Carillon (Volume 62, Issue 5)

the carillon

62

the staff editor-in-chief

editor@carillonregina.com

The University of Regina Students’ Newspaper Since 1962 September 19 - September 25, 2019 | Volume 62, Issue 5 | carillonregina.com

john loeppky

executive director jacob nelson business@carillonregina.com

cover

production manager jeremy davis production@carillonregina.com advertising manager advertising@carillonregina.com

The English Department prepares to embark on an interesting new program. Eight students will have the opportunity to engage with incarcerated students at the Regina Correctional Centre.

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technical editor frank nordstrom carillontechnical@carillonregina.com multimedia Graphics editors kate thiessen

sarah carrier morgan ortman multimedia@carillonregina.com graphics@carillonregina.com

photos

copy editor hannah senicar copyeditor@carillonregina.com news editor news@carillonregina.com

cover.. ........................... jeremy davis page 2........................... haley klassen news........................................ pixabay a&c........................................... PXhere sports............................ Mark Morris op-ed...................................... Pixabay

sara birrell

a&c editor ethan butterfield aandc@carillonregina.com sports editor tyler meadows sports@carillonregina.com taylor balfour

distro manager

jon stricker distribution@carillonregina.com staff writer

elisabeth sahlmueller

staff writer

marty grande - sherbert

news writer

ben schneider

a&c writer sports writer

Nadda

news

op-ed editor op-ed@carillonregina.com

in other news This week we’d like to extend a welcolme to our newest co-worker, Morgan Ortman.

holly worby brian palaschuk

Fire on the Prairie

Page 6

U of S Ph.D student Dale Gross, discusses a way to preserve grassland biodiversity.

contributors

haley klassen and olivia wiens

the paper

Correspondence can be mailed, emailed, or dropped off in person. Please include your name, address, and telephone number on all letters to the editor. Only the author’s name, title/position (if applicable) and city will be published. Names may be withheld upon request at the discretion of the Carillon.

Page 9

Ethan interviews Book of Mormon star Alyah Chanelle Scott on the acclaimed musical.

sport

Letters should be no more than 350 words, and may be edited for space, clarity, accuracy, and vulgarity. The Carillon is a wholly autonomous organization with no afilliation with the University of Regina Students’ Union.

Book of Mormon

s

The Carillon welcomes contributions.

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THE CARILLON BOARD OF DIRECTORS Erickka Patmore, Lindsay Holitzki, Maddie Ouelette, Dustin Smith. John Loeppky, Jacob Nelson, and Ethan Butterfield 227 Riddell Center University of Regina - 3737 Wascana Parkway, Regina, SK, Canada S4S 0A2 www.carillonregina.com Ph: (306) 586 8867 Printed by Star Press Inc, Wainwright, AB

Opinions expressed in the pages of the Carillon are expressly those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect those of The Carillon Newspaper Inc. Opinions expressed in advertisements appearing in the Carillon are those of the advertisers, and not necessarily of The Carillon Newspaper Inc. or its staff.

The Carillon is published no less than 11 times each semester during the fall and winter semesters and periodically throughout the summer. The Carillon is published by the Carillon Newspaper Inc., a non-profit organization.

Dick White

Page 12

U of R almuni Dick White inducted into Canada West Hall of Fame.

the manifesto

op-ed

In keeping with our reckless, devil-may-care image, our office has absolutely no concrete information on the Carillon’s formative years readily available.

What follows is the story that’s been passed down from editor to editor for over forty years.

In the late 1950s, the University of Regina planned the construction of several new buildings on the campus grounds. One of these proposed buildlings was a beltower on the academic green. If you look out on the academic green today, the first thing you’ll notice is that it has absolutely nothing resembling a belltower.

The University never got a belltower, but what it did get was the Carillon, a newspaper that serves as a symbolic bell tower on campus, a loud and clear voice belonging to each and every student.

The People’s Friend; the Tyrant’s Foe

Scheer Ignorance

errata

Page 17

Ethan Butterfield’s take on Andrew Scheer’s silence on social issues.

Once again the Praire Dog has thrown our very own Ethan Butterfield into contention for their Best of Regina issue.

On the 25th our editor-in-chief will be moderating a discussion between URSU president Victor Adeolu Oriola and U of R president Vianne Timmons

news

3 Editor: sara birrell news@carillonregina.com the carillon | September 19 - September 25, 2019

New course frees higher ed. from the Ivory Tower

Taking education behind bars

sara birrell news editor Eight University of Regina students will get a unique opportunity in the 2020 Winter semester with the introduction of the English Department’s first ever prison-writing course.

Instructed by Dr. Jason Demers, the course will include four weeks of classroom learning about issues related to incarceration and the pedagogy that Demers says, “makes the most sense going into a prison environment,” followed by eight weeks working alongside incarcerated students at the Regina Correctional Centre.

Because of the limited class size, students interested in the course will have to submit an application. Demers will be holding an information session Wednesday, Sept.18 at 1:30 in AH 349 where students can find out more about the class and pick up application forms.

Forms will also be available in the English Department office.

They’re due by Oct. 1.

“Prison education has become one of the things they look at as a type of initiative that is really good at getting recidivism rates to plummet and getting post-incarceration

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Writing from behind bars is no different

employment rates to really go up,” said Demers, who has been interested in this kind of programming since he did his undergrad at Queen’s University and had the opportunity to go to Kingston Penitentiary and work on literacy training with an incarcerated man.

He said that south of the border, where states like California have been making efforts to reduce their prison populations, “one of the biggest things they’ve done to decarcerate is they’ve made funding available for people to teach courses inside. They’ve seen an influx of 4,500 students just within two years, from prison into various community colleges and universities and so on.”

Although Winter 2020 will be the first time the U of R has run such a program, Demers said it’s not unique amongst Canadian universities.

“The class will be a hybrid based on two models. Inspired Minds, an initiative based out of the University of Saskatchewan that enlisted students to lead reading and writing workshops at the Saskatoon and Pine Grove Correctional Centres, and Walls to Bridges, an

initiative based out of Wilfred Laurier University and the Grand Valley Institution for Women which brings inside and outside students together to learn in a correctional setting.”

The newness of the program is part of the reason there are only eight spots available for outside (U of R) students. “We’re starting small,” Demers said. The eight U of R students will be joined by sixteen students from corrections.

“We’re going to talk to the people who are incarcerated about the things they’d like to read and discuss.” “[W]e’re going to create reading lists and discuss that in sharing circles.”

While literature is the means, the goal is far greater than straightforward literary analysis, according to Demers.

“I’m hoping that there’s a little bit of relationship-building that happens, that people start to understand people outside of their stereotypes I’m aware that I’m working with the future leaders and policy-makers in this province, and I think that’s the case for the students we’ll have on the

other side of that prison wall, too.”

It matters that Demers, along with the course structure, treats students currently behind bars not as projects, but as what they are: future leaders and critically important members of our communities. And it reflects what Walls to Bridges, one of the programs that inspired the course, says in the About Us section of their website.

“An important principle of all W2B courses is that students from outside the correctional system are not ‘mentoring’ or ‘helping’ or ‘working with’ incarcerated/criminalized students: all participants in the class are peers.”

Demers said that for many outside students, prison seems like the most intimidating place you can be.

“But for somebody that’s incarcerated, a school or educational institution isn’t necessarily the most welcoming and safe space to go.”

Demers said that, In bringing academia behind prison walls, he “[. . .] want[s] to create a kind of linkage that breaks down those barriers and those anxieties about go-

ing to pursue education further.”

Demers said that statistics around access to education for incarcerated people in Saskatchewan is “sparse,” although he noted that in remand, where people who haven’t been convicted of a crime are held for days, “it’s dead time. There’s no programming.” He said that in the future, the program might reach into that kind of transitional jail, where more than half of inmates in Saskatchewan are currently held. But, he said, “There’s more and more people who are getting that training and starting to offer classes in Canadian prisons.”

The hope of programs and courses like this, that build solidarity between students on both sides of the prison walls, is nothing short of a fundamental shift in the way our society thinks and functions when it comes to incarceration. “I’m really looking at things going in the opposite direction of the way they do now,” Demers said. “Instead of the school to prison pipeline, a prison to school pipeline.”

“I want to create a kind of linkage that breaks down those barriers and those anxieties about going to pursue education further.” – Dr. Jason Demers

carillonregina.com | The Carillon | 4

September 19 - September 25, 2019 news

Malty stays! Brewery enjoys first month as building owners

Local business makes good ben schneider news writer September marks the first month of mortgage payments for new building owners Malty National who have been in their spot (shared with 33 1/3 Coffee Roasters) on 15th Ave. in the Heritage neighbourhood since spring of 2016. The brewery’s lease was coming up and other options were explored, but location for this company is huge. Six out of eight of their employees live within three blocks of the brewery, contributing to Malty’s communal atmosphere.

I met with Adam Smith, one of the brewery’s founders, and we chatted about the company’s three-year-long history, normalizing beer-drinking, Inspector Gadget, and Dolly Parton.

It’s a Friday afternoon at Malty National with the afterwork-rush installed at their tables with friends, or at least friendly co-workers. The screen porch doors slam as visitors leave the warmth of the patio to grab another beer.

I expect Adam, one half of Malty’s owners (the other half is Adam’s other half, Kelsey Beach), to be back in the brewery, but instead he’s helping out behind the bar, like a sailor manning the ship with an even-keel cool.

I introduce myself and ask about his day, the usual stuff. Nice weather is mentioned briefly. He offers me a beer, to which I oblige (I opt for the Manitobudz, a notat-all-bitter IPA which I had tested out at Swamp Fest the weekend prior) and tells me he’ll join me shortly at a table near the entrance.

The place is actually pretty busy. Pieces of conversations melt together to help create the atmospheric buzz, layered with mid2000s pop-rock that I can’t quite make out. Adam wraps up his bar duties and has a seat across from me. He’s wearing a flannel shirt that sort of mirrors my own and his eyes are relaxed behind his easily-recognizable round tortoiseshell frames.

