Livin' the Greek Life

September 2, 2014 • 148/1 • FREE

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September 2, 2014

Living with acid reflux

Each time I ingest food, I am plagued afterward by a burning sensation, as if a fiery creature has burst through my stomach, clawed up my esophagus, and into my throat. I wince in pain and massage my chest as bile enters my mouth. I have what is called Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease (GERD), a chronic condition that impacts my lifestyle choices more significantly than one would think.

For those of you who are unsure, acid reflux occurs when contents in the stomach back up into the esophagus midway through digestion. The pain is caused when the stomach acid hits the esophageal lining, which does not have the protection from acidity that the stomach does. This would explain the searing discomfort I feel when I awake in the middle of the night to unbearable pain and half-digested food in my throat. If not controlled, chronic heartburn can erode the esophageal lining completely, and even cause cancer.

The surprising truth is that GERD is becoming increasingly common in younger

demographics. Some researchers blame this fact on the degrading quality of the North American diet. Others look at environmental factors, such as air quality and pollution.

But what saddens me is that many people who don’t have GERD tend to view my condition as petty and insignificant. When compared with fatal diseases, I’ve had people scoff at my condition for being easy to maintain or avoid.

Most doctors I’ve seen simply say, “Avoid brown drinks and take a Tums before you go to bed. Your heartburn will clear up soon.” The reality is that GERD has tormented me for nearly a decade, and has caused me to significantly alter my lifestyle — the foods I eat, the positions in which I sleep, even my clothing choices.

A few years ago, though, I came to find a silver lining in my condition. I once told a friend in annoyance that to control my reflux I’d have to eat foods without spices, fruit and vegetables without preservatives, lean meat, no sugar, and drink lots of water, all while maintaining portion-control and refraining from food a few hours before bedtime. To which

he replied, “That’s kind of a nice disease to have!”

I then realized I’d essentially outlined a healthy diet plan, one that would make Jenny Craig nod her head and smile. I further realized that my GERD had provided me with an opportunity that not many people have — an opportunity to, perhaps, eat in a way that would save me from not only acid reflux, but from a plethora of other health-related problems.

After finally seeing a physician who recognized the longevity of my condition and strongly affirmed this proper heartburn-free diet, I’ve been trying the best I can to live a healthy lifestyle. After all, if I don’t, it hurts!

Of course, there are times when I shamelessly pop a Tums and inhale a cheeseburger, and while I’ve cut back significantly on my coffee intake, giving it up entirely is out of the question! But indulgence once in a while is mostly pain-free, and I’m certainly fine with that.

All in all, I think it’s important to recognize the problems we may have, and to think of the benefits that could arise from these. Life is easier when we take our disadvantages and turn them into something that could benefit us, no matter how difficult these advantages may be to find. While eating has not been all that kind to me, I feel somewhat privileged to have a stomach that literally tells me when something is not good for me. Here’s to being my own personal nutritionist!

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4 NEWS

Movie magic from the Tron franchise has moved from the mainframe into the mainstream. Thanks to the efforts of SFU engineering graduate Thomas Plywaczewski, everyone can ride their motorcycles while donning helmets that glow in the dark — just like the ones in the movie Tron.

Inspired by the movie and his passion for motorcycles, Plywaczewski designed and developed his first LightMode helmet in 2013 to increase his own visibility while riding his 2003 Honda CBR 600RR. Plywaczewski is now taking orders for anyone who wishes to own one of these helmets.

With the help of his good friend Amanda Lee, an SFU business graduate, the small company is optimizing motorcycle helmet visibility by affixing them with electroluminescent materials that do not

September 2, 2014

compromise the structural integrity of the helmet.

Plywaczewski explained that there’s hardly any additional weight to the helmet from the technology, and a single charge can last for months, depending on how often you ride at night.

The lights turn on with the push of a button, and improve rider safety in a way that, until now, has never been released in the market.

Plywaczewski told The Peak that in its current capacity, the company provides either prewired helmets or a kit for consumers. “In the kit, I provide all the materials and instructions in a DVD format so people can just go step by step and make this themselves.”

The kits come with electroluminescent material and a battery-powered controller.

With simple step by step instructions, customers will have

their helmet in minutes, illuminating the night streets of Vancouver much like the characters in the movie.

Through a Kickstarter campaign, the startup hoped to achieve their funding goals by the end of August 2014. At time of press, the campaign has raised $15,002 — a number significantly higher than their original goal of $2,400, which was reached in just seven and a half hours. The team plans to put the money to good use, covering all the materials, shipping costs, and website fees, as well as marketing to satisfy the growing number of orders.

The product has already surpassed domestic demand, as suppliers in the United States, Australia, Japan, Russia and India have contacted Plywaczewski to order large quantities for their own customers looking to buy the helmets.

“I’m hoping [. . .] to ship everything out by the end of September,” he said. “All those hiccups and things like that, I am going to try to minimize as best I can.”

In the next few years the company hopes to move away from the do-it-yourself kits and start manufacturing the helmets in the thousands.

NEWS

September 2, 2014

Sajoo initially observed her brothers showing an increased interest in personal roots, and after expanding into other ethnic groups, began to see a trend. When she spoke with Mauro Vescera, the director of the Italian Cultural Centre (Il Centro), he noted the same phenomenon in Italian immigrants, which sparked a collaboration on the study.

Using an online survey entitled “Being Ethnic: Third Generation Italian Identity in Vancouver,” SFU research associate, Eva Sajoo, has moved one step closer to understanding the implications of being a third generation Italian immigrant in Canada.

Sponsored by the Institute for Diaspora Research & Engagement and the Centre for the Comparative Study of Muslim Societies and Cultures, the research project conducted various interviews with Italian-Canadians in order to better understand how they describe their identity and sense of community.

Sajoo’s preliminary results indicate that third generation immigrants may have an increased interest in their lineage than prior generations, who often distance themselves from what they see as their parents’ old country.

Sajoo told The Peak that the study involves a brief online survey. “We are asking third generation Italians — anyone whose grandparents came to Canada from Italy — what Italian identity means to them,” she said.

Sajoo continued, “The most important question is how they describe themselves. Do they think of themselves as primarily Italian, Italian-Canadian, Canadian, or something else? We are trying to understand what factors affect how

a person relates to their family history in constructing their own sense of identity.”

She also noted the variety in immigrant communities across the country, saying that “this study attempts to provide some insight into how identity evolves over time in one community.”

The Italian Cultural Centre will use the research to adapt to the changing needs of their community. Sajoo said, “Ultimately, the results will not only tell us something about Italian-Canadian youth in Vancouver, but will be a point of comparison for future studies of other communities.”

She concluded, “The research is important because we live in an increasingly mobile, globalized world. Diaspora groups — communities which live in one country but retain some kind of connection to their country of origin — are going to be increasingly common.

“As a result, understanding how individuals preserve parts of one identity while also participating and belonging to their local community is going to be of ongoing interest.”

The online survey will be open until the end of September, with results likely published by the end of the year.

Joel Zhang, a second-year SFU software systems student, has coded a program to mass-like thousands of women on the widely used dating app, Tinder.

When discussing how he came up with the idea to write the program, Zhang explained, “I was actually studying for finals, and I got bored, so I opened up the Tinder app. But once I started clicking ‘like,’ I thought, ‘There should be a faster way to do this.’”

In all, the program took him under half an hour to create. He coded the program on his computer and connected it to his phone so that it could analyze what data is sent and received from Tinder.

Information such as names, pictures, ages, and distances away are accompanied with a unique ID number in a list. By clicking ‘like,’ a signal goes through a URL and inputs the ID number to notify the Tinder servers that one person has liked another. Essentially, the program goes through the data in the list provided

by Tinder, grabs the ID numbers, and sends these ‘like’ requests to the URL. “To be honest, [the app was] not really about getting dates. I’m just the sort of person who likes to tinker around with things,” Zhang said when asked what he hoped to achieve by creating his program. “I was interested in seeing how Tinder works behind the scenes.”

Up to now, his program has liked over 4,000 people in a 23 km radius. His app

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first received notice when he posted a screenshot of it anonymously on SFU Confessions, but ultimately he thought it’d be a funny story to share.

Zhang is far from alone in his Tinder tendencies. An experiment conducted by The Mirror revealed that approximately one third of men will swipe right on almost anything. Journalists created a fake Tinder profile with a male name and a picture of the Cookie Monster from Sesame Street, and found that zero per cent of women clicked yes whereas 33 per cent of men clicked yes.

“Some guys feel like they can’t afford to not swipe right,” Zhang explained. This habit is likely related to the understanding that there tends to be more male users than female users on dating apps. Hence, men may feel like they have to play the numbers game to better their chances and get matches.

Overall, Zhang is rather skeptical of meaningful relationships being formed off of Tinder. He believes most people use Tinder for similar reasons: to either hook up or boost their ego from seeing how many matches they can get. He noted, “If you go out on dates from that, you’re not really connecting based on personality [. . .] You have to remember the reason why people are on there in the first place.”

Currently, Zhang doesn’t have any plans to create an app version of his program, as there are already a few apps that provide similar functions, but he’s always searching for new projects.

6 NEWS

Build SFU is launching their heroes campaign for the fall semester, which will feature posters of students involved in the Student Union Building (SUB) project next to the campaign slogan, “Heroes of today building the campus of tomorrow.”

