The Queen's Journal, Volume 142, Issue 12

F r i d ay , O c t o b e r 3 1 , 2 0 1 4 — I s s u e 1 2

the journal Queen’s University — Since 1873

Two wins from three titles page 10

PHOTO BY ALEX PICKERING

“ I think the student turnout, from what I can tell, is a little higher than four years ago, which is good ... I also think this year we had strong proactive engagement by both student governments.” — Kevin Wiener, SGPS president MUNICIPAL POLITICS

GRADING

Students optimistic ASUS fighting about new mayor uphill grading battle AMS and SGPS say they’re positive about Paterson Society seeks inclusion of class averages on transcripts B y M ishal O mar Assistant News Editor The AMS executive and the SGPS President are feeling positive about Bryan Paterson, despite the perception that Kingston’s mayor-elect is anti-student.

Paterson, who’s finishing out his term as Trillium District councillor, was one of the councillors who voted in favor of dissolving Sydenham District last year.

There were a total of 35,856 ballots cast throughout Kingston in Monday’s election.

Paterson won the mayoral race with 13,577 votes, followed by Dorothy Hector with 8,663 votes, Rick Downes with 8,388 votes, Brenda Slomka with 4,108 votes, Scott Foster with 492 votes and Michael J. M. Owen with 362 votes.

SGPS President Kevin Wiener expressed happiness with student involvement in the municipal elections.

“I think the student turnout, from what I can tell, is a little higher than four years ago, which is good,” Wiener, JD ’15, said.

“I also think this year we had strong proactive engagement by both student governments.”

This included Queen’s Municipal Affairs Commission informing students how to vote, registering student voters and providing students with basic information on the candidates.

Wiener worked on the appeal to the Ontario Municipal Board contesting Council’s realignment decision last year.

“I spoke with Bryan about it, and obviously I would have preferred that he had voted [against] the realignment,” Wiener said.

“I think unfortunately the whole question got politicized at council about the political makeup of council, when it really should have been about making sure that we had

Eccentric thoughts page 9

See Three on page 5

B y J acob R osen Assistant News Editor ASUS’s plan to encourage the Faculty of Arts and Science to have class averages appear on transcripts, discussed at a Tuesday town hall meeting on the 2012-13 Arts and Science grading report, might be more of an uphill battle than they expect.

The talk followed an April report which outlines grading discrepancies across Arts and Science departments. Roughly 15 students attended, most of whom expressed concern that discrepancies in grading systems across Arts and Science departments would affect them negatively when applying to graduate school.

Attendants agreed that posting class averages on transcripts would help alleviate negative perceptions regarding poorer grades in certain departments.

ASUS President Adam Grotsky said he

planned to bring up the suggestion in a DSC meeting to consult student representatives from various departments.

But according to Jordan Morelli, an associate professor in the department of physics, the suggestion might not be entirely feasible.

“It always comes down to funding,” Morelli told the Journal following the meeting. Morelli is also chair of the Senate Committee on Academic Procedures (SCAP).

“My personal preference is that averages appear on transcripts and rank in program appear on transcripts wherever possible, but I can’t speak for SCAP.” SCAP is composed of one ex-officio member, the Registrar; and six elected members — three faculty, one from the AMS, one from the SGPS and one staff — who are responsible for examining various

See Averages on page 5

News

2 •queensjournal.ca

Friday, October 31, 2014

AMS

Assembly adopts proportional representation New composition will take effect next year and see Residence Society’s three votes removed B y N atasa B ansagi Assistant News Editor A second reading of the motion to change the composition of AMS Assembly to proportional representation passed last night with two abstentions, removing Residence Society’s voting seats.

As a result of the second reading passing, the change will come into effect in the next elections for Assembly representatives, set to

occur next year, and therefore won’t affect creation of an ad hoc committee to examine anyone currently sitting on Assembly. options for Assembly composition reform.

Residence Society (ResSoc) President The committee, chaired by AMS Nathan Utioh and Events Coordinator President Allison Williams, met on Brittney Whalen abstained from the vote.

Sept. 28 and Oct. 8, and presented four Last month, the Journal reported that the options for reformed composition, one of new composition would cause the Residence which was recommended at the Oct. 14 Society to lose its three voting seats Assembly meeting. in Assembly.

Each option was considered by the The first reading of the proposed change, committee, both with and without the presented at Assembly on Sept. 18, led to the inclusion of ResSoc as a voting member of Assembly.

The first reading of the motion passed in Assembly on Oct. 14.

Williams, ArtSci ’14, said the committee had two phases, the first of which was ensuring that its “guiding principles” were respected. One of these principles was that Assembly membership be based on faculty constituency, such as ASUS or the Engineering Society. “[Within the ad hoc committee], [there] was unanimity outside of Residence Society that they should not be included for the most effective representation,” Williams said.

The second phase tried different composition options, in which “bins” — the categories determining the number of voting seats societies receive in addition to the two automatically given to them, based on the percentage of AMS membership represented by that society — were respectively altered.

“We tried tweaking that in a number of different ways, just basically changing the relative sizes of those bins, how many there were, how high they went,” Williams said.

She said the option recommended by the committee — option four — would include smaller bins that would see smaller societies gain more seats at Assembly at a higher rate

PHOTO BY NATASA BANSAGI

Nathan Utioh, president of ResSoc.

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and larger societies at a slower rate.

“It was the best option for balancing our desire to have a critical mass of representatives and a lot of focus on the attainment of new representatives as smaller societies grew,” Williams said, “but also to make sure we were really balancing out and providing fair representation for the larger societies on the other end.”

The ad hoc committee also suggested that Assembly create a standing committee to address first-year issues. These concerns, Williams said, aren’t represented in the structure of AMS council to the same degree as other issues like academics and municipal affairs.

“Having a sort of standing committee would mean that there could be recommendations that were coming forward to Assembly that consistently considered the first-year experience and looked at it more proactively,” she said, “while also making sure that at the Assembly level, we were doing our due diligence in terms of looking at faculty society constituency.”

Utioh, ArtSci ’15, said the reasons why ResSoc didn’t put forth an amendment to the proposed changes in Assembly composition reform included the amendments being in line with the ad hoc committee’s purpose and thorough discussion taking place in the committee itself.

“The changes that were proposed by the committee will do what the committee was set out to do, which is to increase the efficiency of Assembly and also strengthen the importance of each voice on Assembly,” Utioh said.

Friday, October 31, 2014

queensjournal.ca

•3

FEATURE NIGHTLIFE

Underground meets tough competition “Disconnect” between students and campus nightclub persists, AMS VP says B y S ebastian L eck Features Editor The Underground has made strides to improve, but students aren’t seeing it, according to AMS Vice-President of Operations Justin Reekie.

The Underground competes with a number of downtown nightclubs for student customers.

As a non-profit organization, though, its objectives are different — it aims to provide social benefits to students rather than make money, according to Underground management.

Reekie told the Journal via email that a disconnect between The Underground and students has persisted “despite many changes to the operations and events at the club that have been directly responsive to student feedback.”

The Underground was rebranded from Alfie’s Nightclub in 2013. The rebranding included new seating and the addition of student artwork to its walls, along with the name change. The project cost the AMS “less than $50,000”, according to then-Vice-President of Operations Nicola Plummer.

The current management team has addressed student demand in drink prices, operating nights and event themes, Reekie said, but many students are unaware of the changes.

The Underground ended its Wednesday night events and began Throwback Thursday theme nights last year. It also introduced a line skip program for Saturday nights.

“In part, this has been fuelled by the focus and tone that has been communicated to the student body through campus media outlets, which has centred on the finances of the establishment and has carried a persistently negative manner,” he said.

Reekie later added that he was referring to the “general tone of media on campus, not one specific outlet.”

The AMS Pub Services (TAPS) — the AMS service that runs The Underground

and Queen’s Pub — has posted a financial deficit every year since 2010.

This year, TAPS is projected to run a deficit of $19,188.07.

Prior to the most recent rebranding, the AMS has spent over $330,000 on renovating the space since 2001. In a report on a $285,000 renovation in 2001, the Journal reported at the time that the nightclub — previously a pub — had lost money since the late 1980s.

The Underground competes with other nightclubs in Kingston for student customers. The majority of local nightclubs are located near Princess St. or the surrounding area, with the exception of The Underground on campus.

The Hub Group Inc., owned by Scott MacPherson, includes Stages Nightclub, the Brass Pub, thGrizzly Grill and Ale House and Canteen on Princess St. The Spot, a smaller nightclub, is situated near the intersection of Brock and Division Streets. Fluid Nightclub, meanwhile, is located at Princess and Division Streets.

Reekie said the advantage of The Underground’s location is its proximity to students, as well as safety services like Walkhome, Queen’s First Aid and Queen’s Security.

As an on-campus establishment, however, The Underground must abide by Queen’s Campus Alcohol Policies, which enforces restrictions that off-campus nightclubs don’t have to follow.

“An example would be that we are not allowed to market the consumption or pricing of alcohol,” Reekie said. Other restrictions include a ban on sponsorship by alcohol manufacturers.

He said The Underground has logged better attendance this school year than in 2013-14. The AMS was unable to provide exact numbers by deadline.

Although TAPS is projected to post a deficit this year, the AMS corporate services are projecting a surplus of $70,000, Reekie added.

“The projected deficit of TAPS

The Hub on Princess St. includes Ale House and Canteen and Stages Nightclub.

DJ KLYNK at the Underground during the QPop Music Festival.

is not creating a deficit in the AMS,” he said.

Reekie said he consulted AMS Retail Operations Officer John McDiarmid about the Underground’s financial performance prior to running for AMS executive in January.

From speaking with McDiarmid and other industry professionals, Reekie said he believes the service’s deficit is due to cyclical trends.

“If you look at any of our corporate services, they each face cyclical trends of surpluses to deficits to surpluses,” he said.

“This is due to a change in the landscape of our campus and changing interests.”

McDiarmid was unavailable to comment.

The Underground’s operations are based on a different set of priorities than the nightclubs in the Hub, according to TAPS Head Manager Ben Schoening, who oversees The Underground and Queen’s Pub. Schoening said TAPS aims to provide a “socially accessible” and beneficial service to students.

These benefits include employment opportunities and a safe drinking environment, he said.

Unlike other Kingston nightclubs, The Underground operates with a “double bottom line”, Schoening said. In this analogy, the first “bottom line” measures the service’s financial well being, while the second measures its benefit to students.

