1 10 2 https://d1y502jg6fpugt.cloudfront.net/62030/archive/files/cc07ed93a1645ea3be520e916c6a5910.PDF?Expires=1779926400&Signature=Y8bEPmbNflqWw1F4e4KEu4SMtt6TWwWxznRQ7cYvkHATGU-XUM1j-UdKsYOaohMp6F-BJVgVAAJ51TTPk%7EkuZqPsxQAXAXvGNj0efaQAXxucku1DN%7ET5EGB20VbuYyjhCoW1vkP9NDVGM%7EuD8LOCJD0bTkRwxPhT22XMC50xrn7AuEKcyODc3muhUtwji8sTs2UnEdDK6GbPY3IJ1BURMQ%7EpZulaqsGMzTeuyqZa%7EAyNG3IiVHjaKnmo%7EX33SaOhAGyssEdEfYl8D-YOOWyc-3MnsuYQfrbM5S9pwc2l4%7E0qRIdj84motsKUJ1FeCYViGNZfAFd1hupfusE-OpNF8w__&Key-Pair-Id=K6UGZS9ZTDSZM ae236938217c4949274355507b363617 PDF Text Text .. -- ■ Commentary 7 McGill Daily • Monday, April 3, 2006 McGill has an obligation to ACOMSS U t week, after learning of McGill's plan to evict the Sexual Assault Centre of McGill tudents' Society (SACOMSS) from its night office, students mobilized to defend and support the essential and valual:)le service. More than 70 supporters packed the University Senate meeting on Wednesday, where Provost Anthony Masi attempted tO defend the University's new, indefensible policy. Unfortunately, instead of .._______• being truthful and open, Masi stuck to fornmlaic, inflexible platitudes that made clear the birpocrisy of administration's most recent anti-student move. We need to be clear: Sexual assault is a problem that affects all students, eed all people, and we should all be concerned about it. Both women men can be survivors of sexual assault, but such violence disproportionly affects women. According to the national organization Women Against l'k>lence Against Women, almost 25 per cent of female university students I be victims of sexual assault during their university careers. The vast majority of sexual assault survivors are women. As weU, trans ,pie, who are often targets of sexual assault, have few places to turn for sup­ t. By refusing to accommodate SACOMSS, which is an essential resource survivors of sexual assault, the administration has shown itself especiaUy msen5itive to the needs of these already vulnerable people and exposed an Wlderlying institutional sexism and indifference to gender issues. Masi said McGill already provides support to sutvivors of sexual assault, ting to Student Health Service, Mental Health Service, and McGill rity. But such a defense reveals just how out-of-touch our university's administrators are: McGill Mental Health Services is hugely overbur1ed and grotesquely underfunded, and just can't handle the extra case­ . Evidence of this is that the Meneal Health Service web site directs tents to the SACOMSS line. The Student Health Service is similarly ened. Furthermore, both these services close their doors at 5 p.m., but ,re than 60 per cent of the calls to the SACOMSS line come at night. And Gill Security wouldn't be much help to students off campus. As well, Masi told Senate, McGill "is experiencing a scarcity of space." So is SACOMSS. We do not believe that McGill has so little available space t it is unable to allocate 70 square feet of space for SACOMSS's confiden­ nighc office, which it needs for the safety of its volunteers, who have ived death threats in the past. Why, for example, couldn't SACOMSS use of the hundreds of offices that sit empty at McGill every night? He also told Senate that the University deals only with accredited student ociations, not individual student groups. While this is true, the University wrely cannot deny that it knew exactly how the space would be used when provided SSMU, an accredited association, with the space that SACOMSS's ht office occupies. flnally, and most trc>ublingly, Masi told Senate that "McGill may face potential ilicy in the event that the advice offered or services rendered are inappropri­ or otherwise problematic." But SACOMSS volunteers don't provide advice: are trained to listen to survivors and to provide referrals, but not to couru;ei fOrs. That said, legal liability is a legitimate concern for all organilations, the best organilations give primacy to moral liability. And McGill is soiling its ady-ramished reputation by abandoning its moral obligations to its students, of whom are potential survivors of sexual assault. SACOMSS is a unique service. It provides the only sexual assault line information source on campus, and they listen to all survivors of sexual ult, while many comparable Montreal-area services are only available to 11en. . McGill'sobligation to its students is primarily to support them - in their ments, and their needs. If students cannot expect basic levels of port from the University, what can we expect? SACOMSS costs McGill ing, but provides an essential service to all members of the community. student initiative deserves at least a minimal level of support from ill above all others, and so we renew our call: Give back the space that __;QMSS deserves and needs. Fourdaysago whileusingthemen's ker room at the McGill Gym (Room ', next to Memorial 11:Jol), I discovthat the tum-off mechanism was when a shower has been running continuously. Every morning since then, I was shocked to see the problem was not fixed. As an international stu­ dent who comes from a country where access to water is scarce, I was outraged to water