Students who have been involved with the project in any capacity can be featured on the posters, whether they sat on a committee, attended a workshop, or simply stopped by the office to ask a question.

At the conclusion of his presentation to the board, Marc Fontaine, Build SFU general manager, stated, “You can be a hero. You already are, all of you.”

In the continued pursuit of resolving the General Fund’s outstanding debt of $1.44 million to the SFSS Space Expansion Fund, VP finance Adam Potvin brought a motion to board to transfer $500,000 from the General Fund to the Space Expansion Fund. The $500,000 was subsequently transferred to Build SFU, as their mandate is to expand space.

Potvin explained, “We’re transferring to Build SFU because there is not a great enough need for the money that is currently in the Space Expansion Fund.”

Board passed the motion, which leaves the total remaining debt at $944,000.

VP university relations Moe Kopahi brought a motion to board to approve up to $7,000 to purchase tablets for usage by board, committees, and departments for outreach. He also moved that the SFSS ban the usage of paper for any society meeting unless necessary.

The first part of the motion concerning tablet purchase was referred to the Financial and Administrative Services Committee, while the proposal to ban paper was voted down unanimously.

September 2, 2014

The status of Greek life at SFU has once again been called into question, as the SFSS board of directors recently brought the discussion to the table.

The issue concerns Grid Representation and Interest Development (GRID), the club through which fraternities and sororities are able to function on campus. While taking no official stance on Greek life as a society, the board moved last Tuesday to grant GRID temporary registration for one more year, during which they will assist GRID in approaching SFU for recognition.

While the group is a ‘friend’ of the SFSS, neither it nor its subsequent Greek societies have ever been recognized by the university.

GRID has expressed to the SFSS that they would like assistance in lifting the ban on fraternities and sororities.

The motion carried by board allows GRID to continue being registered until September 1, 2015, but only in accordance with a letter of agreement (LOA), which outlines some guidelines for operation.

After this date, GRID will no longer operate as a club. The motion also tasked members of the board to assist the group in seeking recognition from the university.

SFSS president Chardaye Bueckert spoke to the purpose of the LOA, saying, “There were concerns about behaviours that the Greek societies were engaging in.”

These behaviours could potentially pose a liability issue for the society.

In the past, fraternities and sororities on campus have violated various SFSS bylaws. At-large representative Rebecca Langmead explained, “Previously, our issues [have come up because] our bylaws clearly state that there should be no gender divisions [in clubs], that they’re all inclusive for all members, and this does not seem to be the way that these sororities and these fraternities are running.”

She continued, “[These policies ensure] that the SFSS is an

LGBTQ+ space and our understanding is that GRID itself does not violate those concerns, but the fraternities and sororities that GRID represents do.”

Addressing the board, Bueckert said, “If we sign this, it’s a win-winwin with the understanding that the student society has not taken a position. We obviously can do so, if there is desire from the membership and from our board.”

While the SFSS currently has no formal position on Greek life at SFU, the university administration has not changed its official stance since SFU opened its doors. The SFU council — a body whose activities now fall to senate — reported in 1966 that “fraternities and sororities are not desirable on this university campus. This is also the view of the majority of the Simon

Fraser students who turned out to vote on a referendum concerning this issue on March 22, 1966.”

Since 1966, however, there has been a shift in attitude, with more student groups showing an interest in adopting Greek life at SFU. In 2008, the SFSS held a non-binding plebiscite purely to gauge student interest in having the ban on fraternities and sororities lifted. The SFSS reported that the referendum “passed in favour of fraternities and sororities by a narrow margin.”

SFU’s associate vice-president, students, Tim Rahilly, informed The Peak that, in recent years, SFU has not been approached by any Greek societies to form a formal relationship.

He expressed that if the university did receive such a request, it would warrant reopening the discussion: “[The year] 1966 was a long time ago, and I’d hazard to guess that there aren’t many people part of that dialogue today who were also part of it back then.”

He spoke to some of the potential merits of Greek societies, such as community building, though maintained that there are many alternate ways to achieve the same things: “Some of the goals that these organizations talk about in

terms of student involvement are things that I personally agree with.

I think that might be great.”

Nevertheless, Rahilly anticipates that there might be opposition to what some view as Greek life culture. “I think the concern that many people have is what comes along with this kind of traditional view of fraternities and sororities. There’s a lot of collateral damage that seems to come with it,” he said.

The SFSS will continue to work with GRID in pursuit of recognition from SFU, as long as they honour the statutes of the LOA. “We would like to work with the university to accomplish that,” stated Langmead.

NEWS

The Vancouver Queer Film Festival, which was copresented by SFU and SFU Woodward’s Cultural Programs, wrapped up on August 24. The festival saw 80 films from 11 countries, as well as other events such as a panel with Sundance director Sydney Freeland, executive director of WIFTV Carolyn Combs, and Girls star Desiree Akhavan. The panel was moderated by associate professor of Gender, Sexuality and Women’s Studies at SFU Helen HokSze Leung.

SFU Surrey held New Student Orientation on August 27 to welcome students to the start of their university careers with a day of “funfilled, informative and inspiring” events. Students were invited to meet other students in their faculty, listen to inspiring speakers, tour the campus, and connect with current students.

The 12th Annual Vancouver Latin American Film Festival ( VLAFF) kicked off last Friday at Goldcorp Centre for the Arts and will run until September 7. This year’s festival will feature 73 full-length and short films from over 15 countries that celebrate the distinct Latin American approach to cinema, while avoiding the genre’s cliches.

September 2, 2014

A review of the incident that occurred between two SFSS board members on October 11, 2013, has found that the incident was accidental in nature and did not involve any violation of SFSS policies.

Last October, environmental representative Monique Ataei called for the resignation of member services officer Moe Kopahi after alleging that Kopahi unintentionally struck her with his cell phone in the SFSS offices after hours. Ataei also requested the remainder of her voluntary stipend for her year-long term, a sum totalling $6,125.

Following the incident, the SFSS engaged the firm Paula Boddie & Associates Ltd. to conduct a review of the incident as well as a workplace assessment. In an official statement, the SFSS said that the incident report, which is confidential, recommended that no further action be taken.

No criminal charges were sought or brought in relation to the incident. Nevertheless, SFU Campus Security was not at liberty to comment.

Although he is pleased that the incident finally has some closure, Kopahi told The Peak that he is not completely satisfied with the SFSS’ statement because “it’s not detailed.” He continued, “I’m happy it’s over, I’m happy that there’s something I have in hand to say it wasn’t intentional, whatever happened, but there’s really nothing else to do.

“The damage is already done, and there’s nothing they can fix. [. . .] It’s all over the internet and there’s no way to clean it up,” he stated.

Kopahi told The Peak last fall that Ataei had created “an unsafe space for male board members of the SFSS by sending a mass email [. . .] claiming false accusations.”

He upheld his statement when he spoke to The Peak last week: “When I say unsafe, I don’t mean someone’s going to wait here with a gun for me, it’s not like that. But I didn’t feel safe in terms of, it’s not a pleasant safe space.”

In addition to receiving angry emails and hateful messages

over social media, Kopahi said that the incident led to people approaching him in his office or in class to voice their opinions on what happened. “What I was afraid of was that people made judgement calls before any results came back,” said Kopahi.

Ataei did not respond to The Peak to comment, but Kopahi said that he holds no ill will towards her over the incident. “I just wish that she respected our friendship a bit more, but if that’s the way that she feels and if that’s the call that she made, then I respect it,” he said.

As recommended by the workplace assessment conducted by

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Paula Boddie & Associates Ltd., the SFSS is in the process of developing a code of conduct that includes a clear complaint procedure to govern any further conflicts that might arise between board members.

External relations officer, Darwin Binesh, told The Peak that the decision to pursue the creation of such a code was actually made last fall, when a petition signed by 600 students calling for its creation was presented at the SFSS’ Annual General Meeting (AGM).

“The reason our board is taking the promises made by the previous board so seriously is because we have a goal. Our first goal for this year is to try to make the organization more transparent and accountable to the membership,” said Binesh.

With regards to creating a safe workplace environment, Binesh said that the current board members are working hard to resolve any problems through communication and collaboration. “Whenever there are disagreements, they’re not taken personally, they’re taken professionally,” he said.

He continued, “As a board, we agreed to focus on the issue instead of the person when we argue.

Our arguments get heated, but are never personal. We have been trying to keep it professional so we can foster a better work environment.”

Current workplace conditions notwithstanding, Kopahi is pushing for the incident report to be published: “The student society spent money on this assessment.

It’s students’ money, and people have the right to know what it was spent on.”

We want YOU to represent SFU We are seeking fresh faces for SFU promotional materials For more information visit sfu.ca/creative-services Bruno French Cohort Program Student

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2013 models

8 NEWS

September 2, 2014

Fontaine explained exactly what the Working Drawings Phase entails: “Right now these are designs but they’re not blueprints [. . .] A lot of it is basically the architects taking these plans and refining them, planning out where absolutely everything will be for the SUB, such as wires for electricity, or plumbing [and] pipes, so they understand how to build the SUB.”

Having translated the space program into physical drawings of the SFSS Student Union Building (SUB) and determined all design decisions for construction, the Build SFU SUB project will move into the final stage of the architectural design development phase this fall.

