After practicing as an MD for close to two years, Thomas Schlich chose instead to pursue his interest in the history of medicine. / Photo: John Kelsey

Researching the history of modern surgery

By Katherine Gombay

After G. Frank Lydston implanted a testicle from a recently deceased 18-year-old man into his own scrotum, the American surgeon reported feeling distinctly reinvigorated. This was in 1914, when the fashion for testicular transplants was reaching its peak. This is just one of the episodes that Thomas Schlich, from the Department of Social Studies of Medicine, details in his recent book, Origins of Organ Transplantation: Surgery and Laboratory Science, 1880-1930.

Doctors in the early part of the twentieth century thought that testicular transplants might help those who suffered from impotence or who had lost testicles to disease or accidents. Many also believed that these transplants had a particularly rejuvenating effect, linking the testes with force and energy.

Although some of the testicles which were transplanted came from humans, others were from sources as varied as monkeys and goats. And though, for the doctors who did them, such transplants were definitely a business proposition, it wasn’t only the upper classes that reaped the benefits. Schlich writes that a surgeon in 1921 “…implanted the testicles of a twenty-year old into a ‘run-down’ prematurely aged labourer in order to ‘generally freshen him up a bit’.”

 Surgical intervention

While the practice of testicular transplants lasted for just the first part of the twentieth century, the idea of cutting out diseased or damaged body parts and replacing them with healthy ones lies at the heart of modern surgery.

“It’s an idea that’s really quite peculiar…to open up a body and have the expectation that you solve a problem by doing so. If you look at history, 200 hundred years ago nobody thought that this would make a difference,” says Schlich.

Moreover, Schlich asserts that this idea, apart from a short 50-year period in China, is particular to modern Western culture.

It was around 1800 that a revolutionary shift took place in Western medicine. Until this point, physicians had tried to heal their patients by rebalancing the humours, which were associated with bodily fluids like bile and phlegm, and were influenced by the patients’ ways of living – what they ate and drank, how often they had sex, but, also by the weather and the winds. Physicians relied on practices like bloodletting or recommending particular diets (such as hot, dry foods for bodies deemed too cold and wet) in order to right the imbalances.

When they needed to, they also called on surgeons to deal with broken bones and various problems, such as skin tumors, occurring at the body surface. Surgeons charged less for their services than did university-trained physicians, and hence tended to be called upon more frequently. Until about 1800, they learned their trade through a two- to three-year apprenticeship, and were organized in guilds, which might also include barbers, apothecaries and even grocers.

But, starting at about the time of the French Revolution, everthing started to change. In France, the medical schools, which had been closed down for some years, were reopened when people saw that there was a need for trained medical practitioners. For the first time, surgeons also started receiving medical training.

 Turning the focus inward

At the same time, the traditional medical view of the surgeons, who were accustomed to dealing with problems in a localized way, started to be applied not only to the surface of the body but to its interior as well. Rather than conceiving of the body as being in balance with nature, it came to be seen as a collection of parts that could be treated separately. Schlich explains, “If you think disease is all about balance, it doesn’t make much sense to put in a new kidney. But the idea of things like skin tumors was now applied to the inside of the body, so you could have tumors in your stomach or an inflammation of your kidney and that would explain the disease.”

Along with this major conceptual shift, and a new style of professional training for surgeons, there were also improvements in surgical techniques, thanks to the development of modern anesthesia and better methods for preventing post-operative infections. Schlich is busy puzzling how all these factors came together. “It all had to happen simultaneously. In writing about surgery I’m forced to include the material and practical dimension of things. I have to look at what the interaction was between the knife and the issue and that’s what I find fascinating.”

The Neuro’s Dr. Peter McPherson co-led the recently puplished research on ARSACs. / Photo: Owen Egan

By Anita Kar

New research out of the Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital has traced a devastating neurodegenerative disease that first appears in toddlers just as they are beginning to walk to defects in mitochondria, the ‘batteries’ or energy-producing power plants of cells.

