The Tribune
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 25 2025 | VOL. 44 | ISSUE 20
SPORTS
McGill athletes strive for victory in playoffs PG. 7
Published by the SPT, a student society of McGill University
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FEATURE
OFF THE BOARD
Knit purl, knit exhale
A struggle meal, among friends
PGS. 8-9
PG. 5 (Hannah Nobile / The Tribune) Tribune)
Swim, men’s hockey, women’s volleyball, and track competed over the past week
PG. 7
SSMU’s VP Finance could be hired, versus elected, after the Winter 2025 Referendum NEWS
Other change on the ballot includes cutting the VP Sustainability and Operations position
Mairin Burke News Editor
T
he Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) Legislative Council approved the Motion Regarding Amendment to the Constitution on Feb. 13. Two items of the motion are now up for student vote on the Winter 2025 Referendum ballot: The decision to hire instead of elect the SSMU Vice-President (VP) Finance,
and the choice to cut the SSMU VP Sustainability and Operations role entirely. Hugo-Victor Solomon, current SSMU VP External, began drafting a motion in the Fall term to make VP Finance hired after learning that under a VP Finance with no fiscal or accounting experience who dispensed funding liberally, the SSMU went into a $1.3 million CAD deficit. Both Solomon and SSMU President Dymetri Taylor attributed
current VP Finance Pauline Jolicouer’s background in finance as a reason why SSMU has managed to achieve a $290,000 CAD surplus this year. Solomon described the prevention of disaster and positive ripple effect having a strong VP Finance has on SSMU’s operations. “Given that SSMU does manage a portfolio of essentially $10 million [CAD], you want to have faith that someone in that position knows how to do their job, so that everyone else can do theirs,” Solomon said. PG. 3
President Deep Saini owes EDITORIAL Privatization derails McGill students more than his own transportation accessibility The Tribune minibus system are the catalyst for fierce opposipartisan renditions Editorial Board tion from union members and riders who argue OPINION
Lachlan DeAtley Contributor
M
cGill President and Vice-Chancellor Deep Saini’s recent messaging surrounding the on-campus pro-Palestine protests against investments and ties to Israel have repeatedly characterized those involved as violent and vandalizing, leaving little mention of the intent behind their actions. His language does
not merely criticize the breaking of windows— to me, it paints the protestors as threats to order itself, erasing the political urgency that led to their demonstration. This fear-mongering language—referencing mob rule, cacophony, and terror—functions to spread antagonism towards the protestors’ destruction of property, both on the night of Feb. 5, when protestors smashed the windows of variPG. 6 ous McGill buildings, and prior.
M
ontreal’s public transit system is at its breaking point. Ongoing weather and power disruptions to the Réseau express métropolitain (REM) light-rail network, budgetary challenges within the Societé de Transport de Montréal (STM), and most recently, the looming threat of privatization of essential transit services have left users and workers frustrated. Recent plans to outsource STM’s paratransit
that privatization will increase costs and reduce service quality for those who rely on accessible transportation. With public transit funding stagnating and private interests creeping into essential services, Montreal must make a choice: Invest in a robust, publicly-controlled transit system, or risk an unreliable, inequitable future shaped by corporate priorities. The need for sustainable public investment has never been more urgent. PG.5
The Tribune presents SSMU Winter 2025 SSMU Endorsements (PGS.15-16)