The Cascade Vol. 25 Issue 20 by The Cascade

SEPTEMBER 6 TO SEPTEMBER 13, 2017

VOLUME 25 ISSUE 20

Breaking the world land-speed record since 1993

The cost of textbooks

Pg. 9-12

SUS funding 3

NSO

The student union now requires student-hosted NPO fundraisers to pay full price for space rental.

The kids at the new student orientation put together a fantastic article.

MALK

MALK released a killer new album.

WWW.UFVCASCADE.CA

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2017

Editorial //

STAFF Editor-in-Chief Joel Robertson-Taylor joel@ufvcascade.ca Business Manager Quintin Stamler quintin@ufvcascade.ca

Copy Editor Cat Friesen cat@ufvcascade.ca News Editor Joel Robertson-Taylor joel@ufvcascade.ca

Managing Editor (interim) Kat Marusiak kat@ufvcascade.ca

Junior News Editor Jessica Barclay jessica@ufvcascade.ca

Production Manager Caleb Campbell caleb@ufvcascade.ca

Opinion Editor Panku Sharma panku@ufvcascade.ca

Production Assistant Satinder Dhillon satinder@ufvcascade.ca

Feature Editor Joel Robertson-Taylor joel@ufvcascade.ca

Illustrator Amara Gelaude amara@ufvcascade.ca Online Editor Jeff Mijo jeff@ufvcascade.ca

Who knows where the money goes?

Culture & Events Editor Jeff Mijo jeff@ufvcascade.ca Arts in Review Editor Martin Castro martin@ufvcascade.ca

THIS WEEK’S CONTRIBUTORS Maria Buganska Mitch Huttema

Cover: Caleb Campbell Back Cover: Amara Gelaude

WWW.UFVCASCADE.CA JOEL ROBERTSON-TAYLOR EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

@UFVCASCADE FACEBOOK.COM/UFVCASCADE INSTAGRAM.COM/THE.CASCADE Volume 25 · Issue 20 Room S2111 33844 King Road Abbotsford, BC V2S 7M8 604.854.4529

The Cascade is UFV’s autonomous student newspaper. It originated under its current name in 1993, and achieved autonomy from the university and the Student Union Society in 2002. This means that The Cascade is a forum for UFV students to have their journalism published in an entirely student-run setting. It also acts as an alternative press for the Fraser Valley. The Cascade is funded with UFV student funds, and is overseen by the Cascade Journalism Society Board, a body run by a student majority. The Cascade is published every Wednesday with a print circulation of 1,250 and is distributed at Abbotsford, Chilliwack (CEP), Clearbrook, and Mission UFV campuses and throughout the surrounding communities. The Cascade is open to written, photo, and design work from all students; these can come in the form of a pitch to an editor, or an assignment from an editor. Writers meetings are held every second Monday at 12:00 p.m. in The Cascade’s office on the Abbotsford campus. In order to be published in the newspaper, all work must first be approved by The Cascade’s editor-in-chief, copy editor, and corresponding section editor. The Cascade reserves the right to edit submissions for clarity and length. The Cascade will not print any articles that contain racist, sexist, homophobic or libellous content. Letters to the editor, while held to the same standard, are unedited, and should be under 400 words. As The Cascade is an autonomous student publication, opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect that of UFV, The Cascade’s staff and collective, or associated members.

How do you know I’m not embezzling student funds? You don’t — would you know how to find out? What a UFV student pays in tuition depends on which and how many courses they take. On top of classes, students pay semester-based fees. These go to the Student Union — paying off the Student Union Building’s $10–million mortgage, the U-Pass, the campus connector, Student Union IT tech support services, and the health and dental (which is an annual fee if you’re a full-time student). Per semester, Student Union fees total $141.23, plus the annual $215.59 health and dental fee. Similarly, UFV’s fun societies, CIVL 101.7 radio station and The Cascade newspaper, are predominantly funded by students. CIVL collects $7.85 per semester, and The Cascade $6.12. Are you happy with your subscription? As a fee-payer, you’re also a member — meaning you can get involved, contribute, attend board meetings, vote for board members, or run for the board yourself. You can also not attend board meetings, if you think that’s more worth your $6.12. Do you believe in this institution? Because you’re funding it. Over the 2016/17 year, (according to their official budget) SUS pulled in $648,000 from student fees, and oversaw a total revenue of $775,000. CIVL accumulated $170,000 from students, and generated a total revenue of $234,000. The Cascade garnered $131,000 from students, total revenue of $138,000.

Of course, if you were to divide, for example, The Cascade’s student fee revenue by the cost of student fees, you’d get roughly 21,400 — the approximate number of times fees were paid that year. Multiply that by Student Society fees (excluding health & dental fees), and you’d get closer to $3 million, depending on how you do the math. What The Cascade pulls in is no small amount — over $130,000 annually. Granted, by the time we make a newspaper, there’s hardly anything left over to pocket, let alone feed ourselves with. Regardless, there’s money in this organization. Consequently, it needs to be allocated properly. Though we’re separate entities, the three campus societies together touch well over $1.1 million a year (over $4 million if we’re counting all the money). That’s a fair chunk of change, I sure hope whoever’s looking after it has the best interest of the organizations’ constituents in mind. You’ve heard, “the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” Or, in context: your mom isn’t going to keep financial watch of all the organizations you have invested interest in — maybe you should learn to follow the money. Make sure there’s a new edition of The Cascade on the stands each week. If there isn’t, you’ll know we’re funnelling our Sir Robert Bordens into Cayman Island accounts.

NEWS

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2017

Campus Fundraisers //

SUS imposes fees on charity fundraisers

NEWS BRIEFS

B.C. NDP expands tuition waiver for former youth in care B.C. is expected to expand a tuition-fee waiver program for former youth in care, announced Minister of Advanced Education, Melanie Mark, last Thursday. The free tuition will be fore all of B.C.’s 25 public post-secondary institutions. Though the program will focus on giving former foster care children help in succeeding in life, Mark hasn’t announced details yet. “I’m looking forward to making our announcement public. I can tell you it’s going to happen very shortly,” Mark told Postmedia. Requirements for the program are: being from B.C., ages 19 – 26, and having been in care for a minimum of 24 months. -the CBC

ICBC to increase rates to cover record losses Basic vehicle insurance rates go up this year. ICBC will increase their basic rates 6.4 per cent, and the optional coverage rates up to 9.6 per cent. The basic rate increase will go into effect in November and will work out to a $57 or more a year for the average B.C. driver on basic insurance. Drivers with optional insurance coverage will pay more than $130 a year by next year, after a series of quarterly increases. Drivers with at-fault crashes will also see greater rate increases than what is currently assessed. -Abbotsford News

JOEL ROBERTSON-TAYLOR EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

A change to Student Union space booking policies may bar some student-run fundraising events from taking place on campus. The new philanthropic activities terms and conditions will require students acting on behalf of charities and nonprofit organizations to pay full commercial pricing for renting space in the Student Union Building (SUB). In the past, all student events paid the same rate: $0.00. This is problematic for fundraisers like Child’s Play, the largest student-run fundraiser on campus, hosted by the computer students association (CSA). “Every year we end up pulling in about $3,000 – $5,000 from students,” said Graham St. Eloi, CSA treasurer. “That all goes to BC Children's Hospital through Child’s Play.” This year would be Child’s Play’s ninth year at UFV. Last year they raised $4,600, and the year before that, $5,200. As a student club, the CSA could book space in the SUB at no charge, and their total cost to host the event last year was about $500, which went towards event security. This year, the Student Union has quoted them full price: over $7,000 to rent the space they need in the Student Union Building. According to the press release regarding the changes to booking procedures, yet to be released publicly, “These changes represent opportunities to protect student money and our investment in the building.” In the past, outside organizers have used students in a fraudulent way to host events for free. The new policy is aimed to protect student interests, SUS vice-president internal Jaleen Mackay said.

