The Queen's Journal, Volume 142, Issue 25

F R I D AY , M A R C H 6 , 2 0 1 5 — I S S U E 2 5

THE JOURNAL QUEEN’S UNIVERSITY — SINCE 1873

ZZ on top

The Golden Key • page 2

page 10

Feature • Landlords’ legal loopholes • page 3 RICHARDSON STADIUM

ADMINISTRATION

Sexual assault policy Student safety an issue for stadium consultation moving forward Concerns raised about drop from bleachers to field at proposed facility B Y M ISHAL O MAR Assistant News Editor Concerns around student safety and student experience arose at a special meeting of AMS Assembly that presented the upcoming plans for the Richardson Stadium revitalization project.

University officials Ann Tierney, Michael Fraser, John Witjes, Leslie Dal Cin and architect Gerry Shoalts presented on Monday and answered questions about the project.

The revitalization project will largely focus on improving four areas: lighting, seating, the field and the scoreboard, which will be a Jumbotron.

Sound and light consultants are working on the project, the presenters said, in response to concerns about noise and light pollution, adding that the new stadium will actually help to prevent sound and light spillage.

Noise mitigation has already been implemented in the north field, and since then, there have been no complaints from neighbours about noise pollution, they said.

The plan includes more accessible washrooms, a redone

parking lot and fixing the roof of the changing room.

The stadium will also have only one entrance, on the east side.

People will be able to enter the stadium from the top, and there will be a walkway around the seats to make it accessible for the physically disabled.

Seats in the bottom rows will be raised six feet off the field, which some members of Assembly said could be a safety concern if students rush the field. As of right now, the plan doesn’t involve building stairs so that attendees can walk down to the field.

Members said this needs to be an issue taken into account, as it’s unrealistic to assume that students will choose not to jump over the six-foot drop at halftime or the end of a game.

Rector Mike Young later told the Journal that while they’re not fighting to keep the field rush tradition “alive”, it’s important for the University to acknowledge the safety concerns associated with the six-foot drop.

“There will be students, I think, who over the next few years will try and rush the fields, and if there’s See Premium on page 6

Working group has completed series of four open meetings

B Y C HLOE S OBEL J ENNA Z UCKER Journal Staff

AND

The Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Working Group (SAPRWG) finished up a series of four open consultations regarding a permanent sexual assault policy this week.

The SAPRWG has been working since its inception in 2013 to provide victims of sexual assault with a safe environment to discuss their traumatic experience and to gather and share information on campus sexual assaults.

The working group released an interim protocol in January, intended to communicate the group’s current position on sexual assault and support services. The interim protocol provides the University’s current position in respect to sexual assault, as well as listing available support services and educational approaches to sexual assault.

A permanent policy is expected to be released by April 30.

The open meetings each lasted an hour, during which people were asked to comment specifically on four areas: general

Sports: Women’s basketball aims for nationals

policy and procedures, support and response, prevention efforts and environment.

Arig al Shaibah, assistant dean of student affairs and chair of the working group, said they worked to make the open meetings a safe environment for survivors by establishing ground rules for “respectful dialogue, a non-judgmental airing of opinions, people speaking about their own experiences rather than sharing other people’s stories and requesting confidentiality at those meetings”.

See Meetings on page 6

Lifestyle: No money, more problems

page 12

page 16

Editorial: Addressing campus racism page 8

News

2 •queensjournal.ca

Friday, March 6, 2015

UNIONIZATION

Slow going to unionization for research assistants PSAC and University are still working to determine eligibility of some voters, months after vote was cast B y N atasa B ansagi Assistant News Editor The votes cast almost a year ago

by Queen’s graduate research assistants (RAs) in a union certification vote still have yet to be counted.

Approximately 600 graduate RAs cast a ballot in an April 2014 vote to determine whether the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) will become the RAs’ legal representative in negotiating a first collective agreement with the University.

After the vote, the Ontario Labour Relations Board (OLRB) ordered the ballot box to remain sealed due to questions over the eligibility of some RAs to become members of the potential union.

On Oct. 2, OLRB Vice-Chair Brian McLean decided on a method for determining which individuals could be counted as part of the bargaining unit. According to the University, RAs are eligible voters and members of the potential union if they were considered employees of the University on the date the union submitted its certification application. The eligibility of 10 people in the union is examined at a time.

PSAC 901 President Craig Berggold said 10 RAs provided written evidence as part of the OLRB hearings, during which Queen’s “conceded that what was being described in the written statements was research assistant work”.

“We’re a bit confused what’s going on, in terms of why the employer is delaying and delaying and delaying the counting of a

democratic process, really,” Berggold said.

“We think they’re afraid of losing.”

Berggold said the PSAC’s position on unionization is that “work is work is work”.

“You can dress it up however you want, and you can claim it’s education, you can claim it’s a scholarship, you can claim it’s voluntary, but at the end of the day, the people doing the work — the research assistants — know it’s work.”

He said the unionization process for research assistants is part of a continuous struggle where “people who do teaching, that provide analysis and research, have had to struggle to be recognized as contributing members to society”.

“We begin to see that as academic workers such as TAs and TFs have struggled to be recognized as workers also, we are winning those battles and we are changing people’s mindset,” he said.

“The same thing is happening with research assistants.”

Lorne Beswick, a PhD student in the Department of History, said he was recently called to the OLRB after having served as a labour organizer for the RA drive between Oct. 2013 and April 2014.

Beswick, who said he was speaking as an individual and not in his role as SGPS Vice-President of Campaigns and Community Affairs, didn’t provide details as to what took place at the Board.

Beswick, PhD ’16, said intellectual labourers were working to be protected in the potential union, adding that steel or factory workers — rather than academics — normally come to mind when

Lorne Beswick, who served as an organizer for the RA drive, wants to see graduate work recognized as work and students and researchers protected.

thinking of unions.

“You don’t necessarily think of graduate students and researchers needing to be protected as well,” he said.

“I think the work that we’re doing needs to be recognized as such, and it needs to be kind of protected as such and also compensated as such.”

Dan Bradshaw, associate vice-principal of faculty relations, said Queen’s has maintained its position of support for its employees’ right to “make a decision as to whether or not they wish to be members of a bargaining unit”.

“In tandem with that, though, is the critical question of whether or not the individuals who cast ballots are in fact appropriately members of the bargaining unit as described

PHOTO BY MICHELLE ALLAN

in the union’s certification “Board order”.

“In other words, this settlement application,” Bradshaw said.

He said a graduate student is something that the Board isn’t an employee if the money would then essentially make their they receive is “part of their decision,” he said.

“And then having done that, we’ll funding package in support of their role as a student doing their then go move on to the next 10.”

He expects it to take “a while”. graduate studies”.

“The Public Service Alliance, in As of Wednesday, when the Journal their step of the process, identifies spoke with Bradshaw, the first 10 the ten people and then indicates had “just” been completed.

“At some point, the Board why they say those ten people are in the bargaining unit,” Bradshaw needs to establish which of those said, adding that this process takes individuals were appropriately in place through a “will say” that acts the bargaining unit,” he said.

“And then once that is established, as written evidence.

“Once they do that, the then those are the votes that University is provided those ‘will are counted.”

On Thursday, a representative says’ and we have to respond,” he said, adding that once an agreement of the OLRB said the next hearing is reached on the eligibility of was scheduled for Friday. those 10 members, the two parties — With files from Chloe Sobel ask the OLRB to deem this a

TOWN-GOWN

AMS honours landlord, student at City Hall Danielle Aird receives Golden Key award, honouring 35 years of work; Aird says she’s “very proud”

B y N atasa B ansagi Assistant News Editor Longtime Kingston landlord Danielle Aird was awarded the 2014-15 Golden Key annual award during Thursday evening’s AMS Assembly at City Hall.

After reading a statement from the winning application, Sydenham District City Councillor Peter Stroud presented Aird with the student-nominated award for the City’s best landlord.

Following the presentation, Aird — who said she’s been a

landlord for about 35 years — told the Journal she was “very proud” and “very thankful” to her students for nominating her for the award.

“Twenty years ago they were like my children, but now they’re like my grandchildren,” she said.

As to the origins of her work

in the field, Aird referred to her husband’s work as an artist and said, “We realized we needed another source of income”.

She said she began buying properties with a friend, who was good at finding places and making them “look nice” while Aird “was

good with numbers”. Though they sold their properties three years ago, Aird has since resumed her work as a landlord.

“I missed it so much within a year that I bought another house and then my daughter agreed that

See Civic on page 6

Friday, March 6, 2015

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•3

FEATURE

PHOTO BY ARWIN CHAN

HOUSING

Landlord agreements not always legal Leases can include a variety of additional rules, but not all can be enforced under Ontario law B y K ate M eagher Assistant Lifestyle Editor When Madi Trenholm found a broken oven in her new apartment, she thought she would just have to ask her landlord to fix it.

She said the oven wasn’t working when she and her housemates first entered their Birch St. apartment in May 2013 — and despite repeatedly telling her landlord to repair it, the oven remained broken every time she visited over the summer.

Trenholm, ArtSci ’16, had hoped for a different introduction to off-campus housing at the end of first year.