Beginning in September and set to finish by Spring 2015, Build SFU’s Working Drawings Phase will see the creation of documents that include the detailed requirements for construction. These will consist of all the architectural drawings and specifications necessary to complete the project.

“We’re about halfway through the design phase right now,” said Marc Fontaine, general manager of Build SFU. “So far the project is moving exactly as scheduled which is quite good for major projects like this.”

Feedback from the students during workshops and consultations has given the architects the information they need to begin designing the building on a more detailed level. Fontaine suspects this is largely due to the project remaining consistent in its direction and sticking to decisions made based on student feedback.

“I’m quite excited about the progress that’s happened over the

Former professor of kinesiology at the University of British Columbia, James Rupert, faces charges of voyeurism based on accusations of observing and recording nudity in private places without consent. He began in-court proceedings on August 19 and will appear once more on September 16.

According to UBC spokesperson Lucie McNeill, “The University of British Columbia remains one of the safest academic communities in North America [. . .] We are committed to maintaining a secure and respectful environment for all, and we investigate and address all incidents that threaten the safety of our students, faculty or staff.”

With files from The Ubyssey

summer,” said Fontaine. “It seems to me that the architects have really captured what students have said [. . .] and they’ve been able to incorporate all of those requests into this building.”

The interior spaces of the building were finalized in February of this year, and aside from the addition of the respite room — also known as the ‘napping’ room — there haven’t been any significant changes to the program since.

The SUB project, which began in Spring 2012, aims to provide students with a space that is comfortable and inviting, essentially providing that “home away from home” feel, and hopefully becoming the “central hub of connectivity.”

According to Fontaine, the next six months will not be as visible or as active as the previous year due to the nature of this phase. However, Build SFU will continue to provide updates for students and there will be opportunities for more workshops and consultations in the future.

A street team is currently undergoing training to provide information about the building to students. Their duties will include showing a fly-through video with rendered images of the possible spaces in the SUB and essentially thanking the

students for all the feedback they have given for this project.

In addition, Build SFU will propose a special resolution in the upcoming SFSS Annual General Meeting (AGM) in October, asking undergraduate students whether they will allow the SFSS to take on a loan to pay for the project.

More information will be provided closer to the date.

Build SFU continues to welcome feedback and encourages students to send their suggestions on what they see. Fontaine suggests submitting feedback through the feedback form found on the website,

The University of Fraser Valley has recently established a program called the Lens of Empowerment, aimed at using film to celebrate and accurately represent First Nations culture, the Sto:lo nation specifically.

The project not only aims to teach students how to create their own films, but also to change the focus of film as a medium in regards to First Nations representation, which in the past has been stereotypical in nature. These films are meant to promote a more clarified view of the Sto:lo as a diverse culture.

via social media, by heading to the Think Tank to talk to a Build SFU member, or even by leaving a comment on the whiteboard wall.

“At the moment, we still have time to make some adjustments to the furniture or to the colour scheme of the building,” says Fontaine.

Fontaine hopes that these finishing touches will foster a comfortable, homey environment on campus: “We’re building a building we hope will feel inviting and welcoming to students [coming] from many [different] angles and approaches on campus.”

Research from the University of Toronto looks to explain the connection between age and the ability to get a good night’s sleep.

Findings show that the loss of a specific cluster of inhibitory neurons in animals is responsible for sleep disruption. The number of these neurons found in humans decreases with age.

“These findings may one day lead to novel treatments for insomnia and other patterns of sleep disruption in old age, thereby improving quality of life,” said U of T researcher Andrew Lim. With files from University of Toronto Media Room

With files from The Cascade

OPINIONS

Pranks, panty raids, hazing, and parties are the first images that come to mind when one mentions Greek life at a university. These images have been around since fraternities and sororities were introduced in 1824. And while Greek life at Vancouver institutions, such as UBC, dates back to 1921, the alwaysradical SFU has yet to establish any form of Greek life on campus.

Should SFU follow the crowd and incorporate these campus clubs? I don’t think so.

People who support Greek life have argued that fraternities and sororities offer opportunities to network, become involved in volunteer work and fundraising, and make friends. Yet what supporters of Greek life often fail to realize is that, statistically, these clubs seem to value social life more than academic life, can be hubs of exclusivity and discrimination, and can be physically dangerous to students.

To be a member of a fraternity requires a large time investment due to a plethora of events, such as parties, formals, rush week, fundraisers, and volunteering. All these activities leave little time to study or do homework. So little time, in fact, that a study carried out by Bloomberg View, earlier this year, found that fraternity members have lower grades and underperform in cognitive tests compared to their nonmembered peers.

Furthermore, exclusivity found in Greek life appears to be income-based.

The average female in a UBC sorority commits to spending $900 to $1,400 in dues for four years, with new members paying anywhere from $1,000 to $1,400. A study at Princeton University also concluded that 70 per cent of Greek life members at Princeton come from families that make

September 2, 2014

more than $150,000 a year. These payment requirements exclude students from low income families.

The same Princeton study found that racial discrimination was prominent, as 88 per cent of Greek life members at the institution are white. Also, the University of Alabama has seen cases where women have been denied sorority membership because of their race.

Finally, Greek life puts students’ health at risk, as hazing rituals can be dangerous both physically and mentally. According to Hank Nuwer, a professor at Franklin College in Indiana, there have been 104 deaths related to hazing in the US, since 1970.

These deaths have occurred from both alcohol consumption and physical violence, as there are high rates of binge drinking and sexual assault within fraternity houses. The Bloomberg study states that 90 per cent of fraternity residents engage in binge drinking, compared with 45 per cent of non-members. Furthermore, ‘frat boys’ are more likely to commit sexual assault than their non-member peers.

The justification for introducing Greek life to SFU is flawed. The exclusivity, antiintellectualism, and dangers associated with Greek life have overshadowed any benefits, as hazing deaths, sexual assaults, and numerous forms of discrimination have made the news too often to count. Fortunately, there are other ways to be involved in community service, network, and make valuable friendships without being discriminatory or sacrificing one’s academic career and health. Thankfully, Simon Fraser University has replaced Greek life with an abundance of student clubs, events, and centres on campus, which help to do just that.

opinions editor email / phone

Adam Van der Zwan opinions@the-peak.ca / 778.782.4560

Belonging at SFU is an ill-defined concept.

SFU Confessions is filled with posts about people who simply commute to and from campus; people who seem to believe that they do not belong on campus after their classes end. Because of so many similar stories, many of us start to actually believe the commuter campus myth that has become an infamous part of SFU’s culture.

Community at our university is not as prevalent as it should, and could, be. Let’s be clear, we have the potential to be much more than a commuter campus. Within smaller, more tightly knit communities people can feel a sense of belonging, and our university can truly develop the sturdy cords of community it needs. This is exactly what Greek life provides.

For example, the SFU-related fraternity Tau Kappa Epsilon, has allowed me opportunities that I would have never imagined when the colony was first founded.

When establishing TKE, the idea was simple: to make the university experience as inclusive for as many people as possible.

So TKE began hosting a variety of events to accommodate different groups of people on campus. It has accomplished everything from philanthropic events, to tailgates, to handing out cards that simply say “Smile, you’re awesome.” Our minds are set on trying to make the majority of the student population believe: “I belong at SFU.” Despite the many positive attributes Greek life has, there are many points against it; points that seem completely valid if you accept some of the more antiquated notions that surround fraternities and sororities. For example, many will look at some of the hazing scandals

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and assume they are a staple in the Greek lifestyle.

To counter this point, I could talk about the strict rules and regulations that many fraternities have around hazing, but at the base of this discussion is the fact that hazing makes headlines. Being a communications student has forced me to take a critical look at the media, and a resurfacing trend is how well the audience reacts to negative news, as opposed to its positive counterpart.

So the media would rather sensationalize hazing scandals than cover the many hours of philanthropic work and community service fraternities and sororities worldwide engage in. TKE has raised more than $300,000 towards a cancer research facility, and that’s just one organization out of many.

Yes, Greek life does have its problems.

I, myself, struggle with archaic traditions around gender. However, it also produces students that are committed to reaching out to one another and contributing to their communities. These students are progressive enough to not buy into obsolete traditions, and passionate enough to really bring about change; not only within their organizations and for their members, but for the entire student population.

Minimizing or banning Greek communities is not the answer. Things are never black and white. We have to be willing to continue opening this space for discussion, and be ready to engage and create solutions that are nuanced — that make space for the good, while working to mitigate the not-so-good. That being said, Greek life could be an amazing addition to campus life, and belongs at SFU.

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September 2, 2014

Congratulations on making it in, or making it back to SFU! As an SFU student, you have amazing extra-curricular options available to you, and your time here will be greatly improved if you capitalize on the many opportunities to get involved outside of the classroom.

In the short term, extracurricular involvement at SFU will benefit you greatly. You will have the satisfaction of contributing positively to the community, and shaping the environment of your school. You will make friends with people you would never have met in class, learn about various social events, and gain experience that may make you eligible for various community service based scholarships and awards.

In the future, your involvement will be a great asset in a competitive, diverse world where having a rewarding professional life may require more than a university degree. Extracurricular involvement is a fantastic way to learn and master organizational, time management, and leadership skills, and you will likely gain valuable practical experience in teamwork, delegation, decision making, budget management, public speaking, and networking.