“If we said yes to that as a precedent setting decision, we would be filled with charities and NPOs all the time,” said Mackay. The press release stipulates that, if students fundraise on behalf of other students, they will only have to pay “variable costs,” which includes labour, equipment fees, licensing, etc. Only student events representing an external organization will have to pay full commercial rates. MacKay said SUS still wants to reduce the costs as much as possible. However, any representation of an external organization will still be required to pay full price. “If you are fundraising for a charity, you’re acting on behalf of that charity,” said MacKay. “If you want to fundraise for students, i.e. for your own club or directly back to students in some way, to the SUS emergency grant or to contribute to our food bank, things like that, reduce fees as much as possible” “This means that the benefits of the SUB go back to students — the stakeholders and patrons who paid for the space — not external organizations,” the press release said. Many clubs and associations that book space for events they host under a charity or non-profit’s name will now have to rethink event plans, if they can’t find the funds to rent space. “I think it’s absolutely careless,” said UFV student Sonja Klotz. “To say we’re a member of the student society but you now are treated like a commercial entity. A charity is not a commercial entity, there is no profit gained except profits that go to human rights causes or development initiatives like national disasters." "My issue is that we’re under SUS already,” Klotz said. “If we pay into [SUS] already, and abide by the policies and reg-

ulations the student society has for clubs, that should be enough … They don’t need to tax their own clubs and associations, that’s how you create enemies, it’s how you decrease student engagement and involvement,” said Klotz. Clubs may be able to submit funding requests to SUS to offset the financial burden of renting space. There is not yet a policy outlining how the requests will be approved, and how much of the cost may be covered by SUS. “I’m going to attempt to ask for the funds for the booking,” said St. Eloi. “They haven’t said if they’re going to approve that or not, they haven’t said anything about whether or not we’re allowed to.” This year’s Child’s Play fundraiser was set for November 17, but the club is losing planning time by having to figure out how they’ll fund their event. In order to afford the $7,000 rental bill, CSA could request funding from SUS. MacKay said that SUS may help CSA with the cost of space rental, but essentially would be cycling money back to itself. “In the short term, I believe it will present difficulties to students, and in the short term, yes, I think it will restrict more than help for some clubs and associations,” said MacKay. “But in the long term, which is what we’re looking at, a policy like this, I ultimately think it protects students a lot more.” "For me, as a student, that kind of scares me because we’re supposed to be the engaging, politically active demographic,” said Klotz. “We’re taught that the campus is the place where you can create these spaces for political and national engagement. It feels like charities don’t matter to our student society, and they just want to profit from it.”

NEWS UFV India //

Roadmap to India Satwinder Bains appointed principal of UFV India

JOEL ROBERTSON-TAYLOR EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

As of September 1, Satwinder Bains, director of the South Asian studies institute (SASI), and UFV associate professor, is also the principal of UFV India. Bains will alternate between eight weeks in Chandigarh, India, and eight weeks here for two years to oversee UFV India’s academic operations. UFV India currently has no principal. Last year, Former UFV president Skip Bassford worked as acting principal for four months, but without the position, there is a lack in academic leadership. “He did some work to get some things established, but we realized that there’s a gap in the academic oversight — although a lot of it is done from here, it’s difficult to do and UFV India is growing, so we need someone onsite to do some of that work,” said Bains. In the first year, Bains will focus on establishing a lot of the processes and protocols of what a principalship should look like, so UFV could begin advertising for the position as soon as next year. “The initial plan was we’d hire someone full time, but the budget didn’t allow that. So we said let's do a half-time position, then asked who would do it for half time. Questions like these came up a year ago,” Bains said. “We thought it was good if we had someone internal who already understands it, and can go in and develop the vision that we have, so I said I would do it for a year and establish it, then see what happens after a year.” The full-time principal position will be a five year term, and UFV looks to hire from anywhere in the world, not necessarily from within UFV. UFV India operates within a different structure than UFV in Canada. UFV India doesn’t have a president, deans, or department heads. Instead, UFV India has a director, managers, and faculty. Being small, UFV India doesn’t need the same kind of organizational structures that are required here. Because of the difference in structure, and the school only being 11 years old, UFV India is in need of strong leadership to develop long-term goals. While Bains is in India, a SASI co-director position will be filled in order to help with running the institute. “I hope within a year, and maybe within six months, we’ll have all of it mapped out and organized, then implemented,” said Bains. “I want to make sure we have strong policies that support our decision making so that we're not making decisions on the whim and fancy of one or two people.” To showcase the progress UFV has made in India, UFV is planning an India forum in Spring of next year. “We want to bring India to Canada and show it off,” said Bains. “We have a very strong program in India. It’s very rare actually, very few people have such a vibrant, and well run and organized program returning profits and all that. This is a model that people can use for their own planning.” Bains was the director of UFV India for four years, and has been the director of SASI since 2006.

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2017

NEWS

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2017

SUS Budget//

Budget Update

Why the student union’s budget is taking longer than expected JOEL ROBERTSON-TAYLOR EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

The UFV Student Union Society’s (SUS) budget is expected to be completed by November, and will be presented at an Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) shortly after. The budget would have normally been presented at the SUS Annual General Meeting (AGM) last March, but was postponed due to there being inadequate information for a comprehensive budget. Instead of fudging together a partial budget, the Student Union decided to totally revamp the budget’s design. In previous years, the SUS budget was

poorly organized, and offered little usable data regarding account activity. The new budget will be broken down into far more categories, with annotations for each budget line. The purpose of the reorganizing is to create a completely transparent budget, Jaleen MacKay, SUS vice-president internal, said. “If you look at a lot of the previous budgets, they’re not super based in reality, but this budget will be,” said MacKay. “And it comes from a place where people have had accounting experience, where people have looked at the historical trends.” Another change will be the addition of monthly profit and loss reports. Previously, budget reports were made quarterly, but with monthly reports, the SUS finance

committee will have a better understanding of how they’re doing financially in each month of the year. The delay was increased further due to multiple finance personnel changes, and needing to change accounting software. The Student Union is working towards having the new budget system in place by the end of September, and the budgeting process presented to and approved by the SUS executives by the end of October. “The budget is in a place that makes sense and will continue to make sense for years to come,” said MacKay. “It’s future proof, it's going to be transparent, it’s annotated, it has accounting students looking over it; I’m very excited to see it.”

Timeline of budget events: January 2017: SUS hires executive director, Mark Wellington. On his recommendation, SUS hired a financial consultant. The financial consultant began organizing the financial data, and discovered there was more work than expected. March: The SUS executive, in consultation with the executive director and financial consultant, decided to switch from current accounting software, Sage, to Quickbooks. April/May: Financial consultant continues their work. June: Financial consultant leaves SUS for personal reasons, but SUS hires full-time financial manager. August: Enough progress has been made to begin the budgeting process, but reconstruction of previous year’s books is ongoing.

Stories worth paying attention to

#Something'sFishy

#MaybeDon'tTPP

#InquiringForMoreTime

Is there a better way to farm fish?

What’s up with the TPP?

Missing, murdered Indigenous women inquiry to ask for more time

With the recent fish farm escapees swimming freely in the Salish Sea, is it time to ask what’s going on with our fish farms? After approximately 300,000 Atlantic salmon were able to get free from a fish farm in Washington, Cooke Aquaculture, the company that owns the floating fish farm, stated that stress on old equipment as a result of abnormally high tides is to blame, according to the Tyee. Open-net pens are a controversial topic in the fish farms industry, as well with environmental welfare groups. A call for more landbased fish farming was made after the escape, but experts also indicated that land-based aquaculture is not a sustainable business model.

The Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) is a proposed trade deal between multiple countries. The list includes Canada, Thailand, and Indonesia, among others. The stated goal is to promote commerce between the countries. The agreement originally saw the United States as a participant until January, when they pulled out of the deal. The TPP has been signed, but not ratified, by Ottawa and since prompted a poll, which stated that only 32 per cent of Canadians support the agreement. Council of Canadians, a nonprofit activist group, argues that the deal goes against public wishes, as the polling shows an opposition to TPP. According to the Tyee, of 18,214 feedback submissions to the Council of Canadians, two supported the trade agreement.

-The Tyee

The probe into why a disproportionate number of Indigenous women are killed or go missing in Canada may be lengthened by request of the commissioners heading the examination. Michele Audette, one of the four commissioners tasked with the examination, said the extra amount of time required has not yet been determined. The Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls Inquiry has been bogged down due to controversies including accusations of poor communication, failure to act in a timely manner, and a lack of support for victims and their families. Additionally, one of the five appointed commissioners resigned along with several key staff members. Ms. Audette hopes to use the time extension to reach more communities, and have more expert panels which will add to the findings and recommendations. -the Globe and Mail

OPINION

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2017

A reflection //

A moment for moms MARIA BUGANSKA CONTRIBUTOR

Moms. Everyone’s got one. Some love their moms, some don’t. Some moms are there, and some aren’t. Whether you were a product of love or something else, we all technically have moms. Moms are not just anyone, they’re moms. Some moms suck some of the time,

some suck most of the time, and some moms suck only a tiny bit. Some mothers raise you to believe things you one day realize aren’t true, some moms teach you things that don’t make sense till you’re old and have thought them through. Sometimes you hate your mom when you’re little, sometimes you’re not mean till you’re old. Some mothers tell you it’s okay when

The Cascade is hiring a

NEWS EDITOR

you’ve clearly fucked up, some beat you with a wooden spoon. Some moms are best friends, some moms just don’t get you. Sometimes moms get mad, but they’ll still feed you. Some moms are mad all the time, and some moms are rarely mad at all. Some moms love you, but tell you you’re on your own, some moms never leave you alone. Sometimes we listen to our moms, some

of us never do. All moms have problems, some will hide it, some won’t. There is no happy medium when it comes to moms, they are grander than any spectrum or scale because they’re moms. But also, moms are people too.