“Assessing The Underground in a vacuum and purely on its financial merits is missing the full picture,” Schoening said. A number of factors dictate how financially successful The Underground is

JOURNAL FILE PHOTO

during the year, he added, such as minimum wage, drink prices, student attendance and rental costs paid to the Student Life Centre.

TAPS currently employs 107 students and eight managers, including Schoening.

The Underground uses customer surveys and employs a volunteer marketing team to track campus trends and gather feedback on the service’s strategies. TAPS also partners with student groups to run special events and offers line skip to students on their birthdays, Schoening added.

He said theme nights, such as Throwback Thursday, are successful when they create a group of students who consistently attend the event.

“Providing a theme for students to associate the club with allows us to generate a connection to different student demographics,” he said.

Other nightclubs also offer theme nights. Ale House and Canteen runs Tumbleweed Tuesday, a country-music themed night, while Stages runs “Stage Rage” events on Thursday nights, when cover charges and drinks are sold for $2.

Jennifer Whitaker, ArtSci ’16, said a good nightclub experience for her involves smaller spaces and a broad range of music.

Her favourite local nightclub is the Ale House and Canteen, she said, while she finds Fluid and The Spot less appealing.

“Fluid is sketchy. I also feel nervous when I’m in The Spot. Just grimy … it’s dirty,” Whitaker said.

Fluid Nightclub opened in May 2013. Prior to Fluid, Elysium Nightclub operated in the same location, opening in 2010 and closed in 2012.

Fluid didn’t respond to requests for comment. The establishment’s phone number wasn’t in service when a Journal reporter called.

According to Brett Elder, Sci ’15, it’s important for a bar to look like it’s seemingly full, even if there are few people in attendance.

“Places like Ale House and Stages, they have an upstairs, so even if they are empty, there might still be people,” Elder said. Fluid and The Underground each have one main dance floor, meanwhile, which he said can appear empty when there are few patrons.

PHOTO BY CHLOE SOBEL

Part of a nightclub’s popularity is generated through brand recognition and the impression that a venue is popular, Elder said.

“People are like sheep, especially bar-hopping,” he said. “Stages and Ale are not the best clubs, but they are places where people will actually be.”

Stages Nightclub was unable to comment by deadline.

The General Manager of Ale House, Scott Hopkins, declined to comment, citing concerns about sharing business strategies with competitors.

The Spot, meanwhile, opened five years ago. According to Jordan West, the nightclub’s owner, operator and general manager, it’s open every day except Christmas Day. “The first year I was open, I had to specifically work every single day of the week,” West said.

“People are very confident in their experience when they come to The Spot. It’s been established.”

The Spot rarely does themed events, West said, as they can be profitable, but don’t bring in long-term patrons.

He said The Spot focuses on “quantity and value”. According to West, The Spot’s revenue has been steady for the past three years.

West said he doesn’t associate his business with any specific group of people or type of music to attract a diverse range of customers, although he does gear it towards younger people.

“I specifically don’t like DJs that are set on one kind of genre. Like deep house all night, it will be garbage,” he said. “If I play hip hop all night, I will attract the wrong people.”

He said hip-hop attracts a “more violent crowd” due to its lyrics and beat. He wants to attract a diverse crowd that’s not “so specific for certain groups of people”, he added.

“To be honest, hip-hop music brings in a thuggish element if it’s specifically the only thing you are playing,” he said.

His establishment is different than Stages and Ale House, West said, adding that The Spot attracts customers looking for something smaller and more intimate.

“I don’t really compete with the Hub. They are 10 times the size of The Spot there,” he said.

4 •queensjournal.ca

News

Friday, October 31, 2014

ACADEMICS

Active learning classrooms officially launched Ellis Hall classrooms have been in operation since January

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B y N atasa B ansagi Assistant News Editor The University officially launched three active learning classrooms in Ellis Hall on Monday.

The rooms are part of the Ellis Hall Active Learning Classrooms Project. According to its website, the project’s goals include “[creating] flexible learning spaces to enable active and collaborative learning” and “[encouraging] experimentation and innovation in course design and classroom activities.”

The three classrooms — Ellis 319, 321 and 333 — each emphasize something different: flexibility, a team-based approach and interactivity, respectively.

Features include tablet-arm chairs on wheels and whiteboards on the walls in Ellis 319, monitors at the end of every table in 321 and six-person round tables beside interactive displays, which can project laptop screens, in 333.

In the latter two classrooms, instructors can choose whether to display their screen or that of another group onto all groups’ screens.

Jill Scott, vice-provost of teaching and learning, said the smallest room holds approximately 40 people; the medium-sized room holds 60 to 68 people; and the largest room holds 136 people.

The rooms took two years to develop, she added.

“We think about these rooms as sandboxes for instructors and for students to try out new and different things in innovative, active learning pedagogies,” Scott said.

In addition to the classrooms in

Ellis Hall and two “tutorial-sized rooms” in Theological Hall, there are plans for other active learning rooms in the works.

“We’ve got a number of other spaces which we’re considering, basically, for refurbishment,” she said.

Russell and Katherine Morrison and the late Jack McGibbon donated a total of approximately $2.2 million for Ellis Hall’s active classrooms.

Andy Leger, an educational developer at the Centre for Teaching and Learning, works to support instructors who use the classrooms and assess how effective the rooms are for students and faculty.

Compared to “traditional classrooms”, he said, the active learning classrooms allow for more ease in collaborative work, generating discussion and presentations.

“If you’re in a traditional classroom and your group has to present, you’re forced to go to the front,” he said. “[The active classrooms provide] a collaborative environment, where there’s that much more interaction, there’s that much more opportunity to discuss. There’s no front of the class.”

He added that student feedback has been “overwhelmingly positive”.

However, he said some negative feedback arose from faculty members lecturing in the active classrooms, and in regards to instructors understanding the technology.

“There were certain classes that the faculty member chose to

lecture. And the feedback was, you know, lecturing’s fine, but if you’re going to do that, don’t do that in these classrooms,” he said.

Leger said the rooms weren’t complete by the time they started being used last term, and this didn’t allow time to train instructors beforehand. This year, however, “bootcamps” were set up in the summer to train faculty before the new term.

Two general assessments of the classrooms took place in winter 2014, one halfway through the term and one at the end. This term, “more targeted assessments” will also be conducted, Leger said, assessing attributes and outcomes like teamwork and presentation anxiety in the active learning classrooms.

Leger said the active learning classrooms have created a “carry-over effect”, where instructors work to integrate elements they’ve employed in the active learning classrooms upon returning to traditional classroom settings.

“If we could have instructors come through here, sort of have that experience, and then take it and try to implement it in other spaces, then that would be one of the upsides of these spaces,” he said.

“Not just for the faculty that are in here at any one point in time, not just for the students that are in here at any one point in time, but they get the experience of being in here, sort of understanding and trying out new things, and then they take it to other spaces on campus.”

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Alan Harrison speaking Monday afternoon at Ellis Hall.

PHOTO BY NATASA BANSAGI

News

Friday, October 31, 2014

queensjournal.ca

Three incumbents reclaim City Council seats in election Continued from page 1

— have been about making sure that we had effective representation of all residents.”

He said he didn’t consider Paterson anti-student.

“While it’s true that he did vote for that motion, he has never taken the stance of attacking students or that students aren’t real residents,” Wiener said.

“I do think we’ll see a much more positive tone in the role that students play in the Kingston community in the next four years.”

AMSVice-PresidentofUniversity Affairs Philip Lloyd said the AMS is looking forward to working with Paterson.

“We would like to congratulate the newly elected Mayor and Council. We are excited and eager to work with all members of City Council in the coming months and to continue to strengthen the relationship between the AMS and the City of Kingston,” Lloyd, ConEd ’13, told the Journal via email.

“Building off of the student platform passed by AMS Assembly, we hope to work closely with City Council on achieving the goals outlined within the platform.”

Peter Stroud won the council seat for the Sydenham District, with 56.75 per cent of the vote. He said he was surprised he received over half of the votes in the district.

“I was a little shocked by the numbers of the results, then also relieved that our hard work had paid off. I thought it was a close three-way race and the numbers didn’t reflect that,” he said.

Stroud is now focusing on both short-term and long-term plans for the city. His short-term plans include adequate snow removal from sidewalks so that pedestrians are safer and changing the bylaw that limits houses to putting out one garbage bag by providing residents with 52 additional tags for the year.

His long-term goals include creating harmony among all residents of Kingston.

“I will always be guided by my wish that all residents of Sydenham be treated equally, regardless of what stage of life they’re in,” he said.

“I would like students to be treated as citizens, as fully engaged members of the community and that starts with the way that people talk — you talk about your fellow citizens and you don’t talk about them as a generalized group.”

Jim Neill won the Williamsville council seat with 55.99 per cent of the vote.

“I’m really, really looking forward to the next Council. We’re going to have more youth, we’re going to have — I believe — more

women, and we’re going to have a lot of people with fresh ideas,” Neill said.

“It is so good to see new faces around the horseshoe and people who I know from other community activities are progressive and forward-looking and committed to making the community better.”

Rob Hutchison, the King’s Town District incumbent who won his seat again, was unavailable for comment.

Liz Schell, the Portsmouth District incumbent, retook her council seat with 57.99 per cent of the vote. She is looking forward to another four years on council with people who can bring a fresh perspective.

“I’m really pleased, I know most of the candidates who won — there are some sad goodbyes, but it’s a very interesting, new, youthful and forward-thinking council,” she said.

Schell plans to begin implementing the goals in her platform in the near future.

“I’m going to go with the School of Urban Planning to a meeting next week about Portsmouth — the Providence Care property, walking and biking trails going through the property, the waterfront along all of Kingston is very important.”

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— With files from Natasa Bansagi and Chloe Sobel

Averages removed in 2010 Continued from page 1

topics related to academic procedure in order to make suggestions to Senate. One of these topics is grading systems throughout the University.

“Those types of things were removed at the urging of the registrar because in his position, the academic transcript is meant to be a record of your actual experience at the university and the class average is not a reflection of your actual experience — it’s a reflection of the collective’s experience,” Morelli said.

Before changes were made to the transcript template in 2010, faculties were responsible for what appeared on transcripts.

Now, Morelli said, “the dean [of Arts and Science] has no [greater] authority to do anything about it”.

