By: Steffi Arkilander
Content Warning: Contains mentions of sexual assault
McMaster University has a strong reputation among Ontario universities for offering a variety of diverse student-oriented resources and supports. However, McMaster has consistently failed in making support for sexual violence survivors accessible and effective.
On Aug. 19, I was sexually assaulted by someone I trusted, just a few weeks before I started my second year at McMaster. I decided to give university resources a chance and reached out to the sexual violence response coordinator, Meaghan Ross, in October.
I needed academic accommodations to support the extensive and difficult emotional turmoil I was experiencing. My grades were falling and I was not ready to write any tests. To receive academic accommodations, I had to use Ross in my letter for Student Accessibility Services, which meant disclosing my sexual assault to numerous administrative individuals.
Unfortunately, getting registered with SAS is a long process and often my deferred midterms fell on days where I had other assessments or midterms. As a result, instead of my work being manageably spread out, my work and emotional distress were compounded together.
In December, I decided to report my assault to the university. Not only was it unfair to me to have to constantly interact with my perpetrator, but it was also unfair to other students that had to interact with him. But when I contacted the McMaster Students Union and the Residence Life Office, I learned that undergoing the reporting processes is an extensive and exhausting endeavour.
The process forces you to disclose your story to multiple organizations, to staff and non-survivors and brings your sexual assault to the public forefront. Even if my perpetrator is removed from positions without contact from me, he will know I caused his removal and that I decided to take action. Moreover, people will be able to piece my story together. While I am personally okay with this, many others are not.
Thus, to receive accommodations,such as an apology or to remove him from a position, I took the informal route that is offered through the McMaster University sexual violence protocol. To my disappointment, this route requires survivors to detail the incident. This creates an incredibly re-traumatizing experience and gives your perpetrator access to your disclosure, allowing them to reject the requested accommodations.
This process has clearly become incredibly legal, despite pursuing the university route in order to avoid legal involvement. As this process is painfully slow, my perpetrator continues to hold positions of power and interact with the student body without consequence. My perpetrator is free to roam campus while I am forced to anxiously avoid him.
My story is not uncommon. In fact, in comparison to other survivors, the university has responded well. Students generally don’t report their sexual assaults because of the university’s response; the survivor often feels interrogated and is led to hope for an unsatisfactory compromise with their perpetrator.
Survivors need to be prioritized. MacLean’s nationwide survey found that 29 per cent of McMaster students were not educated on how to report a sexual assault and 24 per cent of students weren’t educated on McMaster’s services that support survivors. This needs to change.
The system should be more navigable and transparent, so that survivors are more likely to reach out for help. Reporting assaults needs to be standardized university-wide so that survivors do not need to recount their experience to multiple organizations.
Training does not teach perpetrators not to assault people. My perpetrator has attended over five trainings on anti-oppressive practices and sexual violence throughout university.
Instead, training needs to emphasize on supporting survivors, and tangible means by which we can all work to dismantle the barriers impeding support mechanisms. The fact that only three in 1000 assaults results in conviction only becomes horrifyingly real when you have to support a survivor or become one yourself.
Survivors have nothing to gain from reporting, only lots to lose. So please believe us.
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By: Elliot Fung
Landlord licensing for rental housing may be coming for students in the near future. If approved by Hamilton city council, a two-year pilot project in wards one and eight will subject landlords to a $200 annual fee and city inspections for their rental units.
In September 2018, the rental housing sub-committee voted in favour of pursuing a rental housing licensing by-law pilot project. Other options considered at the time included increasing rental housing by-law enforcement and introducing a rental registry.
A draft of the by-law is in the works for approval and will be presented to the city council and the public later this year.
This is not the first time landlord licensing has been proposed in Hamilton. In September 2013, a controversial proposal for a city-wide rental housing licensing system was submitted to city council. The draft was abandoned amidst heavy opposition from landlords and affordable housing advocates.
This time, if implemented, the pilot project will only affect wards one and eight, where a significant number of McMaster and Mohawk College students live in rental units.
It is worth noting that McMaster students continue to express frustrations over negligent landlords who do not maintain rental properties and adhere to proper standards of health and safety.
