the gazette THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2015 WESTERN UNIVERSITY’S STUDENT NEWSPAPER • FOUNDED 1906 VOLUME 109, ISSUE 8 Fighting fruit flies since 1906 Champs are back! The women’s hockey team hits the ice for the first regular season game this weekend. >> Pg. 7 TODAY high 16 low 7 TOMORROW high 13 low 6 Lock your windows USC introduces special interest caucus groups Amy O’Kruk NEWS EDITOR @AmyAtGazette The University Students’ Council is adjusting their governance structure to allow undergraduate student-interest groups to form caucuses. The USC wants caucuses to act as channels for student-in- terest groups – allowing their voices to be heard and helping them achieve better representa- tion through the undergraduate student government. Alex Benac, USC vice-president internal, said that instead of hav- ing stand-alone student-interest groups, the goal was to standardize a caucus formation process. This way these groups could co-exist, gain increased accessibility to the USC and benefit from easier mem- bership recruitment and selection. “We really just wanted to create a structure where students could be empowered to take owner- ship over their own experiences and use that community base to inform the decisions that council makes,” Benac said. Already established caucuses include a mature and transfer students’ caucus, first-year stu- dents’ caucus and international students’ caucus. Kevin Dunklee, a fourth-year BMOS undergraduate and mature student, said he thinks the caucus initiative addresses the need for undergraduates to have a place to voice their concerns. “We wanted to make sure the mature student voice is repre- sented through the USC,” Dunklee said. “They are representing undergraduate students and … we are a contingent of that popula- tion. Our voice has not been heard there for a number of years.” Benac said the caucus forma- tions will be a consultative pro- cess: the first step will be to fill out a form and gather 20 signatures. Providing eligibility requirements are met, a student executive will help the potential caucus draft a terms of reference. Then, it will go before the USC’s local and cam- pus affairs standing committee for approval – after which council can give the final go-ahead. Applications to sit on the established caucuses are due October 9 and can be found at the USC’s website under “jobs and opportunities.” “If caucus members can walk away and feel like they truly had a valuable opportunity to partici- pate in conversations about their experience at Western, I think … that will be the ultimate indicator of success,” Benac said. Christopher Miszczak • GAZETTE How to form a caucus: Fill out a USC form and gather 20 signatures. Establish a terms of reference and follow ratification procedures. Get approved by the USC’s local and campus affairs standing committee. Get approved by council. 1. 1. Step Step 2. 2. Step Step 3. 3. Step Step 4. 4. Step Step Jennifer Feldman • GAZETTE Amy O’Kruk NEWS EDITOR @AmyAtGazette On a Friday night in the fall of 2012, second-year Western student Emily Vickruck primped, gathered four of her roommates and headed to a nearby house party for the night — with the front door securely locked behind her. She wasn’t expecting a call later that evening from the lone room- mate who stayed behind. Vickruck’s roommate frantically reported that while she slept, an intruder broke into their home through a main floor window and fled with a laptop and digital camera. Vickruck and her housemates raced home. “We were angry because our stuff was stolen, but it was also very frightening,” Vickruck said. “It feels like such a violation of your personal space because I know, that in my room, they had gone through all of my things … it’s not a good feeling.” Unfortunately, Vickruck’s story isn’t uncommon, especially in heavily student-populated neigh- bourhoods like the Oxford and Wharncliffe area where the former Western student and her room- mates experienced the burglary. It’s also the reason the University Students’ Council is partnering with the London Police Service for a second year in a row to launch the “Lock Your F***ing Doors” campaign after successfully reducing student break-ins last year. “Between the years of 2011 and 2013, over half the break-ins in stu- dent housing were due to unlocked doors and windows,” said Kevin Hurren, USC communications offi- cer. “With the introduction of last year’s campaign, that number went down for the first time in four years.” In 2014, the percentage of entries through unlocked windows fell from 40 per cent in 2013 to 27.5 per cent. Similarly, unlocked doors accounted for close to 19 per cent of entries in 2013 and only 15 per cent last year. Hurren emphasized this year’s campaign’s focus on locked win- dows. He said out of the total num- ber of break-ins due to unlocked entrances in 2014, windows accounted for twice as many as doors. “What the police have found is that most of the offenders are opportunistic,” Hurren said. “When they find an unlocked window, that’s when they’ll take their chance. But when it’s locked, they won’t break in because there’s a higher chance of being caught or being unsuccessful.” The LPS is also conducting a sis- ter campaign, “Keep Calm and Lock Your Doors.” The police service dis- tributed over 1,300 cautionary flyers to homes in identified at-risk areas: Wharncliffe Road and Western Road, Mill Street and St. George Street and Richmond Street and Broughdale Street. The USC will ramp up the “Lock Your F***ing Doors” campaign on social media this month and in early December and January when many students take off for the holidays and leave their homes potentially vulnerable to break and enters. Hurren added students should take notice of the campaign because smartphones and laptops are the most common items stolen and often the ones students depend on the most. “A lot of students lives are in their cellphones and their lap- tops,” Hurren said. “We not only lack the finances to replace a lot of things stolen, but we rely on these technologies.” The LPS advises students to keep electronic’s location services on and to keep a record of devices’ make, model and serial number to aid the police in the case of theft. “Leaving a window open doesn’t seem like a big deal, especially when somebody’s home,” Vickruck said. “Now … when we go out we close all our blinds, lock all our doors and put our laptops away … [the break-in] definitely made us more cautious.”