“She as a senator can make a motion in Senate calling for SCAP to look into the possibility of putting averages on the transcript,” Morelli said, but SCAP would then need to make a report and recommendation to Senate, which Senate can choose to act on as it sees fit.

In April 2013, Provost Alan Harrison stated in a written report to Senate that the University planned to modify the PeopleSoft system to include percentage grades for transcripts, but the “speed with which this particular modification is implemented will depend on the availability of funds and resources.”

“I think the administration will make the argument that PeopleSoft

can’t be customized without great expense,” Morelli said, and added that PeopleSoft is “a very expensive platform that doesn’t meet the needs of our university”.

Susan Mumm, dean of the Faculty of Arts and Science, said she’d be “pretty surprised if a student ever said to me ‘I chose discipline A because it gives high marks even though I’m really interested in discipline B’”.

“Let’s hope that they found the two subjects of equal interest because otherwise that would be quite sad,” she said.

Mumm said printing class averages on transcripts shouldn’t

be a problem, but added that Arts and Science can’t be the only faculty to do it.

She suggested that students look into attaching course grade distribution tables, which students can generate themselves, to their transcripts.

“They’re quite useful for someone who is, let’s say, applying to graduate school, especially if they’re applying outside Canada to universities that might not be very familiar with Queen’s reputation as a place where, you know, it’s pretty hard to get an A,” she said.

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•5

6 • queensjournal.ca

Editorial Board Editors in Chief

Nick Faris Vincent Ben Matak

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Friday, October 31 • Issue 12 • Volume 142

The Queen’s Journal is an editorially autonomous newspaper published by the Alma Mater Society of Queen’s University, Kingston.

Editorial opinions expressed in the Journal are the sole responsibility of the Queen’s Journal Editorial Board, and are not necessarily those of the University, the AMS or their officers.

Contents © 2014 by the Queen’s Journal; all rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced without prior permission of the Journal.

The Queen’s Journal is printed on a Goss Community press by Performance Group of Companies in Smiths Falls, Ontario.

Contributions from all members of the Queen’s and Kingston community are welcome. The Journal reserves the right to edit all submissions.

Subscriptions are available for $80.00 per year (plus applicable taxes).

Please address complaints and grievances to the Editors in Chief.

Please direct editorial, advertising and circulation enquiries to: 190 University Ave., Kingston, ON, K7L 3P4 Telephone: 613-533-2800 (editorial) 613-533-6711 (advertising) Fax: 613-533-6728 Email: journal_editors@ams.queensu.ca The Journal online: www.queensjournal.ca Circulation 6,000

Issue 13 of Volume 142 will be published on Friday, November 7, 2014

Friday, October 31, 2014

DIALOGUE

Editorials — The Journal’s Perspective

“

HEALTH

Talk about it — period The discomfort menstruation evokes speaks to greater issues of muted conversations on health.

The McGill Daily published a feature in their Oct. 27 issue titled “A Bloody Shame”, which examined the stigma surrounding menstruation and the revulsion it can inspire.

Although the feature didn’t provide new information, it was well written, and the shocked and giggling reception it received from our Editorial Board begged the question: what’s the nature of the stigma surrounding menstruation?

As a biological necessity, menstruation has a long-standing history of being stigmatized. Misconceptions that label it as impure persist today in certain regions

The discomfort present in these discussions is partially because internal functions ... are often characterized as private matters.

ACCESSIBILITY

”

Fines are fine

and religions. to a greater issue within our However, even when these society on discussing health misconceptions aren’t present, — one that isn’t exclusive to there still exists a shame around those who menstruate. the subject.

Individuals with or without From a young age, a uterus shouldn’t feel individuals with a uterus often embarrassed to share health feel uncomfortable talking to concerns, especially with a others about menstruation. health specialist, but the private Library fines aren’t the most financial barrier Rather than citing severe nature of these issues can often serious menstrual cramping, nausea deter people from discussing university students have to face.

The University of Sheffield or other symptoms as grounds them publicly. This can lead to in England has decided to for being excused from gym serious consequences. class, for example, many Reproductive education is stop levying fines for overdue people may instead give an currently taught in elementary library books. Instead, they’ll an automatic alternative reason. and high schools, but men and implement The discomfort present in women are often limited to renewal system, where students these discussions is partially schooling on their particular are allowed to keep a book until because internal functions, gender. These two sides need to someone else requests it. If a book isn’t returned at that point, like menstruation, are often better intersect. students are prevented from characterized as private matters.

While this personal — Journal Editorial Board signing out any more materials.

Many universities embarrassment has its roots — including Queen’s — prevent in historical sexism, it speaks students from registering for courses, requesting transcripts or even from graduating if they have any outstanding library fines.

While it seems ridiculous for universities to bar students from graduating because of an overdue book, students need to be responsible adults and return their books in a timely fashion, as they are university property.

Sheffield’s new system will improve access to academic materials, and their automatic renewal system is something Queen’s libraries should consider adopting.

Fines, however, should remain in place as a punitive measure, as they’re the best incentive for returning a book.

Fines may pose a minuscule financial issue for students, but they aren’t nearly as ILLUSTRATION BY MICHAELLA FORTUNE critical an issue as the financial barrier students regularly face due to inflated, outlandish textbook prices. lex ickering Universities in general need to improve the accessibility that students have to academic material, and libraries play a critical role in that.

At this time, the most plausible Last week, Canadian soil became solution to the accessibility issue the grounds for two repugnant lone would be a transition to offering wolf attacks against servicemen.

The events gave way to its title — “Protecting Children suggest that the government more material online, which discussion on security measures to from Internet Predators Act” — as has no right to surveil citizens wouldn’t hinder students based identify and monitor threats of no reference to children or internet under any circumstance. There on return dates or fines. homegrown radicalization. Prime predators could be found within can be a balance struck between — Journal Editorial Board Minister Stephen Harper has called the document. government surveillance and for the expedition of plans that Masquerading the bill as personal freedoms, but it’s an would bolster laws and police something it wasn’t transcended equilibrium we need to discover powers in “surveillance, detention dishonesty. It opened the door for carefully. that they’re failing to implement? and arrest” protocols. emotionally charged statements Authorities already have tools Given the deeply emotional Harper’s opportunistic push intended to cover up the bill’s in place to scout and prevent impact of recent events, it’s far for broader intelligence gathering true objective. potential threats. Before Martin too easy to fall sympathetic to should be met with vigilance.

In the case of Bill C-30, Public Couture-Rouleau ran over two Conservative plans for increased While his statements are Safety Minister Vic Toews said the soldiers in Quebec last Monday, the surveillance. Instead, Canadians deeply troubling for Canadians opposition could “either stand with RCMP had revoked his passport, should harness that very emotion who place a high value on civil us or with the child pornographers.” preventing him from flying out of to stand up for their own liberty, they should come as no Toews’ statement was a ridiculous the country. civil liberties. surprise. Increased surveillance has attempt to discredit criticism The government’s unwillingness If Canada truly wants to show been a priority for the Harper and skepticism of widespread to act further and apply existing that it’ll never be intimidated, it administration for some time. government surveillance. emergency detention measures at must withstand measures to In 2012, his Conservative Passing policies that infringe this juncture has drawn criticism constrict personal freedoms in the Party put forth Bill C-30, which on the Canadian citizen’s right from the Liberal camp. face of perceived danger. would have allowed authorities to privacy shouldn’t be done on It raises the question — why to track an individual’s electronic sentimental whims, but through is the government pushing for Alex is one the Journal’s Photo Editors. information without a warrant. rational discussion and debate. increased security measures when He’s a fourth-year economics and The bill was heavily criticized for It would be ludicrous to they already have ample jurisdiction history medial.

A

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Watch the watchmen

Friday, October 31, 2014

queensjournal.ca

•7

Opinions — Your perspective

EDUCATION

Disturbing discrepancies

Grading differences between departments can cause issues for Arts and Science students

PHOTO BY JACOB ROSEN

A town-hall meeting was held Tuesday night by ASUS to gauge student opinion on the 2012-13 Arts and Science grades report.

Adam Grotsky, ArtSci ‘15 Arts and Science students who major in political studies and classics will leave Queen’s with the same degree: a Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Arts (Honours).

Despite that, a 20 per cent difference exists between the number of A-pluses earned in the two departments.

The 2012-13 Arts and Science grades report, which was released this April, confirms what many students have believed for some time: departments are plagued by grading discrepancies.

The median grade in the french deparment sits at an A-minus; in chemistry, it creeps down to a B-minus. 1.4 per cent of grades in political studies are an A-plus; that number soars to 21.6 per cent in classics.

In fine arts, less than one per cent of students receive failing grades; in computing, the number of failing grades is unnervingly at 7.4 per cent.

Grading discrepancies in the Faculty of Arts and Science are affecting many students’ chances at future schooling, and it’s time to address it. How? By placing class averages, or medians, on official transcripts.

A political studies professor might cite the prestige of their

department to justify a stricter grading regime. A classics professor might turn to their quality of teaching to explain the abundance of A-pluses. But who’s right?

In my opinion, there’s no right or wrong department. Political studies also has a high quality of teaching, just as classics is prestigious in its own domain.

There’s no right or wrong department — what’s “wrong” is that students are suffering as a result.

I believe that when students are selecting their degrees, programs and courses, they should be able to pursue their passions and interests.

I say “should be”, because if my passion is politics but my future aspiration is law school, the department’s grading culture leaves me at an inherent disadvantage.

Some professors have argued that the byproduct of increasing A-pluses is grade inflation.

However, political studies students are graduating from Queen’s with the same degree as students from other Arts departments.

Moreover, post-graduate programs will measure them to the same standard as students in those other Arts departments.

Consequently, political studies students — and students in other departments with similar grading practices — are facing the opposite: grade deflation.

Grade inflation should not lead to a fear of recognizing a student’s ability to achieve academic excellence. High-level work should be rewarded with high marks;

this statement needs to hold true course medians. This would likely regardless of which department a combat both post-deadline drops student is in. and anomalous grades.

With vastly different Another option to explore is departmental cultures and the need excluding averages when a class to respect autonomy of professors size is below a certain number. as graders, placing class averages, Other Canadian universities, such or medians, on transcripts remains as the University of Waterloo the most pragmatic solution. and Western University, currently Currently, a grade on a employ this practice. transcript is an arbitrary number.