The disorder, Autosomal Recessive Spastic Ataxia of Charlevoix-Saguenay (ARSACS), primarily affects the cerebellum, a centre for movement coordination in the brain. ARSACS was first identified in the late 1970s in a large group of patients from the Charlevoix and Saguenay regions of Quebec. The incidence of ARSACS in this ‘founder’ population is 1 in 1,500-2,000 births, with a high carrier rate of 1 in 23. ARSACS strikes at an early age. Symptoms, which worsen over time, include poor motor coordination, spastic stiffness, muscle wasting, uncoordinated eye movements and slurred speech. Most patients with the disease are wheelchair-bound by their early 40s and have a reduced life expectancy.

ARSACS is not unique to French-Canada as scientists have found over 100 separate mutations in people worldwide including Japan, Turkey and across Western Europe.

The research significantly increases understanding of the disease and reveals an important common link with other neurodegenerative diseases, providing renewed hope and potential new therapeutic strategies for those affected around the world.

“This finding is the first important advancement in the 10 years since the identification of the mutated gene,” said Dr. Bernard Brais, neurologist at The Neuro.

In 2000, scientists identified the gene associated with the disease, called SACS, which produces a massive 4,579 amino acid protein called sacsin, but until now the role or the function of the sacsin protein has been unknown. The multi-institutional collaborative research led by Drs. Brais and Peter McPherson at The Neuro and Paul Chapple at Queen Mary, University of London, indicates that that the sacsin protein has a mitochondrial function, and that mutations causing ARSACS are linked to a dysfunction of mitochondria in neurons.

“By studying neurons in culture as well as in knockout mice (which do not produce sacsin), the team found that loss of the sacsin protein results in abnormally shaped and poorly functioning mitochondria,” said McPherson. This disruption led to defective changes in the neurons and eventual death of the neurons. In the knockout mice, these disruptions led to neuron death specifically in the cerebellum, suggesting that this is the basis for the neurodegenerative impairments suffered by ARSACS patients.

“Mitochondrial dysfunction has also been identified in major neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s and Huntington’s diseases,” said McPherson. “This common link means that research being done on a large-scale on these other diseases may prove critically informative to rarer neurological diseases such as ARSACS, and the inverse may be true, our findings may be fundamental to the study and treatment of other neurodegenerative diseases.”

Steven Blair delivers his fitness vs. fat message. / Photo: Nicolas Morin

Focus on fitness, not weight, Steven Blair advises

By Chris Chipello

Have the health problems associated with obesity been overblown?

In a word, “Yes,” according to Steven Blair, the pioneering exercise researcher and inaugural winner of the $50,000 Bloomberg Manulife Prize for the Promotion of Active Health.

And all the hype about rising obesity rates has obscured a bigger health problem: “the physical-inactivity epidemic,” the University of South Carolina professor told members of the McGill community at a forum on Jan. 12.

Blair’s message on “fitness and fatness” may have raised eyebrows among the listeners who packed the University Centre ballroom for his presentation, but he has mounds of evidence to back it up. During the course of a prolific research career, much of it at the Cooper Institute in Texas, his landmark studies have demonstrated that even moderate levels of physical activity are more important than body weight in determining longevity. Among his major projects: a 40-year study of more than 80,000 people to examine the importance of cardio-respiratory fitness.

Blair and his research team showed that as little as 30 minutes of physical activity a day (three 10-minute walks, for example) is enough to drive down mortality rates by 50 per cent – a finding that has helped shape current public-health recommendations for physical activity across North America.

“We could not have had a more fitting inaugural Prize winner,” said Dean of Education Hélène Perrault in introducing Blair at the McGill event. The Prize, founded in 2011 by Toronto-based investment manager Lawrence S. Bloomberg and corporate sponsor Manulife Financial, is administered by McGill and awarded to a researcher whose work promises to help improve the health and well-being of North Americans. Blair received the award on Jan. 11 at a ceremony in Toronto’s MaRS Centre.

Informing the public

A main goal of the Bloomberg Manulife Prize is to get important research findings to the public, and the folksy Blair showed why he’s such an effective messenger. Pointing to a bar chart on the overhead screen, he told his McGill audience that “the fat guys who are moderately fit have a death rate about one-half that of the thin guys who are not fit.” The 72-year-old Blair – who often jokes about being on the hefty side himself – paused to chuckle: “I love it.”