Like editing? Got a keen eye for details? You may be our next News Editor! For more information or to apply, visit ufvcascade.ca/employment or email kat@ufvcascade.ca.

Summer Break //

A case against summer vacation Having a full variety of courses available during the summer may give students more schedule flexibility JESSICA BARCLAY JR. NEWS EDITOR

Many see summer vacations as a chance to get away from it all, to forget about books and exams and just relax, but the tradition of school all but shutting down over summer is an unnecessary and outdated system. Summer break was originally intended to give the children of farmers some much needed time to help out with the harvest. However, the majority of students at UFV are no longer farmers, and modern technology makes it easier to farm with fewer helping hands. And yet, summer breaks are still the norm. There is no denying that a vacation away from exams is necessary, if only for our

own personal sanity. But if UFV offered a full course load in the summer, students would be able to choose when they wanted to take their vacation. Adding extra flexibility could help students balance their lives: we have hobbies, jobs, and vacations we actually want to go on, many of which don’t involve the heat of summer. Having a full variety of courses available during the summer would allow students needing to take classes during the summer the opportunity to do so. There are many jobs that have more openings during certain seasons. Taking a winter off would allow a ski bum to take to the hills, or a business student to take a corporate internship that has extra positions open during off-seasons, when other universities are in full swing. With most students going back to school in the fall,

there are many vacancies just waiting to be filled, and fewer applicants. Traveling in the off-seasons almost always means cheaper flights and less tourists, so taking the fall or winter off could mean the difference between sitting at home, or actually being able to afford a trip to somewhere new. Having a more flexible vacation can also mean taking time off to visit family or friends over Christmas, which isn’t always possible during our unfortunately short winter break. And what about hobbies, which are so often pushed aside and forgotten under all the textbooks? Like many others, my hobbies fall to the wayside in a season where I am stressing over exams. I, for one, would likely spend way too much time at the ski slopes if I had the opportunity to go to school over the summer, and being able to

go skiing on a weekday would make this hobby far more affordable. Some of the most popular activities in the Fraser Valley can be better off-season: hunting, hiking, fishing, and even camping. Many students are already taking a summer semester, or at least part of one. There are not enough classes available at times to take a full course load, and condensed courses can be awkward to schedule. I’m not saying that every student would want to spend the summer in school. Plenty of people enjoy the traditional vacation structure, and relaxing in the blistering heat. But many, myself included, would benefit from the flexibility of having the option available to us.

OPINION

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2017

New Student Glossary:

NSO - New Student Orientation is a free, one-day introduction event for new students at the beginning of each semester which provides a good opportunity to get to know the campus, and meet faculty members and other students.

OReg - the Office of the Registrar is where you go to register for classes and

pay student fees, and there is one located at each of UFV’s four campuses.

Board of Governors - they govern the administration and management, and control UFV business, property, and revenue.

S’eliyemetaxwtexw (S-uh-lee-uh-mut-out-ook) Gallery - the art gallery in B building of Abbotsford campus which features innovative and challenging work, with preference given to exhibitions related to the program and activities of the visual arts department.

SUS - the Student Union Society, a non-profit organization run by students, for students. They offer services and opportunities, and represent students and their needs.

CCR - a Co-Curricular Record is an institutionally recognized document you can obtain from UFV for engaging in extracurricular activities.

SUB - the Student Union Building (also known as S Building) on Abbotsford campus. It houses many different student groups and services, and provides a place for people to come and study, relax, and feel at home on campus.

ETS - Educational Technology Services, located in G104 on Abbotsford campus and A1205 in Chilliwack, offers a variety of educational tools and technologies for things such as enhancing class presentations and assignments.

PRLC - the Peer Resource and Leadership Centre is located in the SUB (S1111) and provides a safe and inclusive place that students can go for help and to find information.

ASC - the Academic Success Centre, in G126 at the Abbotsford campus and A1212 in Chilliwack, is the place to go to find writing and subject-area support in such forms as tutoring, workshops, online resources, and programs.

Senate - UFV’s academic governing body, which manages academic policies and advises the Board on ones of mutual interest.

OPINION

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2017

The Ant-infested Big Apple

On Humanity’s Achievements There’ve been some great leaps in technology during my lifetime. The internet exploded from a niche interest to a vital part of daily life. We have phones more powerful than the computers I learned to type on. Cars are starting to drive themselves. But there’s one staggering innovation that tops them all. When you get to the end of a bag of Cheerios, there’s way less dust at the bottom. Remember when the last three bowls from a bag had that disgusting slop at the bottom of the bowl, and a film of the crushed cereal coated the top of the milk? You had to sift through the inch of crushed “Os” to find enough intact for your breakfast. But now? I don’t even worry about the dust. It’s there, but only a light sprinkling, barely noticeable. Just pour out what you want and enjoy, no matter how many of the crunchy circles are left in that bag. If that’s not a sign that we live in the greatest time in history, I don’t know what is.

Brief bits of bite sized brevity

Jeff Mijo

I am a reluctant vacationer, and cranky traveller even in the best of conditions. Yet I am also an avid fan of binge-watching food showcasing and review videos on YouTube (Lucas Peterson > Nick Solares), which inevitably drew me to New York as the perfect honeymoon destination. I think in my mind’s eye, the city was nothing but pizzeras, parks, and protesters — but while two out of three of those have been awesome (I’ll find the third if I can bring myself near the Orange King’s Tower), I have also encountered a sheer density of humans I didn’t know was possible. People swarm and scatter like the ants you finally noticed living in the Push Pop candy under your couch. I hate cities, and especially the traffic. People in Manhattan seem to hate cars so much that they will actually form rogue waves of pure human mass (and some phone glare) to walk directly into traffic, in what I can only assume is a Luddite uprising. At least that would imply a goal, because the worse option is that everyone has devolved to the point that they’re following scent trails instead of common sense.

SNAPSHOTS

Amateur Power

Happy Feet

I’m no expert, and I’m only sort of good at most things that I do. I’ve never been able to feel comfortable labeling myself as someone who is a “pro,” even when it’s that I’ve spent years honing. Too much pressure maybe? I’d rather be the guy in the corner, smearing paint on his face and using broken equipment to barely scrape together a recognizable piece of art, or what have you. I want people to expect nothing but what I give them. When I tell people I’m a photographer, I don’t mean, “I can make you the most perfect Christmas photo edits, I can whiten your teeth, saturate your flesh tone, and soft focus your portrait until you look like a damn painting.” I only mean that I am a person who spends longer than a passing moment of fancy thinking about taking photographs, I find the process of taking photographs to be enjoyable, and that’s it really. If I take a photo, draw a picture, design something, make a sculpture, tell a story, or just talk about the weather, I’m doing so as a proud amateur in every sense of the word. Unless you’re paying me. In that case, trust me, I’m totally a professional.

Since the Student Union Building was first built, a small oversight became the bane of many a student: no sidewalk was put in between the SUB parking lot and the doors. Now, this wouldn’t really be a big deal, except that the large expanse between the two is infamous for becoming a miserable swamp for the better part of each year, which would usually leave those who chose to not go all the way around with wet socks and regrets. Despite complaints (and several Snapshot rants from myself and others regarding the subject), it took almost two years before the new sidewalk finally appeared, just in time for the Fall 2017 semester. So thank you, UFV, for finally bridging the gap across that gorge of eternal peril. We love the linearity, and our feet are much happier for it.

