they really connect to on that level.
I base my own voting on the platforms themselves… It was more entertaining to see them fire at each other.
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Brian Zheng
Kinesiology II
Not really. I think generally with debates like this, often times depending on the popularity of yourself and your public speaking skills it heavily influences how people respond to your arguments and debates. Oftentimes people just come up with buzzwords and end off with a really strong tone and attempt to get people really rallied up and none of their points are really backed up. I think everyone covers it up with really fuzzy words and it’s not backed up… it’s unfortunate that some, like Justin, his points were really good but he’s not as good a public speaker as others, and some of his points get covered up. Some people are just louder than others; some just have bigger teams than others.
I don’t really have a favourite. I think there are obvious leads… but I don’t really have a favourite at all.
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Labika Ghani
Commerce I
After watching the debate I really got to understand the candidates and what they believe and their stance and everything, and I feel that I’m more informed about their candidates and their platforms. I know who I’m voting for: Mike Gill.
I think he did a really good job at explaining why he was running for MSU president and what he can accomplish and help students with.
I know all of them, besides Toni and Devante, so I did have a pretty un-bias perspective before coming in. Sarah, Justin and Mike, I know all of them, so I wanted to make sure I had an unbiased perspective and get to see their platforms. But I did read their platforms before coming to the debate.
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Nada El Naiem
CSMM II
I didn’t watch the full debate because I had class for an hour.
I found the debate was very informative. There was one question that asked about their views on other peoples platform points, which was good, because you got to see if they actually know about other platform points and if they did their research. Because were supposed to be informed as voters, and I believe that they should also be informed, so it’s nice to know that they also asked questions apart from their own platform points so we can see how they view other points that they might not mention.
I don’t think I have a favourite. I still want to read more about their platform points and visit each table. Also I’m a community advisor, so I’m not allowed to endorse a certain person.
When Mike Gill got rallied up, I’m not sure how he meant to come across, but I know the audience was taken aback. He was defending his 38 platform points, because that was attacked, and he said “I think you should have big goals as MSU president, and if you want to aim low,” not quite sure what the exact quote was, “if you don’t really want much of a change, re-elect Ehima,” I think that was really unprofessional and made a lot of people feel uncomfortable.
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Photos taken by: Jon White/Photo Editor
If you aren’t Jewish you may have missed an exciting development in the world of McMaster Jewish cuisine last semester: sandwiches.
Now, for around three dollars, you too can own a certified Kosher sandwich from La Piazza. McMaster’s Jewish community posted “sandwich selfies” in celebration – mind you, as a group of people that have holidays in the name of dairy products, trees, and the arrival of Friday, it is safe to say we are generally willing to celebrate most things. Yet, as I told people of the incredible bracha (blessing) that was kosher cream cheese and salmon on white, I was met with considerable confusion from my non-Jewish friends. The most disturbing question I received was “why would you condone the Kosher butchering of animals when the methods are so cruel?”
Here is the most important thing you need to know: food is personal. Last year, the Danish government banned Kosher and Halal slaughter. European law states that animals must be stunned before slaughter, but grants exemptions based on religious grounds. Jewish and Muslim laws have strict regulations surrounding Kosher and Halal slaughter that does not allow for the stunning of animals.
Your first thought might be that not stunning an animal is inhumane and must be outlawed, but to single out Kosher and Halal slaughter for cruelty in the world of meat production is foolish. Firstly, methods of stunning are not necessarily painless. They can include electric shocks, gassing, or a bolt to the skull. Occasionally the animal is not properly stunned (the bolt misses the brain, the voltage is not high enough), and is in pain until it dies. Jewish law very strictly prohibits causing unnecessary suffering to animals, with the exemption of the slaughter itself, which must be done as swiftly as possible and render the animal unconscious almost immediately.