While many people contend that an increase in caloric intake is behind the rise in obesity rates, Blair argues the data for that argument are unconvincing. Important changes in methodology in a long-running U.S. national survey of eating habits, for example, need to be taken into account – and often haven’t been, even by serious scientists.

The obesity problem has been hyped “and the science is not very good, because too many (studies) haven’t taken physical activity into account,” he said. What’s more, doctors typically don’t even mention exercise when meeting with patients.

 Sedentary lifestyles making us fat

Blair and others on his research team argue that a major cause of obesity is the shift toward more sedentary jobs, and away from physical work such as farming, mining and manufacturing labour.

Not that obesity isn’t a health problem, he stresses. But “we need a new strategy for dealing with obesity; what we’ve been doing isn’t working.”

“We need a broad-based program” that deals with the “physical-inactivity epidemic” as well.

Blair’s advice: “Let’s stop talking about weight and obesity. Let’s focus on healthful eating. I’m not a dietician, but I know enough: Eat your fruit and vegetables – grandma taught me that – and focus on whole grain, rather than highly processed grain.” Don’t eat too much fat, especially trans fat, and consume alcohol in moderation.

And, of course, get in 30 minutes of exercise a day, five days a week, for the 150 minutes a week now recommended by the U.S., Canada and the World Health Organization. “Just 30 minutes a day, five days a week, can save your life, (and) certainly make a big difference for your health,” he says – whether you’re thin or fat.

By Cynthia Lee

When Dean of Arts Christopher Manfredi established the Arts Undergraduate Research Awards (ARIA) in 2010, his goal was to enhance the undergraduate experience for his Faculty’s students. Now in its third year, and having funded some 85 opportunities for undergrads to work closely with professors, it is safe to say that ARIA has achieved that goal.

ARIA pairs undergraduate students with their professors for the summer to conduct research in their respective fields. Recipients are awarded $4,000, with the Faculty and the respective professor footing equal parts of the bill.

The response from both sides has been very positive. What’s not to love about a program in which everyone involved comes out ahead? “ARIA provides the opportunity for undergrads to gain important skills for research. For the professors, it is another way to mentor students and gain the contribution of a keen undergrad throughout the summer,” said Mat Lyle, Internship Coordinator Faculty of Arts Internship Office.

Through ARIA students get a first-hand look at the research process, including what goes into writing grant and research proposals, and the brass tacks of working with archives and libraries and getting information from across the world. “ARIA’s importance stems from the connection it makes between the Faculty’s commitment to excellence in undergraduate education and support for leading-edge research in the humanities and social sciences,” said Manfredi. It connects world-class researchers with world-class students to provide opportunities to make research an integral part of the undergraduate education experience.”

The following are brief descriptions of four of the 37 ARIA-funded projects of 2011.

The second annual Faculty of Arts Undergraduate Research Event is taking place on Wednesday, Feb. 1, in Leacock 232 beginning at 4 p.m. This event will feature multimedia presentations from students and a research poster showcase. Participating students include those involved in independent and supervised research, as well as the 2011 ARIA recipients. For more information, visit www.mcgill.ca/arts-undergraduate-research/event

A grain elevator at Forestburg, Alta, owned by Prairie Hall Farms and operated by the Battle River Railway Co-op. / Photo courtesy of Darin Barney

Prof. Darin Barney, Art History and Communication Studies
John Watson, English

Project Description: The research internship was conducted for an ongoing project in which Professor Barney is investigating the manner in which changes in grain-handling technology in the Canadian prairies have affected the social political and economic life of prairie farming communities. The project pays special attention to the transition from iconic wooden country grain elevators to centralized high-throughput inland grain terminals, and to the abandonment of the railway branchlines that serviced the old elevators and their communities. The project is particularly concerned with how communities have responded to these technological changes, and includes a detailed examination of one prairie community’s efforts to establish Alberta’s first co-operative, grain-dependent, shortline railroad, the Battle River Railway.