“It wasn’t until the end of September when my mom threatened legal action that they finally got us a new stove,” she said.

Although her landlord’s inaction suggests otherwise, the lease Trenholm signed included a promise to provide appliances, which legally obligated her landlord to provide a working oven. Still, she said legality was the least of her worries at the time.

“It was just like, we need to cook and we can’t,” Trenholm said.

“You don’t move into a house thinking you’re not going to be able to cook food.”

With limited on-campus housing available to upper-year students, the vast majority rent housing in the University District, where tenant-landlord conflicts are common.

Landlord disputes led to the

birth of Facebook groups like “Kingston Red Alert Housing”, which was created last May. In the group, students collaborated on an open list of houses and landlords with whom they’ve had negative experiences.

The intention, according to the group’s description, is to help new students avoid similarly bad experiences. The group currently has 22 posts about individual properties.

Even simple tasks can be difficult with the wrong landlord.

Kate Finkler-Kemeny said she saw her landlord’s true colours when she and her two housemates tried to compost food from their Sydenham St. house.

“She informed us that she was afraid of the animals … associated with the composting,” said Finkler-Kemeny, MPL ’15, although she believes her landlord mostly resented the hassle.

Because the landlord wouldn’t provide her house with bins, Finkler-Kemeny and her housemates acquired their own from the city. She said they thought that would be the end of it. They were wrong.

“She refused to let us store our composting bins on her property, so we had to use our neighbour’s backyard to store our compost bin,” Finkler-Kemeny said, adding that her landlord then complained that the bin was too close to her property.

Next, the landlord took a ruler to the property line to

Some lease conditions are impossible for landlords to legally enforce.

GRAPHIC BY MICHAELLA FORTUNE

determine how far the bins had to be before they were technically off her property.

“She did this while sending threatening emails, yelling and screaming.”

The ordeal wasn’t an isolated incident, according to Finkler-Kemeny, and it “sums up every other experience with her in general”.

She stopped renting from that landlord because of these incidents, even though her apartment was “beautiful and the rent was below market rate”.

Finkler-Kemeny said she and her housemates considered legal action several times, but never followed through, either resolving disputes on their own or giving up because they didn’t think they had a case.

“I wish I’d pursued legal aid on some of the issues with her,” she said. “I would actually recommend that to people, because I think that it’s very easy to be taken advantage of when you’re stressed and tired.”

Once you start a conversation about landlords with Queen’s students, it isn’t long before they bring up Daphne Dean. She’s mentioned twice on the list compiled by the “Kingston Red Alert Housing” Facebook group.

Complaints often concern Dean’s extremely detailed leases and the “Rules and Regulations” document she provides each of her tenants.

Some rules seem logical, such as respect for common spaces, while others border on bizarre.

Restrictions include prohibitions on “the playing of musical instruments, radios, phonographs, televisions and all parties, in a disorderly manner or otherwise”, according to a copy of the document obtained by the Journal.

Parties are also off-limits.

“Occasional quiet social gatherings” are allowed, but there are restrictions on the number of guests, and all attendees other than the tenants must vacate the premises by 9 p.m.

Dean didn’t respond to multiple requests for comment.

Online discussion by groups like “Kingston Red Alert Housing” frequently focuses on whether or not the content of these agreements is legally enforceable.

According to the Residential Tenancies Act — which governs landlord-tenant relationships in

Ontario — a lease is only required to include the names of the parties involved, the address of the property rented, the landlord’s address, the length of the lease period, the cost of rent and signatures of the people involved.

Aside from the lease’s requirements, there are two types of additional clauses: those that are legally enforceable and those that aren’t.

Legally enforceable provisions are binding in the eyes of the courts.

If either the tenants or landlord have agreed to abide by certain restrictions, they must follow them, even when they feel these measures are unwarranted or inconvenient.

When these provisions conflict with existing laws, though, they might not be legally binding.

A clause that forbids a resident from keeping pets, for example, wouldn’t be legally enforceable under the Residential Tenancies Act, which states that “a provision in a tenancy agreement prohibiting the presence of animals in or about the residential complex is void.”

According to Joan Jones, a student-community relations coordinator at Queen’s, a clause may seem strange or unfair, but that doesn’t necessarily make it legally void.

The Student Community Relations Office provides a resource to students for navigating landlord-tenant negotiations. She said if the Residential Tenancies Act doesn’t specifically cover the content of a lease, and the tenant is aware of a clause’s meaning when they sign, that provision can be legally enforced.

“Whenever it’s in the language of the lease and it’s not hidden in some kind of weird way, it’s considered a reasonable extra condition,” Jones said.

Because the Residential Tenancies Act doesn’t guarantee a tenant’s right to have parties, Jones said the provisions in Daphne Dean’s leases are legally enforceable.

Jones said she encourages students to think critically before signing the first lease that crosses their path.

“If it’s not reasonable, don’t sign it.”

If students aren’t sure if a clause is legally enforceable, Jones said her office could help them make that distinction.

Students can also get advice on housing issues from the AMS

Housing Grievance Centre, which is overseen by AMS Municipal Affairs Commissioner Ariel Aguilar Gonzalez.

Aguilar, who rents a house from Queen’s Community Housing, said he advises students to get to know their landlords and speak up when something goes wrong.

Although some students believe landlords will react negatively to complaints, Aguilar, ArtSci ’16, said this isn’t often the case.

“A lot of landlords prefer it when their tenants do notify them of any kind of maintenance issues in their homes,” he said, adding that it’s easier to fix problems immediately when they arise.

When things go wrong, he said students should send print letters instead of other correspondence, since the Landlord-Tenant Board — the provincial body that governs tenant-landlord relations — only recognizes formal letters as communication.

“It doesn’t matter if you have emails or anything — that doesn’t count. When you send a letter to your landlord, that’s a signal to them that you actually know what’s going on.”

If a landlord doesn’t comply, students can also seek legal help.

Queen’s Legal Aid provides legal services for tenant-landlord matters and conducts interviews with students to determine whether they’re eligible for help.

Ultimately, Aguilar said, understanding a landlord’s personality helps students avoid conflict altogether.

The AMS’s Golden Key Award recognizes an outstanding landlord in the community every year. In 2012, that honour went to Gloria Kao and her husband Richard.

They have been landlords for 12 years and own multiple properties in the University District.

Gloria Kao said they became landlords “because we are retired and we love kids so much”, adding that they understand the role clear rules play in establishing a good landlord-tenant relationship.

“If they don’t have rules, how can they be responsible? How can they do things right?” Kao said.

While the husband-wife duo regulates the behaviour of their tenants, Kao said they do so to create the better housing experience for their tenants.

“We want to help everybody to study here and have a good home.”

NEWS

4 •QUEENSJOURNAL.CA

FRIDAY, MARCH 6, 2015

ACCESSIBILITY

Campus accessibility audit begins

Jeffery Hall and Stirling Hall were audited in a pilot project over Reading Week for AODA compliance B Y J ACOB R OSEN Assistant News Editor Queen’s is looking to make its campus more accessible, beginning a two-year accessibility audit launched over Reading Week.

The audit comes at the halfway mark of the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, 2005 (AODA), which aims to achieve accessibility for Ontarians with disabilities by 2025.

Over Reading Week, a team of auditors running the first pilot phase of the accessibility audit assessed Jeffery and Stirling Halls.

The audit, run by Queen’s Built Environment Working Group (BEWG), will assess all aspects of accessibility in Queen’s six million square feet of infrastructure.

Andrew Ashby, coordinator of the Accessibility Hub — an online resource for accessibility at Queen’s — said Queen’s has taken steps in the right direction, but there’s more to do.

“There’s still a long ways to go, and the AODA is part of that of that direction,”

he said.

Queen’s, in consultation with accessibility firm AccessAbility Advantage, has hired two auditors from March of Dimes — an organization that provides a range of services to people with physical disabilities — to perform the audits.

“Most places that are newly built are pretty accessible in terms of physical accessibility,” Ashby said, but added that the word “accessibility” encompasses much more than just physical accessibility.

Auditors will be assessing buildings room by room, focusing not only on physical layout but also lighting levels.

Barry Kaplan, accessibility audit project manager for the BEWG, said their goal is to make the campus — programming, buildings and infrastructure — barrier-free.

“Students, faculty, staff and people visiting the campus should not encounter anything that impedes their ability to participate fully,” Kaplan said.

He accompanied the team of auditors in their pilot run-through of Jeffery Hall

and Stirling Hall, built in 1969 and 1964, respectively.

The pilot phase, which will also include the auditing of Miller Hall — built in 1931 and substantially enlarged in 1973 — will serve as a test for the auditing process, as well as the software used to enter data.

After the pilot phases, the working group will assess and revise their software to ensure that the interface works well and potentially make a few changes to the process.

The current process has one auditor measuring various aspects of the space, while the other enters the data into the software.

“Once we have all the data — and we’re not near that point yet — the software can produce reports in a variety of ways,” Kaplan said.

Some of the ways auditors will be assessing accessibility will be based on washrooms, door width, parking, pathways, light switch and equipment height and counter levels.

