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SINCE 1906
westerngazette.caTUESDAY, MARCH 1, 2016 • WESTERN UNIVERSITY’S STUDENT NEWSPAPER • VOLUME 109 ISSUE 41
I got 99 problems but tuition ain’t one since 1906
The government announces major overhaul to financial aid system, making tuition free for low-income students.SEE PAGES 6–7
FREE
KYLE PORTER GAZETTE
2 • TUESDAY, MARCH 1, 2016 www.westerngazette.ca •
IAIN BOEKHOFF EDITOR-IN-CHIEF@IAINATGAZETTE
OLIVIA ZOLLINO PRINT MANAGING EDITOR@OLIVIAATGAZETTE
NATHAN KANTER DIGITAL MANAGING EDITOR@NATHANATGAZETTE
Volume 109, Issue 41WWW.WESTERNGAZETTE.CA
WESTERNGAZETTE
UWOGAZETTE
@UWOGAZETTE
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HIGH 10 LOW 22 HIGH 10 LOW 22 HIGH 10 LOW 22TODAY TOMORROW THURSDAY SATURDAY
KNOW
Men’s hockey team moving on to West finals
After a thrilling overtime win on Sunday at Thompson Arena, the Mustangs are moving on to the OUA west finals against the Guelph Gryphons. PG 5
INSIGHT
Experts critical of Canadian food guide
While students claim to know their dietary guidelines, a Brescia pro-fessor found they were incorrect, signalling guide’s incomprehen-sion, among other issues. PG 8
EXPERIENCE
Latest Artlab installation channels animals’ spirits
The fourth-year museum and cur-atorial practicum class debuted their show, Cabinet of Shadows, last Thursday, using shadows to highlight animal injustices. PG 10
STAFF
ERIC BAJZERT, JENNIFER BALL, MAAILAH BLACKWOOD,
SHACHAR DAHAN, MIKE DEBOER, SABRINA FRACASSI,
JIMMY HUYNH, KSENIA KOLODKA, ELLIS KOIFMAN, AARON
MALLETT, AMAL MATAN, REBECCA MEHARCHAND, AMY
O’SHEA, OWEN PARKER, TOM RUESS, LAUREN SAYERS, RUI
SHI, AMY SKODAK, OREN WIESFELD
NEWSDRISHTI KATARIA KATIE LEAR AMY O’KRUK RITA RAHMATI
BREAKING NEWSHAMZA TARIQ
OPINIONSBRADLEY METLIN
ARTS & LIFESAMAH ALI RICHARD JOSEPH MOSES MONTEROZZA ROBERT NANNI
SPORTSHALA GHONAIM SERENA QUINN SHANE ROBERTS
COPYCLAIRE CHRISTOPHER
PHOTOJENNY JAY TAYLOR LASOTA KYLE PORTER
DESIGNJENNIFER FELDMAN
GRAPHICSJORDAN MCGAVIN CHRIS MISZCZAK
VIDEOSAMIYA HASSAN
AUDIENCE ENGAGEMENTARIEL VAISBORT
GAZETTE ADVERTISING & COMPOSING
IAN GREAVES, MANAGERADVERTISINGDIANA WATSON
COMPOSINGMAJA ANJOLI-BILIĆ ROBERT ARMSTRONG
FFor most students, a typical day includes class, some homework and maybe an extracurricular or hobby. But Lyndon Rey spends his days juggling a lot more, trying to get past the hog line.Lyndon’s schedule is a little unique. His classes are in two different faculties — an honours specialization in linguistics and a minor in computer science.
“As far as I know, I’m the only one in my year that’s in that same combination,” he says. “It’s not a big program.”
After class, you can probably find Lyndon running to something related to curling. Whether he’s playing or managing multiple curling teams, Lyndon’s days are stacked.
He’s been curling since he was in junior high, when a friend who had been curling for a long time recruited him in order to create a winning team at their high school. From there, Lyndon fell in love with curling and even curled competitively for a few years as a teenager.
“Regardless of the stakes, I curl because I love and enjoy it,” he says. “Anything else is just a bonus.”
While Lyndon hasn’t won any curling medals, he has won four zone championships out of the 16 zones in Ontario. His favourite win was in his hometown, Brantford, where he won a doubles tournament with his best friend — each curler won 14 pounds of homemade sausage.
Now he curls for Western’s junior team and manages all the recreational and club team schedules and statistics. With all the teams he balances and manages, things can get competitive, but Lyndon doesn’t let the competitiveness of his sport get to him.
For Lyndon, curling is a team sport, so emotions sometimes conflict with success. He says sometimes it’s
better to compromise because the best teams are the ones that have fun and get along well.
“I deal with the competitiveness by always trying to have fun on the ice,” he says. “It’s a sport, so why not enjoy it?”
Throughout the year, he curls on at least two teams at a time all over Ontario. Lyndon knew he wouldn’t be competing at the Ontario University Athletics championships this year, so he decided to work on perfecting his form.
“I’m still not at the level I used to be, but it’s a lot less taxing on my body now,” Lyndon says. “I’ve constantly been having to change my form and my technique just to be able to work around injuries.”
Lyndon curls four times a week with various teams in addition to juggling his occasionally conflicting course load. Although he struggles with the balancing act, he manages to “hurry hard,” constantly working towards his goals. He hopes to pursue curling after university since he can’t imagine life without the sport.
“One of my top three life goals is to compete for Canada in an international competition,” he says. “It’s unlikely, but it’s my dream come true scenario.”
Lyndon gets everything done by trying to stay organized and prioritizing his activities, which helps him keep his sanity. But above all, curling has taught him persistence.
“Things don’t always go according to plan in curling,” he says. “People miss shots, make errors. Curling has taught me how to deal with my frustrations. The shot has already been thrown and there’s nothing you can do about it, so why get frustrated?”
Lyndon’s advice for young curlers?
“You ‘rock,’ keep it up!”
■ARIEL VAISBORT
PROFILE LYNDON REY
JENNY JAY GAZETTE
Solution to puzzle on page 11
Don’t be left freezing in the dark,take the MUSTANG EXPRESS
A service provided by your USC
For complete detail visit: westernusc.ca/transportation
Service available everyThursday, Friday and Saturday
Starting at 12:20amPicking up every 15 minutes
SPECIAL WEDNESDAY SERVICERunning every 30 mins, on the halfhour mark, from 12am until 3am,Wednesday Night Shuttles will be
available only on the following dates:
Mar 9, 23, 2016Apr 6, 2016
• www.westerngazette.ca TUESDAY, MARCH 1, 2016 • 3
knowWestern University’s
Tra�c Study 2015 / 2016Peak Periods
Morning 07:00-10:00 Noon 12:00-14:00
Evening 15:00-19:00
Peak HoursMorning 08:00-09:00
Noon 12:00-13:00Evening 16:00-17:00
Tra�c includes:1,212 bus trips
606 buses on 13 routes
During all peak periods13,500 inbound vehicles
12,278 outbound vehiclesThat’s more daily
tra�c than the City of Port Colborne!
Windermere Rd Perth Dr
Elgin Rd
Wes
tern
Rd
Brescia Ln/
Lambton Dr
Sarnia Rd/
Philip Aziz Ave
Richmond St
University Dr
Data collection location
8975
3059
2276
536
1673
Pedestrian crossings during peak periods
~1 of all vehicle trips into and out of campus have a duration of less than 20 minutes 2/
About nine of ten vehicles arriving during the study period, also le� during the study period
Between 8:00 and 9:00 AM there are 836 entrances through Perth Dr.
Two-lane, two-way roadways typically have a capacity of 700-900 vehicles
per lane, per hourSome campus roadways are reaching their capacity, resulting in congestion
If all linked trips (Kiss-n-Ride) and cut-through trips (with no “business” on-campus) were eliminated, campus tra�c would be reduced by almost 5,400 vehicles per day, or 40%.
JENNIFER FELDMAN GAZETTE
Rapid transit a far ways awayRITA RAHMATI NEWS EDITOR@RITAATGAZETTE
Rapid transit has a long way to go before it comes to Western.
The University published a traffic study report assessing bus, car, cyc-list and pedestrian traffic on cam-pus last week. The report, written by third-party company Parsons, is preparation for discussions on rapid transit with the City of London. The issues and potential solutions sur-rounding transit were all discussed at two town halls held last week at Western.
Through the years, London Transit Commission has attempted to improve transit by adding routes and additional buses, but there are still complaints from students.
