Tag: student

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Student Life

The art of formally asking for money

Photo by Danielle Gasher

FASA hosts a workshop on the art of grant proposal writing

Many students will have to write a grant proposal at some point during their careers. Since a grant proposal is essentially a money request, writing one must be done with care.

On Feb. 1, the Fine Arts Student Alliance (FASA) held a grant writing workshop aimed at arts students, but it was relevant and open to students from all faculties.

The workshop focused on tips for writing the perfect grant application for various projects.

Guest speaker and regular grant writer Amber Berson said grant writing is basically an application process where you ask for money for your work. The PhD student said the first and most important thing to focus on is mastering writing skills.

“Grant writing is an important skill, and it is a wonderful way to fund your art practice. But being a successful grant writer does not make you a successful artist,” she said. Berson said the skill is also useful when writing an artist statement, or, a description of the project, in a cover letter for a job, residency or an open call for submissions to galleries.

Berson said it’s important not to feel discouraged when applying for grants. “Even if you keep applying and you do not get positive results, it should not and does not take away your value as an artist,” she said.

Berson advised students to be clear and precise in their proposals—introduce yourself, and explain what your project is, what you need the money for and why would you or an organization needs to fund this project—why the project is worthwhile.

“You should never try to apply for all of the grants just because you need the money. That is very transparent to the grant agent. In certain cases, it even hurts your eligibility for grants in the future,” said Berson. She said students should contact the FASA agent or another grant agent if they have doubts or questions about the process.

As with any application, deadlines are very important with grant writing. “If you absolutely cannot meet a deadline, contact your agent immediately,” Berson said.

She stressed it’s also crucial to follow the instructions and meet the word limit or minute count for video submissions. While it seems obvious, she said, it isn’t always executed.

Asking for money must be handled with delicacy. Being realistic in terms of budget is an important thing to keep in mind.

“When you apply for a grant, you are applying for a not-for-profit project, which means you should not be making money off the project. Asking and getting [money] are completely different, and you should always ask for what you or your project are worth, and it should be realistic.”

For any student interested in applying for a grant to fund a project, Berson highly recommends visiting the Canadian Artists Representation (CARFAC) website.  This website is a useful tool for helping students with grants and planning their budget. For students interested in finding out about arts funding, the Regroupement des Centre d’Artistes Autogérés du Québec (RCAAQ) and Artère are also great resources that have helped many artists get grants for their art.

For more information or to apply for grants, visit their website.

Categories
Student Life

Pista: Rosemont’s turquoise caffeine heaven

Photo by Danielle Gasher

This trendy Rosemont café is the perfect blend of a cozy and classy experience

After visiting café Pista for the first time last week, I finally understood what all the hype was about. Upon entering the café on Beaubien Street in the Rosemont neighbourhood, I was met with a serene feeling I had never felt at any other café.

Sometimes, small neighbourhood cafés can feel a little too noisy, a little too crowded. At Pista, thanks to good acoustics and spaced out tables, the environment is quiet, welcoming and stress-free, even though there are usually many people.

Pista is located on the corner of Beaubien Street and Saint-Vallier Street. Photo by Danielle Gasher

I was served by a kind barista who recommended their most popular drink: the chai tea latté. It was delicious—creamy enough, with well-balanced sweetness. Pista’s service style adds to the laid-back feel. After ordering, the barista brings your hot beverage directly to your table. The coffee has a strong, nutty taste that seems to be quite common among numerous small cafés in the city.

The décor is an important part of the overall experience. While the space isn’t too big—approximately the size of a small Montreal apartment—it is well laid-out, with enough places to sit comfortably and study. The walls are a pale turquoise and covered with abstract artwork and a beautiful black-and-white Asian temple photograph next to the window. The ceiling is impressive, painted gold with church-like detailing. It brings together the modern and minimalistic aesthetic of the café, and the touch of antiqueness gives it added charm. The spot’s music is also a highlight. They play a lot of underground hip-hop and some jazzy tunes.