Illustrations: Amara Gelaude

Caleb Campbell

Panku Sharma

Curtailed commentary on current conditions

Kat Marusiak

Wide T extbooks Open

The burdening costs of educational resources Written by: Joel Robertson-Taylor Design by: Caleb Campbell

“The world of the academy is built for people of leisure, and this remains an unacknowledged yet intrinsic part of established success in academia today.” - Alyssia Fogarty, University Affairs.

he problem with textbooks is that they’re expensive. They’re sort of a hidden educational fee. Like a lot of students, James Tait was supposed to buy the online component to his textbook. Buying used to save a bit of money, he didn’t get the online access code that comes with a new book. “I needed it for my chemistry class, it was called Mastering Chemistry, but I never bought it,” he said. The online component is an addition to the textbook, for homework, self-tests, and tutorials. Textbook companies include these platforms with the sale of new textbooks as an additional service, but also to reduce used textbook sales. The access code for Mastering Chemistry is about $70. “$50 to $100 may not seem like a lot compared to hundreds of dollars for a class, but $50 for me, it’s eating for a week,” Tait said. “And I can’t really afford to go to school as it is, so I try to reduce my costs as much as I can.” Tait spends a lot of his time looking after his dad. So between time spent at school, on school work, and trying to pull in any extra money, there isn’t a lot left to blow on educational luxuries. “It’s between an extra four percent in my chemistry class and eating. So for me it was eating.” Textbooks may not seem like a big deal to anyone not paying for an ongoing education. For those who got educated in a time when a summer job at the grocery store paid for a year of school, and making six figures working at a university is no big deal, textbooks don’t sound like a concern. If paying only the online component of a textbook means not eating for a week, maybe the model should be rethought. There’s something to be said about the

simplicity of a textbook. As if it were the sum of all necessary knowledge. As if, when asking you to buy the textbook for my class, I’m saying, “Here in my hand, I hold everything you’ll need to know,” and for some reason that’s less intimidating than online content — where does it begin, where does it end? One of the big problems with textbooks is it’s a closed market. The student has only one option to choose from, and the choice is made by the course instructor. “The way it really works is the publishers talk to the faculty and say, ‘Hey you should use our textbook, here are all the great benefits of it,’” said Martin Warkentin, copyright librarian at UFV. “And faculty will make decisions based on a number of reasons, and if they choose to take

“I also just don’t want them to pay $200 to be bludgeoned with content.” a textbook then it’s the student that pays for it.” The reason that any particular textbook is used in any particular class is because the instructor thought it would work best for that class. It might be that the book is accompanied by a package of course materials — pre-written tests and quizzes, PowerPoint presentations, or other material to make the instructor’s life easier. Other times the textbook may really be the best option for teaching that class. Either way, the textbooks are sold to professors, but paid for by students. “The analogy you could look at is the pharmaceutical industry, where the pharmaceutical companies talk to the doctors and say, ‘Hey, we’ve got these great treatments’ but then it’s the patients who pay for it, or the healthcare system,” Warkentin said. Depending on what’s being studied, textbooks usually cost around $1,000 per year.

Some of these bad boys go for more than $300. UFV tuition fees for full-time Canadian and international students in an arts and humanities program at the undergraduate level was $4,182 for domestic students, and a whopping $16,100 for international for the 2016-17 year. Add the cost of textbooks, and domestic students pay nearly 20 percent more than what’s advertised. International students pay less than five percent more, but only because their fees are so ridiculously high already. Troubling stats show that B.C. students now work 180 percent more hours than in 1975. That’s how today’s students keep up with the unchecked costs of economic and educational inflation. The cost of textbooks has increased by 812 percent over 30 years. Dropout rates rise as student debt increases, according to Simon Fraser’s Open Textbook Summit 2015 Conference Report. When debt reaches $10,000, program completion drops from 59 percent to 8 percent. Perhaps the retention rates that UFV has been concerned about — around 60 percent — relates to the cost of university education. The book publishers industry generated an operating revenue of $1.7 billion in 2014. In 2016, they operated at $1.9 billion. They’re moving a lot of money. Imagine about 1.5 million full-time students in Canada paying anywhere between $600 and $1,500 a year for books. That doesn’t even include part-time students. No one will deny the overwhelming costs of education. But the chances of finding a real job without any post-secondary education are bleak. According to the Canadian Federation of Students, the average student in Canada graduates owing about $28,000 to someone else. What a way to create opportunity. The student gets an undergraduate degree to get a reasonably well paying job, so they can pay off the debt they owe for trying to get educated to get a reasonably well paying job. You might think of it like this: we’re playing Monopoly, but in-

stead of traditional rules, we’ve modified gameplay so that you simply can’t win. Facing an adverse, seemingly antagonistic system, students get pretty creative to avoid having to pay full price for textbooks. Whether it’s torrenting e-books, swapping “used” stickers onto new books, buying from other countries, or the old “buy-photocopy-return” trick. Or simply going without buying the text because any way you slice it, textbooks are expensive. In some classes, textbooks aren’t used enough to justify any cost. That’s why 38 percent of students opt out of the textbook market. One of, if not the biggest wave maker in the world of textbooks, is the open textbook, or open education resource (OER). It’s like open sou rce software such as Firefox or Linux operating systems, but in textbook form. According to Wikipedia (another open source), “Open educational resources (OER) are freely accessible, openly licensed documents and media that are useful for teaching, learning, and assessing, as well as for research purposes.” The term was first used at UNESCO’s 2002 Forum on Open Courseware. It refers to material that has been created for free use by anyone. It’s democratized information. The idea isn’t merely to replace bulky, expensive textbooks, although someday soon it may do just that. OERs are popular amongst teachers, students, and self-motivated learners. It effectively brings information into the hands of anyone who’s interested enough to look for it. “It’s about equity in education and access. It’s not just about saving people a buck, but about making sure everyone has a chance. It’s leveling that playing field,” said Warkentin. “Open textbooks in general is kind of a movement or initiative that started at a few different places in the United States, and it has gradually moved north,” said Warkentin. “B.C. is kind of ahead of the curve on a lot of these initiatives.” The Open Textbook Project was launched in 2012 as a B.C. government-sponsored initiative with an initial $1 million. BCcampus was created to oversee the project.

And although this is by no means the only large initiative to bring open textbooks into post-secondary institutions, it’s an interesting one because it’s government funded. BCcampus claims they’ve saved students between $3,412,621 – $4,094,204 since their inception. Of course, these are best-educated-guess numbers. They also don’t seem as impressive when divided across the 35,024 students who are using the textbooks. On the low side of things, this has, on average, saved students $97.43; at the higher end, $116.89. This is better than nothing, but still far less than what the the B.C. government estimated, stating the project could save students up to $1,000 per year, according to the previous minister of adva nced education, John Yap. The high end may be somewhat misleading because it assumes that every student buys a brand new textbook. In an attempt to balance the range, the low end figure assumes the cost of a textbook is averaged at $100 per student — an increasingly more common way to calculate savings in the OER community. With that said, it’s also difficult for BCcampus to track who’s using their resources. Right now they rely on instructors who have adopted an open textbook for their class to report back to BCcampus. Not all instructors do. If you want in on the savings, your best bet is to go to one of the top five adopting institutions: Kwantlen Polytechnic University, Douglas College, Langara College, Camosun College, and Northwest Community College, respectively. Regardless of how large of savings the BCcampus project has secured, the province has apparently put in $2 million over the course of a few years, which means the investment has at least doubled. BCcampus has gained a lot of attention for being a government funded attempt to encourage open textbook usage, but it might be the wrong tree to bark up. As written in Macleans, the whole plan is seemingly half-baked. If the government wants to help offset the costs of education, they might have been better off dumping that $2 million into subsidizing tuition, or not behaving so antagonistically towards

“We can be against technology and technological advancement as much as we want but at some point in time it’s like the train leaving the station, we either hop on board or we are left behind”

teachers and educational institutions. Current minister of advanced education Andrew Wilkinson said in a press release, “Open textbooks are one way that our government is putting students first. These textbooks offer students at universities and colleges throughout British Columbia the chance to save a lot of money on their path to success.” They are one way — they’re one of the few ways — our government gives any thought to students. BCcampus is sort of an arm of the government, as described by Maureen Wideman, director of teaching and learning at UFV. But the problem with the OERs is in quality of the text, and getting payment for the authors. “So you are a university professor and you’re going to write a textbook, but if it’s an open textbook nobody is going to buy it, it’s going to be free,” said Wideman. “How do you get paid for all the work that you’ve done to pull this textbook together?” The reality for someone who wants to write a textbook for open usage is that they likely won’t be getting rich off their benevolence. Enter Ian Affleck, department head of mathematics and statistics at UFV. It’s true that a lot of OERs don’t provide the same level of clarity, quality, or visual appeal that a published textbook would. Affleck said he has come across a few okay open textbooks for math, but nothing he would trust to his students — yet. The problem with a lot of what’s currently out there, as far as open textbooks for math goes, is they’re too “mathy.” “And everyone says ‘Of course it’s a mathy book, it’s a math course,’” said Affleck. “But we have students coming in from

high school and if the first thing they see is nothing but ‘Y is a function of X, say Y equals X, consider Y = 25-X^2’ — come on, that’s no way to start discussing a really important concept. Yuck, no one wants to see that, that’s just intimidating.” Affleck spent a lot of time combing through alternatives to replace traditional textbooks. Some are better than others, but at the end of the day, there isn’t anything he sees as worth bringing into his classroom. A lot of the open math textbooks aren’t much more than compiled course notes from math professors, and course notes don’t make ideal textbooks. But it gave Affleck an idea. “Back then I thought, hey, that’s a good sabbatical project for me. I’m going to go make my own.” So he did that. Affleck took a year of leave from the university and set to work on making the best calculus textbook — a book that would cover two four-credit courses. “I had some grand ideas of what I would do differently and what I would bring from what others have done, and how mine would feel different, and I got a decent start on it but it did make me realize, my gosh this is huge.” If Affleck was going to write a textbook, it would have to be something that would actually do students a service. And naturally, it would be free. “If I’m recommending this thing that I make commission off of every time it’s sold, there’s going to be an obvious skepticism about whether it’s the best thing,” he said. But if it’s possible to make a book that doesn’t cost anything, and that the students like, why wouldn’t other professors take interest in looking at it? And then maybe implement it in their courses, whether supplementally or to re-