Stephanie Bertolo, the vice president (Education) of the McMaster Students Union, has been involved with extensive consultations about the by-law pilot project and ardently supports landlord licensing. In particular, Bertolo believes that landlord licensing will significantly improve students’ safety and rectify many problems stemming from absentee landlords.
“The MSU has been a strong advocate for rental housing licensing because we believe it will help ensure safer housing for students,” she said. “Landlords should be held accountable by the municipal government for adhering to municipal and provincial laws to ensure students’ quality of life, who are paying to live in the landlords’ properties.”
While the rental housing by-law may serve to strengthen and ensure standards of health and safety are being met, critics of landlord licensing suggest that affordable housing issues would emerge if the pilot project were pursued.
For instance, at the December 2018 planning committee meeting, Arun Pathak, the president of the Hamilton and District Apartment Association, explained that the licensing by-law may result in increased rent for tenants and students looking to rent.
The rental housing sub-committee will be taking into consideration the potential financial implications of landlord licensing.
“[Financial] offsets [for stakeholders] will be discussed with various departments within the city of Hamilton’s economic development department,” said city of Hamilton communications officer Marie Fitzpatrick.
City council will likely update the approval status of the landlord licensing pilot within the next few months. In the meantime, the MSU has been working to introduce other initiatives aimed at addressing McMaster student housing issues.
For instance, a new website for rating rental houses just launched this month.
The MSU hopes that once the wiki garners more popularity, students will be able to make more informed decisions about their housing situation. Students can access and add to the rating system at https://yomes.com/review/mcmaster.
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Earlier this year, McMaster released an initial draft of guidelines highlighting their commitment to freedom of expression and what could be defined as acceptable limits to protest, prepared by the Ad Hoc Committee on Protest and Freedom of Expression.
The report and guidelines generated a diverse range of feedback, which was collected by the University Secretariat. After formal review, the University administration released an updated set of guidelines for event organizers and protestors.
The document is intended to ensure that all voices within the McMaster community have the opportunity to be heard, expecting to set a tone that is respectful and inclusive of the entire campus community.
It is also in place to ensure that dissenting or opposing views can be expressed, outlining various responsibilities for event organizers when planning a potentially controversial event.
“As an academic institution, McMaster has an obligation to ensure that the regular academic and administrative business of the University (regularly scheduled lectures, classes, exams, administrative meetings, etc.) continues unhindered,” the document reads.
“The University will accordingly take such steps as are necessary to ensure appropriate conditions to enable a conducive learning, working and living environment, and that academic and general facilities, property and equipment are available for use for their regular purposes as part of the ongoing academic and administrative business of the University.”
Event organizers are encouraged to consider the potential impact of their event on other community members and to work with the University so that any necessary measures or supports can be put in place.
The updated guidance document now includes clearly defined roles and responsibilities of various groups on campus, a revised fundamental commitment section to include specific acknowledgement of the power imbalance that exists within our community, tightened language surrounding discrimination and harassment to be more consistent with Canadian law and further information surrounding support services available within the university.
Several organizers and activists on campus are unhappy with these new guidelines, claiming that these guidelines limit expression from marginalized groups.
“Organizers and activists on campus feel that the guidelines are way to silence those who are resisting institutional repression.,” said an organizer who wished to remain anonymous.
“The university favours free speech but at the expense of marginalized students. Where as our dissent isn’t granted that same protection. The university can’t stop students from protesting, but what they can do is create vague guidelines that hold absolutely no weight.”
The guidance document lists examples of what the university would deem acceptable and unacceptable forms of protests, generally listing any behaviour that would impede on an event’s progression as unacceptable. This includes blocking the audience’s view, inciting violence or hatred against an individual or group, or causing damage to property.
In the case of unacceptable forms of dissent or protest from audience members, the event organizer or any moderator/facilitator should first notify the relevant individual or group that their behaviour is not acceptable, and is interfering with the event.
If the behaviour continues, relevant individuals should be asked to leave and the assistance of Security Services can be sought in the event that individuals fail to leave when asked to do so.
If an individual is concerned that conduct at an event violates or appears to violate any laws, University policies or codes of conduct, they are encouraged to notify the relevant University office so that conduct can be investigated and addressed in accordance with the University’s usual process or policies.
