The Tribune
TUESDAY, MARCH 31 2026 | VOL. 45 | ISSUE 25
Published by the SPT, a student society of McGill University
NEWS
Post-secondary and CEGEP students strike against austerity in education
OFF THE BOARD
Great pitch, terrible news PG. 11
PG. 2
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FEATURE
Your health, your problem PGS. 8-9
OPINION
We can’t all be superheroes After another year spent watching and reporting on student activism, I can see that I was wrong... PG. 6
(Alexa Roemer / The Tribune)
McGill must stop shielding Israeli institutions from scrutiny The Tribune Editorial Board
T
he McGill administration’s recent effort to obstruct the Law Students’ Association’s (LSA) referendum epitomizes its blatant disrespect for student expression and democracy. From March 19–21, students in the Faculty of Law voted in favour of a referendum endorsing the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI). The referendum, introduced by the LSA, passed with 57.3 per cent support and a 67.3 per cent voter turnout. The referendum called for a formal boycott of all exchange and collaborative partnerships with Israeli academic institutions, collaboration with the PACBI Committee, and academic initiatives promoting solidarity with Palestinian scholars. However, ten minutes before the ballots opened, then-interim (since declared full) Dean of Law Tina Piper and McGill Provost
EDITORIAL
and Executive Vice-President (Academic) Angela Campbell sent a joint letter to all law students and professors dissuading the referendum’s passage, dangerously labelling it as discriminatory toward Jewish students and in breach of the LSA-McGill Memorandum of Agreement (MoA). Piper and Campbell’s intervention is a reprehensible violation of McGill students’ right to free and fair democracy, with administrators using disinformation and fearmongering as tools to obstruct student expression. The referendum’s focus on institutions is not incidental, as Israeli universities are not merely neutral sites of learning, but active participants in the production of legal, military, and ideological frameworks that shield state violence from accountability. By conflating a boycott of Israeli institutions with antisemitism, McGill has diluted the impact of a word representative of horrifying hatred and PG. 5 violence.
Walking for change: Relay For Life raises funds and builds community
STUDENT LIFE
MSCS promotes solidarity for those facing cancer
Kaitlyn Schramm Managing Editor
A
round 44 per cent of Canadians will be affected by cancer in their lifetime; estimates project 254,800 new cancer cases throughout Canada in 2025 alone, compared to 196,900 in 2015. With increasing numbers comes the growing need for resources to fund research and programming, as well as the need for a robust community to manage the emotional, physical, and financial toll of battling cancer. On Sunday, March 22, McGill students showed out to match these growing needs. Students, survivors, and family members met in the Tomlinson Fieldhouse for an afternoon of group activities and walking laps. According to organizers, the event drew the largest turnout in the history of McGill’s participation in the nationwide fundraising initiative Relay For Life. At McGill,
Relay is run by the McGill Students’ Cancer Society (MSCS), a team of 33 students working behind the scenes to make the event possible. The group is made up of two presidents, 12 directors, and 19 subcommittee members, all divided into seven committees that manage different aspects of the event, from recruitment to the survivors’ committee. Each team plays a key role in building what has become one of the university’s most impactful student-led initiatives. At McGill, the event combines a sense of community with tangible impact. MSCS’s CoDirector of Recruitment Amy de Lataulade, U3 Arts and Sciences, described both the scale and significance of the event in a statement to The Tribune. “The event aims to fundraise for cancer research and support service, honour survivors, and create a community around those affected by canPG. 11 cer,” de Lataulade wrote.