“Of the many experiences that have defined my career as an undergraduate at McGill, being part of ARIA is ranked among the highest,” said Watson. “Although the research I conducted had little relationship to my coursework, it gave me an insight into the methodologies used within the social sciences and humanities. I was able to dive immediately into the vast pools of data and learned quickly how to hone my skills and pull out the relevant information. This is a style of research I was not previously accustomed to, but it has opened my mind to the broad scope of scholarly and professional fields and projects.”

For his research outlining the history of the Pagano Studio, Will Straw, left, enlisted the help of Joseph Henry. / Photo: Owen Egan

Prof. Will Straw, Art History and Communication Studies
Joseph Henry, Art History and German Studies

Project description: The Pagano Studio, which operated for most of the 20th century, was one of the largest photography studios in the country. Used by fashion magazines (it was one of the first studios to employ African-American models), by advertising agencies, and by the publishers of lurid true crime magazines, it contributed very much to the “look” of American culture in the mid-20th century. Destroyed by fire in the 1970s, the Pagano Studio left few archival records or historical traces. Henry examined newspapers, business directories, the records of photographic associations, fashion and photography magazines and a wide range of sources in piecing together the history of the Studio.

“The ARIA project primarily exposed me to research demands and methods that are almost never required or even suggested in my course work,” said Henry. “I had to consult historic news archives, hobby magazines, fashion catalogues, county clerk records, certificates of occupancy, photography catalogues, regional newspapers, advertising dailies. I learned a lot not only professionally – how to contact research networks, how to better use databases, how to organize materials – but intellectually, I gained an appreciation for cultural objects usually not considered in academic work, and the benefits they provide when piecing together a certain scholarly conception of cultural phenomena.”

Mist rises from the Atlantic ranges of the Panamanian Cordillera. Photo courtesy Daviken Studnicki-Gizbert

Prof. Daviken Studnicki-Gizbert, History
Laurianne St-Onge, Latin American and Caribbean Studies

Project description: Central Panama has been occupied by humans for over 11,000 years. It is also one of the first ‘hearth zones’ of Native agriculture in the Americas. Over the last 500 years it has been claimed and occupied by Spanish colonizers, English and French contrabandiers, Afro-Caribbean gold miners, and a range of indigenous peoples. It is a culturally complex territory and this has been reflected in the changes to the landscape over decades, centuries and millennia.

“Laurianne’s project consisted in mapping out the long-term dynamics of this landscape,” said Studnicki-Gizbert.

“One of her key findings is that human occupation has moved in and out of the area. This opens an important place in our analysis for natural ecosystem processes as historical actors in their own right. Her work also tracks fascinating stories of cultural change and recombination and how these were reflected in landscape dynamics.”

“Spending a summer researching mainly on the pre-Columbian and colonial periods in Panama definitely proved to be more entertaining than I thought it would be,” said St-Onge. “Mixing two different disciplines such as geography and history pushes back the limits of what one can do with a good research subject, the right sources, and creativity. I learned how to use two distinct perspectives at the same time, trying to make the best out of each.”

Tanya Bindra visited poor areas outside of Manila to better understand the conditions of unemployment, enderemployment and poverty that prompt nearly 4,000 Filipinos to leave the country each year.

Prof. Jill Hanley, School of Social Work
Tanya Bindra, International Development Studies and Women’s Studies

Project Description: The ARIA research focused on the processes through which migrant workers are recruited from the Philippines into the Canadian labour market via the placement agency system. Low-skill migrant workers are so often caught in precarious, unsafe and underpaid jobs, regardless of their previous professional experiences or whether they are documented or undocumented.Understanding the role of intermediate organizations such as placement and recruitment agencies is important in understanding the links between economic restructuring policies in the Philippines and the creation and transnational mobilization of large, cheap and exploitable pools of labour across borders.

“By working closely with community groups, social workers, and activist organizations, my research was directly informed by the demands, strategies and struggles of migrant workers and migrants without status,” said Bindra. “I was also able to grasp a broader understanding of migration policy formulation, development approaches and international human rights law, concluding my report with a series of policy recommendations aimed at producing a framework to better address the malpractices of private recruitment agencies. Ultimately, I was able to gain practical insight into understanding the ways academic research can be used to promote social justice and support international solidarity movements.”

