The Tribune
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 6 2023 | VOL. 43 | ISSUE 1
Published by the SPT, a student society of McGill University
THETRIBUNE.CA | @THETRIBUNECA
EDITORIAL
FEATURE
STUDENT LIFE
Protect our Floor Fellows, or lose them
Asbestos in Canada: A forgotten killer
The Tribune’s guide to digital declutter
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PG. 8-9
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(Maïa Salhofer / The Tribune)
Martlets shine in rugby season opener against Bishop’s Gaiters
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McGill TAs allege $1 million in wage theft by the university AGSEM launches ‘No More Free Hours’ campaign to combat TA overwork Ghazal Azizi Contributor As McGill students returned to campus for the first day of classes on the morning of Aug. 30, they were greet-
ed by food trucks and music on McTavish Street as part of the Association of Graduate Students Employed at McGill (AGSEM)’s rally for better contracts. AGSEM, the union representing teaching assistants (TAs) and invigilators at McGill’s downtown and Macdonald campuses, has been in
‘The Pop of Life!’ captures the bold spirit of the Pop Art movement The new MMFA exhibit showcases local and global works from the ‘60s and ‘70s Mia Helfrich Contributor Bright reds, yellows, and blues frame the stunning new Pop Art exhibit at the Montréal Museum of Fine Arts (MMFA), which features works from iconic international artists
like Andy Warhol and Eduardo Paolozzi as well as Québécois trailblazers like Pierre Ayot. Iris Amizlev, curator for the MMFA since 2020, curated The Pop of Life! to be interactive, cozy, and exciting, while at the same time integrating the serious themes of political
tension, consumerism, and scientific discovery from the 1960s and 1970s. “The art is very serious and it’s very cerebral, but it’s also very delightful and fun. It’s a real reflection on what was happening at the time,” Amizlev said in an interview with The Tribune. PG. 14
pre-negotiation talks with the university since July 2023, when their collective agreement (CA) expired. AGSEM alleges that McGill steals $1 million in TA wages annually by exploiting the assistants’ labour and making them work beyond their contracted hours. PG. 2
The sky’s the limit—or is it? McGill hosts a panel to explore the future of space colonization Russel Ismael Contributor McGill hosted the eighth Interstellar Symposium from July 10 to 13 and assembled a stellar panel of experts, ranging from National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) engineers to space lawyers, to discuss how to expand civilization into
space. The public panel featured: Alan Stern, the engineer in charge of the NASA New Horizons mission to Pluto and beyond; Philip Lubin, director of the University of California, Santa Barbara Experimental Cosmology Group; Erika Nesvold, a co-founder of JustSpace Alliance; and AJ Link, a space lawyer from
Howard University. Stern began the panel by revealing the technology NASA is researching to make traversing the stars easier. “Our corporate mission is to develop a fusion drive that can take us to stars in a century or less. How’s that?” Stern said, which prompted a cacophonous applause. PG. 10