Jeffery Hall, left, and Stirling Hall were assessed over Reading Week as part of a two-year accessibility audit. Both were built in the 1960s.

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The second pilot audit will begin at the end of the winter term exam period, while the remaining buildings will be broken up in two phases, with the first beginning in May. Following the audits of the first three million square feet, scheduled to take a year, the BEWG will draft a report and recommendations to improve accessibility.

There could be potentially hundreds of recommendations, Kaplan said.

“There’ll need to be a prioritization of those recommendations, and from that prioritization a plan will be developed to implement the remediation of the most urgent priorities,” he added.

Currently, if a student, faculty or staff faces an accessibility issue, a request can be made through the Accessibility Hub or the Equity Office, which will be passed on to the building manager and Physical Plant Services to assess and resolve the issue.

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6 •queensjournal.ca

Friday, March 6, 2015

“Premium package” plan draws criticism Continued from page 1

nothing really there to stop them, I think we will see students hurt themselves,” said Young, ArtSci ’15.

Young said University administration understands the concerns and the need to discuss them further, based on conversations he had with VP Michael Fraser, Provost Alan Harrison and Principal Daniel Woolf.

“No promises have been made, but I do remain optimistic that we will come to some sort of agreement,” he said.

“I think most people are on board with the fact that as it stands right now, it’s just not safe.”

One of the plans to generate more revenue for the project is to offer “premium packages”, where people pay more money for premium seats.

Young said if the revitalized Richardson Stadium is being marketed as a part of the “student experience”, the University should ensure that it remains consistent and offers premium seating for students as well.

“The packages that they were referring to at the meeting, they

An image of potential plans for the revitalization of Richardson Stadium.

were talking about parking, they were talking about how it involves this kind of VIP experience and that’s not something that students really have access to,” he said.

“While we understand the need to make more money and to diversify revenue so that this is an ongoing and sustainable project, we need to really be careful with how we do that, and I would argue that students already do pay for tickets through the Athletics and Recreation fee.”

Young said while he has several concerns about the current plan, the University has been very open

SUPPLIED BY QUEEN’S UNIVERSITY

to improving consultation and addressing student concerns.

Vice Provost and Dean of Student Affairs Ann Tierney told the Journal via email that while “facilitating” a field rush was not a consideration when designing the stadium, they realize that it may still happen.

“The safety of all of our community members is our top priority, and — recognizing that students may still attempt to rush the field — we will work with Campus Security and Emergency Services, students, student constables and others on a safety strategy that fits the new configuration of the stadium,” she said.

Tierney said “premium packages” might include premium seats, parking, food and beverages

and merchandise, or there may be different levels of packages with various combinations.

Athletics and Recreation does plan to offer upgraded tickets to students and other fans, and the University is open to feedback about those packages, what they might include, and what would appeal to students and fans in terms of upgrades.

“We look forward to further consultations with students on a variety of topics related to the new stadium, including student seating location,” Tierney said.

Construction on the stadium is slated to begin after the 2015 football season, with the stadium expected to be ready in August 2016.

The current Richardson Stadium in summer 2014.

JOURNAL FILE PHOTO

Civic Responsibility Award given at Assembly her and her housemates if any together because if Danielle’s not problems arise in the house. She here, Katie will come over. They she wanted to do it, too,” she added that Aird goes to India and work together.” said, adding that her daughter is brings back goods that she sells at Rowe said she and her five now doing “most of the work” craft fairs to raise money for the housemates recently signed a and deserved to receive the award community in India. contract with Aird for next year, with her.

“She’s a great landlord for us, she and are pleased to spend another Ellen Rowe, a tenant in one helps us personally, but then she year with her. of Aird’s homes, said Aird is a deserved the Golden Key because Thursday’s meeting also saw “wonderful lady”. not only was she a great landlord, Mayor Bryan Paterson present the “If I’d just said that, that would but she also extended it to going Civic Responsibility Award, which, pretty much sum it up,” said Rowe, away and doing these wonderful Municipal Affairs Commissioner ArtSci ’17. things,” Rowe said.

Ariel Aguilar Gonzalez said, Rowe said Aird and her “Her daughter Katie — they’re “recognizes outstanding Queen’s daughter, Katie, are quick to help a tag team. They deserve credit students for their contribution to the Continued from page 2

Kingston community”.

Paterson cited Victoria Denney’s “involvement in raising awareness about homelessness in

our community” and “involvement in community garden and sustainability” prior to presenting her with the award.

Meetings saw good turnout, community engagement Continued from page 1

The meetings, which were closed to the media, were moderated by Dr. Leslie Flynn. al Shaibah said the SAPRWG always looks for input from and the involvement of survivors when dealing with prevention and response.

“Engaging our community, we hope, will result in the kinds of interventions [that] will be survivor-centric, when everyone can engage in the process,” she said. al Shaibah said she was pleased with the turnout at the open meetings.

“When you look at the whole consultative process in its entirety, I think that there is a great amount of engagement across the community.”

The general goals of the working group during the consultation period, she said, are offering a safe environment to discuss issues and initiatives pertaining to sexual assault, furthering their understanding of campus context both locally and nationally, improving the sharing of information between campuses and enhancing policies and developing campus-wide initiatives to support prevention and response.

The purpose of the open meetings was “to actually engage the community with the interim protocol and to give us feedback on it that would inform future and more comprehensive and permanent policies and procedures”, al Shaibah added.

Due to the sensitive and private nature of the information, she said, the working group

selected three main approaches to information-gathering: an PHOTOS BY NATASA BANSAGI anonymous and confidential Top: Danielle Aird, third from right, receives the survey, a series of open meetings Golden Key. Bottom: Victoria Denney receives the Civic Responsibility Award. and confidential one-on-one interviews and focus groups.

The working group plans to meet with “specific stakeholders” and focus groups starting next week, including the Gender Studies department, the Levana Gender Advocacy Centre, students from the Peer Support Centre and volunteers at the Sexual Health Resource Centre.

“We wanted to cast a net wide enough in terms of consulting with our broad community and we thought it was important to offer several ways that individuals might want to engage and provide us with feedback,” al Shaibah said.

Friday, March 6, 2015

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•7

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Friday, March 6, 2015

DIALOGUE RACE

Address campus racism at the root Diversifying Queen’s population and academic curriculum are critical to ensuring that unintentional discrimination and racism don’t persist on campus.

In a recent Journal feature on the experiences of black students at Queen’s, seven of eight black students interviewed said they’ve felt alienated and excluded on campus because of daily microaggressions and a predominantly Eurocentric curriculum.

71.5 per cent of undergraduate students who registered in 2013 weren’t visible minorities, according to Queen’s Applicant Equity Census. The majority of Queen’s students have likely never been subjected to institutional

EMPLOYMENT

discrimination or racism, and continue to be reflected in the they likely have little experience Eurocentric curricula, traditional interacting with different cultures pedagogical approaches, hiring, within an academic environment. promotion and tenure practices, It’s unacceptable that members and opportunities for research” of Queen’s population feel at Queen’s. marginalized by their studies and Efforts should be directed the flippant behaviour of their towards diversifying Queen’s peers — even if discriminatory homogeneity at all levels — the comments appear to be administration, faculty and students. unintentional and due to ignorance.

Only 3.4 per cent of Feelings of alienation and undergraduate applicants in 2013 exclusion on campus are were black, according to the hardly new.

Applicant Equity Census.

Between 2003-04, nearly two The University needs to dozen faculty members surveyed better demonstrate that it has the said they were treated differently infrastructure to accommodate because of their ethno-racial status. a diverse population, including The survey was conducted for scholarships and other resources.

One recipient of the Robert the Henry Report, which concluded Jerome that “white privilege and power Sutherland-Harry Scholarship — an annual award for black students who have demonstrated academic excellence — received the award automatically without applying. This shows that most students likely aren’t aware of the opportunities.

Diversity is also necessary within Queen’s faculty and teachings. The majority of

curricula are Eurocentric and only introduce “foreign” topics in a tokenized fashion.

This can alienate and discourage students who don’t identify with these perspectives, and leave all students with only a surface understanding of critical race theory and other cultures.

Professors who can speak to oft-marginalized perspectives need to be employed to diversify course offerings.

Existing resources providers, such as Queen’s health services,

ArtSci internships a positive start A new Arts and Science paid internship program will help the University catch up to other Canadian schools.

The program — approved at the Feb. 24 Senate meeting — will begin in September. Following their third year, undergraduate ArtSci students will have the opportunity to apply for a 12-16 month internship relating to their field of study.

Students in the program will receive financial compensation from their employers, academic credit and recognition on their transcripts. Participating students will have their degree path extended to five years, due to the length of the internship.

Compared to other universities, Queen’s has fallen behind in co-op, internship and other professional opportunities — especially for its ArtSci students.

Career Services, the Faculty of Arts and Science and ASUS should be commended for their efforts to establish the program.

A full-year to 16-month period will allow students to gain tangible skills and immerse themselves wherever they’re working — with the added bonus of potentially

being hired by these companies after they graduate.

The program is still a pilot project that needs to get its bearings. It has definite benefits, but limitations in flexibility and accessibility may pose a problem for some students.