On March 26, the Hamilton Street Railway unveiled a research collaboration project with McMaster University aimed at consulting users about their experiences with the HSR in an effort to re-envision transit in Hamilton. However, it will be up to city council to determine whether or not the project will result in the implementation of tangible changes to the service.
The interest in the project was sparked in May 2017, when Moataz Mohamed, an assistant professor in the department of civil engineering at McMaster, and Mark Ferguson, a senior research associate at the McMaster Institute for Transportation and Logistics, approached the city with a proposal for a research collaboration initiative.
“We had a few exploratory meetings to discuss what they do, the current state of the 10-year local transit strategy, how the HSR is preparing for remainder of the 10-year strategy, and what [McMaster] and MITL could offer the HSR,” said Dennis Guy, the HSR manager of customer experience and innovation.
The collaboration between McMaster University and the HSR will entail a two-year effort to consult the public about its expectations of the transit service.
The collaboration between McMaster University and the HSR comes against the backdrop of growing criticism against the HSR, particularly in light of the thousands of hours in cancelled bus service that plagued users in the fall.
“It’s a two-fold project. The first [phase] is mainly for focusing on assessing users’ experience, perception, desires and expectations from the HSR,” said Mohamed. “We will be using this data to re-configure the service in a way that enables the HSR to provide enjoyable service to the public.”
According to Ferguson, the university will be using the principles that informed its electric mobility research project, which consisted of a five-year effort funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada to assess the costs and benefits of electric mobility usage in Canada.
“We have done a lot of consumer-oriented work there which looks into how open people are to power trains,” said Ferguson. “Conceptually, there are similarities between that type of research question and the one we are considering here, where we are assessing people’s openness to the use of public transit in Hamilton.”
However, it should be noted that McMaster’s role in the collaboration project will be confined to research.
“As a post-secondary institution, we are limited to provide research-based evidence to the decision-makers. This is our scope,” said Mohamed.
After the research is conducted, recommendations will be made to city council.
“We’ll outline proposed changes to not only improve the network, but also to adapt to LRT construction and implementation, so that we can minimize the disruption to [and] for customers,” said Guy.
The collaboration between McMaster University and the HSR comes against the backdrop of growing criticism against the HSR, particularly in light of the thousands of hours in cancelled bus service that plagued users in the fall.
Frustration with the service culminated in an emergency meeting held at City Hall in Nov. 2016, which was organized by Environment Hamilton and provided a platform for users to voice their concerns about transit in Hamilton.
Many complaints stemmed from the underlying problem of a lack of HSR funding from city council. Although it remains uncertain whether or not the recommendations will lead to changes to the HSR system, Mohamed and Ferguson are optimistic that their research efforts will be fruitful.
“At the highest level of the city, plenty of people are interested advancing the quality of the HSR,” said Mohamed.
The research will begin in June with a survey asking users what they most want from their public transit service.
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One of the most popular topics involving McMaster recently had to do with its spot on the Times Higher Education World University Rankings for this year. As a university, Mac improved 35 spots from 113 to 78 in the world. This is the largest improvement of any institution in the top 100.
But there are a few stipulations to this that make a substantial difference. There are a number of subcategories that went into this overall rating. Only a few of these are directly relevant to the undergraduate experience.
The area that Mac improved in the most was “Industry Income” from 66.1 to 89.8. This is defined as: “the extent to which businesses are willing to pay for research and a university’s ability to attract funding in the commercial marketplace — useful indicators of institutional quality.”
While you could definitely make the argument that the ability to get funds means that the quality of your education will be better, it is not as direct as the other categories. Without context, this does not differentiate between graduate and undergraduate expenses, and fails to provide any indication about how effectively these funds are used.
For McMaster, this is more of an indication of the construction and purchases the university has made recently. A lot of this will likely not affect you for a few years to come, and that is assuming you have not graduated by that point.
Fortunately, this only takes up 2.5 per cent of the overall grade.
The second best improvement went to “Citations”. This is about how often a university’s published work is cited by scholars globally. An improvement from 82.3 to 89.9, the subcategory takes up a substantial 30 per cent of the overall grade. This is also separated from the subcategory of “Research,” which is another 30 per cent.