The spot sells classic café treats such as pastries, but also have a brunch and lunch menu. Photo by Danielle Gasher

The café is appropriate for study sessions, business lunches and coffee with friends. In the fall, the spot introduced a breakfast and lunch menu. The menu includes healthy options such as salads, soups and trendy breakfast classics like granola, poached eggs and avocado on toast, or toast with ricotta, honey, nuts and fruit. While affordable, the prices are not particularly low or student-friendly. The breakfast and lunch menu prices range from $3.50 for toast and jam to $12 for a smoked salmon bagel.

Pista could even be a go-to spot for a first date because of its laid-back vibe combined with its trendy and classy atmosphere and décor. At the same time, the long tables in the back are the perfect place to camp out for a few hours and get those readings done. All in all, I would highly recommend this unique café to all Concordia students seeking a classy and cozy place to study far from campus.

Café Pista

500 Beaubien Street East

Open weekdays from 7:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. and weekends from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Categories
Ar(t)chives Student Life

Selling textbooks without the hassle of the haggle

Three McGill graduates soon to launch a textbook-selling app for Concordia and McGill

As the new semester rolls in, so does a new textbook-exchanging app. Venndor, founded by recent McGill graduates Anthony Heinrich, Julien Marlatt and Tynan Davis, is a classifieds app with the goal of helping students buy and sell textbooks without the need for haggling or negotiating prices.

The beta app, also known as the first version of the app, has been live for two months at McGill.  This period permitted the founders to see how people were using the app and make any necessary changes before officially launching it at both McGill and Concordia. In the time of the beta launch, the app helped students sell textbooks, but also household items such as lamps and furniture. The app will officially launch for McGill and Concordia in mid-January.

The idea started over a year ago when co-founders Heinrich and Marlatt were frustrated because they were having trouble getting a good price for textbooks they wanted to sell. “People would just negotiate with you and haggle with you back and forth on Facebook postings. It was frustrating because it would lead to a lot of wasted of time and it wasn’t enjoyable,” said Heinrich. The app started as a business class subject. The teammates thought about a concept where the buyer offers a price without being given a starting price by the seller. They liked the idea of the final selling price being the middle ground between what the buyer offered and the price the seller initially had in mind. Heinrich gave the example of wanting to sell a phone for a minimum of $20. If the buyer offers $40 upfront, then the final selling price would be $30 if they were using the Venndor app.

This idea inspired the app’s name. Venndor comes from the term Venn diagram—a diagram of two circles overlapping to create a smaller ovalish shape in the middle of the two. The selling price of the textbook is therefore the middle ground, or the middle area of the Venn diagram.

Graphic by Florence Yee

The app includes a bookmark page that acts as a kind of ‘buy later’ section for undecided students. There is also an instant messaging page for buyers and sellers to correspond and arrange a meeting time and place. Instant messaging ensures that students don’t necessarily have to give any of their personal information to purchase textbooks.

In the fall of 2015, after Heinrich and his teammates got good feedback from their professor for their app idea in a class project, the students decided to enter the McGill Dobson Cup, McGill’s annual startup competition.

“We made it to the semi-finals. The judges weren’t really into it but we decided to go after the idea anyway,” said Heinrich. Then, the students got accepted into the 2016 McGill Summer X-1 Accelerator program, an intensive 10-week summer program that helps students create their startup ideas through training programs and seminars. “The entire thing was a huge learning experience,” said Heinrich.

Heinrich said this year’s focus will be observing how students use the app, in order to start planning any changes to the version of the app launching soon.

Categories
Student Life

Learning the language of university finances

Graphic by Thom Bell

The CAUT releases a new guide to help decode university budgets and financial statements

The Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT) released a financial guide to facilitate the reading of post-secondary institutions’ financial statements and budgets.

The 27-page guide, which was made available on Sept. 8, was written by University of Manitoba accounting professors Janet and Cameron Morrill.  According to the association’s website, the document is a step-by-step guide with the goal to assist academic staff in identifying and understanding the revenues, including types of funding, coming into post-secondary institutions.

The CAUT is a professional association that was formed in 1951 with the purpose of advocating for its members and academic freedom. Today, the association represents 68,000 teachers, researchers, librarians and other academic staff across the country.