“Our current transit systems are failing,” said Kevin Hurren, University Students’ Council com-munications officer. “They’re failing students and they’re failing every-one who comes on this campus.”
The data in the report was col-lected at five main intersections: Western Road at Sarnia Road/Phillip Aziz Avenue; Western Road and Lambton Road; Western Road and Perth Drive; and Richmond Street and University Drive. The data was collected on three days: Dec. 2, 3 and 8, which are considered typical traffic days, during peak periods — 7-10 a.m., 12-2 p.m. and 3-7 p.m.
According to the report, approximately half of all vehicle trips into campus last less than 20 minutes with 40 per cent taking place within 3-7 minutes, indicat-ing they are just drop-offs or pick-ups. If transit trips, linked trips and cut-through were moved to periph-eral roads, campus traffic would decrease by 45 per cent.
The report said if all linked trips and cut-through traffic is moved around campus there would be
a decrease in 5,360 trips. If pick-ups and drop-offs were only at an improved curb, public roadways or a designated kiss-n-ride loop, 660 trips would be decreased.
When asked about the heavy pedestrian flow on Sarnia Road, where four residences are located, Gitta Kulczycki, vice-president resources and operations, said the city has been conducting an environmental study of that area.
“It’s a busy place for pedestrians and also a very busy intersection for vehicles,” Kulczycki said. “However, any measures taken at that inter-section need to be in the context of the bigger goals of trying to reduce vehicular traffic on our campus.”
The town halls had representa-tives from the City of London and the Rethink London project. London is proposing a rapid rail system that would go through campus. The sys-tem would cost approximately $800 million, but Western would not have to contribute any funds.
Many cities and universities already have rapid rail systems, such as the University of Arizona and the University of Portland.
Lindsee Perkins, USC vice-presi-dent external, said the USC is sup-portive of the rapid transit proposal.
“From our perspective, I think it’s pertinent to have rapid transit on campus,” Perkins said. “So I hope people really saw those benefits when they were talking about them.”
Kulczycki explained there are numerous considerations that need to be made before agreeing to the rapid rail system. Amongst them is pedestrian safety, respecting the Gothic architecture of the campus, decreasing congestion and ensuring academics and research are not dis-rupted by any transit additions.
“We are very proud of our cam-pus — those of us who work here, we take enormous pride in it,” Kulczycki said. “It’s one of the most beautiful campuses in the country. It’s one of the things that Western is known for.”
An academic concern is that if the rapid rail system went through the Natural Sciences area there could be electromagnetic interference with the research buildings close by. The University of Minnesota had to spend $50 million to relocate labora-tories and on shielding equipment due to the rail system.
Amongst the possible options for improving campus traffic is the potential creation of an exclu-sive bus zone. For example, the
University of Guelph has an exclu-sive bus loop area for city buses and GO Transit.
“Certainly there is no obvious site to put something like this,” Kulczycki said. “However, I certainly would not rule anything out at this stage.”
Kulczycki said the administra-tion and Board of Governors has currently not taken any concrete stances on rapid transit. For now, she said the administration is look-ing into traffic calming measures and ways to enhance pedestrian safety. Western administration’s final stance on rapid transit is likely to be given in the spring.
Regardless of the administra-tion’s view, Perkins said the USC will be vocal about its support for the endeavour.
“At the end of the day the USC talks for students and students want rapid transit,” Perkins said. “We’ve seen that just from how much they complain about the current transit system, and different things we’ve done throughout the year to pro-mote rapid transit.”
Anyone interested in contribut-ing feedback on the issue can send an email to [email protected]. n
AMY O’KRUK NEWS EDITOR@AMYATGAZETTE
A Western student’s appeal has been postponed after the chair of the appeals board recused himself from the adjudication panel to pre-vent alleged procedural bias.
At Friday afternoon’s hearing, University Students’ Council’s chief returning officer, Andrew Chorney, asked the appeal board’s chair, Brandt Chu, to step down as panel chair. Chorney said Chu and the appellant’s representative, Matt Helfand, conducted a private, one-sided phone call prior to the hearing that jeopardized the chair’s objectivity.
“There are … serious legitim-ate concerns about what my team and I perceive to be a risk to the impartiality and transparency of the board in this specific appeal,” Chorney said.
Helfand is representing second-year science student and USC sci-ence councillor Yousuf Ahmed, who alleges the elections commit-tee inappropriately awarded him three demerit points for creating a Facebook post that provided stu-dents with biology notes to induce voter support.
In response, Helfand said at the hearing that the conversation was of a procedural nature and that Chorney had the same opportunity
to request the chair’s phone num-ber, which is currently not publicly available. In addition, Helfand said making Chu recuse could set a pre-cedent that no party is allowed to have a private, procedural con-versations with the chair without alerting both parties.
“This sort of discussion of a procedural nature is likely to be an inherent aspect of this appeals board,” Helfand said. “In order to make these meetings as efficient as possible, I don’t see why there’s any reason the chair would be unable to have a conversation regarding procedural matters. To have both parties present at any meeting of a procedural question would be highly unfeasible.”
Chorney said he doesn’t have a problem with private correspond-ence, but he does have an issue with correspondence that cannot be reflected through some form of record.
After an in-camera deliber-ation, Chu announced the appeals board decided to elect a new chair, appeals board member Andrew Tam. At that point, the hearing had to be adjourned because the appeals board could not continue with only the four remaining panel members.
Tam said he will announce a new hearing date as soon as pos-sible. n
Student’s appeal postponed to ensure fair deliberation
TAYLOR LASOTA GAZETTE
We look forward to seeing you there! Pizza & refreshments will be served
You’re invited to network with us! Tuesday, March 8, 2016 @ 5:45pm
Please join Cargill for a networking event where you will have the opportunity to learn about summer and graduate employment opportunities from our company representatives.
WHEN Tuesday, March
8, 2016 5:45pm – 7:30pm
WHERE Spencer
Engineering Building (SEB).
Room 2200
RSVP Pre-Register for
this event through Career Central
www.cargill.ca/careers
4 • TUESDAY, MARCH 1, 2016 www.westerngazette.ca •
know
Making strides in charity
JUDY BASMAJI CONTRIBUTOR@NEWSATGAZETTE
Western students considering rent-ing out their dorm rooms using online accommodation sharing websites may want to think again.
Students at several North American universities have been caught renting out their residence rooms using online housing sharing services such as Airbnb. However, this creative business initiative is not tolerated at most institutions, including Western.
“We’re not a commercial landlord ... and our accommodation is not really appropriate for commercial use,” said Susan Grindrod, associate vice-president of Western’s Housing and Ancillary Services. “Our resi-dences are for our students. You have to be a full-time student going to Western.”
Most post-secondary institutions ensure housing contracts contain regulations that prohibit dorm room rentals due to safety and security concerns. If caught, appropriate penalties are enforced on a case-by-case basis.
“We would ask them to stop and we would have the right to trespass whoever they rented to and we could terminate their residence con-tract,” said Grindrod, adding that no such situation has been previously encountered by the school’s resi-dence system.
While online petitions in support of student dorm room rentals have popped up, Grindrod said it’s very unlikely that the university’s policies might change in response to high student demand for dorm-sharing.
“[It] doesn’t seem like it would be an appropriate use of University property,” she said. n
Western residences don’t approve of sharing
Motion for CHRW referendum failsHAMZA TARIQ BREAKING NEWS EDITOR@HAMZAATGAZETTE
A USC motion to hold a referen-dum next year on whether or not CHRW’s student fee should be dis-continued failed with 80 per cent of councillors voting against it.
The final vote tallied 17 per cent voting in favour of the motion and three per cent abstaining.
Council could not agree on any amendments or alternative to the referendum. Consequently, the current CHRW funding model will continue as is.
The meeting was attended by more than 60 additional audience members who showed their soli-darity with CHRW.
Council, however, struggled to meet quorum of 26 councillors before the CHRW presentation by station manager Grant Stein and other volunteers began. The speaker of council was forced to start the presentation without quorum.
During CHRW’s presentation, one volunteer spoke about the experiential learning offered by the campus radio station.
“The motion draws the atten-tion to the station’s listenership while we focus on volunteer experience,” she said.
Another volunteer, Ashley Papadamou, said she hopes to work in the media industry some day and CHRW was a platform helping her achieve that goal.
“It gives you the opportunity to network with current industry professionals ... you’re building your communication skills,” she said.