It’s clear that the whole “formal sit-down interview” concept is a bit foreign to him and I feel myself in an odd place of power as “the journalist.” That’s new. However, that all quickly evaporates as I begin my “I want this to be casual and more conversational” spiel.

I start from what seems a logical place and ask Adam about Malty’s origin story, stating that by now, the brewery feels like a Regina staple.

“We didn’t really know what we were doing,” admits Adam.

“The origin is just, you know, we thought we’d make a go of this and give it a try. You look back at

Marco Verch Professional Photographer

Raise your glass

those early days and what it looked like in here, it was pretty sparse.

We had one beer on tap when we opened and we were just hoping people didn’t hate the beer when we served it to them.”

“What year was that?”

“It was three years ago in April. It’s been a very organic growth which is what we always wanted. We’re very safe in the business, we don’t take a ton of crazy risks. We experiment everything, down to [the] beer, like, ‘let’s try this beer, does it sell, do we like it?’ Like going to cans – we started canning beer a couple years ago and we did it on a very small scale to see ‘will people want this?’ We had no idea. So we just take everything really slow. Let the consumers drive what we do/we just do what we want.”

I switch topics to the – at risk of sounding like an influencer – brand of Malty National and admit to Adam that I only pieced the brewery’s punny namesake together a few months ago.

I know, not my finest hour.

Adam says it was Kelsey’s idea, and the irony of a smallscale brewery being compared to the magnitude of a multi-national corporation was too good to not capitalize on.

“When we had Malty National as a name, we kind of had the idea of running it like a full evil corporation, essentially. Making mention to the company’s logo designed by artist Dakota McFadzean who hails from Regina, Adam says, “We always thought the tentacle, kind of factory look is a good representation of the evilness – but

it’s also hilarious and cute.

“Are you too young for Inspect Gadget?” Adam asks me.

I am. It ran from ’83-’86.

“Um, you know what, I’ve never watched it, but I can.”

“You understand the concept? There were the bad guys on Inspector Gadget, I think they were called M.A.D., and they had, like, a funny logo that they would put on the side of their vans and stuff and I always kind of thought, like, that kind of vibe of – or like a James Bond villain that always had ‘the logo,’ you know?”

I do know.

Then I ask, what is actually an important question, but sounds like an absolute cliché: “What makes [Malty National] unique on the Regina brewery scene?”

“I’ve travelled around and drank in a lot of places like this and I think the thing that sets us apart is the interaction at the bar, that’s huge. I think all our staff are amazing. The fact that you have to come up and get your beer from the bar and interact with us, try the beer, talk about the beer, and then go back to the conversation you were having. I really like our model that way.

“I always say that we give the best worst service. When we really get to know someone, we give them a hard time, you know? And then vice versa, all of our customers are great and the rapport that our staff have with the customers . . . I mean just today, Aaron for instance, was cleaning the kegs and not working the bar, but then a regular wanted to say hi so she’s banging on the window, trying to

catch his eye and give him a wave.

“I think our beers are good, I’m hoping that’s why people are coming here as well, but I think it’s more than that. It feels super homey, I think. It feels a little punk rock, and slapped together, and DIY and that shows, but I love that. I don’t want it to be any more polished than it is. It feels small town, everything from the screen doors slamming behind us to seeing your neighbours and seeing your community.

“For me it even boils down to the music. We’ll just put on a whole album and it’s like if we’re playing Dolly Parton, we’re not playing Dolly Parton’s greatest hits. It might just be a Dolly Parton album from 1986, front to back, and, like, there’s going to be some songs that nobody knows on there. That experience? You just don’t get that.”

Adam says that from the start, a driving force for him and Kelsey has been to normalize beer-drinking, emphasizing the importance of doing so in Saskatchewan, specifically.

“You can go have a beer with someone, have a conversation – hell, have a beer by yourself, read a book, chill out, take time for yourself and just enjoy it. Have a beer and have your kids playing a board-game, because that’s normal. I have children and so, children seeing adults drinking beer in a responsible way, I think, is extremely important. When I grew up, if you’d go to a restaurant, there’d be a whole room that you’re not even allowed into.”

Adam’s voice becomes comical-

ly ghostly as he continues. “The lounge is, like, this mythical place where adults are doing something that you can’t even see.

“But no, this is what responsible alcohol consumption looks like. And it’s normal, it’s not getting plastered. It’s just drinking a beer and enjoying the company of everybody. People will be in here with their grandma, people will be in here with their two-year-old, and it’s all the same vibe.”

By now, I’ve thanked him for meeting with me and the formal handshake has been completed, but we end up chatting a while longer. We talk about the 15th Ave. block party which took place a few weeks ago in August, Swamp Fest and the hidden gem that is Willow Island (turns out a lot of Regina B&Rs have never made the journey!), and he even asks me more about what I do and expresses genuine interest in what I share with him.

A second, more conclusive, handshake is performed and he tells me to grab four cans on my way out. After he gets up, he’s back behind the bar with his coworkers and then circling and chatting with those having beers.

After a bit of work, I pack up my things, wave to the staff and leave, carrying four Manitobudz.

It was the last keg. . . . Stick with what you know, you know?

“This is what responsible alcohol consumption looks like. And it’s normal, it’s not getting plastered.

It’s just drinking a beer and enjoying the company of everybody.” –Adam Smith

carillonregina.com | The Carillon | 5

September 19 - September 25, 2019 news

Taking the alt-right offline No room for Nazis

marty grande-sherbert staff writer In the past year, deadly hate crimes have become common enough to be considered familiar. So common an occurrence that we feel ourselves sickened by their familiarity. The ease of acquiring firearms in the U.S. makes it the most common site of mass killings, but as the Quebec City mosque shooting of 2017 illustrates, Canada and its own Islamophobic, anti-migrant, colonialist currents are not without implication. When these crimes are committed, the circumstances bear two hallmark features: the murderer is acting as a representative of the alt-right, and the victims are marginalized because of racialization, their faith, their gender, or sexuality. It is not at all a stretch to call this violence an epidemic, and one of the many strategies being employed to address its symptoms aims to limit and put a stop to the spread of hate speech in online social circles. This is a strategy called deplatforming.

Deplatforming means exactly what it sounds like: depriving people of a platform to spread their ideas. Specifically, it refers to social media sites like Twitter, Facebook and Instagram banning users for using social media as a hateful propaganda machine. Not much imagination is needed to bring up examples of this behaviour – anyone who’s been on reddit has seen it happen, along with most people on Facebook who have dipped a

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toe into meme-sharing groups where about half are dominated by racist, misogynistic, intentionally harmful “jokes.” Some might even say encountering this type of garbage is part and parcel of exploring cyberspace. But as Mashable writer Rachel Kraus wrote in her “2018 Review: Year in Deplatforming,” it doesn’t have to be that way.

“2018 was the year we (kind of) cleaned up the internet [. . . ] if a bigot rants in a forest, and nobody is around to hear him, does anybody care what the [bigot] says?”

After the El Paso shooting on Aug. 3 – where 22 people were killed and 24 injured in a Walmart by a man armed with a hatred for migrant residents and an AR-15 – deplatforming became a public topic. Bennie Thompson, a Republican and Chairman of Homeland Security, issued a subpoena for the owner of 8chan, a message board site heavily linked with the alt-right. The owner, Jim Watkins – a US military veteran and staunch defender of “free speech” –was ordered to appear before the Security Committee on Sept. 5. Why is the Homeland Security Committee concerned with this little corner of the internet? Because the El Paso shooter, the shooter at the Tree of Life synagogue in Poway, California, and the shooter in Christchurch, New Zealand have one thing in common besides their alt-right ideological stance: they all posted manifestos or intentions to com-

mit their crimes on 8chan prior to doing so. Says Andrew Taylor of USA Today, “at least three acts of deadly white supremacist extremist violence [had] been linked to 8chan in the last six months.”

8chan was later shut down, for good.

Fredrick Brennan is the creator of 8chan, no longer the owner, and in an interview with the New York Times written by Kevin Roose he explained that he spends a lot of his time trying to distance himself from what the site has become. Brennan started 8chan with the idea of a “free speech” utopia where people could say whatever they wanted, uninhibited by the “censors” on its predecessor 4chan. (For anyone who has been on 4chan, this might seem strange, since it doesn’t strike one as the most censored place on the internet.) But Brennan says now that he feels regret over his site becoming a watering hole for violent extremism, and that he like many of us finds himself sadly unsurprised when a shooting occurs. “Whenever I hear about a mass shooting, I say, ‘All right, we have to research if there’s an 8chan connection,” Brennan tells the Times. Memes are often made after these shootings praising the murderers, and users have taken to calling it a “high score” when a high number of people are killed.

Kraus in her Mashable article interviewed Steven Hanks from the Southern Poverty Law Centre (SPLC), a legal organiza-

tion specializing in public service which did the work of documenting 1,020 active hate groups in the United States in 2018. Hanks says social media platforms “are some of the most effective vehicles for [hate speech] becoming mainstream,” and Brennan agrees that while shutting down 8chan (a move he publicly called for) might not stop the violence, he hoped that it would significantly decrease its frequency and ease of transmission. The Christchurch shooter going so far as to livestream his crime on Facebook is further evidence towards a public platform being a valuable tool for these terrorists.

Deplatforming depends on the cooperation of corporate entities that control who is able to use their websites. In the case of 8chan, Jim Watkins refused to answer Brennan’s call to take the site down, but when the web company Cloudflare decided to cut ties and suspend its services there was simply no way to keep things running. Something similar happened to the neo-fascist Proud Boys, banned from Instagram and Facebook and even forbidden

by Paypal to use their services.

YouTube also banned the group, but for reasons of “copyright infringement,” not hate speech, meaning they were able to come back once those issues were fixed.