Because of additional living costs, dedicating 12-16 months to an internship and returning for a fifth year of study won’t be financially viable for all students, even if they receive a salary.

The Faculty of Arts and Science should consider establishing a bursary or scholarship for students who support themselves financially, so that they’re able to pursue an internship.

Introducing an option for shorter summer internships later down the line would also improve accessibility and allow students to gain experience in a variety of fields.

Students may also have trouble obtaining international internships, as non-Canadian companies may be unwilling to negotiate credits.

It’s another consideration for a program with exceptional potential to benefit students.

Opinions Editor

Editors in Chief

Arts Editors

Production Manager News Editor

Sam Koebrich Chloe Sobel

Assistant News Editors

Natasa Bansagi Mishal Omar Jacob Rosen

Features Editors

Sebastian Leck Laura Russell

Editorials Editor

Anisa Rawhani

— Journal Editorial Board

ILLUSTRATION BY MICHAELLA FORTUNE

Michaella Fortune

Get uncomfortable

When we shy away from things easy to find something else to take shouldn’t rush to find something to that make us uncomfortable, we away those disturbing feelings. take your mind off of those feelings. don’t give them the attention We’ll fixate on whether a dress is Try to determine why exactly you blue and black or white and gold, feel that way. they deserve.

I was very disturbed when I rather than issues of racism on our One reason Once Were Warriors watched Once Were Warriors own campus. made me uncomfortable was that I Artists strive to engage people didn’t even know the Maori people — a film about a Maori family’s struggles with poverty and domestic in universal questions. Some existed. It seemed so far removed violence in New Zealand. It put a believe it’s their duty to show from my life in North America. bad feeling in my stomach thinking people the hypocrisy and injustice It disgusted me because I was about how Indigenous people surrounding them. ignorant to what had happened The problem is that our society and is still happening. If I’m not a still suffer from the consequences of colonialism, and about how has conditioned us to think of art part of the solution, does that mean many lives are destroyed by abuse as nothing more than another item I’m perpetuating the problem? to be consumed. and alcoholism.

It isn’t wrong to see a film Blockbuster films, for example, for amusement, but entertainment I didn’t like that feeling.

I remember going home are constructed to please and shouldn’t be the only goal. We and watching How I Met Your amuse as many people as possible. have the opportunity to make Mother to get my mind off the Popular and successful formulas changes to our world, but it’s are recreated over and over to only possible when we realize why rattling thoughts.

It’s easy to distract ourselves. maximize profits. People consume we find ourselves disgusted by We live in a consumer culture, one films like donuts: acquire, eat, the uncomfortable. of amusement and diversion from discard, repeat.

There’s no critical thinking that Michaella is the Journal’s Graphics the suffering and evil that saturates Editor and Editorial Illustrator. She’s a goes into it. our world.

When directors make movies second-year sociology major.

If something is uncomfortable — Journal Editorial Board and difficult to approach, it’s so that make you uncomfortable, you

Editorial Board Nick Faris Vincent Ben Matak

need staff who understand critical race theory, to be able to appropriately support students who come to them with issues of race.

With historical roots deep in Scottish tradition, Queen’s has an entrenched homogeneity that can’t be diversified overnight. Traditions aren’t necessarily a bad thing, but when they suppress diversity and create feelings of alienation, there’s room for reevaluation.

Olivia Bowden

Olivia Loncar-Bartolini Kashmala Omar

Sports Editor

Sean Sutherland

Assistant Sports Editor Lifestyle Editor

Brent Moore

Chloë Grande

Assistant Lifestyle Editor

Graphics Editor and Editorial Illustrator Michaella Fortune

Web Developer Copy Editors

Karen Chen

Leigh Cameron Christine Ellis Chandra Erickson

Contributing Staff

Arwin Chan Alex Pickering

Staff Writers and Photographers Alicia Hai Ryan Pardy Tamarra Wallace Jenna Zucker

Michelle Allan

Lucy Chen

Photo Editors

Kate Meagher

Assistant Photo Editor

Contributors

Rachael Mostowy

Business Staff Business Manager

David Worsley

Marketing Manager

Hayley Square

Sales Representatives

Fraser Bruce Katelyn Martinko Jacob Rumball Teddy Taggart Friday, March 6, 2015 • Issue 25 • 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 © 2015 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 26 of the Journal will be published on March 13, 2015

FRIDAY, MARCH 6, 2015

QUEENSJOURNAL.CA

OPINIONS — YOUR

•9

Talking heads

PERSPECTIVE

... around campus PHOTOS BY OLIVIA BOWDEN

Do you have summer job plans?

“I’m still applying for jobs.”

ABBY LANGILL, ARTSCI ’15

ACADEMICS

Hazardous warnings

“Trigger warnings” shouldn’t be required on all class syllabi, but students can request accommodations for class material PHOTO BY ARWIN CHAN

TAMARRA WALLACE, ARTSCI ’16 “Trigger warnings” shouldn’t automatically be required in all university classes.

The use of these warnings — a notice to students that class material may cause trauma — has been a contentious topic in academia over the past year.

In March 2014, the student government at the University of California, Santa Barbara requested that the university begin to implement trigger warnings in classes, so students could be alerted about class content before a lecture.

Ohio’s Oberlin College created instructions in spring 2014 on how to include trigger warnings in syllabi — to the dismay of some professors, who saw the instructions as an infringement on their academic freedom.

The directives indicated that professors should place a trigger warning on material that could “disrupt a student’s learning”.

For individual students who suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), asking for accommodations for triggering material might be necessary.

Pre-emptively providing blanket trigger warnings for course material, though, isn’t an essential form of classroom accommodations.

Instead of a trigger warning on the syllabus, instructors should discuss course content with the class to see if students feel uncomfortable about course material before it’s taught.

Professors should encourage students to come forward if class

point of view. material may be upsetting.

Students from any discipline Dealing with triggering material can be a beneficial learning would benefit from learning experience, as long as the subject material that challenges them. It is written ahead of time on the encourages empathy and compels syllabus and the instructor regularly students to gain a different perspective than what they’re communicates with students.

University is the ideal time used to.

The purpose of higher education to expand our worldview and understand that not everyone is to expose ourselves to new ideas, has access to a sheltered life. In even if some ideas may be upsetting.

Opponents of blanket trigger dealing with emotional material, we can develop our capacity warnings in syllabi believe this kind of accommodation isn’t for compassion.

As a history student, I’ve been appropriate for all students.

Lisa Hajjar, a professor at regularly exposed to upsetting events like the Holocaust and Santa Barbara, told the New York African slave trade. From reading Times in May 2014 that a “onethe course syllabi, it was evident size-fits-all approach” to trigger that emotional material would be warnings in classrooms is wrong.

She said all students shouldn’t be covered in both classes.

A trigger warning would have able to avoid topics that make been unnecessary in this situation, them uncomfortable.

In an article published in the since the violent nature of the New Republic in March 2014, course material was self-evident.

Before watching a violent film, Jenny Jarvie wrote that “trigger instructors could notify students warnings” can create a fear that they’re free to walk out at of discussing uncomfortable anytime and avoid testing too topics and characterize a heavily on the film. I’ve taken a classroom as “full of infinite yet history class where the professor ill-defined hazards”.

Accommodating students who warned us about graphic material in a film about misogyny, and to have been diagnosed with PTSD, of course, may require instructors skip certain parts if necessary.

Instructor should use potentially to modify course material or triggering course material to start assignments on a case-by-case basis.

Under provincial law, students a discussion.

If there was a book detailing the with disabilities and mental health separation of the protagonist from issues are allowed to receive their family, instructors could ask classroom accommodations. A what students’ emotional response student with depression may need to this scene was. As history extra time to complete assignments, students, the more we can relate to and they have the right to request accommodations they our subjects of study, the more we any are able to better understand their may need.

Trigger warnings could be determined to be a form of accommodation for an individual student with mental health issues.

A student with a diagnosed case of PTSD may request an instructor in a gender studies class to place a trigger warning on material pertaining to sexual violence, or to speak prior to a lecture that may cause harm.

This accommodation should be treated like any other. The student should make this request at Health, Counselling, and Disability Services (HCDS), who would then notify the professor.

Classroom accommodations can empower students with disabilities to participate in learning on a more equal playing field.

But trigger warnings aren’t necessary for the general student population, since all course material is listed on the syllabus.

Instead, regular communication between the instructor and the class is the most effective way to prevent potential trauma.

Aversion to the horrors of human history is a natural response.

We should celebrate this part of our humanity by confronting subject manner collaboratively — in the hopes of learning how to prevent atrocities in the future.

This would negate potential harm and allow students to better understand the course material.

Tamarra Wallace is a third-year history major.

“I’m going to be doing research at Toronto General Hospital in the Department of Pathology.”

NICHOLAS GERINGER, ARTSCI ’18

“Not yet, I’m still looking.”

JENNIFER PUTNAM, COMPSCI ’14

“I’m staying in Kingston, so hopefully a restaurant as a server.”

GEORGIA MORRIS, ARTSCI ’18

“No, I don’t have any summer job plans.”