Members of cultural clubs on campus also spoke at the meet-ing, expressing their gratitude for the platform that CHRW pro-vided them to exhibit diversity at Western.
After the presentation, coun-cillors got a chance to question CHRW representatives.
Social science councillor Alana Kiteley asked for the num-ber of undergraduate volun-teers involved with CHRW. The response was approximately 170 students out of a total of 300 volunteers.
Law counci l lor Derrick Dodgson said that the affordability of education was an ongoing con-cern and while student fees may not be as much as tuition, they are still significant.
“I think that 170 students isn’t all that disproportionate from dozens of other clubs and all of these clubs are really important to the students that are in them,” he said, “but that doesn’t mean that they get a mandatory student fee that everyone pays.”
Many councillors expressed their desire for the campus radio station to explore other funding because the number of under-graduate students’ who receive value from CHRW isn’t equal to the number of students who pay for it collectively. Other council-lors agreed, but said a referendum was premature.
“[This] referendum is incredibly negligent,” said Brescia president Caitie Cheeseman. “AllyWestern may not have the highest attend-ance but that doesn’t mean it’s not valuable.”
Before the motion was called to question, Kiteley proposed an alternative motion to the referendum.
The proposed amendment stated, “CHRW [will] have the opportunity to bring an alterna-tive funding model to council in the fall of 2016. If council is satis-fied with the alternative funding model, council may, at that time, cancel the referendum.”
Science councillor Courtney Hardy spoke in favour of the amendment motion and said concerns regarding CHRW listen-ership come up every year but no change is observed. The amended motion would encourage CHRW to look for other funding models.
“I want to see something actually happen,” she said.
The amendment failed as it did not get the two-third majority in council required for it to pass.
Finally, after more than two hours of debate attempts to hold any CHRW related referendums in the future failed. n
n With files from Katie Lear and Amy O’Kruk.
MOSES MONTERROZA ARTS & LIFE EDITOR@MOSESATGAZETTE
In 2012, Dr. Adeyosola Adedayo passed away due to a rare disease. The 27-year-old suffered from Stevens-Johnson Syndrome, a lethal skin condition that is trig-gered from allergic reactions to medicine.
Devastated and morose at the loss of his brother, Fadésola Adedyao had nowhere to turn, so he started running.
The running helped shift Fadésola’s perspective, bringing a much needed light to his situation. He soon realized that through exer-cise he could cope with his loss and so he became hooked.
“It was something that I had complete control over,” he says. “Exercise and running, especially in a world that can be unbearable, can give you a sense of stability. You’ve probably heard the term ‘runner’s high’ — it’s a very real thing.”
What began as a method of cop-ing quickly turned into an oppor-tunity. Following the footsteps of his brother Adeyosola — also a mara-thon runner — Fadésola decided he would honour his brother by not only raising money for charity and awareness, but running 17 mara-thons in 17 days. Yes, you read that right: 17 consecutive marathons.
And so the 24-year-old civil engineer began training hard and running avidly, overcoming adver-sity and inching closer to the finish line.
“It was really daunting at first, but I quickly discovered that there is a science to it,” says Fadésola. “As I continued training, I realized that it’s not daunting at all.”
Fadésola plans on traveling to Nigeria, where his brother passed, and running from Abuja to Lagos. The distance between the two cit-ies is approximately 657 kilometres;
the equivalent would be climbing mount Kilimanjaro 12.5 times. It’s the kind of marathon that’s set up to fail, but for Fadésola it’s a matter of necessity.
“I had to do something because if I didn’t nothing would change,” says Fadésola. “I’m more conscious of time now and that’s really a motivational factor – I can’t be like, ‘oh I’ll just do this tomorrow,’ because tomorrow never came for my brother.”
Stevens-Johnson Syndrome is a divesting disease with a 40 per cent mortality rate. It causes ulcers and sores on the top of the skin and a painful burning sensation all over the body. Those who survive the disease still suffer from blindness, sensitivity of light and sheer pain.
“The fact that 40 per cent of people who have the disease don’t make it through is horrible,” says Fadésola. “So the point that we’re trying to make is that if we raise enough awareness we can create a fund where we can donate money to Stevens-Johnnson Syndrome.”
Fadésola is no stranger to defeat-ing the odds. Traveling to Canada at the young age of 10, the young Nigerian immigrant knows what it
means to face a challenge.“I was born in Lagos and then
moved to Toronto as an immigrant when I was 10 years old,” says Fadésola. “We used to wash win-dows at the Eaton Centre because my uncle was a janitor. Eventually I was able to go to school. I ended up going to Western to study engineer-ing and in my third year that’s when my brother passed away.”
“From 2012 to 2013, that’s when I started running,” continues Fadésola. “Eight months later I did my first marathon and I just kept running and running.”
Fadésola hopes to create a fund where researchers can receive funding to help find treatment and possibly a cure to the disease.
“It’s the most cost-effective way of raising money,” he says. “We’re actively trying to avoid making it a business. We want to keep it as small as possible so we can the most money directed toward research.”
As of right now, Fadésola has raised $3,669.40 and will be run-ning the marathon this spring. To help support him on his journey you can visit his website 17in17.org and make a donation. n
COURTESY OF FADÉSOLA ADEDYAO
knowsports • www.westerngazette.ca TUESDAY, MARCH 1, 2016 • 5
Mustangs top Blues in OT, advance to west finals
MIKE DEBOER GAZETTE STAFF@SPORTSATGAZETTE
One or done.The Western Mustangs men’s
basketball team has their biggest challenge of the season tomorrow night: a do-or-die first round play-off matchup with the Lakehead Thunderwolves for a shot at extending their season at least one more game.
The Mustangs go into Wednesday night on a two-game winning streak, with only three losses in their last 10 games.
They beat Lakehead 84–69 on Friday night, led by a monster 29-point, nine-rebound perform-ance from fifth-year senior Tony Spiridis.
Yet the past doesn’t matter come playoff time.
“Lakehead is a good team and we played really well,” said Mustangs head coach Brad Campbell on Friday’s win. “We have to take a few things from that game that we’re going to work on and take a look at, but our guys know we’re going to throw out that game because it’s the playoffs.”
It has been a roller coaster ride of a season for the Mustangs. The team hit rock bottom on Jan. 15, losing to the then winless Algoma Thunderbirds at home.
A week later, the Mustangs beat the Brock Badgers, a team ranked third in the nation at the time. With such extreme highs and lows, this team now appears mentally pre-pared to take on the challenge of an elimination game.
However, they can’t get ahead of themselves.
Lakehead is a dangerous team. They beat the 14–5 McMaster Marauders twice this season and had a huge win over the second ranked team in Canada, the Ottawa GeeGees.
“We’re heading into the game with confidence, but Lakehead is a strong team with some big wins this year,” said Tony Spiridis. “They have two really talented guys in Bacarius Dinkins and Henry Tan.
And it’s never easy playing a team twice in six days.”
Dinkins is a forward out of Jonesville, Fla., who provides offen-sive versatility and intensity in the paint, averaging 17.2 points and 8.3 rebounds per game. His teammate, Henry Tan, averages 15.6 points per game.
“Tan is a big key to their offen-sive machine and scoring,” said Campbell. “Tom Filgiano, who we think is one of the better defenders in the league, did an outstanding job on Friday and we think he’s going to have to do an outstanding job again Wednesday.”
Another key for the Mustangs is to get solid scoring off the bench. Scoring from guys like Nik Farkic, Jedson Tavernier and Alex Coote will be needed. In their season finale on Saturday night against the Algoma Thunderbirds, the Mustangs bench had 22 points, a pleasant change from the often shallow bench scor-ing seen throughout the year.
“It’s something that’s been extremely important all season,” said Campbell. “We’ve been getting some contributions, we just haven’t been getting much scoring. If we can get a little scoring off our bench, we’ll be hard to beat.”
For the Mustangs seniors, the game will be particularly significant. Due to playoff seeding, this will be the last game Spiridis, Filgiano, Greg Morrow, Peter Scholtes, and Elliot Dooley will ever play at Alumni Hall.
The Mustangs hope for a rau-cous crowd on Wednesday night. A Facebook event for the game encouraged people to bring sound making devices to bring the noise in Alumni Hall. Home court advan-tage against Lakehead is about more than just avoiding that treacherous 14 hour drive to Thunder Bay. It is about getting fans out to provide this team with energy.