Courtesy of The Canadian Association of University Teachers

David Robinson, CAUT’s director, believes the guide can benefit everyone. “I believe it’s useful for anybody who wants to know what the true financial status of an institution is,” he said in an interview with The Concordian. “So when institutions are saying: ‘We have to raise tuition fees because we’re out of money,’ here’s a way that you can interrogate that. It might be true, it might not be true,” said Robinson.

According to the guide, institutions get their money mainly from provincial governments, tuition fees and private donors. Professors Morrill and Morrill explained their approach to analyzing university and college financial statements is to identify the amounts and origin of the resources available to universities, in order to determine what kind of additional support for academic teaching and research the institutions’ revenues can provide.

Essentially, the guide not only makes reading financial statements easier, but it also ensures that the reader can begin to comprehend universities’ budget-cutting strategies to further analyze or question these strategies.

In a message posted on Concordia’s website on June 29, Concordia President Alan Shepard explained that the university’s revenues from grants and tuitions fees for the 2016-17 year weren’t enough to see a significant lowering of the deficit.

As a strategy to diminish the university’s $6.3 million deficit, this year’s budget included two different Voluntary Retirement Programs—one for full-time faculty, and one for staff members. These buyout programs, whereby professors are offered a certain amount of money to retire early, are a way to reduce university expenses by spending less on tenured, full-time professors.

Academic institutions’ financial statements contain a lot of columns, rows, and most of all, a lot of big numbers. Many of these numbers have been on the rise over the past decade.  According to a Canadian Federation of Students statistic cited in a 2015 CBC article, during the 1960s and 1970s, governments covered more than 90 per cent of costs for post-secondary institutions. By 2013, that figure was down to 57 per cent. According to Statistics Canada, public funding is lowering, and therefore, being dramatically replaced by rising tuition fees.

According to Statistics Canada, for the 2014-15 year, total expenditures were approximately $560 million higher than the previous year. Revenues from tuition fees was close to $500 million higher than the previous year. The total revenues of all Canadian colleges and universities for the 2014-15 year were close to $36 billion, a big jump up from $35 billion, the year before. According to Morrill and Morrill, many institutions claim to be in bad financial situations, but the numbers tend to make it seem otherwise.

The numbers are there, the numbers are big, and they can be confusing. What exactly does the “other fees” row in the financial statements refer to? And why is it only ever on the rise, whereas Health Canada revenues and “miscellaneous” revenues fluctuate from year to year? These are the kinds of questions that the guide sets out to answer, or at least, to clarify. “We try to establish whether the institution has unexpended resources that it could use to improve employee compensation and the sustainability of those resources,” explain Morrill and Morrill in the guide.

Concordia’s director of media relations, Chris Mota, says Concordia fully supports this guide, and what it is trying to accomplish.  “Financial literacy is something Concordia puts high priority on,” she told The Concordian. Mota said this kind of guide is useful for everyone, but student associations and the student press can especially benefit from it, as they are often faced with the task of dissecting university budgets and numbers.  “You can’t be an expert on everything, and universities have their own language,” Mota added.

The CAUT guide, and the questions it sets out to answer, are all part of the larger issue of academic institutions’ spending. While the CAUT guide cannot directly address the larger issue of where money should be going, it can provide information to help answer the crucial questions of where the money is going, and whether or not institutions are hiding anything in their cryptic rows of numbers and monetary amounts.

“It’s important for institutions to be transparent in their financial dealings. We think this [guide] provides an interesting way and a helpful guide to allow [CAUT] members, but also students and the general public, to get a clearer sense of the actual state of the university and college finances,” Robinson said.

Graphic by Thom Bell

Categories
Student Life

Mastering the art of budgeting as a student

Graphic by Florence Yee.

Are you an Avoiding Ostrich, a Striding Peacock, a Stashing Crow, or a Wary Owl?

On Aug. 24, Concordia’s Financial Aid & Awards Office presented the first workshop in a series of four similar events dedicated to helping students find the budgeting system right for them.

The first “Budget to Your Values” workshop, which took place in the Guy de Maisonneuve building last Thursday, was hosted by Judy Lashley, a financial advisor working with the Financial Aid & Awards Office at Concordia.  The second workshop took place on Aug. 25, and the last two events of the series will take place on Aug. 30 and 31.