JORDAN SUGARMAN, MD ’18

10 • queensjournal.ca

Friday, March 6, 2015

ARTS

PHOTOS BY ALEX PICKERING

CONCERT REVIEW

ZZ Top puts on a powerful show Texas-based band kicks off their 2015 tour at the K-Rock Centre

B y K ashmala O mar Arts Editor ZZ Top planted their rock roots in Kingston with a concert that was nothing short of vivacious.

The hard-rock band kicked off their 2015 spring and summer tour on Tuesday with an impressive set list comprised of their greatest hits at the K-Rock Centre.

Consisting of members Billy Gibbons on guitar and vocals, Dusty Hill on bass and vocals and drummer Frank Beard, the band formed in 1969 in Houston, Texas.

They’ve produced 15 records since then.

They’re best known for their witty, comedic lyrics and blues-infused rock songs.

The venue was buzzing with an audience of around 600 people

with a clear demographic of people in their 40s and up.

Opening for the band was Toronto-based band Flash Lightnin’, a rock-and-roll duo consisting of members Darren Glover and Darcy Yates.

They set the tone for the main act by warming up the audience with songs such as “Get Up” and “Dirty Penny”, which showcased their rugged vocals and long-winding electric guitar riffs over contrastingly smooth rock instrumentals.

They could’ve done a better job of utilizing the stage — more movement would’ve engaged the audience during moments of lost attention, which happened at the beginning of their set.

Even so, Flash Lightnin’ started off the night on a promising note.

A funny, yet gimmicky video presentation featuring a blonde cowgirl then introduced ZZ Top, who immediately started the set with “Got Me Under Pressure”.

The fast-paced tune started off rocky — the sound acoustics in the venue didn’t complement it well — but the band powered through and eventually warmed up to the stage during the song.

ZZ Top then moved into more mellow rock songs like “My Head’s In Mississippi” and “Gimme All Your Lovin’”, which were both greeted with cheers and excitement from the crowd.

As the set went on, ZZ Top got more involved in each song — Gibbons and Hill performed their signature leg-jerking dance along with most of the songs, which added to the

spontaneity of the night.

What impressed me the most was the band’s ease playing heavy, complicated guitar solos that elevated their sound from hard-rock to blues in a few notes.

This was heard in perhaps their most popular song of the night, and my personal favourite, “Sharp Dressed Man”.

Although their vocals, especially Gibbons’, showcased an impressive range, they didn’t have to rely on those to please the audience — shown by crowd favourite “Legs”, with its intricate, sharp guitar solos and fun lyrics.

The band closed their set with “Tush”, another popular piece with a blues twist to it, accompanied by a dress change into extravagant crystal jackets.

Concert-goer Arizona

Cranney thought that the show was successful.

“I thought it was really good, actually,” Cranney said. “They put on a great show and I think they did a good job.

“I liked their sparkly jackets — that was definitely a nice touch.”

The band could’ve interacted more with the audience to create a more personal atmosphere — they powered through the set list quickly without a lot of talk in between, but they were clearly having a good time performing.

Perhaps the best part of the concert was watching hundreds of people bond over ZZ Top’s familiar songs.

Arts

Friday, March 6, 2015

MUSIC SERIES

Innovative experiments Modern Fuel hosts new three-act concert series, Vapours B y A licia H ai Staff Writer As a first-time attendee of Modern Fuel’s Vapours Experimental Music concert series, I expected the unexpected.

Last Saturday, in partnership with the Canada Council for the Arts, Modern Fuel’s latest instalment of the five-year series featured Raissa Simone, IC/JC/VC and Mas Aya, all of whom are represented under Toronto’s Healing Power Records.

The concert wasn’t one concert of similar genre-based artists, but three distinct acts that gave meaning to Healing Power Records’ work with new and innovative experimentation of music artistry.

At the Tett Centre’s Rehearsal Hall, there was nothing but intimacy between the 15 or so concert-goers and the artists performing.

Multicoloured purple and green spotlights filled what was an otherwise dimly-lit room, and with each performance I could feel myself delving deeper into the electrifying beats and sounds.

Kingston-based artist Raissa Simone started off the night right with her romantic singing and songwriting skills.

The combination of her voice and slow guitar strums intermixed with drone music, soundscapes, audio voice recordings and a looping pedal allowed the audience to grasp a better sense of these experimental sounds that would soon be the key point towards understanding the latter two performers.

Simone’s songs, including “Remind Me” and “He Likes To”, evoked a sense of understanding and connectivity with the audience.

Jessie Conley, ArtSci ’16, described musicians IC/JC/VC as other-worldly.

“Their music is like an ethereal, girly haunted forest,” Conley said.

The group performed unconventionally. While IC and VC sat on opposite ends, predominantly controlling the instruments and sounds being formed, middle member JC was overshadowed by the velvet hood eclipsing her face, with a single microphone acting as her mouthpiece.

The 30-minute track featured sounds such as amplifying synthesizers, chiming bells, accordion-type instruments and group chants.

Isla Craig — IC — encouraged the crowd to actively experience the music.

“Get to know your bodies and explore yourselves,” Craig said. “These group chants embody vocalization and exploratory soundscapes.”

It’s as if I was living in the rabbit hole of Alice in Wonderland fame

queensjournal.ca

and I couldn’t leave no matter how hard I tried. It was in listening to IC/JC/VC that I was able to do just what they’d asked of me.

Mas Aya, also known as Brandon Valdivia, took the stage last, going straight into performance mode so as to keep the audience intrigued and on their toes just as he was with his music.

His inspiration seemingly came from the African continent, taking advantage of a series of instruments coming from the mbira — the thumb piano — family.

• 11

Mas Aya’s lyrics fuelled an emphasis on the hierarchical levels of society: “Those who give the freedom, they can take that away / Those who give the rights, they can take that away.”

The musician explored globally vibrant sounds that mainstream music hasn’t made its way towards yet.

The artists’ support of innovative sound came through in a passionate display of experimental music that deeply connected with audiences at Modern Fuel.

CONCERT REVIEW

Out of this world music Rich Aucoin brings a dazzling show to The Grad Club B y R achael M ostowy Contributor Bringing his international “The Ephemeral Prince Tour” to The Grad Club, Halifax native Rich Aucoin delivered a highenergy dance pop performance, on Wednesday.

Referencing the themes of isolation and interconnectedness found in Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s Le Petit Prince that are explored in Aucoin’s album “Ephemeral.”

The rich wood and red velvet of the Grad Club was transformed with dim lighting and the twinkle of Christmas string-stars into a void of outer space.

Toronto-based band HIGHS opened the show with a set that brought strains of summer and reminiscences of warmth to a lingering Kingston winter.

The indie four-piece band blended playful confessions into bright addictive beats with whimsical melodies to showcase the tight vocal harmonies of the members.

Songs off of their self-titled EP like “Mango” — sitting precariously between nostalgia and anticipation — are balanced expertly between the whispered secrets in the unreleased “Still and Still” and “Untitled”, with their skilful manipulation of pacing and created tension, that pulls between the keyboard and bass lines.

HIGHS ended their set with contrasting numbers “So Sad”, “Never Mad”, with a guitar line that tickles up the spine, and “Summer Dress”, a love story set to a swaying bass. The band revealed a thoughtful dichotomy — moving the audience between swaying and dancing — leaving the audience warmed up and ready to move when Rich Aucoin took the stage.

Aucoin then emerged from the

darkness Beginning his set with wildly, in a memorable show by an “Meaning of Life”, Aucoin layers amazing artist. questions of existence over the “[The show] was really building urgency of drums and fun — the Queen’s crowd and languid vocals.

Kingston is just such an awesome Raissa Simone performing on vocals and guitar.

Lyrical fears about the future audience,” Aucoin said. and separation are contrasted by melodies and dance beats that bring the audience into a single, dancing collective; a togetherness that forms a central idea in Aucoin’s music.

“My whole show is about bringing people together to see each other and connect,” Aucoin said.

With explosive hooks, accompanied by showers of confetti and glitter, Aucoin succeeds. The raw, heavy synth in “They Say Obey” had the audience moving and jumping together, and they danced out their anxieties with the millennial anthem “Yelling in Sleep.”

The dance party excitement continued to build into “Four More Years”, where a huge parachute was released to enclose the crowd.

Aucoin skilfully pushes the audience towards an emotional edge, building within songs and throughout his show, matching the energy of the crowd as he brings them from nodding their head to dancing recklessly to jumping Rich Aucoin took the stage at the Grad Club on Wednesday evening.

PHOTO BY ARWIN CHAN

PHOTO BY CHLOE SOBEL

12 •queensjournal.ca

Friday, March 6, 2015

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

Gaels Windsor-bound Final Four tickets booked with win in OT thriller over Laurier B y S ean S utherland Sports Editor When women’s basketball’s OUA quarterfinal game went into overtime last Saturday, head coach Dave Wilson thought his team would win.

The coach was still secure in his belief when Laurier Golden Hawks centre Whitney Ellenor sank a free throw with two seconds left in the first overtime to tie the game at 74-74.

The Gaels outscored Laurier 11-4 in the second extra period, coming away with an 85-78 victory and a spot in this weekend’s OUA Final Four.

