Vol. 5 Issue 13

Apr

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2013 learning how to use spellcheck since 2009

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KPU FASHION GRADS SHOW THEIR WARES

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MASTHEAD

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The Runner is student owned and operated

by Kwantlen Polytechnic University students, published under Polytechnic Ink Publishing Society Arbutus 3710/3720 12666 72 Ave. Surrey, B.C, V3W 2MB 778.565.3801

www.runnermag.ca Vol. 05, Issue no. 13 April 30, 2013 ISSN# 1916 8241

EDITORIAL DIVISON Co-ordinating Editor / Matt DiMera editor@runnermag.ca / 778.565.3803

Culture Editor / Max Hirtz culture@runnermag.ca / 778.565.3804 News Editor / Vacant news@runnermag.ca / 778.565.3805 Production Editor / Roland Nguyen production@runnermag.ca / 778.565.3806

Media Editor / Kimiya Shokoohi media@runnermag.ca / 778.565.2806

Assistant News Editors / Sarah Schuchard / Chloe Smith / Sasha Mann Associate News Editor / Brian Evancic Associate Opinion Editor / Hannah Ackeral

CONTRIBUTORS Chris Yee

Cover Art. Roland Nguyen

BUSINESS DIVISION Operation Manager / Victoria Almond office@runnermag.ca / 778.565.3801

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Apr / 30 / 2013

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NEWS

Apr / 30 / 2013

B.C.

With $46 million in funding cuts on the way, B.C. gov offers plan for universities to save money

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ANDREW BATES SPECIAL TO THE RUNNER

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As B.C.’s colleges and universities puzzle over how to deal with $46 million of funding cuts, the provincial government is trying to convince them to cozy up to each other.

The Ministry of Advanced Education is currently making proposals for post-secondary institutions to cut costs by combining services like information technology, purchasing and libraries.

But with the project still far away from implementation, some wonder whether it can save enough money to deal with $46 million in funding cuts to B.C.’s post-secondary sector over the next two years.

Called the Post-Secondary Administrative Service Delivery Project, external consultants Deloitte and Touche delivered a report in February identifying opportunities for universities to cut costs by sharing services.

The report identifies three categories of opportunities — those with the clearest benefits and those easiest to implement — as saving between $38 and $83 million, not counting the $13.5-26 million they would cost to implement. Many of the opportunities revolve around purchasing; the idea is that buying things together and loading more schools onto the same contract for things like credit card payments, print services, food services, vending machines and shipping could result in more favourable rates.

“I thought it was a well-crafted report,”

Oliver Gruter-Andrew, UBC’s chief information officer and representative on the project, wrote in an email. Gruter-Andrew went on to praise the project’s tight timelines. The project began in June 2012.

Because UBC is so large, Gruter-Andrew suggested that it doesn’t have a lot to save through the program. “UBC already has critical mass and our costs are at the lower end of the possible range. This is simply a function of our size compared to most other institutions,” he wrote.

He suggested that the main benefit would be making things easier for smaller schools. “We will mostly contribute our purchasing power … as well as our expertise and resource capacity,” he said. “UBC gains from the strength of the whole sector.”

A budget planning document on the University of Victoria’s website calls the project helpful. But UVic still believes it will have to cut education programs to meet the province’s funding cuts, and it doesn’t think the program will help. They say they have already found savings that amount to 8.5 per cent of its operating budget since 2009, and asked departments on April 1 to cut a further 4 per cent from their budgets.

Gruter-Andrew said that while he agrees with the savings projections, there’s still a lot of work to do to find out whether or not those savings are actually possible, as well as what they’d cost to execute. “The ranges of savings … are subject to significant interpretation,” he said. “Achieving the target benefits will require substantial investments upfront.”

The NDP’s post-secondary critic, Michelle Mungall, wasn’t against the project, but criticized it as a way of justifying the post-secondary funding cuts.

“Interesting being an ambiguous word, it was nonetheless interesting that there were some opportunities, absolutely, to save costs to the system,” she said. “Overall, an interesting component in all of this is how the Liberals have chosen to administrate this.”