During the workshop, Lashley explained that budgeting is essential for students because it is a tool that helps in long-term saving.  “A budgeting plan is a roadmap that teaches you how to do things in your life so that you are able to plan for your future,” said Lashley to the room full of students.

According to Lashley, one of the main issues students face when making a budget is not knowing what they want to do with their money, or what they see as their long-term financial goals.  To shed light on this issue, Lashley used a variety of handouts and fun games to better translate her expertise on money and budgeting systems.

Lashley created an interactive presentation.  Each student was handed a workshop folder containing budgeting instructions, a personality quiz, a customized envelope, a workshop evaluation form and an information sheet for the Financial Aid department at Concordia.  Her presentation also included a quiz, entitled “How do You Relate to Money?” The quiz analyzed participants’ personality types and aimed to understand the relationship they have with their money.  The results were divided into four bird categories, aimed to represent different budgeting characteristics: The Avoiding Ostrich (avoidance), Striding Peacock (overspending), The Stashing Crow (workaholic), and the Wary Owl (vigilance and fear).

Lashley explained that a budget can be something as simple as a piece of paper where you write down the money that comes in, the money that goes out and the money you want to put aside.  She also said that one of the best ways for students to save money is by using the envelope budgeting system. This way, the whole money-spending and money-saving process is more tangible, and you can physically see your money being placed and being spent.  Using cards all the time can make you underestimate the amount you dish out, said Lashley.

The envelope system works by calculating an estimate of your monthly expenses, dividing your expenses into different categories and assigning an envelope to each category.  With these, you can either put the cash for the month in the envelope up front or, you can put money in the envelopes weekly.  For instance, if you put $50 in your food envelope at the beginning of the week, then $50 is all you are allowed to spend on food until the following week.

Lashley also said it’s important to be aware of emergency expenses that may come up. Emergency expenses can include needing to purchase new ink for a printer or replacing broken electronics.  Lashley explained that the key to budgeting and saving money is to know what your values are, and to make appropriate decisions based on them.  “If you figure out what you value, you can figure out how to save money and create a budget that will help you do the things you want to do,” she said.

For more information, visit the FAAO website.

Graphic by Florence Yee

Categories
Student Life

The back-to-school grown-up checklist

Some of the adult shit you need to get done before school starts

So the five-month student holiday is coming to a close.  In only a short week, the time you once had for day-long hangovers, paralyzing sunburns and summer barbecue food comas will be over.

School takes up a lot of time.  September always turns way too quickly into midterms, and soon you will be reminded that the adult-life-things you meant to do over the summer never got done.  So now’s the time!

The week before classes start is the perfect time to get appointments out of the way.  Do you have a teeth cleaning that is way overdue?  Or maybe you meant to set up a meeting with your academic advisor this summer?  Book these things now! If you have phone phobia, a lot of appointments can now be made online.  If that’s not an option, then suck it up, real adults speak on the phone.

Once your appointments are cleared, get more paperwork-administration-type-stuff checked off your list.  Bills, address changes, unanswered emails…these things can be huge sources of stress.

Start by paying as much of your credit card as you possibly can.  I know it’s scary, but check your finances online, make sure you are in the clear and find out if you have the best credit card to suit your needs.  In September, school expenses can go through the roof, so it’s best to start the month with the least amount of money stress possible.

Next, clear your inbox.  Answer any emails you missed over the summer, unsubscribe to any newsletter you are really sick of seeing and delete, delete, delete!  Chances are, you will be using your email a lot during the school year, so why not have it nice and neat for the start of classes.

Ah, the joy of paying bills!  If you are still receiving bills, perhaps consider making the switch to online billing.  This eliminates the possibility of losing anything.  For certain bills like Internet, hydro and the many subscriptions you may have, there is often the option to sign up for automatic payments.  This is when the company automatically charges the amount due to your credit card each month.  While this option is extremely practical, make sure you check the amount each month to assure it makes sense.

Did you move this summer? Address changes don’t have to be a pain. Visit Service Canada’s website or La Régie de l’Assurance Maladie’s website to get a full checklist of steps you need to follow to complete your address change.  The checklists come with links that go directly to the page you need to make the switch!  It’s as simple as that.  Another option is to visit Canada Post’s website or brave a trip to your local Post Office.