Mcgill Master’s students Josée Méthot (left) and Julie-Anne Ames (right) during a trip to the desert.

By Julie Anne Ames and Josée Méthot

Sometimes life gives you lemons, and sometimes life gives you a three-day, all-expenses-paid trip to Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates, where you get to rub shoulders with Nobel Laureates, astronauts, musicians and close to 200 students from the top universities in the world.

The Festival of Thinkers, a biennial event that began in 2005, is designed to gather a critical mass of great thinkers and students to discuss ways of fostering creativity at both scientific and social levels. Participants are encouraged to work together using lateral thinking while designing possible solutions to the world’s major challenges.

Organizers of the 2011 Festival – held this past November – targeted graduate students from the top 80 universities in the world, and sent a last-minute invitation to cover all funding besides travel for two McGill students.

As a pair of Master’s students from the McGill School of Environment, we quickly wrote applications and within two weeks we were on a plane to the Middle East. We were both nervous, and used our airport layovers to Google questions like ‘what to wear in Abu Dhabi’ and ‘the political system of the United Arab Emirates.’

This was our first time in the Middle East, and there was a steep learning curve.

 Inspire, innovate, invent

The founding philosophy of the Festival of Thinkers, organized by the Higher Colleges of Technology, is to energize promising youth to inspire, innovate and invent. This year, roughly 180 students from universities in Asia, Africa, Europe, the Americas and Australia gathered to discuss issues ranging from the current economic crisis and global environmental sustainability, to poverty, food security, education, technology and the arts.

Advertisements for the Festival of Thinkers 2011 lined the streets of Abu Dhabi. / Photos courtesy of Josée Méthot

During one panel session, Charlie Duke, an American astronaut who walked on the moon during the Apollo 16 mission, spoke of how, when looking at the Earth from space, politics become fiction and geopolitical boundaries dissolve. Duke said that our blue planet becomes just another lonely ship floating through space – the human lifeship. As we all sat entranced in the presence of a man who walked on the moon, Duke explained that if you aren’t an environmentalist before going to space, you certainly come home one.

 Lavish lifestyles

Apart from lively discussions, roundtables, and intense international networking, several events took place at the spectacular Emirates Palace. The Palace is home to the only ATM in the world that distributes gold bars; just in case you are walking through the lobby and notice you are short a brick or two.

On the evening of Nov. 15, Sheikh Nahayan Mabarak Al Nahayan hosted a lavish, eight- course meal under the open sky, accompanied by live circus performances, traditional dances, Emirati hip-hop and two firework displays of mind-blowing orchestration. There was even a red carpet – a definite surprise for students used to laboratories and libraries.

Abu Dhabi is not known for subtlety– luxury vehicles purr across impeccable freeways and the city’s skyline is spotted with cranes erecting marvels of modern architecture. Indeed, the extravagance of oil-rich Abu Dhabi and the 2011 Festival of Thinkers stood in stark contrast to a key message of the conference: that we need to create a sustainable, just and flourishing world. For us, the experience was a lesson in contrasts.

For example, a panel on the global economic crisis saw former Kentucky Governor and Kentucky Fried Chicken entrepreneur John Y. Brown argue for entrepreneurship as the engine of economic growth, while Dr. Fidel Castro Diaz-Balart, scientific advisor to the Cuban State Council, argued for an economy grounded in the production of social welfare.

We met inspiring peers from around the world, and as we all tried to think our way through the complexities of the global challenges that face us, our conversations often turned toward the need for action. Together as students, we share much in common with our peers, regardless of borders.

All in all, the Festival of Thinkers was a fantastic opportunity for learning, free thinking and collaboration in an exotic and exciting environment.

On the flight home to chilly Montreal, we were still trying to process the experiences from our whirlwind trip to Abu Dhabi. In the span of five days in the United Arab Emirates, we had rode camels, met astronauts and Emirati royalty, brainstormed with incredible students from around the world, and began to chip away at some of the world’s most pressing puzzles. We are hopeful that these lessons and connections will snowball into real change.