Mungall said that the project is the government’s main plan on how to achieve the $46 million in cuts, even though the savings could take six years to realize. “The reason why they’re cutting $46 million between post-secondary education is the difference between 83 and 38,” she said. “They’re going to jam-pack it into the next two fiscal years.”

Mungall also noted that shared services have had mixed success in B.C.’s health industry. It’s a sore point among unions that make up part of the NDP’s support base, who worry that it could mean job losses for public-sector employees.

“If we’re going to proceed on this as a government, we’re going to have to be very thoughtful,” she said. “We definitely can’t steamroll ahead … because we’re talking about people’s jobs.”

Though the original report said the decisions of the project’s nine-school committee will be binding on those nine schools, the government says that institutions will help the government develop business plans, and not every institution will be included in every project. The ministry has also confirmed that implementation won’t break ex-

One of the areas the government would like to see universities pool their resources is shipping costs.

Kai Jacobson/Ubyssey

isting contracts with university workers and is not expected to result in staff reductions.

Many of the job opportunities, including those related to IT operations, will go through independent bodies operated by either the government or groups of post-secondary institutions. Some of these include BCNET, which handles network services, and BCCampus, which handles research and development of software systems.

“Some of our institutional partners do see us as outsourcing, but in actuality we’re not,” said Victoria Klassen, BCCampus’s director of communications. “What we’ve worked very hard to do over the last 10 years is to make sure that whatever we built can work and integrate with … systems that respect the autonomy of the institutions, but at the same time bring institutions together.”

BCCampus, founded in 2002 by the Liberal government as part of a pilot project for shared services in the post-secondary sector, develops IT products like ApplyBC, which attempts to streamline university and college applications, and Moodle, an open-source Learning Management System that operates like WebCT Vista. BCCampus also develops business models and practices for online learning.

“Even if there is a desire of several institutions to work together, there has to be one kind of space, one body, that has the infrastructure and the processes in place that will actually bring those institutions together,” said Klassen. “We really believe that together, we can do more than one institution can do on its own.”

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Apr / 30 / 2013

KSA

Ansary appointed as KSA’s women’s rep

Kwantlen students stand to vote in favour of appointing Arzo Ansary as the KSA’s women’s constituency representative .

Matt DiMera/The Runner

Almost 100 students attended the April 11 SGM.

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MATT DIMERA

COORDINATING EDITOR

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Arzo Ansary has rejoined the Kwantlen Student Association’s board of directors, after a unanimous vote to appoint her as the women’s representive at a special general meeting (SGM) on April 11.

Ansary was disqualified from running in the last election in February after filing her nomination papers an hour late.

Ansary will hold office until the end of the term in March 2014, or until a by-election is held.

Almost 100 students attended the meeting on the Surrey campus, surpassing the 60-student minimum required by the KSA’s bylaws.

The motion to appoint Ansary was moved and seconded by Iman Ghahremani

and Richard Hosein, students who both currently serve on the KSA’s board.

The KSA’s mature student representative Ahmad Kheslat spoke against the appointment multiple times during the meeting, arguing that holding the special meeting was costing students money.

“It’s nothing personal,” said Kheslat.

“It’s a question of how students’ money is being used by the council.”

He also suggested that Ansary should wait until the next election.

“This is not fair for those students who were elected,” he said.

KSA senate representative Ghahremani dismissed Kheslat’s points, saying that Ansary had done an exemplary job over the her previous term on council.

“These minor costs, when looking at what

she was able to achieve not only for women on this campus, but also students-at-large, are miniscule,” Ghahremani rebutted.

“The minor, tiny, less-than-$100 cost that goes to something like this is a ridiculous argument against an SGM such as this. It would definitely be a step back in the wrong direction if we don’t appoint Arzo Ansary as the women’s representative.”

Student and women’s collective member Jessica Lar-Son also spoke on Ansary’s behalf.

“I think this campus really benefits having her as a part of it,” she said.

Ansary eventually addressed the crowd to speak about why she wanted to be the women’s representative.

“This is something I feel passionately about. I grew up in an environment where I had no freedoms. I had nothing and then

I came to university and it opened up my mind,” she explained.

“Forget that this is me . . . there is a need to have the voice of women represented on this organization.”

Kheslat left the room shortly before the vote and the vote to appoint her was unanimous — 90 for and 0 against.