After getting all or some of this shit done, you should feel one step closer to being a grown-up and perhaps half a step closer to being in the right mindset for lectures and assignments.

Cheers fellow capable adults! I give you all a warm welcome back to school.

Categories
Opinions

Words of wisdom & warning to a past self

Hello Marilyn,

This is you, in 2014. This letter is from me, to you, filled with things you wished you had known back when you first started at Concordia. Here we go.

Stop overthinking. Life is too short to be worrying and questioning yourself all the time. You’re allowed to make mistakes. Everyone does!  If you don’t make mistakes in life, you never learn true and meaningful lessons.

That terrible grade you are going to get in that random philosophy class in your fourth year? Get over it! What you can do afterwards is put a little more effort into your work.

Don’t stress about being a straight-A student. In fact, try to stress as little as possible. It is hard to be productive when you put so much pressure on yourself. There are much more important things going on in the world that should be worrying you. You had the courage and guts to pursue an education. Pat yourself on the back.

The only thing you can control in life is you. Expect nothing from anyone but yourself. You can be your biggest enemy, or your biggest supporter. If I were you, I would choose to take care of your mind, and body. Be your number one fan. It’s you against the world.

You’re going to end up switching programs, and it will be the greatest decision you make. You had to apply three times but you finally got that letter of acceptance from the journalism department. Even though you had to spend two years in English Literature, the process of being rejected time and time again and never giving up really shaped you as a person. It was a blessing in disguise.

Don’t ever take an 8:45 a.m. class. It could possibly be your biggest mistake. It’s also ok if you arrive to class a few minutes early to ensure you sit in the spot next to that hot guy who caught your attention on the first day. It’s also ok to wear lipstick that day too.

Lean on your friends. Don’t be afraid to ask for help. No one will judge you. If they do, well then they clearly aren’t your friends. Surround yourself with positive people. People who make your life better and more fulfilling. Erase the negative energy in your life because all it will do is make you miserable. You have no time for that!

You are going to fall in love and get your heart broken. I promise you that everything will be ok. Like all the other low moments in your life, you will come out of it a stronger, wiser woman.

Enjoy your time in university. There are so many great people waiting to meet you. Go out, grab a drink and relax every once in a while. No one will think you’re being an irresponsible student or adult for doing so. I bet the majority of students are drinking as I am writing this! Even I may be.

As demanding as school can be, this is honestly going to be the most amazing, eye-opening experience of your life, so don’t be in a rush. Yes, we all want to “graduate” as soon as possible so we can really start “living.” What you may not know is that this is the most exciting time to be you. Before you know it, you will be that 35-year-old wife and mother (at least I hope so!) who at times wishes she was 23 again, studying to become a journalist. One grey hair after another, you will realize how fast times flies and wish you would have enjoyed the moment of being young and carefree.

So take a deep breath in, and relax. Life is meant to be enjoyed.

Categories
Student Life

Living the rez life: Riverview is all about making you feel at home

Press photo
Press photo

Are you a young male looking to move to Montreal to study at university? Or are you currently living in Montreal but looking for a place to hang out or looking to receive some personal guidance in the many aspects of your everyday life? If you answered yes to any of these questions, Riverview is the right place for you.

Located at the corner of Avenue du Docteur-Penfield and Avenue Du Musée, Riverview Centre has served the needs of young men since it opened in 1968.

Riverview is a university residence in affiliation with the order of Opus Dei, an institution within the Catholic Church which has the primary goal of  “sanctifying ordinary work.” It is a 5-10 minute walk from both Concordia University and McGill University, making it very accessible to both schools, as well as the downtown core.

Accommodations, meals, laundry, and access to the facilities of the residence are available to students seeking refuge in the centre.

“These are essential so people can feel at home here,” explains Fran Gonzalez, the assistant director at Riverview.

“Besides that, there are mentoring programs for university and high school students, geared towards their making the most of this stage of their lives.”

There is also one-on-one personal guidance and spiritual activities offered by the Chaplain of the residence.

“A great joy is counselling students and guiding them in their challenges during this important time of their life. These are one-on-one conversations where I can listen, encourage, but also challenge them to really become the best version of themselves,” said Father Eric Nicolai, the Chaplain of the residence.

