Matthew Passalent joins SK Zadruga AICH/DOB as his first professional team after his tenure at McMaster

Before stepping on to the court as a member of SK Zadruga AICH/DOB, Matthew Passalent began his volleyball journey in the various volleyball camps hosted by McMaster Athletics & Recreation. As such, he fostered good relationships with the coaches there, so joining the McMaster University men’s volleyball team was not unfamiliar territory for Passalent. He described his transition as very welcoming.

In his first year on the McMaster volleyball team, he followed the guidance of the senior members. He watched many of their games prior to enrolling at McMaster — he looked up to them and modelled his game after them. 

“It was awesome to have the opportunity to practice with [the McMaster athletes], watch them play up close and get a good grasp on their mentality,” said Passalent.

Passalent explained that he received more playing time and entered more of a leadership role as the years progressed. He recalled how during his fourth and fifth years, the rookies looked up to him in a similar way that he looked up to the upper-years during his rookie year.

“It was awesome to have the opportunity to practice with [the McMaster athletes], watch them play up close and get a good grasp on their mentality,” said Passalent.

Aside from playing as outside hitter for the team, his position varied from opposite to outside hitter. He did not receive much playing time during his rookie year; he played a few points at the end of matches. It was not until around his third-year Passalent started for the team.

“We have really good older guys, playing for Team Canada, the junior team, etc . . . It was really hard to crack a starting spot in your first or second year,” said Passalent.

“We have really good older guys, playing for Team Canada, the junior team, etc . . . It was really hard to crack a starting spot in your first or second year,” said Passalent.

Passalent recounts his biggest achievement during his tenure at McMaster was winning the Ontario University Athletics gold medal in his third-year. 

“It was a record of winning the OUA championship in six consecutive years. That was my third championship. It's really cool to be a part of the team and a part of history,” said Passalent. 

With regards to personal awards, he has the most pride for receiving the OUA West Player of the Year during his fourth-year.

“When my coach told me, I was really shocked because I was injured for most of the year,” said Passalent.

In winter 2019, Passalent and the team participated in the 2019 Can Am Holiday Volleyball Showcase in which teams from the United States and Canada competed against one another. Passalent recollected how this was a major downside in his career, having won no games at the invitational tournament. However, after playing in this tournament, the team bounced back with a major win against Trinity Western University, then the top team in U Sports.

Playing overseas has been quite different on the court for Passalent. He stated how many players come from different parts of the world while learning different techniques.

“I just thought it would be how I was used to in Canada. But we were doing drills I never heard of. It was really fascinating. It's definitely good to learn a lot,” said Passalent.

“I just thought it would be how I was used to in Canada. But we were doing drills I never heard of. It was really fascinating. It's definitely good to learn a lot,” said Passalent.

In fall 2020, Passalent joined SK Zadruga AICH/DOB in Austria to play for his first professional team. 

“It was a completely different vibe. This town I was living in was very small. Everyone knew each other. You can walk to anywhere in town within 15 minutes. Being from such a small town, the team had hardcore, dedicated fans. It felt like a really great atmosphere at the few games I participated in,” said Passalent. 

Adapting to this new lifestyle was not as difficult as Passalent thought it would be.

“I found that I had to get into a strict schedule. I feel I had to keep eating and fueling myself, doing it at the right times. It's a grind out there. If you don't take care of your body, it will come back and punish you,” said Passalent.

As the team predominantly spoke English, Passalent did not run into many language barrier issues. 

“I found that I had to get into a strict schedule. I feel I had to keep eating and fueling myself, doing it at the right times. It's a grind out there. If you don't take care of your body, it will come back and punish you,” said Passalent.

A typical day for Passalent begins with waking up at 7:30 a.m., eating breakfast and then working out at 8 a.m. Afterwards, he would go grocery shopping to make a bigger breakfast and take a midday nap. Then, he would join the team for lunch followed by recreational activities, such as watching Netflix. Around 6:00 p.m., the team would practice until 8:00 p.m. Lastly, he would cook a large dinner and head to bed. 