running 24 hours a day for four days, and could not help thinking Qf the mil­ lions of people around the world without basic access to clean drink• The Belarussian state is a sham T DENISE BRUNSDON hose who know me well, or stand near me during any of my particularly loud rants, are probably aware of my deep distaste for che country of Belarus. In the wake of recent "elections" in Belarus, and the ensuing brutal police crackdowns on pro-democ• racy demonstrators, I think it's about time to share with you my tale of Denise v. Belarusian govern­ ment authorities. I should probably preface this by saying there are few things as precious to me as rights. Raised in one of the world's wealthiest and most democratic countries, and never having known what starvation or repression feels like, I have been exposed to the concept of rights and my entitlement to them, an entitlement which I carry with me regardless of the regime in place at any particular country I visit. Needless to say, when I got off the plane for a brief Minsk stopover between Moscow and Munich, secure with the knowledge that the Belarusian Embassy in Ottawa had said my travel companions and I wouldn't need transit visas, I wasn't worried at all. But when we landed and the customs officers found out we dido't have transit visas and started yelling at us in Belarusian, I started to get worried. And when they brought over the men with guns, I started to get a little more worried. And when those men with guns escorted us through 15 min• utes of narrow tunnels and stairwells into an isolated room a good deal away from the main airport terminal, I started to get extremely worried. With the help of a Russian busi­ nessman who spoke both English and Belarusian, we quickly learned ing or bathing water. On all four days, I reported this problem to the Facilities Office and other Gym staff, but to no avail. A very helpful secretary at the Facilities office informed me today that she had reported the problem to maintenance when I first brought it to her notice. While I am ignorant about maintenance management at McGill, it appears that the work is contr-J.cted out. There is a central reporting system for problems, but once reported, Gym staff have little control over when the work will be done. Layers of McGill bureaucracy prevent the work being done sim• ply by calling in a local plumber, who could at the very least find a temporary solution by plugging that we were expected to pay $50 country whose visas we'd overstayed our welcome on, so to speak. U.S. each for two-hour transit visas. Images of a gulag ran through my And so we had a Canadian-teen­ agers-traveling-through-dictatorship­ mind. I put av.,ay my soapbox, took and-being-demanded-a-bribe pow­ out my wallet, and angrily upped the wow. My three travelling compan­ Belarusian GDP by a good few hun­ ions couldn't reach into their wallets dredths of a percentage point. Ii,\ el\DUP,'r.. 'i'>U\ \ Ve\e>en "'"' ()j)\en J..s \'r.ei esrnnen us \D \'r.e <'.e!)\\tture gate, I took a final good look. for my soaplx>x instead. "This is an outrage," I yelled. For the first time since our arrival, I "There's no way I'm going to pay noticed that this grand, glorious air­ these guys off because they think port with its elaborate architecture we're big, rich, North American kids and ten-storey ceilings was freez­ with a ton of money. It's wrong. ing cold. There was no heat. Sure they have guns and scary uni­ Although it was forms, and we don't really know where we are right now, and don't know how to get back, and the clock is ticking on our depar­ ture flight in a little over an hour-and-a-half now. But you know what? We have these [insert me proudly waving my Canadian passport while quietly humming the bars to 0 Canada]! This means we have the right not to be intimidated and threatened and I for one say we call their bluff." And my companions, being the idi­ ots that they were, agreed with me. Agreed with me, that is, until the security men managed to forcibly confiscate our passports. Then trans­ lator dropped the bomb. Since we didn't have our passports stamped on our way out of Russia these puis­ sant customs thugs threatened to put us on a plane back there where we could deal with the government of a a cloudy and dark day, not a single light was turned on. The escalators were turned off as well. Despite having more than a dozen gates, it was clear that no more than two were in regular use. As I watched the airport staffers in their ourdaled fashions and their dour faces listlessly go through their routine motions, my anger dissi­ pated. I was still mad, and although I felt wronged, those feelings were overshadowed by my selfish, desper­ ate desire to simply get as far away from that airport as possible. Ne:At Monday will be tbe last Body Politik qf the year...and maybe ever. lbu can pleadfor Denise to continue writing at mybodypolitik@gmail.oom. the shower and preventing waste Email your letters to before the on/off mechanism is per- letters@mcgilldaily.com with your name, year, and program - and manently fixed. It appears absurd that a logi- send them from your McGill email cal, low-cost, common-sense solu- account. Also, please keep letters tion is not currently possible. The free of hate and under 300 wards. University needs to reconsider The Daily edits for brevity and how it handles basic maintenance style. issues if fixing a simple shower ���--�----�� takes up to four days and hundreds of gallons of water keep flowing. Environmental leadership for a umvers1ty does not mvolve simply cutting-edge academic research, but also common-sense practices that prevent the waste of scarce resources. �� Be sure to check out JoydeepSengupta Faculty ofLaw my§' I da1 .com -.- � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Coverage from The McGill Daily Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Paper Volume 95 Issue 46 Page Number(s) 7 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource McGill has an obligation to SACOMSS Description An account of the resource An editorial urging McGill to support SACOMSS after the centre was evicted from its night office. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource McGill Daily Editorial Board Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available The McGill Daily Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2006/04/03 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource PDF Language A language of the resource English campus space mental health Service (MHS) Sexual Assault Centre of the McGill Students' Society (SACOMSS) sexual violence student health https://d1y502jg6fpugt.cloudfront.net/62030/archive/files/2218a86fc89788f9e05d7a9a95e3be19.PDF?Expires=1779926400&Signature=TzwqUSxv5v1V0GuKWkhmkVT1nlKksH4FGfGWZL69SIZygD6xDfkUcvAApRZZJHYQSZfLRhl4myHZSAZQ8GzT-iHQSiEssK91rzbEb6utoQAGF0e9gXdchck0kLASO3YVlgYoQamSg9OBO0CByRLaLYg6sFad4SnWUlL4r7dNXqWnnACsGWoGs9xEjsz7Xzs7tBxPn7iUuaVFOHhvUCdLAomWggN5xYKA5EKSEAMwEjG6uL0q3Q1878DtOKcefmnDw2-rHFgHMbhsNN27Qes1kNmo7sgqM-g3DmXrYaT2V4fb0RcAfYlWAmlovhkMKdaZ7lH5NdhgJCivMYOxF38fGA__&Key-Pair-Id=K6UGZS9ZTDSZM 532eea691fe7605da2e74b16b3b12939 PDF Text Text News yer 25, 2004 Mental Health scrambles to meet surge in demand the Senate confidentiality agreement. According to Robinson, however, the vote in’ favour of his nomination. was unanimous. “{t is absolutely surprising that there was a controversy four years ago,” she LEON GREK said, “It was a very unfortunate’ incident, News WriTER to-no fault of Mr. Cleghorn.” i l senate erupt‘over the nomi- University has er Royal Bank itive Officer flaw. embers of McGill ke nomination of our on the basis -was unethical. The “Shim the degree, -confidential sesd-conflict at the A Principal Jennifer Robinson ly selected Cleghorn Br year because of his ic and adminis- factor contributing crisis of that year. @ said. available to com- \feNe, be, to’ the student. employ debt Building, suggesting that it amounted to solicitation for money from RBC. Cleghorn is a graduate of'McGill and a member of its Board of Governors. He served as the Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of RBC until his served as chairman of his wife, established Hormone (CCSS), which governs the Student Services fee, will decide how much able,. additional funding Mental Health full-service mental health have the money. the Pattie Laboratory demand you students. have natives The for services,” to come from an increase in the Student Service fee, which cur- rently ranges from $171.50 to $206 for full-time students. Shore said that such an increase would be relatively small,- however. “It’s not going to cost $100 more a year, it might cost ten dol- lars, it might cost five dollars to do this.... It’s about the price of a in the short term, like Senate Committee on the Students hope Mental Health Services will improve, soon. “Jt was very disappointing. We put so much time and effort into working on it. For it to. be taken down so. casually, without: giving us a -reason.... It sucks,” said Hamdan. Originally, SPHR had planned to erect a physical “wall,” but were prohibited by- the university administration. No other displays were specifically forbidden, “Basically, [Di Grappal just told us, ‘don’t get creative,” said Hamdan. | THE BLACHER AND GLASROT FAMILIES RIAL AWARD FOR HOLOCAUST RESEARCH SPHR said they were not aware that the artistic representation No “wall” for SPHR: Concordia admin ed in 2000. by Mr. and Mrs. Josef Glasrot, survivors of the Holocaust Open to any student at McGill University, the presented for excellence in research in Holocaust and related studies, ~ arly on the history of the ghettos of Warsaw and Kovno (Kaunas). prepared in any course or independent research may be considered. pd is administered by the Department of Jewish Studies in cooperathe Jewish Community Foundation. The award will be presented e Closing Exercises of the Department of Jewish Studies in June, e value of the Blacher and Glasrot Families Memorial Award is jpmpetition is open to undergraduate and graduate students at fl University. Members. be based on primary or secondary materials and work at of ticularly for from. their administration after «their illustrated representation of the IsraeliPalestinian ‘barrier was’ taken. down