“I try not to be too abstract or theoretical, but give students real practical goals that they can apply during the week.”

“Riverview fosters, encourages and provides opportunities for students to grow as a whole person,” said JR Bugarin, a current resident of Riverview.

One of the most pressing questions people have asked about Riverview is whether or not you have to be a Catholic, since the residence is affiliated with the Church.

“You don’t need to. In fact, through the years we’ve had Protestant, Muslim and Hindu scholars, and also those who did not profess any faith,” explains Salvador Rego, the director at Riverview. “Talks about how to lead a Christian life, daily Mass and personal spiritual direction are available for those interested.”

John Chrobak, a university student and Montreal resident attends Riverview for the activities and guidance that it offers.

“Riverview is religious at heart and while religious activities are encouraged, they are never forced and over the years I have met many at Riverview with varying degrees of religious devotion,” he said.

“I find [Riverside] very beneficial for my personal life, the activities are interesting and informative, I enjoy spending time and strengthening my relationships with those at Riverview, and the food is always delicious.”

Chrobak is not the only one who attends Riverview on a regular basis despite not being a resident.

“Most of the friends I’ve introduced to Riverview later told me that there’s something about it that makes them feel reassuringly at peace, the same aspect which first drew me,” said a current student at McGill University.

“It allows me to detach myself from the world if only for an hour and to feel peace from all the stressing [about] midterm or essay deadlines, to think of the things that really matter in life.”

The Riverview Residence Centre is among many university residences accepting applications for the fall 2014 semester.

 

Categories
Student Life

How getting involved is “all about intrinsic motivation”

Photo provided by LingLi Lorigiano

TingLi Lorigiano is not your average 20-year-old. This first-year biology major and Italian minor student is no stranger to getting involved in both academic and community life.

Photo provided by TingLi Lorigiano

“What catalyzed my decision to join was wanting to be a part of the Chinese community; to get in touch with my cultural roots and be a part of something bigger than me.”

Lorigiano will also begin training for The Miss Chinese International Pageant this coming January in Hong Kong.

“It means a lot to me to be able to carry the torch of our multicultural Montreal, and of the Montreal Chinese community, all the way to Hong Kong,” she explained. “It’s an honour and I hope to embody all the strength that being an Italian-Chinese Canadian from Montreal gives me.”

Lorigiano said the best part of being involved in both these areas is being able to strengthen university-community development.

“Because I am both Italian and Chinese, cross-cultural communication has integrated itself into how I can better facilitate growth and accomplishment of the Concordia student body and the Chinese community.”

Lorigiano said her involvement with academic and social initiatives at Concordia came naturally. Both in high school and CÉGÉP, Lorigiano was actively involved in extracurricular activities, organizing events and clubs, and volunteering.

“I think it’s all about bringing students together and helping them achieve their personal, academic, and professional goals as best as possible,” she said.

During her first year at Concordia, Lorigiano decided to run for an ASFA executive position even though no first-year student had ever done so.

“My mandate isn’t even over and I’ve already learned how to lead better, how to manage teams and projects, how to push myself to being a better person both personally and professionally,” she stated. “Most of my learning has come from my peers and mentors that I was fortunate enough to meet along my way at ASFA.”

With pageant practice three times a week, a five-class course load, ASFA projects, and six final exams to study for all in one semester, Lorigiano explains how important her motivation is when it comes to being a part of so many things.

“Its all about intrinsic motivation.You need a drive, a vision, an inspiration. With purpose you can pave any path you’d like to take by being a goal getter and productive in all avenues.”

During her free time, Lorigiano enjoys Hatha yoga, song-writing, and tutoring as an alumni student at Vanier College. She shared her thoughts on what her future goals and aspirations entail:

“First and foremost I hope that I can finally put Montreal and Concordia on the map in the Miss Chinese International 2014 Beauty Pageant. As for future careers, I think my plans are still in the creative process. All I know is that it has to be something that will allow me the opportunity to have ideas and plans and goals to offer the world.”