“Honestly, our confidence rises when we head into overtime,” Wilson said. “For the last three years, we haven’t lost an overtime game. Our players feel that it’s our time.”

With the win, Queen’s now heads to the OUA Final Four in Windsor, where they’ll take on the third-seeded Ryerson Rams on Friday night. Joining the Gaels and Rams are the OUA’s top team, the Windsor Lancers, as well as the fifth-seeded Lakehead Thunderwolves.

As the lowest seed to advance to the semi-finals, the Gaels are underdogs at the Final Four.

Wilson said the team isn’t fazed by that status — not after knocking off the second-ranked Golden Hawks in thrilling fashion.

“I think it’s always easier to play

as the underdog,” he said. “It takes a lot of practice to play as the team that has the target on their back.

That’s been a bit of a struggle for us when we started the season, when we were the defending Eastern champions.”

Wilson added that the OUA playoff bracket worked in the Gaels’ favour. They were hoping to take on the Golden Hawks in the post-season, since the two schools had played each other tight in recent years.

Queen’s fell behind early in the quarterfinal contest and trailed by as many as 14 points late in the second quarter, before cutting the lead to five by the midway break.

The Golden Hawks re-established their 14-point advantage four minutes into the second half, leading Wilson to call a timeout. After play resumed, the Gaels went on a 20-2 run and held the lead heading into the final quarter of regulation.

“Throughout the first three quarters, it was a game of runs — mostly theirs, and ours trying to keep the game close,” Wilson said. “After that, it became a game of back and forth. I think our largest lead we ever had was six, so mostly it was a one, two or three-point game the rest of the way through.”

After Ellenor’s made free throw at the end of the first overtime period, the tide of the game turned.

Gaels third-year guard Emily Hazlett went on a tear, putting

up six of Queen’s 11 points in the second overtime.

“We came out very confidently and it looked like Laurier might have been a little bit more tentative,” Wilson said. “We attacked the rim very well and got to the foul line early, and that allowed us to open up that lead.”

Fourth-year guard Jenny Wright led all Gaels’ scorers with 24 points, while third-year post Robyn

SPORTS Pearson posted a double-double with 12 points and 12 rebounds.

Veteran wing Gemma Bullard and fifth-year guard Liz Boag also chipped in with 12 points on the night.

Queen’s struggled against the OUA’s three remaining teams this season. They lost all four games they played against Windsor, Ryerson and Lakehead, including two defeats to the Rams.

To make the CIS national championships, Wilson said the Gaels need to maintain their current high level of play.

“Right now, we’re starting to play our best basketball since October,” he said.

“Part of that is because we have our full lineup intact — which has only been intact for a couple of weeks now. I think we’re just starting to peak at the right time.”

JOURNAL FILE PHOTO

Fourth-year guard Jenny Wright led the Gaels in the regular season with 13.8 points per game.

She’s averaging 15 points in the playoffs after dropping 24 points on the Laurier Golden Hawks last Saturday.

GRAPHIC BY MICHAELLA FORTUNE COMPILED BY SEAN SUTHERLAND

Sports

Friday, March 6, 2015

queensjournal.ca

• 13

CLIMBING

Bouldering bonanza

Annual competition gives chance to novice and veteran climbers B y B rent M oore Assistant Sports Editor More than 15 years after its inception, the Queen’s Climbing Club (QCC) Competition is still giving local climbers the thrill they seek.

The annual event took place this past weekend at the Boiler Room — a local climbing gym — and was open to both QCC members and climbers from the area.

Adriaan Hoekman was the highest-ranked QCC member among male climbers, finishing 10th in the advanced division.

Fellow climber Jeremy Waugh placed 15th.

Elise Sentha topped the women’s advanced division. Christabel Jean came in fifth and Zuza Kurzawa finished 12th.

The standings were filled with QCC members, as many ranked among the top 10 finishers in the intermediate and beginner divisions.

Hoekman has been competing in the event for four years and told the Journal via email that he was “pleasantly surprised” by his finish.

“The atmosphere was great,” he said, adding that the event provides a learning environment for climbers

who haven’t competed before.

“I think this is a great event for novice climbers to get competition experience,” he said. “The structure and rules mimic other, more intense comps, so it’s a great event for novice climbers to learn the ropes in a low-pressure and fun environment.”

Most of the 124 participants were from the Kingston area.

This included members of the gym’s youth program and youth competition team.

Malek Taleb, the Boiler Room’s owner and a Queen’s engineering alumnus, said the event is organized annually to thank the QCC for the support they’ve given the gym over the years.

“We named the competition after the Queen’s Climbing Club to show our relationship with the club,” he said.

Taleb has a personal connection to the QCC — he began climbing with them while he was a student in the early 2000s. He also worked as a volunteer instructor after PHOTOS SUPPLIED BY IAN SIESS graduating from Queen’s.

The Boiler Room played host to the annual Most of the people who join the Queen’s Climbing Club (QCC) competition this past weekend.

QCC are beginner climbers, and the composition of the tournament and rope. The rope is fed through came down.”

The organizers made sure to an anchor at the top of the wall and reflected this.

The competition was divided back down to a person standing come up with routes the climbers into male and female brackets with on the ground that instructs and hadn’t encountered in practice.

The routes aren’t sourced from youth, beginner, intermediate and secures the climber.

The Boiler Room gym has books, but reflect the knowledge of advanced divisions. The event featured both bouldering and rope approximately 40 top roping the local instructors and their time climbing — something different stations plus the bouldering areas, with local climbers.

“It’s our creativity,” Taleb said. from most competitions, which are all of which had to be reorganized “It’s based on ideas that we’ve had for the event. usually purely bouldering.

“We’re closed for three days,” in terms of how we want to create Bouldering is a form of rock climbing done without a rope or Taleb said. “Every hold in the gym the movements of the climbers.” harness, with routes often going no more than several metres off the ground. Mats are laid down to prevent injury.

Top rope climbing is where the participant is secured with a harness

Follow @QJSports.

SPORTS IN BRIEF Two men’s basketball players honoured Despite missing out on the post-season, a pair of Gaels received provincial recognition.

Fifth-year guard Greg Faulkner was named an OUA First-Team All-Star and first-year swingman Tanner Graham was named to the All-Rookie Team.

Faulkner’s 19.6 points per game this year were fifth-best in the province, and he also averaged 6.5 rebounds. He was named an OUA East Second-Team All-Star the last two seasons.

Faulkner underwent shoulder surgery last year — prematurely ending his 2014 campaign — and played this season with residual effects. Despite this, he was a leader on the court for a young Queen’s team and led them offensively. He averaged 32.8 minutes per game, more than any other Gael.

Faulkner’s highest-scoring game came on Nov. 22, when he rained down 40 points on the Brock Badgers during a 98-89 overtime loss.

Graham, a Kingston native, played in all 19 regular season games this year, averaging 7.9

points and 4.5 rebounds per game.

He also led the team with 0.8 blocks per game.

Graham’s standout game came in a 91-81 loss to the Ottawa Gee-Gees on Feb. 14 where he scored 17 points, grabbed five rebounds and picked up two steals.

— Brent Moore Griffin, Pilon All-Stars, while two teammates make All-Rookie Squad A quartet of women’s hockey players were honoured by the OUA for their performances this season.

Captain Shawna Griffin and winger Taryn Pilon earned spots on the OUA’s Second All-Star team.

In addition to Griffin’s polished defensive game, the fifth-year centre racked up the third-highest point total in the OUA this season with 26 points.

Pilon added 25 points and made the OUA All-Star Team for the first time in her career, having been named to the All-Rookie team in 2011-12.

In addition to Pilon and Griffin’s accomplishments, two Gaels made the All-Rookie Team: defenceman

Amber Sealey and winger Addi Halladay.

Their selection marked the fifth time in six years that a Queen’s player was named to the All-Rookie squad. Halladay’s 23 points were tops among all first-years, while Sealey provided additional depth on an already impressive Gaels’ blueline.

While Griffin is graduating, Pilon, Halladay and Sealey will all be returning to a Queen’s team that was knocked out of the playoffs by the Laurier Golden Hawks in the OUA quarterfinals earlier this month.

— Sean Sutherland Men’s hockey racks up end-of-season awards Two talented Ontario Hockey League (OHL) graduates won a slew of awards as Gaels rookies this season.

Defenceman Spencer Abraham joined Queen’s this year after four seasons split between the OHL’s Brampton Battalion and Erie Otters. He posted 28 points in 25 games with the Gaels, the highest

total among all OUA defencemen.

His success this year allowed him to pick up several accolades, as he was named both OUA East Rookie of the Year and OUA East Defenceman of the Year. Abraham also grabbed spots on the division’s First All-Star and All-Rookie Teams.

Abraham’s Rookie of the Year nod marked the second straight season a Gael claimed the award, as goaltender Kevin Bailie won it last season.

Forward Darcy Greenaway joined Abraham on the All-Rookie Team and also earned a spot on the OUA East Second All-Star Team.

The former Kingston Frontenac posted a team-high 16 goals this season and added 10 assists.

