In the Silhouette’s Oct. 18 issue, a news story and an editorial doubted that a fall break for 2013 would be possible.

The MSU had not yet launched its survey for gathering input on the break, and time was running out for the idea to pass through the University’s multi-tiered approval process. We argued that students union president Siobhan Stewart needed to forget surveys and quickly push forward if she hoped to get the job done. And even then, it was a long shot.

This week, we were proved wrong.

The MSU launched a survey, got a significant amount of feedback and took the information to University administrators. Undergraduate Council allowed the setting of next year’s academic calendar to be pushed to early 2013.

On Wednesday, Senate voted. There will be no classes on Thursday, Oct. 31 and Friday, Nov. 1, and there will be no tests on Saturday, Nov. 2. And the break will run again in 2014. With the exam period in December shifted forward two days and shrunk by one, no faculties will drop below their required number of teaching days.

It’s not a week. But it’s a break, just as was promised, and it was born out of a lot hard work. It’s a start, and it will help people.

Nice work, Siobhan. And to everyone else, have a happy Halloween.

Undergraduate students will be getting a three-day break next year from Oct. 31 to Nov. 2. The fall break will run from a Thursday to a Saturday, allowing two weekdays off and a test ban on Saturday, Nov. 2.

The University Senate unanimously passed the motion for a break Wednesday afternoon.

Due to restrictions on the number of instructional days for certain faculties, the number of class days (62) will remain the same. The exam period has been pushed forward two days and shortened by one day, and will run Dec. 6 to 20.

MSU president Siobhan Stewart was tearful as she addressed the room before the vote. A fall break was part of her platform when she ran for president early in 2012.

“It has been my dream for over a year to have this passed,” said Stewart.

“Several times when I’ve talked to students, [I’ve found] they think things can’t change at the University, but this is an opportunity to show that it can.”

The pilot will run two academic years in a row beginning in 2013. After the trial, the University will decide whether or not to make the break permanent.

By implementing a break in the fall term, McMaster follows practices of other universities in Ontario, including U of T and Queen’s. Other universities, like Ryerson, Trent and the University of Ottawa, have fall reading weeks.

The University of Windsor had a trial reading week in 2009 and decided not to reinstate it the following year.

Students feeling stressed out are now able to turn to another avenue on campus. The MSU’s peer support phone line opened as a pilot project Wednesday night at 7 p.m.

Students can call the confidential line at McMaster extension 28888 between 7 p.m. and 1 a.m. on Wednesdays and Thursdays.

The service is a confidential “warm-line” as opposed to a hotline, which means volunteers are trained to pass off emergency calls to professionals. While they aren’t therapists or counselors, 20 volunteers have been trained by Security Services and the Student Wellness Centre to listen to their peers talk about issues they’re coping with, from academics to sex.

MSU president Siobhan Stewart, who proposed the phone line in her campaign platform last year, said the program “fills a niche” in campus mental health support.

“Mental health is a spectrum. Some students don’t want to go to the Student Wellness Centre because what they’re dealing with isn’t severe, but that doesn’t mean they’re mentally healthy.”

Stewart said the structure of the MSU’s support line is modeled closely after Laurier’s peer help line, which has been run by its students’ union for ten years. Other universities in the area, including the University of Ottawa and Western University, have similar programs in place.

Stewart hopes the peer support line will become a permanent service after its pilot run finishes at the end of the term.

“Sometimes you don’t want to talk to a friend [about your problems]. You want to talk to someone who doesn’t know who you are,” she said.

 

When former MSU President Mary Koziol read the list of candidates running this year, her first instinct was to e-mail Suzan Fraser, who was president in 1988.

“Seven people running, not a single woman” was the gist of the message.

The lopsided ratio this year has raised eyebrows, but it’s not extremely unusual at this university. Historically, more men than women have run in MSU elections, and there have been other years when no women ran—1994, for example, saw 12 candidates vying for the position, all of whom were men.

When Koziol won in 2010, she was the first in 22 years to break a streak of male presidents - something she still feels is an important accomplishment.

“I thought, we need to break the streak but we also need different models of leaders out there. People need to see that you don’t have to fit a certain mold - and it’s not just about being male. A lot of people think leaders must be very outgoing, aggressive, assertive, charismatic - none of which I particularly identify with,” she said.

When she was involved in student politics, Koziol was often described as being passive.

“I think it was very assumption-based. At the SRA table, for example, I didn’t speak a lot, but that’s not because I didn’t have opinions. That’s not the same as being passive. I’m a very passionate person - I’m very assertive when it’s called for.”