The involvement opportunities at SFU suit a diverse range of interests, skills, and time availabilities. If you are interested in student government, you can get involved with the Simon Fraser Student Society (SFSS) or the Graduate Student Society (GSS). You can also become involved in your departmental student union (DSU), your faculty student union (FSU), and SFU’s senate or board of governors.

If you’re interested in social justice, be sure to check out the Rotunda groups. If you’re interested in social activities or have a specific hobby, consider joining an SFSS club. If you’re interested in writing, consider contributing to The Peak. This list is by no means exhaustive and is just a small sample of the plethora of opportunities that are available to you.

It is normal to feel overwhelmed with all the opportunities and acronyms, and to be confused by how to get involved. Finding your ‘involvement niche’ takes some exploration, experimentation, and time. Do not worry about creating a formal extra-curricular activities plan. You will likely have more success in simply trying new things whenever you can.

Once you get involved, you may experience the ‘involvement snowball effect.’ This is where, due to confidence and experience, you are willing and able to become involved in even more roles and initiatives. Once you’ve found your ‘involvement niche,’ do not be afraid to take your time; an extra year, or even an extra semester, may allow you to capitalize on more opportunities, build important connections, and may provide you with practical experience that you would not have been able to obtain otherwise.

It is important to acknowledge that many students have circumstances in their lives that make it more difficult for them to become involved.

Employment, long commutes, heavy academic pressures, child-care requirements, and taking classes that are spread across multiple campuses can make it particularly challenging to get involved outside the classroom. Take on only what you can, and do not feel pressured to be ultra-involved if it is beyond your capacity.

It is never too early or too late to start taking advantage of the many extra-curricular opportunities that being an SFU student provides. You have worked hard to get here and are now uniquely positioned to have a fantastic university experience where you can contribute to the community, and graduate with a host of skills, experience, and connections. These will help you succeed professionally, so make sure you get involved in the SFU community!

OPINIONS

Toward the end of the summer, newsfeeds throughout the world were dominated by yet another conflict in Israel, as the terrorist group Hamas began indiscriminately firing rockets at Israeli cities. Despite multiple attempted cease-fires, the conflict continues, and there does not appear to be an end in sight. Incredibly, this overseas conflict, in a country with less land mass than Vancouver Island, is having an effect on our own nation.

At the provincial level, Premier Christy Clark came under fire for a letter written to The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, demonstrating

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September 2, 2014

her support for Israel in the conflict.

Though the letter itself did not contain anything incredibly offensive or inflammatory, it was called outrageous

by Hanna Kawas, the chairman of the Canada Palestine Association, who claimed that it was “ignorant of facts on the ground” and that Clark “should not be speaking on behalf of British Columbians on the matter.” Kawas’ statement is, in itself, ignorant of the fact that as the democratically elected leader of the province, speaking on behalf of British Columbians is part of Clark’s job.

Kawas was not the only one upset by statements made by politicians regarding the crisis in Israel.

The usual critics have emerged

from the woodwork to criticize the government’s pro-Israel stance.

Sana Hassainia, MP for Verchères Les Patriotes, recently quit the NDP in protest of the party’s stance on the conflict in Gaza. The worst thing about critics like Hassainia is the incredibly shaky ground they stand on, as the statements they criticize seem to hone in on only part of the story.

Hassainia singled out the first NDP press release, which simply stated that “Israel has the right to defend itself against terrorist attacks by Hamas.”

This statement caused her to label the NDP a blatantly “pro-Israel party,” despite the fact that leader Tom Mulcair recently shifted his opinions, with statements surrounding the deaths of innocent civilians killed in the line of fire. Mulcair’s full statement was that “Israel has the right to defend its citizens from these attacks, while doing its utmost to protect civilians.”

Truth be told, the proIsrael position is one that’s been widely adopted by the

Canadian political establishment, though with varying degrees of concern for the deaths of civilians. Even Liberal Party leader Justin Trudeau has condemned Hamas’ attacks and “commended [Israel] for having accepted the ceasefire proposals, demonstrating its commitment to peace.”

Alongside that of Mulcair, Trudeau’s statement echoes those made by Prime Minister Harper, forming a rare occurrence in Canadian politics: all three parties actually agree on something.

To be honest, it’s difficult to disagree with the statement “we support a country’s right to defend itself against terrorist attacks.”

While civilian deaths are tragic, there is every indication that Israel is doing what it can to avoid these deaths, including calling intended targets in advance to warn civilians to evacuate, and sometimes dropping non-lethal sound bombs to announce an impending attack.

Perhaps we shouldn’t judge this conflict at all, but when one examines the stories behind the headlines, one sees that the true story

is not as black and white, as many like to believe. When the Liberals, the NDP, and the Conservatives all agree on something, there must be merit to this agreement. Perhaps it is time to truly stand with Israel.

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September 2, 2014

A recent online video game entitled Main Street Massacre has sparked a furious commotion from Vancouver’s public transit system, Translink, over the last couple of weeks. The violent game, which depicts an angry construction worker as he guns down pedestrians at a station labelled Main Street, has had Translink’s lawyers on the prowl, and the media clawing at any information they can get their hands on.

But amidst the accusations that the game will provoke violence at Skytrain stations, and that it infringes on Translink’s intellectual property, what the public seems to overlook is that the game is, first and foremost, an item of artistic expression.

Colin Palmer, the game’s creator, remains rooted in his intentions, telling CBC that “it’s a work of art,” a “political statement,” and that it was designed to be “provocative.” I have no trouble in seeing this game as exactly that.

In light of the game’s media coverage, many Skytrain-goers have expressed anxiety over their safety while taking public transit. The Province recently interviewed commuters on the subject, many of which claimed the game is “too close to home” and will incite violence in Vancouver’s public spaces. Palmer, however, quickly removed Translink’s logo from the game to cut its ties with Vancouver, and to avoid clash with copyright law.

The game’s setting resembles just about any other

subway station there is; players shouldn’t give the setting a second thought and should only see the game as a general protest of public transit. If the public feels that its safety is threatened, this is due to the media’s over-saturation of the story as a ‘game that promotes violence at Skytrain stations,’ and not the actual game itself.

It’s an artistic piece — Palmer felt the need to be creative in expressing his frustrations. He mirrors his video game’s character, as they are both construction workers, managing stressful jobs that have them under physical and mental strain throughout the day. To have public transit break down after this busy workday only adds to Palmer’s (and his character’s) stress.

Main Street Massacre allowed Palmer to release his frustrations in a safe and harmless manner, while also making a political statement about the quality of public transit. If anything, the game should act as a jolt of realization for Translink to clean up its act and to start brainstorming strategies that will make its transit system run smoothly.

What also bothers me about this situation is that the hype surrounding the game seems to have arisen, at least in part, from the type of medium in which this form of expression is presented. If the same narrative were told on a poster, or through a song, would the news still buzz with excitement on the issue? Would Translink be as furious as it is now? Would lawyers be as adamant to remove it from the internet?

Thankfully, I am not one to see an issue with Main Street Massacre. With the countless other violent video games plaguing the internet, I do not feel my safety is any more at risk than it normally would be while taking the Skytrain.

Palmer’s game is a provocative and reasonable statement on public transit, and is expressed with creativity. It’s a move that more people should really take the time to consider.

OPINIONS

As Canadians become increasingly aware of the disproportionate amount of violence that Aboriginal women and girls across the country face, support for a federal inquiry into the issue has gained momentum. However, the federal government’s inaction serves as a reminder that Aboriginal women continue to face various race-related hurdles when it comes to receiving both the respect and services they are entitled to.

While Aboriginal women make up just 4.3 per cent of the female population, they account

How do the words of a dead man affect you? In Shakespeare’s case, the ways could be countless. This year marked the Bard’s 450th birthday, and consequently raised the following question: are his works still relevant today?

The answer is simple — yes.

Shakespeare’s literature is every bit as relevant to our modern society as it was to the average bloke of Elizabethan England. Through prose and plot he established timeless themes, coined new words and sparked centuries of adaptations.

September 2, 2014

for roughly 16 per cent of all female homicide victims. Over 1,000 Aboriginal women were confirmed missing or murdered between 1980 and 2012. As of 2006, 36 per cent of Aboriginal women were living in poverty, with many in isolated communities or communities with few relevant resources. They were also less likely than non-Aboriginal women to have completed high school or post-secondary education, making it more difficult to break the cycle.

Combine these factors with a political system and society that continues to discriminate against them, and their disproportionate victimization no longer seems like such a mystery.

Unfortunately, the federal government continues to pretend that the institutionalized factors contributing to this over-representation are not relevant. Stephen Harper made this very clear by stating, “We should not view this as a

Some argue that Shakespeare’s works are outdated, as they fail to mirror modern life.

This simply isn’t true. Every year, authors release adaptations of his iconic dramas and comedies, transforming messengers from the Renaissance age into smartphones, and daggers into guns.

Every summer Bard on the Beach, a Shakespeare festival here in Vancouver, presents both traditional and modern reenactments of plays that bring to life truisms of our society.

Modern adaptations also allow for new generations to connect to the characters and stories in a different way, and bring about new interpretations.

To those who claim we can ignore Shakespeare, or write him off as a relic of literary past, I say that an understanding of his works is needed if you wish to fully understand many

sociological phenomenon. We should view this as crime.”

