the Carillon - Shopping, the expensive kind!

the carillon The University of Regina Students’ Newspaper since 1962

September 5 - 11, 2013 | Volume 56, Issue 3 | carillonregina.com

cover

the staff editor-in-chief (interim) michael chmielewskii carilloneic@carillonregina.com business manager shaadie musleh business@carillonregina.com production manager kyle leitch production@carillonregina.com copy editor michelle jones copyeditor@carillonregina.com news editor vacant carillonnewseditor@gcarillonregina.com a&c editor robyn tocker aandc@carillonregina.com sports editor autumn mcdowell sports@carillonregina.com op-ed editor michael chmielewski op-ed@carillonregina.com visual editor emily wright graphics@carillonregina.com ad manager neil adams advertising@carillonregina.com technical coordinator arthur ward technical@carillonregina.com distribution manager allan hall news writer

rikkeal bohmann vacant

As of today, Victoria Sharon Ordu and Ihuoma Favour Amadi have spent over 444 days hiding from a government bent on deporting them. With no end in sight, Michael Chmielewski reports on the role of the CBSA and the living hell occurring in the basement of a church. Read on pages 22 and 23.

Production Manager’s Note: You’ll notice that the cover image above in no way resembles the actual cover photo. As I write this note, it is 10:26 PM, Tuesday night. After I finish cursing the infernal gods of technological motherfuckery, we’re going to try to run the original cover image in next week’s issue. Mahalo.

KL

news

arts & culture

URSU did what?!

3 Over the summer, the URSU executive found time to give itself a pay raise. Even with the raise, they’re still one of the lowest-paid executives in Canada. That hasn’t stopped some from crying foul, however.

Blank Verse.

9 A new web series based out of British Columbia is modernizing classic literature.

What fun!

a&c writer vacant sports writer vacant photographers apolline lucyk vacant

vacant vacant

contributors this week drew wass, sébastien potvin, liam fitz-gerald, dan sherven, evan radford, paige kreutzwieser, john loeppky, matt wincherauk, brady lang, daylene sliz, taylor sockett, kris klein, dylan criddle

the paper

THE CARILLON BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Michael Chmielewski, Shaadie Musleh, Autumn McDowell, vacant, vacant, vacant, vacant 227 Riddell Centre University of Regina - 3737 Wascana Parkway Regina, SK, Canada, S4S 0A2 www.carillonregina.com Ph: (306) 586-8867 Fax: (306) 586-7422 Printed by Transcontinental Publishing Inc., Saskatoon

The Carillon welcomes contributions to its pages.

Correspondence can be mailed, e-mailed, 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. Letters should be no more then 350 words and may be edited for space, clarity, accuracy and vulgarity.

The Carillon is a wholly autonomous organization with no affiliation with the University of Regina Students’ Union.

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 corporation.

the manifesto

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 buildings was a bell tower 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 bell tower.

The University never got a bell tower, 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.

Illegitimi non carborundum.

In other news: Royal Ascent has been given to a law that will make it legal to beat those who do not say “spoiler alert”before ruining major plots of films/video games/literature.

op-ed

sports

Scorched earth in Sochi. 18 The recent Russian laws restricting LGBT rights have Intramurals.

15 sparked national outrage. Find out why boycotting the Sochi Have you ever thought about joining an intramural team but Winter Olympics isn’t the answer on page 18. didn’t out of pure fear that you would be forced to play ever herp so hard...? against a bunch of over comIssue 1 of Volume 56 featured an Opinion piece entitled petitive assholes who still “NDP Irrelevant?” by Sean Wilson. We here at the Carillon later found out that Sean Wilson is a member of the want to turn pro? Find out Saskatchewan Party’s Youth-Wing Executive. We regret how realistic that fear is in the this conflict of interest, and will take all measures to ensure it does not happen again. sports section.

photos news kyle leitch a&c charlie allison sports arthur ward

op-ed business insider over kyle leitch

Issue 2 featured an Opinion piece entitled “Fougere Wins.” In this piece, the cost to the city for the referendum regarding the waste-water treatment plant was quoted as being between 200-400 million dollars. We now know this figure is astronomically high compared to the actual cost of the referendum. We regret the error.

news URSU Executive gets a raise

News Editor: vacant carillonnewseditor@carillonregina.com the carillon | September 5 - 11, 2013

All four executives of the union will be paid $5000 more per term

Kyle Leitch

Where the “magic” happens.

michael chmielewski editor-in-chief (interim)

The University of Regina Students’ Union (URSU) executive has given itself a $5000 per term raise. The URSU Executive salary raise was carried as a motion after the last winter semester ended, during the May 13th, 2013 Board of Director’s Meeting.

In the May 13th minutes, the motion called 6.1 URSU Executive Salaries, firstly states the reason for the raise: “WHEREAS the cost of living and inflation are constantly devaluing the worth of the Canadian dollar and the URSU Executive salaries have yet to been brought up by these percentages in the past.”

It continues on saying that “WHEREAS through the excellent efforts of last year’s executive the URSU has grown and achieved multiple new avenues of income and will continue to in the coming year.”

This raise comes the same year as a tuition increased across the board for University of Regina students. Returning students will notice an increase in their payments, with undergrads paying 4.4% more, graduates paying 10% more and international students paying 25% more.

The motion claims that the URSU executive is underpaid, arguing “the executive salaries of the URSU are greatly behind the salaries of other full-time employed executives across Canada.” The motion cites the wage of the University of Saskatchewan Students’ Union (USSU) Salary is $32,941 for each executive, according to their 20132014 budget.

At the University of Calgary, the executives of the University of Calgary Students’ Union make $37,469 annually per term, which is May to May. Just like the URSU, the University of Calgary’s Students’ Union pays all its executives the same wage, according to the Vice-President (Academic) at the U of C Students’ Union.

The URSU motion concludes,

saying “BE IT RESOLVED the executive salaries be expanded from 24,000 per term to 29,000 per term in order to better reflect the hard work and efforts of the executive.”

The URSU executive is made up of four positions: the President, Vice President (External Affairs), Vice President (Operations and Finance), and Vice President (Student Affairs).

“The executive of the students’ union, for the amount of work they put in, which is about 50, 60, sometimes even 70 hours a week, they’re grossly underpaid” commented Nathan Sgrazzutti, President of the URSU. “The problem is that we’re expected to do this job to the best of our ability, [so] we need to be able to support ourselves financially while doing this as our sole kind of thing, alongside our schoolwork and our other extracurricular.”

In a document called Agreement as to Expectations for Executive Members of the University of Regina Students’ Union which “is meant to be an agreement between the Member and the Students’ Union Board of Directors, with respect to the work expectations, acceptable behaviour, and methods of interactions with the public for members of the Executive,” it says that “The [Executive] Member agrees that” during the fall and winter semesters “the Member ought to be available and on campus for 40 hours per week.” The URSU Executive Policy says that Executive members must “follow office hours set by the Executive Committee at the beginning of each term of office.”

Sgrazzutti claims that the executive puts in 50 or more hours a week.

The URSU Executive salaries motion contains a byline that says “Motion to move In Camera.”

Sgrazzutti acknowledged that, “motions can’t be made In Camera.” He explained that what happened here was that “the part that was in camera was there was some things that needed spoken about about the actual lives of the executive. They wanted to come

clean about some things, some issues they were having, and they didn’t want that to be public knowledge.”

Devon Peters, a fourth year education student and member of the URSU Board of Directors as the Francophone Students’ Director disagrees.

“The decision to do it In Camera was a poor decision. It’s definitely one that could use some justification,” Peters said.

He went on, saying, “the reality is that we’re at an institution that is facing a leadership crisis on the basis of the fact [the Administration has] refused to release budget books… I don’t want our students’ union to look like that.”

Peters emphasized that the URSU should, in fact, be a role model for the U of R and “we, as students, want to see an open and wellmanaged university, and we’re going to do that, starting with our own policy.”

Peters also expressed concerns over other aspects of the raise, particularly the timing of the motion, saying he didn’t like how the union decided to “have this meeting during the summer, immediately following an Annual General Meeting where they raised their levy. So they went out, they told the student body that they didn’t have enough money to continue the functions they were providing… It seems disingenuous to me. If the budget really was that tight then is this really the time to be raising executive salaries?”

At the last URSU Annual General Meeting (AGM), which took place during the last academic year on April 10th, 2013, motion 6.4, entitled Index URSU Fees to Inflation was carried. The motion argued that the URSU had not increased its levy since the 2010 AGM, and that it has one of the “lowest membership fees” among Canadian students’ unions, and that the URSU must meet inflationary demands in operational costs to “maintain quality of its staff and services.”

The carried motion ends say-

ing “THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED THAT the University of Regina Students’ Union fee be indexed to inflation yearly.”

On the URSU website, the most recent information on the fee structure is from 2010. In 20102011, a member of the student union would pay $60.05 dollars as union dues. In 2013, students will be paying $69 in union dues.

At the University of Saskatchewan, returning students will pay $71.72 in their union levy.

Another issue that Peters points out is the May 13th raise motion was a “decision made by a new Board [of Directors],” having recently been elected in March of 2013. While not trying to discount the new board, Peters said “the board of directors just received on August 20th an email from the President, Nathan, with essentially their terms of reference, which explains what the role of a member of the board of directors is.”

In the email from Sgrazzutti to the new Board of Directors on August 20th, the 3652-word document, entitled “Role of the Board of Directors,” details basic aspects of the job, such as URSU’s mission statement, different terms, voting members, the executive, etc.

Under “Section V. Board of Directors’ Duties,” the Preamble says, “the primary of the Board of Directors is to uphold the objectives and principles of the U of R student’s union. The Board of Directors is also responsible for the administration of the affairs of the URSU. It is, therefore, of the utmost importance that all directors take this position very seriously, and contemplate all decisions carefully. Every vote has an impact on the way the URSU fuctions, and the direction in which it is moving.”[sic] The preamble goes on with a warning: “Any director as an excuse for negligent decision or action CANNOT use ignorance. The information necessary to make informed choices within the URSU is at all members request and disposal. It is expected that all board

members will seek any information they lack”[sic]. The end of the document is signed “Nathan Sgrazzutti, President.”

Peters elaborated on the situation.

“The new Board of Directors felt these people were thrust into a situation in their very second meeting of term, where they were being forced to decide if we should make a fairly large expenditure or a raise in salary for these students’ union members, without having received any documentation like how to do your job, or without necessarily having any familiarity of past functioning in regards to these matters.”

Peters was not at the May 13th Board meeting, citing that he was out of province.

The URSU Constitution states that Minutes from the Board of Directors meeting “must be published on the URSU website and in hard copy within fourteen days of the meeting… The Board of Directors shall ensure that the books and records of the Students’ Union are accurate.” The last alleged meeting was August 6th, and no minutes have been posted as of Sep 1st.

“The thing is, where is this raise coming from? Who’s paying the students’ union this raise?” said Kate Nimegeers, a fourth year Business student. “Do other students think it’s worthwhile? I personally don’t.”

Nimegeers also expressed concern about how the URSU gave itself this raise.

“I don’t feel as though I’ve been represented, or even really talked to about it.” She went on saying, “at the AGM I attended, I felt kind of ostracized by the whole situation. When I voiced my opinion, I wasn’t fully listened to, because there’s two minutes where you get to talk, even less than that, and then you’re just drowned out by everyone else. I didn’t feel represented or listened to, so I haven’t really paid attention since that point.”