place their existing books. It would have a clear benefit not only pedagogically, but financially. “It’s a big factor that you can’t ignore that this movement towards open textbooks can save students a ridiculous amount of money.” When it comes to open textbooks, Affleck acknowledged that you’ve got people all along the opinion spectrum. There are those who will look at a few free online textbooks and make up their mind that there’s nothing out there: they sign off, check out, and go back to their traditional books. Then there’s the other end of the spectrum where it’s believed that open textbooks are the be-all and end-all answer to textbook woes. But both extremes can be harmful. Pushing sub-standard textbooks into classrooms before they’ve been tried and tested is equally as counterproductive as refusing to ever spend time looking at the options. “I sometimes feel like I am reinventing the wheel because I’m not leaning heavily on previously built open texts, and I start to worry about that; am I crazy for not using more from what else is out there?” But there always has to be people willing to bring new and different material into the university. Perhaps Affleck is reengineering the wheel, but there’s a reason we don’t drive on wood spindled chariot wheels anymore. Affleck’s textbook project is ongoing. He didn’t finish it during the sabbatical year and now, as department head and teaching classes, there doesn’t seem to be as much time. The way OERs work is, let’s say one professor writes a textbook, then other professors use it and think they can improve on it. It’s not only possible, but encouraged, that elements from various open sources will be taken and improved on. If everyone collaborates to make a better product, eventually it’ll be just that. Zoe Dennison is an associate professor at UFV. She’s another supporter of open texts. “For me, I have always, for most of my courses, stayed away from textbooks anyways,” she said. “Because, particularly at the upper levels, I don’t really like what a textbook does to a course.” Dennison teaches psychology, and has for close to 30 years. You might say she knows her way around a psychology class.

The problem with textbooks in general, according to Dennison, is that they only provide an immense surface coverage of many topics. And this is actually problematic. “They just summarize all this stuff like it’s an idea that we all agree on.” She says the contents within the textbooks are often written in a way where the language assumes that we all agree that the info is straightforward and true. “I don’t want my third- and fourth-year students to think in summaries, and I don’t want them to think that we all know this stuff and we all accept this, and we all go on from here. It’s not accurate and it’s also not how research in psychology works.” Dennison’s contentions with textbooks go further beyond their death grip on the information industry. Why bother even thinking about the cost when the very content isn’t worth using? It’s not a secret that most psychology textbooks are in the $200-ish range. More often than not, she said, her students aren’t reading them — if they even buy them. And when they do, a lot of students experience studying-induced anxiety because of the inaccessibility of textbook material: “I also just don’t want them to pay $200 to be bludgeoned with content.” Instead of textbooks, Dennison teaches from the Noba project. Noba is one of the many high quality open resources for teaching, but it currently only covers psychology. It’s a free online platform that offers education resources through customizable, modular-based courses. Using the Noba project doesn’t make Dennison’s life easier. It’s actually more involved. Because Noba offers a wider variety of “modules,” to shape the class, she goes through and selects which ones she wants to use. She also writes her own quizzes, a luxury not provided when students aren’t paying for the course’s content. The modules might take different directions than what Dennison referred to as the set textbook formula: “You can give me any psych textbook and I don’t have to open it to tell you what they cover and when in the chapter.” Even though the Noba project does what Dennison wants, online content can be unique for some students, and sometimes a bit of a learning curve. Part of teaching the class from online material is ensuring

“Textbooks are designed to be sold to instructors, because they’re the ones that chose the book, not the students”

that it’s still delivered in a meaningful way. “I think it’s one thing for me to assume that this is good for our students, but I’m not a first-year student, so it’s really important in moving forward that we make sure that as we go along, that we look at what students are doing with this, seeing what they’re actually doing, asking them how it works, looking at things like how it works on mobile devices.” Regardless of Noba’s quality and the service it provides, the end goal is to educate students. Despite her aversion to them, at any given time there are stacks of psychology textbooks sitting around Dennison’s and her colleagues’ offices. Textbook publishers frequently send them their latest and greatest updated books. And if the publishers were to find out that some of the professors are currently looking to change one of their standard textbooks, they’d have a pack of textbook reps circling the department, each bringing every instructor and every ancillary a copy of their latest book. “Then they’ll make students pay for that because that’s who’s paying for the free textbooks. I don’t want a free book that my students have to pay for,” Dennison said. “In my office right now there’s probably a stack of about a dozen intro textbooks I have received this year alone.” In Dennison’s case then, it’s not just the cost of textbooks that makes her uncomfortable. Buying into the system is supporting a marketing model that really isn’t ethical. “Textbooks are designed to be sold to instructors, because they’re the ones that chose the book, not the students,” she said. “It’s not necessarily designed for the good of the average student who is taking intro to psychology, who is not necessarily a psychology major.” The unethical model that textbook publishers use isn’t the only option. And according to business professor Mike Ivanof, it’s actually outdated. Open textbooks are a bit like Uber, Ivanof describes: “Two to three years ago, all the taxi drivers in Vancouver said they didn’t want Uber, it was taking their jobs.” The City of Vancouver responded to taxi-driver concerns and banned Uber from being used in the region. But now, Uber is back. “What happens is, interesting and irrespectively of the will of the taxi drivers, technology is going to replace them. Whether it’s Uber today or the Google self-driving car 15 to 20 years from now, these people are dead.” One of the main and obvious problems

with the textbook industry is the way they profit. Selling books to instructors to be paid for by students is an unsustainable model. E-readers and the accessibility of resources online will bring in a major shift in how information is disseminated. It doesn’t matter how hard the publishing companies hold onto this bygone era, the times have changed. And Ivanof thinks we need to catch up to the 21st century. “We can be against technology and technological advancement as much as we want, but at some point in time it’s like the train leaving the station, we either hop on board or we are left behind,” he said. There are other ways of paying for highquality content, and it comes down to changing who pays. “I understand that the guy who writes the textbook needs to make money because he’s put time and effort into it, but you need to shift the revenue model from the students paying for it,” Ivanof said. “What you do is start inserting some advertisement, now you’re shifting the revenue stream from the students onto a potential user of that student later on.” It’s similar to what Google does. Nobody pays for their search service. But advertisers pay lots of money to Google to have their ads shown to you. A website called Bookboon does something to this effect. They offer thousands of textbooks for free, but every several pages has an ad. It’s a newer model, but one that Ivanof thinks can solve a lot of the financial issues with the current system. Several years ago Ivanof proposed to UFV that the institution take steps towards introducing and encouraging the use of more open texts. The effort to garner interest is ongoing. The open textbook movement still has a ways to go before replacing traditional textbooks — if it ever even will do that. But if the cost of textbooks really are too much, it’s something that will gradually change. It’ll just take time before students and instructors warm up to the idea. OERs are by no means the solution to the high costs of education. They’re not yet a complete solution to the relatively high costs of textbooks. But the trend shows that they will keep improving if interest keeps growing. And even if open texts do become widespread throughout Canadian universities, certain books just won’t be accessible online and for free. Contemporary fiction, poetry, or recently published works of philosophy won’t often be put out for free. Perhaps, as Zoe Dennison believes, the rea-

son that open educational resources haven’t been adopted in a broader sense is because of the security the textbook gives both instructors and students. The current model is one where there’s an expected way to transfer information. The textbook, print copies of readings, anything that can be held in hand is safer than online content, where the boundaries are unknown and the responsibilities of learning are seemingly limitless. “I think if we open it up … in the long term it would save students quite a bit of money,” said Ivanof. The textbook industry is really an oligopoly. Only a few businesses control the market. It’s a system that’s really an industry that profits off the need for education. But if students want a change in the material used in class, it’ll be up to them to make it known. “If you think that students are the customers, and the customers want a certain thing, there’s no business if you don’t supply that,” said Warkentin. “That’s where the student initiatives with the open textbooks will come in. That’s going to get more traction than a group of librarians that make guides and try to form committees. Students approaching faculty in a respectful way saying, ‘Hey, can you try this out?’” Textbook publishers are in a worse place than they’d like us to believe. They’ve been aware of the stats for a lot longer than any advocacy group. An organized push-back is all it’ll take to send the message that ransomed educations won’t be tolerated. Originally published in an earlier edition of The Cascade.