Transcript
thegazetteTHURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2015 WESTERN UNIVERSITY’S STUDENT NEWSPAPER • FOUNDED 1906 VOLUME 109, ISSUE 8
Fighting fruit flies since 1906
Champs are back!The women’s hockey team hits the ice for the first regular season game this weekend.>> Pg. 7
TODAYhigh16low7
TOMORROWhigh13low6
Lock your windows
USC introduces special interest caucus groups
Amy O’KrukNEWS EDITOR@AmyAtGazette
The University Students’ Council is adjusting their governance structure to allow undergraduate student-interest groups to form caucuses.
The USC wants caucuses to act as channels for student-in-terest groups – allowing their voices to be heard and helping them achieve better representa-tion through the undergraduate student government.
Alex Benac, USC vice-president internal, said that instead of hav-ing stand-alone student-interest groups, the goal was to standardize a caucus formation process. This way these groups could co-exist, gain increased accessibility to the USC and benefit from easier mem-bership recruitment and selection.
“We really just wanted to create a structure where students could be empowered to take owner-ship over their own experiences and use that community base to inform the decisions that council makes,” Benac said.
Already established caucuses include a mature and transfer students’ caucus, first-year stu-dents’ caucus and international students’ caucus.
Kevin Dunklee, a fourth-year
BMOS undergraduate and mature student, said he thinks the caucus initiative addresses the need for undergraduates to have a place to voice their concerns.
“We wanted to make sure the mature student voice is repre-sented through the USC,” Dunklee said. “They are representing undergraduate students and … we are a contingent of that popula-tion. Our voice has not been heard there for a number of years.”
Benac said the caucus forma-tions will be a consultative pro-cess: the first step will be to fill out a form and gather 20 signatures. Providing eligibility requirements are met, a student executive will help the potential caucus draft a terms of reference. Then, it will go before the USC’s local and cam-pus affairs standing committee for approval – after which council can give the final go-ahead.
Applications to sit on the established caucuses are due October 9 and can be found at the USC’s website under “jobs and opportunities.”
“If caucus members can walk away and feel like they truly had a valuable opportunity to partici-pate in conversations about their experience at Western, I think … that will be the ultimate indicator of success,” Benac said.
Christopher Miszczak • GAZETTE
How to form a caucus: Fill out a USC form and gather 20 signatures.
Establish a terms of reference and follow ratification procedures.
Get approved by the USC’s local and campus affairs standing committee.
Get approved by council.
1.1.StepStep
2.2.StepStep
3.3.StepStep
4.4.StepStep
Jennifer Feldman • GAZETTE
Amy O’KrukNEWS EDITOR@AmyAtGazette
On a Friday night in the fall of 2012, second-year Western student Emily Vickruck primped, gathered four of her roommates and headed to a nearby house party for the night — with the front door securely locked behind her.
She wasn’t expecting a call later that evening from the lone room-mate who stayed behind. Vickruck’s roommate frantically reported that while she slept, an intruder broke into their home through a main floor window and fled with a laptop and digital camera.
Vickruck and her housemates raced home.
“We were angry because our stuff was stolen, but it was also very frightening,” Vickruck said. “It feels like such a violation of your personal space because I know, that in my room, they had gone through all of my things … it’s not a good feeling.”
Unfortunately, Vickruck’s story isn’t uncommon, especially in heavily student-populated neigh-bourhoods like the Oxford and Wharncliffe area where the former Western student and her room-mates experienced the burglary.
It’s also the reason the University Students’ Council is partnering with the London Police Service for
a second year in a row to launch the “Lock Your F***ing Doors” campaign after successfully reducing student break-ins last year.
“Between the years of 2011 and 2013, over half the break-ins in stu-dent housing were due to unlocked doors and windows,” said Kevin Hurren, USC communications offi-cer. “With the introduction of last year’s campaign, that number went down for the first time in four years.”
In 2014, the percentage of entries through unlocked windows fell from 40 per cent in 2013 to 27.5 per cent. Similarly, unlocked doors accounted for close to 19 per cent of entries in 2013 and only 15 per cent last year.
Hurren emphasized this year’s campaign’s focus on locked win-dows. He said out of the total num-ber of break-ins due to unlocked entrances in 2014, windows accounted for twice as many as doors.
“What the police have found is that most of the offenders are opportunistic,” Hurren said. “When they find an unlocked window, that’s when they’ll take their chance. But when it’s locked, they won’t break in because there’s a higher chance of being caught or being unsuccessful.”
The LPS is also conducting a sis-ter campaign, “Keep Calm and Lock Your Doors.” The police service dis-tributed over 1,300 cautionary flyers
to homes in identified at-risk areas: Wharncliffe Road and Western Road, Mill Street and St. George Street and Richmond Street and Broughdale Street.