These do not directly affect you in any way. In terms of grad school, sure, you would love to work with one of the professors here. The university’s reputation as a research school is better than ever, but there is little to get excited about as an undergraduate besides the fact that construction efforts may eventually pay off.
The only real saving grace of this is that categories that might be applicable to you increased as well. “Teaching” and “International outlook” increased by 2.1 and 1.9, respectively. These increased by less than the three mentioned previously.
Progress is being made for you as an undergrad, but it is not as direct or applicable to you as we should expect. There are improvements being made across the university. You have to take rankings like this at more than face value, and see what actually affects the undergraduate population.
Feel free to enjoy McMaster’s new rank. Just remember to keep demanding more as an undergraduate.
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By: Ashley Emmens
As the winter rush period is coming to an end for many sororities and fraternities, one lingering question remains in the Greek life community of Hamilton. Why does McMaster refuse to recognize any sororities and fraternities?
According to McMaster’s “Policies, Procedures and Guidelines,” on Dec. 12, 1989, the McMaster Senate approved a motion to prevent the university from granting recognition to fraternities and sororities. This motion also stated that McMaster has no responsibility for them and that they must remain independent of the university. The most recent date of approval of this document was Oct. 11, 2000.
There appears to have been no updates or revisions to this policy in the past 17 years. However, many Greek organizations have died out and many new ones have been introduced since the decision was made. Other Canadian universities, such as the University of Toronto and Carleton, recognize fraternities and sororities on their campus because of the benefits provided. It is time for McMaster to reach out to these Greek organizations, learn what they are about and see how they can contribute to the McMaster experience.
Greek life is a place to belong for students trying to adjust to the transition of going to university, in need of a loving support system, who are looking to make new friends or who feel like something is missing. It is where sisterhood and brotherhood mean lifelong friendships, a shoulder to cry on and many laughs to be had. There is a great diversity in the type of people involved in Greek life with people from different ethnic and social backgrounds and all with their own unique interests.
During rush, students attend social events either by themselves or with their friends, and try to make connections with sisters or brothers. This process builds confidence, conversational skills and teaches students how to network. Whether or not the students continue with Greek life after rush, the skills they have gained can still prove to be vital assets in the workplace.
Business Insider reports that according to a new survey by Gallup, the engagement in the workplace and happiness of Greek members is significantly higher than those who are not involved. The survey by Gallup also indicates that Greeks are better at their jobs because they have a higher likelihood of being more intellectually and emotionally connected with the organizations that they work for as well as being more enthusiastic about their work. According to USA Today College, 85 per cent of Fortune 500 executives were a part of Greek life, and almost all United States Presidents were involved with Greek life.
Another one of the most important things about Greek life is philanthropy. Examples of philanthropy for Greek organizations in Hamilton include:
One possible reason McMaster could have adopted its policy against sororities and fraternities might be due to how they are misrepresented in the media. Unfortunately, hazing scandals top headlines, but philanthropy events are more likely to go unnoticed. When many people think about sororities and fraternities, they think of excessive drinking and hazing due to the way that they are depicted in movies and some unfortunate real-life incidents in the past. Today, all sororities and fraternities in Hamilton have strict anti-hazing policies to prevent these things from happening.
Another negative concept that is usually associated with sororities and fraternities is its exclusivity. However, exclusivity is a way to ensure that people who join are surrounded by like-minded people who share a strong social personality.
Greek life is going to exist regardless of whether or not McMaster chooses to recognize it. By incorporating it into the university, McMaster would have the ability more closely regulate it.
In reality, Greek life defies many of the stereotypes placed on it and is centered on academic and moral pillars that involve dedication to academics, philanthropy and sisterhood and brotherhood. It is time for McMaster to recognize all the amazing opportunities that Greek life offers in Hamilton and revise its policy against sororities and fraternities.
McMaster faculty and students will be seeing an increase in international opportunities as a result of the establishment of the new International Strategy Advisory Group. The group, a part of the University’s internationalization plan, met for the first time in early October.
The ISAG is the first advisory group of its kind at McMaster, and will help guide the decisions made by the Office of International Affairs, including the areas of research and student international exchanges.
“Our first goal, of course, is to be sure McMaster University remains one of the leading research-intensive universities in Canada,” said Peter Mascher, Associate Vice-President (International) and chair of the ISAG. “In the modern competitive environment, if you want to be research intensive in virtually all disciplines, it means you have to have partners internationally.”