4

the carillon | September 5 - 11, 2013

news

Council to debate non-confidence University council meeting called to debate motion started by petition

Kyle Leitch

…and I didn’t just circle that for the photo.

michael chmielewski editor-in-chief (interim) The University of Regina Council has secured a “Special Meeting of the University of Regina Council” according to an email sent out to the U of R Faculty and Staff on Aug 16th, 2013. As of Sep 3rd, 60 members have signed the petition.

The Council needed 50 signatures on a petition to secure the meeting. The meeting’s purpose will be to debate “the attached motion, to wit, that The University of Regina Council resolves that the following question shall be put to the members of the University of Regina Council by a secret ballot to close ten days hence, and that all members of Council shall be informed of the result:” “The University of Regina Council has lost confidence in the President and the Vice-President (Academic).”

The University of Regina Act establishes the University Council: “Council consists of the University's president, vice-presidents, university secretary, registrar, librarian, assistant librarians, and the deans, directors, professors, associate professors, assistant professors, full-time lecturers, special-lecturers and instructors employed by the University or its federated colleges, and a number of students.”

In a document attached to the email entitled “Petition for Special Meeting_Non-Confidence Motion,” the rationale is stated as follows: “University Council has lost confidence in the President and the Vice-President (Academic) because they have harmed the university’s academic mission, and pursued instead its diminishment relative to university administration; because, by refusing to produce a complete budget, the President and VicePresident (Academic) have obstructed University Council’s efforts to safeguard the academic mission; and because, by presiding over the mismanagement of public and private donors’ funds, they have done grave harm to the University’s reputation.”

[Emphasis original].

The Carillon tried contacting many professors to comment on the petition. Most refused to grant

an interview outright, some citing job security.

There will allegedly be a meeting of the University Council that will take place on Friday, September 27 at 2:00 pm. In an email sent to Council members from Vianne Timmons, the President and Vice-Chancellor of the U of R on August 28th, Timmons wrote that “While the University Secretary has not yet formally received the petition, I believe it is important to address the issues raised within it. For this reason, I am calling a meeting of Council that will take place Friday, September 27 at 2:00 p.m.

I will be meeting with the Agenda Committee of Council to formalize the agenda which will be issued in early September.”

“Further information regarding location and other meeting details will be included in that agenda.”

Many issues are raised within the distributed petition. In a section entitled “1. Harm to the Academic Mission,” it says there has been a practice of “increasing the number of administrative positions while decreasing the number of academic positions continues a trend that has been in place at the University of Regina since at least 2001.”

These “units gained or lost positions as follows:” Administrative: 1. External Relations: +12.4 (80% increase) 2. Facilities Management: +50.6 (38% increase) 3. Human Resources: +15.6 (98% increase) 4. Information Services: +22.1 (46% increase) International: +13.1 5. UR (1300% increase) Academic: 6. Arts: -14.9 (14% decrease) 7. Fine Arts: -3.9 (11% decrease) 8. Library: -3.3 (18% decrease) 9. L’Institut français: -7.4 (85% decrease) 10.

Science: -0.3 (0.4% decrease) The petition does not mention in this same way the increase in academic positions in Business Administration, Nursing, and Engineering, amongst others.

From 2001-2012, “the net increase in full-time equivalent nonacademic positions university wide was 221” whereas “the net increase in full-time equivalent academic positions university-wide

was 22.1” and only 2.2 of this 22.1 were faculty.

From 2006-2012, “the net increase in academic positions university-wide was 5.4” while “the net increase in non-academic positions university-wide was 97.3.”

The petition then attacks the administration further: “The President and the Vice-President (Academic) neither stopped this long-term trend nor reversed it.

On the contrary, they endorsed and extended it.”

Furthermore, “the cumulative effects of this decades-long trend of increasing the number of nonacademic positions and units while decreasing the number of academic positions include increased cost of the university, increased tuition fees, and diminished ability to carry out our university’s academic mission.”

President Timmons told The Carillon “they have numbers here that are longer than my tenure. I came in 2008.” She continued saying, “this is about my tenure. I’ve done five years here. When I came, there was a 15 percent decrease in student enrolment; we’ve recaptured that and more.

Eleven per cent of the student population self-declares as aboriginal.”

“I will admit, absolutely, we’ve invested in administrative positions, but the majority of administrative positions that have been invested in my time have been in student support. That, to me, is a great investment.”

Timmons pointed out the need for more administrative staff.

“I will not apologize; when I came [to the University] we ranked the lowest in Maclean’s in supports for student services.”

The University of Regina now ranks number 17 for student services among Canadian Universities on the Maclean’s online rankings, most recently dated to 2011. This ranking is calculated by the percentage of budget. New programs like UR Guarantee contribute to this higher ranking.

A second part of the distributed petition called “2.

Obstruction of Council,” accused Timmons and the Vice-President (Academic) of “denying Council’s requests for full and detailed budget data” and have thus “obstructed Council in its duly enacted role as the ‘senior legislative

body on academic matters.’”

When asked if a complete budget has been produced, Timmons said, “Absolutely.”

“If you look at our website, our budget is fully visible there.

We have a committee of council called AGPEA that is made up of faculty who has been given every bit of budget information they ask, and they represent council.

They’re a committee of council.

So, I’m not sure why this small group of faculty is saying that. No one has come to my office and said I can’t get on the website, I can’t read the Board of Governors budget information. If there’s a problem of accessibility, I need to know.”

AGPEA stands for Advisory Group on Planning, Evaluation and Allocation. According to the U of R’s website, it is defined as “the consultative nexus of institutional planning, program and unit evaluation, and resource allocation. In carrying out its responsibilities, AGPEA will be guided by the University's vision, mission, and goals as approved and set out in the institutional strategic plan.”

In the May 23rd AGPEA meeting minutes, under Appendix 1, there is a copy of an email that Timmons sent out to the “University community” with the subject line reading “Board of Governors approves balanced budget.”

“Today [May 7th], the 20132013 operating budget of $187 million was approved by the University of Regina’s Board of Governors… As a new step in the budget process this year, the [AGPEA], a committee of Executive of Council, provided detailed feedback on all reinvestment and capital requests.”

“Specific budget allocations for the budget areas will be provided to managers in mid-to-late May. Full details of the comprehensive budget plan, as well as a summary of the alignment of the budget with the University’s Strategic Plan, will be available in the coming days at: http://www.uregina.ca/orp/bud get.shtml.”

Indeed, at this link, one can find the 20-page “Comprehensive Budget Plan For 2013-2014.”

Nathan Sgrazzutti, President of the University of Regina’s Students’ Union, was skeptical of the petition, saying that it “is go-

ing to do nothing for an organization or for this school as a whole except for cause trouble and friction between the faculty and the administration.”

The third and final section is “3.

Financial called Mismanagement.”

The section starts out by saying “These questions of transparency and public trust have become ever more urgent in the wake of recent reports of fiscal mismanagement of funds and accounts entrusted to the superviof the University sion administration.” The petition is, of course, referring to the one million dollar donor fund that the University Administration used to “cover overspending in the Faculty of Engineering,” which amounted to around 1.3 million.

Without the “dubious,” as the petition says, use of these funds, the Faculty of Engineering would be in extreme dire straights: according to the Discovery Project – Update of April 2012, this overspending was due to the former Dean of Engineering, Paitoon Tontiwachwuthikul, in his research accounts.

The document concludes by saying that a “university houses and promotes the ideals of intellectual enquiry. That is its purpose and its value. Honesty, openness and transparency in pursuit of truth, knowledge and understanding are its hallmarks. They are the measures of its work.

These measures apply equally to its faculty and its administrators.

On that score, this President and this Vice-President (Academic) have failed. They have harmed our University and its reputation.”

“We cannot risk further damage.”

“I don’t want one of our faculty out there losing confidence in the administration.” Said Timmons. She went on, saying, “I have removed a vice-president position and an associate vicepresident position, we’re very lean in administration.”

“I have to think a lot about how to explain to the faculty that the university is very good shape comparatively to others across this country, and that message isn’t out there. I need to work harder on getting that positive message out there.”

the carillon | September 5 - 11, 2013

news

5

Audit: Research Needs to Shape Up Provincial Auditor outlines recommendations for the U of R

uregina.ca

Research is important, yo. It’s like, what we’re here for. tion of our policies and processes rikkeal bohmann in the research portfolio, and news writer have, in fact, welcomed this examination.”

The audit completed by the On June 3, the Provincial Auditor Saskatchewan Provincial Auditor of Saskatchewan released an audit this past summer discusses proreport done on the University of tecting the University of Regina’s Regina’s Research. This report Research in chapter 15 of Volume outlined 26 recommendations for 1 of the 2013 Report. The the U of R to look into implement- Saskatchewan Government is a ing. The audit came after ques- large contributor to the tions began to arise about the University’s research financially.

International Performance In 2011-2012, the University reAssessment Centre for the search revenue was $22.9 million, Geologic Storage of Carbon and $2.8 million was from the Dioxide (IPAC-CO2). The contro- Saskatchewan government. The versy went as far as to be debated provincial government also plays in the Legislative Asssembly. The a large role in the University’s controversy lied in the questions Board of Governors, as it appoints about an non- tendered contract five of the eleven members. The and possible conflicts of interest audit completely focuses on probetween IPAC-CO2 and Climate tecting interests of U of R research Ventures, who are a private com- and commercialization of repany. IPAC-CO2 was created in search. No audit was done on the 2008. The University, the financial administration of reSaskatchewan Government and search funds.

Research plays a key role in Royal Dutch Shell shared partneruniversities. The audit outlines ship in it.

The university’s operations that the amount and quality of reoutlined that a regular audit search academic staff partake in, would have occurred within the funding permitting, and with next two years. The recent atten- publications of research results, tion to IPAC-CO2 prompted are key to staff being tenured and Saskatchewan and the University promoted. Protecting the interests to agree that an audit should hap- of the University’s research is also pen sooner. From a media release important, as negative effects of that was released on March 25, unprotected research could be 2013, Vianne Timmons, University detrimental. Risk of loss of reputaof Regina President and Vice- tion, and difficulty recruiting new Chancellor, states, “Given the academic staff, and having less of public attention in recent months an ability to attract research fundregarding our research operations, ing are a few of the consequences we worked with the Provincial that are possible, the audit states.

As of March 31, 2013, the Auditor to fast-track an examina-

University has 300 research grant agreements, 100 research contracts, 70 research partners and 19 intellectual property files.

IPAC-CO2 was used as an example in the audit.

The audit stated, “reporting was inadequate to enable appropriate oversight by senior management and the Board of Governors of the University, and created risks to the University’s finances and reputation.”

This was due to IPAC-CO2 not being classified as a Type 1 institute, which would have called for different reporting structures than what was used.

Type 1 institutes cover crossdisciplinary collaborations.

At the time of the audit, the University has completed evaluating 30 per cent (6 of 19) of research initiatives. The 19 files are estimated to have 109 patents. The audit explains that the University needs to be able to know the potential commercialization of intellectual property. The University has reported at the time of the audit that it was working with outside agencies to complete re-evaluation of some of its patents. If the University cannot afford to evaluate patents in time, it could lose potential commercialization of intellectual property and the benefits that brings.

Recommendation 24 deals with this specifically.

“We recommend that the University of Regina complete its evaluation of patents to support its decisions to continue maintain patents,” it states.

Intellectual property is owned by the University’s academic staff.