So, does deplatforming work? Technology news site TechCrunch suggests it has measurable effects, citing a study of Reddit conducted at the Georgia

Deplatforming hate

Institute of Technology. Reddit’s dip into deplatforming work, consisting mostly of taking down subreddits that are full of hate speech, has according to this study reduced the hate speech of the same users by as much as 90 per cent. It also resulted in members of these subreddits leaving the site, or migrating to other subreddits where they did not go on to increase the overall amount of hate speech there.

It is still true, however, that those bigots who are forced to leave platforms will inevitably seek another platform, and the ones that take them in are much more resistant to any kind of moderation. Gab is one such site, and it is harder to take down than 8chan because while some companies like Paypal and Stripe have refused to work with it, others step in to fill the gap.

Still, some alt-right figureheads really have been taken out of the public eye by multiple bans, like neo-Nazi Milo Yiannopoulos who was banned from Twitter, Facebook and Youtube, and tells VICE in an interview that he “cannot put food on the table” anymore despite migrating to the alternate platform Telegram.

Whether or not deplatforming is the preferred tool for the job, we can be at times reassured that the effort to “clean up the internet” and make hateful voices less deafening has some success.

“Whenever I hear about a mass shooting, I say, ‘All right, we have to research if there’s an 8chan connection.” -Fredrick Brennan, 8chan creator (to the NYT)

carillonregina.com | The Carillon | 6

September 19 - September 25, 2019 news

Saskatoon Ph.D. Student says fire is key to saving grasslands

Healing with fire

ben schneider news writer The natural Canadian grassland is often overlooked as a natural wonder of the country’s geography. Lands flattened by the passing of glaciers millennia ago house a vast array of unique animal and plant species. Today, however, this landscape is sparse, requiring the aid of conservation efforts in order to thrive. In fact, as defined by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, grasslands are the most threatened ecosystem when it comes to extinction.

At the University of Saskatchewan, Ph.D. student Dale Gross, is focusing his grasslands research on Indigenous ways of sustaining the land. Gross, along with others on the project, has been working at Nature Conservancy Canada’s Old Man on His Back, a ranch in the southwest corner of the province.

Gross explained what has led to the precarious position for these ecosystems.

“The primary reason for that loss [of grasslands] is that it’s easily converted to agricultural activities.” Gross summed up the implications of these practices by stating that, quite plainly, they lead to a loss of biodiversity.

He highlights the large-scale changes grasslands have seen since settlers flooded the prairies.

Murray Foubister

A delicate balance

“Grazing has occurred on grasslands in Canada, North America and in many parts of the world, so that ecosystem has adapted to grazing by large animals. In North America, over many thousands of years, that animal was bison. Bison were mostly eliminated about 150 years ago in North America and now they’ve been largely replaced by domestic cattle, mostly from Europe.”

Where his research is concerned, Gross is interested in implementing Indigenous methods of sustaining the lands.

“Wildfires raged across North America, uninterrupted by cultivated lands or roads or anything for many thousands of years up to, again, about 150 years ago.

The First Nations people also set fires to do many things that they wanted to do, but one of them was to influence the distribution of bison. Bison and grazing animals are attracted to the green grass and plants that grow back following fire because those plants tend to be more palatable in nutrition than the other, unburned grasses.”

“The ecosystem is adapted to that type of activity: the grazing and the fires. So, when you remove those things from the system, the species that are adapted to those types of activities over many thousands of years, do not have the variety of habitats that they’ve come accustomed to and

they start to have negative consequences because of it.”

“The idea then was that we would try and introduce fire into an ecosystem that was largely intact in that portion of Saskatchewan to see what the response would be from the grazing animals themselves, the plants, soil and any type of species that we could try to uncover and offer land owners, conservation groups, policy makers, constructive ideas as to how they could go about reintroducing fire and grazing into grasslands that are left.”

Gross said that research of this kind has been much more active in the U.S. “Very few [Canadian] ranchers are incorporating this type of work into their activities to manage their grasslands. There are a few conservation agencies – and that’s a broad term – [that] have begun to use this technique as well in Canada, but they could use some information to go about it in an optimal fashion.”

Due to the unconventional nature of these land practices, Gross and his team have encountered many obstacles around fears, stigmas, and a general unawareness.

“All we’re trying to do is reintroduce what First Nations people have been doing for thousands of years. But in Saskatchewan, wildfires are seen as deadly and something to be afraid of. Prescribed

fires, wildfires . . . people don’t necessarily see that distinction.

“It usually takes one on one conversations with people [to] work through their fears – which can be legitimate. The media reports on ‘controlled burn gone bad,’ and really, what they’re reporting on was somebody lighting their garbage on fire and it getting away. So, you’re working against a lot of biases and try to educate in a respectful manner. We’re making more progress, but it’s just not there yet.”

Gross gave the example of Grasslands National Park in Saskatchewan, a well-known example that showcases just how successful these approaches to grassland conservation can be.

“Once [Grasslands National Park] was created, they eliminated grazing on a lot of that land because the idea was that overgrazing was damaging to the grassland and damaging to the habitat for wildlife and species at risk. What they found was that when they removed the grazing, they had so many weeds come in… there was actually less habitat available. So then they started to reintroduce bison, reintroduce cattle, and then fire came following, but it was a slow progression as understanding took place.”

Gross said that a change of perspective can be enlightening.

“It’s a real cultural education; ecology is secondary to the sociol-

ogy. [The First Nations peoples’] activities are going to help us sustain the amount of biodiversity we have in this province, North America and the world at large.

We just have to listen.”

Partners in Gross’s research are Hannah Hilger and Jackie Kroeger: both Master’s of Science students working on the project. As well, Dr. Eric Lamb, an Associate Professor in the College of Agriculture and Bioresources at the U of S, is serving as Gross’s Ph.D. supervisor. Gross is also thankful to Matthew Braun, the Science Manager with the Nature Conservancy Canada.

Gross and colleagues’ research will be featured in an episode of CBC’s The Nature of Things this fall.

Gross welcomes any interested parties to contact him with questions or curiosities. He can be reached at dvg119@mail.usask.ca

“All we’re trying to do is reintroduce what First Nations people have been doing for thousands of years. But in Saskatchewan, wildfires are seen as deadly and something to be afraid of.” - Dale Gross

a&c

7 Editor: ethan butterfield aandc@carillonregina.com the carillon | September 19 - September 25, 2019

Avoiding sexual assault

Please take care of yourselves

holly worby a&c writer TW: Sexual assault threats, Sexual assault.

The arts and culture section of a newspaper is a great place to find some easy reads on local events, artists, businesses, and general happenings, but the actual culture of our area isn’t often brought up.

This week I’d like to address an aspect of ours called rape culture, which is when a culture or society has specific attitudes/norms that trivialize sexual assault and abuse; to take that a step further, these cultures have a tendency to blame the victims of assaults when they occur. The only reason I’ve found for victim blaming comes with the just-world hypothesis – a way of rationalizing crisis. In this thought pattern people are desperate to find causes for events (be them manmade or natural disasters), which often winds up circling around the victim(s) to find out what they did to “deserve” the event in an attempt to alter the victim’s actions to stop the crisis

PXhere Social media is a dangerous place.

from occurring again in the future.

A couple weeks ago a stranger added me on Snapchat, started asking very forward questions, and asked if I’d like to see videos of him playing with himself. I said no (dude, I don’t even know your first name, and I’ve got the entire internet if I want to see that . . .), which made him angry, and he threatened to rape me until I was crying.

I’m being blunt in my wording right now because I need to get the extreme nature of his actions and reaction across. I didn’t know him, I still don’t know who it was, and I still don’t know how serious of a threat that was. When telling friends and asking for advice, one acquaintance had the bright idea to tell me to take the threat as a compliment because “he must really like you!” It’s that comment and reaction that sparked this article. I’d like to establish plainly that if someone likes you, they will not threaten to sexually assault you. If someone values you at all, they will not

threaten to sexually assault you.

Threats of assault, abuse, and rape are never compliments, and it’s our society’s rape culture that has perpetuated that mentality.

It starts in the schoolyard when boys pull girls’ pigtails; later when the girls get upset they’re told it’s just because the boy likes them – non-consensual violence is never a show of affection. It’s an act of abuse to degrade the other and assert oneself over them – that isn’t a compliment, and attempting to justify their actions is just teaching those boys that that’s an appropriate way to treat people.

As I said before, I don’t know how serious that threat was, or if it was some psychopath’s idea of a joke, but as someone who’s been sexually assaulted it really shook me. I fell down the rabbit hole of victim blaming by trying to figure out what I could do to prevent it from happening in the future, but I couldn’t find a thing.

I wasn’t walking alone, I wasn’t walking at night, I wasn’t dressed provocatively, I wasn’t acting flirty, and I wasn’t too drunk/high

to control myself. The standard “she was asking for it” attempts at justification didn’t apply at all – all I did was say no to a stranger’s advances over Snapchat. So while I couldn’t find any special tips for my specific scenario, I did find eight rape prevention tips by @xcrazyraerae on twitter that I think are absolutely perfect, so I paraphrased them and will leave you with this food for thought: First - Beware of drugs. To prevent sexual assault, do not put drugs in drinks that are not yours.

Second - To prevent sexual assault when walking at night, do not assault those around you.

Third - Watch what you wear. If you feel you may sexually assault somebody, it is best to wear a shirt that says “rapist” so that others can steer clear.

them.

Fifth - Be careful around alcohol if it causes you to become violent or sexually assault others.

Sixth – When you encounter someone who is asleep or unconscious, the safest course of action is to not sexually assault them.

Seventh – Carry a whistle. If you find yourself about to sexually assault someone, blow the whistle until somebody arrives to intervene.

Eighth – The buddy system is your best friend! If it is inconvenient for you to stop yourself from sexually assaulting someone, ensure a guardian is with you at all times.

