Concordia Philosophy Student Weekly Tabloid Vol. 23
Congratulations on arriving at the last day of classes, only the exam period remains! Some much-needed rest will come before you know it.
Note that today, Thursday Dec 8th follows a Monday schedule. This means today we have Monday classes if your instructor has scheduled a class on that date.
Then exam period begins on Dec 9th. Come out to our social event tonight to destress before exams! 🥳🎉🍻
This will be a shorter volume as the semester comes to a close.
We will release on more issue this year (vol. 24), then we will take a break until 2023. Our 25th vol. will come the first week of January, 2023.
Here’s the 23rd Volume of the Concordia Philosophy Student Weekly Tabloid! Bringing you all the hottest and best events and relevant philosophy news.
This week, we disseminate news about:
- Update on the Philosophy building closure
- An upcoming Special General Assembly and social event!
- Our Sheila Mason Bursary
- A special speaker talk in early January
- A call for editors!
- Various Concordia events
The Philosophy Department (S-annex) Remains Closed
Due to a structural failure in the philosophy department, the building remains closed. We have no information if it will be open again before the Winter term.
We won’t hold regular office hours, but if you’d like to meet with us, we have a physical space available or can do so through Zoom.
If you need to reach us, see our executives page.
If you need to access the S-Annex for whatever reason, then contact security at 514-848-3717 or visit the security desk on the ground floor of the Hall Building.
The Environmental Health and Safety and other Concordia departments are working to make sure the building is safe before they allow anyone back in.
Special General Assembly and End-of-term Social Event
Tonight, December 8th is a Special General Assembly and our end-of-term social event!
As was mandated by our members in our Annual General Assembly, we will be hosting a Special General Assembly on the topic of crafting a set of student grievances to give to the Concordia administration. We will also be discussing the topic of sexual harassment in the department and the institution as a whole.
But that’s not all! Like our Annual General Assembly, we will be having our assembly and social event back-to-back. Come out with us to N sur Mackay after the assembly for drinks and socialization. We’ll walk over together!
Don’t miss our assembly, as we will serve food 🥙 during the meeting.
Come support our community and shake off that stress with your peers!
We encourage reading the following documents before the assembly:
- SoPhiA Statement to Students
- A new motion we will propose for altering our bylaws
- Our assembly Agenda
What: Special General Assembly and end-of-term social event.
When: Thursday December 8th, 5-6:30pm (assembly) and 7pm-onwards (social event).
Where: Le Frigo Vert (assembly) and N sur Mackay (social event)
See our special assembly and end-of-term social Facebook events.
Sheila Mason Bursary
Each year, SoPhiA disseminates our Sheila Mason Bursary, an essay-based student bursary, to one or more lucky students! We do not evaluate academic performance or GPA, but how well the student engages in promoting diversity and inclusivity in the philosophy or Concordia community.
The bursary is restricted to current undergraduate students enrolled in a major, minor or honours program in the philosophy department.
Those eligible for application include (as self-disclosed):
- Women
- LGBTQAI+ (lesbian, gay, bi, trans, queer, asexual, intersex, and others included in this umbrella)
- BIPOC (black, indigenous, people of colour)
- Students with disabilities
The application process typically includes:
- Personal statement, which must include a description of community involvement, how the individual is working towards creating an inclusive environment within philosophy, and an explanation of financial need.(500-750 words)
- Essay, on the topics of queer, postcolonial, intersectional, feminist, or race theory (1500-2000 words)
- Letter of recommendation (e.g., from teacher, advisor, employer, etc.)
- C.V., (resume) updated to include information pertinent to this award
Start thinking about compiling your application and if you have a great essay on queer, postcolonial, intersectional, feminist, or race theory topics from one of your courses, that’s completely acceptable as a submission! Or you can write your midterm in one of your courses on this topic and use it as a submission.
See more information from our 2022 bursary, including previous year’s winners, on our Inclusivity Project page.
Stay tuned for our formal announcement soon, with more updates on exactly how and when to apply!
Who: Undergrad philosophy students who self-identify as: women, LGBTQAI, BIPOC, or disabled
What: An essay-based student bursary
When: Deadline for application will mostly likely be mid-March (e.g., March 17th)
SoPhiA’s Inclusivity Project Speaker: “How Should We Think Today?” On the Importance of Philosophy in the Ecological Crisis
SoPhiA is excited to announce an exciting lecture happening in January featuring guest speaker Dr. Andrew Biro from Acadia University!
As news, images, and stories of the catastrophic effects of climate change have gained increasing visibility over the past years, the need for fundamental transformations in our current economic and social systems has perhaps never been so crucial. As vulnerable populations around the world suffer from devastating floods and scorching droughts, and entire species become extinct due to the decimation of their natural habitats, the question now arises: How should we think differently, and how can we?