Academic staff is welcome to pursue commercialization of their intellectual property as well. Staff must disclose to the university if they are going to be commercializing intellectual property though a disclosure form provided by the Office of Research, Innovation and Partnership. The audit found that intellectual property files did not always include disclosures and that the University has not received any new disclosures of intellectual property for over 18 months. It was not determined if this time frame for absence of disclosures was acceptable.

Recommendation 8 tries to deal with this.

“We recommend that the University of Regina ensure that intellectual property disclosures are completed in accordance with policy and communicate this requirement to staff.”

Overall, the audit said, “While the University of Regina had many structures and processes in place for protecting its interests as it fostered research and commercialization of research, these structures and processes could be improved.”

In a media release on May 30, 2013, Timmons is quoted as saying, “We are pleased to have received these recommendations.

The recommendations will serve as a guide to enable to strengthen our research enterprise.”

“1. We recommend that the University of Regina assess whether its organizational structure is effective to support the achievement of its strategic research goals and make any necessary changes.

2. We recommend that the University of Regina document in policy and enforce its requirements to centrally manage all research agreements to protect its interests in research.

12. We recommend that the University of Regina establish policies and procedures for evaluating when to pursue and when to discontinue commercialization efforts.

16. We recommend that the University of Regina immediately confirm, document, and enforce its delegations to staff of research-related signing authority.

19. We recommend that the University of Regina follow its policy to have external boards pass resolutions allowing University-nominated directors to share information with the University. Where such resolutions cannot be obtained, the University should consider not naming directors to these external boards.”

Other notable recommendations to make point of:

“ Research plays a key role in universities. The audit outlines that the amount and quality of research academic staff partake in, funding permitting, and with publications of research results, are key to staff being tenured and promoted. Protecting the interests of the University’s research is also important, as negative effects of unprotected research could be detrimental. Risk of loss of reputation, and difficulty recruiting new academic staff, and having less of an ability to attract research funding are a few of the consequences that are possible, the audit states.”

Rikkeal Bohmann

6

the carillon | September 5 - 11, 2013

news

First Aboriginal woman at RCMP helm Butterworth-Carr is now Commanding Officer in Saskatchewan rikkeal bohmann news writer The Saskatchewan RCMP appointed Chief Superintendent Brenda Butterworth-Carr as the new Commanding Officer of “F” Division, which covers the province of Saskatchewan, on Aug. 21. She will be the first Aboriginal woman to head a division for the RCMP. ButterworthCarr is taking over from Assistant Commissioner Russ Mirasty, who had been the first Aboriginal person to command an RCMP division. Mirasty had taken the job in 2010, and is now retired.

Carrie Bourassa, Ph.D., is an associate professor who notes the importance of the appointment of Butterworth-Carr to commanding officer.

“This is very significant as it is the first time in Canadian history that an Aboriginal woman will lead an RCMP division. Given that policing is, in general, a male dominated profession it is note-

Huffington Post

worthy when a woman is appointed. Given that Aboriginal women are vastly under-represented in policing; this is even more noteworthy and certainly significant.”

According to the “Gender and Respect – RCMP Action Plan,” as of April 1, 2012, of the 19,181 total regular member(RM) RCMP

(sworn police officers), 79.6 per cent were men, while only 20.4 per cent were women. Of this, 7.2 per cent of the total RM RCMP self-identified as Aboriginal. The RCMP hopes to achieve a 30 per cent RM population in the RCMP by approximately 2025, the action plan also lays out. In late 2011, 35 per cent female RM recruitment

was benchmarked starting for April of 2012.

Others believe more needs to be done though.

“While improvements have been made in the past several years in terms of the recruitment and retention of women and Aboriginal people in policing, given the issues around missing and murdered Aboriginal and the Robert Pickton trial, it is important to note that more work must be done.” Bourassa goes on, “In addition, Aboriginal women aged 15 and older are 3.5 times more likely to experience violence than nonAboriginal women. Six in 10 Aboriginal female spousal violence victims reported injury, while about 4 in 10 nonAboriginal female victims were injured.”

Yukoner-Butterworth-Carr joined the RCMP in 1987 as an Aboriginal special constable.

Being the top Mountie in Saskatchewan has been “a humbling thing,” Butterworth-Carr has been quoted saying at a news

conference. The realities of the RCMP’s appointment may help to open more doors for women, especially women of Aboriginal descent, in powerful positions in Canada.

“I wish I could say we were at the place and time where we didn’t need to mention that Butterworth-Carr was Aboriginal, let alone the first Aboriginal woman to hold this position, but we are not. It is important to celebrate this and remind ourselves that we need more appointments like this, more leaders like her, and that this should become a regular occurrence to see appointments like this in the future.

Unfortunately, we are not quite there yet. But, we have incredible resilience in our communities and you will see many, many more appointments like this to the point where they will become routine announcements. That will be a great cause for celebration.”

Time to buy those god-awful textbooks!

Prepare yourself, you will lose a lot of money allan hall distribution manager One of the most depressing moments of my undergraduate career was when I first set foot inside the university bookstore. I can vividly remember my jaw dropping the first time that I saw the price listings for all my textbooks.

“I think that the costs are a little outrageous, seeing that you only use them for four months and how the editions are always changing. It seems like you’re spending so much money on top of your tuition,” says Ashley Marshall, a fine arts student at the University of Regina.

According to Statistics Canada’s CANSIM database, since 2002 the cost of books (excluding textbooks) for Canadian consumers have dropped by 7.3%.

This can be attributed to a multitude of factors such as the significant increase in the parity of the Canadian dollar to the American dollar ($1.5704 USD/CDN in 2002 versus $0.9995 USD/CDN in 2012), increased competition with online retailers and discount wholesalers, and the emergence of E-Books. While the cost for books has decreased during this time span, the cost of textbooks has increased by 28.4%.

The market for textbooks is inherently weird when compared to the traditional market for books and most other goods. The instructors that decide what textbooks are used for a course are not the same individuals that are paying for them. This can become problematic when instructors do not take into consideration the financial ramifications of their choices, because it does not adversely affect them. A study done by the Connecticut Board of Governors for Higher Education found that only 42% of instructors were aware of the costs of the text-

Kyle Leitch

Suckers.

books that they selected for their course. While there are many instructors that take cost into consideration, they have no real incentive to pick the most affordable textbook that results in less pressure for publishers to keep prices low.

The group that typically gets the most backlash for the cost of textbooks are university bookstores. The University of Regina Bookstore sells its textbooks at a 22% markup. According to the University of Regina’s Comprehensive Budget Plan for 2013/14, it expects to make a surplus of $238,000 and a profit margin of 4.18% from revenues of $5,936,000 and expenses of $5,698,000. While university bookstores do make revenues for their respective institutions, they are not as high as most would intuitively think.

The more appropriate group to criticize for the rising costs of textbooks would be the textbook publishers.

One of the largest criticisms of the textbook industry today is that they have significantly increased the frequency of new editions for textbooks. According to Rayola Anderson, the manager of the University of Regina Bookstore, it is now customary to see textbook

publishers release a new edition approximately every two to three years. For example, the publisher Benjamin Cummings will be releasing its fourth update of Campbell Biology since 2004 later this year. While for some textbooks the updates are necessary, in many instances the differences between editions are insignificant.

According to Harold Weger, a professor of biology at the University of Regina, the content in textbooks for entry-level courses “in general doesn’t change that much year to year” and often tells his students that it is acceptable to use older editions.

“It’s a blatant grab for money.

These are for profit organizations looking for a way to make the most profit,” says Nathan Sgrazzutti, the President of the University of Regina Students’ Union (URSU).

It is believed that the primary reason for increasing the frequency of new editions is to hurt the used textbook industry.

According to Anderson, “the publishers have become very savvy in trying to stop of course the used market because it affects them greatly.” Textbook publishers receive no income from the sale of used textbooks and have an incentive to disrupt this mar-

ket. By decreasing the shelf life of a textbook, it decreases a student’s opportunity to resell their textbooks and forces them to buy a new copy instead. According to Anderson, the percentage of used textbook sales has decreased from 25% of the bookstores sales to 15% in recent years. The sales from the URSU Used Book Sale have decreased from $257,698 in 2003/04 to $55,335 in 2012/13.

Another practice done by textbook publishers to increase the costs of textbooks is the practice of “bundling”. This is the practice of bundling additional materials like DVDs and activation codes for online materials with plastic wrap to textbooks. In most instances, this increases the cost of the textbook and makes it more difficult to return. An additional issue with this is that instructors rarely use bundled materials in their curriculum. According to a study done

by State PIRG, only 24% of instructors estimate that they “always” or “usually” use the additional bundled materials.

The cost of textbooks is also influenced by Canadian book importation regulations, which can inflate costs by as much as 15%. In 1999, the federal government created book importation regulations in the Copyright Act in an attempt

to help protect the Canadian publishing industry. These regulations allow distributors, if they hold exclusive distribution rights for the authored material in Canada, to charge Canadian booksellers an additional 10% (if it is imported from the United States) or 15% (if it is imported overseas) based off the domestic price of the book in the country of origin and the difference in exchange rates.

Campus Stores Canada estimates that these book importation regulations cost students around $30 million annually.

The federal government has attempted to help alleviate the costs of academic materials by offering students tax credits for textbooks. The actual benefit of this is heavily debatable. Post-secondary tax credits are classified as a nonrefundable tax credit. This means that while a student could have earned $520.00 in tax credits for being a full time student, they would only be able to use it to offset it against taxes owed. While the tax credit can be carried forward or partially transferred to a parent or guardian, this does not provide any functional financial relief for the vast majority of students while they are attending university.

One upside to the rising costs of textbooks is that it has spurred a movement towards open access textbooks. In most instances, these textbooks are published under an open license and can be used at no cost. Because of the digital and open access nature, instructors are also able to modify and adapt the material to better fit their instructional needs. In 2012, the British Columbia Ministry of Advanced Education announced that they would be providing free online and open textbooks for the 40 most popular courses in the near future.

the carillon | September 5 - 11, 2013

news

7

Terry Fox fundraiser to come to campus Terry’s CAUSE on Campus will be hosting a marathon, other events at the U of R michael chmielewski editor-in-chief (interim) On September 14th, the University of Regina’s Terry’s CAUSE on Campus will be raising money for cancer research.

A non-competitive marathon will start on the U of R’s Academic Green, and will have 3 km, 5 km, and 10 km options.

Participants can run, walk, or wheel in wheelchairs.

Last year, the Terry Fox Foundation created the Terry’s CAUSE on Campus, which, according to their website, “participating institutions join together to honour Terry and commemorate his Marathon of Hope by raising funds for cancer research.” In its inaugural year, Terry’s CAUSE on Campus could be found at various universities, including Simon Fraser, Memorial, Dalhousie, Bishop’s, Queen’s, and more.

2013 is the first year that this event will be at the University of Regina.

Olivia Hellman is the Chairman of the University of Regina’s Terry’s CAUSE on Campus. “Our event is wholly planned and run by University students, which I think is a big drawing factor to get other students involved. Our volunteers for the day will all be current University students. Even our supporters have a post-secondary

Toronto.ca

Terry Fox receiving a medal, presumably for being bad as fuck. focus or link. We are even working to start up a club on campus so that students can get involved in the initiative for the entire year” she said.

