Chantal Godin, the McMaster student alleging that Niagara Police assaulted her at a protest on Oct. 7 at Marineland, is continuing to share her story and is considering legal action.

Godin was first removed off the property's fence after she had been trying to encourage more protesters to enter the park. By jumping the fence she was officially trespassing on the property and consequently she was later fined. A female officer tugged her off the fence. Godin took pictures of bruising on her arm which she alleges were a result of her fall off the fence.

"I began arguing with her as to why she used such excessive force to bring me down and why she was targeting me when I was outside of the park at the time this happened. Why [did] she decide to target me when I was outside of the park at the time this happened," said Godin.

While she was still being handled by the female officer, a male officer who had previously been speaking with Godin's partner, then came over to Godin.

" He walked away from the male and came towards me. He gave me a small push while I was still being dealt with by the female officer...He pushed me a second time which I deflected [as shown] in the video."

Godin asserts that the male officer made attempts to intimidate her and acted in an unprofessional manner. She also noted that his intervention was unnecessary, given the presence of the female officer.

She was  handcuffed and led to the cruiser by the female officer who stated that she believed in the protester's cause but urged Godin to protest off the property.

Godin did not go back onto the property, but continued protesting outside the property.

Godin has stated that she plans to pursue action soley against the male officer.

"He didn't actually give me his badge number [which he is supposed to when asked]. I want to hold him accountable...the fact that he left my partner and came after me [given] that I'm much smaller [than the other protesters]. It was a bit sexist. I feel as though because I'm a woman he felt he could intimidate me or make an example of me to other protesters. I guess I ended up being the scapegoat for that. I felt violated because he has no right to put his hands on me."

Godin has contacted a civil rights lawyer and is exploring the option of filing a civil suit, specifically aimed at addressing the issue of the alleged assault and illegal arrest. She also plans to lodge an official police complaint.

Mohawk hits record full-time enrolment

Ministry seeks feedback on education reform

The Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities has asked students to respond to minister Glen Murray's proposed reforms on post-secondary education in the discussion paper entitled "Strengthening Ontario's Centres of Creativity, Innovation and Productivity." Sept. 30 was the last day for student governments including the MSU to draft written responses. Responses will be made publicly available this month. Watch for an online update on the critical responses by the Canadian Federation of Students (CFS) and Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations (OCUFA).

Mental Health Innovation Fund launched

The Ontario Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities announced that a $7 million per year fund will be established for mental health support on campuses. The fund, available until 2015, will identify gaps in current mental health support services, promote best practices and encourage liaisons between communities and on-campus mental health support. The ministry is accepting proposals from universities, colleges and student groups who wish to benefit from the fund this month. The Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance (OUSA) urged the ministry to set up such an initiative in earlier this year, and representatives say they're pleased with the result.

The announcement comes in the midst of McMaster's 'Stomp Out Stigma' week dedicated to raising awareness about mental health. In a 2009 National College Health Assessment conducted at McMaster, 50 per cent of students polled said they "felt overwhelming anxiety" and 56 per cent said they "felt things were hopeless."

McMaster First Nations Student Association engages community during annual Powwow

The McMaster First Nations Student Association hosted its 4th annual Powwow last Friday outside the John Hodgins Engineering Building. In addition to raising the profile of McMaster's First Nations community through performances by local singers and dancers of the Ojibwe tribe, the Indigenous Studies Program hosted a send-off for retired elder-in-residence Bertha Skye and professor Hayden King, who will leave for Ryerson. The two were recognized by the First Nations campus community with an honour dance.

Gift from Indian government unveiled at Gandhi Peace Festival at City Hall

A new statue of Mahatma Gandhi was presented at City Hall for the 20th annual Gandhi Peace Festival in Hamilton. The statue is a gift from the government of India and the Indo-Canadian community, and drew emotional responses from attendees of Saturday's celebration. McMaster University received a bust of Gandhi last October during Mac Peace Week. It is located outside President Patrick Deane's office in Gilmour Hall.