The USC will ramp up the “Lock Your F***ing Doors” campaign on social media this month and in early December and January when many students take off for the holidays and leave their homes potentially vulnerable to break and enters.
Hurren added students should take notice of the campaign because smartphones and laptops are the most common items stolen and often the ones students depend on the most.
“A lot of students lives are in their cellphones and their lap-tops,” Hurren said. “We not only lack the finances to replace a lot of things stolen, but we rely on these technologies.”
The LPS advises students to keep electronic’s location services on and to keep a record of devices’ make, model and serial number to aid the police in the case of theft.
“Leaving a window open doesn’t seem like a big deal, especially when somebody’s home,” Vickruck said. “Now … when we go out we close all our blinds, lock all our doors and put our laptops away … [the break-in] definitely made us more cautious.”
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Jenny Jay • GAZETTE
YOU CAN STAND UNDER MY UMBRELLA… Or not. Sad and lonely, an umbrella stands alone and abandoned by the garbage bins at the entrance of the UCC. Now that it’s raining more than ever, there is one more person out there not standing under their umbrella.
Dennis Edney, the lawyer for former Guantanamo Bay prisoner Omar Khadr, will be coming to speak at Western.
He will be sharing his experi-ences during the journey to free Khadr, who was imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay for the past 10 years. Khadr was released on bail earlier this year.
“Khadr currently lives with the lawyer and his wife, so it’s fair to say Edney can provide insights into one of Canada’s most misrepresented figures of the past decade,” Sumayya Tobah, one of the organizers, said via email.
She also said Khadr’s release was a direct result of Edney’s tireless campaign to free him.
He will be sharing his experien-ces and answering questions during a question period.
“Edney’s story shows us that there is always something to be done,” Tobah said. “I feel it’s so important for students to attend in order to fully understand what was happening beyond the headlines of the last 10 years.”
Edney will be speaking in Room 2050 of the Social Science Building at 7:30 p.m. on Sunday, October 4.
• Drishti Kataria
Three profs named to Royal Society of Canada
Among the 90 fellows inducted into the Royal Society of Canada this November are three Western professors.
Kathryn Brush and John Leonard, both in the Faculty of Arts and Humanities, and Jesse Zhu, from the Faculty of Engineering, will be honoured for their academic achievements.
Each year, the society recognizes university educators all around Canada and affiliated countries for their academic achievement and innovation in the fields of arts and humanities, and science.
Prof. Leonard is internation-ally recognized for his work in Renaissance/Early Modern litera-ture and the readings of John Milton.
Leonard said he hopes his elec-tion serves as an opportunity for more recognition and funding for the arts at Western.
“Now is a time when arts and humanities needs more financial support,” he said in an email. “I hope that my recent election, and that of … Brush will help my depart-ment and faculty make the case that the arts and humanities are worth investing in and still bear academic fruit.”
to register visit westerncareercentral.ca @InfoTechRG
OCTOBER 15 557:30 PMSTUDENT SUCCESS CENTER, UCC ROOM 210
thegazette • Thursday, October 1, 2015 • 3
No capital investments for next 2 years for USC
Rita RahmatiNEWS EDITOR@RitaAtGazette
The USC is planning to not spend any money over the next two years on renovations or adding new spaces.
In a report to the board of dir-ectors last Friday, the University Students’ Council said they would be redoing their capital plan due to a shortfall in funds and failing to account for maintenance and administration costs.
Remnants from past capital plans remain with today’s USC as they finish paying off previous renovations. One of the more expen-sive renovations was the Mustang Lounge, which was renovated in 2011. The Mustang Lounge reno-vation was paid for with $3 million up front. The remaining $4.5 mil-lion price tag was financed through Scotiabank would be paid through student fees over 10 years, as out-lined in the capital plan.
“The plan is to kind of lay the blueprint for how to make a good plan,” USC president Sophie Helpard said. “All we did was say in the future this is how we’re going to structure these and so in the next two years there will be no major capital spending.”
The new plan will lock in incoming executives as they will no longer be able to make major capital investments without board approval. Previously, the executive was a part of the board and could suggest changes to the capital plan, which would inevitably be approved
due to the overlap in positions.“The same executives who
wanted to come forth and make alterations to the capital plan would be the ones who approve it, as the board,” Jonathan English, USC sec-retary treasurer, said.
In 2012–13, this led to approximately $1 million being spent by former USC president Adam Fearnall’s administration when only $700,000 was collected, meaning several major projects had to be postponed.
However, English explained that a major change to the USC’s setup this year is that the executive and the board of directors are now separ-ate entities so this wouldn’t happen now.
The report explained full-time staff would be leading all capital spending decisions in future, with approval from the board on pur-chases over $50,000.
Helpard said there will be a more defined policy in place for the future and any changes will come to the board. She hopes the policies put in place will ensure nothing happens in the future to throw off the finan-cial position of the USC.
“What we’re doing is giving our future successors the tools to then have better oversight over their cap-ital, because we’re still kinda playing catchup a little bit with some of the procedures and policies from having an external board,” English said.