Before Passalent tore his rotator cuff this past October, he participated in four qualifying matches as part of the CEV Champions League for the 2020-2021 season.

“The pool we were in was tough. We were slated as underdogs. We had to play the third-ranked team and number one team in Russia,” said Passalent.

In his first game with the team, Passalent led the team in scoring as they captured a win. Despite this victory, the team lost the rest of their qualification matches. Passalent was only able to play in the first three until his shoulder injury occurred. He states that most likely he will need to get surgery, following a four-five month recovery time. 

“Hopefully I see myself still playing volleyball but maybe in a higher-level league like in Italy, France, Germany or Turkey, as they also pay better money,” said Passalent.

While recovering from his injury, Passalent will actively seek out a new contract to head back onto the court, either with SK Zadruga AICH/DOB or a brand new team.

Graphics by Sukaina Imam

Hamilton city council recently declared a climate emergency and pledged to substantially reduce the city’s greenhouse gas emissions. While the declaration carries symbolic weight, the ambitious emission reduction targets can only be met if city council commits significant resources towards climate change measures. Climate activists and city councilors weigh in on what this will mean for the city.

On March 27, Hamilton city council finalized the decision to declare a climate emergency in the city of Hamilton.

The decision comes as a result of a report from the United Nations intergovernmental panel on climate change released in October 2018. The report found that, unless humanity limits global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius, there will be a risk of long lasting and irreversible changes that will result in major loss of life.

The report found that limiting global warming to 1.5°C would mean reducing carbon dioxide emissions to 45 per cent of 2010 levels by 2030, and reaching net zero emissions by 2050.

“Limiting global warming to 1.5°C would require rapid, far-reaching and unprecedented changes in all aspects of society,” stated the report.

Hamilton city council has joined a number other Canadian cities, including Kingston, Vancouver and Halifax, who have pledged to reduce emissions to meet these targets.

The declaration instructs the city manager to put together a multi departmental task force and present an emission reduction plan within 120 days.

 

A climate emergency

According to the 2018 vital signs report released by the Hamilton community foundation, Hamilton has double the per capita GHG emissions compared to other greater Toronto and Hamilton area cities.

The 2015 community action plan set the goals of reducing GHG emissions by 20 per cent of 2006 levels by 2020, 50 per cent by 2030 and 80 per cent by 2050. The new goals, however, are more ambitious.

By declaring a climate emergency, the city aims to communicate the degree of risk to the public and demonstrate that the city is taking the issues seriously. During the board of health meeting, environment Hamilton climate campaign coordinator Ian Borsuk noted that it is important to show the public that the city understands the severity of the issue.

Additionally, a major goal of the declaration is to coordinate municipal action to develop a centralized strategy for dealing with climate change. This will take the form of a multi departmental task force across city departments.

“This isn’t something that can be left as a side project, this isn’t something that can be left as another file, this is something that needs to be part of what the city does every single day,” stated Borsuk during the presentation.

 

Charting a Course

At the March 18 board of health meeting, presenters from environment Hamilton made suggestions to the city about ways to reduce emission levels by the target dates, noting that the city has already taken significant measures to reduce GHG emissions, but can do more.

One suggestion was to expand and improve public transit. Currently, Hamilton street rail ridership falls short of projections by about 10 per cent. The city is currently working towards a 10 year plan to improve HSR service, which includes improving service and adding capacity.

After industry, transportation is the largest emitter of greenhouse gas in Hamilton. According to Hamilton 350 coordinator Don McLean, transportation is one of the areas that the city can make the biggest difference. By extending bus service and making transit more affordable, McLean sees potential for large increases in ridership.

McLean also notes that Hamilton charges some of the lowest parking fees in Canada. The city owns some parking facilities, and has the ability to tax parking lots separately in order to drive pricing. In order to incentivize people to take public transit, McLean says, the parking rate has to be considerably higher than bus fare.