This plays into the rosy Canadian belief that we are a harmonious, peaceful nation that was horribly racist — but only in the past! The attitude that people should just ‘get over’ traumatizing practices that persisted well into the 20th century (such as the residential schools), is unrealistic, unhealthy and incredibly insensitive.

Harper has apparently failed to realize that crime and sociological phenomena are not mutually exclusive. To approach these tragedies as isolated events may lead to justice for individual families, but will do nothing to prevent these tragedies from recurring.

To make matters worse, there are hundreds of authoritative examples that do not take suffering Native communities seriously. These range from mishandling domestic abuse cases to ignoring signs of a serial killer preying on the vulnerable.

stories from the 20th and 21st centuries. There are countless authors and filmmakers who have included references to the Bard’s work in their own, and who have built their plots as a branch from his.

Aldous Huxley used the title Brave New World for his acclaimed novel, in reference to Shakespeare’s The Tempest.

The Lion King, a well-known and loved children’s movie, is based off the iconic play Hamlet. To enrich the modern experience, one must read and study Shakespeare to pick up

Even when reported, missing Aboriginal women receive 27 times less media coverage than white women, a phenomenon called ‘Missing White Woman Syndrome.’ Along the now infamous Highway of Tears, Aboriginal women had been disappearing for almost 30 years before the disappearance of a young white woman brought serious media and law enforcement attention to the area.

While there are arguably more effective alternatives to a national inquiry, there is no excuse for doing nothing. Considering the range of factors that contribute to these tragedies, the question should be where

on references other great authors have made.

From a purely linguistic point of view, Shakespeare remains indispensable to the English language. He coined new phrases, words, and grammatical concepts in all of his works. If you’ve ever been told “the world is your oyster” or “neither a borrower nor a lender be,” then you’re hearing people reiterate just a few of the phrases Shakespeare crafted in his scripts. We must examine these scripts if we wish to understand how modern English was developed.

Some argue that Shakespeare’s writing is antiquated and difficult to read, and should therefore be abandoned — but that just isn’t a good enough reason to rob our society of his literature. There are certainly sections where the words and grammar are difficult to follow, but do we really want to tell the

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to start, not whether anything should be done at all.

In his statement, Harper tried to justify this inaction saying, “We brought in laws across this country that I think are having more effect in terms of crimes of violence against not just Aboriginal women, but women and persons more generally.” This is inaccurate; while the number of female non-Aboriginal homicide victims has dropped, the percentage of female Aboriginal victims increased from nine per cent in 1980 to 23 per cent in 2012.

The federal government continues to send the message that Canada does not value young Aboriginal people and that they are not worthy of resources. Tina Fontaine, and all those who suffered before her, deserved more than to be filed away under ‘helpless Aboriginal victim,’ and the government must take appropriate action so that this ongoing tragedy comes to an end.

next generation of readers not to bother because it’s too hard?

The argument that Shakespeare is just too tough to read is nothing more than laziness. We should push ourselves to understand Shakespeare’s early modern style; otherwise we are suggesting that if something seems difficult, it’s not worth pursuing.

Storytelling is a structure that borrows the best blocks of the past to build a more fantastic and entertaining literary future. If you cut a row of blocks from the bottom, you risk the collapse of enlightened literary possibilities.

Shakespeare laid the groundwork for English literature that would follow centuries after his death.

The lively plots, variety of characters, and hilarious wit make it so everyone can find a part of the story to relate too. So take the time to read, appreciate, and reflect on Shakespeare’s works. I promise you won’t regret it.

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ARTS

Micaela Evans Peak Associate

September 2, 2014

arts editor email / phone

Tessa Perkins arts@the-peak.ca / 778.782.4560

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18 ARTS

September 2, 2014

is complicated and beautiful.”

The set, instead of focusing on realism, highlights the artistry of the language.

Consisting of a series of empty picture frames, the set allows the actors to step out of the action and play with the audience. Elaborate costumes and acting add a sumptuous tone to the whole production.

Promising to be “a glimpse into a part of our history,” The United Players production of the classic School for Scandal will open on September 5. Written in 1777 by Richard Brinsley Sheridan, this play takes the intrigue of creating and avoiding gossip in London to the stage.

Director and set designer Matthew Bissett spoke of his excitement to be working with The United Players on their 55th anniversary. Bissett is known for his work with the Ensemble Theatre Company on their production of The Farmsworth Invention, an engrossing play that comments on the invention of the television. As an ex-opera director, his eye for classic works has lent itself splendidly to School for Scandal.

The play itself is a wonderful union of the past and present in a most unreal way. Bissett describes the work as an “artificial play, [where] people [. . .] pose like paintings. The language

The play follows various storylines, and explores many topics, such as greed and love. “There’s an old, rich man who has married a country girl,” Bissett says, explaining that the man thinks his wife will stay a country girl forever, but things quickly change when he brings her into the hustle and bustle of London. In another storyline, a man returns from his travels with great riches, and must decide to give his fortune to one of his two nephews. Drama and hilarity ensue.

Bissett describes the play as highly comedic, filled with misunderstandings and wild chaos,

saying, “There is a reason it’s been done for so long.” School for Scandal was a huge hit in its time, and has been consistently revamped over the last 200 years.

“It has never gone out of style,” says Bissett, “the writing is very clever, and it’s fun for everyone.”

In The United Players’ production, there is an attempt at modernity and uniqueness in how the play is performed. “This helps to express the universality of the message,” says Bissett, and it allows the audience to identify with the story. He says that people being recognizable is extremely important, as it allows the play to talk to a modern audience.

School for Scandal promises to be an enlightening work, full of large skirts and larger laughs.

The universal message, speaking on the human obsession with gossip, “hints at [us] not having changed” as a society after all these years, says Bissett. Made for “people who love words,” this play entertains and teaches lessons about the marriage of media and gossip.

The United Players’ cast of 15 will soon take to the stage, asking the viewer to question the role and scope of media interaction in our lives. Truly a treat to see, The United Players will bring a sleek and modern twist to a timeless classic.

ARTS

Canadian writer-director Atom Egoyan customarily delivers powerful images, juxtaposing eerie shots of landscapes with restrained visuals, hinting at dark deeds. Recently, however, his poor writing has unsuccessfully melded exploitative moviemaking with art-film milieu.

He’s at his best when, like a ventriloquist, we don’t see his lips move — the mannequin that is his artwork comes alive and seems to live independently. I saw flashes of this brilliance in The Captive.

A father (Ryan Reynolds) leaves his tired daughter sleeping in the rear seat of his truck to go into a bakery on a cold, snowy day. The camera cuts to an eerie zooming shot of the store’s window from outside the store as flurries rapidly fly from one end of the frame to the other; we sense something amiss but we are unaware of the details.

The man returns. His truck is empty. His daughter is gone.

We never see the act, only its effects on all those involved: the parents are shattered as the wife

September 2, 2014

blames the husband, and the abductor is composed yet on the verge of breaking.

Dissimilar to genre flicks such as Dennis Villeneuve’s child abduction thriller, Prisoners, this film is not a “who-dunit.”

We know the abductor and his reasoning. The film does not focus on the plot, rather it is the characters’ downward spiralling psyches that intrigue us.

The opening shot is a pan across a Canadian landscape which establishes the snowy cold atmosphere for this slowburning meditation on the profound and long-lasting effects of a child abduction on all the parties directly involved. The director uses long takes with wide compositions that sometimes break the traditional headroom rule to highlight the surroundings more than the characters.

Like the gimmicky 4D films at Disneyland, I could feel the sweeping cold giving me goose bumps; the chilling hand of the

snowstorm on the screen extended across the two dimensional borders and gripped me without letting go.

The aesthetic becomes more than a theoretical intention; it is immersive and haunting in ways that make us forget that a man is behind the camera like a ventriloquist behind his puppet. The best movies are the ones where we forget we are watching something fabricated and contrived.

At times, I saw the ventriloquist’s lips move as Egoyan uses preposterous contrivances to converge various strands in the movie. For instance, the abductor is able to set up surveillance cameras in places that he would not have been able to access. That father, whose heart ached to see his daughter, and the wife, whose defence mechanism was to blame him, become insincere as the concluding cathartic moments bring everything together in an absurd manner without careful contemplation.

Just as when a ventriloquist moves his lips, the illusion was lost, so my goose bumps slowly receded. In the end Egoyan has made a movie, not a magical believable world. Seeing this mannequin walk and talk independently, now that would have been miraculous.

Welcome to Woodward’s Watch, a new column dedicated to bringing you the latest news from SFU’s arts and culture hub. I’m a fourth year student in the dance program at SFU, and I’ll be introducing you to the Woodward’s building, one of our main Vancouver campuses along with a cluster of other buildings downtown, including Harbour Centre.

Since the building’s redevelopment, the location has become an integral part of the local arts scene in downtown Vancouver. The building is designed for dance, theatre, music, film, visual art, and art and culture studies, and while the majority of spaces were made for a specific discipline, it was also designed with the flexibility to accommodate a variety of works and collaborative processes.

As the heart of the School for the Contemporary Arts (SCA), students devote their time to studying their respective arts and spend a vast majority of this time at the Woodward’s building. Each week, students dedicate long hours to a single course, and will often spend extra hours in rehearsals, in editing suites, or gaining hands-on experience elsewhere. It is not an exaggeration to state that Woodward’s is indeed a home away from home for many of our contemporary arts students.