Fortunately, the Faculty of Arts Grading discrepancies have created and Science has demonstrated a an environment whereby, without willingness to acknowledge that a measure of comparison, it’s grading discrepancies are an issue. difficult to gauge a student’s true Further, they’ve been receptive level of success. to discussing recommendations A class average juxtaposed proposed by the Arts and Science with a student’s individual mark Undergraduate Society (ASUS). would offer schools and employers After extensive consultation a method of comparison that that included online forums, a provides a better reflection town hall meeting and discussion of performance. at Department Student Council This idea sounds simple enough, (DSC) Assembly, ASUS has been so why isn’t it being done? Actually, given a strong directive from up until about five years ago, it was. the student body to pursue the At that point, a decision was instatement of class averages or made by the Faculty of Arts and medians on transcripts.

Science to remove class averages All Arts and Science students from transcripts. This decision deserve an equal opportunity rested heavily on two concerns. to pursue future schooling, and First, if a student appealed to the inclusion of class averages drop a course after the academic or medians on transcripts is a deadline, it could change the necessary step towards achieving class average; this would make this principle. all transcripts printed prior to the I’m hopeful that a future drop inaccurate. implementation of this Second, averages in smaller recommendation will reignite courses could be heavily skewed by students to pursue their passions, a student with an anomalous grade regardless of numbers written in that was either far above or below the depths of a grades report. the rest.

Solutions exist to address those Adam Grotsky is president of ASUS. concerns. For example, rather than using class averages, the Faculty can explore the feasibility of using

Talking heads ... around campus What do you think of the outcome of the Kingston mayoral election?

“I saw no considerable effort from the candidates to talk to [students].”

Turner Story, ArtSci ’15

“I didn’t know enough about [the election] to vote.”

Leach Decorte, PheKin ’14

“I was focused more on the Toronto elections.”

Richard Wing, MBA ’15

PHOTOS BY OLIVIA BOWDEN

“[Kingston] is not really my city.”

Colleen Chappell, ArtSci ’15

LETTER TO THE EDITOR Dear Editors, I would like to commend Queen’s Bands and the Athletics and Recreation Department for their creative solution to Carleton’s ban on instruments at Saturday’s football game.

As a former Bands member, I have been to almost every football stadium in Ontario and have never had to comply with such an absurd demand.

To the contrary, most schools are quite impressed with the level of energy and excitement the Bands bring to their games, and often remark that they wish their school had something similar.

After Saturday, I think all football teams would agree that bagpipes and a well-tuned brass band are far less detrimental to the home team’s performance than the 80 vuvuzelas Bands brought with them to Carleton.

Among the reasons cited for the ban by Carleton’s manager of interuniversity sport are that Carleton’s own band might be intimidated by the size and experience of Queen’s Bands. It is interesting to note that McMaster also has a marching band, and I have a wonderful picture of our two groups together after a post-game drum-off in the parking lot.

Another reason Carleton gave was that they wanted to maximize their home field advantage. Well, for over 100 years Queen’s Bands has been devoted to supporting the football team, home and away.

Traditionally, that has meant playing music to get the crowd involved and to throw the other team off their game. However, if you take away the instruments, Bands can and will find another way to give the Gaels a home field advantage on the road.

Eighty vuvuzelas and a crushing blow to their playoff dreams later, I think Carleton ought to be heavily reflecting on their asinine demand that Queen’s Bands not bring their instruments to their stadium.

Well done Bands.

Bob McDiarmid Queen's Bands Colourguard, 2011-2013

8 • queensjournal.ca

Friday, October 31, 2014

ARTS

Michael Zell, associate professor of art history at Boston University.

PHOTOS BY ARWIN CHAN

RELIGION

Rembrandt and Judaism Lecture explores Dutch master’s connection to religion B y O livia L oncar -B artoini Arts Editor On Tuesday night, Queen’s took a step back into the mid-1600s world of iconic Dutch Baroque master Rembrandt Van Rijn.

The art history and religion department collaborated to put together a lecture further exploring the many dimensions of Rembrandt’s connection to Judaism through his work.

Beginning the evening in Grant Hall auditorium, art history professor Stephanie Dickey took the stage, alongside three other guest speakers from various universities.

Roughly 70 people attended the lecture, which consisted of old and young attendees as well as a mixture of Queen’s students and members of the wider Kingston community.

Dickey began by introducing the guest speakers she had arranged to attend and share their individual

expertise in the specific study of Rembrandt and religion.

The speaker list consisted of Larry Silver from the University of Pennsylvania, Michael Zell from Boston University and Shelly Perlove from the University of Michigan. All speakers are art history professors.

“What has captivated viewers for centuries is Rembrandt’s fascination with Jewish lore,” Dickey said. “His fascination with the Hebrew past is relevant in many of his prints and paintings.”

Perhaps the most standout of the speaker series was Silver, who focused his discussion mostly on the intentions behind Rembrandt’s interactions and use of his Jewish neighbours as models in his paintings.

In this lecture, Silver referenced many paintings, including “Head of Christ,” c. 1648-1650, “Portrait of Marten Looten”, c.1632 and “Old Man with a Gold Chain”, c.1631.

GUEST SPEAKER

Art in Denmark Dr. Sabine Wieber provides insight on art noveau textiles in Skaerbaek B y A licia H ai Contributor “Honour to women” were the words Sabine Wieber opened with in her talk focusing on art nouveau textiles in Skaerbaek, Denmark.

Held at the Agnes Etherington Art Centre (AEAC) on Wednesday, the talk was based around the development of Skaerbaek’s first weaving workshop and school.

Wieber drew on a particular history most of the audience was widely

unfamiliar with, and filled in the blank spaces of our knowledge with the colours of the rainbow.

As a lecturer in Art History at the University of Glasgow, much of Wieber’s work combines gender studies with specialization in German and Austrian visual and material cultures.

Active from 1896 to 1903, the Skaerbaek workshop and school was created due to both the “advancing industriousness in the home and the rapid deterioration

Silver questioned whether Rembrandt’s focus was to highlight and empathize with the Jewish community or whether he used them as a matter of convenience because they were the subject matter that surrounded him at the time.

He also raised the argument that the Judaism of the subject matter in Rembrandt’s paintings is assumed and not confirmed.

“We can’t logically say that the artist could derive directly from the same model or that model was Jewish — even if he looked Jewish,” Silver said. “Are the skullcaps and ‘Jewish features’ enough to confirm the Judaism of those depicted?”

Zell and Perlove’s discussions followed in the same vein of discussion as Silver’s, although they were less interesting, raising far fewer interesting contradictions and arguments.

Zell went into some detail about Rembrandt’s 1648 etching, “Jews in a Synagogue”, claiming the men of local handcrafting industries,” Wieber said. She also cited its creation in part to give women opportunities for local employment outside of the comfort of their home.

In a world of material cultures that gave attention to designers and artists such as William Morris, the Skaerbaek workshop showcased its female weavers as the new faces of what was a newfound 19th-century revival in tapestry weaving.

Every tapestry was unique to the weaver that created it, seen in the individualistic style and signature with which each woman weaved them. The Skaerbaek trademark on each tapestry also proved the workshop to be a highly regulated enterprise where no other burgeoning businesses could claim the workshop or designer’s ownership.

Wieber also points to a “cross

Larry Silver, a professor of art history at the University of Pennsylvania.

in the hats were actually refugees.

He also discussed the use of the Portuguese Synagogue, which Rembrandt frequented and used as a basis for the backdrop in many of his etchings.

After the lecture came to a conclusion, crowds migrated across the street to Agnes Etherington Art Centre (AEAC) where many of Rembrandt’s religious works — such as “Head of an

Old Man in a Cap,” c.1692 courtesy of the Bader collection — were on display for attendees to see up close and in person.

This combination of an auditory lecture and a visual gallery setting gave the viewer the ability to explore Rembrandt’s relationship with religion in his work on a more interactive level.

Heinrich Vogeler’s1898 tapestry The Promenade.

-cultural European enterprise of national identity”, citing Skaerbaek as having been a part of Germany at the time opportunity arose to claim a proud sense of national identity during the 1897 International Art Exhibition, and later on a grander scale at the 1900 Exposition Universelle in Paris.

This also brought back attention to the Scandinavian techniques in which weaving was originated.

These nostalgic notions of the past engaged with its present found a rediscovery of original folk art combined with a newfound design of simplicity.

Heinrich Vogeler’s 1898 tapestry entitled The Promenade is an encapsulation of the Scandinavian past tied with the German present. Wieber points to the simple geometric shapes

SUPPLIED

as a reflection of the German language, while pointing to the figures’ emotional bond with the sea as a symbol of the “mood and mysticism of Medieval legends”.

The Skaerbaek workshop and school was a vital part of the weaving and applied arts revitalization, a period of history appropriately titled the German design reform movement.

It allowed for women to thrive both in a career outside of the home and for the German national identity to recall a Scandinavian past.

Wieber was successful in giving the audience a slice of her deeper studies into German material culture studies as told from multiple points of view.

Arts

Friday, October 31, 2014

queensjournal.ca

•9

SGPS General Meeting

November 25th, 5:30 p.m.

Biosciences Complex 1103 Refreshments will be served at the meeting.

All SGPS Members have voting rights at the General Meeting. If you are not able to make it, you can assign a proxy vote. Contact the SGPS Speaker for more details (speaker@sgps.ca).

Please bring your validated student card.

Angelopoulos and Piens often collaborate in the same studio.

PHOTOS BY ALEX PICKERING

EXHIBITION REVIEW

Eccentric art exhibition Toronto-based artists showcase sculptures at Union Gallery

B y K ashmala O mar Arts Editor Abstract structural elements paired with a bizarre colour scheme make Three Snap Snare a thought-provoking exhibit.

Toronto-based artists Jaime Angelopoulos and Derek Piens collaborated on this collection of sculptures and paintings, currently being held at the Union Gallery.

The exhibition, along with Shelf Life by Jude Griebel, was chosen as the school year’s opening nonstudent artist show.

The collection, according to the Union Gallery website, “explores the physicality of bodily experience as well as immaterial experiences of sensation, emotions and behaviour through sculpture and drawing”.

Although the meaning behind the art isn’t apparent at first glance, it seems that each sculpture and painting was made carefully to complement the other and depict the senses of emotion that the artists aimed for. The bright colours of each piece, such as bright pink, light green and rich purple, were indicative of sensations of happiness and overall cheerfulness.

