Several groups and funds on campus are funded directly by student fees. These fees are essential to maintaining their operations. Without your support, they could not exist. Find out more about what these groups do, in their own words.
CKUT
CKUT is a non-profit, campus-community radio station based at McGill University. CKUT provides alternative music, news and spoken word programming to the city of Montreal and surrounding areas, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Hear us at 90.3 MHz on the FM dial, 91.7 by cable, or listen on-line.
CKUT is made up of over 200 volunteers working with a staff of coordinators, not just to make creative and insightful radio programming, but also to manage the station. The station operates on a collective management system that includes volunteers in decision-making.
Want to get in touch with CKUT? Visit http://www.ckut.ca/contact.php for a comprehensive telephone, e-mail and fax contact list for CKUT’s coordinators and administration.
QPIRG
The Quebec Public Interest Research Group at McGill (QPIRG McGill) is a student funded, autonomous, non-profit organization that strives to raise awareness and motivate grassroots activism around diverse social and environmental justice issues. QPIRG McGill is run by a student volunteer Board of Directors, elected through campus wide elections each March. The Board of Directors is responsible for all decisions pertaining to the operation of the organization.
Aside from QPIRG’s own events, collaborations and projects, QPIRG serves as an umbrella organization with many autonomous organizations and projects working with us. These projects range from radical frosh to school schmool, from working groups to summer research stipends just to name a few. Furthermore, QPIRG actively promotes research opportunities for students on campus and in the community. We offer summer research funding and the CURE (Community-University Research Exchange) project for students interested in linking their classroom research with community organizations and projects. The QPIRG Library offers students and the general public hundreds of books, films, zines, and magazines that you won’t find at university or public libraries.
We encourage you stop by QPIRG, or visit our website www.qpirgmcgill.org, at any time to find out about the many more things we have to offer!
Midnight Kitchen
The Midnight Kitchen fee supports the serving of pay-what-you-can vegan meals five days a week. They provide a healthy, affordable environmentally sustainable alternative to corporate food services on campus.
The Midnight Kitchen is a non-profit, volunteer-run collective dedicated to providing affordable, healthy food to as many people as possible.
We aim to empower individuals and communities by providing a working alternative to current market-based systems of food collection an distribution. We oppose privatization, corporatization and other processes that actively disempower people by obstructing their access to resources and independence.
We will provide education on food issues, both inside and outside of the collective, and provide a space for the exchange of ideas within the community.
We recognize that much of the politics surrounding food production and distribution are part of a larger system of oppression. By reclaiming control over the distribution of food in our community we are acting in the pursuit of social and environmental justice and we will support others who share these goals.
We will organize and act according to principles of anti-oppression.
McGill Tribune
In its 28th year, The McGill Tribune is an editorially autonomous newspaper published by the Students’ Society of McGill University that covers news, features, arts and entertainment and sports. The Tribune publishes on Tuesdays from September to April. Its current circulation is 11,000 copies on McGill’s downtown campus.
If you are a McGill student and would like to contribute to the paper, no experience is necessary. We are always looking for assistance in each of our sections, as well as with photography, web design, and graphic design and layout. For more information, drop us a line at 514-398-6789, e-mail info@mcgilltribune.com or click the ‘Contact Us’ link below to get in touch with a specific section editor.
Columns appearing under the ‘Editorial’ heading are decided upon by the editorial board and written by a member of the editorial board. All other opinions are strictly those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of The McGill Tribune, its editors or its staff.
Referral Services Fee
This fund funds three groups
Queer McGill (QM) is a nonprofit organization under the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) which promotes politically and socially the wellbeing of queer people and allies. QM provides resources to this end and provides spaces in which to speak safely about queer identity and other topics. To read official QM documents such as its Constution and Mandate and other detailed information pages, you can visit QM’s wiki using the link to the right.