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Alongside the SCA is the other resident organization of Woodward’s, the SFU Cultural Unit, and together the two bring a series of events and performances to the Woodward’s campus throughout the year. During the year there are student mainstage shows, film screenings, black box shows, and works by the faculty. Events brought from the outside community include the Vancouver Latin American Film Festival (VLAFF), the Vancouver International Film Festival (VIFF), and the PUSH festival in the spring, to name a few.

To give a brief preview, the VLAFF “celebrates the distinct Latin American style and artistic approach to cinema,” according to their werbsite. It brings together films that have been “recognised internationally for a curatorial vision” and honours both established and emerging Latin American filmmakers. The festival runs from August 28 to September 7, and more information can be found on their website, www.vlaff.org.

Another upcoming show is Dancers Dancing’s 20.20.20, developed by Judith Garay, a professor of dance at SFU. The work “looks at 20 intersections in the city to set 20 dancers in motion.” The movements are inspired by the city and seek to bring the intricacies, the architecture, elevations, and dynamics of the people and the animals into a dance. The performance will run from September 24 to 27 in Studio T of the Woodward’s building. More information can be found on their website, www. dancersdancing.com.

20 ARTS

September 2, 2014

the 2014 fair has been well received,” said PNE spokeswoman Laura Ballance, “but certainly the Game of Thrones exhibit has been a very important piece of the overall program. We think it is very much one of the big hits of the fair to date.”

Sex, violence, and war have been a recent recipe for many television series — it seems that without any one of these, a series falls short of becoming a likely success. The popular HBO series, Game of Thrones, derived from George R.R. Martin’s series of fantasy novels A Song of Ice and Fire, leads the way with an audience that spans across generations.

The exhibition at this year’s Fair at the PNE gave fans an inside look at the highly acclaimed show, featuring a collection of nearly 100 original artifacts, including elaborate costumes and props such as the Iron Throne.

It also featured a 4D interactive Oculus Rift experience that placed attendees within the world of Westeros. Notably, the exhibition was one of the biggest hits of the fair, with three hour lines and at capacity crowds.

“We think that the holistic entertainment program of

The exhibit is very timely as Game of Thrones has become one of the most talked about shows on television. The show has a cult-based audience captivated by the storyline’s premise: who is the rightful heir to the Iron Throne? It helps, of course, that Game of Thrones depicts its characters as flawed people.

We are both captivated and appalled by the actions of its characters: Tyrion Lannister is a master of manipulation with a prodigious capacity for neverending wine and women, Daenerys Targareyen, better known as the Mother of Dragons, leads her faithful Unsullied army with strength and determination, and Joffrey Baratheon viciously

rules his court. Fairgoers can see many of the costumes, iconic artifacts, weaponry, and crowns that their favourite characters use on screen.

Another fan favourite at this year’s fair was the new Mosaic Music Series that consisted of local, cultural, and iconic acts performed nightly on the Chevrolet Performance Stage.

This year’s lineup included some popular local artists such as Victoria Duffield and Hey Ocean! and of course, the 75th anniversary of Vancouver’s legendary Dal Richards in his annual performance at the Fair at the PNE. Despite the PNE’s effort to reduce admission and parking rates by 20 per cent, last year’s attendance was a low 712,049 — significantly short of its projected 800,000. Ballance explained that Game of Thrones is exactly what the PNE needed to stay on top of providing up-todate entertainment and finally boost attendance.

“We are always looking for fantastic entertainment and exhibit opportunities for the fair.

When we learned about the Game of Thrones exhibition, we identified that it was a great fit for the fair.” The fair will have to continue to offer these kinds of innovative experiences to increase attendance and revenue in the coming years.

SPORTS

sports editor email / phone

September 2, 2014

Austin Cozicar sports@the-peak.ca / 778.782.4560

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“I think we’re moving forward.

They’ve picked up the challenges of having a new system and [they’ve] really turned it into a positive experience.”

SFU football has yet to post a winning season since joining the NCAA. However, with new head coach Jacques Chapdelaine, the team looks to change that this season.

Chapdelaine, who was most recently the offensive coordinator for the BC Lions, a position he held from 2010 to 2013, and previously 2005 to 2006, hopes to use his experience to make the Clan a stronger offensive team.

“Offensively, I think we’ll probably have more formations and probably a greater variety of patterns to associate with that using quite a bit of pocket movement so the quarterback is in the same spot, which should help also with the protection schemes,” said the coach.

However, Chapdelaine’s new systems are not just limited to offense. He also intends to bring in a safer, more reliable defence.

Last season, the Clan volleyball saw marked improvement, posting a 6-12 record in the GNAC. Although it wasn’t a winning record, it certainly beat the previous two seasons which had just one win each.

Now, they must look to improve on that record with the help of head coach Gina Schmidt, now in her second year. Schmidt was brought in to right the ship after three seasons with only six conference wins.

This task should be made easier by the fact that the majority of team is returning this season, as opposed to the high amount of turnover in some years.

“We’ll probably be relying more on the front four on defense to put pressure on the quarterback as opposed to having a pretty steady stream of blitz pressure like they did last year, leaving the coverage more vulnerable when they did that.”

SFU has good reason to put their trust in coach Chapdelaine. In his first head coaching job with Laval University, he won the team their first Vanier Cup, the CIS championship, in 1999. He has also won two

Grey Cups as an offensive coordinator and has been on the coaching staff for three Grey Cup victories.

Ultimately, it comes down to the players, and although having five Clan members drafted by the CFL looks good on the program, it also means losing some key players. Despite this, Chapdelaine is convinced that the team is up to the challenge.

“The biggest change on our team from last year would be the

veterans moving on, [. . . as there are] some spots we need to fill,” he added. “But at the same time, we’ve had some guys who have stepped up and really done a good job.”

In particular, he mentioned Quinn Courtney and Michael Couture as quality candidates to fill in the holes on the offensive line. The coach, however, wants to credit the whole team for their work ethic and ability to adapt to his new systems.

For a winning season to occur, though, Chapdelaine says that the team needs to work on its consistency. “At this point in time, because these are new schemes for them, they need to develop consistency through repetition.

Repetition will be crucial in order to have a successful season.”

Chapdelaine’s praise of his team’s hard work indicates a bright future. The games have yet to be played, and until then it will be hard to judge the Clan, but for now it seems like this could be their season.

The Clan play their first home game against the Menlo College Oaks on Saturday, September 6 at 12:00 p.m.

“We do have a lot of returners, so that’s helped definitely in some respects as we have a lot of veterans on the team, [. . .] so we’re going to rely on their experience for sure,” Schmidt said.

“That continuity, being able to have a similar core group of players from one season to the next will be huge. There’s a lot of team chemistry in volleyball, so the more you can get that team to be cohesive in the court, [. . .] that’s all going to definitely help.”

One of the areas that Schmidt believes the team needs to work on is offense.

She explained, “We’ve spent a big part of our spring training increasing our offensive efficiency, so just creating more kills for ourselves, reducing our errors, and increasing our team hitting percentage.

“On the defensive side of the ball [we are working on] trying to control more digs which allow us to create more kills [. . .] out of our defense.”

In a GNAC coaches poll, the Clan were picked to finish seventh in the conference (out of ten), matching the place they achieved last season. For good or bad, this is by no means a

given — the Clan could certainly move in either direction, whether up or down.

The volleyball team has an opportunity to take that next step, continuing their progress from a struggling team to a true

contender. Whether they take that next step has yet to be seen, but the ball is in their court.

The Clan play their first home game against the Columbia Bible College Bearcats on Thursday, September 4 at 7 p.m.

She elaborated, explaining the significance of returners in certain positions, “Previous to this season, some of our older players have had a different setter every year. This is the first time they have had the same setter for two consecutive seasons and that’s kind of like having a quarterback that changes every year.

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September 2, 2014

showed some good glimpses of what we can do, but there are times that show we have work to do.”

When it comes to SFU men’s soccer, the question isn’t about if the team will have success, it’s about how much success.

Even before they hit the pitch, the Clan succeeded in claiming the top spot of the Great

Although the men’s soccer team has enjoyed its fair share of success recently, the same cannot be said of the women’s team, who have just one win in each of their last two seasons.

However, while first year coach Annie Hamel admits that they are probably not a

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Northwest Athletic Conference (GNAC) coaches’ poll for the fourth consecutive year. This is the fruit of what was a considerably staggering season of success last year, during when the team led the nation in points (211) and broke a GNAC goal scoring record with a tally of 77.

Now, after the first week of training, the squad has hit the ground running with wins in all three pre-season matches. After just their first day of training, the Clan battled well in their early test against Kwantlen the

following day, notching five goals and successfully maintaining a shutout.

The Clan continued on the right foot with two more victories against University of Saskatchewan, the first a 4-1 result at home before battling to a 1-0 result two days later versus the Huskies. For head coach Alan Koch, it remains business as usual, as he is both modest and hopeful for a repeat of seasons past.

“We are always glad when we win, but you can tell it’s still early days because we’ve

The repeat Coach of the Year hopes to quickly gel together a new look squad, which will include the return of eight starters from last season. Returning are GNAC Defender of the Year Alex Rowley, GNAC Newcomer of the Year Magnus Kristensen, and a trio of captains in midfielder Jovan Blagojevic, defender Alex Kleefeldt, and goalkeeper Brandon Watson.