CULTURE

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2017

Federal Greens //

Elizabeth May to speak at UFV September 12

JEFF MIJO CULTURE & EVENTS EDITOR

The leader of the Green Party of Canada, Elizabeth May, will be speaking in UFV’s Evered Hall on September 12 at 2:00 p.m. May was invited to speak by the recently established UFV Greens club, and will be discussing “green economy and its relation to university education and jobs” at the free event on Tuesday.

“The process of bringing Elizabeth May to UFV began a few months ago when the UFV Greens were having a few beers at the campus pub, and discussed the possibility of bringing in a speaker to UFV,” explained UFV Greens secretary Taylor Wilson. “Naturally, we thought of Elizabeth May as one of the top candidates we could reach out to.” Despite May’s status as the leader of a federal political party, Wilson added that it was not difficult to arrange the event. “When we first floated the idea out there, we thought it was a little bit of a longshot, but it ended up coming together quite easily thanks to her dedicated team.” May has been the leader of the Green Party of Canada since 2006, and in 2011 she was elected as Member of Parliament for the Vancouver Island riding of Saanich— Gulf Islands, making her the first member of the Green Party to sit in Parliament. She was re-elected in the same riding in 2015. “In an ethos where many have become disillusioned with politics and politicians, Elizabeth May stands out as a genuine leader who works tirelessly to help lead Canada and the global community in the right direction,” Wilson explained when asked why the UFV community should come to hear her speak. “Elizabeth has been at the forefront of the Green movement for several decades, and it is a privilege to have her speak on our campus.” The UFV Greens are a relatively new club, having only begun operating in earnest at the end of the 2017 winter semester. The club was founded by Elke Crosson, and is

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now led by club president Quintin Stamler. “We are hoping that this year we will grow in numbers and become more politically active,” Wilson said. “As a group, we like to get together and discuss issues that are important to Green politics — so the club is a great way to get plugged into the important issues taking place in our community. After this event is over, we plan on moving forward with a petition aimed at the Agricultural Land Commission who is in the process of approving a proposal to convert 283 hectares of land zoned as ALR to industrial.” Wilson also commented that “it is common for people to think of the Green Party as being only concerned with environmental issues. While protecting the environment is obviously a key factor in Green politics, there is much more to the Green political platform.” The club has plans to hold more events going forward, including a panel discussion towards the end of the semester, as well as regularly scheduled meetings, with dates and locations to be announced on their Facebook page. Elizabeth May’s presentation will take place in Evered Hall in the SUB on UFV’s Abbotsford Campus from 2:00 – 3:30 p.m. on Tuesday, September 12. Disclosure: Quintin Stamler is the Business Manager of The Cascade.

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CULTURE

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2017

Life is a Box of Swiss Chocolates:

Back in Canada

JENNIFER TRITHARDT-TUFTS CONTRIBUTOR

Life is a Box of Swiss Chocolates is a recurring column showcasing the life of a UFV student studying abroad. Jennifer was in Lucerne, Switzerland at the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts. This is her final entry and a recap of her excursion. Wow! What an absolutely phenomenal way to spend my summer. After a rigorous exam period to conclude my semester in Switzerland, a Euro trip was the trick to ultimate relaxation. Now, not everything was super relaxing and stress free. In fact, a few instances were the exact opposite, but I wouldn’t change anything about my trip. I met some really interesting people, and had some great conversations. I didn’t add many people on Facebook or stay connected in any way, because my favourite part about traveling and staying in hostels is experiencing that serendipitous moment in that moment, and that’s it.

Also, nothing is more joyous than a box of Boursin cheese and a bottle of wine for only five euros. In France, I drank so much 1664 Kronenbourg beer, which is kind of expensive here, but over there costs about as much as we’d pay for a Pilsner. One of the most stressful moments was my five-hour train delay in central France. Unbeknownst to me, I had booked an Airbnb-style accommodation for my stay in Vichy. I did not have any air time for my phone while I travelled, so I was confined to only using Wi-Fi for communicating. I usually just put down my home phone number if I needed to put a number, and then my mom would contact me if there was anything critical that I needed to know. About an hour before I was supposed to get on the train, I was able to connect to Wi-Fi and got a message, all in French, which my mom assumed was for me. The message asked what time I would be arriving in Vichy at the Airbnb. Back in Canada, my mom had fallen asleep and I was unable to text the num-

ber with my phone. On top of all that, there was an accident on the tracks, and all trains were cancelled for the day, so I felt anxious that I was going to be late for these people who were waiting for me. The railway staff were very helpful in finding me a new train, and calling the Airbnb owners for me. The owners ended up picking me up at the train station at 10:00 p.m. when I was supposed to arrive at 5:00 p.m., and turned out to be incredibly accommodating and friendly. I finished off my trip in Switzerland, where I visited with most of the Swiss friends I had met during my time there, and a couple of years ago at a conference in Vancouver. One of my friends worked at a four star hotel in the Italian part of Switzerland, so I got to lounge around by the pool and eat amazing food. Such a nice way to end my time in Switzerland. At this point I’ve been home for almost two weeks. I miss Switzerland a lot. I miss being surrounded by other students all the time, and always having someone to hang

Semester Begins //

SUS student welcome event There was a bouncy castle. There was a bunch of stuff out front, there was trampoline things with the bungie cords that attach to you. Also, that bouncy thing, like a slide I believe it was. There was a food kiosk and a flippin’ rap concert. The whole thing went until midnight, that was a whole other thing. SUS president Gurvir Gill gave a talk about something to do with “getting your shit together” in the Evered Hall. Then a hypnotist did some of that hypnotizing they are known so well for.

out with, or do something new with. Since I’ve been back I’ve been dealing with old feelings I left behind about various friendships, school, and life after university. I’ve also been going through a lot of my possessions, and getting prepared for my last year of school to start. The things I learned on my trip that I’m really trying to keep with me are living a simpler lifestyle, taking time to prepare and enjoy my food, as well as staying active. I feel lighter, physically and mentally. I came across a post on Facebook that stated that you are only as strong as the circle of people around you. After spending half a year with motivated, like-minded people, I realize the impact of this statement — I feel energized and incredibly excited for my future. I met so many different people, and saw so many amazing things, that it really opened up my mind. I am looking forward to exploring new places in my home country, and trying new things like I did during my time in Europe.

CULTURE

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2017

NSO //

Who’s really inside the mascot’s costume? During UFV’s New Student Orientation on August 30, incoming students stopped by The Cascade’s office to learn about who we are and what we do. As part of the Amazing Race: UFV Edition, we challenged them to come up with a headline and image for an article, so that we could select our favourite to expand into a full article. This was the selected idea. All of us at The Cascade would like to thank all the students who came in to meet us, and created a ton of hilarious headlines and awesome art.

Sasq’ets, the lovable Sasquatch who serves as UFV’s mascot, has been representing the school since 2010, and in that time has appeared at countless Cascades games, school functions, and community events. But who’s inside that adorably fluffy suit, watching us all from underneath Sasq’ets oversized head? The Cascade set our top investigative journalists on the case, and has uncovered a startling truth. Our first clue that something was amiss came when we reached out to UFV for a comment. While such requests are normally welcomed, we received a curt response from an email address we’d never seen before, obfuscator@ufv.ca, that simply said “don’t.” Obviously, being the headstrong journalists that we are, we took that to mean “do” keep investigating, and as word-obsessed nerds who are overly proud of our voluminous lexicons, we knew that “obfuscator” meant someone who hides things. It seemed we had a cover-up on our hands. We started our investigation in earnest by having one of our reporters follow Sasq’ets after a basketball game. He walked out of the Envision Athletic Centre, still in full costume, and headed towards the SUB. At first we thought he was parked there, but he continued past the building, climbing up the hill beside the SUB with surprising agility for someone in such a cumbersome costume. Our intrepid reporter hurried after him, scrambling up the hillside and getting more than a few scratches along the way. By the time our reporter reached the top, Sasq’ets was across the gravel parking lot, and entering the forest across the street. Clearly the person cheering on our athletes was no slouch of an athlete themselves. Unfortunately, our reporter had not taken any of the advanced journalism courses yet, so their tracking skills were not up to par, and they were slow to follow Sasq’ets through the woods. However, the mascot’s oversized footprints and tufts of grey fur made a relatively easy trail, so even our novice woodsman of a reporter was able to stay on track. But what they found after an hour of stumbling around in the forest surprised us all. The Sasq’ets costume sat, neatly folded, in a small cave cre-

ated by the roots of an overturned tree, the head resting neatly on top, staring ceaselessly into our reporter’s soul. The big footprints, shaped like the pads on the bottom of the costume, lead to the cave, but surprisingly, more big footprints lead away from it, these ones from a bare foot that must’ve been at least a size 22 shoe. Scared witless, our reporter tentatively picked up the Sasq’ets costume’s head to examine it. Inside, they found another strange clue: more grey fur, not synthetic like that on the costume, but from a real creature. As they reached for the rest of the costume, they heard a rustling, and turned. There, standing behind them, was a towering creature, nine feet tall and covered in hair. Bigfoot, and this time not a costume. The reporter looked back at the costume, and realized that it was perfectly sized for the massive, ape-like beast. Then Bigfoot let out a roar, and our reporter made the smart choice, fleeing for their life, dropping the mascot costume as they ran. Returning to UFV’s campus through the dark forest seemed like it took forever, but eventually they broke free of the trees, only then daring to look over their shoulder to see if they were being chased. They weren’t. The reporter hurried back into the SUB and up to The Cascade’s office, where they told the team everything. We at The Cascade do not make accusations lightly, but we are confident in publishing this story: we have reason to believe that the UFV mascot, Sasq’ets, is actually Bigfoot in disguise, hiding in plain site. What his goals are we do not know, but to help get the story out, our reporter has been in talks with television production studios. A pilot has been written, and Netflix has optioned it for a potential nine-season run, with the working title Big Feet, Bigger Dreams: One Sasquatch’s Quest for Stardom. However, until we can verify the true intentions of our school mascot, we would advise all students to act normally around the disguised creature, so as not to tip him off that we know anything. We don’t think he can read. Or at least, this author sure hopes he can’t.