“Why switch to a bus if I can park downtown all day for $4?" he asked.

Another suggestion that environment Hamilton made to the board of health was to develop a “green standard” for new public and private buildings. By mandating energy use limits, the city can make a substantial difference in emissions.

Environment Hamilton executive director Lynda Lukasik also noted during the presentation that enhancing green infrastructure would help the city meet its emission targets. This includes measures such as bio soils, better managed storm water, and planting an urban forest.

Urban canopy currently sits at about 18 per cent, which is 12 per cent below the official target. Expanding the urban forest would help draw down emissions, reduce stormwater flows, and mediate heat effects.

In order to meet these goals, multiple environmental organizations across Hamilton have suggested that the city commits to applying a climate lens to all of its decisions. Similarly to the equity, diversity and inclusion lens equity, diversity and inclusion lens announced in March, the climate lens would evaluate all city actions in terms of their climate impact.

 

Unprecedented Changes

One of the main challenges for meeting the emission reduction targets is resource availability. During the board of health meeting, ward 3 councilor Nrinder Nann pointed out that achieving the commitments would likely involve retrofitting almost every building across Hamilton and switching to electric or hydrogen fuel cells for vehicles. Implementing these measures would require substantial investments of time and money.

Currently, the community climate change action plan receives provincial funding from the proceeds of the cap and trade program. However, the province scrapped the cap and trade program in October 2018 and has pulled funding from other environmental initiatives. Therefore funding for the emissions reduction plan would likely have to come from other sources.

Ward 4 councilor Sam Merulla noted that the challenge will become clear once staff reports the budget to city council within 120 days. If people hear that their taxes will increase, they may be resistant to implementing the plan.

However, Nann pointed out that even though dealing with climate change requires immediate spending, it will generate revenue in the long term. Additionally, inaction will incur high remedial costs.

Another challenge for meeting the emission reduction targets is industry. Industry accounts for 83 per cent of Hamilton's emissions, a large percentage of which comes from steel mills. However, steel mills are under provincial and federal jurisdiction, meaning that the city does not have direct control over their emissions.

Despite this, notes McLean, the city can work towards offsetting emissions through agricultural practices and reforestation.

 

Is it enough?

Even if the city manages to reach the emission reduction targets in time, McLean worries that it will be too little, too late.

Climate change is a cumulative problem, meaning that all GHGs currently in the atmosphere will continue to contribute to warming, even if emissions stop.

“The kinds of things that are being talked about now are the kinds of things that should have been very actively implemented 30 years ago,” he stated. “ If you've got a cumulative problem then setting any date in the future as to when we should stop is too late.”

In order to make the climate change emergency more than a symbolic gesture, the city will have to dedicate significant resources and implement regular checkpoints to reduce emissions. The true weight of this declaration will become clear once the task force presents the emission reduction plan to city council. To achieve net zero emissions by 2050, the city has to implement unprecedented changes across all aspects of decision-making.

 

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Photo by Kyle West

By: Neda Pirouzmand

Being a student should involve learning about global issues. I have only recently become aware of the opportunities that McMaster University has to offer for global education beyond the tutorial rooms, lab spaces and lecture halls.

On Nov. 2, the film “I am Rohingya: A Genocide in Four Acts” was screened at the Concert Hall in L.R. Wilson Hall. When a close friend told me about the screening, I did not think much of it. It was only afterwards when I talked to her about the film that I realized what I had missed.

The documentary was a heart-wrenching production that showed the story of the Rohingya people against the ongoing escalation of military violence in their homeland of Burma. Fourteen young Rohingya refugees act in the film to retell their families’ oppressive experiences in Burma which include brutal beatings, kidnappings and killings that have impacted over half a million individuals within the community.

Following the screening, there was a panel discussion with the director Yusuf Zine, the producer and cast members. The impact of this event cannot be understated. Not only did McMaster promote a film that provides insight into global affairs, but it also gave students a chance to hear a first-person account of the vision and process of executing such a film.