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EDITORIAL

Apr / 30 / 2013

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Proposal to block KSA funding to external religious and political groups makes good sense

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THE RUNNER EDITORIAL

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At the Kwantlen Student Association’s (KSA) April 11 special general meeting, aboriginal representative Melinda Bige proposed a policy that would bar the KSA from providing funding to clubs affiliated with political parties, with religious organizations or causes, or with external organizations. After a short but robust discussion, the debate was postponed until the fall so lawyers could be consulted.

The motion would reinstate the divide between recognised groups and organizations with full club status, a divide which was dissolved after the anti-choice group Protectores Vitae was given full club status despite their religious background. Bige made no secret that her motion was at least partially in response to their creation, using the club as an example of those who would be denied funding should the motion pass.

Many students in attendance felt the policy would encroach on personal freedoms. This is not the case. The motion is meant to protect the integrity of Kwantlen as an institution. Kwantlen has a diverse student body, and the Kwantlen Student Association (KSA) should continue to foster an open, inclusive campus for students of all faiths and political affiliations.

Recently, the Kwantlen International Student Society (KISS) received $1620 from the KSA to host an on-campus celebration of Holi, a Hindu holiday. The event included food, dancing and the iconic throwing of coloured powder. It allowed students to share their culture and traditions with the rest of

campus. Under the proposed motion, events like this could still receive KSA funding.

Despite being a religious celebration, KISS was hosting an event that was being held by students for students, and therefore was deserving of the student budget.

Bige’s motion would stop external groups not associated with the campus from using a budget made up of student funds from pushing their own agendas. While Protectores Vitae has religious ties, it is not being made an example of simply because it is religious. Instead, students should be concerned about its ties to external antichoice groups which already provide it with financial support and are using it as a way to worm onto campuses and use money from students to do so.

Similarly, political groups on campus can still exist under the proposed motion.

Students are free to show support for political parties, but student fees should not be used to fundraise for political parties that already have extensive funding of their own.

The KSA should not be in the business of providing funding to political parties. Students at Kwantlen are diverse and should not see their student fees going to support political parties of any kind.

Bige’s motion actually offers a fair solution to the club versus recognized group debate. It allows clubs previously excluded due to their possibly controversial ties access to funding, so long as it is students acting on behalf of students. By disallowing access to outside organization, it ensures the autonomy of the student association.

KSA

KSA aboriginal representative Melinda Bige at the April 11 special general meeting.

Matt DiMera/The Runner

A DAY OF PERSONAL & PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT presents

May 3, 2013 · LANGLEY EVENTS CENTRE, 7888 – 200 Street, Langley, BC Me to We: How One Person Can Make a World of Difference Craig Kielburger

Motivating Marginalized Students for Success Dr. Victor Rios

Co-founder of Free the Children & We Day

Former LA gang member, now Professor of Sociology & authority on marginalized youth

What Do You Want to Do Before You Die?

The Buried Life

Person Centered Thinking and Planning for Everyone Michael Smull

Stars of MTV reality television show

Co-developer of Person Centred Thinking

Interventions for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders Dr. V. Mark Durand Author of “Optimistic Parenting”

Admission is FREE Pre-register online at

www.bethechangesymposium.com

Pre-registration required if you want to reserve a seat and/or receive a professional development certificate.

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FEATURE

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The Show must go on

Fashion design and technology students showed off their impressive final projects at Kwantlen’s annual fashion show, which took place April 19 at the River Rock Show Theatre in Richmond.

(Featured in this photo spread: Axl and Crane by Serena Dulai, Project X, Mizgala by Stefania Bussey, Jolie Hart by Taylor Byrom, Velocity by Jessica Lim) Chris Yee/The Runner.

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Apr / 30 / 2013

FEATURE

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CULTURE

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Apr / 30 / 2013

Brothers in arms Vancouver’s Dog Brothers martial arts group takes things to the extreme.