“This year we have less holes to fill, but more depth in the quality of the recruited class coming in,” said Koch. “All three of our captains played major minutes and major roles last year. All are different personas

championship team, she believes that they can be competitive and put up some wins.

“I mean, if you’re talking about winning a national championship — no, we’re not there yet,” stated Hamel, who worked the last five years as an assistant coach at St. Leo University in Florida. “I think that we can, even this year, create trouble and surprise teams in the GNAC.” Furthermore, she added that the focus this year is not on winning championships, but on building and growing a championship winning team: “This year, I’m not worried about winning a national championship or anything like that. I’m worried about having the best success that we can with the team that we have, and build game-in and game-out on our successes and look forward to what the future holds.

We’ve just got to be patient.”

Hamel also revealed that she intends to play a more defensive system this year, although ideally only this season. “This year we’re going to be in a bit more of a defensive shape, so we’re playing a 4-5-1,” she says, referring to a strategy that focuses on

preventing scoring, rather than scoring goals, often resulting in draws. “But I don’t want to play that any longer than this year.”

The Clan adhered to this strategy well in its first two exhibition matches, achieving a score of 0-0 against Quest University and Douglas College.

Coach Hamel was proud of the team’s defensive performance on August 21 and 24.

“I was really pleased with the way we handled things.

I mean we got clean sheets so

defensively, it worked. Our focus, which was defence, worked because we didn’t allow any goals.”

She also stated that although the team’s focus is on defence that does not mean the team will neglect its offence. Hamel mentioned that the team was working on its attacking shapes and patterns in preparation for its last exhibition game.

Despite their issues now, Hamel believes that her team will be a contender, drawing a comparison to the men’s team,

in separate positions so they compliment each other very well and it’s great to have leaders in different positions.”

A formidable set of newcomers will grace the field for SFU this season, and the competition for spots will be a great fuel for success. Pascal Schmidt joins the team after playing at home in Germany for the VFB Stuttgart youth team; fellow countryman Kleefeldt will surely be a great mentor as the two players take hold in defence.

The local talents of goalkeeper Christian Zimmerman (Delta) and striker Michael North (Coquitlam) will further reinforce the side. Both players come from Mountain United FC, where Zimmerman starred for the U-18 squad, and North scored 17 goals in 15 appearances for the U-17 team.

The Clan will aim for a third consecutive NCAA final four appearance and a fifth straight GNAC title this season, as they hope to continue their dominance in the NCAA. The Clan play their first home game against the Sonoma State Seawolves on Thursday, September 4 at 7:30 p.m.

explaining, “If our men’s program is capable of being that successful and we share the same resources, I don’t see why we can’t be that successful.”

This year probably won’t be a winning season for the women’s soccer team, however, it should showcase a team learning to win, and perhaps a future contender.

The Clan play their first home game against the Hawaii Hilo Vulcans on Sunday, September 7 at 5 p.m.

SPORTS

Although we won’t be seeing the Shrum Bowl this year, according to Milt Richards, SFU’s athletics director, there is a good chance that this time next year we will be seeing SFU and UBC face off for the first time since 2010.

The Shrum Bowl was once an annual meet-up between the two rival football teams, started in 1967, and held every year (except 1994) from 1987 to 2010. Throughout its history it has been plagued with scheduling difficulties resulting in the recent hiatus.

Richards, however, states that there is an agreement — although not in writing — to hold the Shrum Bowl on Labour Day, provided that it is open. This depends on when the Vanier Cup is held: “The Vanier Cup, the CIS (Canadian Interuniversity Sport) championship is [currently] being held in the last week of November. That means Labour Day weekend is open [for UBC, so] we’ll play the Shrum Bowl.

September 2, 2014

“For a lot of reasons, because of us being NCAA and them being CIS, the schedules just haven’t worked so I think that this is a good breakthrough.”

However, if the Vanier Cup is held earlier in the year, then the Labour Day weekend would not be available for UBC, and thus the Shrum Bowl could not be played.

Richards is confident, though, that the Vanier Cup will remain on the last weekend of November, and that the Labour Day weekend will be free: “We think we’ll be able to play next year because we think all of that stuff is going to happen.”

Before the decision to hold the Shrum Bowl over Labour Day weekend, there were two other possible dates. One possibility was during Thanksgiving weekend when UBC has a bye, while the other option would be at the end of the year.

However, UBC vetoed Thanksgiving because they wanted the

bye week to rest their players, instead of playing what is really an exhibition game in the middle of the season. SFU vetoed the end of the year option, because it conflicts with the NCAA playoffs.

“I couldn’t [let SFU] play at the end of the year because that would mean that we would say we weren’t making the playoffs,” said the athletic director.

To Richards, though, the Shrum Bowl is a very important event. “Since the day I’ve gotten here, I’ve wanted [SFU] to play the Shrum Bowl. We’ve had conversations back and forth with UBC,” he said.

He also expressed his belief that the game is not simply good for the SFU and UBC athletic programs, or even students, but the community as a whole. “It goes beyond [the universities]. From what I’ve heard, in the three years that I’ve been here, is that the BC community wants to see this football game. [At] one time this game could draw 20,000 people, [so] this is a big game.”

The next Shrum Bowl would be held on SFU turf under American rules, as the last one was held at UBC, a game in which the Clan beat the Thunderbirds 27-20.

For the first time since 2001, the Seattle Mariners could have a playoff run. It’s good to see our MLB home team do well after so many years of struggling and mediocrity.

In prior years, in every Mariners game that I watched, the hits were few. If they did win, it was likely because of pitching, with a maximum score of three runs. I even have a Mariners program from last year that admits to their mediocrity, and at least implies an unwillingness to spend money. When your own team-made program questions the team, you know that you’ve got problems.

This year, however, something’s different. The team can hit, as evidenced in games such as the Mariners’ thumping of the Toronto Blue Jays 11-1. They have also shown remarkable resilience — in one game, the Boston Red Sox were up 3-0 in the ninth inning, yet the Mariners fought back scoring five runs, with the majority of them coming after two outs.

To be honest, I don’t know what it is. Truthfully, I don’t watch baseball to see what happens every single night, but I do know that the turnaround is amazing. Maybe it’s the fact that the Mariners did spend some big money with Robinson Cano, plying him

23

from the Yankees, or perhaps it’s the new manager.

It should be noted, with pitching as one of the few bright spots of the Mariners of old, well, they have still got it. They have probably have the best pitcher in the league with Felix Hernandez, and the other pitchers are not slouches either.

This year looks like it could be a great year for the Mariners.

Wouldn’t that be something, a Super Bowl and a World Series in the same year?

But I shouldn’t get too ahead of myself. For one, they still have to make the playoffs, which is far from a given in the MLB where only ten of the teams make the playoffs. And two, I probably just jinxed them.

Oh well, I guess.

24 SPORTS

The 2014 CFL Draft was a massive success for the Clan, with five players drafted, three of whom are currently on their draft team’s roster.

However, this also means plenty of turnover for the team, and many spots that need filling. For some young players, this is their chance to make their mark and shine.

Redshirt sophomores Jordan and Justin Herdman find themselves in this situation, as starting linebacker Casey Chin was drafted in the third round by the BC Lions. Prior to this season, Jordan played second string linebacker behind Chin, but now, he finds himself stepping in as the Clan’s starting middle linebacker.

With this change, Jordan must take on more of a leadership role: “[I need to] work on communication, because middle linebackers have got to be able to run the whole defence. You’ve got to know where everyone is, and you’ve got to block some people sometimes.

September 2, 2014

They count on you a lot to be there to lead them.”

Although this is the brothers’ third year at SFU, they have been playing football for as long as they remember. When asked when they got truly into football, Jordan responded, “Probably when we were about three years old. Our dad would take us out to the field, and we would do different drills for football, just training, and he made it fun for us which was a big thing, and we really enjoyed it at a really young age.”

It may have helped growing up as the sons of a professional football player in Winnipeg, whose passion for the game the twins seem to have inherited.

“Our dad played football as well, he played professional football. He played in the NFL, the CFL, and even the USFL so we had a lot of talent passed down from our father,” explained Justin. “He always helped us with our footwork and other things like that. He always helped us when we needed it.”

Athletically, the two were not only limited to football; in high school, they both played basketball as well, with Justin playing power forward and Jordan playing shooting guard.

However, even in high school, their true passion was football.

Jordan explained, “We were much more serious about football while basketball was just more for fun, where we still competed but it was more just to stay in shape during the offseason.”

Once the time came for university, they decided to stick solely with football, but it took a bit of adapting from the pace of high school football to the fast pace of the NCAA. “The first year we came here the biggest thing was the speed

of the game, it was a lot faster, a lot of stuff going [on] but eventually you start to get more comfortable. Defence starts becoming easier because the game slows down for you,” Justin said.

Jordan elaborated, “Players are a lot bigger, more mature.

You have to [do] steady training, make sure you’re at the top of your game, [watch] a lot more film and plays are a little more complicated, different formations. [It was a] pretty big jump, I’d say, from high school to NCAA level, but I’ve enjoyed it.”