The ISAG has already established two international research funds, which have secured funding for the first year.
Another goal of the ISAG is to encourage undergraduate students to pursue international exchanges. There are currently more international students attending McMaster than there are McMaster students participating in exchanges, a trend that Mascher says is Canada-wide.
“We are looking at financial support, but we are also trying to make sure that we pre-select the universities with whom we want to engage, so that we can be sure that the students from McMaster who go somewhere will have a good experience,” said Mascher.
Soon students may be seeing a push for international exchanges and more financial support in addition to the already present travel scholarships as a result of the ISAG.
“As far as the financial support for student mobility is concerned, we need to see – we need to talk to the individual faculties,” said Mascher. “We need to find the appropriate vehicle to finance it. But the idea of incentives and support has certainly found broad agreement.”
The advisory group is made up of staff from a range of disciplines, including the areas of global health, graduate studies, social work, chemistry, epidemiology, and global justice.
“We want to eventually develop a global culture,” said Mascher. “We often talk about community engagement, we think about community as the local environment and that is of course very important, but community is much broader. If we see ourselves as citizens of the world, then the community becomes much broader.”
The ISAG will meet on a quarterly basis, with the ultimate goal to enhance McMaster’s global presence, and student and faculty engagement worldwide.
Kyle Park
The Silhouette
Formerly known as the Centre for Leadership and Learning, the McMaster Institute for Innovation and Excellence in Teaching and Learning promises initiatives that look at ways to improve the practice of education for students, professors, and faculties at large.
After going through a name change, the McMaster Institute for Innovation and Excellence in Teaching and Learning has its sights set on several first-year courses.
MIIETL’s director Arshad Ahmad said that many new initiatives revolve on the redesign of first-year courses like biology, chemistry, ecology and economics.
Right now the institute is focused on first year undergraduate classes hoping to gain a better understanding of how best to serve students in their adjustment to university life and ultimately increase the rate of returning students.
A successful project of MIIETL is their recent work with Dr. Joseph Kim, a professor of psychology, to make the IntroPsych course fully online by next September. To fulfill this goal, the imperative lies in effective research according to Ahmad.
“We gather evidence on teaching and learning. To become a research center, an institute, you have to find the kinds of evidence that improves practice,” said Ahmad.
He continued, “We’re not just finding evidence so we can publish an article and feel good about it. We take that evidence to redesign courses and learn from that process.”
Another research project aimed to synergize teaching and learning was a series of studies on ‘lecture-capture’ investigating how students interact with recorded lectures, that is, whether they are used as a supplementary resource for additional studying or as a substitute for the actual class.
The survey-based research asked students about the frequency of their engagement with captured lectures and their overall approach to studying.
“Lecture-captures are a strong practice because they are used by students as very useful study aids, and particularly for those students who are approaching the class with a deep and meaningful engagement,” said Beth Marquis, the Educational Research Consultant at MIIETL.
In addition to the increased drive for research, MIIETL also acknowledges the value in employing students as active members of the research team, to provide a space for students to pursue research projects proactively.
“Rather than hiring students simply as research assistants, which certainly still happens, we are also trying to think about the contexts wherein students can come up with their own research projects around teaching,” said Marquis.
When asked about the funding for the increased student employment, research production and upcoming renovated office space, Ahmad said that the university is making significant contributions from Forward With Integrity funds in combination with support from many faculties.
With its drive for research and partnerships among students and professors, MIIETL emerges as a prosperous initiative seeking to produce real changes on campus.
Abhi Mukherjee
The Silhouette
Jillian O’Connor from McMaster's department of psychology, neurosciences and behaviour found that men with lower pitched, masculine voices were more desirable to women. However, women considered these men to be faithful to them for only short-term relationships. generic for viagra O’Connor does her research in the Voice Research lab. It has taken two years for her to come up with her findings.
O’Connor’s paper about how men’s voices influence women’s perception of them has allowed her to find two perceptions that women have about men: attractiveness and infidelity. Women preferred lower pitched men’s voices for short-term relationships/one night stands. Women think that men with lower pitched voices are unfaithful for a romantic relationship.