This could be the last game that this Mustangs team plays together ever again. Or it could be the next step in a successful run.
This is what playoff basketball is all about. n
Lakers awaits ’Stangs
GABI BEST GAZETTE STAFF@SPORTSATGAZETTE
It’s a place 28 of 29 roster players have never been before: the third round of the playoffs.
Only assistant captain Shaun Furlong has been to the Ontario University Athletics west finals, and that was back in 2011.
Now, after plenty of hard work and determination, this year’s edi-tion of the Western Mustangs men’s hockey team will be headed there as well, to face the fourth-seeded Guelph Gryphons. Western man-aged to defeat the University of Toronto Varsity Blues in game three of their second-round playoff series at Thompson Arena on Sunday 4–3 in overtime.
“Seasons [have] ended at Thompson Arena the last few years here and it’s certainly nice to get back at that stage where you’re play-ing to go to the nationals,” Mustangs head coach Clarke Singer said. “Not that you need extra motivation but it’s certainly nice to have.”
Sunday’s game was an end to an extremely exciting series that had everything: goaltending, physicality and plenty of scoring.
Fortunately for Western,
captain David Corrente scored the game-winning goal in overtime to lead his team to a series victory. Goaltender Greg Dodds was thank-ful his captain netted the winner, as he was not happy to have given up the tying goal halfway through the third period.
“I was just so happy that we came out with the win,” Dodds said. “When we got the third goal, I thought ‘It’s on me now to shut the door’ and I let the rebound out and I was so mad at myself. Seeing him put that in for me was awesome — I
went up and said ‘thanks for saving my butt tonight.’ ”
Corrente said his plan was to get the puck to the net for a rebound, something coach Singer has been saying throughout the season.
“I think that puck had eyes — I was just trying to get it on net and hope for a rebound for someone to whack it in, but fortunately for us it just went straight in,” Corrente said. “We have been preaching it all series to get the puck to the net.”
That being said, Singer believed some opportunities were missed
throughout the game.“I thought we gave up a few
opportunities to shoot throughout the game to try and look for some-thing pretty where we could actually set it in the net,” he said.
Western now moves on to face the Guelph Gryphons, the defending OUA champions and a team coming off of a big 11–3 win against Ryerson in game three of the other OUA west semifinals.
The Mustangs have matched up well with Guelph during the season, winning both games 3–2. Coach
Singer predicts they will come into this series strong.
“[They have] one of the best goaltenders in the country, [they’re] one of the hardest working teams in the country, OUA champions last year [and] bronze [medalists] at nationals last year,” he said. “This is going to be an incredibly tough series. Guelph is going to have momentum too — they have a lot of experience.”
Corrente also remembers how physical Guelph was from their previous matchups and knows he has to lead the Mustangs into the series ready to play physical.
“We know them from the season, they have a lot of guys that have been there for a few years now,” he said. “They play physical and we’re going to be ready for that and match that and come on strong.”
The Mustangs are looking for-ward to playing Guelph at home on Thursday night at Thompson Arena. He says the keys to success are simple.
“Just preach the same message: keep it simple, play hard, play strong, play for the guy next to you, keep moving on [and] keep moving forward.” n
KYLE PORTER GAZETTE
Women's hockey team sweeps Waterloo, advance to OUA semifinalsCLAIRE PALMER GAZETTE STAFF@SPORTSATGAZETTE
In the last half of the regular season, the Western Mustangs women’s hockey team seemed to be in a downward tailspin in the standings. After going on a three-game losing streak and dropping five out of their final nine games of the season, goals seemed to be scarce as the Mustangs’ post-sea-son hopes came into question.
Looking back on that now, the Mustangs didn’t have anything to worry about, as they stormed their way through the first round of the playoffs against the Waterloo Warriors over the weekend.
The Mustangs posted five goals over the course of two games and received back-to-back shutouts from veteran goaltender Kelly Campbell. The biggest win of the series came Saturday on the road in Waterloo, with the Mustangs cruising to a decisive 4–0 win to sweep the best-of-three series.
“I thought we played very well. We had a great first period,” said Mustangs head coach Dave Barrett in a phone interview fol-lowing Saturday’s win. “I think as the series went on we played better.”
The Mustangs capitalized early on in Saturday’s game with goals from defender Anthea Lasis and forward Marlowe Pecora to jump out to a 2–0 lead heading into intermission.
Campbell proved herself once again — as if that was necessary — as she made a spectacular save late in the first to preserve the two-goal lead. Campbell would stop all 37 shots she faced by the end of the game, to earn her second straight shutout and remain perfect in the playoffs so far.
“Good game for Kel ly Campbell, she had an outstanding game,” said Amanda Pereira after
Saturday’s game. “She made some big saves for us.”
The Mustangs caught a for-tunate bounce off the boards to start the second period, as Pereira took advantage of some puck luck to score on the Waterloo net only 13 seconds into the frame, making it 3–0 for the Mustangs.
“Lindsay Kirkham and Evra Levesque did a good job of seal-ing the wall and didn’t give them any options,” said Pereira. “The Waterloo goalie was behind the net and it just popped out right on my stick.”
Levesque picked up her second point of the playoffs off that play after scoring the lone goal in Western’s game one win. However, Levesque wasn’t done for the game, as she added a goal to the Mustangs’ lead later on in the third period. Pereira earned an assist of her own on Levesque’s goal, and the two would finish the night with two points apiece.
Levesque’s goal was the last of the game, with Western main-taining their commanding 4–0 lead to claim the game two victory.
“We really showed ‘Mustangs hockey’ during the first and third period,” said Pereira. “We played
with lots of grit and passion and we just stuck to our game plan.”
‘Mustangs hockey’ is a phil-osophy brought to the team by Barrett, which dictates the style of play they need to emulate to find success in the playoffs.
“It’s a certain tenacity and a certain attitude that separates the champions from the wannabes,” said Barrett. “Our team last year really embraced that philosophy. It’s taken a little longer this year to get the buy in from everybody but I think it’s there now.”
Barrett and his team look to use this series as a jumping-off point to prepare for the second round.
“Some of our players that hadn’t been in the playoffs before started to get more comfortable,” said Barrett. “I’m really looking forward to how they respond to the next opponent we face.”
That next opponent will be the Nipissing Lakers, who finished just one point behind Western in the regular season standings. The Mustangs only have a couple days off before they progress to the second round because they have to travel to North Bay for game one on Wednesday. Before then, there will be a few vital practices where the team can hopefully build off their improvements from the first round.
“Primarily it’s just maintaining skills — puck skills primarily — and reinforcing some of our structures,” said Barrett. “We just need to get a little better at all the details of all the game.”
As for the uncertainty sur-rounding the Mustangs’ playoff prospects during the last half of the season, those can be left in the past now.
“I’m very pleased with the way we responded to the pressure of the playoffs,” said Barrett. n
[Mustangs’ hockey] is a certain tenacity and a certain attitude that separates the champions from the wanna-bes…. Our team last year really embraced that philoso-phy. It’s taken a little longer this year to get the buy in from everybody but I think it’s there now.DAVE BARRETTWESTERN MUSTANGS HEAD COACH
6 • TUESDAY, MARCH 1, 2016 www.westerngazette.ca •
know • Ontario Budget 2016
1
2
3
45
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8
Ontario is overhauling the student financial aid system, making tuition free for students from families who
make less than $50,000.
The government will be replacing the current system of tax credits and vari-ous grants, including the Ontario 30%
O� Tuition grant, with one grant system.
The Ontario Student Grant will mean students receive financial aid up front
rather than waiting for tax credits a er they've already paid for tuition.
The change will make post-secondary education more accessible for students
as they will know how much they will have to pay in tuition a er grants have
been factored in.
The government says 70 per cent of university students from families with incomes below $50,000 will have total grants greater than the average uni-versity tuition.
Source: Ontario budget 2016
Student groups like the Ontario Under-graduate Student Alliance, which the USC is a part of, have called for this change for years.
The government is also lowering the expected parental contribution for middle and high-income families from over $10,000 to just $4,000 for fami-lies earning $110,000 a year.
Ontario will be working with post-sec-ondary institutions toward net tuition billing by 2018–19 so students can calculate actual tuition costs.
Financial aid system changes, explained
JORDAN MCGAVIN GAZETTE
IAIN BOEKHOFF EDITOR-IN-CHIEF@IAINATGAZETTE
QUEEN’S PARK — A long called for overhaul to Ontario’s student financial aid system will see stu-dents in low-income families pay no tuition the gov-ernment announced in its 2016 budget.