When asked why they were

starting the event from the University’s campus, Hellman replied, “A few of us on the committee are Ambassadors leaders with the Ambassador program on campus. In our position as lead-

ers, we are expected to take part in a community leadership initiative.”

Throughout the day there will be activities and live music. There will also be an after-party at The

“ Cancer is something that has touched everyone at some point in their lives...I hope my fellow students join the cause in any way they can.”

Owl the night of the 14th.

“The purpose of the initiative is to get post-secondary students involved in raising money for cancer research and spreading Terry Fox's message. Most often, it is post-secondary students who are the ones conducting cancer research so it made sense for the Foundation to start up an event specifically geared to those students.”

The group is also planning on working on events in the future.

One event is a comedy night with Haris Khan, who is known for “planning comedy nights to raise money for worthy causes.” The event will take place in October, and will be called “A Stand Up for Cancer.”

Hellman concluded by saying, “Cancer is something that has touched everyone at some point in their lives. We all have a loved one who was lost because of cancer, or we know of someone who has lost a person they love to cancer. It's a cause that we all have a reason to fight for and I hope my fellow students join the cause in any way they can.”

The group is already looking ahead to next year by planning another Terry’s CAUSE on Campus in 2014.

Olivia Hellman

Chemical weapons used in Syria Interventionary action being debated; could destabilize the region. rikkeal bohmann news writer United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon stated, “Any use of chemical weapons anywhere, by anybody, under any circumstances, would violate international law,” at a meeting in Seoul, Republic of Korea on Aug. 23.

A UN team had been deployed in Syria for a 14-day mission, to probe the alleged use of chemical weapons by the Syrian Government. The weapons inspectors pulled out this past weekend. A UN report will be filed and sent to the Secretary General, where he will present it to the Security Council.

The alleged attack occurred on the morning of Aug. 21 near Damascus. In June, an international meeting was held with the UN and the League of Arab States to discuss actions to take in Syria.

A Geneva II conference is tentatively being booked for September to try to find a political solution to Syria.

Doctors without Borders had been one of the first to be able to provide information on the alleged attacks. Three hospitals in Damascus that are supported by Doctors without Borders reported that that they received approximately 3,600 patients displaying neurotoxic symptoms in less than

Syria News

The lion? He looks more like the rat to me.

three hours on the Wednesday attack. 355 reportedly died.

The international community has been watching the United States’ reaction to the attacks. US Secretary of State John Kerry has said the attacks, “defied the code of morality,” as he took a firm stance against chemical weapons.

The Obama administration has officially said it would take action following the attacks. What kind of action, is what kept the world in suspense.

Unexpectedly, the British government voted no for military action in Syria, while France has pledged support. Turkey, who has air bases in the area, has also pledged to support American action.

On Sunday, Obama began campaigning to Congress for support to do a punitive strike against the Syrian government, while Kerry tried to rally international allies. New evidence repeatedly came out from the US government

that the chemical attack had actually killed over 1,400.

This campaign in Syria will also likely be short, if all things go as planned, as Martin Hewson, a political science professor at the University of Regina notes, “If it happens, it will be a one off, punishment strike against Syria.”

The American track record for short and easy campaigns has not always been a good experience though. Hewson notes three examples where the Americans

thought they would be going in for a short and easy campaign, but the opposite occurred: Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya.

We do know for sure that Canada will not be taking part in military action though.

“There has never been any question on having no Canadian military involvement,” Hewson states.

The Harper government has condemned the chemical attacks and instead vows to give humanitarian help.

Syrian President Bashar alAssad has challenged the American and French to provide proof that his regime was responsible for the chemical attacks.

“The Americans and French have not made their evidence public yet and that is why Assad is claiming that it wasn’t them, and the basic reason for this, I think, is that a lot of people are skeptical because ten years ago, President Bush said Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction and that’s why they are invading Iraq and it turned out he didn’t have them. It was a huge mistake,” Hewson says.

On Monday, Assad warned that “the Middle East is a powder keg and the fire is approaching.”

Hewson describes the tension in the Middle East as “a low-level war, a cold war almost.”

8

the carillon | September 5 - 11, 2013

q&a

Tales from Benin U of R student Alberto Ortiz travels to Africa

Photo courtesy: Alberto Ortiz

Alberto taught students while in Africa.

liam fitz-gerald contributor Last week, I was fortunate enough to sit down with Alberto Ortiz, a University of Regina student who travelled to Benin, Africa, with an organization called The Humanity Exchange. Alberto came to Regina as an exchange student five years ago and loved the city so much that he decided to stay. He is majoring in political science and minoring in sociology. He has also been working on a French minor.

He is a co-op student and was asked to do a fourth term. Instead of taking a job, Alberto went abroad to Africa to improve his French. He stayed in the city of Quidah Benin, "the voodoo capital of the world" for three months. “Since I'm a political science major, I really like politics of underdevelopment and in my politics of underdevelopment class, I learned a little about Africa, and I have many African friends here that I really enjoy talking to,�

Alberto said.

I sat down with Alberto one afternoon and asked him about his time overseas and how his summer was.

1) Which organization did you go to Benin with, what do they represent and what did you like about them?

The organization is called The Humanity Exchange. They were the only organization that I could find with placements in a French speaking country. That was very important to me. It was the only organization with good prices...I didn't even pay $2,000 and I was there for three months, living in a house having two meals a day, sometimes three. I had to pay for the flight though.

2) Were you a volunteer or on an internship in Benin and can you describe that experience a bit?

I was a volunteer. Their programs in Benin are not that well established yet. They don't have the same infrastructure and base organizations to help them have interns.

I volunteered in many different projects. We were teaching

English at a rural school. That was one of my favorite projects actually. I was also teaching French.

In Benin, if you do not go to school, you do not learn French.

There are many local languages, but to learn French, the official language of the country, you must go to school. There is little infrastructure and resources to help handicapped children come to school. There was a school for handicapped children and we taught them French. If nobody teaches them French, they grow up and have limited opportunities.

3) One of the statements on the Humanity Exchange's mission statement is "we connect volunteers to the realities of the human condition abroad." Can you comment on that statement and tell me if you got a sense of the human condition abroad?

Yeah, definitely. Coming from Mexico, I've seen many, many things. Now, I understand there are levels of underdevelopment and Benin is, I think I read it was something like 157/164 on the Human Development Index, so they're pretty low and you can see that everywhere.

Going back to the statement, they actually do connect you to the people. We lived with a local family, sort of middle class.

Middle class for Benin is way lower than the middle class here.

I lived with a typical family. A dad, his wife didn't live with him, but they were married. They had 3 children, two lived with the dad and one lived with the mom. They didn't have space at their place to have volunteers so the dad and two of the children moved to the place where he had a workshop.

[Alberto tells me later that the father was a welder].

4) What was a typical day like for you as a volunteer?

The weekend was usually off.

I got involved in many projects and every day was different. But, basically I would wake up at 6:30 AM and the family would prepare breakfast for me. Then we [him and his fellow volunteer] would bike to the Arts Center, a school where we taught an IT class for women. This was from 8:00 AM to

10:00 AM. At 10:00 we went to Impact, an organization we worked with. We took their motorcycles to the villages and did services there until 1:00 PM or 2:00 PM. We would come back and have lunch with some ladies that prepared food and sold it on the street. I would always eat 200 francs (40 Canadian cents) of food and have beans and wheat sauce every day. A little bit before 4:00 PM I would go to the rural schools, all the children that lived

Photo courtesy: Alberto Ortiz

with me came, and we would teach English there.

5) I want to talk about the set up of the Humanity Exchange.

It's called a "Social Enterprise" a business with social objective.

Can you comment on a business with a social objective? Is that a good set up?

I really like the way they work. It's only three people and they don't live in the same city.

One lives in England, one lives in Canada and I think the other is in the United States. They hire locals to be local advisors, and they also pay the families a good amount of money. Out of the $400 we paid per month, $150 was for the family and I don't know how much for the local advisor. We asked what is the best thing we can bring for donations and they say money. Bring money and spend it here. The money we bring can help the local economy grow.

6) Did you ever feel your safety was ever threatened at any point and were there any close calls was anything?

At the beginning, I was scared because our exchange manager told us not to go out by ourselves.

After some time I felt safer than I had ever felt in Mexico. Seriously, people in Benin are so friendly that I never had safety concerns after a while. But there was a girl who came with us and we went out and she had a backpack. We went out at night and we got robbed. I got hit on the head and they grabbed the backpack off her.

They jumped on their motorcycle and left. She lost her camera.

After that, volunteers felt scared about going out, and I felt bad be-

cause they had wanted to stay longer and we had enjoyed our time without anything happening. The man we stayed with was really good and he was really concerned for our safety. Many of the locals were mad because they felt it gave a bad image to the country.

They like people to come because the volunteers really help them.

7) What did you do on your days off?

Well, before going, I thought I was going to swim a lot in the [Atlantic] Ocean, but one of the first things they told us was that was one of the most dangerous oceans in Africa. They didn't recommend we swim.

Because of the sea life?

No, the tides. They will suck you in and you cannot get out.

But we travelled a bit. We went to North Benin and that was amazing. Very interesting country because in the north there are more languages and are more mixed, therefore French is the only language anyone has in common.

Besides that, we went to Togo one weekend and that is a beautiful country. I love the culture and the food and they love tourists, so we

were welcome there.

8) What were some of the best parts of the trip and what were some of the worst?

One of the best things was the English class. It was really fun and I enjoyed working with rural people because they were really receptive. You would get to the classroom and they would be ready to learn. They would be like "teach me!"

I really enjoyed the villages because we brought donations from Canada. We asked our friends here to make donations that we took to the people. Some gave us money, some gave us clothing or toys. After we did a survey of 17 families as part of a project, they threw ceremonies.

The families came to the public school. We used the donations to buy mosquito nets and things like that. We gave away all of the donations and it was amazing how they received it. They were singing, and I have beautiful pictures in my head of all the people singing.

It sounds like there's a lot of hope that things will improve and get better. Sounds like the students have a lot of hope.

My stomach was never happy with the food there. There was good food, I ate everything, but nothing I am craving right now. I really appreciated everything they gave me.

9) Would you recommend other students take part in volunteer work like this?

Absolutely! I would encourage everybody to do something like this, especially if you want to improve a second language or your French. Seeing the cultural differences and learning about the way they live, people in other countries, it really opens your eyes and makes you see things differently. We have so much here that we could share; it was interesting seeing old things being just as important as new things. They still use record players and cassettes as if they are new technology.

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a&c

A&C Editor: Robyn Tocker aandc@carillonregina.com the carillon | September 5 - 11, 2013

BC actors put on their history pants The webseries Blank Verse puts a unique twist on Shakespeare

Charlie Allison

Laura Mclean, the Transmedia Producer, has found doing this series different than just a standard theatre performance or film project.

“Most of my background is in theatre. There have been new projects and challenges to work on, but it has been great. It’s something I’ve always wanted to get a chance to work on.”

With such a unique idea with well-known (or should be wellknown) characters, it can be challenging for the actors to fit into their role. Williams said it had been “interesting” so far.

“We all have different accounts of who Shakespeare is.

Many contest he never existed, so it has been a great challenge to find a middle ground for all these conflicting views on who the man was behind the work.”

Williams also mentioned how every four episodes there is a different writer.

“Coming from a theatre background and playing a character that is being written as I’m playing him is new for me. I think one of the great strengths of the show is the question of what Will would be like in a modern context. Just playing him as a real person and trying to let go of the figure that we all know is the key to it.”