Koziol is among only four women presidents elected in the history of the MSU. The three others are Ann Blackwood (1979), Suzan Fraser (1988) and current president Siobhan Stewart.

Like Koziol, Stewart has noticed the buzz around the skewed ratio this year.

“I’ve had people bring it up to me—both men and women,” she said.

The issue was also raised at the debate held in the Student Centre on Tuesday.

“People are excited when you represent them. If the electorate is diverse then you would want to see candidates being diverse,” Stewart said.

But the shortage of women running doesn’t mean there’s a lack of interest among potential female candidates.

“I know women who have considered running and in the end chose to back a male friend,” said Stewart. “Anybody can technically apply, but there are other barriers.”

It’s hard to pinpoint why more female students at McMaster don’t go out and get signatures for nomination.

Various factors could be at play in the choices women make, or don’t, about running: how women are socialized to deal with public scrutiny and view positions in political office is one of them.

“The student body has demonstrated that people are willing to vote for a strong female candidate – I don’t think there’s discrimination there necessarily,” said Koziol.

“I think the larger problem is the way we socialize men and women that leads to more men running. When women run, they have a really good chance of being elected - but they don’t [run].”

Koziol and Stewart were each the only woman running in their respective elections, which were a year apart.

“I was told repeatedly not to put women’s issues at the forefront of my platform,” said Koziol “I think that’s an interesting dynamic — that it’s okay to be female and run for an election, but you have to be careful about how proud you are about being female.”

Both she and Stewart recognized that running or being known as “the girl” in an election can lead to tokenization, although being the lone woman didn’t deter them from winning.

Stewart said she knows why she gets recognition for being a black female president, but she wants it to “not be noteworthy.”

“I’m not sure I want to be ‘the female representative’ or ‘the black representative,’ said Stewart. “You should pick your candidates based on platform and values, not gender.”

Stewart and Koziol agreed on the notion that an MSU policy to increase female representation may not work in practice, the idea being that a woman could be criticized for winning a seat because she was a woman and not because she was deserving of the seat.

“For me it doesn’t solve the bigger problems,” said Stewart.

The underrepresentation of women extends beyond the MSU to all levels of government. In Canada, women occupy roughly 22 per cent of seats in the House of Commons. The percentage is marginally higher (about 23 per cent) on municipal councils and in provincial legislature.

“I don’t think the discussion [of underrepresented women in student politics] would occur naturally within the student body. The broader society would need to change first,” noted Koziol. “I think the most important work the MSU can do is through forums.”

For women who’ve thought about or are considering running for MSU president, Koziol has some advice to offer.

“I would say, number one, seek out a mentor. You need a support system,” she said. “I’d like to see women really question why they’re not going for stuff like this. I think it’s a tricky thing to navigate: could you actually not do this, or do you just think you don’t fit the mold?”

 

He had no intention of coming back. But here he is, running for MSU president for the second year in a row. David Campbell, current VP (Administration) of the MSU, is following the footsteps of previous VPs and sticking around to aim for higher office.

RELATED: Selected questions and answers from our interview with David

“One year just isn’t a lot of time to get projects done,” he explained. “We have all these projects on the go with the whole organization that I want to see continue, and so I decided to run to see that happen.”

His 2012 campaign was popular, but ultimately put him in a close second to Siobhan Stewart. He considers this reason to stick to similar campaign points, and a strategy of being upfront and honest with voters, making the spirit of both years the same.

Campbell’s campaign is very practical. As the candidate most familiar with the inner workings of the MSU, he insists that he knows what can be achieved in a year-long term.

“My platform shows that I have a much greater understanding of what can be done, what should be done, and feasible ideas. I think I have a balance of that,” he argued. “In looking at the other candidates’ platforms, I don’t see that nearly so much.”

A series of simple points, such as adding more outlets around the student centre and extending library hours, promise concrete and tangible results. He is also adamant about saving students money by eliminating redundant part-time student fees in the summer, a point that has been echoed by other candidates, as MAPS is already under fire.

But while other candidates dream big, Campbell ultimately thinks inside the box. His campaign counts on students valuing the little things the MSU can do, rather than motivating them to effect bigger changes. If students are happy with the direction the MSU is headed, Campbell definitely has the skills and the know-how to keep it on track.

Stewart pursues sustainability initiative based on student feedback

For most students, November brings the thought of the semester finishing, exams starting, and the winter break setting in.