Unveiled on Thursday by Finance Minister Charles Sousa, the Liberal government is planning to elim-inate tuition and education tax credits as well as amalgamate current grants into one grant system, the Ontario Student Grant.
While no new money is being invested into stu-dent financial aid, students will receive money up front for tuition rather than waiting for tax credits, a move supported by student groups.
The new system will mean students with family incomes below $50,000 will pay no tuition and the government says 50 per cent of students from fam-ilies with $83,000 or less will receive grants in excess of average tuition. Sousa said the plan will increase access for everyone and won’t negatively affect cur-rent students.
“All students would be as well as, or better off than, they are under the current Ontario tuition grant,” Sousa said.
Reza Moridi, minister of training, colleges and universities, said the impetus for changing the sys-tem came from how complicated and difficult to navigate it currently is. He stressed the government will be continuing to modernize the post-secondary education system.
“I think this is a great day for our post-secondary education system and in particular for our students,” he said. “We have made the biggest change, the lar-gest single change and modernization of our OSAP system. So this is a great day, I am so happy for our students and our post-secondary education system.”
Progressive Conservative leader Patrick Brown criticized the proposal, saying the new program will remain inaccessible to “70 per cent” of Ontario students.
New Democratic Party leader Andrea Horwath said the finance minister acknowledged there’s no new money being invested into students but it is streamlining the system.
“I’m still concerned that the post-secondary edu-cation commitment in this province is bottom of the barrel compared to most other provinces,” Horwath said. “We still have the lowest per capita funding and still have serious concerns about access, and hope-fully this will help a little bit in terms of access but again, we’re still not doing very well when it comes to post-secondary education support overall.”
Spencer Nestico-Semianiw, president of the Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance, said his organization was pleased with how far the new sys-tem went in addressing student concerns.
“I was really also impressed with how nuanced the new financial aid will look, because we know now that married students are going to benefit because we have decreased spousal contributions, decrease for parental contribution for many students … which is a very positive change,” he said.
“And really this has been a very important land-mark, I would say, in the financial aid evolution and a lot of OUSA’s asks and priorities for the last several years have been met through this type of budget release.”
Gabrielle Ross-Marquette, the national execu-tive representative for the Canadian Federation of Students Ontario, was happy with the changes and the increased access for students.
“Students in the [CFS] have advocated for more up front and needs based grants for years now,” she said. “We know that low-income students make up around 10 per cent of our college and university campuses. So we’re really hoping that this re-investment into needs based grants will change the makeup of our colleges and campuses for the better.”
Judy Bates, president of the Ontario Confederation
New grant system will increase access to education for students from low-income familiesStudent groups laud change to student financial aid system
• www.westerngazette.ca TUESDAY, MARCH 1, 2016 • 7
Ontario Budget 2016 • know
1
2
3
45
6
7
8
Ontario is overhauling the student financial aid system, making tuition free for students from families who
make less than $50,000.
The government will be replacing the current system of tax credits and vari-ous grants, including the Ontario 30%
O� Tuition grant, with one grant system.
The Ontario Student Grant will mean students receive financial aid up front
rather than waiting for tax credits a er they've already paid for tuition.
The change will make post-secondary education more accessible for students
as they will know how much they will have to pay in tuition a er grants have
been factored in.
The government says 70 per cent of university students from families with incomes below $50,000 will have total grants greater than the average uni-versity tuition.
Source: Ontario budget 2016
Student groups like the Ontario Under-graduate Student Alliance, which the USC is a part of, have called for this change for years.
The government is also lowering the expected parental contribution for middle and high-income families from over $10,000 to just $4,000 for fami-lies earning $110,000 a year.
Ontario will be working with post-sec-ondary institutions toward net tuition billing by 2018–19 so students can calculate actual tuition costs.
Financial aid system changes, explainedof University Faculty Associations, said she was “delighted” for students and the fact that many will now graduate with lower debt loads, but questioned what experience those student will have without increased investments to universities.
“We’re delighted there will be better access for students, particularly those from low-income house-holds, but they also need to work on increasing the operating costs for universities to ensure that all of those students have a better experience once they get there,” Bates said.
She noted the rate of increase in university budgets is below inflation, which means increased class sizes, fewer full-time faculty members and less access to resources that students need for their success.
“Currently and for a long time now, operating funds for universities have been shrinking and shrink-ing … we now have the lowest per student funding in Ontario, lower than anywhere else in Canada and under these proposals in this budget, we will fall even further behind,” Bates said.
Two other notable changes are a lowering of what parents are expected to contribute for middle and high income families in order to be eligible for OSAP, and making more clear actual costs of tuition after grants from both the government and the educational institution, eventually implementing “net tuition bill-ing” by 2018-19.
Grants will also no longer be tied to the number of years a student has been out of high school, improv-ing accessibility for mature students.
The elimination of the current tax credits will see an additional $145 million in revenue for the Ontario government in 2017-18 and $335 million in 2018-19, which will be invested in the OSG and other educa-tion programs.
Sophie Helpard, president of the University Students’ Council, was happy with the changes pre-sented in the budget.
“I think we made some huge advancements and I’m so happy to see a lot of the changes reflected in the budget,” Helpard said. “I know that this will make post-secondary education more accessible for the students of Ontario.” n
n With files from Rita Rahmati
Western gets $35 million for advanced manufacturingRITA RAHMATI NEWS EDITOR@RITAATGAZETTE
Western University, along with McMaster and Waterloo, is receiving $35 million in provincial funding over the next five years for an Advanced Manufacturing Consortium.
The funding was announced at last week’s Ontario budget announcement.
The Advanced Manufacturing Consortium is a project that hopes to create the next generation of additive manufacturing, digital components and devices. In total, the project is expected to cost $50 million.
University Students’ Council president, Sophie Helpard, was in attendance at Queen’s Park for the budget reveal and heard about the funding first-hand.
“Essentially the consortium was a proposal made by Western, McMaster and Waterloo,” she said. “So the provincial government has decided to invest in it.”
The project is part of Ontario’s goal to transition the traditional manufacturing sector to advanced manufacturing.
“Working together, our universities are uniquely positioned to build greater economic activity for our cities and region,” said Western University President Amit Chakma in a press release. “We are buoyed by the possibilities this funding holds for research, innovation and a dynamic knowledge-based econ-omy in Ontario.”
According to Western’s press release, the three institutions were selected due to their strong research, training and commercialization capabilities.
The three institutions have worked together in these areas in the past. For example, Western and McMaster have worked with the Fraunhofer Composites Centre at Western that develops, tests and validates new lightweight materials and advanced manufacturing processes.
“This is part of Western’s strategic goals in terms of their research capacities,” Helpard said. “Obviously Western has engaged in many different research projects at one time, but this has been one that has been very prioritized.”
Helpard is excited about the consortium and thinks the project will be very beneficial to Western. n
8 • TUESDAY, MARCH 1, 2016 www.westerngazette.ca •
insight
Mission nutrition impossibleCanada’s food guide is the gold standard for healthy eating,
but it’s not as accessible as it could — or should — be.RICHARD JOSEPH ARTS & LIFE EDITOR@RJATGAZETTE
It’s hard to look at the vibrant cover of Canada’s food guide without a pang of nostalgia. For many, the colourful document hearkens back to a simpler time, when homework was easy and “healthy eating” con-sisted of a fun food-rainbow thing.
The guide is ubiquitous in every part of the population, from impressionable elementary school students to health professionals. It’s the second-most downloaded government document in Canada, after tax forms.
“As a dietician, it’s my number one resource,” says Lisa Cianfrini, professor of food and nutritional sci-ences at Brescia University College.
Clearly, it’s everywhere. But how many average people really know its contents?
June Matthews, associate profes-sor in food and nutrition at Brescia, did her master’s research on how well most people knew the food guide. More recently, she and her colleagues finished a major study at Western, “University students intend to eat better, but lack coping self-ef-ficacy and knowledge of dietary rec-ommendations,” interviewing over 6,000 students on the subject.
“Most people claimed to know
the guidelines for their age group, but when you asked them what they thought, it was wrong,” she explains. “But you look at our food guide right now ... [and] first of all, it’s six pages long. There’s a whole page on differ-ent-numbered recommendations for children, teens and adults, and by male or female. I don’t even know my food guide recommendation!”
