Tag: McGill University

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News

Tuition hike may not be gone for good

McGill University's international and out-of-province students are still waiting for their tuition refund. Photo by writer.
Photo by Madelayne Hajek.

Concordia University refunded all students upon receiving official directives from the provincial government concerning the tuition fee rollback while McGill University’s international and out-of-province students are still waiting on adjustments to their accounts.

The letter sent out to Quebec universities earlier this month confirmed the cancellation of the proposed tuition fees increase. The document also cites that the Parti Québécois is considering raising tuition fees for out-of-province and international students. McGill chose not to reimburse its foreign students in anticipation of an increase.

“We all got the same instructions,” said Chris Mota, Concordia University spokesperson. “We responded in one fashion and McGill chose a different route.”

This was also confirmed by Chief Financial Officer Patrick Kelley, who told The Concordian that the administration at McGill did not interpret the official directives from the the provincial government differently than Concordia but decided differently.

Simon-Pierre Lauzon, VP external of the Concordia Student Union, said he didn’t agree with the direction that McGill chose to take.

“McGill is kind of going in another direction and not doing what I think they’re supposed to be doing right now,” said Lauzon. “I find it very unfortunate that McGill students find themselves in this situation, it’s very unfair and I hope that it gets resolved quickly.”

Joël Bouchard, the press attaché for Pierre Duchesne, the minister of Higher Education, Research, Science and Technology, confirmed that no decision has yet been made about increasing tuition fees and that the proposition is being studied.

“If we are then told at a later date that we have to increase tuition for out of province and international students, we will do so,” said Mota.

McGill University spokesperson Carole Graveline explained that the university has not refunded the increase initially tabled by the Charest Liberals because of a potential increase for out-of-province and international students on the way. Although there’s no indication of precisely when the increase will be announced, if there will be one, and just how much it will amount to, it remains “very likely” according to Graveline.

VP external Robin Reid-Fraser of the Students’ Society of McGill University said the process and wait has been disheartening.

“People are frustrated and confused,” said Reid-Fraser. “The contact we have with the administration is that they’re waiting on the government to put out their budget and really finalize what the plan is with the international and out-of-province fees.”

The Parti Québécois minority government will present a budget on Nov. 20.

“I presume there will be something in the budget but there’s no knowing,” said Graveline. “We’re not waiting on the budget, all we’re doing is taking a different path.”

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News

Agent involved in alleged assault found unlicensed

McGill student Amber Gross was alledgedly hit by an unlicensed security guard. Photo by Jess Glavina.
McGill student Amber Gross was alledgedly hit by an unlicensed security guard. Photo by Jess Glavina.

The Concordia security guard who allegedly hit a student in the face last week was discovered not to be in possession of a valid security permit, according to a letter sent by the Concordia security department.

Amber Gross, the McGill student who said she was assaulted, filed a request for information last Thursday asking for the name and permit number of the security guard in order to file a formal complaint.

The acting director of Concordia University Security, Jacques Lachance, replied to Gross in a letter sent on April 1, saying the university had been informed by the security guard’s employer, Maximum Security Inc., that the agent did not possess a security license at present.

“Given the fact that he is not a licensed security agent […] we are not legally permitted to release his name,” the letter stated.

The guard is said to be in the process of a license application with the Quebec Bureau of private security, according to the agency contracted by Concordia University.

Concordia Student Union VP external Chad Walcott called the news as troubling and assured the CSU would do everything possible to obtain the security agent’s identity.

“It would be very concerning if we are being blocked access to an information about the assault of a student,” said Walcott. “Having unlicensed security staff on campus is completely unacceptable.”

Gross told The Concordian she was worried the university would try to put the responsibility on the individual security agency and pass the “whole thing [off] as an isolated incident.”

“These kind of accidents are likely to happen again,” Gross said. “That’s what happens when you start hiring a large number of security guards for political purposes on campus when they’re not trained to do it.”

In his letter, Lachance also mentioned that the security agent had been reassigned and was no longer working at Concordia. The university intends to pursue the investigation directly with the agency.