The art world has seen many things, but this webseries is something new and it’s making an impact whether it wants to or not.

Williams mentioned how it makes people wonder what success means in the artistic world and why Shakespeare was chosen to hold that success. “[Shakespeare’s] contemporaries like Ben Johnson and Thomas Kyd were just as educated if not more than Shakespeare, yet Shakespeare is the one everyone knows, so what happened? Why him? And would

that work today?”

Konkin said how the series helps people learn about historical figures that have affected our literary canon in many ways.

“Watching their lives unfold on a webseries is fun. It sparks people’s interest to learn more about people like Thomas Kyd and what they were writing. The series opens up the world to the characters and enriches characters that people already know. Just to be able to spend five minutes a week watching the characters interact can cause you to ask questions.”

Mclean believes webseries themselves are impacting mainstream culture, as well as the arts, in a bold, new way.

“Webseries . . . are new wave of content. They are a new style of telling stories. Webseries creators don’t need to wait for some Hollywood producer to say they can tell their story now. It is a much more direct relationship to the audience. It creates online material directly for them.”

As with everything, there comes highs and lows, but for the Blank Verse crew, it’s been mostly highs. Konkin did mention how time and scheduling has become difficult at some points.

“We are all doing this as a passion project and with that schedules become a problem.”

But from this Konkin has had unexpected high points.

“People are forced to be creative, and some of the greatest decisions made have come from this.

You never know where ideas are going to come from and the new decisions are sometimes better than the original ideas.”

Williams had his own set of highs to list off, one spotting inside jokes in the scripts while he’s reading over his lines. Williams has also been writing the last few

episodes, or Act Five, of Season One and it has been a great joy for him to take up the writing helm. One challenge for the Shakespeare buff has been the lack of audience as he performs.

Thankfully, with all the positive feedback on YouTube, Williams hasn’t had a lack of fans.

As the Transmedia Producer, Mclean has had her fair share of highlights, the main one being creating blogs, Twitter accounts, and YouTube accounts for the characters. “[One of the highlights] has been creating backstories for characters. I am in charge of letting the characters tell more in-depth stories outside of the episodes. It’s a really interesting way of revealing character. It can become very interactive as viewers discover the accounts.”

Konkin and her team picked a passionate team of actors to come together for the project, especially Williams and Mclean. “I recently completed a BFA acting program at UBC where I played a bunch of Shakespearean characters, like Macbeth. When I heard about the project I went up to the producers and begged to be involved. I auditioned and got in and am now writing for it. I also wrote the theme song,” said Williams.

“I have known Amanda and Ryan for a long time, we went to UBC together. When they started the project and asked if I wanted to come on board I said ‘Absolutely!’” Mclean said.

The goals for Blank Verse are something Konkin and her team are striving for as they wrap-up the first season. For one, Konkin wants to see this series have five parts produced.

“I’m inspired by television narratives and I want to tell a complete story. There is certainly potential for five seasons,” said Konkin.

Claire Hesselgrave (Chris Marlowe) and Matt Reznek (Thomas Kyd) play historical figures as college students. What could go wrong?

robyn tocker a&c editor Twisting classical stories has been a go-to for film, theatre, and literature for some time. It shouldn’t come as a surprise that Shakespeare and his work is some of the most twisted. What is shocking is how no one has done a webseries about him in modern times—until now.

Introducing Blank Verse, a webseries put together by students, graduates, and friends of students of the University of British Columbia. Amanda Konkin, one of the creative directors of the series, pitched the idea of taking Shakespeare, along with other famous writers from that time like Thomas Kyd, and putting them in a university setting.

“One of the goals of the project was to see what success means in the art world now in contrast to what it meant 500 years ago,” said Xander Williams who plays William Shakespeare. “Now there are seven billion people, the internet where you can publish things basically for free, and millions of people who are doing the same thing as you. It’s a saturated market that is incredibly apathetic. Would the works of Shakespeare survive?”

Konkin explained that, after talking with one of the producers, Andrew Lynch, everything snowballed from there.

“We started bringing more people on board, building a team, and getting scripts made. We approached a few different people who we thought could bring the characters to life.”

Since then, Konkin’s team has grown to roughly 50 people, who all work passionately to make this series a success.

She hopes to get to complete it as much as she can.

“We are also really focused on finishing Season One and getting enough interest to produce the second season. We’re looking to grassroots campaigns and digital media funding to get more resources to create the second season. We want to make sure there’s support out there for it and create the best project possible.”

Mclean hopes for the same.

“It’s great talking with the writers and hearing storylines get pitched. We know where these characters end up and we get excited about things we’ll be able to do later on. I hope we get to tell this story to its fullest.”

Since Williams is a writer for the fifth act, he did give a hint as to what it’s going to be about.

“It’s the time in Shakespeare’s life when he’s writing Romeo and Juliet, so anyone familiar with that play is going to want to watch.”

“Like Shakespeare we’re finding our way in the world and I hope people engage with our work. It’s such a rewarding experience. I hope people watch it and have fun,” said Konkin.

She thanks everyone who has been a part of the series, either through the crew or viewers.

To check out the series, visit channel YouTube their http://www.youtube.com/user/ BlankVerseTV?feature=watch.

the carillon | September 5 - 11, 2013

10 a&c

Good Coffee, Good Nanaimo Bars So what’s not to like about Stone’s Throw? john loeppky contributor Straight across from campus in the Kramer’s Corner strip mall, sits one of the best caffeine infused gems of the city. Open for over twenty years and voted best coffee shop for food in 2012 by Prairie Dog magazine, the Stone’s Throw Coffee House is one of those places that invites those who want to study rather than pushing them away. Filled with everything from the Rocky Road Mocha (something I refer to as candy in a cup), to one of their freshly-ground creations, it is a place to come and study, eat a good Nanaimo bar—and, really, who doesn’t like a good Nanaimo bar--and get down to work by checking Facebook or evading that deadline that is hovering above your head.

The amount of comfortable seating is rather impressive. This morning, I walked in--they really should be charging me rent by now--and ordered the aforementioned Rocky Road Mocha for the same amount of money I would pay at good ol’ Tim Horton’s. Not only that, but I turned around and almost walked into half of the Arts faculty. I have seen a student, mid-essay writing session, walk over and ask their professor a question. The music playing in the

wikimedia.org

Who can resist a steaming cup of scalding, brown caffeine? background is enough to keep you smiling, but not enough to interrupt your favourite YouTube video--whoops, I mean hardworking study session--and the seats are super-comfortable for

those all-day affairs.

Considering its clientele, it is not entirely surprising that the array of food available at Stone’s Throw is top notch and as varied as it is tasty. After all, sandwiches

and coffee have always been best friends. For those with a sweet tooth, with a section dedicated entirely to deserts, there is bound to be something that will tickle your fancy. Drink wise, the possibilities

are endless. Make sure to look on the chalkboard for any applicable special deals. A punch card reward system allows for repeatedly satisfied customers to benefit.

Many varieties of their coffee are available to take home in bean form as well, an advantage for the coffee connoisseur in all of us.

But, what is a coffee shop if it’s not open? Stone’s Throw has a very appealing schedule. Starting September 5th, you will be able to get your caffeine fix starting at 7 a.m. and get it as late as 10 p.m., Monday to Thursday. Friday and Saturday, the schedule changes to a very reasonable 7 to 9. Even Sunday is an option, with 8 to 8 being the operating hours (a luxury you don’t get with any of the food options on campus).

Stone’s Throw is the perfect place to meet your friends and relax or, you know, finish the work you were supposed to be done yesterday.

And don’t forget the student discount!

“ The music playing in the background is enough to keep you smiling, but not enough to interrupt your favourite Youtube video - whoops, I mean hard working study session - and the seats are super comfortable for those allday affairs.”

Creativity knows no bounds Joi T. Arcand explores her memories through art robyn tocker a&c editor Art is known to bridge many gaps, but none so poignantly as the topics most try to avoid.

Racism is, unfortunately, still one of those topics. Artist Joi T. Arcand, a Bachelor of Fine Arts graduate of the University of Saskatchewan, created a gallery over the span of ten years that has blatantly addressed the racism she has faced as a Cree and Metis woman.

Through That Which is Scene holds a variety of mixed media work, mainly photographs, that were inspired by many events.

There is the “Cultivate” series which shows Arcand taking pictures from her childhood and retaking them as an adult.

“The Cultivate series are recreations of old family photos from my childhood. It was interesting to revisit these photos and recreate them in similar locations,” said Arcand.

She also did another series called The Postcard Series.

“It came about from a road trip I took to the states where I noticed a lot of the gas stations we stopped at had really stereotypical "Indian" imagery, souvenirs and postcards for sale,” said Arcand. “I wanted to confront those stereotypes as they re-

canadianart.ca

Joi T. Arcand’s art on display in Ottawa. Her show opened at the Dunlop Art Gallery on August 17th.

lated to my own life by using the postcard medium to tell anecdotes of racism that my family or I have encountered.”

Arcand tells stories with all

her pieces; most, unfortunately, are sad but necessary to tell. As a woman coming from a mixed-race background, Arcand’s work is intertwined with not only her com-

“ Creating and failing are important and go hand in hand. When you find your own voice people will take notice.”

Joi T. Arcand

munity, but her own singular story as a human being. With her work, she explains how her sense of self was shaped by her skin colour and especially how the media portrayed her skin.

Arcand’s dioramas, her newest pieces in the gallery, host a collection of cut out photos from her childhood and toys from that period in her life. She calls them an “ongoing project,” as her racist toy collection continues to grow.

She mentioned how they are her favourite pieces in the gallery.

The assistant curator of the Dunlop Art Gallery, Blair Fornwald, states, “The dioramas are among my favourites. You’re given a surplus of information and we can create our own narratives.”

Despite the grounds women have made in the work force, the art world can still pose challenges to female artists, especially those of a non-European decent.

“My journey in the ‘art world’ started in university when I was exposed to the work of some really ground breaking Indigenous artists like Rebecca Belmore and Lori Blondeau. The work that they have done and the work of those that have come before them have perhaps made it easier for my generation, but there are still many obstacles to overcome,” she said.

The artist urges those looking to get involved in the art world to keep creating.

“Even if you think what you are doing sucks. Creating and failing are important and go hand in hand. When you find your own voice people will take notice.”

Joi T. Arcand’s gallery, Through That Which is Scene, is being hosted by The Dunlop Art Gallery on 6121 Rochdale Boulevard until October 17, 2013.

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the carillon | September 5 - 11, 2013

a&c 11

ARTS ROUNDTABLE

theprospect.net

Let not your nose be always in a book, comrades!

robyn tocker, liam fitz-gerald, daylene sliz, john loeppky, michael chmielewski welcome back! these people missed you!

1. It is our first week back. Any advice for the first-years out there?

MC: In your first year, if you don't feel up to it, don't take a full course load. Take four: that way you'll get a feel for what the expectations of university are. Also, study your ass off. And, when opportunity comes knocking, open that door.

LFG: Meet people. Now is the time to make new friends and forge important relationships.

Campus clubs are great for meeting new people. Talk to the person next to you in your class, get to know them, go for coffee/beer with them. Now is the time to branch out and meet new people!

JL: Take a breath, the U of R is one big circle, so you really can’t get that lost. Also keep in mind that just because Coca Cola is cheaper than milk doesn’t mean you should take advantage. Lastly, put the book (as in a textbook) before the bottle.