But MSU President Siobhan Stewart has her sights set on the spring.

Stewart’s green roof initiative, a project designed to convert the third-floor balcony of the McMaster University Student Centre into an eco-friendly sitting area and garden, is on track to be completed for next summer. The project was a key platform point of her 2012 presidential campaign.

Green roofs have been growing in popularity at universities and other institutions across Canada. Stewart explained that the inspiration for the green roof  at Mac came from two students who were involved with OPIRG, who proposed the project three years ago.

The idea of converting an already existing space into a more workable and sustainable place was an appealing choice for McMaster for a number of reasons, among them the concern of an overpopulated campus with too little public space.

“Students are always talking about the need for space on campus,” said Stewart. “And as many can imagine, new buildings don’t sprout up every day.”

She noted that part of McMaster’s unique situation is that campus is “landlocked,” bordered by residential neighbourhoods on three sides and Cootes Paradise on the other.

Mac student Melanie Fox-Chen is also passionate about the green roof project. The fourth-year biology student was an intern at McMaster’s Office of Sustainability this summer, and spent her term investigating the best practices of green roofs. The advantages of such a project are numerous, she found.

“It maximizes the usable amount of space on campus, which is really good,” Fox-Chen explained. “It just provides a green space where students can seek to relax and unwind from a stressful day.”

Her research, which looked into a range of issues, including food production, plant life, rainwater collection, and community involvement, was used to create a survey that was given to students this summer.

The feedback from the survey, which drew 600 responses, was used in drawing up further plans for the project. The responses showed that the majority of people would appreciate a “calm, soothing environment,” while they also indicated support for edible plants to be grown, as well as species native to Southern Ontario.

Stewart stressed this element of student feedback as a means of making decisions.

“I’ve been trying to consult a lot with students. From an efficiency standpoint [it’s not ideal]… I could have just put everything together, but that’s not my style.”

Only so much progress can be made on the roof at this point, however. The organizers may have a sense of what people want, but before any construction happens, the MSU must wait while the project is out to tender.

“It’s not like the MSU can just get a shovel and go to town. It doesn’t work like that,” Stewart said in explaining the process of getting university approval.

The next phase is choosing a plan for the space. The MSU, in partnership with Facility Services, invited eight architects to submit proposals for their services in October. The team chose a firm to contract out for the work, and will now see three more specific sets of plans drawn up. Before a final design is chosen, Stewart will seek further student feedback.

It is not clear whether or not the roof will be completed by the end of the academic year, Stewart said.

“My goal is at least for it have been started before the end of my term, or for all of the logistics to be done…so all it would take would be a green light.”

MSU President Siobhan Stewart talks about fall break at a focus group discussion on Nov. 13.

The MSU has released a survey to get feedback from undergraduates on a possible fall break at McMaster.

As of Nov. 14, more than 2,625 responses had been received since the survey opened on Nov. 4. The purpose of the survey is to gauge the student appetite for a break and help determine the most effective length and type of break.

At a focus group discussion on Nov. 13, Stewart said the timing of the survey was in part to allow first-year students a few months to adjust to university life.

“They can comment as students who have had at least one midterm,” said Stewart.

Stewart said she was aware of the accreditation needs of various faculties such as Engineering, Social Work, Nursing and Commerce. Students in some faculties are required to complete more credit hours than those in other faculties.

“I know there are accreditation standards, but I think it’s possible for faculties to find a creative way around it,” she said.

Stewart said there has been discussion on the University administration's side about possible pilot projects, including talk of a pilot for first-year students only, though no concrete plans have been made.

“I’m confident we can do something in the interim, if that’s what students want,” she said. “If students indicate they want a larger project, the University needs time to put the resources together."

An online chat about fall break will be hosted on the MSU's website on Thursday, Nov. 15 at 3:30pm. The survey will be available online until Nov. 18.

A conference attendee makes her pledge at the 2012 Leadership Summit for Women.

It’s rare to see an all-woman panel filling the seats in the City of Hamilton’s council chambers, but that was the sight on Saturday at the Leadership Summit for Women.

About 200 people attended the conference, which was held this year at City Hall rather than on McMaster’s campus, where attendees convened last year.

“We wanted to extend the discussion to the community,” said Alicia Ali, conference organizer and former VP (education) of the MSU.

A lineup of women leaders took to the mic to share their experiences and to facilitate discussion on how women can advance themselves professionally.

Ann Decter, director of advocacy and public policy at Hamilton’s YWCA, opened the discussion by pointing to a reversal of the ‘gender gap’ in higher education.