It was difficult to understand the exact implications of the sculptures and paintings, but the main purpose of abstract art is to let the viewer draw their own interpretation. This was easy enough to do with the sculptures — they were all original pieces with individual shapes, colours and size. None were similar.

Jocelyn Purdie, general director of the Union Gallery, explained the process of choosing the professional artwork to exhibit for this year’s show.

“These exhibitions were selected last year by a selection committee that’s made up of students involved with the board here, as well as professional artists from Queen’s and the community,” Purdie said. “We have a deadline for applications, and then a meeting to jury those applications.”

The gallery starts off the fall season with a professional artist show, Purdie added.

The application process to choose the exhibitions is extensive, with over 25 applicants for both the student and non-student galleries, the director added. The jury looks at the images and submission package, and the quality of each artists’ work is looked at during the

selection process.

The gallery strives to present a variety of art forms which include paintings, sculptures and more.

The director said the sculptures are an accurate portrayal of the artists’ goal to create an emotionally-positive vibe.

“The sculptural show is very playful, and people have really been enjoying it because it’s very accessible and its fun,” she said.

“These two artists work together in the same studio space so obviously their work plays off each other a little bit.

“The two shows that were put together for the gallery, Three Snap Snares and Shelf Life, play off each other and even though they’re very different kinds of work, they resonate with each other.”

The Three Snap Snare exhibition will run until Nov. 14 at the Union Gallery.

www.sgps.ca

10 •queensjournal.ca

Friday, October 31, 2014

Q&A

Two for three

To

see an accompanying video, go to queensjournal.ca/sports

SPORTS

Teammates vie for one last title shot B y S ean S utherland Sports Editor

three-peating is a pretty big deal, but I know from my standpoint, I’ve just been trying to take it one game at a time and not get too ahead of myself, because once you start thinking ‘what if, what if’ you start losing out on the true goals.

With no more than two games left in their time at Queen’s, several men’s rugby veterans are itching for one last championship.

A win in this year’s OUA final would give the Gaels three How much do you think the straight titles — the league’s first title experiences have helped three-peat in nearly two decades. develop you as players?

A first-place regular season finish has the Gaels primed to enjoy Worsley: When we got that first home-field advantage in one, it was definitely big to get off the playoffs. our chest and have the experience The players will be looking for of being in there. We’re all pretty revenge tomorrow when they host comfortable — there’s nothing that the McMaster Marauders in the really fazes us too badly. It’s kind of OUA semi-final. The Gaels fell second nature to just go and get the 18-13 in an away game against the job done.

Marauders on Sept. 28.

Five of the team’s veteran Dent: They’ve definitely solidified players — James Dent, Tommy the work we’ve done. A lot of us Kirkham, Jacob Rumball, Brendan started with the club system or on Sloan and David Worsley — sat the two team, so to go up through PHOTO BY ALEX PICKERING down with the Journal to discuss the club teams, to spend a ton of Men’s rugby veterans (from left to right) Jacob Rumball, James Dent, Brendan Sloan, David their journey at Queen’s and the time in the gym, winning a couple Worsley and Tommy Kirkham are gunning for a third straight OUA championship. desire to end it with a win. of championships made that really worthwhile for us. and to do it with the guys you’ve at Queen’s? one of the worst feelings any of us You’re on the verge of a done in with before is a great thing have ever had in our lives. I think three-peat. How much has that Sloan: All of us have been there. to look forward to.

Kirkham: Being older, there’s we were bitter about for a long been weighing on your mind We’ve all won a championship always pressure on you from time, because we worked so hard this season? and we all know how good that As older players, is there a little alumni, especially alumni who that season to get to that position feels, so that’s the biggest motivator. extra motivation to win another graduated with a championship and then we fell.

Kirkham: Being on the verge of That’s the best feeling in the world, title near the end of your time under their belt. You think that you should continue that winning You guys had a big win over tradition. But then again, being Waterloo last weekend that gave FOOTBALL older is really a benefit for us. you home-field advantage. What’s We know how to deal with the it like having that during the pressure and just take it in stride. playoffs?

Search for silver lining

Rumball: It isn’t really justifiable for any of us to come back to university for another year. This is going to be the only time where we’ll be at a socially acceptable age McMaster and Guelph,” to win another championship in Sheahan said. this league.

“We played valiantly against McMaster in Hamilton and had Some of you were on the a chance to win. We gave them all team that fell to Western in the they could handle but in the end, 2011 OUA final. How much it all boiled down to a couple of motivation came from that loss? inexperienced mistakes and very bad breaks.”

Rumball: That sucked. That was Three straight wins to end the season left the Gaels at 3-5, including a 57-10 Homecoming WOMEN’S RUGBY blowout of the York Lions and a 37-15 road victory against the Carleton Ravens to cap the year.

“Except for the game against Guelph, we were competitive in

Young players see game time as Gaels left out of OUA playoffs B y J aehoon K im Staff Writer

OUA’s top three teams in quick succession. Losses to Western and the McMaster Marauders While they weren’t expected to bookended the largest defeat in the return to the Yates Cup this year, program’s 121-year history — a missing the post-season was a 66-0 smothering at the hands of definite disappointment for the the Guelph Gryphons. football team.

The Gaels were eliminated from The Gaels entered 2014 in playoff contention during their bye rebuilding mode after dropping week, with three games left in the 2013 Yates Cup to the the season.

Western Mustangs, then losing “Any good football program, 14 players to graduation. Even so, as the weeks go by, you’re it was surprising to see the team supposed to get better. We had on the outside looking in come a very difficult schedule with a playoff time. long road trip to Windsor Queen’s wrapped up its season and back-to-back road this past weekend on a three-game Homecoming games against See Forfeit on page 12 winning streak, but still fell short of the OUA playoffs with a 3-5 record.

The Gaels opened the regaled season with middling results, rallying late for a comeback win over the Windsor Lancers and conceding 21 straight fourth-quarter points in a loss to the Ottawa Gee-Gees.

The wheels fell off on Sept.

10, when it was announced that the Gaels would forfeit their win against Windsor after dressing an academically ineligible player — defensive back Brendan Morgan.

“The kids walked off the field four times with a victory, so really, they won four games. The Ottawa game was one that went back and forth and could have gone either way,” said Gaels head coach Pat Sheahan.

Queen’s fell to 0-5 by the end Billy McPhee and his fellow fifth-year players excelled PHOTO BY SAM KOEBRICH of September after facing the statistically in what was an otherwise disappointing season.

Dent: It’s absolutely huge for us.

There’s nothing like playing in front of the fans we have here.

When we travel anywhere else in Ontario, the crowds aren’t that big, but when we’re here, we have hundreds of people come out and it gets us pretty fired up for the game.

Sloan: You also know that it means a lot to a lot of the guys in the crowd, because we have such a See One on page 12

No CIS spot Women miss out on OUA hardware B y E rin S tephenson Staff Writer

Co-captain Loren Baldwin said the potential of a repeat put added pressure on the Gaels.

It was a season of both triumphs “I think that there was a lot of and disappointments for women’s pressure to be the best,” Baldwin rugby in 2014. said. “Whenever we were under With the specter of last season’s real pressure, we crumbled.”

OUA championship looming over The Gaels responded well them, the Gaels faced a different initially, easily winning their next hurdle than previous seasons. three games against the Toronto Defending a title is one of the Varsity Blues, the Trent Excalibur hardest tasks for any team, and and the Western Mustangs. The for the Gaels, it proved their most Gaels finished the regular season difficult challenge. with a 4-1 record, behind McMaster The team kicked their season for the division title. off on the right foot with a 61-12 In their first playoff game against victory over the York Lions, but a York, the team put forward both a missed convert on a late-game try strong offence and defence. cost them their next match, against The 41-21 victory set up a the McMaster Marauders. The semi-final showdown with 21-20 loss pushed the Gaels into the perennially strong Guelph second place in the OUA Russell Gryphons. That game proved (East) Division.

See Champions on page 13

Sports

Friday, October 31, 2014

queensjournal.ca

• 11

WOMEN’S SOCCER

Season ends early Quarterfinal loss a low-point in recent memory B y B rent M oore Assistant Sports Editor After an inconsistent regular season, a young women’s soccer squad fell short of their expected outcome.

A 1-0 loss to the top-ranked Ottawa Gee-Gees in last weekend’s OUA quarterfinal brought the Gaels’ season to an abrupt end.

The loss kept Queen’s out of the OUA Final Four for the first time in six years.

In the end, regular-season struggles forced the Gaels into facing the OUA East’s best team earlier than they’d hoped.

“It was an up and down year with some inconsistent results. That’s what probably got us playing Ottawa this early in the playoffs,” said Gaels head coach Dave McDowell. “But that’s life and with a younger team, that’s sometimes what you get.”

MEN’S SOCCER

Queen’s women won national championships in 2010 and 2011. They made it to the CIS final once again in 2012, but fell in penalty kicks to the Trinity Western Spartans.

Most of the players from the 2012 side have since graduated, but this year’s result still feels like a letdown, McDowell said.

“The expectations are always very high,” he said.

During the regular season, the Gaels finished fourth in the OUA East at 9-4-3.

Their 39 goals scored ranked third in the league, while the 15 they conceded tied them for third-lowest.

Fifth-year striker Jackie Tessier and fourth-year midfielder Jessie de Boer led the offensive effort, each accumulating eight goals in the regular season. Second-year striker Tara Bartram scored six of her own.

JOURNAL FILE PHOTO

Striker Jackie Tessier became the program’s all-time leading scorer when she tallied her 54th career goal on Sept. 28. She wrapped her time at Queen’s with 55.

Tessier finished her Queen’s career as the will be without Tessier and Jung, and will program's all-time leading scorer. She set the likely lose de Boer and fourth-year striker record with two tallies in a 4-0 win over the Breanna Burton as well.

Toronto Varsity Blues on Sept. 21, winding “We’ll miss them, but as always with up with 55 goals over five seasons. university soccer you’re always turning For her efforts, de Boer was named things over and trying to bring in new a first-team OUA All-Star, as was players to help you get better each year,” fifth-year defender Melissa Jung. Third-year McDowell said. forward Brittany Almeida made the second Midfielder Cara Ott and defender Alex All-Star team.