Fourth - Be mindful of others in your neighbourhood. To prevent sexual assault, do not follow, harass, break in, or sexually assault

“I’m being blunt in my wording right now because I need to get the extreme nature of his actions and reaction across.” – Holly Worby

September 19 - September 25, 2019 a&c

carillonregina.com | The Carillon |

The Amazing Race Canada

8

Sask. Pride with Lavoie sisters

elisabeth sahlmueller staff writer

Despite my dislike of reality TV shows, The Amazing Race Canada is an exception because it’s more exciting than most shows, with much less drama and manipulation. Instead of back-stabbing another individual, for the most part, not only do most teams feel bad putting another at a disadvantage, often opting not to, unless doing so will enable them to continue racing, but many teams have a tendency to help each other, even when it may limit their own success. Additionally, the show does an excellent job of showing off Canada’s diverse culture and beautiful landscape.

Eleven weeks ago, the seventh edition of the Amazing Race Canada began with 10 teams of two departing from Toronto on the experience of a lifetime.

Throughout all 11 legs, these individuals traveled to seven out of 13 Canadian provinces and territories – including a leg in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan – and competed in various difficult physical and mental challenges.

As the show progressed, pressure increased and the stakes rose as participants were eliminated and the remaining individuals got one step closer to the grand prize – a once-in-a-lifetime trip around the world for two, $250,000, and the new Chevrolet Blazer RS. Similar to other editions, this one also had its own unique collection of victories, frustrations, tensions, disappointments, second chances, and memorable moments. At the same time, there were also multiple new elements, such as the blind oneway, a cooking face-off and most excitingly, the first Saskatchewan team The Lavoie sisters, Lauren (U of R alumnus) and Joanne ( a current student),made history, becoming the first team to represent Saskatchewan. Although for the majority of the race these two women were considered as the underdogs, being from a small prairie province, they proved they were a much bigger threat than many initially thought. Despite the challenges and stress they faced, the Lavoie sisters remained fairly calm, worked well together and fought with everything they had, which enabled them to push out seven other teams to make it to the finale and compete as one of the top three teams, alongside James and Anthony and Sarah and Sam. From the very beginning of the race, the Lavoie sisters have been the favourite of many Saskatchewanians, myself included.

A big shout-out to Lauren Lavoie for answering my questions: How did you prepare both

Courtesy of CTV

A foot race to the finish

physically and mentally for the race?

We went to the gym a bit more frequently, but honestly the race isn’t something you can really train for in a traditional sense.

You are pretty much ready for the race as is, it’s your relationship that needs to be strong as well as your body. So Joey and I just made sure we were ready and close, that’s all it came down to. No one can prepare you for that race, it’s something you have to live through to really understand.

In episode three, you took advantage of the blind one-way and felt “it was the best decision you made all day,” do you still agree?

Would you have still done that if it was not blind?

It was gameplay. As much as we are Canadians and we are nice, we weren’t there to make friends.

We had just been in the bottom two, so it was crazy to not take advantage of a chance we had to get ahead of any team. Trish and Amy just happened to be the only team that we knew was behind us with full certainty. It was never anything personal, it was [about] making sure our race continued. I would do it again for sure, I also think we would have done it if it was not blind. We never tried to hide that we did it, and a few legs later we talked with the moms about it. No hard feelings.

In your opinion, what task was the most challenging or difficult for you? Why?

For me personally, it was probably the math challenge in Kitchener. I’ve never been strong in math, and seeing that challenge broke my heart. I knew I was going to have to rely fully on Joey and I felt terrible that I wasn’t able to be helpful in any way. Joey did so well though in that moment so I am really proud of her for getting us out of there.

Do you feel like competing as sisters was a strong factor in your success? How has this experience impacted your relationship?

It definitely is a huge factor.

We know one another so well.

It’s easy to support and work with someone that you’ve known your whole life. The race has just made us stronger in our relationship and as people. I don’t thing there is a harder test on a relationship that exists, and I like to think we’ve done very well with it.

In leg six, you visited Saskatoon, Saskatchewan and it was awesome seeing you check in with the Saskatchewan flag raised high behind you. How did returning to compete with in your home province affect your overall confidence and energy?

We needed to see Sask. so badly by that point. It was beyond comforting to see street signs we knew and places we’ve been a few times as we drove through the city.

It was also bittersweet because we knew how close to home we really were at that point and we definitely were missing our family. It was

a nice boost though to be in the prairies, I missed our skies a lot at that point.

What was your favourite place that you visited during the race and why?

For me it was Wolfville. I had never been to the east coast before and it didn’t let me down at all.

The people were brilliant, and the landscape is breathtaking. We felt the most at home on that leg out of anywhere (apart from Sask.) in the entire race. It was also the leg where we locked in our spot in the finale, which is a moment we will never forget.

Was the race as tough as you initially anticipated, or more so?

The race is so much harder than you can ever anticipate. It breaks you down completely and ultimately shapes you into something new. The flight, the travel, the lack of sleep coupled with the race challenges really are overwhelming at times. You just have to keep perspective and take it one step at a time, otherwise the race will catch up to you quicker than you anticipated and have you heading home.

Have you been keeping up with the show on TV? How does it feel watching yourself ?

We’ve watched every episode.

Sometimes just with family and sometimes we’ve had large viewing parties. It’s a bit surreal to watch, but it’s been a very positive experience. It’s also been really enjoyable to see what other racers

were up to. You really don’t have time to see what others are doing on the race so it’s been cool to follow their journey as well!

What was the most important thing you learned from your time on the race?

The most important thing I learned was that making mistakes is not the end of the world. Time and time again we failed at tasks and it always seemed to come together in the end. We learned more from our mistakes in the race than anything else. I also learned that you really need to stop second guessing yourself and just go for it. It doesn’t matter if something looks difficult or you might look silly doing it, go for it. Life is too short to second-guess even a moment of it.

What was your best, or favourite moment from your time competing in The Amazing Race Canada?

Some of my favourite moments were just goofing off with other teams, or the crew. The race really is a family, so there are so many little memories that I’ll treasure forever. As far as pivotal moments, I really did love the zipline in Kamloops. It was such an incredible task very early on and it really made me realize the insanity of the journey I was on. I also think getting through the apple challenge was a brilliant moment as well.

“The most important thing I learned was that making mistakes is not the end of the world.”

– Lauren Lavoie

carillonregina.com | The Carillon | 9

September 19 - September 25, 2019 a&c

The Book of Mormon is coming to Regina Grab your white shirts and black tags ethan butterfield a&c editor

So many musicals throughout the years have had the ability to engage audiences with their wonderful sound and structure. Les’ Misérables, Phantom of the Opera, Hamilton – all beautifully told musicals that leave such a substantial mark on the industry. Even jukebox musicals, such as Rock of Ages and Mamma Mia! have a charm that allows the crowd to get on another level that film or television just wouldn’t bring. However, we’re not talking about those musicals today. No, today we’re discussing the comedy musical, namely The Book of Mormon.

The winner of nine Tony Awards including, Best Musical, Best Original Score, and Best Lighting/Sound Design, The Book of Mormon has brought laughter and tears to the face of many theatre attendee. Created by the minds who developed South Park and Avenue Q; (Trey Parker, Matt Stone, and Robert Lopez respectively), this musical is based around two Mormon missionaries spreading the word of the Mormon religion to the people of a small Ugandan town. Their words fall on hollow ears however as the people are more concerned with the far more real issues that happen within their village. I’d keep going, but I feel that would

take away from what to expect if you did decided to give it a watch.

Alyah Chanelle Scott, who plays Nabulungi in The Book of Mormon, is a graduate of the University of Michigan with a Bachelor of Fine Arts and joins the cast completely fresh as this is her national tour debut.

“Oh my goodness, I’m so honoured to be apart of this! It’s an absolutely unreal experience to be in this show.”

We discussed how she felt portraying the character of Nabulungi: “Playing Nabulungi, there’s a lot of different aspects that bring this character to life; she has innocence, hope, light, and heart.

She has a lot of it. She’s sort of like a Disney Princess in a way [laughter]. And we certainly see that over the course of the show.

And she grows throughout. She grows into a woman. She has this voice and it’s so powerful.”

Nabulungi also helped Alyah connect with herself as much as she connected with the character on the stage: “Her bravery and willingness to do this helped me find myself in doing this. If she can do something as crazy as this, then why can’t I, you know? It’s very exciting and very daunting to take on this character.”

Moving away from the character, we talked a bit about the music that would be featured in

Courtesy of Broadway Across Canada

the musical: “One of my favourite songs to perform is ‘Sal Tlay Ka Siti’, which is ‘Salt Lake City’ in an African accent. It’s definitely a turning point in the show for Nabulungi personally, she takes real steps towards changing herself and preparing herself to go on this journey to Salt Lake City.

She really begins to find herself, for sure.”

Alyah talked about what people could expect from a show such as The Book of Mormon. “Well the show takes you on a wild ride,

it’s so humorous and crazy, but the message is so true. In the end, it’s about love and that’s what we want people to come away with.

Ultimately, I feel there’s no way you can’t enjoy the show.”

Finally, considering that The Book of Mormon has a not-so-great view from The Church of Jesus Christ and Latter-day Saints, I asked Alyah what the cast’s reaction to those individuals leaving the show.

“Well, we say enough times that it’s by the people that made South Park, but I hope those peo-

Hallelujah

ple stay. I hope they stay because that’s kind of who the show is for. Also, if you bought a ticket to see what the show is all about, you should take in the full experience!”

The Book of Mormon runs Sept.

25-29 at Conexus Arts Centre.

Bob Ross paintings Virginia-bound Take a road trip to see some happy little trees holly worby a&c writer The man, the myth, the legend.

Bob Ross is a household name representing art, patience, encouragement, and passion. After his time as an Air Force sergeant in Alaska he made the choice to teach painting classes which is how he met Annette Kowalski, the future co-founder of Bob Ross Inc. that’s currently run by Kowalski’s daughter Joan. Out of that came “The Joy of Painting,” a 403-episode collection of Bob Ross doing paint nights over television before they were cool.

In a 2011 interview with PBS, Ross said “I talk to only one person when I’m filming, and I’m really crazy about that person.”

For anyone who’s watched the show, you can’t doubt that at all.