Students in the Studio Art program are getting attention on campus with a live t-shirt printing session, using their original designs. The "ImPRESS Yourself" event is happening outside Togo Salmon Hall all day today.

There is a suggested donation of $10 per design for those who bring their own t-shirts. Extra shirts will be offered on a first-come, first-serve basis for $20, including the design.

The session was inspired by the program's visiting artist, Ryan O'Malley, professor of printmaking at Texas A&M.

"This is an example of 600 year-old technology in the twenty-first century," said O'Malley. "When people can see how an image is made, they feel more connected to it."

John Ford, professor in the program, said the project provides students an entrepreneurial opportunity to apply what they've learned in class. Students are printing fine art images and generating populist, wearable art, he said.

"The first response from students is, 'I'm afraid,' and they have to learn quickly that there's a sense of immediacy," said O'Malley. "They have to get out there and make art, not worrying about their marks."

"A lot of students at McMaster don't know there's a studio art program here," said Keisha Neoma-Quinn, a third-year studio art student. "We've never done a live printing session, and I think it's important for us to get our art out on campus."

"One guy had his rep suit printed, and another person brought their jean jacket. It's pretty cool to see what people are bringing," said Neoma-Quinn.

T-shirts can be bought in TSH-114, which is also home to the university's fine arts studio. Proceeds from the event will go toward other student initiatives in the Studio Art program such as visiting artists and educational programming.

McMaster grad Ryan Moran recently got the keys to a brand new, fully customized 2013 Chevrolet Spark. The coveted prize was for being one of two winners of this year’s Canada’s Next Top Ad Exec (CNTAE) competition.

His partner, Kailee Jamieson, picked up her Chevrolet Spark in August and shares Moran’s enthusiasm for winning the competition earlier this year.

CNTAE is an entirely student-run business competition for post-secondary students who want to try their hand at marketing for large corporations like Chevrolet, CNTAE’s lead sponsor.

The competition required that students develop an integrated marketing communications strategy for the launch of the Chevrolet Spark.

Contestants delivered a two-page ‘elevator pitch’ and then gave a half-hour presentation to a panel of senior executives from various sponsors, including GM, Pepsi, McDonalds, the Canadian Marketing Association and Canadian Tire.

“We spoke a lot with industry professionals to get insight on how to go about the project,” said Moran.

Jamieson and Moran both said one of the takeaways of the experience was being able to supplement their education with ‘real-world experience.’

“We were also able to play to each other’s strengths,” said Moran, who received an arts degree from McMaster before graduating from the MBA program.  “I was really into the creative side of things and Kailee would gladly step in when it came to the math.”

Moran also served as president of the McMaster Students Union in 2007-08.

This year, the competition drew 191 submissions from 42 universities across Canada.

Jamieson and Moran were among the Top 10 teams in last year’s competition, and were able to clinch the top prize this year in April.

Canadian tuition rates divided by faculty; province averages. Click the image to see the same rates at Statistics Canada in graduate admissions as well.

By:Rob Hardy

The latest issue of Macleans magazine came right on the heels of festivities welcoming frosh and returning students back to university campuses across the country. Making it the cover story for its September 10 issue, “The Broken Generation” looks at the fallout of accumulating social and economic pressures along both sides of the border. As it examines how the youth of today have internalized the crises facing them, it explores both depression and suicide with candor. What further makes this story notable is that its detective work also included a stop right here at McMaster.

First of all, Macleans should be applauded for digging deep. As a youngster, you might have begrudgingly been exposed to this magazine in doctors’ offices when no other options were on hand.  As a mature adult, however, Macleans really is one of the most trustworthy publications in Canada, and is about as hard-hitting as the mainstream media gets. This article stays true to such mantra, deftly illustrating both the hope of overcoming mental illness while discussing why the generation currently in their twenties are in such a quandary.

That being said, I did have some problems with the way this feature story was framed. For one thing, it seems to freely use the word “student” as a synonym for youth in general, whereas I would suggest that these problems are largely typical of young people regardless of whether they are or ever were specifically enrolled in higher education. Since easily more than half of Canada's young adults have at one point been college or university students, finding our way in the world seems to be the larger theme in question here.