Next year’s executive will most likely put together a new plan, but for now the USC will step back and deal with fallout from previous years.
Katie LearNEWS EDITOR@KatieAtGazette
Social media is proving to be a force in this year’s federal elections.
According to Andrea Lawlor, assistant political science profes-sor at King’s College, social media is playing the biggest role in a Canadian election to date.
“You’re as likely to go to social media [platforms] for your infor-mation on politics as you are to go to a newspaper or a news website,” said Lawlor.
Federal party leaders are increas-ingly turning to social media to connect with voters by upping their presence on platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube, though Lawlor believes that Twitter and YouTube are the most important platforms.
“Facebook has ended up being
far more static in the campaign con-text than I think a lot of people have estimated,” she said. “Twitter is so much more dynamic. Twitter allows people to engage quickly, briefly and in 140 character bursts of informa-tion that people can attend to very quickly and then move on with their day.”
Meanwhile, YouTube is used to create a sense of relationship between the candidate and the viewer while expanding on their political platform, Lawlor explained.
She elaborated that candidates are using both platforms to reach out to a group of voters that may not necessarily be involved in trad-itional campaign activities, such as volunteering with the party.
“It’s a younger group and it’s a more fast-paced group of voters,” Lawlor said. “It’s also really polit-ically savvy voters. Voters who are already active on Twitter and are
following not only those parties and not only those leaders but a host of media personalities who are making comments about what’s [happen-ing] on Twitter and YouTube.”
Each candidate is using social media differently depending on their strategies in the election according to Lawlor.
“Stephen Harper … is coming from the position of prime min-ster,” Lawlor said. “He’s not only representing the Conservative Party but he is still behaving as the leader of the Canadian state, so he’s very officious in his communications.”
“Get somebody like Thomas Mulcair and Justin Trudeau who are really challenging [Harper’s] approach to governance and … they can be on the attack a lot more,” Lawlor said. “Elizabeth May is using [Twitter] to really give herself access to things that she otherwise has been excluded from.”
Social media playing big role in federal elections
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Our home and native languageHaya AlsakkaCONTRIBUTOR@GazetteCulture
If I can’t speak Mandarin, am I still considered Chinese?
In short, yes. Being a member of an ethnic or racial commun-ity is not so much in our control; to be Chinese is to be a native or inhabitant of China, or a person with Chinese ancestry. Seldom is the question “if I don’t wear saris, am I still considered Indian?” asked. So why is everyone so stuck on language?
Western students who don’t speak their families’ native lan-guages are in an odd situation: they’re part of a community with whom they don’t know how to communicate.
Josh Varghese, a fourth-year stu-dent in interdisciplinary medical sciences, finds himself in this situ-ation. The language barrier between him and his parents, whose native language is Malayalam, shaped his perception of his father as a child.
“I’ve come to realize that the barrier between us might just be a language one,” said Varghese.
While Varghese explains that his
father’s English isn’t poor, humour and wit are often found in the nuan-ces of language.
Truth be told, language isn’t just tied to the culture of a community — it shapes it. In fact, some first-gen-eration parents will push aside their native languages intentionally and instead prioritize their children learning English.
Tara Husni, a first-year social sciences student, says that although her parents never actively withheld from teaching her Kurdish, they cer-tainly never gave it the same atten-tion that they did to English.
After all, English will be the lan-guage that she will need the most throughout her life in Canada — but she does feel regret over the distance this puts between herself and her Iraqi heritage.
“There’s obviously a language barrier when [my relatives] come to visit,” she says, “[but] either way, I think they are really happy that we excel in English. Unfortunately, with that, I lost a part of my culture.”
As it turns out, this selective method to teaching language is unnecessary.
Dr. Marc Joanisse, a professor of psychology at Western, says children
learn language more effectively than adults as if it’s an innate feature — but for a limited time only.
“There’s rarely a situation where you would recommend that some-body not expose their child to mul-tiple languages,” he says.
This means that kids who are exposed to two languages can learn both with practically the same profi-ciency. If capability isn’t a problem, both native languages and English can be taught side by side without fear of lagging behind in either.
Shachar DahanGAZETTE STAFF@GazetteCulture
There are a few different tiers when it comes to smartphone brands. Apple and Samsung are at the top, Microsoft and OnePlus are in the middle and just below them is Blu. You’ve probably never heard of Blu and that’s no surprise. They’re a small phone manufacturer based out of Miami, but they sell one product that the other bigger manu-facturers don’t: the Blu Vivo Air, the thinnest smartphone in North America.
The Blu Vivo Air is 5.1mm thin and weighs only 97 grams. The big-gest selling point for this phone, though, is its $169 price tag from Amazon. Some people might look at that low price and assume the worst, but after using this phone as my daily driver for a couple months, the Blu Vivo Air definitely has a case to make.
The phone comes equipped with a 4.8” 720p display, an 8MP camera, 16GB of internal memory with no option for internal storage and the super strong Gorilla Glass 3. It also has a non-removable 2100 mAh battery, which is impressive con-sidering how thin this phone really is. The only place this phone really
makes sacrifices is with the 720p display and the fact that it only has 1GB of RAM.