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BRIAN EVANCIC CONTRIBUTOR

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Do you enjoy beating the shit out of people but are frustrated at the lack of legal avenues to pursue your predilection? Then come on down to Dog Brothers, a Canadian-started martial arts group dedicated to no-limits, stick-fighting duels. In the Dog Brothers, you will be taught Eskrima, a Filipino weapons-based martial arts system. Available implements range from the typical choices, such as swords and spears, to the more exotic, such as the Filipino ginunting: a sword that curves away from the wielder like an extended claw. Dual-wielding is permitted, as member Chris demonstrated during one of the Vancouver chapter’s weekly Sunday meet-ups. For one sparring exercise, he chose to accompany his ginunting with a

daga – a Filipino dagger with a very short, zig-zagged blade – in his left hand. Is this two-pronged approach more effective than the singular kind?

“Not really,” Chris says. It definitely looks cool though.

According to Loki — one of the club’s chief instructors who renamed himself after the trickster Norse god because of his similar appetite for chaotic processes, like the Dog Brothers — Chris is the best fighter the chapter has. In the recent gathering — the name of the international tournaments the Dog Brothers holds – in Montreal, Chris broke the thumb of fellow Vancouverite Brad in a showdown, which explains the latter’s absence from the meet-up I attended.

This incident is one of many empirical justifications for Chris’s nickname “Lazy Dog” — not because he is lazy, but because he uses a slow but very powerful fighting style. Every fully-ordained Dog Brother assumes a

similar title; Loki’s is Tricky Dog. Unfortunately for me, I naïvely chose to attend a rather subdued session. “After the gathering, things really ramp down and people try to take it easy. Leading up to a gathering is when things get strenuous because people are trying to prepare,” says Loki. Which is why only four people showed up and no full-on duels occurred.

Instead, you had the dance-music-driven cardio workouts and partner technique-exercises of more typical martial arts schools’ regimens. The technique exercises were interesting to see; the paired-up members formed mini, tornadic flurries of dual-baton strikes and counter strikes, darting all over the training area in a constant ring of woodon-wood clashing. It was still “probably the tamest I’ve ever seen it,” said Chris, who has been a member for 14 years. Despite the session’s highly-anomalous nature, it did culminate in a “3/4” scale intensity match

Loki, Chris, Stas and Jacy.

Brian Evancic/The Runner

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CULTURE

Apr / 30 / 2013

Loki, one of the club’s instructors.

Brian Evancic/The Runner

between Loki and the late-arriving Jacy.

Even at this level of reservation, the melee was ferocious, ending with Loki pinned to the floor because of Jacy’s superior, Jiu-Jitsuhoned ground game. Jacy proceeded to give Loki a few light clubs to his consternated face before Loki tapped out.

Full-scale fights typically last a few minutes; the only mandatory pieces of protective equipment are used fencing helmets received from fencing clubs. These clubs have no more use for the helmets, as their dented masks do not adequately shield the wearer from the thrusts that fencers use, but they appear to be adequate for the more arced blows of the Dog Brothers.

Before they don these masks, the combatants must sign a form stating that they will not sue each other or the club for any bodily damage that may occur. Loki says it hasn’t ever really been an issue as no one has ever left a fight that disgruntled. In fact, a lot of the time the participants hug each other afterwards. “We vow to be friends afterwards, and everyone leaves with the same IQ they came here with,” he says.

Unfortunately, if you enjoy armament diversity, most of your choices come in exclu-

sively metallic varieties that cannot be used in duels. They are good for practice, though, because their huge potential for causing damage helps to instill the point that dodging blows is a more important skill than trying to increase your capacity to withstand them, says Chris. You can understand the real-world applicability of this principle, as there is not much point in learning how to bear a knife prod.

For the fights, you’ll have to settle for a generic wooden alternative, made out of rattan wood, a solid kind of bamboo. You can still do some serious damage with these sticks, though not as much as you’d think. Loki swears that grappling is the most injurious aspect of the activity, of which the worst consequence he’s seen has been a torn ligament.

That’s hard to believe when a Dog Brothers slide show displayed on a wall-mounted TV portrays a close-up of a man bleeding profusely from the head after a vicious downstrike. And yet, despite the injury, he evinces a serene, blissful smile under the waterfall of blood pouring from his forehead.