Therefore, though some state that they’re worried about their grades, that in itself is not an existential academic crisis, specific, of course, to the studies undertaken. Grades focus on numeric categorization relative to others with whom they are competing.  One student talks of stressing over marks in order to get into teachers college, and others talk of “improving academic performance,” both of which highlight a scramble to beat out their peers in a game of musical chairs, all the while evidently lacking a passion for both the academic work itself, as well as a higher discovery of self-purpose.

What the article does not cover, however, is where these students find themselves after overcoming their depression fueled by this academic struggle. Since we are told that the more ambitious youth of today, as cited herein, are mostly suffering not from some sort of inferiority complex but from a genuine hopelessness due to a bleak future, then it should be clear that the cause of their malaise still exists. Saddled with student debt, an increasingly tight job market and a general lack of opportunities befitting grads entering the workforce, the situation is indeed depressing, yet something that one should not take personally.

Our universities have definitely reached a saturation point in turning out graduates because even though most decent employment opportunities (and some less so) require a degree, the job market has not caught up with creating this kind of job for everyone holding a BA. Therefore, the pressure increases as everyone scrambles to build a resumé with various experiences, which are also competitive, as even unpaid internships are not possible for everyone seeking one.

We have to look at the bigger picture here. Is the student who is sweating over their grades rather than the content of their reading lists, really going to be happy even if they get their spot in teachers college? Is the scarcity sweeping over the job market not going to matter to them so long as “they got theirs”? Do they think material fulfillment will somehow shield them from seeing and caring about those who didn't make it, even though said student could easily have also missed their chance? Or do we actually really not want to confront these questions because they are too uncomfortable?

The Macleans feature might invite some comparison to the student strikes in Quebec, where peers mobilized as a group to defend their interests in a more active way as they, too, saw their way of life changing before their eyes. One must understand that a resumé exists to demonstrate our ability to do a job, not as something that needs to justify our right to even hold one and earn a living. Consider this: it is more necessary than ever to gain control of your life, purge all that is extraneous and find a way to battle your way to the top without forgetting all those in our communities who are getting caught up in (or under) unemployment, foreclosures, bankruptcies and other economic calamities coming at us from all sides.  Though this is not a solution either, by fostering the right attitude, with support if need be, we can bravely face life and hope to persevere against its uncertainties, whatever they may be.

Dina Fanara

Assistant News Editor

While much of the Social Science course content is interesting and engaging, the applicability of this knowledge in the workforce upon completion of the degree is something of concern to many students in the faculty.

On March 15, the Faculty of Social Sciences held a forum, with the theme: “Understanding Our Difference, Building Our Future.”  The theme of the forum was influenced by president Patrick Deane’s Forward With Integrity letter. The programme consisted of two halves: an academic panel and an industry panel. At both, professionals from the field were invited to partake in discussion with faculty and students from the Social Sciences faculty.

The speakers present on the academic panel were: James Benn, department chair of Religious Studies at McMaster, Tina Moffat, associate professor  of Anthropology, Greg Flynn, CLA of Political Science, and Sandra Preston, director of Experiential Education and assistant director of Social Work.

Those present on the industrial panel were Mark Chamberlain, member of the Board of Governors, David Admes, president and CEO of Hamilton Chamber of Commerce, Rebecca Bentham, executive director of the Hamilton Law Association, Paul Johnson, director of the Neighbourhood Development Strategies in Hamilton, and Denise Doyle, CEO of YWCA Hamilton.

The main objectives of the forum were to recognize the strengths, discuss potential strategies for enhancement of the undergraduate experience within the classroom and in the community. Additionally, it aimed to identify the fundamental skills expected of Social Sciences students upon graduation, with a discussion of how Social Science education can prepare students for the workforce while  providing a forum for networking within stakeholders in education.

While the academic panel focused on the strengths of the faculty in relation to others, the industrial panel focused on the skills that are required from graduates.

“What you learn at university is a starting point… it’s a lifelong challenge,” said Chamberlain. “You don’t teach creativity, you don’t teach productivity, you learn them.”