The phone is currently running Android KitKat, but BLU has been promising an upgrade to Lollipop for quite some time. It would be nice if they just skipped Lollipop and had Marshmallow ready to go right when it comes out. It would also be nice if Blu didn’t make so many changes to Android’s appear-ance, but I have found that when running Google Now Launcher, it feels nearly identical to stock Android phones.
Another major selling point for Blu is that all the phones they sell are unlocked. This means that if you travel to another country, changing over your cellular carrier is as easy as popping in a SIM card.
Blu has also recently released an updated Vivo Air with LTE capabil-ities and some other hardware upgrades, which I hope I will able to get my hands on soon for a review. In the meantime, if you’re in the mar-ket for a new smartphone and want something that will set yours apart from the rest, it’s definitely worth giving some consideration to the Blu Vivo Air.
If you have any questions or suggestions, email Shachar at [email protected].
THERE’S RARELY A SITUATION WHERE YOU
WOULD RECOMMEND THAT SOMEBODY NOT EXPOSE THEIR CHILD TO MULTIPLE LANGUAGES.
MARC JOANISSEWESTERN LANGUAGE
PSYCHOLOGY PROFESSOR
Courtesy of AndroidAuthority.com
Christopher Miszczak • GAZETTE
Grad students asked for more fundingQueen’s listened
Be part of a vibrant university communitywhere excellence is celebrated.
queensu.ca/sgs/newgradfunding
Want to learn more? Join our webinar on
October 14, 7 pm EDT
New Academic Excellence Awards provide$15,000for master’s and $30,000 for PhD students whoqualify – in addition to $27 million already awarded annually to Queen’s graduate students.
15-0411 Grad Studies Entrance Awards Western bw Ad.qxp_Layout 1 2015-09-24 11:44 AM Page 1
thegazette • Thursday, October 1, 2015 • 5
McIntosh exhibits art
Mackenzie MorisonCONTRIBUTOR@GazetteCulture
Western’s Alumni Association has collected 18 works of contemporary art over the past four years that are on display now in the McIntosh Gallery exhibition Jewels in the Crown: The Alumni Association Collection.
Renowned artists featured in the exhibit include Jack Chambers, Michael Snow and Tony Urquhart. Curated by Catherine Elliot Shaw, the show offers a variety of artistic styles using oil, acrylic, fine spray, aluminum pieces, nails and more.
Acquiring works from London, Montreal, Toronto and New York, the exhibition celebrates the art-ists and the art committee mem-bers who obtained these works for both Londoners and the Western community.
Committee members Martin Robinson, J. H. “Jake” Moore, Ross Woodman and Eddie Escaf collected these thought-provoking and vis-ually astounding pieces – and now Western students have the chance to view them.
“The McIntosh is one of those little oases where you can go to just relax. It can be a mini vacation spot,
if you will, that will give you a break from the rest of what is going on,” explains Shaw. “It is small enough to be able to see in a fairly short time, but also central enough for you to come back if you miss something.”
Shaw believes artistic experi-ence has many important benefits. Galleries offer people a chance for deep thought and dialogue as they attempt to understand the mean-ing and purpose of the work before them. Whether they understand the piece of not, those who exclaim “what on earth is that?!” have begun the dialogue that leads to discussion, critical thought and debate.
Critical thought aside, the gallery can be a great place to escape the excitement and business that goes on at campus.
The gallery allows students to take a moment to read about art styles, artists and historical contexts. Many of the pieces invite the viewer to participate in visually stimulating experiences by incorporating struc-tured composition of mathematical precision, embracing musical con-cepts or portraying works whose materials literally go beyond the canvas.
Shaw further comments on how the exhibit is important to Western
students.“This particular collection is
important because, as the Alumni Association Collection, it belongs to the students as well, since they will be the future alumni,” he said.
In the spirit of Homecoming, even though it’s past, Western stu-dents can check out what alumni have to offer. Whether for a small taste of cultured experience, to escape to “an oasis,” or perhaps just to get those creative, artistic juices flowing, visiting the gallery can make for a rewarding experience.
The collection is on display now at the McIntosh Gallery until Oct. 24.
from
alumni
Taylor Lasota • GAZETTE
6 • thegazette • Thursday, October 1, 2015
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I love argument, I love debate. I don’t expect anyone just to sit there and agree with me, that’s not their job.
• Margaret Thatcher
After Chakma report, it’s
time for changeThe latest twist in the controversy surrounding President Amit Chakma’s pay came on Monday when the independent review on his compensation was released publicly.
In the report, retired justice Stephen Goudge found there were irregularities with the way Chakma received $440,000 for not taking a year of administrative leave but that, in the end, nothing was legally wrong with the payout or the president’s contract.
The findings are, for the most part, unsurprising. We knew what Chakma’s contract entitled him to and that everything was technically within the bounds of that contract.
What we didn’t know was how he actually got the authorization for the payout. This came about as an agreement between only the new chair of the Board of Governors, Chirag Shah and Chakma.
