Sam Colbert
Managing Editor
The online polls had just opened. Lisa Bifano, president of the Humanities Society and member of the SRA Humanities caucus, posted a 1400-word note to Facebook with her personal “analysis” of each MSU presidential candidate, offering an “inside scoop” on the race.
She ranked her choices, dedicating a paragraph to each hopeful, balancing pros and cons. The top spot went to David Campbell, with Siobhan Stewart coming second, and Alex Ramirez and Mukhtar Galan tied for third.
And when she got to fifth-ranked Chris Erl, with whom she works on the Humanities Society executive and SRA Humanities caucus, she didn’t hold anything back.
She wrote that he was “difficult to work with,” had “hidden agendas” and that she “felt manipulated and cheated” during his campaign. Some of the work he had done, she said, was “merely a step towards reaching his goal of being the next MSU Dictator.. opps [sic] I mean President.”
“It’s disappointing to see somebody in a professional capacity, like the president of the Humanities Society, somebody that I work closely with, say those kinds of things,” said Erl about the Feb. 1 note.
“I’ve had disagreements with her in the past – there are always disagreements in faculty societies, there are disagreements in the Assembly – but it’s disheartening to see somebody say those things during a presidential campaign this late into the campaign,” he said.
In her note, Bifano was careful to note that she was not part of any campaign team, and urged voters to make their own informed decisions about the candidates.
“I think students look to those who have been involved and who have worked with all the candidates for their thoughts and opinions,” said Bifano about the post. “I made sure that I remained very unbiased. By no means am I saying who to vote for; more so, these are my thoughts, here are my experiences, do with it what you will, and I made sure I said that throughout.”
“Everybody knows it’s an extremely close race,” said Erl. “I think what she said was an attempt to try to sway the individuals that she knows, individuals that hold her opinion in high regard, to put me last on the ballot so I have less of a chance of winning.”
Regardless of the election’s outcome, Erl and Bifano will be serving out their terms on both the Humanities Society and SRA until the end of the term. According to Erl, this incident will “ruin our working relationship for the next little while.”
Kacper Niburski
Assistant News Editor
As administrative committees start to blossom around the themes dictated in President Patrick Deane’s letter Forward with Integrity, various faculties and student groups are voicing their concerns.
Among the many, McMaster Humanities Society (MHS) hosted an open forum on Jan. 12 to discuss both the possibility of introducing experiential education into the faculty and general concerns within the given disciplines.
Unlike many faculties, Humanities lacks an experiential education component. Lisa Bifano, president of McMaster Humanities Society (MHS) and student representative for Humanities, stressed this as one of the main inciting factors for the forum itself.
“This project is something I took on as a part of my year plan for MHS president, as well as an SRA representative,” said Bifano. “My main priority as an SRA member and as the Humanities Society president is to ‘Put Student’s First,’ so I am constantly ensuring that my constituents are well represented and allowing them the opportunity to be involved.”
Experiential education does exactly that. Unlike many of the other typical education venues, experiential education offers an opportunity to engage in learning outside the confines of a classroom. Students involved in the program have often been provided with the advantage of internships, volunteer positions, and a variety of other experience-based learning opportunities. Considering that the Humanities faculty has yet to institute the option, there is great potential, especially if there is “a joint effort amongst all,” said Bifano.
The open forum acted as the beginnings of such a unified effort. Organized with the help of MHS VP Academic Heather Watson and SRA Humanities Tanya Kuzman, the event saw both faculty and students.
President Deane himself spoke at the event, as well as listened to the students as they gauged the possibility of experiential education.
Despite speaking only a week after the forum, Bifano claimed that concrete action is being felt. “I am pleased to say that I have been approached on several occasions by students and faculty members.” She added further that, “A few points that were raised in the discussion are being further examined.”
One of these is the fear of unemployment after graduation. While it is true that such a fear is pervasive to all faculties, it could be argued, and often has, that unemployment directly affects humanities students. The diatribe of, “What do I need humanities for? I’m already a human” are all too common. Although not saying exactly that, students were concerned about their future perspectives.
Bifano couldn’t disagree with such a stigma and concern in humanities. “Our faculty is so diverse in that each discipline can lead a student down a different path, as opposed to other programs.”
As it stands, the forum tied the two together. Experiential education would utilize this breadth of options offered by the Humanities faculty in unique ways that have not been done before.