This article intended as satire

STUDY BREAK Crossword //

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2017

Made by Jeff Mijo

ACROSS

DOWN

1. To imitate or copy someone, particularly their mannerisms

1. Insect named for its many legs

3. Chop or cut with a tool

2. Intelligent ape species 4. Closest U.S. state to UFV

6. Ancient fable-teller 8. Beans, peas, and peanuts 9. Odds or chances 11. Pattern that repeatedly makes sharp lines back and forth (plural)

5. Latin prefix for “half” 7. Common synthetic clothing material 10. Sandwich-style cookie

12. To run away and marry 13. A person’s sense of self or self-importance 14. West African country, whose capital is Niamey

LAST ISSUE’S ANSWERS: Across: 1. Airbnb 4. Ishmael 8. SUV 9. Gig 10. Chaucer 13. Gazebo

Down: 1. ATM 2. Rye 3. Blogger 4. Issuing 5. Havoc 6. Arena 7. Logic 11. Hue 12. UFO

Illustration by: Amara Gelaude

Horoscope //

Astrological mysteries interpreted by Master Moji

Aries — Mar 21 to Apr 19 I asked the stars if this semester would bring you everything you’d ever dreamed of, but the stars said “just some.” So be prepared for when those super messed up nightmares you had as a kid start coming true. Taurus — Apr 20 to May 20 Keep the receipts, both literally and figuratively.

Gemini — May 21 to Jun 20 The stars were a bit unclear, but it was definitely something about floating and clowns. You’re not scared of clowns, are you?

Cancer —Jun 21 to Jul 22 If you’ve ever wanted to learn how to play the ukulele, now’s the time.

Leo — Jul 23 to Aug 22 You get knocked down, but you get up again. They’re never gonna keep you down!

Virgo —Aug 23 to Sep 22 Someone sitting near you in a class this semester could bring you good luck. You should get acquainted with as many people as you can, just in case. Libra — Sep 23 to Oct 22 In an effort to strengthen my astral powers, I spent the summer at a NASA space camp, but I think it was a fraud. They couldn’t even answer whether the stars would affect my destiny differently if I was on Mars! Scorpio — Oct 23 to Nov 21 You may think you’ve reached your peak, but this week, seek a geek named Dominique, steeped in mystique — she’ll speak, giving a peek into how to stop growing weak; an ancient Greek technique still practiced by an oblique clique in Mozambique. All you need to do to strengthen your physique is to eat a lot of leek.

Sagittarius — Nov 22 to Dec 21 Remember: if wishes and buts were clusters of nuts, we’d all have a bowl of granola.

Capricorn — Dec 22 to Jan 19 Not just everyone can pull off bright canary yellow, but you’re not just everyone!

Aquarius — Jan 20 to Feb 18 Be wary if you go camping soon: lingering effects of the recent eclipse include an increase in Sasquatch activity, and you’ll smell extra enticing to them this week. Pisces — Feb 19 to Mar 20 You will meet someone this week who will have absolutely no impact on your life, despite them trying to talk to you at length. Try not to be rude about that.

ARTS

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2017

Movie Review //

Logan Lucky lucks out CHARTS 1

Alvvays Antisocialites

Do Make Say Think Stubborn Persistent Illusions

Blessed EP 2

Kristin Witko Union

Weed Born Wrong Love

Woolworm Deserve To Die

B.A Johnston Gremlins 3

Nothing Means Anything Gorgeous Nostalgia

Lydia Ainsworth Darling of the Afterglow

Faith Heaker Try ;-)

Deerhoof Mountain Moves

Mauno Helah

Mise En Scene Still Life On Fire

John Maus The Combine

LCD Soundsystem Call the Police/ American Dream

K’naan Hamilton Mixtape

Bonnie “Prince” Billy Best Troubador

Jay Arner Jay II

Walter TV Carpe Diem

Boogie Patrol Man On Fire

SHUFFLE

Director Steven Soderbergh continues his career of creating Americana classics

AARON LEVY SORCERER’S CLONE

CIVL Station Manager Aaron Levy challenged a third year journalism class to write today’s shuffle on no notice. There were zero takers, so he’s showing you just how easy it is by using lyrics from some of his favourite hiphop songs in chronological order for this week’s shuffle! D’angelo and the Vanguard — Sugah Daddy High priced snake skin on her arm / Lace satin covering up her charms / You shoulda seen the way they tossed and turned / The way she made the congregation squirm / Girl’s got a worldly view / Apparently she sees through you / Her love was never meant to share for two / She said Kendrick Lamar — Alright Tell my momma I love her, but this what I like, Lord knows / 20 of ‘em in my Chevy, tell ‘em all to come and get me / Reaping everything I sow, so my karma comin’ heavy / No preliminary hearings on my record / I’m a motherfucking gangster in silence for the record Run the Jewels — Report to Shareholders Got a way with this, they might drag me away for this / Put me in a cage for this, might pay for this / Just say what I want like I’m made for this / I’m just afraid some days I might be wrong / Maybe that’s why me and Mike get along Chance the Rapper — Drinking All Night She’ll lie on the seat, she’ll fart on the seat / Now she jog in the streets / I don’t trust no one faking like a fan, asking for a pic / You should use your phone, call a Uber / You a goofy if you think I don’t know you need a lyft

MITCH HUTTEMA CONTRIBUTOR

The heist film is an iconic portion of America’s film history and Logan Lucky comes as the most recent and enjoyable in this tradition. Unlike many of its predecessors, Logan Lucky accomplishes more than stringing together action sequences with a half-cocked plot. Director Steven Soderbergh collaborates once again with Channing Tatum (Magic Mike), but also features an all-star supporting cast. Adam Driver, Daniel Craig, Katie Holmes, and Seth MacFarlane all play surprisingly minor roles despite their usually headlining roles. The film presents Tatum as a down-on-his-luck, hard-working single father to a daughter who dreams of winning all the beauty pageants she can find, with a mother (Katie Holmes) that will encourage her the whole way along. He is supported by several other rag-tag anti-heroes. Adam Driver play’s Tatum’s amputee brother, while Daniel Craig takes a backseat role as Joe Blow, an incarcerated safe blowing expert. Set in the very American South Carolina, Tatum and his mangy band plan a robbery of a NASCAR race. The patriotism is spread on thick in Logan Lucky with vocal sentiments like: “Robbing NASCAR is like robbing America!” Every corner of the film pools with Americana cul-

ture and values; none any more obvious than that great American heist dichotomy. Though every citizen is entitled to their own possessions, wealth, and way of life, robbing corporations and scamming insurance companies is a fine way to get there. From a director like Soderbergh, this theme seems to be par for the course. Watching Tatum play a touching, serious lead role with very low comedic relief is mildly unnerving, but doesn’t draw too much attention; he plays it well, but no better than he needs to. The atmosphere of the whole film contributes to the perched-ona-ledge feeling that comes from casting Tatum as a lead. It’s not a period piece, but it feels like it’s stuck in a period (maybe because it’s set in the American South). Despite strong patriotism and classical American values, Tatum and his gang never cross the line into the kind of Southerners projected in mainstream media today. The film is sympathetic to the plight of the stereotyped bigots from down south, and neatly avoids any situation in which those values might come into play. Logan Lucky has a strangely sober and up front point of view. Presented in an anamorphic aspect ratio, but with a field of view similar to the human eye, the film feels very real when you watch it. There aren’t too many cutaways or close ups in this film either. The cinematography isn’t overwrought, tends

to stay wide, and favours long takes. Once scene, where four characters have a crucial conversation, is shot in one long take with all four actors in the shot at all times. The film boils with simplicity and refined camera technique. This visual profile, in conjunction with the caricatured but honest characters, makes for a fairly non-conformative action film — Logan Lucky is not about the frills and explosions. With flicks like Hell or High Water, Baby Driver, and Nocturnal Animals all out in the last year, it may seem like the wave of heist films is attempting to unseat the superhero films that reign superior in the box office. But this isn’t the case. The heist film has always been a huge part of American cinema and Americana identity, and will likely remain so for many years to come. Lucky Logan separates itself from the pack as a feature that can be watched alike by the mindless and the mindful and satisfy each. It’s not going to educate you about anything, but if you were planning on doing nothing for two hours, watch this instead. When you reach the credits of the film, look a little closer at the “this movie is a work of fiction” disclaimer because Soderbergh left you a little message: “Nobody was robbed during the making of this movie. Except you.”