DS: It’s all about balance. Play hard but work harder. Enjoy the experience but take your education seriously. You will come to realize that your education will give you an opportunity at economic freedom and will open

doors for you. And take advantage of the travel and internship opportunities in other countries when they arise.

2. What are some good electives to take, no matter the degree?

MC: Political Science 100 would be a great elective. Not only will you have a basic and generally sufficient knowledge of politics, there's no reason you should get a bad mark if you do the expected work.

LFG: Humanities and social science courses! History, Philosophy, Political Science, etc. Go, take part in discussions, try your hand at writing. Write some awesome essays. Be challenged, be prepared to defend your position. Be prepared to admit you may be wrong. Phil 150, with its emphasis on introductory logic, is a great course.

JL: Creative writing. I didn’t get a great mark, and I laugh at some of that poetry now, but I learned that I was blabbering too much, and that the world becomes much smaller when you tell stories. Oh, and that hanging around a table with self-professed weirdos for an hour and a half twice a week is a good thing.

DS: This is a prime opportunity to test the waters. You may have decided on your major but electives offer the opportunity to broaden the landscape of your education and mind. Take as wide variety of electives as possible within the parameters of your chosen degree.

ACAD 100 is worthwhile, especially for students who have been away from an academic setting for a while. Also, investigate taking electives that lead professional certificates in addition to your chosen degree.

3. What's your number one study tip that's gotten you through midterms/finals?

MC: Plan ahead. I plan my whole semester. When I start which project, when I study for what etc.

Never leave things for last minute.

Also, rewriting notes has been my key to success.

LFG: Create a schedule and stick to it the best you can. Plan a schedule a week to nine days before the exam and pick study times around your work and class schedule. Also, make sure you plan a little downtime with yourself and friends (keyword being "a little").

JL: I have been told that you shouldn’t listen to music while studying and, frankly, I disagree.

There is nothing better than playing some relaxing songs that I found on iTunes, and resisting the urge to pull my hair out. Work outs are also awesome when you can feel your GPA slipping with every page.

DS: Two words: study group.

Even though I detest group class projects, study groups are an inspiring, interactive mechanism for understanding and retaining information. They offer the opportunity for clarification about

concepts, fill in gaps during the lecture, promote critical thinking, and reinforce information. Plus being part of the group forces you to actually study. Also, go to class, actively listen and participate.

4. How pissed are you about another hike in tuition?

MC: Not so much pissed as disappointed. Will the quality of my education increase proportionally to tuition hikes? I thought not.

LFG: Pretty pissed. It doesn't seem that the increase in tuition means an increase in services or new professors or courses (unless you're in a faculty outside Arts and Fine Arts). In fact, as an Arts student, it feels like course offerings and interesting electives shrink more and more every year.

JL: At this point, the means justify the end. If I have to close my eyes before writing a cheque, then so be it. It makes walking (or wheeling) across the stage at convocation all the sweeter. Well, at least, I hope it does.

DS: Tuition hikes are never easy to accept, particularly when programs are cut and rumours of mismanagement plague the school. The U of R needs to continue to work toward improving its reputation, offering greater transparency, and raising its profile with quality instructors and programs. With enrolment figures up and a clean bill of financial health provided by the Provincial Auditor, I would hope we won’t see another tuition hike for some

time.

5. Do you think URSU does its best for the students here, or could it do more for us?

MC: It could always do more, whether it has done its best?

That's for you to decide.

LFG: To be blunt, URSU needs to do more. I don't think many students know or appreciate what URSU does, and I don't think I've ever seen URSU visit a classroom.

Look at the poll numbers in the last election, 1349 votes out of 12,014 eligible voters? Step up URSU, hit the classrooms. Tell us why we need you.

JL: My election experience involved a group who snuck into residence and started knocking on doors. At the very least, when I ask you what your platform is, know what the word platform means. I can imagine a political science professor keeling over as I ask about a group’s platform and get told about a sale at Payless.

DS: If they aren’t, it’s up to the student body to get involved and voice their concerns about what they’re unhappy about. If someone has a complaint, voice it but bring some viable solutions to the table to try to exact some changes; don’t just bitch and moan to everyone but the people who can make a difference.

A wee review of The World’s End Gary King is plagued by memories of his “glory days” and obsessed with the unfinished “Golden Mile” pub crawl 20 years earlier when he and his friends were young men. Gary entices his reluctant comrades through subterfuge to embark on a re-enactment of their infamous drinking marathon in Newton Haven with the goal of “12 pubs 12 pints” and to finally reach the apex: the legendary World’s End pub.

Unbeknownst to them, their old hometown has morphed into a homogenizing Body Snatcher-esque village of the damned inhabited by creepy Stepford-like robots.

What starts out as a pub crawl turns into a race to see who will survive long enough to quaff the last frothy pint at The World’s End.

The World’s End is an entertaining, laugh out loud, rollercoaster ride of epic, manic and distorted proportions. Thanks to brilliant co-writing conspirators, Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright, the team who also penned Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, this third and final film in the unofficially titled Three Flavours Cornetto Trilogy leaves a bittersweet yet sudsy taste in your mouth.

Rosamund Pike rounds out the stellar cast as Oliver’s sister, Sam, and love interest to both Gary and Stephen. A former 007 and a splash of characters from the other two films in the trilogy makes cameos including Mary the “drunk” zombie in Shaun’s backyard garden.

If you’ve seen Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, you will be familiar with the

clever but blink-and- you’ll-miss use of hip hop montage (or fast cutting) derived from the hip hop culture and jump cuts of the French New Wave filmmaking. If you haven’t, you will thoroughly enjoy the unique editing technique common in all three films.

The chemistry between the characters is genuine, some fight sequences surreal, and the soundtrack of ‘80s and ‘90s tunes, including British rock acts like Pulp, Blur, Sisters of Mercy, and Suede, a cut from The Doors, and some pop will satisfy most everyone’s tastes.

Where the movie falls a bit flat is Gary’s sometimes clichéd drunkard behaviour, some predictable plot twists, an awkward and ill-conceived climax, a lengthy and

strange prologue, and a rather sad and abrupt ending.

But if you enjoy cheeky British humour, crazed fembots, awesome pub brawls and fight scenes, farcical sight gags, and action sequences woven throughout the movie, you will enjoy The World’s End. It’s also about friendship, ordinary people doing extraordinary things, and it delivers a sobering social message. There is so much more to this movie than meets the eye.

Prepare to be thirsty after this one!

daylene sliz contributor

the carillon | September 5 - 11, 2013

12 a&c

A Canadian Success Comes Home 2 Pianos 4 Hands is back at The Globe for its 2013/14 season robyn tocker a&c editor Live productions have been a success in Canada, but none so much as the play 2 Pianos 4 Hands.

This spectacular play showcases a story about two young men who want to make it big as concert pianists, but it’s not as easy as they would hope.

Ruth Smilie, the CEO of The Globe, said “it’s deeply inspiring . . . it’s a story all of us can relate to.”

This will not be the first time 2P4H comes to The Globe, and it is certainly not the only place people have watched it. 2P4H has been performed internationally for 25 years, and it has been said that this particular play is one of the most produced Canadian plays in Canada’s history.

Smilie looks forward to having it back on stage from June 515, 2014.

“The play was first here in 1997 and the two who created the amazing piece performed it here.

They were exceptional guys. It takes a special artist to do this play,” Smilie said.

2P4H is being produced by the Marquis Entertainment Company. Having the company, who is used to travelling internationally, has lessened the challenges this play comes with, said

Smilie. Although with two grand pianos, getting them upstairs hasn’t been an easy part either.

“The piano movers aren’t a fan,” she said.

When asked what makes this play such a success, Smilie listed many reasons, one being the fact that not many people get to sit close to two grand pianos at The Globe.

“The two actors performing are exceptional pianists and actors. It is a visual and audio spectacle. It’s also a humbling tale, for as the play goes on, the audience watches as the two young men realize that they may never be the best in the world, their country, or their province.

“It’s that moment of clarity as you age. At the end of the day maybe you will be the best, but even if you won’t, it’s all about the things you accomplish in between.”

Smilie holds this play in a special place in her heart, but as the CEO for the past 15 years, she has gotten to choose all the plays and it is difficult to choose her favourite one.

“I love Old Wicked Songs, Beauty and the Beast, and Elizabeth Rex.” As one of the three female CEOs in The Globe’s history, Smilie holds a position that is not common for women in the theatre industry.

ues to prove she is more than capable of handling all the ups and downs her position comes along with.

2 Pianos 4 Hands is a one of a kind piece that no one should miss out on. Because of this, The Globe has made it a special addon event that will run near the end of their season. Any aspiring artist can’t afford to miss out on such an inspiring piece of Canadian theatre.

“ At the end of the day maybe you will be the best but even if you won’t it’s all about the things you accomplish in between.”

Globe Theatre

“2 Pianos 4 Hands has 1 great big heart” - Mark Robins of Gay Vancouver.

“A lot of women may not see that kind of leadership and long hours fit with having a family.”

Smilie goes on to say how this

is more about a dominant culture that tends to think men are more capable of women to hold down this kind of job. Yet, Smilie contin-

Ruth Smilie

There’s a new boss in town The MacKenzie Art Gallery Welcomes Anthony Kiendl liam fitz-gerald contributor In May 2014, Anthony Kiendl takes over as the MacKenzie Art Gallery's CEO. His experience includes Executive Director at PlugIn Institute of Contemporary Art in Winnipeg, and curator of Contour in the United Kingdom.

He is not unfamiliar with Saskatchewan. Between 1997 and 2002, he served as curator of the Dunlop Art Gallery. He has lectured and taught at the University of Regina and Manitoba and put together copious numbers of art exhibits, including Godzilla vs.

Skateboarders, here in Regina. I was fortunate last week to chat with him and ask him about his return to Saskatchewan.

Kiendl is thrilled about returning to Saskatchewan, having enjoyed his time at Dunlop. He is very excited to work at the MacKenzie Art Gallery.

"I think it's one of Canada's leading public art galleries," he said.

"The facility is really outstanding.

I've traveled across Canada and to different countries," Kiendl says. "In terms of the infrastructure and presenting art in a world class setting it is really a director’s dream to work with a wellequipped facility."

He praises the McKenzie Art Gallery for possessing "a great his-

farm4.flickr.com

One day, Mr. Kiendl, all this will be yours.

tory" with its exhibitions remembered years after people see them.

On changing or adding anything to the Gallery, Kiendl seeks broader community involvement.

His goal is to expand "appeal and interest" on "the strengths that are already there" at the gallery.

"Art is really a form of information. By providing access to art, we foster the development of the community, its improved social well-being and by extension its

health."

Kiendl believes a robust, broad interest in the arts is evidence of a healthy community.

Yet, some segments of society argue that public funds for the arts are not worthwhile and should be placed elsewhere. During the 2008 election, the Tories caused an uproar by saying they would cut public funding to arts. Kiendl, however, is not worried about these segments, believing them to

be a "minority."

"When people see a reflection of themselves in the galleries and in the art, that argument begins to dissolve." Nations and states around the world, he reminds me, have a long tradition of funding arts and culture. During the 2008 election, the public outcry against proposed funding cuts reversed some policies with the government.

"It changed the policy of the

Harper government, which since then, has been very supportive of the arts. In the subsequent election, they came back very pro arts and culture. They didn't cut the Canada council in the last budget," Kiendl said.