Blanchard are both in their fourth years and Third-year goalkeeper Madison Tyrell had could potentially return for a final season, Queen’s,” he said. “All in all, it was exciting another strong year for the Gaels, starting McDowell said. and I’m sad to say that it went by really fast.” all 16 of the team’s games and allowing The Gaels’ younger players saw lots of Hoefler said the team felt as though they 12 goals. time this season, he added, which could be were capable of capturing a spot in the OUA Queen’s jockeyed with the OUA East’s beneficial heading forward.

Final Four, a goal they fell one win short of. other top teams throughout the season, but “They did a fantastic job this year and a “I’ll have to be honest — we really did a flimsy 3-2 loss to the underdog Ryerson part of being part of the program is getting expect to make the Final Four and potentially Rams on Sept. 20 and a 0-0 draw with the better each year,” McDowell said. “Certainly win the title,” he said. ninth-place Trent Excalibur on Sept. 13 there’s some terrific young players here, and Hoefler added that they did reach their demonstrated the Gaels’ inconsistent play. hopefully the future is bright.” goal to be healthy in time for the post-season.

Looking ahead to next season, the team “[Our goal] was to be healthy come playoff time, in terms of our depth and our roster size,” he said. “Certainly, as playoffs go on, it’s usually the teams that do have many options with their roster size that tend to have the most success.”

Part of the reason for the team’s regular season success was strong defensive play.

Queen’s eight conceded goals were the lowest in the OUA East, and defender Kristian Zanette made the division’s first All-Star team.

Four of Zanette’s teammates were second-team All-Stars: captain Chris Michael, goalkeeper Max Materne, midfielder Henry Bloemen and rookie striker Jacob Schroeter, whose six goals led the Gaels this year.

Michael and Materne are set to graduate and won’t return, along with fifth-year striker Eric Koskins. Hoefler said the trio played a key leadership role this season.

“They were all good leaders. It was nice to The Master of Management of Innovation is an accelerated 12 month have Max in the back line as the keeper, then (8 month course based & a 4 month experiential term in industry) Chris in the middle of the park as a leader,” he said. “And then Eric up top as a leader. We professional management degree. Leading researchers in direct contact really had three leaders that helped balance with students through a very small & selective class provides the team, so that will be missed.” a focused learning experience in economic analysis, Despite the loss of their veteran presence, technology management, strategy, finance, accounting, the coach said he’s confident the younger players will pick up where their departed marketing & policy. teammates left off.

“Going forward, I can see that many of the other players who are in their third or MMI IS AN EXCELLENT COMPLEMENT TO YOUR fourth year have absorbed those qualities,” SCIENCE OR ENGINEERING DEGREE. Hoefler said. “Definitely, we thank the three graduating players there for helping with that.”

With the chance to get back to the Final Four next year — after two consecutive quarterfinal exits — Hoefler said the team wants to continue on some of the things that made them successful this year.

“Just having good habits on and off field and ensuring those good habits continue on,” he said. “Really just the passion and belief in our ability to continue on. It’s a lot of the psychological side — the mental aspect of the game.”

Quarterfinal exit

Gaels miss out on season dream by one game B y S ean S utherland Sports Editor While their goal was to make the OUA Final Four, men’s soccer still put forth a top-notch effort.

An OUA quarterfinal loss to the Toronto Varsity Blues kept the Gaels from achieving the level of success they were looking for this year. Still, considering they lost their starting goalkeeper and top two defenders from the 2013 roster, it was an impressive performance.

In his first season with Queen’s, head coach Christian Hoefler led the squad to a 9-2-5 record. Hoefler said the season was an enjoyable experience.

“Obviously it was my first time being in the OUA, as well as being in Kingston with

www.utm.utoronto.ca/mmi

JOURNAL FILE PHOTO

Rookie Jacob Schroeter led the men’s soccer team with six goals this year, earning an OUA Second-Team All-Star nod.

Sports

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Friday, October 31, 2014

MEN’S RUGBY

Chance for payback Two-time OUA champions well-rested after quarterfinal bye B y B rent M oore Assistant Sports Editor

be very similar as it has been all season,” Gilks said. “We’ve gone through many scenarios getting the The men’s rugby team has the players ready for the game.” opportunity to avenge their only Aside from their meeting with loss of the regular season tomorrow. the Marauders, the Gaels were On Sept. 28 in Hamilton, perfect during the regular season, the Gaels had their 19-game finishing atop the OUA at 7-1. winning streak snapped with an While several starters missed the 18-13 loss at the hands of the McMaster game, Gilks isn’t using it McMaster Marauders. as an excuse for the loss.

Now, they’re preparing to “As coaches, we made some face the Marauders again — this choices that may not have been time on home turf, in the OUA the best and we’ve learned from semi-final. those,” he said, “I think now we’re Head coach Gary Gilks said definitely prepared player-wise. his players are excited for the We’re definitely going to be ready chance to get a measure of payback for Mac.” on McMaster.

In 2013, Queen’s went 7-0 in “We’re looking forward to the regular season before beating hosting them,” Gilks said. “This is McMaster 38-3 in the semi-finals. the team the guys wanted to play.” They captured the OUA title The coach added that the Gaels with a 40-10 victory over the are treating the clash no different Western Mustangs. from any other match.

Players on both sides of the ball “I think our preparation will are drawing confidence from the

regular season results, Gilks said.

“They [McMaster] have the confidence that they’ve beaten us already,” Gilks said. “They’re going to bring that to the game.”

On the other side, the Gaels are using the loss to fuel passionate play.

“We’re looking to get an early start on them and try to take momentum away from them,” Gilks said.

He added that he isn’t looking for any individual efforts during the upcoming match. Instead, he hopes his team can limit mistakes. The Gaels face the McMaster Marauders tomorrow in a PHOTO BY ARWIN CHAN “I think discipline is going to rematch of their only loss in 2014. be a huge factor for both teams,” he said.

Queen’s will be well-rested for the match, having earned a bye through the OUA quarterfinals after clinching first place in the league.

Continued from page 10 about three years on the same team The Marauders played at and you get to know how players See Title on page 13 huge club system — we have close respond in different situations, to 200 guys this year — so you who’s strong in certain areas. That know that people aren’t just there really lets the team play to an to watch a rugby game. They want optimal level if everyone’s doing to win it as bad as you want to their roles well and everyone else win it. knows what they can do.

One final try

You had a big win over Western during Homecoming weekend.

What did that win mean to you as individuals and to the team as a whole?

JOURNAL FILE PHOTO

Forfeit proved costly Continued from page 10

Probably the biggest positive playing time in relief of McPhee gained from this challenging this season. Sheahan said he’s season was the emergence of the optimistic that the future looks younger players in the lineup. bright for his young team.

Rookie linebacker Michael Moore “This season will pay big forced two fumbles and led the dividends down the road,” he said.

Gaels with 48.5 tackles, while “It’s one of the positives of having second-year running back Jonah to insert guys into your lineup Pataki and receiver Peter Hannon before they’re battle tested — they emerged as solid contributors learn on the job. They’re highly on offence. motivated now to have a great Even rookie quarterback Nate off-season and prepare for Hobbs managed to get some next year.”

all the other games, and had the Windsor debacle not happened, we would have been a playoff team this year,” Sheahan said. “That would have been a good achievement for this team, with the amount of youth on it.”

Despite missing the playoffs, there were plenty of bright spots during Queen’s campaign, including the performance of the Gaels’ fifth-year players.

Quarterback Billy McPhee threw for 2,240 yards, and an OUA-best 17 passing touchdowns, while limiting his interceptions to six. Alex Carroll was the province’s leading receiver, finishing with 875 yards and eight touchdown grabs.

Fifth-year defensive tackle Derek Wiggan finished with 5.5 sacks, 12 tackles for losses and four fumble recoveries, including one for a touchdown against the Carleton Ravens.

“This season was probably the most challenging year for this group of seniors. We had a small group of very dedicated seniors and they all had great seasons personally. I’m very proud of them,” Sheahan said.

“They did a great job of rallying the boys, understood what their role JOURNAL FILE PHOTO was on the team, and they should A forfeited win over the Windsor Lancers left the Gaels’ be recognized for that.” final record at 3-5 and contributed to them missing the post-season.

Rumball: It’s always a big thing beating Western. We try to not get a rivalry worked up in our heads and we always say ‘it’s not Western, it’s just any other team’, but that particular group of guys are a team we love to beat because they like to play on the other side of the line in terms of fairness. Beating them is always much more satisfying than beating anyone else during the regular season.

As a group that’s been together for a few years, how have the bonds between you as teammates grown and developed?

Worsley: I’d say that’s probably the best part about playing rugby at Queen’s. It’s a pretty unbreakable friendship. It sounds kind of corny, but it is and it’s awesome.

Looking forward to the playoffs, what do you think the keys to winning a title will be for the team this year?

Worsley: We’ve got the players, we’ve got the coaches, we’ve got our systems. We know what we have to do — we just have to go and execute it on game day. We go out Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday in the week and train. Then, when it’s game time, just switch on, play the game and execute.

Rumball: Just chilling out, because at the end of the day, it is a game and we all recognize that. I think even in the biggest games, sometimes we step back and laugh a bit at the things that are going on. It’s about being there — it’s not so much about winning. I think that takes a lot of the pressure off when you want to take home that championship in two weeks.

What do you think the legacy of your teams will be?

Sloan: Five years ago as rookies, Kirkham: I think we’ve left a great we billeted with veterans during legacy here. Obviously, a winning training camp. Dave and James tradition already. We’ve steadily were the first two guys I met. Five progressed in our community years later, here we are living initiatives and the club has together. Everything we do in the progressively gotten bigger and community, as well, it just pounds bigger and it’s just more inclusive. away at building a stronger team There’s definitely some young guys and building that community. that like the system as it is right now, and I think it will last for quite a How has that familiarity bit longer. helped the team’s play over the last few years?

Sloan: The way the club has grown over the years, so that really good Kirkham: Being close really helps us players from across the country play because when we’re huddled want to come to Queen’s and up there, looking around at the learn from some from of the best faces in that circle, you’re not just coaches in the country. I think playing for Queen’s. You’re playing we’ve left a great legacy. There’s for these guys you’ve developed lots of good things in the future of with for a long time. They’re your Queen’s rugby. family, they’re your brothers and you want to play hard for these This interview has been condensed more than anything else. You’ll get for content and clarity. hurt for these guys, you’ll put your body on the line.

