University Affairs

Students' Society of McGill University

Author: VP UA

  • Islam Didn’t Make the Cut: This Muslim’s thoughts on the failure to increase the MSA fee

    If you cannot recognize and address the consequences shaping the daily lives of people inevitably connected to your advocacy, you do not practice solidarity the way you think you do. 

    The unfortunate reality is that even though students advocacy is clear about the demands for an end to genocide and divestment from military technology independent from religion, there is no case where a Muslim finds themselves detached and neutral from the question of Palestine. If they do not make an official statement of their position for themselves, they are generally compartmentalized into one. 

    This is an official plea, might the activist practicing solidarity with Palestine start considering how their actions reverberate beyond their intended scope, outward toward Muslim students forced bear the backlash. And might the activist then show up for them when it matters. 

    The Fall 2025 referendum results recently revealed that the proposed $0.60 opt-outable Muslim Student Association (MSA) fee increase failed to pass. That small increase would have strengthened the only Muslim student support service across McGill’s student body. McGill students even approved a more extreme budget increase for the MSA three years ago. And yet, in 2025, 2,152 students somehow felt that an increase of less than one (1) Canadian dollar of a fee they can opt-out of was controversial. They did not simply ignore the vote, but instead chose to actively prevent the association from obtaining the necessary funds to support its students. 

    Are McGill students blind to prevalent racist and Islamophobic rhetoric behind this deliberate action? Are they apathetic towards social issues that affect the people right next door to them? One would think not. The 2023 Fall referendum received one of SSMU’s highest voter turnouts. The Policy Against Genocide in Palestine referendum question saw almost 8000 student voters, with only 1620 students in opposition and 5974 in support. So what explains this consequential change in attitude, especially at a time when McGill students are finally signaling their care and attention towards issues connected to Muslims?

    What has not been acknowledged since the recent wave of passionate advocacy insisting upon the continued consideration of Palestinian humanity is that it remains a cause that the Canadian public, and more importantly commentary by students and admin surrounding the movement at McGill, associates with Muslims. The criticisms of their activism—whether valid or not—occasionally manages to invite judgment levied towards the Muslim community. And any act of solidarity from anyone that falls short of the arbitrary standard of “acceptable” activism is instantly recast as terrorist behavior, reinforcing the same tired stereotype long imposed on and familiar to Muslims.

    How students voted on issues concerning Palestinians and those concerning Muslims reveals a selective understanding of human rights. These are not separate struggles, they stem from the same values of dignity, equity, and freedom from discrimination. How can students vote overwhelmingly in support of justice abroad, yet hesitate to support the wellbeing of a connected marginalized community here at home? When in fact it will only make ending a network of racial domination abroad more difficult as long as prejudice against the same groups continues at home. 

    These patterns signal that unless we are dying, unless we are being fundamentally abused or materially violated, our condition is not worth considering. If the anti-oppression anti-facism social justice warrior at McGill is not interested in situating themselves to consider how they might mitigate the inflamed, localized rhetoric of prejudice resulting from their actions, are they truly engaged critically? That’s what the results of this vote make painfully clear. 

    So I’ll ask: Will students start listening to Muslims now, so we can tell you how your actions shape forces that organize our lived realities? Maybe then, we’ll be considered, not just as a talking point in someone else’s movement, but as people whose voices matter when the organizing begins and ends. 

    Until then, I am anxious for the Muslim student who will step back onto campus on Monday, now with a heightened awareness of the Islamophobic sentiments that plague our campus, knowing there is no one interested in extending their support where we need it. 

  • The Lost Plot of Disruption as Protest

    SSMU hosted a municipal election debate, an effort to educate our membership on their mayoral candidates and to encourage informed and responsible voting. But the debate never happened, because a campaign to disrupt the event silenced the questioning. They chose not to direct their grievances towards political leaders with the potential to make real progress, but targeted the moderator, Interim Deputy Provost (Student Life and Learning), a women not responsible for the investment decisions, curriculum choices, or the outcomes of student disciplinary proceedings of the University.

    Perhaps the disruptors were attempting to spark conversation by “teaching” administration a sort of lesson, using Angela as their instrument. And there is a conversation I have been meaning to have for a while, so i’ll entertain it.