In 1971, women comprised 32 per cent of Canadian university graduates aged 25 to 29, and by 2006, the number had shot up to 60 per cent.

“Boys are not falling behind or even declining in education - they are improving,” she added. “But they are outpaced by girls. This is not cause for hysteria.”

The morning panel had a strong McMaster presence, and included Theresa Burns, head coach of McMaster’s women’s basketball team, Susan Fast, director of McMaster’s graduate program in gender studies and feminist research, Dawn Martin-Hill, co-founder of the Indigenous Studies program, and Anisa Mirza, former president of the McMaster Muslims for Peace and Justice organization.

While the overall mood of the conference was optimistic, concerns were raised about the challenges women still face in Hamilton and beyond.

“I want to see female athletes have a voice,” said coach Burns, who said the women she coaches often get less media coverage than their fellow male athletes.

Fast, who served as panel moderator, pointed out that only 20 per cent of female faculty at Canadian universities are at the rank of full professor.

Evelyn Myrie, executive director of the Hamilton Centre for Civic Inclusion, spoke highly of the diversity among women leaders in Hamilton, but also said they are underrepresented in the city's leadership.

“Hamilton is ascribed as a male-dominated town in all areas except in the social service sector, where at some level there are [more women in leadership]. We do have a long way to go,” said Myrie.

The conference generated significant buzz on Twitter, with several community members weighing in on the discussion.

Attendees were asked to share their pledge “to help more women become leaders in their community,” and many took to Twitter with the hashtag #LSW2012.

MSU president Siobhan Stewart, who was on the conference's planning committee gave the closing statement.

“In my work, it’s often noted that I’m the first black female president of the MSU. My hope is that we will one day live in a world where that would not be notable,” she said.

McMaster alumni on the planning committee include former MSU president Mary Koziol and the Student Success Centre's social media manager, Kathy Woo.

The same day, young professionals met to talk downtown renewal at the Hamilton HiveX conference one block away at the Sheraton Hotel. Both HiveX and the Leadership Summit for Women are in their second annual run.

(Infographic updated to account for new information)

This time next year, McMaster students could be off on their first-ever fall break, but so far, there have been few signs this will happen in 2013.

With sessional dates to be presented to the Undergraduate Council in December, MSU President Siobhan Stewart has limited time to determine whether her proposed fall break will get the nod from the student body. She will then need to convince University administrators to make a change to next year’s calendar.

Stewart won the MSU presidential campaign in April with ‘fall break 2013’ as a major platform point.

The promised break could manifest itself in several ways, from an extra day off before Thanksgiving weekend to a full reading week.

At this point, Stewart says she’s not sure what she could accomplish in time for 2013.

“I can’t say whether or not a full reading week could happen next year. Something can happen. What that something is, I don’t know yet,” said Stewart, who said she would not identify concrete goals before finding out feasible options and polling students.

“My role is to get student feedback and try to get all the factors. In terms of getting that into the calendar, all I can really do is present [what students want]. I don’t have approval power, but my hope is that with substantial student voice behind me, that will add more weight to whatever it is they’re hoping for,” said Stewart.

As of yet, the MSU has not held a public student forum on fall break. Stewart said a survey of student opinion will be released in early November.

The survey will ask students for feedback on what is possible for fall break next year and whether or not they want to move toward a larger-scale initiative like a fall reading week.

Given the tight timeline for administrative approval, a full week off during fall 2013 is unlikely.

Last week, Ryerson University joined several other universities in the GTA by having its inaugural fall reading week, giving students time off from classes between Oct. 8 and Oct. 12.

It was no easy feat, and Melissa Palermo, Vice President (Education) of the Ryerson Students’ Union can attest.

“We started work on getting a fall reading week in the 2010/2011 year,” said Palermo.

“We first wanted to get students’ opinions on whether or not it was something they wanted, and we got a mandate at our semi-annual general meeting in 2010. We did research on what happened at other campuses and wrote a proposal to the University Senate, and that proposal was passed in January of 2011. The whole process took about a year and a half.”

Phil Wood, Associate Vice President (Student Affairs) at McMaster said there are a number of administrative kinks to work out before a fall break of any kind could happen.

“There are several difficulties that must be worked through on our end. These include things like length of a term and exam schedules, which will need to be dealt with before we could consider even a pilot project,” said Wood.

As is the case for Ryerson, some professional programs at McMaster may not be able to reduce the number of weeks in the semester from 13 to 12.