Still, Kiendl seeks to expand revenue for the Gallery. The government, he hopes, will be one source of funding amongst many, including individuals and corporations. Kiendl believes he is best suited for the job.

"Given my track record, what I've really excelled at is moving forward organizations at the cusp of transformational change, and I am qualified with the skill sets that can establish a vision and move organization to that new vision."

He plans to work closely with the staff at the Gallery, whom he gives much praise to. He believes it is not just his good listening skills, but his pragmatism, that will benefit the gallery.

Ultimately, Kiendl hopes the gallery can be "a centre for intellectual creativity, and curiosity" and create "knowledge and new knowledge related to the arts and other facets of our community."

the carillon | September 5 - 11, 2013

a&c 13

When Shadows Melt Into Darkness Reviewing The Testament of Mary liam fitz-gerald contributor As a student writing for a presumably majority student readership, it's safe to say that sometimes our greatest challenge is saying so much in so little space. Yet, Colm Tóibín has accomplished this in his novella, The Testament of Mary.

It portrays Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ, in a book—reminiscent of Nikos Kazantzakis' The Last Temptation of Christ— that could unsettle those of religious sensibilities, but also move believers and non-believers in its courageous and harrowing depictions of a mother's sorrow.

Tóibín is no stranger to writing. He is the author of eight works of fiction, including award winning novels The Heather Blazing (1992) and Brooklyn (2009) winners of the Encore Awards and Costa Awards, respectively. He is also the author of seven books of non-fiction and two plays. Tóibín was born in 1955 in Enniscorthy, Ireland (consequently, the setting of several of his stories, like The Heather Blazing and Brooklyn), and received post-secondary education at University College Dublin.

He has written for and edited several Irish newspapers including Hibernia and Magill. Tóibín has also taught creative writing at prestigious universities like

Columbia and Princeton. The Testament of Mary is the latest in a long and successful writing career, but is a departure from Tóibín's frequent setting of Ireland and the travails of its people.

The novella is narrated by Mary, who recalls her son's crucifixion. In her later life, Mary is visited constantly by her "guards," two men with an interest in the crucifixion. They ask her for details about the events leading up to the affair (it is implied that it is two of the twelve apostles). Their constant questions anger Mary, who finds them insensitive to her grief. Mary remembers that her son left for Jerusalem to seek work, but years later, hears that he is performing miracles in the country. Fearing his safety, she seeks to bring him home, but as events central to the Gospels unfold, Mary realizes her action are in vain.

For a novella, Tóibín packs many themes and emotions. For themes, he emphasizes the transformation of the familiar into the unfamiliar. The most obvious example of this is the relation between Mary and her son.

Describing him as "a part of [her] flesh, his heart having grown from [her] heart," Tóibín paints a loving relationship between mother and son that changes as the latter realizes what he must do, regardless of what his mother says. Mary rec-

ognizes her son as familiar but also unfamiliar saying, "he was so far from the child [she] remembered." As for emotions, Mary's grief and how she deals with her son's death is crucial to the story.

As a journalist who lived in tumultuous Ireland, grief is likely not an unfamiliar subject to Tóibín. Whatever the influence, he portrays very well, a mother so hurt by the loss of her son, that the reader empathizes her frustration with the constant reminder created by her questioners.

If The Testament of Mary has any flaws, it is simply that it is too short. At 104 pages, it is a quick read. The reader may wish to take it slow to absorb the thought-provoking themes. The reader will be treated to Tóibín's lengthy sentences, and colourful prose, especially his use of stimulating metaphors. As it deals with a religious subject, it will not escape scrutiny now or in the future. But with anything that is challenging, it can cause personal growth and reflection. Two things well worth experiencing.

A Legacy Comes to a Close Slayer fans face the inevitable end of a great band michael chmielewski editor-in-chief (interim) Founder of thrash metal and member of the legendary Big Four, Slayer is falling apart piece by piece.

Firstly, they lost their drummer, Dave Lombardo, in the ultimate showing of Mr. Freeze-like tendencies on the part of their guitar player Kerry King, essentially because they wouldn’t pay Lombardo what he was due. Man, that’s cold.

Their reign is truly over, because they have lost their principal and best songwriter. Jeff Hanneman was a founding member of Slayer.

Of every good Slayer song, Hanneman was responsible for it.

He wrote the music and lyrics for Angel of Death, he wrote the music with King and the lyrics solely for Raining Blood. Besides Piece

by Piece, Hanneman has a song writing credit on every song of the canonical album Reign in Blood.

Ask any relevant metal musician today, and chances are they cut their teeth on this assault on the senses. For me, Reign in Blood was the first truly heavy album I listened to. It was nothing like I had ever heard before, and it opened up a world of a genre for me.

He’s involved in a few other

Kyle Leitch

metal staples, including South of Heaven and, probably the best Slayer song off of their best album, Seasons in the Abyss.

Hanneman initially stopped touring due to a spider bite that caused his arm to swell, which

meant he couldn’t play like he used to. As his wife, Kathryn Hanneman, said in an interview with Guitar World, “he wasn’t playing up to his ability and that he wasn’t able to play guitar at the speed he was used to. I think

You were “Born of Fire,” and now, you’ll die by it, Slayer shirt!

“ Without two original members, Slayer is not the band it used to be. It’s a morose resemblance of a former giant that’s now fallen from its throne.”

that really hit him hard, and he started to lose hope.”

Imagine losing the focal point that you’ve centered your world around.

But, Hanneman didn’t die due to the spider bite; he died of liver failure. Hanneman was known as a life-long drinker, and I’ll bet a month’s wages that he drank harder than before when he saw the band he created touring without him, while he sat at home and couldn’t play the songs he once shook the world with.

Even after his passing, Slayer,

on the insistence of Kerry King, and compliancy of other members, has gone on to play festivals like Bloodstock Open Air, and the band is still playing shows here and there.

Without two original members, Slayer is not the band it used to be. It’s a morose resemblance of a former giant that’s now fallen from its throne.

Personally, I think Kerry King doesn’t want to be the first of the Big Four to pack it in. The others in that group are Metallica, Megadeth, and Anthrax.

Some argue that it doesn’t matter, because they toured without Hanneman before, and everything was hunky dory. What about when it comes to writing the next album? Sure, the band can just ride Hanneman’s legacy, but I don’t think they’ll ever have another strong release under the name Slayer without him.

It’d be the equivalent of the next Megadeth album not having Dave Mustaine, or Anthrax without Scott Ian. Although most fans will probably not accept it, Slayer’s reign is truly over.

sports

Sports Editor: Autumn McDowell sports@carillonregina.com the carillon | September 5 - 11, 2013

ROUNDTABLE It’s football season

Arthur Ward

#15, where’s your helmet?

taylor sockett, kris klein, paige kreutzwieser, matt wincherauk, brady lang this week’s roundtable 1.True rookie quarterback Noah Picton shocked everyone and led the Rams to a come-from-behind victory over the visiting Manitoba Bisons in pre-season action. Do you think Picton should get the start this year, or should the highly touted Cayman Shutter be in the pocket?

Sockett: Not trying to take anything away from Noah Picton and what he has accomplished, however, the fact that he was playing in the later stages of a preseason game means he wasn’t playing the Bisons top defensive players.

Shutter has the experience; he transferred from a notable football school, and understands what its like to get hit by the big boys.

Picton should play on short yardage and in garbage time to build his skill set.

Klein: If this Picton kid continues his hot play, then they should play him. Why did I call him kid? He’s probably older than I am.

Kreutzwieser: If you can beat that irritating Bisons team, then I think you deserve a shot at starting.

They are so annoying. Well, I guess it’s more their obnoxious fans and their stupid cowbells. Go home Manitoba, you’re drunk.

Wincherauk: A hell of a comeback for Picton, but that was the preseason, and I’m definitely more inclined to take the guy with a ton of college experience. Give me Shutter to start, and Picton to sit back and learn for at least at least a year.

Lang: I don’t think that Picton should start. He obviously had an incredible game, but the preseason is the preseason. He was playing against a weak defence and no offense to Picton, other defences he’ll face in the season will be tougher. I think a year as backup or even a year as a red shirt will help his game as he’ll have more time after to start.

Shutter will be here for a year and he will likely declare for the CFL draft. Shutter is the present and Picton is the future.

2. In honor of the Labour Day Classic, what is your favourite moment between the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and Saskatchewan Roughriders?

Sockett: Brace yourselves because I’m going all the way back to last years banjo bowl. After clobbering the bombers 52-0 the week before, the Riders found themselves poised to lose to their bitter rivals in the late stages of the game.

However, in true Bomber fashion the Gold and Blue found a way to mess that up as well. Winnipeg’s coach Tim Burke opted to punt from Saskatchewan’s 36-yard line with 37 seconds remaining, instead of kicking a field goal. This set up a last minute Rider field goal and victory, giving me an opportunity to harass every Manitoban from the stadium to my bus.

Klein: My favourite moment of the LDC was Kerry Joesph’s game winning touchdown run. That is,

until my favourite moment is replaced this year, for I will actually be in the stands.

Kreutzwieser: That time my friends and I travelled to the Peg for the Banjo Bowl and while grabbing stuff at a dollar store, we go back outside to only find our windows smashed. Yeah, that was a great moment and a super fun drive home. Screw you Winnipeg.

Wincherauk: I have troubles remembering a lot of Labor Day memories for some reason, but mine would be the QB draw that Kerry Joseph did to win the Labor Day classic years ago.

Lang: I actually have two favourite moments between the two teams. Last year’s Labour Day Classic was definitely a classic: a 52-0 shit kicking at Mosaic. I remember being there with a couple of my friends and it seemed like every time the Riders got the ball it was another touchdown.

My other favourite memory was, of course, the 2007 Grey Cup. You can’t get much better than a Grey Cup Championship.

3. Enjoying a successful start to the season, running back Kory Sheets has already made the CFL record books. Do you think Sheets will still be at the top of the rushing standings at the end of the year?

Sockett: My favourite part about Kory Sheets is that he never seems to get discouraged when things

aren’t going his way. When a defence appears to have shut him down, he starts the third quarter by blowing the defence apart right up the middle for a 20-yard gain.

Sheets shows no signs of slowing down enough for Cornish and his oversized head to catch up. I guess he’ll have to cry himself to sleep on his gigantic pillow.

Klein: He’s already at 1000 yards rushing. If he, knock on wood, gets injured or chokes under the pressure, then I don’t see him giving up his lead.

Kreutzwieser: That’s a no brainer.

Wincherauk: I think he will be at the top of the heap. Right now he is head and shoulders above the other running backs in the CFL. I just want to see his carries go down a little bit.

Lang: Pending injury, Sheets has it all locked up already just nine games into the season. These past few games have definitely been regressing but I believe he will be at the top of the all-time singleseason rushing yards before we’re said and done.

4. The NFL regular season is just around the corner, who is your pick to take it all in February?

Sockett: As a Falcons fan, I would be more then happy to see the Black White and Red take the Super Bowl, however, you can’t mention the Super Bowl without mentioning New England. So

much has been mentioned about Patriots tight end Hernandez, that many people have overlooked what could be the signing of the century. The Pats acquired all star water bottle/clipboard holder Tim Tebow, with this addition we can be assured that Tom Brady will never be thirsty again. And as we all know there is nothing more dangerous that a well hydrated Brady.

Klein: Tom Brady will get hurt and Tim Tebow will lead them to a 2-16 record and miss the playoffs. Unless he gets released, which he will. Besides, I think Winnipeg is looking for a QB right now. Maybe Tebow can fit the bill.