Union for Gender Empowerment is a service of the Student Society of McGill University (SSMU). Everyone is welcome to use our services! We coordinate an alternative lending library (with over a thousand titles!); a co-op stocking at-cost ecologically-responsible menstrual products, DIY sex toys, safer sex supplies, and gender empowerment items; and a zine distro. The UGE also runs Trans 101 and anti-oppression workshops for other organizations and projects, and has a resource binder with information about abortion services, counseling, and queer/trans friendly health services in Montreal. Our office and lounge space is located in room 413 of the Shatner University Centre. It is a safe(r) space for people of all genders, and is equipped with a microwave, dishes, a kettle, and lots of tea! Stop by to eat lunch and hang out!
You can find us in room 413, on the 4th floor of the Shatner University Centre at McGill University. During the Fall and Winter semesters, our office is open every weekday between 10am and 4pm. Summer office hours are more variable and will be posted to the blog.
Nightline offers general information- restaurant phone numbers, health clinics, class schedules, etc.- and lends an ear for any trouble you may be having. All calls are anonymous and confidential. The line is open 6 p.m. to 3 a.m. throughout the school year.
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Campus Life Fund
The Campus Life Fund supports dozens of projects and events held by clubs, services, faculty associations, and other interest groups every year. It is the primary and thus most essentially source of funding for on-campus events, projects and Tier III Athletic Teams.
Here are just some of the diverse projects and groups CLF has funded in the past year:
McGill Journal of Law and Health, SynthesAsia, Francofete, Broomball, Nuit Blanche, Red and White Ball, Women in House, BASIC, Caribbean Student Society, Indo-Pak, Debating Union, Global AIDS Coalition, NSBE, Desautels Business Conference on Sustainability, McGill International Case Competition, Eng Games, McGill Mini Baja Design Team, Martlet Squash, Marlet Field Hockey, McGill Rowing, McGill Waterpolo, McGill Rugby Football…..
Without CLF, none of these groups, events, or projects could have happened. Campus Life Fund is an essentially support to a continuing thriving campus life at McGill.
Green Fund
The Green Fund of the SSMU was created to fund sustainable initiatives by student groups and promote a culture of sustainability on campus. Past projects and groups the Green Fund has supported include:
Campus Crops, Chem E-Car, Gorilla Composting, ECOuture SUS, Frostbite, Hillel, Greening McGill, McGill Food Systems Project, Plate Club, Red Herring, Sustainable McGill Project, Tapthirst and more!
SSMU Library Improvement Fund
Libraries are priceless assets to any university; they are the loci of student life and learning. McGill students depend on their libraries for innumerable resources. Libraries are where students study, research and often spend a good deal of their lives.
Recognizing this, the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) initiated the Library Improvement Fund (LIF) 11 years ago. Since 1996, McGill Undergraduate students have donated over $5 million to McGill Libraries through the LIF. Through student funding, LIF committees have created and maintained excellent, highly-used services, facilities improvements and expanded collections. Funding has facilitated much-needed 24-hour study space, improved collections for McGill Libraries, and substantially improved the physical appearance of the Humanities and Social Sciences Library (HSSL).
The funds have been used to
– provide longer operating hours
– improve collections
– improve study space
– purchase computers
– and provide student employment.
This fund is essential to maintaining the high quality and long hours of McGill’s libraries, which all students benefit from.
The Library Improvement Fund fee, charged to all undergraduate downtown campus students, exists to provide additional support to the McGill University Library Network. All funds collected by this fee are matched by alumni dollars.
SSMU Bursary Fund
Students at McGill have acknowledged financially accessible education as a priority for decades. Unfortunately, low government funding to post-secondary education restricts the amount of financial aide McGill is able to offer to students who are experiencing difficulty paying for their education.
Seeing this as an issue, the SSMU created the McGill Undergraduate Student Fund in 1999. Among other things, the MUSF created a Bursary Fund to provide assistance to students in financial difficulty. The Bursary Fund is essential to maintaining a diverse student population and ensuring education is accessible to everyone.
Currently, full-time students pay $8.50 towards the Bursary Fund as a part of MUSF. Each student dollar paid into the Fund is matched by the University, providing over $750,000 dollars in financial aide to students every year. By providing millions of dollars to Student Aid Services, the Bursary Fund has provided for hundreds of students to attend McGill over the past 10 years.
Undergraduate students can apply to the Bursary Fund through Student Financial Aide Services.