    Here’s their lesson: when speaking before political leaders with genuine influence to make the change you want to see, the Palestinian solidarity movement was reduced to uninformed and entirely performative. When you were given the opportunity to submit questions, you didn’t, and when you were given the opportunity to inquire about candidate’s position on Palestine, you didn’t. You demonstrated that allies are uninterested in real change.

    Protest that is disruption and meant to prevent discussion is only useful when the topic of concern is excluded from that conversation. What you have done is ensure a candidate’s position on Palestine is not part of the conversation, because there is none, only the sound of your own voice.

    You reveal that the true interest of the “ally” is attention, and not for Palestinians.

    Sure, protests are often disruptive because they have to be, but this event gave you an opportunity to engage constructively. You were given a seat at the table. Your refusal to engage in constructive dialogue in favour of voicing your grievance against the moderator is not protest.

    Incase it wasn’t clear, there was zero meaningful change that resulted from that performance. We did not learn anything new about the candidates, but they left with an impression about the nature of activism at McGill. That it is disorganized, unfocused, and void of any purposeful outcome.

    I share my brutally honest comments because these actions reaffirms administrators attitude that disruptive protests are merely unproductive, and I want to push ourselves to think more intentionally about our action. Otherwise, the outcomes of our efforts remain stagnant. As for the Palestinian cause, until we engage more purposefully, we enable ridicule over reform.

  • The parts of working at SSMU that won’t make it to the CV

    Someone I know lives across the SSMU Peel building, and my office window faces her appartment. I was working one evening and I get a chat: “Pls tell me u aren’t still in office and ur light is just on by accident”. It was 9:02 pm and I was, in fact, still in the office. 

    But I was exactly where I wanted to be, doing genuinely fulfilling work that I am grateful to do everyday. 

    I love working for SSMU, even though sometimes– no matter how hard I try and how many hours I dedicate– some SSMU students don’t like it back.

    In a meeting I was in today, the person dropped the absolute bar “being the undergraduate society of a university like McGill, you’re going to have bright minds competing”. And what a privilege it is to engage with community so deeply & be learning around the clock, inside and outside the classroom.

    Too bad it dosen’t count as a line in my CV 🤭

    Susan Aloudat

  • Where Is Everyone?

    Hello SSMU, team UA needs you! Part of my mission as SSMU’s VP University Affairs is to hear from students about your experiences to better insert them into decisions we make. I overestimated how compelled students would be to book office hours or email in their concerns. But please do book a time to chat, or email me about your experiences. Or if you spot me on campus stop me and say hi! I can’t be everywhere at once, but all 25,000 of us basically are. My open door policy stands, and even if I can’t solve your problem immediately it will certainly be valuable insight eventually in my work. I hope to see more of your names and meet the faces behind them.

    Relevant starting points to the UA portfolio:
    • McGill senate and committees
    • Religion and spirituality
    • Library improvement
    • Menstrual health
    • Open Education
    • Student rights
    • Black Affairs
    • Indigenous solidarity
    • Gender equity
    • Wellness

    Susan Aloudat

  • Senate Caucus Biweekly Report: Feb 13th 2018 – Feb 26th 2018

    Happy Reading Week everyone! As we approach the halfway point in the semester the Senators have been hustling to get stuff done – read about it here in their latest biweekly report! You can also find our previous biweekly reports here, or in the Senators’ blog.

    A few highlights:

    Minutes of each Senate Caucus meeting is available upon request via email.

    If you’re interested in attending a Senate Caucus meeting to learn more about what the Senators do, feel free to email me (the UA Secretary) to get more information. Senate Caucus meetings are held every Monday at 6:30 PM in the SSMU Office.

  • McGill Committees Report – Fall 2017

    There are as many as 41 University-level committees, to which there are 118 undergraduate student representatives. McGill University is huge, and most of the groundwork for new initiatives on campus begins in such committees. However, these committees’ work can sometimes go unnoticed or unknown in the broader campus community.

    Starting in Fall 2015, SSMU University Affairs started mandating student reps in these committees to submit reports for dissemination. In Fall 2017, the committees worked on many issues that are pertinent to the campus community, and their report can be seen here.

    You can also see the reports from previous semesters here.

    If you’re interested in getting involved, stay tuned for call-outs for committee representatives in March/April!