All I want in life is for someone to look at me the way Ross looks at that camera. In all seriousness though, his narration style creates a certain level of intimacy and his speech style boosts your self-confidence to the point you really believe you can paint that happy little tree right along with him.

Last week I learned that – for the first time in history – some of Bob Ross’ pieces are going to be exhibited at the Franklin Park Arts

Center in Purcellville, Virginia, just 30 miles from Bob Ross Inc.’s offices. It blew my mind when I discovered it’d never happened before, but according to Kowalski there just hasn’t been interest in it before. She mentioned that Ross had always talked about how cool it’d be to be displayed in the Smithsonian Institution because it’d make people want to learn to paint (he didn’t even want the recognition, he just wanted to inspire others – could this man get any more wholesome?). Kowalski had submitted a few paintings to the Smithsonian with hopes of having them displayed, though this has yet to be done. One of Kowalski’s friends, Elizabeth Bracey, is the curator at the Franklin Park Arts Center. She heard about the paintings going to the Smithsonian and decided to ask to do a small exhibit with some of the remaining pieces. Bracey and Kowalski had a simple handshake agreement, but the public became crazed about the exhibit.

“I just love that story because it’s just sort of how everything seems to happen with Bob Ross,” Kowalski commented in a story

by CNN. “Small things become wonderful and significant.”

This exhibit will be running from Sept. 10-Oct. 15 this year, and they’re in the starting stages of setting up more exhibits in

Haiden Goggin

A wonderful human and a beautiful painting

small venues in small cities across the United States and Canada (crossing my fingers that it’ll be more than just Ontario and B.C. . . .). The current display in Virginia showcases only 24 of his 1,000+ pieces, but tickets are free, just as Ross would’ve wanted.

carillonregina.com | The Carillon |

September 19 - September 25, 2019 a&c

10

Put up or shut up Pay your staff, damn it

john loeppky editor-in-chief In case you haven’t read my incessant babbling, we pay contributors now. Twenty bucks per article.

This article is less about self-promotion than it is about how thankful I am to have backing from students like we do, to be able to create the work that we have, and to continue to create paid opportunities for creative folks on this campus.

However, it takes more than one student newspaper yelling about the needs of students for change to be made. One group trying to make that change is Fight for 15. Here’s their mission statement, courtesy of their website: “Fight for 15 is comprised of low wage workers and labour advocates who recognize the need for all workers to make a decent wage – for those of us making less

Image by Kevin Schneider from Pixabay

Some people’s stacks are significantly smaller

than $15/hour, we know what it’s like to struggle to get by.”

To look further, precarity isn’t just a Regina issue, obviously, and folks who are the backbone of your degree may well be struggling. In fact, it was one of the main sticking points in the recent URFA versus campus administration negotiations, with sessionals living minimally as admin positions continue to expand.

Outside of the university, a recent CBC article highlighted Aleana Young’s quest to own business that *shock* pays its people fairly.

“I didn’t want to be a hypocrite. I fundamentally believe in a living wage [. . .] I don’t think that keeping people living in poverty or below the poverty line is sustainable for society.

“I wanted to see if I could live my values and work it into a feasible and successful business.”

Surprise, she could with Takeaway Gourmet. Meanwhile, education students spend a full semester’s worth of tuition to work for free, co-op costs $920 for four months of work, unpaid internships are rife in the media landscape, and students are living on scraps to pull themselves towards a fantasy. The fact that some of my friends unironically joke about dying before they pay off their student loans hints to this sad state of affairs. Previous generations thought millions unattainable, but people my age think a house is going to be an impossible luxury.

So, if we’re fucking over our students, our young, our old, and writing political manifestos for the ever shrinking middle class, who exactly is left? Conservatives and liars, I guess.

I take solace in the fact that my staff continues to disrupt the

narrative that millennials (hi, that means most sessionals and young faculty as well) are lazy and entitled. We’re too poor to be entitled, too tired to be marching every second of every day, and too angry to explain for the thousandth time why minimum wage workers should be able to more than just survive.

Lesson learned: don’t tweet about income inequality if you want happiness in your life, don’t assume the financial situation of those around you, and (the obvious) contribute to your student newspaper so that they can pay you.

“I didn’t want to be a hypocrite. I fundamentally believe in a living wage [. . .] I don’t think that keeping people living in poverty or below the poverty line is sustainable for society.” -Aleana Young (To CBC)

sports

11 Editor: tyler meadows sports@carillonregina.com the carillon | September 19 - September 25 2019

U of R hosts 10th annual President’s Breakfast for Athletics Regina’s best and brightest support the Cougars and Rams brian palaschuk sports writer University of Regina’s Cougars and Rams athletes gathered at the Queensbury Convention Centre on Tuesday, Sept. 10 alongside many local Regina business owners, University of Regina administrators, and other supporters of Cougar athletics for the 10th annual President’s Breakfast. The President’s Breakfast is a unique fundraiser in that the president’s office at the U of R matches all donations up to a maximum of $100,000. For this reason, the fundraiser is often the biggest of the year for many of the university’s athletic programs.

For U of R president Dr. Vianne Timmons, the event was all about demonstrating the level of support the school has for varsity athletics.

“I think it is really important to support varsity athletics because I think participating in varsity sports, intermural sports, or club sports builds leadership skills in students, gives them a more robust and full university experience, and I think these students make friends on these teams that are friends for life.”

Timmons is also willing to put her money where her mouth is. She stands beside the sports programs with financial support.

“I match from the president’s office whatever is raised at the president’s breakfast because it is a statement to the community and to all the athletes that the university supports them.”

For Timmons, the community aspect of the breakfast was another big selling point.

“A fundraiser like the president’s breakfast is really important because it brings the community in. It shows the community that we really care about them.”

The community has indeed bought in as the event continues to grow. In the past ten years the President’s Breakfast has raised over 1.2 million dollars for U of R athletics and has had over 1000 guests at its peak. This year’s event had over 700 supporters, a great turnout of community support.

For Timmons, this growth is another part of the goal.

“I’d like to see us keep our numbers up and really make it an event people in the community don’t want to miss.”

The event is also known for its terrific guest speakers and this year was no exception. This year’s keynote was Saskatchewan Roughrider’s kicker and Super Bowl champ, as well as U of R alumnus, Jon Ryan. Ryan brought his usual humour to the event and bookended his interview with a hilarious story about Seahawks teammate Steven Hauschka streaking across the Super Bowl jet on the way home from the game.

Aside from being a terrific speaker and bringing humor to the event, Ryan understands the importance of giving back to the community.

“I feel blessed that I am in the position to give back, U of R gave me so much. If not for the U of R I wouldn’t have had any of the opportunities I had later on, whether it be in the CFL or the NFL. I am very thankful, and to be in the position to give back means a lot and as I’ve always said I’ve taken so much from this school and this community that I’ll spend the rest of my life trying to repay those debts.”

Ryan also had some important advice for U of R students, and not the kind of advice they might expect.

“Work hard in school, make sure you graduate, but also have fun doing it.”

When talking about his own university experience, the comedic Ryan was quick to admit that he wasn’t the best student, but still appreciates the importance of balancing academics.

“I was there for three and a half years. I wasn’t the best student although I managed to pass all my classes, but I had fun with the people who I was there with.”

“It’s the last time in your life you’re not going to be tied down to a desk or in the workplace so it’s important to have some fun.”

When asked about his favourite moments from his career as a Regina Ram, for Ryan, the choice was easy.

“For me it was playing those Friday or Saturday night games and the camaraderie among the guys. That meant a lot to me.”

“It’s funny, it’s 19 years from my first year with the Rams and I remember all those games.”

Mark Morris

Jon Ryan on his Superbowl winning team the Seattle Seahawks

“Amidst all the drama that Cougar sports have faced in the past few years from team cuts to doping suspensions, a little bit of community support can go a long way.” -Brian Palaschuk

September 19 - September 25, 2019

carillonregina.com | The Carillon | 12

sports

Rams get blown out at home by rival Huskies Friday the 13th proved unlucky for the Rams

brian palaschuk sports writer

The Rams were feeling the superstition at home in Mosaic Stadium on Friday the 13th. It was indeed an unlucky day for the team; they lost to in-province rivals the U of S Huskies 9-44. The first drive of the game was on par with the rest; the Huskies marched all the way down the field and scored with their first possession. U of S’s rookie quarterback Mason Nyhus passed for 15-26 on the way to his two touchdown drives before getting shaken up and sitting out the second half. His counterpart on the Rams, Josh Donnelly, was decidedly less effective. In his shakiest outing for the Rams yet, he executed on only 16-30 of his passes with two interceptions, including a devastating pick-six early in the fourth quarter. Saskatoon’s Nelson Lokombo went all the way with it, running 98 yards for a TD. For Coach Bryce, the team absolutely did not play up to expectations.

“We’ve got to improve everywhere, that was an embarrassing

outing for us. We didn’t look like we did anything really well tonight, we’ve got a lot of work to do at a lot of things.”

One of the brighter spots in an otherwise tough game was running back Semba Mbasela.

He ran for a total of 139 yards including a season long of 40 yards on one play. Despite the strong individual effort, Mbasela agreed that there is a lot for the team to work on.

“We need to get a lot better.

We need to do the little things and be more disciplined and do the right things at the right time” “We will be better for the next week if we focus on the little things. We need to avoid those little penalties and get better at scoring in the end-zone.”

Like the rest of the players, Mbasela buys into the system 100 per cent. For him the only thing that matters is what goes in the win-loss column.

“I am only satisfied when we win. It’s a collective effort and I’m only happy when everyone is happy and the team is winning.

Fifth-year receiver Ryan Schinebein agreed with that sentiment. The team is already looking forward to the next one.

“It was a tough game obviously. They are a very good football team, but we will learn from this, check the tape and come back stronger next time.”

Another bright spot amidst the ashes is that second-year Riley Boersma continues to shine. The young receiver went for 114 yards on four receptions, including a 74-yard play that got the Rams into field goal position. He led the team in all receiving categories.