Wednesday..morning. The illustration was put up Tuesday as part of an educational exhibi- tion. However, when Raya Hamdan, SPHR’s executive of Finance and Fundraising, arrived. at school early Wednesday, she found Concordia Security dismantling the display. The + security guards’ explained that they were following the orders of Michael Grappa, President SPHR nation of tration of tact-information. Solidarity. would Palestinian. Human. Rights. (SPHR) Concordia are demanding answers Di is must submit 2 typed copies of their essays together with can its budget in March. ~ ” Ultimately,-new funding for Mental Health Services will have attend- THE DEPARTMENT OF JEWISH STUDIES ats of Montreal. Services will ‘receive after it submits So we’re years McGill CALL. FOR SUBMISSIONS: of Student “Services from having a building.” But Shore noted that Student Services is dévéloping new ways to meet demand in the existing space. “We're talking about other alter- having ‘some of our clinics in the evenings.... We're going have to try to find ways of double-using ing McGill, who are farther from certain offices. None of the solutheir home support structures. “The more students you have ~ tions is completely satisfactory, but we're doing our best.” from outside; the greater the out-of-Province. Cleghorn Fund in Diabetes Research at the Polypeptide at McGill. is uted’ the increased demand” for services to the higher number ‘of the McGill. Twenty-First Century Fund, which ‘raised: $205-million,-and, along - with service Dr. Norman Hoffman, Director of:Mental Health Services, attrib- as Chancellor of Wilfred Laurier University until 2003. also the currently housed. “Part of the solution [to the increased demand] is clearly, more mental health professionals. But quite honestly there’s no room for them. This’ building is filled night to the gills... We can’t add more staff if we can’t add more space” he ‘said, explaining ‘that’ Mental Health Services needs to increase the number of counsellors from 17 to at least 24. an unnamed senator told the Montreal Gazette in 2000. Opponents also questioned the motivation behind the nomination, and where Coordination Hoffman also noted the importance of maintaining an affordservice at McGill. “We. really want to continue a full-service model. Montreal has very few resources for people unless they want to pay $60 to $100 “a session.” . Shore said that while Student Services hopes to eventually expand the Brown Building to provide more space, these renovations should not be expected in the immediate future: “a building can't be expanded in less than a couple of years. There is an approval: process:.... You need city approval and all kinds of things, and you have to cent date the extra staff in the Brown time, lis] laying off 6,000 employees,” in 2001, per services. But Dr. Bruce Shore, Dean of Students, that there’ would not be’ enough room to accommo- $1.8 billion in profit, and, at the same retirement 50 more counsellors to keep up with the rapidly rising demand for its “There were some who asked whether we should wait a few years, because the Royal Bank has just made He ‘opic leaders. and throughout wn a commitment to Gill Mental Health Services will need to members “opposed nomination because they felt many of RBC’s practices were unethical. The nomination was made at the same time that a lange number of RBC employees were. laid off, a move that some senators believed was a major he said. ane 9l/3u>1W ment on the proceedings’ behind this year’s decision, because it would breach Some senate. Cleghorn’s» 2000. 5 the university's Vice of Services. is still waiting for an explathe dismantling, to the frusits members. present. because a problem, . parit. included. a written disclaimer that provided definitions of the words “wall” and “picture” in order to ensure that no one thought they were breaking the tules by erecting an. actual barrier. “We weren't trying to start a controversy, that’s not our aim, that’s not what we're about,” Hamdan said. Hamdan explained. that SPHR has been attempting to arrange a’ meeting with Di Grappa. : “We'd. like’ an’-explanation,” said Hamdan. “We're going to do something about here.” it... We're not stopping The Concordia administration will not speak to. the press until Di Grappa. has_met with members of SPHR. —Claire.Crighton � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Coverage from The McGill Daily Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Paper Volume 94 Issue 14 Page Number(s) 5 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Mental Health Scrambles to Meet Surge in Demand Description An account of the resource Updates on how McGill's Mental Health Services aimed to keep up with rapidly rising demand for services. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Leon Grek Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available The McGill Daily Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2004/10/25 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource PDF Language A language of the resource English mental health mental health Service (MHS) mental health Services (MHS) student health