This overcomplicated dietary advice is just one of the many criti-cisms of the guide, which was last updated in 2007. That rainbow bar-ricade is under attack by academics and dieticians alike, for a variety of different reasons. For example, 25 per cent of our calories as Canadians come from sources outside the guide, according to the Globe and Mail.
Others are concerned about how the guide treats certain foods. Half a cup of juice is considered a serving of fruit, although it has none of the fibre and often contains added sugar.
Our food guide looks particularly shallow in comparison to Brazil’s, which both Cianfrini and Matthews tout as an example of what a pub-lic health policy should look like. It’s a radical and comprehensive document, with an entirely new approach to diet.
The first of the 10 steps to a healthy diet on Brazil’s food guide:
“Make natural or minimally pro-cessed foods the basis of your diet.” According to Matthews, they are the first country in the world to put that on their guide and the first to advise consumers to “be wary of food advertising and market-ing.” Cooking skills, environmental sustainability and simply enjoying your food are other unusual and innovative inclusions, broadening the scope of the guide.
Another common concern is industry influence, as meat and dairy lobbying groups are powerful forces in Canada.
Maryse Durette, media relations advisor for Health Canada, says in an email interview, “the food indus-try had no role in the development in the food intake pattern in the 2007 Canada’s Food Guide,” citing
the fact that the dietary reference intake expert advisory committee was comprised “entirely of academ-ics and public health nutritionists” advising.
She also points out only three of the 12 members of the food guide advisory committee were members of the industry — but 25 per cent is nothing to scoff at.
Matthews, however, says these objections are based on ideology rather than science.
“I’m not sure why people con-sider this a concern,” she says. “What does ‘undue influence’ mean? Some people might say the alcohol industry has intervened already in Canada because they’re not on the food guide.”
On the other hand, the meat and dairy industry titans might have a more pervasive effect on diet as a whole, which in turn affects the food guide.
“A lot of the publications we have out there are funded through dairy capital Canada, the beef board, things like that,” explains Cianfrini. “They decide what gets published ... and sometimes things don’t get published because they see poten-tial backlash from people. There’s definitely a publication bias going on and we know that.”
This range of criticism has
prompted Health Canada to con-sider revising aspects of the guide.
“Health Canada is concluding a review of the evidence base for its current guidance to Canada, includ-ing how the existing guidance is being used by health professionals, educators and consumers,” says Durette. “[This] will help to identify ... whether or not there is a need to revise current guidance or develop new guidance.”
The debate over the integrity of the food guide rages on. It’s undoubtedly flawed and overcom-plicated, but there’s the possibility that we’re judging it by the wrong criteria.
“As a public health policy tool, it is useful,” says Matthews emphatically. “It’s a basic guide, a starting point for people. It standardizes reporting of data for monitoring purposes. We can certainly improve it ... but it’s not really meant to be on an individual basis, it’s a general guideline.”
For Cianfrini, it’s a good way to teach children the rudiments of healthy eating. As they grow older, she says, her clients develop a more sophisticated understand-ing of nutrition and plan their diet accordingly, shifting away from the guide. Despite all its shortcomings, for those early stages of education, the guide is invaluable. n
Ivey grad sees the green AMY O’KRUK NEWS EDITOR@AMYATGAZETTE
Matt Gray likes numbers.He also likes getting stoned.Coming from a 26-year-old
CEO, it’s an odd practice, but Gray is an unconventional executive. The Western alumnus, whose favourite go-to drink is a canna-bis-infused coconut oil and berry smoothie, is CEO of “The Buzzfeed of Weed,” The Stoner’s Cookbook. It’s a news, culture and entertain-ment website with over 5.6 million Facebook fans, as Gray is quick to note.
“Life’s a numbers game,” Gray says, peppering his conversation with the occasional curse. “You need to put yourself out there as much as possible and try and meet as many people as you can ... no matter what you’re trying to do.”
It’s a philosophy that’s turned into a golden rule for the Toronto native. Gray says after leaving the web coding academy he co-founded, he sent 3,000 emails over three days to anyone he could think of. Then he got a bite.
Tucker Max, the New York Times best-selling author and pioneer of fratire — a writing genre target-ing young men in a politically incorrect and hyper masculine fashion — asked him point-blank: “Do you smoke weed?” Gray said yes. Then he caught a flight out of the country.
“I ended up flying down to Austin, Texas the next week and lived with him for a few weeks,” Gray says. “I was introduced to some people from New Zealand who had started The Stoner’s Cookbook a few years ago.”
Two years later, you might find Gray in Denmark, Colo., the
company’s home base. Or Peru, Indonesia, New Zealand, the U.S. or Canada, depending on when you caught up with him last year.
“We have access to the top tal-ent around the world ... and you can manage a team remotely,” Gray said, describing himself as a digital nomad. “It’s not about seeing someone at their desk for 12 hours a day, five days a week, it’s [about] what’s their output?”
Wherever he’s camped out, often with friends or in a café with an iced black coffee, he still gets the numbers straight: before he joined, The Stoner’s Cookbook had 100,000 unique visitors per month and today. He’s since helped bump the digits to over 4,000,000 with the site becoming profitable in September 2014.
But Gray has no plans to put his feet up. He says he’s going to keep hustling.
“I’m never content,” Gray said. “I think it’s important for people, especially when you’re young,
to figure out what really matters to you and go about doing those things aggressively. You don’t want to put off things that could dra-matically shape who you are.”
As for the numbers, it’s a men-tality that Gray says goes beyond business.
“If there’s a one per cent chance of meeting a beautiful girl in your life, then you you need to reach out to 100 or more girls,” he said. “At the end of the day, if you want something the only thing that’s stopping you from getting it is a lot of hard work.” n
Most people claimed to know the guidelines for their age group, but when you asked them what they thought, it was wrong.JUNE MATTHEWSASSOCIATE PROFESSOR IN FOOD AND NUTRITION AT BRESCIA UNIVERSITY COLLEGE
Canada Food Guide Brazil Food Guide
Six pagesOver 100 pages, but
with a simple ten-step round-up
Categorizes foods based on type
(grains, vegetables, dairy)
Categorizes foods based on level of
processing
(minimally processed, processed, ultra-processed)
Prescribes nutrients, more complicated
Prescribes whole foods, more intuitive
Criticized for being susceptible to
industry influence
Advises wariness towards food
marketing, advertising
Addresses only intake of nutrients
Addresses food preparation,
environmental sustainability, context
of eating
Food Fight
JENNIFER FELDMAN GAZETTE
COURTESY OF MATT GRAY
I think it’s important for people, especially when you’re young, to figure out what really matters to you and go about doing those things aggressively.MATT GRAYTHE STONER’S COOKBOOK
Editorials are decided by a majority of the editorial board and are written by a member of the editorial board but are not necessarily the expressed opinion of each editorial board member. All other opinions are strictly those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the USC, The Gazette, its editors or staff. To submit a letter, go to westerngazette.ca and click on “Contact.”
• www.westerngazette.ca TUESDAY, MARCH 1, 2016 • 9
insightopinions
More needed for post-secondary
education fundingBY GAZETTE EDITORIAL BOARD
Free tuition. That was the “bombshell” announce-ment in the Ontario Liberal government’s 2016 budget.
The provincial government announced a plan to reform the financial aid system, combining the cur-rent grants available and tax credits into one grant system, the Ontario Student Grant. This means students are receiving aid up front rather than waiting until later in the year to receive money from the government.
The Liberals say this will mean free tuition for stu-dents from families with incomes under $50,000. The change was lauded by student groups and the wider public as a great move for students, breaking down a key barrier to post-secondary education.
This is a big deal for students. It will, as many people have argued for years, increase access to education for low-income students. It will see more opportunity for teenagers considering more edu-cation and less debt for them when they graduate. These are inarguably good things.
But that doesn’t mean this is a revolutionary new step forward when it comes to creating better, more accessible education for students. While it certainly generated headlines, “free tuition” is at best mis-leading from the government.
The first questionable point is what the govern-ment considers “tuition.” Tuition was calculated in the budget by excluding some programs, such as engineering, that have higher tuition fees. Coming in at a tuition cost of $6,160, it’s well below the Sta-
tistics Canada average tuition of $7,868 for Ontario. That low balling of tuition certainly helps create the impression that government grants are suddenly going to substantially rise for students when they are, in fact, cost neutral.