Dent: We’ve all been together for

Sports

Friday, October 31, 2014

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• 13

Champions fall short

Title berth on the line

There were some positives on the year, especially the play of centre back Lauren troublesome for the Gaels, ending in a McEwen, the OUA’s point leader.

29-21 loss.

She dominated the league this With an opportunity to claim OUA season, scoring 103 total points bronze and a spot at the CIS tournament, and ending the year as Queen’s Queen’s then fell 22-19 to Western the all-time leading point scorer. following week.

McEwen was named a CIS All-Canadian In what seemed like a constant this year, alongside teammate Gillian Pegg. back-and-forth between the two teams, The pair were joined on the provincial Queen’s was unable to put the tying points All-Star team by back Miranda Seifert and on the board, running out of time after forward Melody Clarke. mounting a second-half comeback attempt.

There’s a possibility that Clarke, McEwen Co-captain Danielle Underwood said the and Pegg won’t return next year, in addition Gaels couldn’t connect the two phases of the to several other important veterans. With game well enough to get the desired result. the Gaels slated to host the 2015 CIS “All season, we would have great offensive championship, though, it seems games and great defensive games, but they likely many of them will opt just never came together at once for us to to return. reach our true potential,” Underwood said.

Underwood said the chance to play in the She said the team will be training over the tournament again is an enticing reason to stay. off-season to improve on what kept “It's definitely tempting to come back them from a repeat performance. for CIS next year, especially with all the “We'll have a bit of recovery time for all emotions we're feeling right now,” she said. the injured bodies and then we will begin “All of the fourth-year players have so off-season training,” Underwood said. “It's much love for this team. It's hard to imagine likely that we'll work on improving our not playing next year, so I guess we'll just physicality and smoothing out our transitions have to see what happens.” between attack and defence.”

Continued from page 12

Continued from page 10

Queen’s failed to repeat as provincial champions, falling to the Guelph Gryphons in the OUA semi-final.

JOURNAL FILE PHOTO

E-GRÉ COMPETITION WINNER’S NATIONAL TOUR Friday, November 7, 2014 at 8:00pm Sarah Kirsch, soprano Madeline Hildebrand, piano Pre-Concert Chat at 7:15 on the stage Adults | Seniors | Students $20 $15 $10

save for forward Ryan Aimers, who was Western on Wednesday, edging out the hurt in last Saturday’s 69-5 win over the Mustangs 21-20. That game came after the Waterloo Warriors. two teams met last Saturday, as well.

Aimers will sit and prepare himself “Three substantial games in seven days is for a possible return in the OUA always tough,” Gilks said. championship game.

“They’re going to rest [Thursday], then As for this Saturday, Gilks said he’s looking they travel [Friday], so they don’t really for a strong fan turnout have a lot of prep time for us. That’s “[The crowd is] always the 16th person always difficult when you’re traveling for a on the field,” he said. “It really helps to big game.” motivate our guys.”

The Gaels have used their time off to rest and focus. Most of the lineup is healthy,

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Friday, October 31, 2014

LIFESTYLE AWARENESS CAMPAIGN

Breaking the sexual assault silence Photo campaign during awareness week shines spotlight on sexual assault survivors B y T orri O dell Contributor Last week wasn’t any ordinary week — it was Sexual Assault Awareness Week.

From Oct. 20-26, Sexy Queen’s U held a number of events on campus to raise awareness of sexual assault, including a resource fair in the Queen’s Centre, a mock sexual assault trial and one particularly important event: Project Unbreakable.

Project Unbreakable is a photography campaign started in 2011 by Grace Brown, a 19-year-old from Massachusetts.

The goal of the project is to give a voice to sexual assault survivors.

They’re given the chance to open up about their assault by being photographed with a sign explaining their assault, quoting their abuser or quoting someone else in response to their assault.

BODY IMAGE

Sexy Queen’s U, an made it extremely difficult for me anti-violence group that creates to accept my situation as assault. I awareness about campus sexual still find me telling myself that it violence, spearheaded their own wasn’t assault — that it was just Project Unbreakable by asking “what boyfriends do.” Thankfully, sexual assault survivors on campus I have a fantastic support group or in Kingston to have their photo of friends that have helped me taken. The photographs were then find solace and speak out for other showcased in the Upper Ceilidh of people in abusive relationships. the JDUC. The situation started off Being a member of Sexy harmless. He was a very affectionate Queen’s U allowed me to person and I wasn’t. He constantly accept my experiences of sexual wanted to touch and cuddle me, assault — Project Unbreakable was while I preferred a comfortable where I first decided to speak up. distance between us, especially in My role as a committee member the company of others. for Sexy Queen’s U made me It began with a “compromise”. I realize how prevalent sexual assault hid my dislike for PDA and would SUPPLIED BY MONTANA HAUSER is in our society. cuddle him in front of people.

Project Unbreakable gives survivors a voice.

I wanted to share my story in It got worse. If we were cuddling hopes that other people who’ve and I tried to get up for a glass into the kitchen and I learned to him. It took a long time for me been in or are currently in my of water or to use the bathroom, not stay in one place for too long. to recognize that his behaviour situation will be able to recognize he would hold me tighter and If I stood still, he would take it as was unacceptable and I can almost that this isn’t an acceptable way to for longer. an opportunity to either rub me guarantee he still doesn’t know what be treated.

It got to the point where I through my pants, which, besides he did was wrong, even though I The social norms in our society would fight against his arms to get being unwelcome, is extremely showed genuine discomfort and out and he wouldn’t let go until uncomfortable and very painful. anger, and repeatedly told him he decided when. He had a solid I would try to turn away from to stop.

90 pounds on me which made him or get out of his way but like I There’s a stigma surrounding struggling ineffective. said, he was a big guy, and it wasn’t sexual assault that if it’s from He also didn’t seem to notice particularly easy for me to get out significant other, it isn’t real. Sex is or care for my obvious distress. of his reach. expected from you and is what you But it was all okay. It was just a Depending on the pants I wore, signed up for. joke, it’s just what boyfriends do, he would take the liberty to put This is anything but true. right? It wasn’t that he purposely his hand down them and do as he If you feel you’re in a similar tried to put me into a vulnerable pleased, even after I would tell him situation or feel uncomfortable position, he just really liked to stop and would try to push his with anything in your relationship, me. Right? hands away. talk to your partner, talk to your This boyfriend didn’t initiate Getting angry never worked as friends and ask for help. my problems with being it just ended with him getting pouty Resources are always available, touched — I have never been a and asking, “Why are you so mad? such as Health, Counselling, and hugger or a cuddler — but what I just love touching you.”

Disability Services and the Sexual started as a general dislike of It was my fault, right? I was Assault Centre Kingston. physical contact, he turned into the one that had problems with Remember that silence hides a fear. affection, not him. violence — you should never be Sometimes he would follow me Eventually, I broke up with afraid to stand up for yourself.

AuthenticallyU

New club combats body negativity

through positive messaging

For some students, body image presents a real problem.

B y K ate M eagher Assistant Lifestyle Editor Disordered eating and other concerns associated with a negative body image have become more widely understood as serious and pervasive, but it can still be hard to find support from sympathetic voices on campus.

Dani Keren, a fourth-year life sciences student, is seeking to change that reality. She’s the founder of AuthenticallyU, a group on campus that seeks to improve eating disorder awareness and body image positivity on campus.

Keren sat down to talk about the club (which has since changed its name from Authentically Me) and the importance of body positive conversation on campus at Queen’s.

Can you explain the club’s name?

It’s called Authentically[U] because

PHOTO BY ARWIN CHAN

we basically decided that the best way to encourage body positivity and a general celebration of self-esteem on campus would be to centre the club around celebrating our uniqueness. So all of the club’s campaigns and events and workshops and whatnot are going to be focused around celebrating who we are and not shying away from that.

What will those events be like?

We’re going to be doing our first campaign in November and it’s just going to be a little burst of body positivity and general encouragement. It’s going to be largely social media focused.

We’ve created this hashtag called … #thisisme and we’re going to be doing a couple of things. One thing is we’re going to be posting post-it notes all over the school, including in the change rooms, where the scales are in

the ARC and in the washrooms and they’re going to say things, just sort of encouraging body image type quotes … and taking away focusing on numbers and weights and shapes and sizes and celebrating who we are as people.

Why does Queen’s need a club like AuthenticallyU? I just think that the culture that we live in today is very focused on having this sort of “perfect” body image and that looks different for males and females. Typically for males it’s chiselled and buff and for females it’s slim as can be and at Queen’s I find that that’s just pervasive and it doesn’t even go noticed, but it’s just the general conversation and Authentically[U] is really going to change the tone of the conversation.

Why are you passionate about body image positivity and eating disorder awareness?

I have personal experience with an eating disorder, so that is what has driven this club for me, but also that was bolstered by the fact that I know a lot of people that have either struggled with disordered eating or

just body image issues and I realize that it’s not just myself that has struggled with this. I think it affects everyone because everyone has a body image, and therefore we’re all susceptible to that being skewed by the environment that we’re in.

So I just became passionate about trying to kind of save other people from having that sort of experience of becoming really vulnerable with regards to their body image.

These are often seen as “women’s issues”. How do you plan to engage men with the cause?

I think that we all know that men struggle with this, I would say equally as women, it’s just not spoken about as much and it looks different. For example, the post-it notes that we’re creating with the slogans and messages that we’re trying to advertise, we’ve been trying to actually get input from males about what kind of slogans and phrases would resonate with them.

We ended up approaching all the men on the boys hockey team and asking them to write a compliment about themselves so we could get some sense of the way that guys see these kind of body

image issues.

How can people who don’t have personal experience with eating disorders or body image negativity engage with the club?

I think that they’re people who are generally more comfortable in their own skin and I think that that’s rare and for those people, you’re extremely lucky. But I think that those who do have positive body image can benefit from the club and engage with it by just celebrating that and making … them aware and conscious of the fact that there are a lot of people who aren’t.

They can engage in the conversation in a really healthy way and show people who might not have that same confidence with regards to their body image that it does exist and that our bodies really should be celebrated.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

AuthenticallyU’s first awareness week kicks off next week from Nov. 5-7.

Drop by the ARC and Mac-Corry to check out their booth for more information.

Friday, October 31, 2014

LIFESTYLE

COLUMNS — QJ POLITICS

A mandatory vote Why obligatory voting is better for youth B y J ustin M athews Staff Writer This week’s performance in the Kingston municipal election was, in a word, abysmal.