For the second season in a row, the Gaels were bounced from the post-season in the second round, losing to the McGill Redmen in two games this year.

— Sean Sutherland Wrestler falls just shy of CIS podium The only Queen’s wrestler to earn a spot at the CIS championships

ended up just short of a medal.

Peter Shannon finished fourth in the men’s 61 kg division at the national tournament in Edmonton last weekend.

Shannon lost to McMaster’s Jason Buckle in his opening match of the championships, before defeating Saskatchewan’s Nathan Galan to earn a spot in the bronze medal match. He lost that match and the bronze medal to Brock’s Zack Falconi.

Buckle and Falconi were the only two wrestlers to finish ahead of Shannon at the OUAs in February.

The 61 kg weight class was won by the University of Alberta’s Michael Asselstine, the two-time CIS wrestler of the year.

In February, the OUAs were held at Laurentian University in Sudbury. Queen’s men’s team placed eighth and the women placed 10th.

Shannon was the only Gael to achieve a podium finish at the provincial level.

— Brent Moore

14 •queensjournal.ca

Friday, March 6, 2015

LIFESTYLE FITNESS

Sweat away the stress

Downtown Kingston’s newest hot yoga studio aims to help students relax B y K ate M eagher Assistant Lifestyle Editor If you’ve been waiting for the chance to balance on your hands in a boiling hot room, you’re in luck.

Downtown Kingston’s first Moksha yoga studio opened late in 2014 to provide a hot yoga experience. It’s located on lower Princess St. Moksha (pronounced moke-sha) refers to both a series of postures and the franchise that promotes them.

Moksha studios offer classes based on variations of Moksha postures in studios heated to 36-38°C. I was excited to try a Moksha class, because unlike other hot yoga classes, Moksha poses are geared to promote the health of the spine and joints.

The brand has over 75 studios, with locations throughout Canada and the U.S. Their large presence in Ontario made opening a Kingston studio the logical next step.

“Kingston was that one city without Moksha that has a university that could really benefit from the practice,” said Tessa Bernier, co-owner of the Kingston studio.

While the name Moksha comes

from a Hindu and Jain tradition of releasing oneself from the cycle of reincarnation, the studio’s goal is to provide a release from the daily stresses.

Bernier began practicing Moksha yoga while studying at Dalhousie University and credits Moksha with getting her through those years.

“Honestly, when I was in school I went through a time in my life where I wasn’t sure what I was doing, I wasn’t sure where I was going with my degree and it was very stressful and I went through a pretty bad depression,” she said.

“I can honestly say that Moksha saved me when I found that sense of community in Halifax and I was able to be a part of something.”

Bernier thinks Moksha can be similarly beneficial for students at Queen’s because its therapeutic qualities make it well-suited to combat the stresses of a student.

“It’s just nice to be able to step into the room and just come face to face with the stress that you’re feeling and deal with it,” Bernier said.

Beyond benefits to mental health, the series is designed to promote the long-term health of the spine, which may be

Kingston’s new Moksha yoga studio provides a cozy and relaxing atmosphere.

particularly useful for students who lug backpacks and crouch over laptops on a full-time basis.

This is done by moving the spine through a variety of poses and improving mobility.

If the idea of sun salutations in a 38°C room seems intimidating, don’t let it be.

Variations on the series were offered consistently throughout my class, allowing for a break or an

COLUMNS — QJ SCIENCE

When multitasking fails Our brains are inherently better at focusing on a single task

Trying to work while ignoring an opened email may temporarily lower your IQ.

B y R yan P ardy Staff Writer We’re all guilty of trying to juggle more than one task at a time.

With final assignment deadlines looming, it sometimes feel more productive to multitask.

Yet it’s easy to get distracted when we’re flipping back and forth from Facebook to note-taking during lectures

or always popping open more browser tabs.

The truth is we may not be as good at multitasking as we think we are.

Repeatedly, research has shown that humans are inherently bad multitaskers. Our brains aren’t wired to do it well — we work best when we remain focused on one task at a time.

Even when we think we’re

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY MICHELLE ALLAN

multitasking, in reality, we’re just switching from one task to another very rapidly.

So why does it feel like multitasking is a more efficient way of doing work? Part of it comes from reward signals in your brain.

Every time you switch from one task to another, your brain interprets it as something new, and you get a “reward” — a release of dopamine.

extra challenge whenever we felt it was appropriate for our bodies and skill levels.

“We have people that come in that are as young as 16 years old to as old as 70 that can practice the series and feel like they’ve been relaxed and challenged at the same time,” Bernier said.

Moksha’s physical layout makes it stand out from others in Kingston. Many studios are essentially windowless rooms with dimmed lighting, which can

PHOTO BY ALEX PICKERING

help to focus energy on the “here and now”. This isn’t the case at Moksha Kingston.

One wall of the studio has large windows with shades that let in ample natural light. Rather than distracting me, I found the light boosted my energy levels and made the class enjoyable in an unexpected way.

Moksha Kingston is located at 27 Princess St.

Follow @QJLifestyle for fashion, travel, cooking and more The released dopamine sends a pleasure signal to the brain, which makes you want to repeat the behaviour to get that signal again.

Normally the dopamine system reinforces behaviours like eating or sex, which play an adaptive role in survival.

In the case of multitasking, the dopamine is telling our brain to stop focusing on one thing and keep switching to newer, more exciting tasks.

We also feel more accomplished when we multitask. It seems more productive to be able to rattle off a list of tasks that you worked on for a little bit here and there.

Even if staying focused would have resulted in higher quality work, it doesn’t sound as impressive to accomplish only one or two things.

Multitasking can have a similar effect in class. If students are distracted and unengaged in the material, they’ll participate and learn less during the class.

Hélène Ouellette-Kuntz, a professor in the Department of Public Health Sciences, has noticed students who strive to write down everything tend to miss out on engaging in the material.

“People are fooled by the productivity of technology,”

Ouellette-Kuntz said, adding that this sometimes means students aren’t making the best use of their class time.

In our hyper-connected world, staying focused can sometimes be a task in itself. We’re now expected to be constantly available by email, phone or text, which makes it even harder to stay focused.

Even if you ignore the email and plan to save it for later, it can still be detrimental to your work.

A study done by Glenn Wilson — a former visiting psychology professor at Gresham College in London — found that trying to concentrate on a task while an email sits unread can lower your IQ by as much as 10 points.

As difficult as it may sound, the best way to get things done is to put your phone away, close your email and other distracting websites and get to work.

Staying organized and sorting out your priorities is also useful.

In class, thinking critically about the material and trying to remain engaged will help you more in the long run than going home with a verbatim transcript of the lecture.

But most of all — hang on, I just have to answer this email.

LIFESTYLE

Friday, March 6, 2015

queensjournal.ca

• 15

STUDENT LIFE

Eating well on the cheap It’s possible to eat healthy, even on the tightest budget B y L ucy C hen Contributor You’re broke. Tuition costs and rent payments have bled your bank, and you feel a pang of guilt every time you pull out your debit card.

You’ve sold everything you possibly can on “Free & For Sale”, down to the last gently-used mascara.

But just because you’re broke doesn’t mean that you can’t well. I figured out that you can eat keep eating healthy and well for as little as $100 a month. Here’s how I did it.

Cut down on processed foods and dining out Pre-packaged meals and fast foods tend to cost more, make you hungry faster and contain an excess of calories and little nutritional value. Instead, cook things from scratch. Before you say “ain’t nobody got time for that,” I’m here to assure you that it’s entirely doable.

Cooking from scratch can be time-consuming, and not everyone has the luxury of spending up to two hours every day preparing fresh meals. So why not pick your least busy day of the week and cook multiple meals at the same time? When you’re done, divide everything into portions in microwave-safe Tupperware and stash them in the freezer.

You can also eat more home-cooked meals without compromising your social life. Potlucks with friends are a cheap substitute, and they still offer the opportunity to try new foods and socialize. You can even cook together and split the cost of groceries.

Fresh produce can be cheaper than processed food.

Keep track of flyers and discounts

PHOTO BY MICHELLE ALLAN

Opt for cheaper cuts of meat

Apps like Flipp allow you to look If you’re broke, then beef tenderloin up and clip weekly flyers from steaks are a bad idea, but you can various grocery stores and compare still get your protein fix. Chicken is and contrast different stores to get usually cheap, but drumsticks, leg the best deals. Some grocery stores quarters and wings are the cheapest (like Metro and Loblaws) have — and they’re delicious.

Ground beef can cost as little student discounts on certain days of the week, which are usually as three dollars a pound, and you equivalent to not having to pay tax. can make awesome meatballs and patties from it. Avoid pre-cut beef stew packages and instead cut the Watch out for “reduced” fruits beef yourself. and veggies Pork chops, flanks and sirloin Grocery stores regularly throw steaks are also relatively cheap, away perfectly ripe fruits because especially if you buy those large, they have a short shelf life, but “super saving” packages. Don’t before they do, some, like worry too much about the Metro, attempt to sell them in impending expiration date — that’s assorted packages at ridiculously what freezers are for. discounted prices.