This is not to say that the killing of animals for food — kosher, halal, or otherwise — is painless and without its faults. However, if you honestly care for the welfare of the animals that end up on your dinner plate, then you would care about their holistic quality of life, not just the moment before their death. You would campaign for better living conditions and feed in factory farms. You would care for different animals equally; as much for the chicken that makes Friday’s mazo ball soup, as you would the giraffe that a Danish zoo fed to a Lion — for entertainment purposes — the same year they banned kosher slaughter.
To single out Kosher and Halal slaughter for cruelty in the world of meat production is foolish
Despite that one Jewish friend you know who loves their bacon, for many Jews keeping kosher is not optional. The same goes for Halal. To label Halal slaughter as inhumane reflects the Islamophobic belief that Islam cares less about the sanctity of life. To restrict Kosher food is to isolate and drive away Jewish families from their communities. In attacking our food supply, you are saying to us “we do not want you to live here.” It is not a campaign for animal rights; it is thinly veiled anti-Semitism and Islamophobia.
So what does the supply of sandwiches at McMaster have to do with it? The short answer is: keep ‘em coming. Our university has done some amazing things to accommodate Jewish and Muslim students. I know that if I face discrimination on campus that I can go to HRES (Human Rights and Equity Services) for help, or that if I need a quiet place to pray I can go to the basement of Thode. I feel safe openly identifying as Jewish both in the community and the classroom, which is no mean feat. To make students feel welcome, food should be right alongside institutional policy. To give us as many meal options on campus sends the message that the University wants us to feel comfortable living and studying here. I’m loving the sandwiches and can’t wait to see what comes next. Who knew egg salad could taste so good?
By: Esra Bengizi, Wes Kerfoot & Rina Muramatsu
Whether the Vice Presidents of the McMaster Students Union should be elected “at-large” is an item that will be on this year’s Presidential election ballot. Voting yes on the referendum gives us the opportunity to create positive change in their electoral system. In at-large elections students are given the opportunity to elect their vice presidents directly.
Under the current system, the Vice-Presidents are elected by the student representative assembly (SRA). The SRA consists of 35 members, who are themselves elected to represent student interests from each faculty at McMaster. The selection of VPs is unfair to individuals who are outsiders to the fairly insular groups involved in student government. Anyone in the SRA is allowed to run for VP positions, but the current culture of in-groups does not allow for this in practice. This can result in unfair appointments because of how students tend to conform to the opinions of their peers.
McMaster students pay $124 out of their tuition each year into the MSU, but have absolutely no say in the VP elections. The MSU is a multi-million dollar non-profit organization and students should have the opportunity to choose who their money is going to be managed by and spent on. They should be able to choose people who purportedly represent their interests. These VP positions are full-time jobs that are paid for with the students’ money, and this is no small portion of the budget, amounting to more than one hundred thousand dollars in total.
This current system is unsustainable and needs to change. VPs have previously been responsible for policies such as the HSR bus pass that required students to pay a fee of $130 to replace their lost passes. We can’t ignore the ramifications of their actions. Furthermore, VP elections take a considerable amount of time away from the SRA, with the most recent elections lasting over 22 hours. The VP election process itself is also heavily flawed, as it allows for members to ask questions of the candidates that require them to already possess detailed knowledge of the inner workings of the MSU. This is unfair to candidates who may possess all of the required skills, but do not know small details about how the MSU operates, which can easily be learned. This occurred frequently at the last election, and prevents regular students from running for VP positions. Since the SRA is made up of 35 students, this introduces another problem. While the SRA may genuinely want to do an unbiased job of electing their VPs, the simple fact that they mostly interact with each other in such a small group introduces a conformity bias. This bias is unavoidable and it means that they will only elect a certain type of candidate. Allowing the elections to be at-large would sidestep the problem of conformity.
VP elections take a considerable amount of time away from the SRA, with the most recent elections lasting over 22 hours.
The at-large system has been successful in numerous student unions across Canada. Currently, McMaster is only one of two schools in Ontario where students are unable to vote for their Vice President. We believe in fair student representation, and this is why you should vote YES to the VP At-Large Referendum because this is your voice and your choice.
Photo Credit: Yellow Hammer News