And this is really what the Dog Brothers is all about: training you to keep a calm and rational mindset in intense situations. The

practice itself might seem a little too extreme and daunting for some, but as Loki says, “it’s like walking through an airplane propeller and finding yourself on the other side thinking ‘Huh, how the hell did that happen?’” It helps explains the organizations motto: “Higher Consciousness through Harder Contact.”

All this inurement doesn’t induce a psychopathic blood-lust in the participants.“These guys are teddy bears,” says Stas, the oldest member present and owner of a massage parlour. Stas says that very few of the brothers have actually used their prowess outside of the organization and have no desire to. Still, he thinks that it’s a good idea to attain such skills when it is easy to come across volatile, testosteronepossessed young males in the real world.

Loki believes that his training has helped him confidently diffuse situations when a confrontation threatened to break out into a brawl.

So if you feel the Dog Brothers is something that might sate your more pugilistic tendencies, or you’d like to spectate from a safe distance, check out their website: http://dogbrothers.com/.

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Apr / 30 / 2013

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Cleveland Show cancelled

The Family Guy spin off will not continue after its current fourth season after losing many of its viewers. Seth Macfarlane, who created the show, will continue to work on his other two series, Family Guy and American Dad. He’s also working on a new live-action sitcom and is directing a feature-length film called A Million Ways to Die in the West. Macfarlane will star in the film alongside Amanda Seyfried.

Star Wars release dates announced 2015, 2017, and 2019. J.J. Abrams (Star Trek, Super 8, Mission Impossible III) is set to direct the first of the three, Episode VII. Michael Arndt, who wrote Toy Story 3, Oblivion and the upcoming Hunger Games sequel, is working on the screenplay. No word on who will be involved in the last two installments. For those of you who have been living under a rock: Disney bought Lucasfilm a few months ago and announced it would continue the Star Wars series.

New Daft Punk single

R.I.P. Richie Havens

On April 19, Daft Punk released its first single from its upcoming album Random Access Memories. The song features Pharrell Williams (of N.E.R.D. fame) on vocals and was co-written by disco veteran Nile Rodgers.

The song has been very well received by critics and became Daft Punk’s first top ten hit in the UK since “One More Time” in 2000.

Folk musician Richie Havens died on April 22 after suffering from a heart attack. The guitarist and singer, who is probably most well known for his cover of The Beatles’“Here Comes the Sun” and his performance in the documentary Woodstock, was 72. He was active in the music industry for over 40 years and has had 13 albums in Billboard’s Top 200. More highlights: He performed at Bill Clinton’s inauguration in 1993 and the 1999 Tibetan Freedom concert, and co-founded a children’s museum in the Bronx called the Northwind Undersea institute.

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Apr / 30 / 2013

PROCRASTINATION

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Horoscope

Sagittarius Nov. 23 - Dec 21

Capricorn Dec. 22 - Jan 20

The sky is falling down and the only one who can save us fell into a well last June and can’t get out.

“I met a man once. I met a man once. I met a man once. I met a man once.” - ???

The rules don’t apply to you this month. You heard it from us, and we never lie. Go get ‘em!

Aries Mar 21 - Apr 19

Taurus Apr 20 - May 20

Gemini May 21 - Jun 20

“Kill your idols, but do it quickly. Like, with a grenade or something.” - Elvis Presley

You’re deceiving yourself, and you know it. Go into the wilderness this weekend and face your demons.

You’re going to go to a pool party this month.

Revolting things are going to happen, and you’re going to wish you were never born.

This month, The Runner encourages you to play in the sunshine.

Virgo Aug 24 - Sept 23

Libra Sept 24 - Oct 23

Scorpio Oct 24 - Nov 22

The spirit world would like to congratulate you for all the things you accomplished in April.

“How many times have I lit my wife’s car on fire?

Why would you ask me that?” - Tom Cruise

You deserve the very best, according to the spirit world. Not sure what it sees in you, but there you have it.

Leo Jul 24 - Aug 23

Don’t be afraid of spiders. They’re just like you, but smaller. They have dreams, and if you kill them, their dreams die.

Aquarius Jan 21 - Feb 19

Pisces Feb 20 - Mar 20

As you probably know, Saturn is set to explode on May 14. Spend your last precious moments together playing hacky sack.

Cancer Jun 21 - Jul 23

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