Use your freezer These reduced items don’t show up on flyers so you have to find them in person. Simply put, things last longer in Don’t be embarrassed to buy the freezer. Frozen meats can last them — by doing so, you’re saving up to two months and still retain the environment and doing the their texture, while frozen sliced bananas make awesome snacks. store and your wallet a big favour.

Buy your food in large packages Larger packages are generally cheaper than smaller ones of the same amount. Pantry staples, such as spaghetti, cereal and rice, can last for months. You’ll save money in the subsequent months, and you’ll be surprised how much faster you can whisk together a meal. Similarly, potatoes and onions are pretty much indestructible, and you can buy as many as you want at once.

ACROSS 1 4 7 12 13 14 15 16 18 19 20 22 23 27 29 31 34 35 37 38 39 41 45 47 48 52 53 54 55 56 57 58

Voters’ mo.

“Awesome!”

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Nell 8 Melody 9 Submachine gun 10 Last letter 11 Halves of ems 17 Chicken — 21 — of the

Wisconsin 23 Serengeti critter 24 Cacophony 25 Stomach 26 Flightless bird 28 Hearty quaff 30 Lawyers’ org.

31 “Hail!”

32 Playground game 33 Math course 36 Domed tent 37 Bearing 40 Hotel

accommodation 42 Worship 43 Civil War side 44 Bundled hay 45 Summertime pest 46 Rip 48 Anatomical duct 49 Biblical boat 50 Shelter 51 Away from WSW

16 •QUEENSJOURNAL.CA

LIFESTYLE

FRIDAY, MARCH 6, 2015

POSTSCRIPT

It’s all about the money

In an attempt to curb her shopaholic tendencies, our writer vowed to go seven days without spending B Y C HLOE S OBEL News Editor Hi, my name is Chloe, and I’m a shopaholic.

Despite my parents’ best efforts and a financial literacy test I took in grade 12, I could be much better at managing my money. It’s not that I don’t know how. I’ve successfully operated my life on a budget before.

But it took coming to the brink of financial semi-ruin to do so.

I’ve written before about my struggles with mental illness, but what wasn’t mentioned was the relationship between depression and how I spend my money.

Without going into too much detail: in third year, I was romantically PHOTOS BY CHLOE SOBEL rejected at a time when I was Sobel noticed that she tends to spend most of her money on expensive makeup. beginning to struggle with money and then completely fell down the rabbit hole.

I spent so much of the money my parents had given me that I didn’t have enough to pay my rent.

I was ashamed of what I was doing but I couldn’t figure out how to fix it.

Eventually, I told my parents and they worked with me to figure out how to make a budget and stick to it. I tried very hard to rein in my impulses, and I improved.

But the worst part was not even remembering what I spent that money on.

I don’t remember because it didn’t matter, really. I was sad and depressed and I thought that I could fill the emptiness inside of me with things. I told myself that if something was going wrong in I still had to message people who I 5 p.m.

CoGro to talk shopping. Guillet, my life, I could at least be nice to was supposed to buy things off of ArtSci ’16, has a fashion and style myself and buy myself something and say, “Can we meet next week? My headache is gone, suggesting blog and says she’s a shopping I wanted.

SORRY!” I feel terrible. to me that I was suffering caffeine addict — though her definition That philosophy hasn’t really withdrawal. This doesn’t bode well doesn’t quite match the gone away, even though I know Wednesday, Feb. 25 for the rest of the week. usual interpretation. the consequences. It’s hard not 9:30 a.m.

“I would say definitely a shopping to give into my desires when Thursday, Feb. 26 addict in the sense of when I shop everything in my life seems to be I wake up with one of the 10:45 a.m.

I don’t always buy, buying and conspiring against me: my job is worst headaches I’ve ever had. I shopping are two different things rough, and my social life revolves drink a smoothie and pop two I’ve been saving a Tim’s Roll Up for me,” she said. around coffee and the mall. extra-strength Tylenol and wonder The Rim winner for the last two “I could endlessly window-shop So when, the week before if it’s possible to experience physical weeks, knowing I would need the and online-shop, but the actual Reading Week, I had less than withdrawal from shopping. free coffee today, because today is purchasing is sometimes like, I $200 in my bank account, I knew the worst of days: a press day. need a job.” it was time to do something 11:24 a.m.

Chloë, the Journal’s Lifestyle At this point, Guillet said, she a little more drastic than Editor, accuses me of cheating. has her spending in check thanks to collecting receipts.

On my way to my seminar, I cut It ‘s hurtful. a combination of past experience When I got back from the break, through the ARC and pass the Tim and rules for spending.

I went for seven days without Horton’s express line. Normally, 1:30 a.m.

“When I am working, I do this spending any money except on I would be evaluating it to see rule where I will subtract the price absolute necessities. if I have time to grab something The News section is done earlier based on how many times I can When I started the challenge before class. I wouldn’t have time. than usual on press day. I didn’t actually see myself wearing an on Feb. 24, I set myself certain leave the Journal house at all. item,” she said. ground rules: 12:57 p.m.

Maybe that’s the secret to finishing If it’s an investment piece — No spending on anything early — no coffee runs. that will last a long time, she’s except necessities from Tuesday, My seminar lets out for a break. more willing to pay a lot. If it’s Feb. 24 to Monday, March 2.

My first instinct is to go buy a hot something trendy or frivolous or — Necessities are limited to chocolate. Or a coffee. I think a Friday, Feb. 27 very expensive, she won’t buy it. groceries and household items, i.e., coffee would fix my headache, but 2 p.m.

“That’s pretty much how I toilet paper or soap.

I can’t buy it and I have no idea budget it. I basically look at, ‘is this — I can’t ask someone to buy me what I’m going to do.

I want a coffee. So badly. I told something practical, will I actually something on the condition I’ll pay my friend I would go to the use it?’” she said. them back. If someone buys me 3:45 p.m. mall with her and there’s literally “I try to avoid trends as much something, there’s no obligation nothing I’ve ever wanted the as I can and sort of focus on my for repayment. It’s a gift, not a loan. I go to my best friend’s house, way I want to buy an overpriced aesthetic instead.”

— I’m only carrying my credit where I sit on her bedroom floor caffeinated drink.

While she’s never put any of card this week, in case of emergency. and take two more extra-strength I know in my heart that if I her basic necessities in danger No debit card, no cash, no change. Tylenol. Rachael wants to go to had my debit card on me, I would from overspending, and she’s And then I began.

Starbucks. I remind her I can’t buy Tim’s. I even think to myself, dependent on her parents, there spend money. She points out the “Chloë would never know.” was a period of time when Guillet Tuesday, Feb. 24 presence of money on my Starbucks was younger when she was a “huge 1:45 p.m. card, saying I’ve technically already Sunday, Mar. 1 impulse shopper”. spent it — this is just redistributing 11:10 a.m.

“I ran into huge debt with my I forgot I had to start this challenge it. I buy the argument, and also parents because I’d borrow money today. Luckily, I’ve bought nothing. a coffee.

I meet Leandra Guillet at from them and they’ve always

taught me to pay off my debt with them, which is great, but it sucks sometimes because you’re like, ‘I don’t even wear half of this stuff, why did I buy it in the first place?’” she said.

Being on a student budget — she doesn’t work while at school — and living in Kingston has also taught her to spend more wisely.

Near the end of our talk, she said something I can definitely identify with: “For me, when I look nice I feel a lot better, especially when I’m stressed and it’s midterm season and I’m just super homesick and sad and miserable, and I’m like, ‘at least I look nice — small victory!’”

11:30 a.m.

At a coding workshop, I eat three and a half donuts.

They’re free.

Monday, Mar. 2 11 a.m.

I meet my therapist and tell her about the challenge. Most of our hour-long session is me just talking at her. She doesn’t say much, just lets me go on.

I’ve had a lot of time to myself over the weekend to think, and I tell her about the conclusions that I’ve come to: I have poor impulse control (which I theorize, and later confirm, is connected to depression, OCD and anxiety); I’m a little uncomfortable with the push and pull between being a leftist who is also very much a materialist; and I’m just really bad at saying no to myself.

I could buy makeup at the drugstore, but I honestly just like the cachet of name-brand items.

If I’m being totally honest, every time I talk about overspending, it centres on cosmetics. I don’t buy books often anymore. I don’t buy DVDs or CDs. I don’t even really buy clothes. It’s all expensive makeup.

My therapist does say something good about me, which is that I’m self-aware: I can recognize the contradiction between my desire to smash capitalism but also to own a lot of pretty things.

She’s intrigued by my story about the headache-fixing coffee.

My personal theory is that because some Tylenol products contain caffeine, caffeine fixes headaches, meaning it’s legit to drink coffee when my head hurts. I’m also afraid of becoming resistant to Tylenol’s effects.

She takes my pseudoscience in stride, and tells me two things: what the coffee actually fixed was probably a migraine, and caffeine is often present in over-the-counter medication in order to combat the drowsiness-causing side effects of codeine.

When I leave her office, my first thought is: I wish I could go to Tim’s right now.

I think a lot about it on the walk home. What is it that really drives my impulsive spending? Definitely poor impulse control — classic North American materialism. All these pretty things in front of me.