Perhaps one of the greatest take-home messages was given by Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Betty Williams who, after winning the Prize for her work in Northern Ireland in the 1970s, continues to spread a message of peace and education around the world:

“I think what we really fall down on is teaching humanity. We can make lawyers, engineers and teach skills, but we need to start making the whole human.”

Julie Anne Ames is a Master’s student in Geography. Josée Méthot is working on her MSc in Natural Resource Sciences (Faculty of Agriculture and Environmental Science). Both are affiliated with the McGill School of Environment.

Some Senators call for further measures

By McGill Reporter Staff

The McGill administration accepts and will implement all six recommendations in Dean of Law Daniel Jutras’s report on the events surrounding the campus protests of Nov. 10, Principal Heather Munroe-Blum told Senate at its meeting Wednesday.

Before confirming detailed plans for implementation, however, the administration will take into account the Senate’s discussion of the Jutras Report as well as any additional feedback from the McGill community, Munroe-Blum indicated at the outset of the Senate session – the first since the report was published on Dec. 15.

Jutras told Senate he hoped his report would mark “the beginning of a conversation” about the issues touched on in his recommendations. Those issues include open debate on the meaning and shape of peaceful assembly on campus; the mandate of McGill security services, particularly with regard to civil disobedience; and the need for continued dialogue with Montreal police and other off-campus emergency services concerning their appropriate role in on-campus disturbances.

Several senators praised the report for providing a clearer understanding of what happened in and around the James Building on the afternoon of Nov. 10, when 14 protesters occupied the building’s fifth-floor administrative offices and riot police used shields, batons and pepper spray to disperse a large crowd of protesters outside the building.

Some senators called for measures beyond those recommended in the report.

Sen. Darin Barney, the Canada Research Chair in Technology and Citizenship, cited a letter sent to Munroe-Blum last month by the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, which urged her to lodge a complaint with the Police Ethics Commissioner “so that the matter of the police presence on campus and the action they took can be properly investigated and dealt with.”

Systemic gaps and failures implied by the report’s recommendations, Barney added, are “inexcusable in the context of a university campus, where political protest is – or should be – understood as normal and healthy, especially in a city with a long tradition of political activism.”

Senator and Law Prof. Richard Janda said the University shouldn’t shrink from examining “difficult questions” raised by discussion of the report, including accountability for “collective shortcomings” in how security was handled and how the “securitization of the campus” prior to Nov. 10 may have contributed to the events of that day.

Senator and Architecture Prof. David Covo noted that, in addition to its formal recommendations, the Jutras report touches on the need for “substantive and symbolic gestures” to rebuild mutual trust between all constituencies of the McGill community. The report mentions “the social construction of space” within the campus, and particularly the removal of student services from the James Building. That transformation has reduced the opportunity for “chance encounters” between “a first-year student or a new hire and senior members of the administration on campus” – an issue that deserves further exploration, Covo said.

Student Senator Matthew Crawford, who was among the fifth-floor occupiers on Nov. 10, said the action was intended not as a “traditional occupation” with a list of demands, but as a way to “break down the alienation that apparently exists between members of the administration and the student body.”

The six recommendations in the Jutras report call for:

– an open forum for members of the University community to discuss the meaning and scope of the rights of free expression and peaceful assembly on campus;

– revisiting the standard operating procedures of McGill’s Security Services;

– establishing fixed lines of communication between Security Services and the various constituencies on campus, particularly student groups and University community organizations;

– a review by university authorities of their immediate response to the events of Nov. 10 from the point of view of emergency management;

– establishing clear guidelines allocating authority to call for police assistance in the context of demonstrations, occupations and other forms of civic protest

– efforts to continue developing a working relationship with the neighborhood police stations and the authorities of the SPVM, to establishing a shared understanding of the role to be played by the police in the context of civic protest on campus.

To view the webcast of the Jan. 18 Senate discussion of the Jutras Report visit: http://bcooltv.mcgill.ca/Viewer1/?EventID=201201101279

Bob Willard tells conference participants how he quantifies and explains cases for sustainability to business people. / Photo: John Kelsey

By McGill Reporter staff

When the student-run Desautels Business Conference on Sustainability was launched in 2003, the very notion of persuading companies to embrace environmental and social goals may have struck many hard-nosed executives as an ivory-tower fantasy.