Which brings up the next problem: there’s no new money available to students under this new sys-tem. The financial aid system reform is important because it makes it easier for students to calculate what they’ll pay but it’s not accompanied by more funding, which would actually make education more available.
Finally, nothing has been done to correct the chronic underfunding of Ontario universities. More students might have access to education, but what that education looks like is increasingly up in the air. Without more funding, there will be increased class sizes, less hiring of professors and less student experience funding.
Despite “free tuition” for some, Ontario students are in the unfortunate situation of paying the highest tuition in the country and simultaneously going to the lowest per student funded universities in the country. This is not a recipe for success and the provincial government is in denial if it thinks students are in a much better situation today than they were before the budget was dropped.
Ultimately, while there is a good fundamental change that will benefit students, calling it “free tu-ition” is a clever PR move for a government in wider trouble and looking for something to champion. n
USC irresponsible in their rejection of CHRW referendum
BRADLEY METLIN OPINIONS EDITOR@BRADATGAZETTE
At Wednesday night's University Students’ Council meeting, the most damaging thing to discourse was not disregard for Robert’s Rules, it was not unfriendly language directed at councillors — it was the danger of washroom breaks.
The high water mark for attend-ance was 29. With a quorum of 26, the meeting was repeatedly halted at times as the speaker waited until enough voting members were present. Most glaringly was when over 60 supporters of CHRW entered the room to watch how the motion to initiate a referendum on the radio station’s funding played out. A pres-entation from staff and volunteers began without quorum as members took a while to return from a break in the meeting.
This lack of engagement from the USC was truly dishearten-ing, as campus seemed genuinely interested to discuss CHRW’s future. I understand that people have other obligations, but there is only one meeting a month; it’s not hard to show up and represent your constituents.
When the debate began on the proposed CHRW referendum, I was further disillusioned by what I was seeing. It was clear that there needed to be a serious discussion about CHRW.
Law councillor Derrick Dodgson noted that while 170 student volun-teers’ experiences at CHRW were valuable, the USC should consider the needs of their constituents.
“I think that 170 students isn’t all that disproportionate from doz-ens of other clubs and all of these clubs are really important to the
students that are in them, but that doesn’t mean that they get a man-datory student fee that everyone pays,” Dodgson said. “The 99.8 per cent of Western students that aren’t in this room, we need to keep their interests in mind.”
Whether you support a refer-endum or not, Dodgson was mak-ing the valid point that something needed to be done.
Three years ago, CHRW announced $130,000 worth of funding to enhance the station. An infusion of funding that vice-presi-dent communications at the time Jeremy Santucci hoped would, “Draw more students to the station and provide more value and oppor-tunity to students in the Western community who fund a large por-tion of CHRW’s budget.”
During my time at Western, I have not seen a substantial differ-ence in the way CHRW has operated.
Something should have been done about this issue. Social science councillor Alana Kiteley proposed an amendment that read, "CHRW [will] have the opportunity to bring an alternative funding model to council in the fall of 2016. If council is satisfied with the alternative fund-ing model, council may, at that time, cancel the referendum."
This would have sparked a con-versation about CHRW’s future but the amendment was defeated by a placard vote. In the dying moments of the meeting, Rebecca Amoah, who was there as a proxy, suggested that the USC should strike a com-mittee to discuss CHRW. Nobody took the bait.
The USC struggled to meet quorum and failed to address the concerns of constituents who had concerns about the value of CHRW — for that, they should be disappointed in themselves.
Students deserve better. I’m not saying we needed a full-blown ref-erendum, but something should have been done to actually start a conversation. n
Breaking Brad
RE: “Petitions spark student demand for better mental health supports,” Feb. 24, 2016.TO THE EDITOR:As a student at Brescia University College and as someone who per-sonally struggles with mental ill-nesses, I am absolutely disturbed by the amount of discrimination I have experienced on campus and how the University responds to mental health crises.
It is absolutely inappropriate of
the University to require students to sign a contract, stating that they would provide personal informa-tion such as notes from their doc-tor, verifying that it is safe for them to reside in residence, as well as personal information regarding appointments because of their men-tal illness to residence staff in order to be able to remain in residence for the sole purposes of protecting the University from any liabilities.
The University has to make a
shift in their attitudes towards men-tal health — a shift towards focusing on caring about and accommodat-ing for their students, as opposed to thinking about the student with a mental illness as a “risk” or “lia-bility.” After all, mental illnesses are no different than physical illnesses. Yet, they seem to be treated in such a way.
n KRISTIN LEGAULTPSYCHOLOGY I
Mental health issues not a liability
KELLY SAMUEL GAZETTE
KYLE PORTER GAZETTEReza Moridi, minister of training, colleges and universities answering questions at Queen's Park after the Ontario 2016 budget was announced
Get your green gear here!
Monday – Friday10AM – 5PM
Main Level (Atrium), UCC Building
519-661-3811www.thepurplestore.ca
The Purple Store is where you’ll find the best Western clothing on campus. We feature great brand names like American Apparel and Gildan.
10 • TUESDAY, MARCH 1, 2016 www.westerngazette.ca •
experience
SAMAH ALI ARTS & LIFE EDITOR@SAMAHATGAZETTE
Artlab’s latest installation uses shadow art to channel the ghosts of misused show animals. Focusing on three animals — Jonah the Whale, Jumbo the Elephant and Martha the Passenger Pigeon — Cabinet of Shadows: The Reliquary for Lost Animals communicates its messa-ges through music, videos, shadows and timelines.
Created by the fourth-year museum and curatorial practicum class, Cabinet of Shadows opened to a crowd on Thursday, Feb. 25 and will be on display until March 11.
The class of 14 took on different roles to make a full scale gallery.
Kelsey Perreault, a fourth-year art history and criticism student, was a writer for the exhibition cata-logue and helped out with paint-ing and installations for the show.
Considering the lab was primarily shadow-based, most of the work was accomplished in the final days leading up to the show.
Perreault says their idea was to “summon the ghosts” of each ani-mal into the gallery. By using dif-ferent corners of the room to set up the displays, each animal receives their own spotlight with stories accompanying the shadows on the side. Videos also play for additional information on each animal.
The first animal seen in the lab is Jumbo the Elephant. Dying in a train crash in St. Thomas, Ont., Jumbo spent his life touring Europe and North America with his owner P.T Barnum. His shadow stands strikingly at the front, seen in mid-rumble as an act of liberation through his caged life.
Jonah the Whale is exhibited in the far corner through a ghostly pro-jection of a cut out whale. Rising up
on the wall as if he is breaching out of the water, Jonah toured England after his death and was preserved in formaldehyde. He is known for the horrid stench exuding from his decomposing body.
The final animal cast around the lab was Martha, the last documented passenger pigeon. Her ghost came alive through a diamond-shaped canopy with several cutouts of birds, casting shadows of her flock around the room. Joked about by the class as the ‘pigeon death star,’ her shadow is breathtaking and has the largest impact — Martha and her friends dance around the wall and empha-size the death of an entire species due to human negligence.
Perreault says the best part of the lab is seeing the animals come to life.
“My favourite part was [Thursday] when the lights came on and we saw everything come together,” she said opening night.
Channeling the ghosts of animals past
AMAL MATAN GAZETTE STAFF@GAZETTECULTURE
Be very, very, very excited. March is full of interesting things and surefire successes. Take your pick. Don’t be afraid to try something new.
MUSIC
MIIKE SNOWiiiJackalope Records Release Date: March 4Swedish DJ group Miike Snow, is releasing their third album. There are so many Swedish DJ’s, but you should really be interested in this one. Two singles have come from iii so far: Heart is Full and Genghis Khan. The latter single has gained notable attention from the likes of Lorde, and popularity with its catchy beat and music video.
THE ZOLASSwoonerLight Organ RecordsRelease Date: March 4Little Candian Indie darlings The Zolas are breaking out with they’re brand new debut album. They’re presence on the music scene is small (mostly on SoundCloud or live), but that is sure to change with singles like Molotov Girls. The Vancouverites are currently on tour across Canada, be sure to perhaps check them out live before their tickets get pricey.
MOVIESZootopiaGenre: Animated, Action, Family, AdventureRelease Date: March 4Pixar, animals, animation? What’s not to see in this movie. Zootopia
is a definite watch for anyone looking for good time. Trailers look promising with abundant parodies, cameos and humorous exchanges between the beauti-fully animated anthropomorphic characters.