While Chakma wasn’t a passive bystander in this fiasco, as judged by his private discussions with the chair, much of the blame should be placed on the board and its chair.
It’s notable that Chakma has received a lot of nega-tive attention, despite the fact that he has virtually done nothing wrong. He negotiated a contract to get the best possible deal and he got something that was both in line with the industry and with his previous contract at Waterloo, one of the few other institutions with a monetization option for untaken administrative leave.
But Shah and the board haven’t received nearly as much criticism as Chakma.
In an interview with The Gazette after the report was released yesterday, Shah admitted there were some “communication challenges with respect to the monetization leave.”
Is that seriously what we’re to believe? The reaction to the payout wasn’t because it wasn’t communicated properly. Even if it was and the public was warned beforehand, there still would have been outrage. The real problem was the perception that the senior admin-istration are still receiving fat cheques and bonuses when faculties are being asked to cut, professors aren’t being hired and students aren’t adequately supported.
Even more problematic is that there has been no noticeable change in attitude from the board over the summer. Aside from promising reports months down the line, there has been little to no change in how they conduct their business. This is far more troubling than anything revealed in the report.
People want quick action and more transparency, and naturally, the board is going to resist that. It’s not that they are so unique in their practices or policies — university boards are one of the last bastions of the old school corporate culture of the past. But the time to do something and attempt to make good on their words of assurance from this spring was in the summer and that hasn’t happened.
This report is a positive step in making sense of this pay saga and moving on from the past. We need to move on from focusing on what Chakma was paid — he did return the money, after all — to more pressing issues facing this campus, like how we’re using shrinking financial resources, what support we’re providing to students and improving the overall governance of the university.
• Gazette Editorial Board
The curious case of the missing candidates
Iain BoekhoffEDITOR-IN-CHIEF
@IainAtGazette
With one all candidates debate held last week at Huron, another set for next week and voting day just three weeks away, you would think that candidates would be doing all they could to get their name and views out to voters. You would also think it would be doubly important to get your message out when you’re running in a swing riding, such as the riding Western is situated in, London North Centre.
But that’s not the attitude the incum-bent candidate, Conservative Susan Truppe, has. She has now declined two invitations to all candidates debates on campus. And she’s not alone in declining to debate.
According to The Toronto Star, Conservative candidates across the country have been advised not to attend all candidate debates and to limit their media interviews. Some have gone so
far as to refuse interviews until after the election is over.
Critics have called this undemocratic and have mocked the lack of appearances by Conservative candidates. This strat-egy, however, hasn’t really hurt them in the polls.
Their strategy makes some sense. It’s not like all candidate debates are really all that enlightening. Candidates, for the most part, know enough to tow the party line and recycle their leader’s messaging. You can almost predict what each candi-date will say before they even get to the stage.
In this way, the Conservatives aren’t so much an anomaly as a leader in keep-ing the messaging limited to a few key lines and the focus on the party leader; the NDP, Liberals and Greens all do the same thing. The Conservatives have just elevated it to possibly its purest form in our current system of government.
And maybe, just maybe, it’s an acknowledgement that issues at a riding level really don’t mean as much to people as they used to and individual candidates are much less important than the party leader — and sometimes, they’re totally irrelevant (see last election where an NDP candidate wasn’t even in the country for most of the campaign yet won).
Regardless of the usual emptiness all candidate debates have, it’s more likely that the debate dodging is part of a broader effort to shut out the media and voters and keep all eyes on Harper and his messaging.
It’s not wrong or undemocratic that candidates refuse to debate, but it’s frustrating. It leaves voters wondering if candidates are not willing to stand up for themselves and their party, will they stand up for them in the House of Commons?
It also looks like, especially for incum-bent MPs, as Truppe is, that they don’t have faith in their record or their party’s record. Truppe should want to make it as well known as possible what she has done and what her government has done and not rely solely on the party line.
So while the merits of riding debates can be debatable, they do still provide the only forum for face to face meetings of all the candidates in one place and the only fluid exchange of ideas and argu-ments outside of salvos in local media. It’s important to show up and it’s important to take it seriously.
Our democracy may not demand that candidates show up to debates but it should be a factor voters consider when they cast their ballot.
Cool Story Broekhoff
Courtesy of The Atlantic
“I’M HERE WITH PRESIDENT OBAMA.”Clint Eastwood’s ill-fated speech at the 2012 Republican National Convention is likely similar to how some candidates feel in this year’s Canadian election. With Conservative Party candidates told not to show up to local debates, talking to an empty chair might be the most engagement possible.
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sports gamedayThe men’s rugby team will look to remain undefeated this weekend as they take on their rival, the Queen’s Gaels, at Alumni Field on Saturday at 3 p.m.
Iain Boekhoff • GAZETTE
WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS. The Mustangs women’s ice hockey team is coming off an Ontario University Athletics and Canadian Interuniversity Sport championship. This season they return with much of their veteran firepower.
