I hate to be the bearer of fake news, but there will not be a McGill Fall Reading Week–at least not next year. Despite the results from the 2018 SSMU Winter Referendum, in which over 96 percent of electors voted in favour of a Fall Reading Week, the 2019-2020 academic calendar does not include any additional days off.
Unfortunately, this means another year of being told by the McGill administration that students can mitigate their mental health challenges by simply practicing good “hygiene de vie”. “Hygiene de vie” is a term coined by Ollivier Dyens, Deputy Provost (Student Life and Learning), which suggests that students can mitigate their mental health challenges by simply: eating and sleeping well, staying active, exercising good time-management, and avoiding unhealthy substances like coffee, cigarettes, and unprescribed Ritalin. The fake news article makes fun of these solutions by suggesting that Suzanne Fortier tried them, only to realize she needed professional help to deal with her anxiety. It also takes a jab at the notoriously long waiting list students are put on to see a therapist.
The photo used in the article is also misleading. In the photoshopped image, you can see that the head is disproportionate and looks out of place. When you zoom in on the photoshopped picture, you can also see that the ear from the original photo is still there. The original photo captured Professor Suzanne Fortier and Professor Anton Muscatelli signing Memorandum of Agreement between McGill University in Canada and the University of Glasgow. The photo dates back from June 15th, 2015, and can be found on the University of Glasgow’s’ website.
Further evidence that suggests this is simply a satirical article is the use of the nickname “Big Suze”. This is the name students use to refer to the Principal in their memes. Suzanne Fortier is most commonly targeted in memes because she has the power to grant students their wishes, including a Fall Reading Week, a new varsity name that is not offensive, and a snow day when it’s -40 degrees outside. Memes and satire articles have become a way for the student body to cope with their disappointment and show support for one another by liking, commenting, and sharing them. The only truth to this article is that the principal did grant students a snow day, in February. This came as a surprise to many because she usually sends out an email simply asking students and staff members to air on the side of caution when traveling to campus (which students quickly turned into a meme).
The rest of the article is pretty much all fake news. The allegation that Suzanne Fortier is doing psychotherapy and the quotes cited in the article are entirely fabricated. There is no evidence online to support any of these claims. Additionally, if Suzanne Fortier would have announced a Fall Reading Week the McGill newspapers, like the McGill Tribune, The Bull & the Bear, and McGill Reporter would have published an article on it. They’ve been covering the progress of the campaign for a Fall Reading Week since 2014 and wouldn’t miss an opportunity to provide their readers with a happy ending.
So why hasn’t McGill gotten a Fall Reading Week? Factors that influence the decision to not move forward with this initiative revolve around a lack of consensus regarding which concessions should be made. Dyens, says “the current semester that we have cannot support two or three days off, because there are issues with the number of contact hours”. He adds “the only way to get a few more days off is to do one of the following things: start before Labour Day, […] make the Christmas holiday break shorter, […] or create an even more intensive exam period”.
However, other universities in Canada have successfully navigated through these constraints and implemented a fall Reading Week, which begs the following questions: what is so different about our University? Dyens believes that this is because McGill population is more diverse than other universities. As a result, he claims that students will not want to sign a 12 month lease because international students and non-Quebec residents do not stay in montreal for the entire year. Arguably, most students do sign leases that last twelve months as that is what is available on the market—all you need to do to reach this conclusion is to look at the McGill housing group advertisements. Additionally, many students sublet their apartments for the months that they are not there. In turn, this does not seem like a viable reason to not implement a Fall Reading Week.
Despite being a fake news article, “Did the Internet break Big suze” remains important as it highlights several discrepancies regarding how the McGill administration handles mental health services. We can only hope that one day, McGill will give students the Fall Reading Week they deserve—or at least, get a chance at a pilot project. For now, if you’re feeling overwhelmed with stress please check out my other blog post to see how you can try to change that.
Coffee & Vodka Sodas 