But a confluence of factors is rapidly changing that view: mounting evidence of climate change, growing concern over food safety, and looming battles over shrinking supplies of fresh water, to name a few.

For a growing number of companies, sustainability is no longer seen as a slogan for starry-eyed idealists, but a necessary strategy for long-term competitiveness and brand value.

So it was fitting that theme of the ninth annual edition of the Desautels conference, held Jan. 19-21, was “Sustaining Success.”

Featured speakers this year included Craig Kielburger, founder of the youth-driven charity organization Free the Children, and Bob Willard, a McGill graduate who has become a leading expert on quantifying and selling the business value of corporate sustainability strategies.

The conference, held Jan. 19-21 in the Bronfman Building, drew around 90 student participants, including about 20 from other universities across Canada and four from the U.S. While most delegates are in business programs, students from fields such as engineering, science, the arts and environment studies also attend the annual event.

“We had student delegates this year from as far away as the University of Alberta and UBC,” said Anne Pigott, the Environment student who co-chaired the conference. “Some of the students who came up from the U.S. were looking to our conference as an example to follow.”

McGill set to launch computer-based notification system

By Neale McDevitt

There is an old adage about hoping for the best but planning for the worst. This can apply to everything from farming to family finances. But it is especially true in the field of security.

What would happen if disaster struck McGill? A raging fire, a dangerous intruder – how would the extensive, widely scattered University community be alerted to get out of harm’s way or, if not in the immediate vicinity already, avoid wandering into a potentially dangerous situation?

The answer is Alertus, a computer-based emergency mass notification system that can post an immediate message to the desktop of most of the estimated 20,000 computers at McGill at the press of a button.

 Instant notification

“It is an incredibly simple tool for users,” says Emergency Measures Officer Bruce Lapointe. “People with access can log into the software interface and select the message that they want to post. They hit ‘send’ and that message automatically pops up on people’s computer screens.

“And it doesn’t interrupt any processes that are running on your computer,” says Lapointe. “If you’re uploading a file and you get a notification it doesn’t freeze your computer. Your file keeps uploading.”

End of January launch

Most messages will let recipients click ‘Acknowledge,’ thereby getting rid of the message. In certain cases, such as in buildings that need to be evacuated immediately, that option won’t be available – making sure that the same people who have been known to ignore fire alarms and keep working don’t have any reason to linger.

Alertus will be launched on Jan. 31, but people shouldn’t expect a lot of fanfare. In keeping with the need for a system that is as unobtrusive as possible, the software will be installed automatically to all computers supported by IT Customer Services. The small minority of people using Macs and older computers on the MED IT network will have to request that the software be installed on their respective machines.

The system automatically updates new computers added to the McGill network or those of people who have been on vacation or extended leave. A test of the notification system is scheduled for mid-February.

Lapointe encourages students with personal laptops to download the Open Source program. That way, when they are on campus, they will be notified along with everyone else should an emergency situation arise. “We want to be able to inform as many people as possible in as short a time as possible,” he says.

After a successful pilot project, the textbook rental program at the McGill Bookstore is now expanding, thanks to the work of Patrick McGovern, the store's course materials manager. / Photo: Owen Egan

McGill Bookstore’s expanding textbook rental program

By Katherine Gombay

For those in the know, there was little surprise last week when Apple announced its entry into the textbook market. “Textbook publishing is a bit like the Wild West,” explains Jason Kack, the general manager of the McGill Bookstore.

“Five companies control 85 per cent of the market. Last year they made more than $8 billion just in the U.S.,” adds Patrick McGovern, the materials course manager at the bookstore. “If a professor assigns a certain text for his class the sales can be huge, and the profs often stick to the same text for a long time.”

But though this situation may be good for the publishers, the price tag for students can be pretty hefty. McGovern estimates that engineering and management students may spend as much as $1,000 a year on their textbooks, depending on the course materials that have been assigned.

With this in mind, the bookstore has adopted a new program where they rent out textbooks to students at 60–65 per cent of the full price. It’s a model that is fairly common in the U.S., where there are federal regulations in place designed to protect students from excessive textbook costs, and it’s now spreading to Canada.