Categories
Student Life

False claims say millennials have replaced good old-fashioned dating with casual sex

Millennials, also known as Generation Y, have been taking more and more criticism lately. The Time’s article entitled “The Me Me Me Generation” and various articles by both The Globe and Mail and Huffington Post are questioning the way this generation comports itself.

Photo from Flickr user DavidMartynHunt

With this, too, Millennials have been given the label of the “hookup generation;” the generation in which dating is dead, and all that they are interested in is instant, casual sex and endless one-night stands. But is this generation really having more sex than the last?

Two recent studies, one by Miriam Hospital’s Center for Behavioral and Preventive Medicine (focusing mostly on female undergrads), and one by the American Sociological Association at the University of Poland, have revealed that this generation is in fact having just as much casual sex as the last.

These two studies surveyed up to 1,800 college students on their sexual behaviour, ranging from the students’ frequency of one-night stands, to sex being had with a significant other.

What was found was that in comparison to the responses from a previous survey of the 1988-1996 generation, the amount of sexual partners of the Millennial generation was shockingly similar to those of the previous generation.

According to these studies, 31.9 per cent of the earlier cohort reported having more than one sexual partner in the past year compared with 31.6 per cent of contemporary college students.

So then why are Millennials still perceived as being a culture of hookups and casual sex?

With apps like Tinder and sites like OkCupid.com, it certainly has become easier to find more and more “sexy singles in your area.”

It’s possible that previous generations were having as many one-night stands, they simply did it the old fashioned way—meet someone in a bar and stumble home together. These apps and websites are simplifying the “hook-up” process.

What was found quite definitively in both studies is that the Millennial generation is “more likely than those from the earlier era” to report their sex lives. And, with the boom of Twitter, Facebook, and various other social websites that condone detailing every aspect of one’s day-to-day life, it’s certain that this generation has greater means and opportunity to advertise their having of casual sex.

But are we dating less? The Miriam Hospital study showed that “slightly more than half, 56 per cent, engaged in sex with a romantic partner,” at one point during the year, suggesting that students are still going through the somewhat committal dating process.

According to the study, it is also true that this generation is “coping with a new set of norms in which marriage occurs later,” and so it would follow that they are also talking before dating and getting into serious relationships.

Looking solely at the study results from Miriam Hospital and U of Poland, is seems that the claims that Millennials are the hookup generation are false.

Whether or not this generation has submerged itself into a hookup culture is debatable however what can be said is that we are certainly more quick to flaunt it our “action” than previous generations.

Categories
News

Student strike stalemate sways public opinion

If the Quebec government hoped to see the student movement against tuition hikes lose momentum with the end of the academic year, student leaders say they should think again.

Despite the Liberals’ attempts to appease the student protesters with first signs of interest in negotiating and promises of bursary bonifications, the government is currently taking increasing heat from businesses, universities and citizens, being urged to quickly find a solution to the ongoing stalemate.

Two weeks ago, the head of the Fédération des chambres de commerce du Québec warned that an extension of the winter semester would have repercussions on the number of students filling summer jobs, and would result in a serious blow to the province’s tourism and economy. Last week, the rector of the Université du Québec à Rimouski also urged Minister of Education Line Beauchamp to re-establish a dialogue with students and proposed to name a mediator.

“In this context of pre-elections, it’s going to be increasingly difficult for the Charest government to maintain their position [in favour of tuition hikes],” said Fédération étudiante universitaire du Québec president Martine Desjardins. “The government is expecting the movement to lose steam, but what we see is an increasing number of strike votes and an intensification of the movement.”

At Concordia, despite a one-week general strike and sporadic disruptions of classes and exams, the movement led by the Concordia Student Union will likely have no effect on the university’s academic calendar. Concordia spokesperson Chris Mota said the movement was not disruptive enough to make the university consider an extension of the winter semester.

In other universities, however, administrations are forced to adjust their schedules due to as much as eight weeks of general strikes in some cases.

UQÀR, Université du Québéc à Montréal and Université de Montréal are looking into extending the winter semester by at least a month and are hoping for a return to classes by April 16.

“Cancelling a semester would have disastrous economic consequences for universities and CÉGEPS,” said Desjardins. “It would mean having double the number of students next year, double the amount of professors and double the entire costs.”