In particular, engineering students need to spend a higher number of hours in class in order for their program to be accredited.

“Whether or not they would be able to take time off would depend on the steps we are able to take to replace these hours. This would not be a simple task,” said Maria White, Assistant Dean of Engineering.

At Ryerson, the faculty of engineering and architectural science was permitted to re-evaluate whether they wanted a reading week due to their accreditation requirements. Ultimately, the faculty decided not to participate.

“Their options were to find more class time or work through the reading week,” said Palermo.

The fall reading week debate has grown in popularity among Ontario universities over the past few years, with mental health concerns and student stress at the core of the discussion.

Debra Earl, McMaster’s Mental Health Team Nurse, wrote a proposal for fall break for submission to Student Affairs in 2009, to which she says she has received no response.

The report compares McMaster to peer institutions in Ontario and the U.S. and finds McMaster more stringent than other institutions in its scheduling accommodations for students.

The study shows the number of teaching days at McMaster was one of the highest in the province in 2009, with only two non-teaching days in the semester.

McMaster’s exam period (14 days) was also longer than nine other Ontario universities’ in 2009. McMaster had only one ‘study day’ before the start of exams.

“There might be a benefit to having exams spread out more, but what some schools do is have a condensed exam schedule and a longer study period beforehand,” said Earl.

At the time of Earl’s study, Laurentian, Trent, Nipissing and York had week-long breaks during the fall semester. Since then, the University of Ottawa and Ryerson University have jumped on board.

The University of Toronto offers a two-day mid-semester break in November, and Queen’s has a three-day study break in December.

At the moment, it is uncertain whether a fall break would be favourable to the majority of McMaster students, and in what capacity they would want it implemented. It also remains to be seen whether there is enough time to make it happen for the next academic year.

The Undergraduate Council will vote on next year’s sessional dates on Dec. 11. The schedule for 2013-2014 must be finalized before the printing of McMaster’s undergraduate calendar in March.

 

Unless a quick and concerted push by our Students Union is in the works, we’re not getting a fall break in 2013. The time for gathering a wide sample of student input, in which we’ll weigh the many pros and cons for each of the faculties, is gone. It’s probably just too late.

I don’t mean to sound entitled, but a commitment to creating a fall break was a big part of our MSU president’s platform when she ran last winter. It was made very clear. If elected, Siobhan Stewart would work with University Administration to create a break lasting anywhere from a day to a week around Thanksgiving for 2013.

She got elected, and she started her job as the Students Union’s CEO in May. But before proceeding in her discussions with the University, she wanted to be sure she had the mandate from students to ask for the fall break, and wanted to be clear on what that mandate was. Not a bad idea.

Getting direction from a student body like ours, though, is hard. As big as the issue might be – and don’t get me wrong; a fall break is a big issue – no call for feedback will give you a representation of our students’ interests in which you’re totally confident. Our campus of more than 20,000 full-time undergrads is just not engaged enough. If it’s consensus you’re looking for, you’re never going to be satisfied.

But, symbolic as they might be, there are ways to strengthen a mandate before you approach University administrators. It’s the job of the SRA, for example, to define direction for the MSU. A vote from those 35 members represents a vote from students. (Never mind the low voter turnout SRA elections receive.) A simple poll on the MSU website, even, could have been launched during Welcome Week.

Mind you, the mandate was strong to begin with. Voter turnout at the MSU’s 2012 presidential elections was at about a third of eligible voters. As McMaster student elections go, that’s huge. And as difficult as it is to know just how a person wins an election, you’ve got to assume that their platform has something to do with it.

Kudos to Stewart for including a fall break in her platform last winter at all, and for looking into the various options of how a break would look. I believe that Stewart’s pending search for student input comes from a genuine desire to know what students really want.

But at some point – sooner rather than later – we need to move forward.

At least in my humble opinion, a fall break, be it a day or a week, is a good idea. It’s got ramifications for student mental health and, almost as importantly, an undeniable “cool” factor.

But regardless of what I believe, we need to pick our position and go with it. We don’t need to flatter ourselves by believing that the University will pass what we students (or our representatives) say we want without running it past the inevitable criticisms throughout the University.

And you can’t balance a teeter-totter by sitting in the middle.

But like I said, I’m not optimistic. I’m worried that we’re started onto a series of discussions and online surveys as our student leaders cycle through year to year. I’m worried that we’ll never get enough steam behind this idea to make it happen.

But I’d love for the MSU and the University to team up and prove me wrong.