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Arts

Levity is the soul of the skit

Photo by Gilda Poorjabar
Photo by Gilda Poorjabar

A play isn’t really worth seeing without a compelling love hexagon, overt romantic tension à la eye gazing and cheek grazing and catchy operatic tunes that never detract from the piece’s subtle humour. Thankfully, writer W.S. Gilbert and composer Arthur Sullivan’s 1889 play The Gondoliers recreated by McGill’s Savoy Society offers exactly that.
The show is comprised of 33 carefully-selected triple threats that propel the plot forward through a blend of opera and acting, their fervour driven by what seems like either adrenaline or a 14-hour sleep and six-packs of Redbull. This non-profit student-run show prances, leaps and twirls around the satirical notions of hierarchy, identity and social status in 1750s Venice, complete with a few valuable lessons that could easily apply today.
The production opens with the orchestra’s energetic, perky symphony that hints at what’s to come: a play that tells the tale of a duke’s daughter named Casilda (Chelsea Mahan) who was arranged to be wed when she was six months old to the Prince of Venice. Only after she has blossomed into a fully grown woman, already in love with her servant, does her family inform her of her imminent fixed marriage.
Just as you think it couldn’t get any more dramatic, no one can identify who the prince actually is. When he was a baby, he was entrusted to a gondolier for safety reasons, and the gondolier, being a drunkard, mixed up the prince with his own son. They suspected that the prince’s title belonged to either Marco (Stephen Baker/Ilir Orana) or Giuseppe (Mathew Galloway), two handsome gondoliers who happen to have gotten married merely minutes before. The Grand Inquisitor (Scott Cope/Robert O’Brien) then chose to treat them equally in order to resolve the conundrum and determine the real prince’s identity.
Miranda Tuwaig, who enthralled the audience as Fiametta with an operatic falsetto solo that kicked off the show, was especially appreciative of the initiatives that went into this year’s production. “Because of the [MUNACA strike], you couldn’t book rooms at McGill on the weekends, so we had to scrounge around for affordable places near downtown and pay for them with our budget,” she said. “We had rehearsals on Friday nights, but everyone was so dedicated.”
The cast members’ dedication was an infectious force that permeated into the work of the volunteered coaches. Nicole Rainteau was to thank for the play’s choreography, as the dances seemed to require a certain element of athleticism and grace that was not present in last year’s Pirates of Penzance. “I’m trained in jazz, ballet and contemporary,” Rainteau said, “so I just meshed it all together. You’ll also see some ballroom in there.”
With over 10 hours a week dedicated to dance drills alone, each cast member looked particularly svelte in their authentic Venetian get-ups. The billowy cinched-at-the-waist dresses created the iconic curvy silhouettes that really take you back in time and out of McGill’s Moyse Hall.
Stage manager Emma McQueen had an idea as to why this show was more successful than its predecessors at the Savoy Society. “We’re trying something different where we do a bit of mic-ing so that you can hear everyone better,” she explained. “I think it’s working out and making a big difference.”
The cast’s enthusiasm and audio-enhancing sound system didn’t exactly make for a stage-friendly combination, according to producer Tabia Lau. “The only thing I would change is the mics because everyone was so loud and excited backstage that I was worried you’d be able to hear them from the audience,” she said.
In the midst of all the animated dialogue, the pitter-patter of jazz shoes as they marched and stomped through numbers, and the dynamic orchestra that weaved in and out of scenes, not a peep backstage seeped out into the theatre. Your attention is captivated solely by what’s happening on stage, and is in fact, distributed equally among the characters. “The cool thing is that Gilbert and Sullivan wrote [The Gondoliers] so that not one part would stand out, so it gives equal opportunity for every cast member to showcase their talent,” said Rachel Koffman who played Inez, the nurse foster mother who makes a chilling yet effective fashionably-late entrance in the piece.
The Gondoliers may not exactly embody the saying “brevity is the soul of the wit,” but in its defence, sharp humour and grandiose numbers require time to perfect.

Catch The Gondoliers Feb. 16, 17 and 18 at 7:30 p.m. and Feb. 18 at 2 p.m. at McGill’s Moyse Hall (853 Sherbrooke St. W.) Student tickets are $12. For reservations go to www.mcgillsavoy.ca.

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