ARTS

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2017

Album Review //

MALK - Born Elated The Bear: A Farce in One Act Audition dates: September 13 and 14 from 4 pm to 6 pm Prepare: A 1-2 minute monologue. Contact theatre@ufv.ca to request an audition. For more info, contact Sabrielle McCurdy-Foreman at sabrielle.mccurdyforeman@ufv.ca

MARTIN CASTRO ARTS EDITOR

Released at the beginning of September, MALK’s Born Elated gives listeners a record that, intentionally or not, manages to stake out a very clear patch of land over which the B.C. foursome reign lax but supreme. Radiating the same conscious indifference with which the drooping hand of Michelangelo’s Adam reaches out to God, Born Elated inches towards — dare I say it — the divine. All throughout Born Elated, Malk give us two things: an eerily fine-tuned pop sensibility, and a delivery that is wholly bent on shrugging its shoulders, on distancing itself from any liveliness the band might have accidentally let slip through the cracks. Meanwhile, tracks like “Dried Out” only manage to further convince us that what MALK really wants is for everyone to dance, in spite of their often downcast melodies: Abbotsford’s modern-day Echo and the Bunnymen. And for the most part, MALK compel in us the urge to dance with an unnerving consistency. Other tracks on the record take the lethargy of a hellish summer and mold it into songs that would be pop hits if it weren’t again for the fact that they just don’t seem to care enough about modern genre staples to muster up the false bravado of a top 40 hit, and to MALK’s credit, the content on Born Elated is so polished that in my opinion it’s more than capable of going toe-to-toe with its more saccharine contemporaries without breaking a sweat. As far as pop sensibilities go, “Trillion” immediately resonates as a contender for the most dance-worthy two minutes to come out of the Valley in years. Sure, “Strange Diet” treats us to a fake-start that trades one crowd-pleasing riff for another which is just as likely to get bodies moving. (One doesn’t

need to be overly imaginative to picture wave upon wave of Carport patrons, nodding their heads appreciatively, quickly change gears and begin swaying into each other, whooping and laughing, like a field of sweaty, beertoting lilies ruffling in the wind.) But even so, “Trillion” takes the cake. I sincerely doubt that there’s a song out there that is more likely to make a roomful of 20-somethings ignore their fears and insecurities, and shamelessly jump around, dancing their moody, possibly drunk, and definitely sweaty little hearts out with wild abandon. Despite lyricism which may or may not communicate melancholy implications regarding alcoholism, the track is high up on the list of material previously released by MALK. It’s refreshing to find, then, that Born Elated is a markedly balanced record. “Dejected,” for example, sees MALK stretch itself towards a broader thematic palette. And if there’s one accomplishment that deserves recognition, it’s that on Born Elated, MALK shows themselves capable of riding a small groove amid their stylistic origins, situated at a valley between the more energetic aspects of the record, and a surprisingly restrained structure. Here, MALK know when to go all-in, and when to pull back. The result of which ends up being reflected in a record that avoids the pitfalls of mining a genre-staple for 10 songs, while at the same time maintaining cohesion throughout. In comparison to their earlier material, Born Elated showcases a MALK that is more in tune with itself, more sure of what it wants and aims to be. And at the end of the day folks, you don’t need me to tell you how successful MALK is in reaching that aim, because Born Elated is far more compelling in arguing on its own behalf than I could ever be in arguing for it.

ELIZABETH MAY Leader of the Green Party of Canada, MP for Saanich—Gulf Islands

Location: Evered Hall (SUB Building) Time: 2 pm - 4 pm

tuesday,

SEPTEMBER 12th

ARTS

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2017

Album Review //

The background world bleeds through in NIN’s Add Violence

The new five-track EP is part two of a planned trilogy

KAT MARUSIAK MANAGING EDITOR

In early June, an email update to fans from Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails asked, “Did you know Not the Actual Events was the first part of a trilogy of related EPs that will be released about 6-8 months apart? Now you do.” The second instalment of the trilogy, Add Violence, was announced the following month, and saw its digital release soon after on July 21. On the official NIN website, it is described as “Part two. The view widens and everything is in question.” Where NTAE is loud and abrasive, embracing the more gritty and harsh side of NIN’s industrial sound, Add Violence is seductively sweet and sullen, while simultaneously giving us the sense that there may be something slightly sinister lurking somewhere beneath the surface. The EP opens with “Less Than,” an energetic, ‘80stinged track that’s catchy as hell and reminiscent of Hesitation Mark hits “Copy of A” and “Came Back Haunted,” featuring sexy synth bass and pulsating percussion. The guitar-laden chorus comes crashing in with Reznor demanding: “So what are you waiting for? You got what you asked for / Did it fix what was wrong with you? / Are you less than?” “Less Than” was released early along with the accompanying music video, which features a young woman playing a trippy looking retro arcade game called Polybius by Llamasoft — a real game for the PlayStation 4 that is based on an urban legend about a video game supposedly used by the government to data mine people. The song ends incredibly abruptly, transitioning into the soothing, sensual, much slower tempo of “The Lovers.” The effect is a bit jarring at first, the song starting off almost silently, followed by a steady beat and Reznor’s

softly spoken vocals. An example of one of the many connections between the two EPs, this sound very much mirrors that of NTAE’s second track, “Dear Word,”; both songs also contain lyrics noting how “everyone seems to be asleep.” Plinky synth drops fall like rain, somewhat unsettling, along with piano notes that build to deep, beautiful chords for the choruses. Reznor’s voice becomes more melodic and rises higher and higher, before fading to barely a whisper during the last as he sings, “Take me / Into the arms of the lovers / Free me / Into the arms of the lovers / Please / Into the arms of the lovers / I am free...” Taking it down even further, we come to “This Is Not the Place,” which feels almost akin to a dirge: dark, lonely, and haunting, but at the same time intoxicating, the heavy bass flowing through you as the creepy piano and slight dissonance keep you just a tad on edge. The first half of the track is almost purely instrumental, before Reznor’s gently quavering voice takes over: “And if you see my friend / I thought I would again / A single thin straight line / I thought we had more time.” He laments the last line repeatedly in a harrowing, mournful tone, following us down as we drown in the remainder of the song. Breaking up the more solemn, somber mood, “Not Anymore” is hard and belligerent, marching in angrily, and creating an ever-increasing feeling of pent up and feverish frustration. During the chorus, Reznor screams over and over, “Well not anymore! Not anymore!” while at the same time, his voice begins to echo in the background, “And I can’t seem to wake up,” again and again with more and more intensity towards the end, until the song cuts off suddenly without warning. (The last 30 seconds of this track may arguably be the most danceable of

the entire album.) The final, and by far longest track (again, in a similar fashion to NTAE) at just under 12 minutes, “The Background World” is more steady and subdued. The lyrics are deep and poignant, urging introspection and closer observation. “The world is bleeding out / It folds itself in two / Behind the background world / Is always bleeding through.” The lyrical portion of the song only lasts for approximately the first four minutes, however, before the song closes off the EP with a loop that runs for the remaining time — 52 repeats, in fact, as it slowly becomes more distorted and deranged until it’s barely more than garbled static. There have been many different guesses as to what the exact meaning behind this may be, such as it being possibly representative of aging, as Reznor turned 52 this year, or maybe having something to do with there being 52 weeks in a year — people love to theorize, and Add Violence offers plenty of clues and opportunities for speculation and the discovery of hidden secrets and connections to other previous albums besides NTAE, notably 2007’s Year Zero. Familiar in many ways to a lot of different older work by NIN while still bringing fresh and creative elements, Add Violence is easily the more accessible of the two EPs in the series so far. It is an evocative, emotional experience that I instantly fell in love with, and one I would definitely recommend. All of the subtle connections and correlations are weaving together a very intriguing narrative, and I’m excited to see just where they’ll take things in the final part still to come. No date has yet been announced for the third EP, but it is expected to be released within the next six to eight months. So what are you waiting for?

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2017