The defence was also poor overall. They allowed a few of the Huskies drives to get out of hand, including a moment where the entire team was caught deep and Nyhus was able to rush for 21 yards. Despite these rough moments, there were a few good performances on the defensive side of the ball. Fifth-year Eric Wicijowski and second-year Josh White managed a sack each, with White contributing an additional nine tackles. The defence as a whole looked effective at times, but overall, the team needs to be much better.

Stay tuned for the next Rams game, an away bout against the powerhouse University of Calgary Dinos on Sept. 20.

Kate Thiessen

Daniel Scraper (80) lines up for the snap

Dick White inducted into Canada West Hall of Fame New enshrinement for a U SPORTS veteran john loeppky editor-in-chief In a new initiative, Canada West has created a new hall of fame.

To commemorate the 100th anniversary of collegiate sports they are inducting 100 people. Dick White, former long-time athletic director of the University of Regina, was one of those chosen.

White spoke to just how much his induction on Sept. 11 meant to him.

“It’s an incredible honour.

When I think they’re celebrating such a long period of time of university athletics in Western Canada and I’m one of the people in the first class to be inducted, I can’t say enough what a humbling honour that is for me. “ In a press release, Canada West put forward the reason for the new institution.

“For the last century, organized university sport has been a central part of the student experience at institutions across Western Canada. Beginning with the University of Manitoba capturing the first Western Canadian Intercollegiate Athletic Union (WCIAU) men’s hockey banner in 1919-20, student-athletes have been competing to reach their full potential in sport and the classroom, while enriching campus life.”

It’s legacy that White is glad to see memorialized.

“I think it draws attention to the history and we all tend to be [focused on] what’s going on today and I think it’s really im-

portant to remember the foundation that was provided from people, even well before my time, involved in CIU and involved in Great Plains Athletic Conference, some of the precursors to Canada West.”

Other recent inductees include the University of Alberta’s Gino Fracas and Calgary’s Peter Connellan. The person who had the most impact on White, however, was the first person inducted into the Hall of Fame, Val Schneider: “He was football coach and athletic director at University of Saskatchewan and somebody who became one of my mentors in my early years at the U of R. And occasionally, because we’re with rival schools, we did have to bang heads every now and then.

Val was also inducted as a builder, but Val could well have been inducted as a athlete or coach as well.”

“There are many other colleagues and I’m kind of waiting, like many others are, to see who else may be inducted, but I’m sure I have many good friends I know have the kind of qualifications to be inducted in this first class of a hundred as well.”

White’s list of accomplishments at the University of Regina is long, as evidenced by the lengthy biography provided by Canada West. He spent two decades as athletic director, presided over three national championships and seventeen conference championships. White was also on staff as the Rams transitioned

from junior football to the collegiate ranks.

Outside of the gridiron, the Cougars increased their sporting offerings by five (cross country, women’s hockey, women’s soccer, swimming, and track and field).

The Cougars also hosted a number of national championships and White held various roles at the national governance level, including five years as the national president. Can West further sang White’s praises in the announcement of his induction.

“Dick White spent more than three decades at the University or Regina, including a 20-year tenure as Director of Athletics, overseeing a period which saw the number of teams more than double.”

“After starting his involvement with Cougar athletics in 1981 working as an administrative assistant and later as an athletics coordinator, White took over as director of athletics in 1995.”

The Canada West Hall of Fame isn’t the only enshrinement White has been a part of. He’s also a member of the University of Regina Sports Hall of Fame, Regina Sports Hall of Fame, and Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame.

“It’s always somebody else that makes the decision to have someone inducted and I’ve spent time ensuring that others have been inducted in some of the halls of fames you’ve mentioned, but I don’t think there’s anything, perhaps, more rewarding than to have your colleagues, the col-

U of R Photography

The ultimate winner of the Dickies

leagues that you work with but you also compete against in the field of play, recognize your accomplishments. Because they’re the ones that really know the challenge of the position of being an athletic director and how difficult it is.”

September 19 - September 25, 2019

carillonregina.com | The Carillon |

sports

Women’s soccer comes home with a 0-1-1 weekend

13

The team continues to improve, but needs to do it quicker brian palaschuk sports writer The University of Regina women’s soccer team was back in action at home Sept. 14-15. They faced Canada West rivals University of Calgary as well as UNBC. Against the Dinos, the Cougars took a tough 0-4 loss. The first half was all Dinos, they dominated possession and kept the ball in the Cougars end, generating countless good scoring chances.

Keeper Savannah Williams was solid in goal for the Cougars, keeping them in it at 0-2 through the first half by stopping five shots.

The Cougar women managed to battle back on the second half, generating five shots and a few good scoring chances, including a dangerous rush from rookie Natalie McCollough. Despite this improvement, the Cougars were still sloppy on their finishes. They turned over a lot of balls midfield, which ultimately cost them another two goals. One of these came on an outstanding shot from Calgary’s Montana Leonard, who scored from 30 meters out by slipping the ball high past Williams. Leonard netted her fourth and fifth goals of the season for Calgary, and they extended their winning record to 3-0.

After the first game, Coach Bob Maltman was disappointed with his team’s effort, but had some positive takeaways.

“We weren’t happy at all with the first half as a team. We didn’t get our foot on the ball for long enough moments to enable us to play the way we intended to play and against a good team like Calgary you’ve got to find some opportunities and take those opportunities.”

Despite the difficulties the team faced against Calgary, Coach Maltman believes in his young team and trusts that they can adapt against teams, even those as strong as the Dinos.

“We really felt that at halftime the players recognized the room for improvement. We felt like we showed some good moments in the second half but lacked that bit of composure to finish. There’s still a lot of work to be done, but there’s a lot of young bodies on that field and I think our leaders guided them pretty well.”

One of these leaders, fifthyear defender Lauren Petras shared a similar sentiment to her coach. She too has mixed feelings about the team’s performance against the Dinos.

“I feel like we had a different game plan than what we came out with in the first half. They

Canada West University Athletic Association

came at us harder than we expected, but we regrouped in the second half. We were getting in their half as much as they were getting in our half.”

It’s worth noting that within the first game, the Cougars did have a tremendous rally. After allowing an abysmal 16 shots against in the first half, they held U of C to only seven while generating five in the second.

On Sunday the Cougars came in fresh and carried that momentum, playing a much better game against UNBC. The game was incredibly close in all aspects.

After getting outshot 7-23 by

the Dinos on Saturday, the Cougars were even against UNBC shooting 1212. UNBC got on the board first with a goal from Paige Payne, but Regina fired right back. Veteran Sydney Langen netted the goal on the back of a nice feed from rookie Jessica Merk. After that, both sides had some good chances, with the best for Regina coming once again from Natalie McCollough late in the second half.

In the end the score was even at 1-1 and both teams recorded their first tie of the season.

For Coach Maltman, this improved performance helps to ver-

Courtesy of Canada West

ify the strong culture and belief in the system that the team has developed this season.

“We’ve been working on a platform and I think if the players come out with the right mentality, they can get the job done.”

After the weekend, the Cougars bring their season to 1-2-1.

This is a slight improvement on the 1-3 that they were after four games into 2018. The team is currently fourth in the prairie conference and firmly in the playoff hunt. They head out west for another double-header next weekend, this time against the Victoria Vikes and the UBC Thunder-

birds, who sit second and third in the Pacific conference. These west coast teams should prove to be tougher competition for the Cougars.

The team’s next home games take place the weekend of Sept.

28-29, where the Cougars will have their rematch with both Winnipeg and Manitoba.

“I feel like we had a different game plan than what we came out with in the first half. They came at us harder than we expected, but we regrouped in the second half. We were getting in their half as much as they were getting in our half.” - Lauren Petras

September 19 - September 25, 2019 sports

carillonregina.com | The Carillon |

Cougar Basketball preview

14

Both Cougar teams look to build off playoff performances

tyler meadows sports editor The men’s and women’s basketball teams kick off their pre-season journey this weekend with the women playing at home against Lakeland College (Sept. 20) and Medicine Hat College (Sept. 22), while the men will open with the Guy Vetrie Memorial Tournament in Victoria on the first weekend in October.

Last year, the men were quite successful making it to the playoffs, but ultimately lost in the Canada West Quarterfinals to the rival University of Saskatchewan.

This year in the super-competitive Western Conference, the Cougars are hoping to repeat their success and make it to the playoffs. On the women’s side, the consistently good team looks to continue their success for yet another year with superstar Kyanna Giles leading the way again. I spoke with both head coaches, Steve Burrows and Dave Taylor, about the upcoming year as well to gain some insight into this year’s teams. Burrows’ current focus is on preventing points rather than creating them.

“We need to keep taking steps forward in all areas but particularly on the defensive side of the ball. [It’s] tough for us to play at the pace we want without generating enough stops defensively.”

Nathan McCarville

Men’s and women’s basketball prep for the season

Meanwhile Coach Taylor is aware that keeping players of the injury list has to be a key priority this seas.

“Each year we have different goals for the team. Every year the variable is always health. We need to be healthy and then playing well at the end of [the] season. If we do that, then we will take our chances.”

Both coaches said they hadn’t shifted their coaching philosophy, but that they did have consistent themes for the year “It might not be the same thing to each player, but one constant message we have is to try and get to what happens next first,” said Burrows.

“Whether something happened that was good or bad [we] have to move to what happens next quickly.”

Taylor’s focus, meanwhile, is rooted in five key principles.

“We talk about our values of accountability, compete, rebound, unity and joy. If we live those values, it will see us through adversity.”

Burrows is clear about the ultimate goal.

“Again, try and be a playoff team and if we can get that done, try and get as deep as we can. We play in a very tough conference, so we have a lot of work ahead of

us, but we are looking forward to it!”

It’s a sentiment shared by Taylor. “[The] goals are really to be playing our best at [the] end of [the] season and give us a chance to win playoff games.”