Many departments in these universities have voted for an unlimited strike until their demands are met or until their student union puts an end to the movement. Added to that, the major student associations are informally respecting an agreement of non-denunciation and non-negotiation, where associations cannot question the legitimacy of other student groups’ actions, nor can they initiate negotiations with the government without the presence of all the major associations. The return to classes will likely depend on the government’s decision to negotiate with students.

For Desjardins, the threat formulated by Beauchamp warning students of academic consequences after the massive March 22 protest only proved the Liberal government had its back against the wall.

Beauchamp opened the window for negotiations for the first time last week saying she was ready to talk about improving the loans and bursaries program, but was adamant in her refusal to contemplate a tuition freeze.

“I cannot sit down at a table with students and discuss the topic of ‘to whom are we passing the bill to,’” Beauchamp told La Presse.

Although Desjardins praised Beauchamp’s effort to initiate negotiations, she said raising conditions for the talk was a bad start.

Desjardins also said that student mobilization against tuition hikes will continue to grow and actions will continue to be organized week after week, depending on the context and government responses.

“So far, it doesn’t look like we are stopping anytime soon,” she said.

At Concordia, there are still no signs of a petition that would initiate a third general assembly in order to vote for a continuation of the strike among undergraduate students. Concordia Student Union vice-president external Chad Walcott said that even if a GA was to be held by the CSU, “it would be very difficult [in the context of the end of the semester] to mobilize enough people in time in order to meet quorum.” However, Walcott said that the CSU would still participate in other organizations’ movements and said the union was ready to provide the necessary resources to students who “are keeping the movement alive.”

The major actions planned by student organizations so far are a protest in Premier Jean Charest’s Sherbrooke riding on April 4 and an outdoor show in downtown Montreal on April 5.

Information about future actions will be posted on the FEUQ’s, the Fédération étudiante collégiale du Québec’s and the Coalition large de l’Association pour une solidarité syndicale étudiante’s websites.

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Why is Quebec acting as if it has something to hide?

Graphic by Katie Brioux

Quebec has the highest high school dropout rate in Canada, but apparently we shouldn’t know or be concerned about it.

At least, that’s the message that the Ministry of Education is sending to the population by refusing to disclose the graduation data of hundreds of Quebec high schools to QMI Agency.

This data should be made public if we want something to be done to tackle the issue. According to QMI, the Cree School Board in northern Quebec recorded the highest dropout rate in the province in 2009-2010, with 90.1 per cent of students dropping out of high school.

Quebec Education Minister Line Beauchamp says that they will not release the data for “reasons of sensitivity” and students’ self-esteem. Is that really a valid reason? Absolutely not.

Theresa Bianco, undergraduate program director in Concordia’s department of psychology, believes that this reason is only a smokescreen.

“The ministry probably just wants to cover up how bad it is by not releasing the data,” she said. “They want to protect themselves.”

Hiding the dropout rate from the population won’t make it any lower. According to Statistics Canada, the dropout rate in Quebec between 2007 and 2010 was the highest in Canada at 11.7 per cent. The highest numbers were found in Quebec’s First Nations communities.

We must ask ourselves: Why is the dropout rate so high to begin with? In my opinion, the ministry wants to hide the numbers because it’s scared of the population’s reaction, fearing it would get criticized for not putting enough effort into reducing the dropout rate.

I think that the main reason for such a high rate is the lack of help given to students with learning disabilities. Teenagers who struggle to succeed in their classes are more likely to dropout of school when they turn 16, an age at which they are legally allowed to do so. If the government puts a stronger focus on helping students cope with their learning disabilities, the dropout rate would probably fall.

“There definitely is a lot more that can be done at a legislative level,” said Bianco. “Identifying the students at risk of dropping out and helping them succeed is one solution, because their schooling environment is definitely not suitable for their learning needs at the moment.”

Another reason is that there are no consequences for students who do not get a high school degree. Having the most basic level of education is not even a requirement to get certain jobs. However, if employers required that all their employees have a high school degree in order to get the most basic job, I’m sure that a lot more people would actually finish high school.

“Right now, there are no repercussions for students that drop out before they finish high school, with regards to jobs for example,” said Bianco. “But there should be, and I can’t stress enough how important I think it is to finish high school.”

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