In partnership with McMaster’s Office of International Affairs, Zine’s special film screening was part of MacGlobal. MacGlobal, which took place from Oct. 22 to Nov. 9, showcased three weeks work of programming to shine light on international perspectives.

One can only imagine how much work went into planning and executing this amazing three-week initiative. MacGlobal was created by the university in support of McMaster’s Global Engagement Strategy, as outlined in the 2016 document “The McMaster Model for Global Engagement: A Strategy Document”.

Back in 2016, the university had set a priority to develop a strategy that would increase its integration of internationally-inspired programming. This document continues to be a key player in the progression of said strategy, and will hopefully inspire more initiatives like MacGlobal.

A key quote in this document is that there must be a call to action for “the transformation of the university on its own ground, whereby […] our approach to any problem is informed by a global awareness.” This is the kind of perspective that we should be seeking from all of our degrees, and it should be made possible for students from any faculty to achieve.

The unfortunate thing is that you have to actively seek opportunities like MacGlobal or know someone involved in them, as they are otherwise difficult to find. Part of this issue is because we lack streamlined communication of events occurring on campus on any given day. The monitors across campus can only show so much, OSCARplus offers a select niche of events and our Twitter accounts are just as selective.

This is something our student leaders should consider addressing. What can be done to create a central hub for daily opportunities, events and special programming to be accessible to all students and faculty members? Questions like this are worth considering so that events like MacGlobal do not go unnoticed by a large proportion of the McMaster community.

This is what we need more of. We need it because this is the kind of stimulation and education that is missing from many of our courses. The kind of learning that comes from MacGlobal is the kind that makes you a more informed global citizen. It sheds light on things that we can become oblivious to in our student bubbles. With this new insight comes a greater ability to learn and apply knowledge.

Without a doubt, I have learned an extensive amount of information and developed a variety of skills thanks to my classes. However, what I believe I still lack in my current undergraduate education is an integration of course material with current and relevant global issues or contexts. Until this can be achieved in-class, initiatives like MacGlobal should be made known to more students on campus.

 

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The title and kicker for the physical edition of this article were accidentally changed from what was originally planned for publication and do not represent the work of the author.

By: Humza Khan

Stephan Paddock’s actions of firing into a crowd of 22,000 concertgoers from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Hotel, carrying out the most devastating shooting in US history has traumatized the world.

In addition, the media’s refusal to dub Paddock as a terrorist has ignited an important debate regarding the definition of terrorism.   

My goal in writing this is to shed light on the debate surrounding the definition of terrorism and to suggest that there is a major problem of inconsistency in the labeling of individuals as terrorists.

Additionally, I aim to show the importance of debate in formulating a clear definition of what constitutes an act of terrorism and a terrorist.

If you Google the names Dylan Roof, Adam Lanza and now Stephan Paddock, and compare these with names with names like Omar Siddiqui Mateen, Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev and Rizwan Farook, you will quickly realize that all of these men committed similar atrocious crimes intended at targeting and terrorizing the civilian population.

Where you will see an apparent difference, however, is how the media insisted on referring to Roof, Lanza and Paddock, and many others like them, as “lone wolves” or “shooters” while referring to the latter group of Muslims as “terrorists” and “jihadists”. This discrepancy has led me to question the definition of terrorism and to show the importance of labeling both groups of people the same.

Referring to the actions of Muslim men as “terroristic”, while simultaneously referring to same actions of westerners as “acts of pure evil” (as quoted by Donald Trump in the immediate aftermath of the Las Vegas Attack) is highly problematic.

The statements largely made by the media and by governmental officials directly and wrongfully reinforce the “us versus them” dichotomy by wrongfully reserving only the actions of Muslims as terroristic.

I distinctively remember going to McDonald’s the day after the Las Vegas attack and looking at the front page of the Toronto Sun with the heading “Act of pure evil”.