“But this is what women think of men,” said O’Connor. “Men who are really attractive with these lower pitched voices don’t really have to be faithful in the long-term. They may be more successful if they follow a shot-term mating strategy, one where they don’t commit. So this is the case where women prefer men with lower pitched voices for short-term relationships but that is only if they think that they will not be faithful.”
She stated that “[women] know when men try to lower their voices to sound more attractive, it doesn’t work. Women don’t think that it is more attractive than their natural speaking voice,” which was a result of some prior research that O’Connor and her team had done. If in everyday life men start using a deeper voice, women will not find them attractive, suggesting that men cannot fake their voices to sound attractive because women have a natural way of sensing that.
“We have other senses, so when we see someone that we are attracted to, we take a lot of things into consideration like how they look, how they sound, how they smell, it’s a big picture,” said O’Connor, who wanted to clarify that voice is not the only quality that is used to assess human attraction. O’Connor takes a special interest in human sexual behaviour or behaviours within relationships which happens to be the motivation behind her research.
”Men with lower pitched voices have higher testosterone and hence they are more likely to cheat. But we don’t know that yet and that is something we would like to test in the future,” said O’Connor.
She said that this milestone of a finding would act as a stepping stone in addressing the bigger issue, that is how women choose their mates and how voices evolved to signal underlying qualities when it comes to romantic relationships. She hopes to figure out, in the future, if a man’s voice is an honest cue to his sexual behaviour or if women are off base on their deduction about a man’s sexual behaviour.
After being fired as the executive director of MAPS in January, Sam Minniti is alleging that he’s the victim of wrongful dismissal. He’s suing MAPS, McMaster University and some of his former colleagues for more than $500,000 altogether in damages.
The University and MAPS are now each in the process of reviewing their legal options. This is the second major lawsuit McMaster University has been named in during the past year.
Court documents dated Monday, May 27 state that Minniti is seeking the following:
Against MAPS and McMaster University:
$225,000 for wrongful dismissal and breach of contract/unpaid wages
$88,116.75 for unjust enrichment
$100,000 for mental distress and punitive damages
Against former MAPS president and board members:
$88,116.75 for unpaid wages and vacation pay
In 2012, the University’s audit of MAPS spurred concerns about the organization’s business practices and spending. Of the organization's revenue of $507,035 in 2011, more than $300,000 went to salaries and benefits. Minniti himself received $101,117 in retroactive back pay and a $12,000 bonus in addition to a substantial raise the previous year. Minniti was fired in January amid allegations that he spent MAPS funds on personal engagements.
But the court papers Minniti has filed tell a different story. He claims he was approached by McMaster’s chief human resources officer with the prospect of an updated job description. Minniti claims his raise and back pay were endorsed by the MAPS board of directors, and that the board later notified him they were not in a position to deposit the second half of the back pay.
Citing a series of purported letters between himself, then-president Jeanette Hunter and the board of directors, Minniti maintains he was only fired because he chose the rest of his back pay over his job. Minniti claims he could not forgive the rest of the back pay because he had purchased a home and refrained from exploring other job opportunities.
Despite being criticized for receiving retroactive back pay, Minniti claims he’s still owed $88,116.75 in wages not paid to him under a contract that he says MAPS broke.
Although MAPS and McMaster University are independent organizations, Minniti has named both as corporate defendants.
“McMaster is reviewing its options but is surprised to be included in a statement of claim by someone who was not a University employee,” wrote McMaster spokesperson Gord Arbeau. “Now that the matter is before the courts, we cannot provide further comment.”
MAPS’ legal counsel has not provided any comment.
Since the MAPS spending scandal was brought to light, Minniti has remained largely silent about his position. He has not commented thus far on the lawsuit.
Reports of Minniti’s lawsuit sprung up a day after the McMaster board of governors voted to stop collecting fees temporarily from part-time students. MAPS president Andrew Smith said MAPS is consulting with the University on by-law revisions and anticipates the suspension will be lifted by early fall.
MAPS's budget is funded entirely by student fees. Without other sources of revenue, any legal fees would need to be paid with monies collected from part-time students.
Minniti’s full statement can be found here.
For all of the Silhouette's MAPS coverage since the spending scandal broke, click here.
This article was updated on June 17 at 20:33 ET.