This trend of low voter turnout is hardly related to whom we elect to City Hall.

Canada’s voter turnout federally went from a healthy 75 per cent in the 1960s to an underwhelming 60 per cent at the last federal election — and the decline, by all indicators, will continue to grow.

What’s more troubling, however, is the youth voter turnout. Of any age group in Canada, youth hold the lowest rate in casting the ballot, at just 38 per cent in the last federal election.

As the National Post’s Andrew Coyne noted in a piece from May, majority governments today are formed with just one in five adults citizens who voted.

This statistic is about the same as elected governments a century ago, when universal suffrage didn’t extend to women.

If Canadians are questioning democratic legitimacy as a result of poor voter turnout, for Canadian youth, we’re almost certainly in crisis.

We’ve spent a considerable amount of time theorizing why turnout is poor, particularly among youth: we’re turned off, we’re tuned out and we’re explicitly ignored.

Very little, though, has been offered in the way of tangibly ameliorating how to get us to the voting booth.

The instinctive response is rather simple: mandatory voting. And yet, the idea is not without its charges.

The suggestion that citizens can’t be compelled to act by the state under threat of penalty is plainly absurd. Most cited in this

instance is paying taxes and serving jury duty.

Under the banner of liberal democracy, it should be reasonable to assume that citizens are compelled to pay tax and serve duty because they’re necessary for the state’s survival. But anything outside of what’s necessary is un-liberal.

Even still, there are a variety of actions the state compels us to do, be it wearing helmets and seatbelts, requiring businesses to be wheelchair accessible or requiring non-discriminatory policies on the services we provide.

For many, myself included, voting is a matter of duty, and framed as such, there’s good reason for it to be compulsory. Much like paying taxes, casting your vote is contributing to the collective decision-making process in providing for your fellow citizen’s needs.

Moreover, mandatory voting isn’t nearly as inconvenient as many of the other inconveniences you face as a Canadian.

Waiting 20 minutes to have your say at the table every four to five years hardly seems palpable in consideration of the hours on end you spend waiting for healthcare, driving tests and health card or passport renewals.

It’s also worth noting that mandatory voting would be implemented with several considerations. As a citizen, you would of course, retain your right to decline the ballot — none of the above option — or spoil the ballot in protest.

Additionally, implementation would require necessary exemptions, and reasonable incentives (small fine penalties or tax credits).

But to those who are disinclined to view voting as a duty, there are also instrumental reasons for favouring mandatory voting.

Political optimists such as the Toronto Star’s Susan Delacourt liken mandatory voting as a means to become more informed citizens.

While some observations from the more than 30 countries across the globe that partake in some form of compulsory voting are promising — especially cases like Australia with 72 per cent public satisfaction — they don’t impute to compulsory voting.

Instead, I want to suggest a different route that pays attention to youth in particular.

With youth turnout so low, and with age being the best predictor, youth are often explicitly, and as a matter of electoral strategy, excluded by politicians and their parties — as I’ve written about previously in this column.

ACROSS 1 Rude person 6 Bloodhound’s clue 11 His work was done by Friday 12 Medics, often 14 Boston newspaper 15 Brave 16 Listener 17 Lounges 19 Figure head? (Abbr.)

20 H, H, H 22 Born 23 Geezer 24 Detox site 26 Plateaus 28 Chocolate pooch 30 Apiece 31 Booze 35 Teeny bits 39 Crazy one 40 Museum funding org.

42 Very dry 43 Big Ten sch.

44 Go and get 46 Rhyming tribute 47 Like some remedies 49 Loner 51 Melodious 52 Bursts forth 53 “Ivanhoe” author 54 Titled ladies

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• 15

To this end, mandatory voting is of particular interest to youth insofar as it doesn’t simply compel youth to vote, but also compels politicians to speak directly to youth, our issues and our values. Mandatory voting means we can punish politicians at the ballot box for ignoring us.

Politicians will pay attention to us because they have to. More profoundly, this also extends to those groups and communities that are similarly vulnerable, underprivileged, less educated or in some way ostracized by electoral politics.

Unintuitive as it may be, youth ought to be the biggest champions of the mandatory vote, because quite frankly, we would have the most to gain.

DOWN 1 Make 2 “Yippee!”

3 “Born in the —“ 4 Frank holder 5 Enticed 6 Drag (Var.) 7 Poolroom supply 8 Mess up 9 Erstwhile liberal 10 Camera stand 11 2-Down, e.g.

13 Sings like Ella 18 Romanian money 21 Beauty parlor 23 Chocolate substitute 25 “Phooey!”

27 Mainlander’s memento 29 Ossicle 31 Bali “hi” 32 Rather’s successor 34 Court call 36 —l’oeil (optical illusion) 37 Goes over the books 38 Undoes a dele 41 Longed 44 Wife of Zeus 48 Halloween shout 50 Piratic potation

LIFESTYLE

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Friday, October 31, 2014

POSTSCRIPT

Believing is seeing Supernatural activity rumours swirl around Queen’s, especially at the Waldron Tower residence B y J ake R amer Contributor Do you believe in ghosts?

Today is Halloween — the annual peak of everything ghostly and paranormal is in full swing.

I suppose I see myself as someone who wants to believe in the supernatural.

It’s certainly fun to suspend my doubts and believe the classic stories of spirits, especially around Halloween.

That said, the only paranormal experience I’ve had occurred when I was a young child.

I was sleeping in an old house which always gave me the chills, when I was suddenly awoken in the middle of the night to the door opening and a fog rolling into the room.

I’m quite certain it can be explained by an overactive childhood imagination and delirium from the flu I woke up with the next morning.

Regardless, it’s significantly more exciting to believe it was something much less explainable than a fever.

It doesn’t take too much wandering around Kingston to find buildings that could easily pass as a setting for a horror film.

Whether exploring campus, strolling down Princess St. or anywhere in between, you’re bound to see historic buildings filled with eerie stories.

It’s no wonder the Haunted Walk of Kingston is so popular around this time of year.

It was a chilly night with a slight breeze when I headed to take part in the walk — perfect conditions for a ghost tour.

The sold-out crowd was buzzing with anticipation as we gathered in Market Square, preparing

for departure.

We strolled through the downtown streets, listening to stories of areas formerly used for hangings and burial grounds.

The creepy stories ranged from vengeful prisoners sentenced to death to apparitions of small children.

Everyone was hooked. The crowd eagerly followed our cloaked guide to different landmarks as we learned about their importance in Kingston’s illustrious and often eerie history.

Another student on the tour, Laura Morales, is a believer in ghosts.

“Having not had an actual encounter with a ghost myself, I know of several people who have,” Morales, Sci ’16, said.

Although Morales enjoyed herself on the Haunted Walk, she was hoping it would be a little spookier.

“My only problem with it was that it wasn’t as scary as it is advertised to be,” Morales said.

“I did get to learn a lot about Kingston’s past which is definitely interesting. I never knew there were so many buildings around campus and downtown that were haunted.”

We even learned of an undisclosed, haunted house in the University District, which certainly piqued my interest. The former residents of the house reported numerous strange happenings that suggested supernatural activity.

For example, blood-like stains would reappear on the carpet, even after being thoroughly cleaned.

There was even an incident where the resident of the house felt as though she was struck, resulting in a noticeable mark, despite being alone in the room.

It was unnerving hearing stories

The ghost of Nurse Betty is believed to haunt Waldron Tower after she committed suicide.

of a haunted house that could very well be occupied by classmates or even me. I’m quite optimistic that my home is ghost-free, though.

Waldron Tower, otherwise known as Wally, was built in 1968 for the nursing students of Kingston General Hospital but has been owned by Queen’s since 1988.

A relatively young building

by Queen’s standards, Wally is allegedly home to Queen’s most famous ghost — Nurse Betty a former resident who jumped to her death from the top of the spiral staircase on the 11th floor.

Waldron Tower resident Maria Chaplick has heard a few odd stories of occurrences taking place in the residence.

“A don had a motion-activated candy dispenser that she turned off but in the middle of the night it turned on and candy came out,”

PHOTOS BY ARWIN CHAN

said Chaplick, ConEd ’15. strange occurences.

“Also, someone had their TV off, “I’m not a big believer in ghosts. went to the bathroom, then when I think it’s probably more due to she came back it was on.” some nervous first-years living on These supernatural rumours of their own for the first time, being the ghosts have certainly found a little sleep deprived and stressed,” their way into residence lore. The she said. strange happenings aren’t limited Queen’s sociology professor to a small group of students, either. Vincent Sacco, who specializes in Many residents have either deviance and criminology, said experienced or heard stories of it’s important to collect empirical supernatural phenomena. evidence before forming a theory.

Marnie Cornett, ArtSci ’17, As a result of his value of said other students on her floor in empirical belief, Sacco is a skeptic Wally last year experienced strange on the paranormal. occurrences throughout the year.

“There is no sound evidence “One of my housemates talked to indicate that any part of us about how she had her printer turn survives physical death. Of course, on in the middle of the night. She lots of people don’t agree with would have things move around this position and that’s the nature her room at night, like cups and of belief,” Sacco told the Journal pop cans,” Cornett said. via email.

Despite the experiences of her Sacco said debates on the topic floormates, Cornett said she has are often being heavily influenced her own theories to explain these by personal biases. Stories from friends and family, or even pop culture, can heavily affect one’s belief on the topic.

“Arguments in support of the existence of ghosts are almost always personal and subjective rather than impersonal and objective,” Sacco said.

Such beliefs render the world meaningful and offer explanations for evil and misery, he added.

“Oftentimes the supernatural can be used to explain instances that would otherwise appear to be unexplainable,” he said.

“The problem is, however, that they work against the development of a more empirically-based understanding of how the world works.”

It’s hard to avoid getting into the Halloween spirit around this time of the year. Between all the costume-themed parties, candy sales and horror movie specials, it’s easy to be swept up in the spooky times this season has to offer.

Enjoying the fun frights of Halloween can be just as worthwhile as a good ghost story, especially for someone who isn’t a fan of all the supernatural hype.

You don’t have to be a believer to carve a pumpkin or enjoy a classic horror flick.

But if there’s any time of year that turns a skeptic into a believer, There are many places in Kingston and around Queen’s that are rumoured to be haunted, including a house in the University District. even temporarily, it’s now.