So there it was, and now it's gone. September 2005. Even the most ignorant of McGill students is aware of the events that took place at this university over the past 30 days. Fortunately, the dawning of October means the end of one of the most tumultuous months of the modern McGill era. Too bad that it, too, had to begin on a sour note.
After a hazing scandal, cuts in student services and seeing McGill named one of the top 10 party schools in all of North America (by Playboy magazine no less), McGill, in its enduring wisdom, decided we didn't have enough controversy.
How could it possibly get worse? Simple. Have a convicted criminal, a man who defrauded the national government of millions of dollars and was complacent in one of the biggest political scandals in Canadian history, give a lecture to budding Management students about... wait for it... business ethics.
But let's not get ahead of ourselves. Let's take a minute to look at some of the events that have defined our fair school over the past few weeks. After the optimism that accompanies the new school year each August, September tested the resolve of every proud McGill student. We were so surrounded by turmoil, it's almost impossible to decide where to begin.
It's fair to say that McGill is not renowned for its athletics program. Our gym-which, by the way, was not open on the first day of school, due to renovations that were months behind schedule-is constantly cited as a sad symbol of McGill's lack of commitment to its students, and none but a few students can name the last national championship won by any of our teams. Yet our athletics program became the symbol of our school and entered the national spotlight for all the wrong reasons. Though the football hazing scandal does not reflect fairly on this university, its students or even the majority of the football team, it put McGill in the news. It's unfortunate but true that, as Al Pacino describes the CIA in The Recruit, our failures are known, our successes are not.