Regular Season Home Schedule

01/11/2019 UBC vs. Regina – Centre for Kinesiology Health and Sport 6:00 pm (W) 01/11/2019 UBC vs. Regina – Centre for Kinesiology Health and Sport 8:00 pm (M) 02/11/2019 UBC vs. Regina – Centre for Kinesiology Health and Sport 6:00 pm (W) 02/11/2019 UBC vs. Regina – Centre for Kinesiology Health and Sport 8:00 pm (M) 15/11/2019 Winnipeg vs. Regina – Centre for Kinesiology Health and Sport 6:00 pm (W) 15/11/2019 Winnipeg vs. Regina – Centre for Kinesiology Health and Sport 8:00 pm (M) 16/11/2019 Winnipeg vs. Regina – Centre for Kinesiology Health and Sport 6:00 pm (W)

16/11/2019 Winnipeg vs. Regina – Centre for Kinesiology Health and Sport 8:00 pm (M) 29/11/2019 Alberta vs. Regina – Centre for Kinesiology Health and Sport 6:00 pm (W) 29/11/2019 Alberta vs. Regina – Centre for Kinesiology Health and Sport 8:00 pm (M) 30/11/2019 Alberta vs. Regina – Centre for Kinesiology Health and Sport 6:00 pm (W) 30/11/2019 Alberta vs. Regina – Centre for Kinesiology Health and Sport 8:00 pm (M) 10/01/2020 Brandon vs. Regina – Centre for Kinesiology Health and Sport 6:00 pm (W) 10/01/2020 Brandon vs. Regina – Centre for Kinesiology Health and Sport 8:00 pm (M) 11/01/2020 Brandon vs. Regina – Centre for Kinesiology Health and Sport 6:00 pm (W) 11/01/2020 Brandon vs. Regina – Centre for Kinesiology Health and Sport 8:00 pm (M) 31/01/2020

UNBC vs. Regina

– Centre for Kinesiology Health and Sport 6:00 pm (W) 31/01/2020 UNBC vs. Regina – Centre for Kinesiology Health and Sport 8:00 pm (M) 01/02/2020 UNBC vs. Regina – Centre for Kinesiology Health and Sport 6:00 pm (W) 01/02/2020 UNBC vs. Regina – Centre for Kinesiology Health and Sport 8:00 pm (M) Playoffs Canada West Quarterfinals 21/02/2020 * Canada West Quarterfinal (Location to be announced) Canada West Semifinals 22/02/2020 * Canada West Semifinal (Location to be announced) Canada West Final 29/02//2020 * Canada West Final (Location to be announced) U Sports Championships 05-08/03/2020 U SPORTS Championship Ottawa, Ont. (W) 05-08/03/2020 U SPORTS Championship Ottawa, Ont. (M)

We need to keep taking steps forward in all areas but particularly on the defensive side of the ball…” - Steve Burrows

op-ed

15 Editor: taylor balfor op-ed@carillonregina.com the carillon | September 19 - September 25, 2019

I interviewed students about online gaming.

A few weeks ago, I wrote half of a twopart op-ed (with what was probably my most attention-grabbing title yet – let me know how this one compares) about the increased worry that video games cause violence. I wondered whether, while the argument is definitely an oversimplification, there might be an element of connection between gaming culture and the alt-right.

After all, gaming figureheads are almost always straight white men, and the ones who aren’t are often snubbed or outright ridiculed. Further, it’s uncomfortably common for those figureheads to themselves be crypto-fascists or to engage in white supremacist and Nazi apologia (Pewdiepie – need I say more?).

The reception to that op-ed included a very welcomed and helpful suggestion that I follow it up with tangible steps to, as I wrote, “strongly align ourselves against fascism” in gaming circles. After all, it isn’t enough to know something has to be done; a person has to know and plan out how to do it for anything to change.

I sat down that week with Krystal Lewis from the Regina Public Interest Group to talk about some of the avenues this deeper exploration and call to action could take.

When it comes to everyday incidents of harassment IRL (“in-real-life,” for the not online-savvy), people can train in bystander intervention, taking action to protect the people involved. I wondered if those tactics could be applied in cyberspace too.

This question in mind, I interviewed several students at the U of R who had experience with online gaming. I asked them two main questions: one, were you ever the target of, or did you witness, harassment while gaming that was accompanied by hate speech? Two, when this harassment

happens, what do you do about it – or wish you could do? I was hoping to draw out some strategies that people may already be using to intervene, and get a sense of how easy it is to engage with these events as opposed to ones that happen in-person. As someone who doesn’t play a lot of online games, I also wasn’t sure what reports were going to come up.

I wish I could say that after these interviews I felt like I had gotten closer to understanding how to deal with – or even productively talk about – this problem in video games. Truthfully, though, I feel like it seems more bleak than it did before.

The consensus of the students who had encountered this toxic environment (all of them) was that it was a fundamental part of the hobby and something that couldn’t be avoided. Further, there was a common thread between two students of being entirely pushed out of gaming as a hobby due to the constant berating of their identities.

This shows not only that bigotry in gaming is still a very visible problem, but that it’s actually constructing boundaries for people that dictate who is and isn’t allowed to play games while feeling safe. In short, it turns out that the whole situation is really freaking depressing and, although I don’t really have a ton of interest in online games, I definitely wouldn’t want to take them up now.

One student said that she used to enjoy the online game Fortnite, arguably the most popular online game among young people right now, but she now only plays with local friends. She got tired of being harassed, mocked, and outright kicked from play groups as soon as the other people playing heard her voice and identified her as female. She said the same was true

of any woman who wanted to play nearly any MMORPG. “If you’re a woman, people will be okay with it if you play a healer character, or if your character’s design appeals to men. But if you want to look like anything else or play any other role, you’ll get made fun of just for being a girl.”

This is the kind of thing that I would expect to happen in a Grade one class at recess – maybe even that is giving six-yearolds not enough credit. I can’t imagine being treated like that as a university student while I’m trying to have fun.

Another student, Tannor, stopped playing online when he said he was called homophobic and transphobic slurs whenever he mentioned being gay or transgender. He and the anonymous female student agreed that “slurs are just words” to most people online. Tannor was especially frustrated because he knew young people looked up to popular livestreamers, and he had seen them pick up this language firsthand when neither he nor the children’s parents had ever used slurs around them.

Kristian Ferguson, The Carillon’s own former news editor, is a great fan of online gaming and said that although he doesn’t want to give up the hobby because of what he hears on voice chat, de-escalating (a form of bystander intervention) can be next to impossible.

“The barrier of . . . a voice chat in a video game [and] the anonymity it provides doesn’t allow for these kinds of people to connect with what I am trying to say.”

He plays online with voice chat muted, but when he goes to in-person events, “having that personal connection of sitting directly beside your opponent . . . I’ve actually felt really safe and welcomed.”

Pixabay So it may be, as people in the video games debate often claim, that anonymity is what makes people particularly vile.

When asked what to do about this problem, though, Kristian also made a point that circled me back all the way around to the beginning of this investigation. We can’t develop a gaming-specific strategy for dealing with bigotry because the problem doesn’t lie within gaming, but in the unfortunately very deeply entrenched societal structures of racism, misogyny, transphobia etc. that people are taking into cyberspace with them. Those systems, Kristian suggested, are what allow young, white men to feel safe behaving this way “with the [added] safety buffer of the internet.”

Kristian and I do agree on one final thing: it is never a bad idea to support and create gaming groups (on Facebook, in discord servers, in-game or in person) that are anti-oppressive, positive, supportive, and actively care about whether or not marginalized people are able to have just as much fun as everyone else. Kind of messed up that something like fun can be a privilege.

marty grande-sherbert staff writer

September 19 - September 25, 2019 op-ed

Hurricane Dorian, Canada, and privilege As I’m sure most Canadians know, Hurricane Dorian hit the east coast of Canada this past weekend, leaving approximately 500,000 citizens without power. Although the hurricane was downgraded to a tropical storm by the time it reached Halifax, Nova Scotia, the wind speeds still reached the intensity of a category two hurricane.

Of course, the news of this tragedy quickly spread throughout Canada, leaving the nation in a state of shock and worry, as a natural disaster isn’t a common occurrence in our country. However, although the aftermath of the storm is rightfully worrisome, the shock of our nation is something we can be grateful for.

The shock experienced by the country should act as a wake up call to the reality that these natural disasters are quite common in many areas of the world, unlike Canada. In fact, the Bahamas, one of the countries Hurricane Dorian struck the hardest, suffers through an average of six hurricanes and 12 tropical storms annually.

In contrast, the last hurricane to hit the east coast was Hurricane Matthew in 2016, and the Maritimes haven’t suffered the effects of a hurricane this severely since Hurricane Juan in 2003, more than 15 years ago. Of course, this is not to understate the tragedy that the east coast has suffered, but to put into perspective how fortunate we are to live in a relatively safe country in regard to climate.

This is especially true for those of us who live in western Canada, where natural disasters such as hurricanes, tsunamis, and floods are virtually non-existent; therefore, it is understandable that we are shocked when a disaster such as this affects our country so significantly.

We are not used to being in a state of

emergency, and our national pride quickly reveals itself when we realize that our people are in dire need. The natural disasters that are often on the news rather than in our own country are becoming more realistic. We start to feel the effects of what Mother Nature is capable of (but, again, not nearly as hard as those who feel the effects annually).

But how can we put this sudden burst of national pride to a good use? As previously stated, our nation’s shock highlights the privilege that we have in our developed country, and while it is good that the country as a whole feels sympathetic towards the Maritimes, it is important to realize that various countries do not have the privilege to be shocked by natural disasters. The citizens of many countries, such as the Baha-

carillonregina.com | The Carillon | 16

mas, Cuba, the Philippines, and countless others, must be prepared to have their lives altered within days, especially during hurricane season.

Just as it is a privilege to live in a safe country, it is also a privilege to be able to help those who are frequently affected by hurricanes, tsunamis, or any other natural disaster. Currently, in the Bahamas, around 10,000 citizens are in desperate need of basic essentials while approximately 2,500 people are still missing. Again, this isn’t to say that those who are suffering in the Maritimes aren’t as important, but while we feel sympathy for those who are struggling in our own country, it is important to also feel sympathy for those struggling on the other side of the world.