Lady ’Stangs a mix of old stars, new recruitsSerena Quinn
SPORTS EDITOR@SerenaAtGazette
When it comes to women’s hockey in Canadian Interuniversity Sport, every team in the country now knows that the Western Mustangs will be the team to beat this season.
Whether you were one of the 12 Ontario University Athletics teams the Mustangs defeated last season, or the three teams that the purple and white rolled over in the CIS championship tournament, the Mustangs proved to be a force to be reckoned with.
Western is coming off of a 2014-15 season that saw them cement themselves in the Western history books as being the most success-ful team in program history, with a 20–1–3 record.
Not only did the Mustangs roll over their OUA competitors throughout the regular season and into playoff action to win their first ever OUA championship title but they also rolled over their oppon-ents when it mattered most – the CIS championships.
Western swept the three game tournament, defeating Moncton, Montreal and McGill to claim their first national title in program history.
And while last season is now in the past, it’s hard for Mustang players, coaches and fans not to anticipate another deep run, espe-cially when the team has some key returning players and a number of talented new recruits joining their roster.
Perhaps the most notable returner for the Mustangs is veteran goaltender Kelly Campbell. The St. Thomas, Ont., native joined the Mustangs back in 2011 and emerged as one of the best goaltenders in the country the following year. Campbell has been a standout athlete between the posts for Western and her accom-plishments from last season alone speak to that.
Campbell’s performance in the CIS championship tournament was incredible as she allowed only one goal on 94 shots over three games – a
feat that made her a clear choice for tournament Most Valuable Player.
But it wasn’t just championship action where Campbell shined, as she topped the OUA charts all season long, leading the league in total wins – 16 – and save percentage – .954 – while also ranking second in goals against average – 1.23. The highly skilled netminder was also named an OUA first-team all-star and a first-team all-Canadian.
Another star returning for the Mustangs this season is Kendra Broad. Broad debuted her talent in the OUA last year after trans-ferring from the NCAA Division II Lindenwood University Lions. The Petrolia, Ont., native led the league in power-play points with eight and led the Mustangs in both points and goals with 30 and 15 respectively, good for second in the OUA.
Rounding out the top returning trio for the Mustangs is Katelyn Gosling, who contributed three goals and eight assists to Western’s cham-pionship campaign last season. As a testament to her athletic prow-ess, Gosling was invited to attend Canada’s national women’s hockey team fall festival in Calgary earlier this month in an attempt to earn a spot on Team Canada for the 2016 International Ice Hockey Federation women’s world championships in Kamloops, B.C.
While seasoned players will def-initely know the recipe for success this season, they’ll have to rely on the talent of a number of new recruits if they are to defend their provincial and national titles.
Twelve new Mustangs will don
the purple and white this season as the team’s recruitment has drawn in female athletes from coast-to-coast, with new players hailing from four provinces, including British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario and Nova Scotia.
The recruiting class is led by Lyndsay Kirkham and Amanda Perreria, who both have an abun-dance of experience playing uni-versity hockey.
Kirkham joins the Mustangs from the Lindenwood Lions where she racked up 22 goals and 27 assists over 103 games. Prior to her NCAA career the Cranbrook, B.C., native was named the Alberta Major Midget Female Hockey League’s Rookie of the Year in 2010-11 and was also named the Canadian Hockey Academy’s student athlete of the year twice.
Perreria joins Western’s roster from Laurentian University where she contributed four goals and 12 assists to the team’s first season in the OUA in 2013-14. Before debuting her skills in intercollegiate sport, the Oakville, Ont., native was a member of the East Coast Selects European Tour team that played games in six different European countries.
There have also been some chan-ges behind the bench. Dave Barrett has moved from co-head coach to become the sole bench boss of the Mustangs.
While the Mustangs haven’t begun their OUA season yet, they have definitely been getting in their fair share of practice in exhibition action. The outcome of their pre-sea-son games suggests the team has the talent to potentially go all the way for the second year in a row.
Out of five exhibition games played in the pre-season the Mustangs have been victorious in four of them.
The Mustangs are set to open regular season action this weekend starting on the road on Saturday, Oct. 3, as they face-off against the Guelph Gryphons. They then return home on Sunday to take on the Waterloo Warriors at Thompson Arena. Sunday’s game time is set for 4 p.m.
WESTERN IS COMING OFF OF A 2014-15
SEASON THAT SAW THEM CEMENT THEMSELVES IN THE WESTERN HISTORY BOOKS AS BEING THE MOST SUCCESSFUL TEAM IN PROGRAM HISTORY.
By Levin C. Handy (per http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/cw
You don’t have to sit in school to stand among greatness.
› Thomas Edison:
The world’s most extraordinary failure never gave up. Thank goodness.
EMPLOYMENTCOACHES/INSTRUCTORS NEEDED FOR hockeyand Learn To Skate programs. Email resume to: [email protected] or call 519-645-1136. Win-ter session (September to March).
VOLUNTEERS WANTEDCAMPUS RADIO STATION CHRW is looking for allkinds of creative & fun people (Hosts, Producers, Writ-ers, Videographers, etc.) for “Wake Up Western”, 9-11am weekdays on 94.9fm. Seehttp://chrwradio.ca/WakeUp for info. and e-mail [email protected] to register your interest.