The industrial panel discussed how many of the skills listed as requirements for a job position are often learned on the job through experience. According to Doyle, it is the “responsibility of employers and organizations to talk about who they’re looking to hire.”

Bentham explained that “the majority of jobs aren’t given to applicants,” but are given to people who have connections within the company.

Students need to learn how to properly brand themselves to companies to look appealing and earn the career of their dreams.

Katija Bonin

The Silhouette

On Thursday, March 1, a phishing email was sent to the general population of McMaster. Purporting to be from University Technology Services (UTS), the email asked email users to go to a non-McMaster website and provide log in credentials. Failure to do so would allegedly result in termination of one’s email account.

As stated by Julia Kraveca, manager of Client Services for UTS, “such attacks happen every so often.” Out of all incoming e-mail messages that McMaster receives, approximately 22 per cent are legitimate e-mails. The remaining e-mails are types of spam that may be caught by filters, and just like catching fish with a net, it is to be expected that one may fall through.

The main difference is that senders of phishing e-mails are aware of the different security mechanisms, and swim around them in order to be the one that lands in student inboxes.

In such circumstance, when the unauthentic email was not prevented, UTS used defensive measures in order to control its effects, noted Kraveca.

The phishing note was reported to UTS at 2 p.m. on March 1, and by 2:30 p.m. UTS had blocked on-campus access to the website noted in the e-mail, and had published a cautionary note through the McMaster University website.

After careful evaluation, it was determined that only two per cent of the targetted population received the spam email, and only 0.05 per cent actually visited the website. However, it is unknown out of this percentile how many email users actually responded to the request in the phishing e-mail. Additionally, a campus-wide notice was released the following morning.

Although the sender is unknown, “it is evident that their intent in sending the e-mail was malicious, and was sent with the purpose of collecting private information that could somehow be misused,” said Kraveca.

Based on the available statistical data, it appears that the phishing e-mail was caught before it was able to travel too far, making its impact quite insignificant. UTS interpreted the given data as affirmation to having successfully educated the McMaster community on protecting themselves from fraudulent emails.

However, UTS did not want to undermine the impact the email had for the 0.05 per cent whose world was turned upside down as a result of the leaked spam.

The hope is that such an incident does not happen again, however, it is not entirely preventable, explained Kraveca. Students and faculty are therefore strongly urged to exercise caution in order to protect themselves from duplicitous emails.

In the event that such an occurrence does repeat, students and faculty are urged to report the potential phishing scam to the UTS Service Desk as soon as possible.

Suggested protective measures may include refraining from opening e-mails if the source is unknown or appears suspicious. Often phishing schemes are designed to imitate legitimate companies or institutions, thus users are encouraged to acknowledge the use of distorted logos and misspelt words, which are telltale signs that the sources are not genuine.

Lastly, one must resist clicking embedded links or verifying confidential information, as these are often connected with fraudulent online activity.

UTS is actively involved around the clock in the prevention, detection and investigation of potential electronic fraud within the University. On any given day UTS processes 1.4 million e-mail messages.

TYLER HAYWARD / SENIOR PHOTO EDITOR

Katherine George

Silhouette Staff

The transition from living at home with parental supervision to the freedom of a university lifestyle can be drastic. University is an environment that provides numerous opportunities to party. Sometimes, university years can foster excessive drinking habits. Realistically, drinking in a social atmosphere is nothing out of the ordinary, especially for young adults. It is when the harmless pastime of drinking becomes a dependency on alcohol, eventually leading to addiction.

In 2005, the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) created a “Canadian Campus Survey” in order to better understand the social and environmental determinants of hazardous drinking habits. The survey involved 6,282 full-time students from 40 different universities across Canada. It showed that 31.6 per cent of undergraduates “reported at least one indicator of dependent drinking such as being unable to stop, failing to perform normal everyday activities or needing a drink first thing in the morning.”