In addition to that, once we have found

Dennis Jarvis

that sympathy, it is important to act on it.

It is easiest (and most beneficial) to donate money here, but those in a state of emergency are also in need of clothes, canned foods, water, hygiene kits, plastic garbage bags, and many other common household items. Hurricane Dorian has allowed us to open our eyes and recognize our privilege and, once we have done that, we can use that privilege to help in any way we can.

olivia wiens contributor

September 19 - September 25, 2019 op-ed

carillonregina.com | The Carillon |

Andrew Scheer tight-lipped about social issues Politicians, as I’m sure everyone knows, come a dime a dozen at this point. Trying to understand the motives of any candidate is like trying to pull teeth as you go through mountain after mountain of bullshit. That’s just one stance on politicians however, as there are those out there who would like to focus on change and improving the conditions in which people live. Case in point, Barack Obama: one of the major influencers of positive change during his term as the President of the United States.

But we’re not here to talk about the former President of the United States, we’re here to talk about the potential candidates for the position of Prime Minister or, in this article, one potential candidate: Andrew Scheer who, out of “Scheer” luck it seems, has been able to continue being a potential candidate for Prime Minister despite the alienation and the fear-mongering and what-have-you.

That’s not just a bad pun either, Andrew Scheer has made some questionable comments as of late in regards to both abortion and LGBTQ2+ marriage. On the CBC news website, Scheer had commented (when discussing the abortion debate) that “individual MPs have the right to express themselves on matters of conscience, but a Conservative government will not reopen these divisive social issues” and that it’s “really just the Liberals” in response to who’s pushing these questions.

First off, the fact that a Conservative government will not reopen divisive social issues feels like a move that someone who’s completely out of touch with said social issues would make, interested more in sweeping these problems under a rug rather than tackling and solving them head on. “Out of sight, out of mind” is not an acceptable campaign slogan Mister Scheer.

Secondly, the ability to stand there and make a comment like “it’s really just the

17

Andre Forget

Liberals” when, in reality, this type of debate goes behind politics and affects women significantly more than on a political level. Frankly, it seems as though you just don’t make the attempt to even try and have open communication about this sort of thing. But no, go ahead and bash Trudeau some more, considering that’s what your Facebook and Twitter feed is flooded with.

Moving away from the discussion of abortion and more into Scheer’s stance on same-sex marriage, Ralph Goodale (despite being involved with some controversy as of late) had posted on Twitter saying that “to be a Leader of all Canadians, the Conservative Party leader should now end his lifelong boycott of Pride events and explain whether he would still deny same-sex couples the right to marry, as he said in Parliament”.

This is more or less a dig towards Scheer considering he is the leading runner for the Conservative Party and prompted a unique response from the candidate who stated that the “Trudeau government dredged up divisive social issues as a means of distraction,” a statement that can be found on the Global News website. Way to not answer the question, Scheer. This stance is, in a word, pathetic, as it’s, what now? 2019? To close the door on communication regarding same-sex marriage and equality basically alienates a significant portion of a population that you claim to give a shit about.

Long story short, Andrew Scheer must’ve earned the nickname bullet-dodger at some point because Christ, have I not seen this type of dodging since Neo’s moves in The Matrix. The blatant igno-

rance on display here is some that, for the LGBTQ2+ community at the very least, will not be taken sitting down.

ethan butterfield a&c editor

There are no excuses for choosing not to vote I still remember the excitement I felt when, a few weeks before turning 18, I realized I was going to be old enough to vote in our upcoming provincial election. I was ecstatic. Finally, I felt like my voice could be heard, albeit quietly.

I would be turning 18 overseas with other members of my graduating class, and had gone out of my way to vote early. When I told the women at the booths that day that this was my first time voting, they were thrilled. That was the first time I noticed how few people in my age demographic went out to vote.

The next time I realized this was almost a year later surrounding our city’s election when I realized that I, out of all my fellow 18-year-old friends, was the only one who’d bothered to vote. Again.

I understood, even then, that city, provincial, and federal elections are all held at different levels of importance. Frankly, it didn’t matter to me. I remember being angry – genuinely frustrated – that my friends who were so outspoken about politics didn’t bother to vote. When I asked why, the excuses were bogus. “I didn’t have time.” “I forgot.” And some, quite plainly, said they straight up “didn’t want to.”

From here, an actual argument broke out between me, upset that they didn’t vote, and them, who claimed I was being unreasonable. At the time, I backed down. I apologized. I said I was in the wrong for being upset that they didn’t utilize their chance to vote. But now, as we border the upcoming federal election, I take back my apology.

If you don’t vote, you don’t have a right to complain about politics. Period. No questions asked. If you refuse to take action to let your voice to be heard, why should I bother listening to you rant about how you

hate Regina’s crappy pave jobs and think the government is funnelling too much money into “insert anything here?” The short answer is: I won’t. There are no more excuses.

Don’t have time? Good news! You’re now able to vote by mail. By visiting elections.ca, you’ll find all the forms you’ll need to fill out in order to mail in your vote for the Oct. 21 election.

Out of town that day? That sounds like fun! Thank goodness you can vote early on

advanced polling days that run from Friday, Oct. 11 to Monday, Oct. 14 in various locations in the city. Bonus: they’re open for 12 hours each day: 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Don’t wanna vote in a booth? Thank goodness Elections Canada offices are here!

And thank goodness they’re open seven days a week too.

Are you retired? I’m jealous! The great news is that Elections Canada will even bring mobile voting stations to residents living in long-term care facilities and hos-

Pixabay

pitals.

The time for excuses is over. The time for action, and voting, is now.

taylor balfour op-ed editor

September 19 - September 25, 2019 op-ed

The library locker dilemma

carillonregina.com | The Carillon |18

Pexels

As a long-time university student, I’ve come to realize that not only is getting a locker a necessity (since there’s just too much damn stuff to carry around with me all day) but that its location is also important. Every year, since my first semester, I’ve had a locker in the library building because this is a good spot in between all my classes, as well as the area I spend most of my time doing school work.

As a result, this past summer when I saw new lockers being installed in the library building at the end of its longtime renovation project, I got excited, not by their grey appearance which literally matches everything else in the hallway (I mean seriously, don’t even get me started, but to my best knowledge other colours do exist), but rather by the prospect of getting a brand-new locker. Unfortunately, I didn’t anticipate that I would have as much trouble as I did opening said locker door.

Despite attempting to get a head start by purchasing my locker the day before classes began, this attempt ultimately failed, as the majority of my time over the course of the first three days were spent going back and forth between my locker and waiting in line at the URSU desk in order to have my locker problems addressed and resolved.

While many people typically have difficulty opening up their combination lock, sadly for me, this was the easiest part. It was opening my locker door after getting the lock off that was the dilemma.

Although the lockers in the library building are brand new, they are far from

perfect. Firstly, they have a weird design, with no obvious place to grip to pull the door open; something I realized after entering my combination and staring at my locker for a while before swallowing my pride and asking someone down the hall if they knew how to open them, while at the same time explaining that I am not a first-year (no offence).

Secondly, because they are so new, they are extremely stiff and an individual has to exert maximum effort just to open the door. While one would think that this effort would only be necessary the first time, unfortunately many of them still don’t open up easily over time. In all my years at university, I have never had as many locker problems as I did at the start of this semester. Having to go through three lockers in just three days, before I was able to get one I could actually use.

My first locker didn’t even open because a piece was bent; something another student brought to my attention. My second locker door required a great deal of effort to actually open and close. Each time I closed the door, I couldn’t reopen it myself and had to ask another student walking by for their help, and they, too, struggled to open it. Even though I thought that maybe I could solve the problem myself by opening and closing the door a few times to loosen it up, this did absolutely nothing.

Stressed, frustrated, and irritated, I left a request at the URSU desk for my locker to be looked at. By noon the following day, my shoulder was sore from having to

carry my stuff around with me all over the school. I headed back to the URSU desk, yet again, hoping that my locker had been looked at and fixed. Unfortunately, facilities had not yet gotten to it and because doing so may take a week or more, I was offered a third locker. Despite my reluctance to get another locker in the same building, I decided I would take my chances and hope for the best because I didn’t want to switch to a locker in a less convenient location. While this third locker thankfully opened up, it still frequently sticks, making it difficult to open.

It is absolutely ridiculous that these newly installed lockers have already become a major problem, not only for myself, but for other students as well who I have seen experiencing similar difficulties to pull open their door.

As with any renovation project, this one began late and took a while, only finishing at the end of August with the lockers being installed just a few days before the start of the fall semester. As a result, this time crunch not only gave URSU staff very limited time to get all the locks put on, but also prevented the lockers from being checked over to ensure that they open and function properly. I understand that renovation projects run into unintended dilemmas and take longer than planned, but that should have been considered when the library building renovation project first began.

My frustration and anger is not aimed at URSU staff, since they weren’t informed of the problematic lockers, but rather di-

rected towards the management of this renovation project. While I’m obviously no renovation expert, I believe there is a responsibility to not only complete the renovation, but also to check everything afterwards to ensure safety and proper functionality. Unfortunately, it is with this second aspect that the renovation project management failed, as it seems none of the lockers were actually checked before they were given out to students.

I understand that more time was needed to check over these lockers, but in all honesty, I would rather have waited an extra day or two for my locker in order to get a functional one rather than experiencing frustration and stress and wasting my time going back and forth to the URSU desk.

Lockers are a necessity for university students and, because they aren’t free, I don’t think it is too much to ask to have a locker that actually opens smoothly and properly.

elisabeth sahlmueller staff writer

“Although the lockers in the library building are brand new, they are far from perfect.”

- Elisabeth Sahlmueller

graphics

carillonregina.com | The Carillon | 19 Editor: sarah carrier, kate thiessen and morgan ortman graphics@carillonregina.com the carillon | September 19 - September 25, 2019

September 19 - September 25, 2019 graphics

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