After a pilot project last term, where the bookstore started with just six titles and a total of about 80 books, the program has now grown to 20 titles this semester, ranging from engineering to management and art history. Students are allowed to do a reasonable amount of underlining and note taking in the textbooks, and as long as they are returned on the date that has been agreed upon, there are no additional charges.

Although the bookstore is planning to continue to expand the textbook rental program, maintaining it calls for a carefully calculated balancing act. “We are committed to providing the best service we can to the students, which is why we got involved in the textbook rental program in the first place,” explains Kack. “But part of our mandate is to help fund certain programs in the McGill community. Over the past six years we’ve contributed $3.5 million to McGill. A large portion of this then gets redistributed in the form of bursaries through Student Life and Learning. And we absolutely want to be able to keep on doing this.”

Students interested in finding out whether the titles they need are available through the textbook rental program should contact the textbook information desk: texts.bookstore@mcgill.ca or call 514-398-8354. Rental texts will continue to be available until early March.

McGill Debating Union member Joe McGrade continued his hot streak after his return home from the World Championships. He and his partner, CEGEP student Ariel Shapiro, won the McGill-hosted Laurier Cup debating contest (in French) January 13-15. / Photo: Owen Egan

Debating Union member takes Top Speaker award at world championships

By Jim Hynes

Joe McGrade is a man of many words. And his verbosity served him well indeed at the recent World Universities Debating Championship in Manila, Philippines, where the member of the McGill Debating Union (MDU) was crowned Top Public Speaker.

McGill has a long history of strong showings in the “Worlds” public speaking category. MDU member Riva Gold took home first place in 2010, following up on wins by Andrew Zadel in 2001 and Adrianne Thomas in 1994.

That said, calling McGrade a dark horse winner this year would be a major understatement. The 20-year-old Toronto native and third-year Economics major wasn’t initially picked to be part of the eight-person (four teams of two) MDU contingent that participated in the event that brought the world’s finest university debaters to Manila’s De La Salle University Dec. 27 to Jan. 4. McGrade applied to be a participating debater, but didn’t make the cut, even after two more spots opened up when a McGill pair dropped out of the long and expensive trip. He was slated to go to Manila as one of three McGill judges until the MDU was eventually offered a spot for a fourth team.

In Manila, McGrade was one of approximately 70 debaters who signed up for the event’s Public Speaking competition, where the goal, he said “is to be a good speaker, to win hearts and minds.”

In his first speech, about “the difference between First World problems and real problems,” he combined his cutting sense of humour, love of righteous indignation and his experiences and observations of Manila.

“The university we were in was very nice and the hotel was beautiful. And then you’d go around the corner to get a coffee and it was completely different,” says McGrade, who has been a public speaker since his elementary school days and started organized debating in Grade 7. “People were living in abject poverty. And I felt terrible standing there in my dress shoes and shirt with my latté.

“During the tournament, everybody was complaining about the silliest things: the coffee was terrible, the elevators lines were too long, the writing pads that they gave us were too small. And so my first speech was about the main contribution that the debaters were bringing to Manila being a lowering of the bar of what a problem is.”

His speech resonated with the judges, who sent him and nine other finalists along to the next round, this time on a big stage. There, he answered the question “Why do you debate?” with a winning speech about being addicted to it – “Hi, my name is Joe and I have a debating problem.”

Meanwhile, back at the main debating event, McGrade and partner Emma O’Rourke-Friel were creating a pleasant surprise of their own. After nine rounds of debating topics like private health care, the free movement of labour, and defamation laws in academic discourse, they finished in 47th place out of approximately 350 teams, making them they highest placing Canadian team.

“That was surprising. I mean we were ‘McGill D’. They weren’t going to take me!” McGrade laughs. “It felt good. I thought that I was good enough to go. And I’m glad that I showed I was.”

McGrade and his MDU teammates will participate in the North American Debating Championships at the University of Toronto this coming weekend. The Canadian national championships, which McGill captured as recently as 2010, take place at York University, March 16-18.

To learn more about the McGill Debating Union, visit: http://ssmu.mcgill.ca/debate/