Evidently, these are the most severe cases of alcoholism. However, it is undeniable that the statistics of alcoholism among university students is alarmingly high. Third-year McMaster Commerce student Alyssa Citrigno comments on the situation: “I think a lot of students drink excessive amounts of alcohol, but don’t realize the detrimental effects of it because it is so common among all university students.

In reality, it isn’t normal to be drinking four nights out of the week.” Not all students who drink have these severe cases of alcoholism, but many are dangerously close.

In order to recognize if your harmless party habits are becoming a destructive activity, the following are some helpful tips.

Firstly, analyze your drinking habits in comparison with others, such as friends, family or colleagues. This is the most informative and obvious way to recognize whether your personal drinking habits are above that of an average person.

Drinking throughout the day or on numerous days of the week is a definite contribution to alcoholism. In addition, keep track of the amount of money you spend on alcohol. This technique is effective because it gives the alcohol abuser a visual realization of how their drinking habits are affecting their financial situation.

Drinking is an expensive hobby for a student, especially when considering the amount of money spent per each drinking occasion.

Consider whether drinking has evolved from a social activity to a personal necessity. If you find yourself drinking alone, it may be a sign that you are drinking to soothe an addition rather than for social reasons.

The cure to alcoholism is different for every person. Often it begins with recognizing that there is a problem. Talking with friends and family to address the issue is a productive start, but if the problem has become an addiction, it may require more intense treatment. To find more information about alcoholism and local treatment centers visit the Alcoholics Anonymous Hamilton website.

Dina Fanara 

Assistant News Editor

“Education is our right, we will not give up the fight!”

Feb. 1 was known as the Day of Action for university students across Canada, as many marched through their respective campuses to take a stand against rising tuition fees. McMaster students gathered to chant in Mills Plaza from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

According to the Vancouver Sun, 24 campuses in British Columbia alone were to partake in the rally.

At the McMaster campus, a little over 50 students arrived within the first ten minutes of the event. The CHCH news crew was also present at the event, interviewing students and taking video footage of the rally as it began.

Music was blasting, thanks to a DJ present outside the Student Centre. People were gathering, and signs and snacks were shared. Students showed immense enthusiasm to be a part of such a movement. Though McMaster Security and Hamilton Police were present, no issues of conflict arose.

McMaster student Mel Napeloni said, “we need to have more activism on campus,” adding that it was great to see something that all students can relate to.

While the student group Occupy McMaster played a role in organizing the event, many students from all areas of the University were present, including members of the SRA (Student Representative Assembly), presidential candidates, graduate students and representatives of CUPE Union Local 3906, which represents teaching assistants, sessional professors and postdoctoral fellows on campus.

In a speech to the students in attendence, Simon Granat, SRA representative for the Faculty of Social Sciences, stated that, “we’re taking a stand to say students care about other students.”

Similarly, SRA Health Sciences representative Riaz Sayani-Mulji stated that, “we are the student movement, we can make a difference.” He explained that this is a critical time for students to make their voices heard, because the way the government grant system currently runs excludes two in three university students.

“Education is a human right,” continued Sayani-Mulji, and it’s something that many potential students have difficulty accessing because of cost limitations. According to Rick Gunderman, the candidate representing the Communist Party in the previous provincial election, the solution would be to “cut tuition altogether… attack from all angles that they are attacking us from.”

The Canadian Federation of Students (CFS) distributed leaflets to be handed out to students across Canada, outlining their three main goals: to drop student debt, reduce tuition fees and increase education funding.

The leaflet employs the awe-factor to support the movement, outlining that students are left with an average debt of  approximately $37,000 upon graduation, and “tuition fees are growing faster than public transit, rent, food and other costs faced by students.”
After gathering in the Mills Plaza, students marched in unison, cheering, “What do we want? Dropped fees! When do we want it? Now!”

The march route included locations such as the Burke Science Building, the John Hodgins Engineering Building, University Avenue, the Arts Quad and the University Hall archway, concluding in Mills Plaza.

An article from Macleans entitled, “Protests underway from coast to coast,” underlines the finding that over the past twenty years, the proportion of operating costs of universities covered by public funding has dropped dramatically from 81 per cent to a mere 57 per cent.