Whiskey Tango FoxtrotGenre: Comedy, ActionRelease Date: March 4Tina Fey stars as a foreign cor-respondent who travels to Afghanistan and Pakistan to cover various stories. The film will explore the character’s trope-like struggles as a Western female pro-fessional in a foreign land. Take a wager; this could be decent or awful.
London has FallenGenre: Action, ThrillerRelease Date: March 4British PM gets assassinated, super macho dude goes to stop some nefarious plot by a mena-cing pseudo Middle Eastern vil-lain hell bent on decimating the West and all the rest of the world leaders at his funeral. Morgan Freeman will be in this, so betting it’s got vibes similar to Mission Impossible or Bourne type mov-ies. Could be worth your money.
TV & NETFLIXI am CaitSeason: 2 (8 Episodes)Genre: Reality TVNetwork: E!Premiere Date: March 6Cait Jenner returns to E! after a successful first season about her life and transition. This series will continue to bring an interesting look into her life as a notable trans woman.
The AmericansSeason: 4 (11 Episodes)Genre: Period Drama, Spy Thriller, DramaNetwork: FXPremiere Date: March 16The Americans is a period drama following an incognito KGB spy couple in Cold War era America. They live and work amongst peaceful suburban America, with the occasional torture victim in their basement and body in their station wagon. They’ve also man-aged all of this while raising two kids? The Americans everyone, aka bringing a new angle to tough love parenting.Until next time, eat, drink and be merry with your binge fellow human being.
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Pop Culture Playlist March
“A lot of work went into this and we started in September and October, so it’s been a long time coming. We didn’t really know how it was going to turn out until we actually put it together, so it’s been really interesting.”
Fourth-year studio art student Ella Gonzales, one of the art-ists behind Jumbo the Elephant, emphasized the depth of the show. She recommends viewers prepare themselves for a show of reflection, since the relationships between the animals and humans are so horrific.
“Expect to think about import-ant things, like we’re talking about the relationship between animals and humans here,” Gonzales said. “Right now it might seem like a big theatrical performance but I feel like a one-on-one experience with the shadows ... you have to think about those bigger questions.”
Cabinet of Shadows is open to the public in the Artlab gallery, located inside John Labatt Visual Arts Centre. More information about the art installation can be found on their website, cabinetofshadows.com. n
SAMIYA HUSSAN GAZETTE
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Fashionable cruelty free winter coatsSALLY EUNYOUNG SEO CONTRIBUTOR@GAZETTECULTURE
With the freezing temperatures and seemingly long walks outside between classes, winter jackets are an essential at universities. However, many winter parkas use extensive animal by-products for insulation and adornment.
If you are uncomfortable wearing such winter jackets, here are great, 100 per cent animal free alternatives that will surely keep you warm and in style.
1. HOODLAMBSpecializing in winter jackets, Hoodlamb is an all-vegan com-pany featuring stylish cozy parkas free of any animal byproducts. The key ingredient to their products is hemp, one of the strongest natural fibres in the world that requires no pesticides or herbicides to flourish. Hoodlamb even waterproofs their jackets by using hemp cellulose treatment.
Most impressively, they use faux fur made of recycled plas-tic bottles melted down, which is then extended to thin strands. Hoodlamb features fashionable parkas for both men and women, with their prices ranging between $400 and $600. Their winter parkas were even tested in Polar regions, so you are guaranteed to stay warm in the freezing Ontario winters.
2. VAUTE COUTUREVaute, the first vegan-clothing brand featured in New York Fashion Week, proves itself to be a chique and ethical brand. Designed and manufactured in New York City, you are certain to get the trendiest and widest selections of parkas from here. Vaute even recently started manufacturing coats in Toronto so that their Canadian customers do not have to pay extra import taxes.
With absolutely no animal byproducts, the main ingredients to their fabrics are organic fibres, recycled plastic bottles and left-over cotton fibres from large cor-porations. They sell both male and
female jackets for around $500 each. Because they work with the same high-tech mills such as The North Face, high quality products are assured.
3.CHARLY CALDERCharly Calder sells luxury faux-fur merchandise, specializing in coats. Their products are 100 per cent animal byproduct free, but instead mimic the look of real fur. Feautured in Elle, Vogue, MTV Magazine and Allure, this brand is definitely in the high fashion category. These lavish coats range from $800 to $2,000 with collections for both men and women.
4. PRIMALOFTPrimaloft is a patented brand of insulation material. It was originally made to serve the U.S. army with a synthetic and effective alternative to goose down. It is arguably the warmest synthetic insulation manu-factured today and is made from 100 per cent polyester microfiber.
Though many mainstream jacket companies such as The North Face and Patagonia use this form of insulation, not all their jackets are animal byproduct-free. Be sure to check the label for the words “syn-thetic” and “Primaloft,” because a handful of the same brands that carry Primaloft parkas also carry bird-down parkas.
Both Patagonia and The North Face carry a great variety of differ-ent synthetic winter parkas for both men and women from $300 to $500.
5. MAMMOTH OUTERWEARFresh off of Kickstarter, this innov-ative Canadian brand specializes in high quality, ethical and warm jack-ets. Mammoth jackets are designed and manufactured in Toronto, with extreme weather perform-ance materials such as Primaloft to ensure that you are protected from the cold. The company even donates $10 of each jacket to the Association for the Protection of Fur-Bearing Animals. Jackets for both men and women are available for $500-$600. n
Revel in ReverieAMY SKODAK GAZETTE STAFF@GAZETTECULTURE
Get lost in Reverie this week with Western’s annual arts and music festival, beginning on Monday and running until March 5. Hosted by the Arts and Humanities Student Council, the Faculty of Information and Media Studies Student Council and the Music Student Council, Reverie is a multi-day celebration of arts on campus.
The art attack began yesterday with a songwriter workshop, featur-ing 2012 Juno Award Nominee Craig Cardiff at 2 p.m. in the McKellar Room.
Today sparks the two-day Visual Arts Supporters’ Association Art Sale, happening from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the UCC Atrium. This event offers students an opportunity to deck out their house, residence or apartment with something other than glossy posters, and supports Western talent at the same time.
“The Visual Arts Supporters’ Association advocates for students within the visual arts department to promote and sell their work,” says incoming VASA president Veronica Clarke.
Clarke explains that prices will range from $5 to $100, with funds going directly back to the artists as a way to support their creativity at Western.
“We aim to bring students’ work into the public and to build a com-munity with our faculty and with the university,” says Clarke.
At night, be awe-inspired by the FIMS Art Showcase from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. in the Physics & Astronomy Building. Ranging from painting,
print and films, the event aspires to showcase various mediums of art.
“We hope to give FIMS stu-dents, many of whom pursue cre-ative projects outside of school, an opportunity to share their work with the school community in a formal showcase setting,” explains FIMSSC vice-president of events, Victoria Lyons.
Wednesday will see a free paint-ing class lead by Western student art-ist Sohyun Kang. Also on Wednesday is Theatre Western’s opening night of Spring Awakening. The show will run until Saturday, March 5.
Thursday will showcase the win-ter edition of Nuit Violette, marking Western’s second go at this multi-media art show. Set up like Toronto’s popular Nuit Blanche, it will be a night of arts and culture you don’t want to miss.
Lyons endorses the importance of celebrating culture on campus.
“Reverie allows students of all
faculties to express themselves cre-atively through various mediums.”
The entire week is meant to pro-mote the arts in a welcoming and supportive setting.
Ending the week on Friday, the Music Student Council’s House Concert will take place at 7 p.m. in the UCC. Students are encouraged to bring blankets and pillows to enjoy a lineup of student perform-ers in comfort.
Student Concert Series Commissioner Sarah Hoy explains the event is meant to mirror the “homey” feel of the house concerts often hosted by her fellow music students.
“The ambience is out of this world,” Hoy says. “So we wanted to recreate that feeling.”
With a variety of events to pro-mote and support Western art, Reverie 2016 will give art enthusi-asts and admirers alike something to look forward to. n
SAMAH ALI GAZETTEVisual arts students put their work on display last year for the Visual Arts Supporters’ Association art sale.
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experiencegames PHOTO OF THE DAY CROSSWORD BY EUGENE SHEFFER
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THEY DON’T KNOW WHAT THEY’RE IN FOR. The Gazette’s new front office elections for Volume 110 was decided on Saturday. From left to right, Bradley Metlin, digital managing editor; Katie Lear, print managing editor; and Hamza Tariq, editor-in-chief. Congratulations!
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