The other side of university athletics is that it is still university; in addition to games and practices, athletes have to manage the academic workload. Jordan and Justin are no

exception, with Jordan receiving the GNAC Faculty Athletic Representative (FAR) award, an award that goes to athletes who are also exceptional students.

Jordan received the award for achieving a 3.99 GPA in physics.

Jordan stressed the importance of time management and studying. Justin added, “After practice, you’ve got to stay up late sometimes to get a lot of studying done.”

Although they both dream of one day playing professionally, they also have plans for their SFU degrees in biomedical physiology, hoping to eventually become radiologists. “It would be great to play in the NFL or the CFL, that’s always been my dream to do. One of my goals is to play professional [football] but I’m also doing very well in school so I would like to go to medical school to pursue radiology and become a radiologist,” Jordan stated.

For right now, though, the twins have a budding athletic career ahead of them and are focused on helping the Clan achieve a winning season.

HUMOUR

September 2, 2014

a few times, and then haphazardly wiped the ball off on his shirt. Though no actual test was conducted to see how effective or thorough the ball had been cleaned, attendees agreed that the Solo Cup had rid it of all previous contaminants.

“Now I know how Thomas Edison must have felt after inventing the lightbulb,” Marsh said, though likely downplaying the moment’s importance.

While the discovery’s scope is limited at this time, it’s possible that Solo Cups of water will have a dramatic impact on the way hospitals sterilize tools and environments; the food hospitality industry is also speculated to undergo changes in how sanitation standards are upheld. Even the recent Ebola epidemic — the largest in history — could become a testing ground for the new disinfecting method.

Comic by Lavpreet Parmar (SFU)

In a move that could very well change the way in which humans deal with sanitation and sterilization, attendees of a Tight and Bright party last week have discovered the most efficient, fast-acting way of killing nearly every trace of bacteria on a surface: a red Solo Cup filled with lukewarm water from the tap.

“We were setting up cups for a game of beer pong when someone asked for an extra one,” Tiffany

Marsh said, recounting the extraordinary events leading up to the discovery. “He said he wanted to use a rinse cup for the ball, since the table was pretty gnarly from the game before us. Also, I think someone had puked on it earlier.”

Once the game was officially underway, the pingpong ball repeatedly bounced off the table onto the beer-crusted floor underneath, and even into a nearby fern plant. Marsh was sure the ball would never be fit to be sank into cups of beer again.

“Each time one of us missed the table, I thought to myself, ‘That’s it.

That ball is done for.’”

However, just when all hope was lost and several party attendees had written the ball off as a dirt-covered germ orgy, the mysterious newcomer dropped it into the Solo Cup, dunked it

“It’s unclear at this time what effect this new super sanitizing agent might have in the current outbreak,” said Tim Riggins, spokesperson for the World Health Organization, “but one thing is for certain: whoever’s bright idea it was to use a cup full of water to supposedly clean off a pingpong ball while playing a drinking game, deserves a medal. Reeeeeally good job on that one.”

humour editor email / phone

Jacey Gibb humour@the-peak.ca / 778.782.4560

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26 HUMOUR

Students of Mrs. Jamieson’s Grade Seven class were shocked to learn that the new girl, Susan Barns, who was once described by her classmates as “perfectly normal,” had in fact been home-schooled for most of her young life.

Barns, 12, recently moved to Vancouver from Telegraph Cove, a small city located on Vancouver Island. While public education was available to her via commute to another city, Barns’ parents made the decision to deprive her of any sense of normalcy or chance at having a well-balanced upbringing.

“When Susan told me she’d been home-schooled up until this year, I thought to myself,

‘What, is this someone’s idea of a sick joke?’” a source in Jamieson’s class told The Peak. “I have a sense of humour, but this is just taking things too far.”

Barns’ reputation as being formerly home-schooled has already led to repercussions in the Grade Seven community. Several students have been forced to throw away items previously lent to Barns, while another classmate was forced to delete her birthday event on Facebook and create a new one excluding Barns.

“Usually we can spot a home-schooled kid from a mile away,” said Travis Curls, reported class bully. “That way we can start making them feel alienated right away. The new girl had everyone fooled.”

Upon further investigation, it was also revealed that Barns’ family isn’t even religious, further deepening the mystery of how a normal, non-religious zealot came to learn from her parents within the

September 2, 2014

comfort of their home. It’s possible that Barns was hypnotized during her first seven years of schooling into believing she isn’t religious — while subconsciously being a devoted Catholic or Mormon — but this is just wild speculation.

When The Peak contacted Mrs. Jamieson to comment on her freakishly normal student, she told reporters that, “In my classroom, I tell my kids to follow the Golden Rule and treat people the way they want to be treated themselves. Therefore I will be contacting Mr. and Mrs. Barns immediately and asking them how they would have liked it if their parents had forced them to be home-schooled.”

DIVERSIONS / ETC

September 2, 2014

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28 LAST WORD

What do you think the average GPA of a student in your department will be this fall?

The graph below displays the mean grades by department at SFU, averaged from 2008–2013 in 3rd and 4th year courses. As you can see, there’s a big difference between mathematics on the left side of the graph at around 2.5 GPA, and education on the right at approximately 3.5. Depending on the department at SFU, an average student will receive significantly higher or lower grades.

When funds for students, such as Undergraduate Open Scholarships, are allocated based on GPA, this difference could affect that distribution. So, where does this difference come from and how is it affecting students?

When asked for comment on why Education gives out the highest average GPA per student at SFU, the Dean of Education, Dr. Kris Magnusson, observed that it “should not be terribly surprising that the Faculty whose research and practices focuses on teaching and learning should lead the way in the attainment of measurable learning outcomes.” He also noted that the “vast majority” of upper division students in the Education Department are in the Professional Development Program (PDP), a structural factor that he argues raises the department’s overall average.

It’s worth noting that PDP students are not eligible for SFU’s Open Scholarship.

However, the chairs of other departments were more concerned about the difference in average GPAs. The chair of the Department of Mathematics, Dr. Manfred Trummer, described the gap between departments as “worrying,” and Dr. David Jacks, chair of the Department of Economics, explained his department’s low grades as a result of “coordination across the department [which] reduces the ability of, and incentives for, any given instructor to engage in grade inflation.”

Dr. Stephen Easton, professor in the Department of Economics and faculty senator on the Senate Policy Committee on Scholarships, Awards and Bursaries was unequivocal in stating that “there are clearly different grading norms among departments [and] departments have autonomy in this [regard], within relatively wide bounds.” How might this autonomy impact the distribution of scholarships and awards?

The Undergraduate Open Scholarship is awarded to students whose SFU cumulative grade point average (CGPA) is above 3.67. As such, it currently does not take into account potential differences in grading standards between departments; the assessment criteria assumes that student merit alone accounts for GPA.

features editor email / phone

Max Hill features@the-peak.ca / 778.782.4560

The case at UBC is somewhat similar to SFU. However, data obtained from their Office of Planning and Institutional Research was by subject area, not department, so it is difficult to make an exact comparison with SFU in terms of departmental discrepancies in average GPA. In 2012, the two subject areas with the highest average grades were Global Resource Systems and Education Psychology and Special Education; the subjects with the lowest averages were Psychology and Math, mirroring those subjects’ relatively low GPAs here at SFU. Similar to the Open Scholarship is UBC’s Trek Excellence Scholarship, which is awarded based on academic merit and does

When asked about grade disparities between departments, Manoj Bhakthan, director of SFU’s Financial Aid and Awards office, acknowledged that their office is “aware of grading differences across the faculties,” but added that these grading differences are strictly “academic decisions.” It is unclear how much these differences among departments affect the distribution of the Undergraduate Open Scholarship; when a by-department breakdown was requested, we were informed that these statistics are not publicly available.

So, if the differences in GPA between departments are impacting the distribution of Open Scholarships, are there fairer alternatives to consider?

not require an application. It is given to students in the top fifth percentile of their respective faculty or school. As such, it could potentially be affected by the differences in average GPAs between subject areas.

Dr. Jacks, notes that it is likely that “disparities in average grades would [lead to] disparities in the proportion of students holding [Undergraduate Open Scholarships] by department.”

Though Dr. Easton cautioned that there is no perfect model, he proposed a new formula to ensure that recipients of Open Scholarships are “as above the department mean in one department as another.” In Dr. Easton’s system, student GPA is subtracted from average departmental GPA, which is then divided by the standard deviation multiplied by average departmental GPA — the result

September 2, 2014

is therefore weighted to account for the difference in average GPAs by department.

In turn, Dr. Magnusson pointed out in an email that the high school admission averages to the Bachelor of General Studies are some of the highest in the university.

He noted that, “High performing students prior to admission tend to continue to do as well in their Education courses.” If student quality does differ significantly between departments as reflected in the difference between average GPAs, Dr. Easton’s system would not reflect this reality.

Of course, another issue with adopting a model that is not based on GPA alone is that it would essentially amount to a public admission by the university of the significance of grade differences between departments — potentially endangering SFU students’ chances of receiving external awards.

Whatever the feasibility of an alternative, it is impossible to know the extent of the effect of departmental GPA differences on the distribution of Open Scholarships as long as information on that distribution is kept from the student body. As a public university, Simon Fraser should make the by-department GPA breakdown available. Students need to be informed about the effects of the school’s current policy and make up their own minds as to its fairness.