In his lecture, guest speaker Dr. Andrew Biro, a professor at Acadia University who specializes in Critical Theory and Environmental Political Theory, will be addressing the question of the importance of philosophy in the ecological crisis. This lecture will be followed by a roundtable discussion where students and audience members will have a chance to share their experiences and thoughts and be part of creating a necessary conversation on philosophy, ecology, and the need for critical thinking.
This a great opportunity for students and staff to be part of an intergenerational discussion on the ecological crisis.
Organized by the Inclusivity Project (as part of SoPhiA).
To RSVP, email: inclusivity.sophia@asfa.ca
If you are interested in responding to one or more prompts by December 31st to help guide and facilitate discussion, please fill out this form here:
https://forms.gle/faWoVSKMEHUgwJBg8
Who: Dr. Andrew biro (Acadia University)
What: A lecture talk & roundtable
When: January 6th, 2023 4pm
Where: 4th Space Concordia
See the Facebook Event
Call for Editors: The SoPhiA Review
Are you interested in taking part in a cool editing project? Want to be part of a fledging journal? Have awesome writing or editing skills?
SoPhiA is hoping to bring back this year its annual undergraduate journal, The SoPhiA Review! And we need your help!
We’re looking for people with a good eye, a capacity to read different texts, the ability to work in a team, and some editing skills. The candidates will be part of the editor team to read, edit, design, and publish student works in our annual journal!
The journal is usually published in the winter term, but the recruiting and planning of the journal occurs in the late fall.
Contact president dot sophia at asfa dot ca for more info.
Who: The SoPhiA Review
What: A call for editors
See some previous published works on our website.
Various Concordia Events
There are several events in the next week that may be interesting to philosophy students. Here are a few:
- Pop-Up Art Hive in The SHIFT Centre for Social Transformation: December 12, 2-4pm
- “Start off your week of exams and essays with a relaxing art-making break! Art Hives are a welcoming space for exploring creativity, socializing, sharing skills and building communities. Join us, it’s free and all are welcome!”
- Greening Cities: December 13, 1:30pm
- “Join us for short presentations by graduate students that will illustrate the full spectrum of urban livability through greening cities. An open discussion between students, professors, and the public will explore how we can improve access to green spaces and how it impacts the development of the next generation of cities.”
- Guided meditation with RAWCC at the MB Zen Den: December 13, 5pm
- “Meditators will be guided through a soothing and awareness-driven body scan (also known as Yoga Nidra) with the intention of connecting to all aspects of their bodies; harmonizing mind, body, and soul. Participants will be guided to use breath, visualization, and focus techniques to encourage relaxation and increased awareness of the present moment. Meditators will then be given the opportunity to visualize a serene, safe space within their minds; allowing for the possibility to connect with different emotions, thoughts, or sensations that may emerge through this process.”
- Seminar: Towards a catalog of modeling patterns for knowledge discovery with Relational Concept analysis: December 14, 10am
- “Developing both structured and unstructured representations, including explicit versus implicit knowledge, as well as white-box versus black-box approaches is a richness for Knowledge Discovery (KD). Formal Concept Analysis (FCA) is positioned at the spectrum end which focuses on complex data, structured representations, explicit knowledge, explainable results and white-box approaches. More and more connections are also made with other methods in the whole KD spectrum. Relational Concept Analysis (RCA) extends FCA by highlighting knowledge in multi-relational datasets. It has a variety of applications, in particular in Software Engineering and Environmental data.”
- Holiday Spirituali-tea session with the Multi-faith and Spirituality Centre at CUSP: December 6, 10:30am
- “Come join us at our last Spirituali-tea session of the year, where we will be collaborating with the Concordia University Student Parents Centre (CUSP). At this drop-in session, we will be helping out with gift-wrapping for CUSP’s last celebration of the year with their children.”
See more of Concordia’s events
SoPhiA Book Library: Weekly Book Recommendation
This week’s highlighted book:
We do not have a highlighted book for you this week. Feel free to have a look at our online library!
If you didn’t know, SoPhiA has a library of over 650 books! We have books from different domains of philosophy and some outside philosophy (psychology, business, political science, and even novels). We even have textbooks for some of your courses! (e.g., PHIL-210, 235, 260, 266, and more)
You can borrow a book for an hour, or even the whole semester. Just drop by our office or send us an email.
You can see our complete library of books online on our Librarika virtual library.
What: Books!
Where: The SoPhiA library (in our office space)
Do you know of any cool philosophy-related events in Montreal or the Concordia Community? Please let us know and we will advertise them here!
**Pictures are for representative effect only and aren’t actual photos of the events, products, or services we report on.
Students of Philosophy Association 