The same evening, I came across the heading “Terrorist attack in Edmonton”, referring to the stabbing of a police constable by Somalian refugee, Abdulahi Hasan.

My goal is not to suggest that Omar Siddiqui Mateen and others alike are not terrorists, but rather to suggest that the similar actions of Paddock should also have earned him the title of a terrorist because failing to do so strengthens the “us versus them” dichotomy and clouds the definition of terrorism.

The statements largely made by the media and by governmental officials directly and wrongfully reinforce the “us versus them” dichotomy by wrongfully reserving only the actions of Muslims as terroristic.

What I find rather interesting about the Las Vegas case is that the State of Nevada under the sections 202.4415 and 202.4439 of the Nevada Revised Statutes explicitly define terrorism as and terrorist as the following:

Terrorism: “any act that involves the use or attempted use of sabotage, coercion or violence which is intended to:

(a) Cause great bodily harm or death to the general population; or

(b) Cause substantial destruction, contamination or impairment of…”

Terrorist: “A person who intentionally commits, causes, aids, furthers or conceals an act of terrorism or attempts to commit, cause, aid, further or conceal an act of terrorism”.

From a legal standpoint, it is quite evident that Paddock’s actions of firing 281 rounds in 30 seconds in a crowd of 22,000 civilians earn him the title of a terrorist.

More importantly, however, is that even if we chose to call Paddock a lone wolf it is imperative that we also label Omar Siddiqui and others alike with the same label to ensure legitimacy and consistency.

As a graduate from the Justice, Political Philosophy and Law program at McMaster, one of the more valuable things I learned in my program was to critically evaluate information and arguments instead of taking them at face value.

It is this message that I leave you in reading this, to evaluate and analyze complex information and arguments that you see before blindly accepting them.

As informed McMaster students, and the leaders of tomorrow, it is our duty and responsibility to ask hard questions and debate complex issues and only then come to conclusions.

I urge you to critique and evaluate my opinions above, to debate openly with other students, because it is only through such discourse we can come to understand the complexity of these problems and become more informed in our opinions.

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By: Emile Shen

Peter Mascher is both the William Sinclair Chair in Optoelectronics and the Associate Vice President of International Affairs at McMaster. These two equally exciting positions may seem dissimilar at first, but engineering, university education and global partnerships with institutions are crucial right now.

Mascher explains that because we live in a global environment, “McMaster should provide students with not just discipline-specific education, but students need to understand how they both as persons and educated peoples in a particular discipline, fit into the global environment.” In the two years since he was appointed to the VP International Affairs position, Mascher has focused on broadening our international connections with regions and countries that we haven’t previously engaged with. His global consciousness is present in his office, where there are dozens of artifacts and souvenirs from several continents.

Although Premier Wynne’s delegation was primarily focused on creating business partnerships, relationships were also built between Indian Institutes of Technology and Ontario universities. IITs are considered the top level of university in the Indian system, including disciplines like finance, medicine, mathematics and engineering. Mascher shares that, “The fact that universities and colleges were invited to participate shows that the Premier does place an importance on high education.”

In India, Mascher signed cooperation agreements with five prestigious IITs in New Delhi, Chandigarh, Hyderabad and Mumbai. McMaster has had a relationship with some of these schools already because since IITs have produced high-calibre graduate students who attend school abroad. Mascher explains that, “Now, as the IITs are becoming important research institutions, these common interests on a research level are better at building partnerships.” Furthermore, signing these agreements broadens the opportunity for student mobility and internships for McMaster Students.

“Now, as the IITs are becoming important research institutions, these common interests on a research level are better at building partnerships.”

Mascher signifies that “there is going to be more and more room for graduates who have a broad spectrum of knowledge and experiences.” Building these opportunities, therefore, is hugely beneficial. His advice to students is that, “large international companies that want people who aren’t afraid to spend time in another country. They want people who are comfortable being a member of a team where members come from different backgrounds.”

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