HOUSINGBRIGHT ROOMY ACCOMMODATION available Oct.1st. Includes kitchenette, living area, bath with jacuzzitub/shower, wi-fi, laundry facilities. Furnished or un-furnished. Mature adult only. [email protected]
UPCOMING EVENTSDANCE CLASSES AT DANCE STEPS- 275 Col-borne St. between York and Horton Accessible bybus. Ballet, Jazz, Hip-Hop drop in or join a session.www.dancestepslondon.ca or contact [email protected], 519-645-8515.
SERVICESBEAUTIFUL YOU – Hair by Sarah Mobile Hair Serv-ices. Women’s and men’s cuts, colors, up-dos andextensions. Call, text or email today! Student grouprates available. [email protected]
PRIVATE GUITAR LESSONS. All styles and levels.Graduate of McGill and educated at Berkelee, TheNew School for Jazz. 30, 45, 60 min. lessons. Rea-sonable rates and flexible scheduling. [email protected]. 226-977-4121.
ANNOUNCEMENTSADULT FIGURE SKATING at Thompson arena Thurs-day mornings 10:00-11:50am, beginning Oct 1. Learnto skate and figure skating for teens/adults. Also atNichols Arena. www.londonskatingclub.com to register.
TIPS ON HOW TO AVOID BEING PHISHED1. Never respond to emails that request personal fi-nancial information. Reputable companies don't askfor passwords or account details in an email.2. Visit banks' websites by typing the URL into theaddress bar. Phishers use links within emails to di-rect victims to a fake site. If you suspect an email isbogus, do not follow any embedded links within it.3. Keep a regular check on your accounts Regularlylog into your accounts, and check your statements.
PUT YOUR SUDOKU SAVVY TO THE TEST! To solve a sudoku, the numbers 1 through 9 must fill each row, column and box. Each number can appear only once in each row, column and box. You can figure out the order in which the numbers will appear by using the numeric clues already provided in the boxes.
For solution, turn to page 2
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8 • thegazette • Thursday, October 1, 2015
Shane RobertsSPORTS EDITOR@ShaneAtGazette
Did you know that ultimate frisbee is an official varsity sport at Western? Not many people do, despite the fact that they just started their third sea-son as Mustangs.
Before their first season in 2013, they competed as an unaffiliated team named the UWO Sharks. As the Sharks, the squad competed in the exact same tournaments as they compete in now and consisted of many of the same players.
So what is the difference in becoming an official varsity team? Not very much, according to women’s captain Christine Jurychuk.
“Nothing in our season dramat-ically changes because of our varsity status,” she said.
Jurychuk said this is because the majority of payments for the team are still paid for by the players them-selves. In fact, many varsity athletes have to pay out of their own pocket to play their sport.
“If you don’t play on a team that’s funded, like football, I think there’s a little bit of frustration for all other teams,” she said. “I’m not 100 per cent certain the amount of funding other teams get but I think that there is a general kind of frustration there for everybody.”
Having varsity status may not guarantee financial stability, but there are other benefits, according to men’s ultimate frisbee co-captains Wesley Tin and Iain Mackenzie.
“There’s definitely a lot of bene-fits with regards to facilities on cam-pus,” Tin said. “For example, better access to Fowler Kennedy [Sports Medicine Clinic] and physiotherapy treatments that allow us to help our
players stay healthy and be in the best shape possible to compete.”
Mackenzie also mentioned other benefits.
“We get better fields, we get all the support in terms of like varsity packages and stuff, and they deal with all our cash, so they do a lot of the work for us,” he said.
Despite Jurychuk’s frustrations regarding funding, she understands the “hierarchy of sports” at Western and is content with the increased exposure that has resulted from their official affiliation with Western. She hopes this exposure will lead to more people playing frisbee and thinking of it as a legitimate sport.
Tin expressed similar feelings and thought the differences in team funding were justified. He said teams such as football bring in fans and rev-enue for the school whereas ultimate frisbee does not because all of their
tournaments are played off-campus. One of those tournaments took
place this past weekend in Hamilton, the first of the season. The women finished in third place and the men finished in fourth.
Next weekend they will be head-ing to Kingston to compete at the Canadian Eastern University Ultimate Championships. A victory in Kingston would lead to an automatic birth at the nationals in Ottawa.
All three captains expressed that the goal for both teams this season is to finish in the top three at the nationals tournament.
What it means to be a new varsity team
NOTHING IN OUR SEASON DRAMATICALLY
CHANGES BECAUSE OF OUR VARSITY STATUS … IF YOU DON’T PLAY ON A TEAM THAT’S FUNDED, LIKE FOOTBALL, I THINK THERE’S A LITTLE BIT OF FRUSTRATION FOR ALL OTHER TEAMS.
Courtesy of the ultimate frisbee teamWE SPIN IT RIGHT ROUND BABY, RIGHT ROUND. Iza Batko, a member of Western’s women’s ultimate frisbee team, launches a pass downfield