But my money is on the Seahawks. Go Hawks.

Kreutzwieser: Clearly, the Bills.

Let’s be serious – when you lose your franchise QB and now your starter will likely be a rookie, then you decide on a college recruit instead of from a talented NFL pool for head coach, and you have players suffering from foot ailments that sounds like a fungal diseases, you know it’s going to be a good year.

Wincherauk: The NFL is my bread and butter. Right now, my picks to make the Super Bowl are the Denver Broncos and Green Bay Packers. Packers bring home their second Lombardi trophy in four years.

Lang: I have to go with my Niners. They should have won last year –yes I’m still bitter about this – and I believe a full year with Kaep under centre will change the way defences have to defend against the Niners. They also have a great defence, so as long as they can get hot at the right time the San Francisco 49ers will be the Super Bowl Champions.

the carillon | September 5 - 11, 2013

sports 15

Rams hit the field Fans look for a new quarterback to lead the team autumn mcdowell sports editor Everyone’s favourite University of Regina team is back.

After a long and unsettling off-season, the Regina Rams have returned to the gridiron once again, however, local celebrity Marc Mueller will not be joining them.

The Rams lost their star quarterback to graduation this year, along with 19 other players. With the loss of so many veterans, many Rams fans were questioning the immediate fate of their home team. That is, until former University of Hawaii quarterback Cayman Shutter answered the call.

“Cayman is a very special athlete. He has sound experience at a very competitive level,” said Rams head coach Frank McCrystal. “He is mature and very bright academically as well as on the football field.”

Although Mueller won’t be able to compete alongside Shutter on the field, the Rams newest starting pocket will have the benefit of learning from the Rams veteran, as Mueller has made the move to coaching staff as the teams quarterback coach.

“Marc is an excellent football mind and should make the transition from American football to

Arthur Ward

Thee Noah Picton, ladies and gentlemen.

three down football easier for Cayman,” said McCrystal, who is heading into his 15th season with the team.

Even though fans may be able to breathe a little easier at the fate of their quarterback position, there are still 19 other spots that need to be filled; however, McCrystal isn’t worried.

“Losing players to graduation and or professional opportunities is always challenging,” he said.

“However, it is a part of varsity

athletics. Really, it provides opportunity for a new group of athletes to have a rewarding experience.”

True rookie Noah Picton made the most of his new opportunity in the Rams first pre season game on Aug. 23rd.

The freshman came into the game and with just 10 minutes left and a devastating 17-point deficit.

While wearing Mueller’s old number, the youngster showed veteran poise in the pocket, com-

pleting all 12 of his passes en route to orchestrating a 30-25 comeback victory over the visiting Manitoba Bisons.

Noah Picton, Besides McCrystal is excited about numerous other players who have the chance to make a name for themselves and play a major role on the team.

“Aaron Picton [Noah’s cousin] on the O-line will be very good and is ranked in the top 10 for the 2014 CFL draft,” he said. “[Wide

receiver] Addison Richards will be very good for us and Connor Ketchen at the linebacker position should really do well this year.”

During their first regular season game on Aug. 31, the Rams took on the visiting University of Saskatchewan Huskies, but despite a valiant effort, the visiting team lost 40-33.

Heading into the game, many people were interested to see who would be awarded the start at quarterback. Would it be the comeback hero Picton or the highly touted Shutter?

Ultimately, it was Shutter who lead the team in the loss, finishing the game with 284 yards with a 20-40 completion record.

As predicted by head coach McCrystal, wide receiver Richards played well for the Rams, tying with fifth year Kolton Solomon for most receiving yards with 105.

While the team may have a 01 start to the season, the Rams future may not be as grim as it once seemed.

The Rams next home game will be this Friday, when the Calgary Dinos (1-0) are in town.

Kick off is slated for 7:00p.m.

The benefits of intramural sports Not just for over-competitive assholes anymore liam fitz-gerald contributor For many students, whether freshman or senior, the first week of classes can be flustering.

There are new people, activities and new stresses. Luckily, intramural sports offer a way to relieve stress with numerous game choices, ranging from soccer to dodgeball to flag football, and even inner tube water polo.

Getting started in intramural sports is fairly straightforward, says Intramural Sports Coordinator Alison Fisher and Program Supervisor Riley Burns.

Students can get involved by heading to the Center for Kinesiology office 171.

“We can pretty much give you all the information you need from there,” said Burns.

To sign up, students can visit www.Iamleagues.com and then find the University of Regina domain.

“All the sports in the fall and winter semester are listed there,” Burns said.

Of course, there is a fee involved and it is recommended to pay first at the office before signing up online. If people have trouble with the website, the students at the office will help out.

Many students are concerned with intramural sports being overly competitive, but Burns says that isn’t the case.

“Every level of skill is wel-

Emily Wright

Why be in the stands when you could be on the court?

come,” Burns reassures, as intramural sports welcome mass participation as opposed to elite competition.

“If we notice teams being too competitive, we ask them to move out of recreational to competitive,” says Fisher who credits intramurals for letting people play for fun.

According to third-year education student Kirstie Berger, she believes her time in intramural sports has been constructive. ”There’s really good sportsmanship in intramural sports,” she said.

“I liked it,” declared Thomas Bresciani, a third year kinesiology student. “It was nice. It almost felt like you were playing with

friends. It was very chillaxed.”

However, senior student Carson Behiel thinks some competition is inevitable.

“I was expecting [the competition],” said Behiel. “The fun league is still somewhat competitive to a certain level.”

All in all, some friendly competition isn’t a bad thing, provided it doesn’t get out of hand.

“I almost found it 50/50,” Berger said. “You get the few teams there to win and take it competitively, but then you get teams put together to relieve stress in school. Once they start to lose, they’re okay with it.”

Students who participate in intramural sports can learn some practical and leadership skills.

Behiel says that team captains must show leadership.

For captains, it’s about being a role model. They must be positive about the game’s outcome and being positive about the referee’s call.

“Our team captains really step up and take on leadership roles, learning the skill set of managing a team, [and] coordinating a bunch of people,” Fisher said.

Outstanding players and team captains could become future referees or help manage the leagues from the office.

For Behiel, who worked construction over the summer, he acknowledges intramural sports for giving him perseverance.

“Basketball taught me deter-

mination...when you’re working in plus-thirty weather, you have to keep going even if you want to quit,” he said.

One thing that intramurals do successfully is build a sense of community on campus. ”In high school, the community setting was there for you. But in university, if you’re not participating, you can be left alone,” Berger said. “[Intramurals] give you an attachment to the university,” Bresciani highlights.

If participants wish to join, but do not have enough members for a team, they can be placed on teams by the intramural staff. All they have to do is sign up and they will be placed. Student societies are also welcome to create teams.

Still, Berger and Bresciani have some constructive criticism for campus intramurals.

“I found the starting times hard,” Bresciani confessed, admitting he didn’t like some games going until 11:00 PM. With the University locked, students living in residence have to walk outside through the snow in winter.

But despite the late nights and cold weather, the students were quite positive over intramural sports and recommend everyone take part.

“You feel involved,” Bresciani said. “I find way too many people now-a-days don’t express themselves in a group.”

the carillon | September 5 - 11, 2013

16 sports

Jumping for Joy Cougars athlete Joy Becker is at it again paige kreutzwieser contributor For students, summertime is when you get to relax, spend time outside, travel, and best of all – no homework. But for some Cougar athletes, summer doesn’t mean you get a break.

U of R track athlete Joy Becker’s “vacation” was full of training and a full time job. Being from Manitoba, that meant she barely even got to go home to visit her family, but, it wasn’t all that awful.

Becker travelled with Cougars track and field coach Bruce McCannel and her parents to compete in her last year of Junior Canadian Track and Field Championships. Going into the competition, Becker likely had a target on her back.

“I was expecting so much out of it,” Becker said. “I knew I was a top jumper and I was capable of winning and doing good there.”

And, she did do well.

Becker placed second overall in the long jump finals.

She added that due to the outdoor elements she wasn’t even jumping her best.

Becker also travelled to Muncton to compete in the Canadian Senior Track and Field Championships. There she was competing against athletes well older than her, where she ended

Arthur Ward

She’s just one step away from flying.

up placing sixth with a 5.80 metre jump.

Becker admits that although she faulted a couple of times, she had very good jumps at Seniors – saying some of her jumps were possibly 6 metres.

But, being the humble person she is, she stated that they don’t count.

“I still think I’m a 5.80 jumper, and that’s what I keep in my mind,” she said.

Her personal best sits at 5.95 metres, which she set while still living in Manitoba. So, one of her

main goals for her upcoming sophomore Cougar season is to successfully jump 6 metres.

That would also cross off another one of her targets – setting a Cougars record. Currently, the record is 5.96m, a number that her personal best is only one cm off of.

But, what Becker is most looking forward to this season is having another chance to represent the U of R in CIS. Her checklist for the year also includes a trip to the Canada West championships, and being ranked as high as she currently is, which

it may not be that hard of a feat to reach.

McCannel sees her potential and believes she is capable of reaching the 6 metres goal.

“He’s super excited [for me],” Becker said. “I had such a successful summer he just really wants it to carry on into the indoor season.”

Her humble nature once again comes out when asked how she feels about her success and high ranking.

“I really don’t try to expect things as much,” she said. “I just

go train hard and hope for the best now.”

Becker’s notable off-season has left her with high hopes but that doesn’t mean the pressure isn’t apparent.

She calls them “The Rachels”.

Rachel Machin and Rachel McIntosh from the University of Calgary, two are strong and competitive athletes. But, Becker doesn’t lack the confidence she needs to battle against them.

“I’m nervous but also excited because they make me better,” she said proudly.

At this point, injuries are not an issue for Becker, which means she is also looking to try and focus on other events as well. And with the support of her coach, teammates, and family she feels this indoor season is her thing.

“I am happy about my senior performance, jumping against older girls and being young,” she added. “I know I’m a pretty good jumper, but I know I can be better.”

Her plans to be better include changing her eating and sleeping habits, heavier weights and avoiding injuries so she can obtain a standard where she can be carded.

No longer a rookie, Becker has truly made a name for herself heading into this new season.

Rider pride: it’s contagious It is a great time to be a Rider fan brady lang contributor After Sunday’s 45-28 Labour Day win, the Saskatchewan Roughriders are off to their best start in their long, storied history and seem to be the frontrunner for Grey Cup 101.

44,910 people attended the game and the large majority of the attendees were obviously wearing green and white, with the remainder sporting the gaudy blue and gold of the Bombers.

So far this year, the great fans of Saskatchewan have been packing Mosaic Stadium to the brim.

Rider pride has never been this intense; 190,218 people have passed through the gates of Mosaic stadium in the 2013 year, and approximately the same count of Pilsners has been consumed by the crowds that bleed green and white.

And, it’s not only the fans that have been bleeding green and white. The team is packed with hometown heroes, such as Chris Getzlaf, Neal Hughes, and Brendon Labatte, just to name a few.

But, at the same time, what makes us Rider fans tick? Why do we wear a watermelon on our head? Why do we go to every game? Why are we the best fan base in the world?

riderville.com

Nothing gets me going more than a guy in a watermelon bra.

“I still remember my first real.”

Comparing our team to any games as a child coming here. It was something that was really other fan base would be hard to special and they are memories I fathom for any die-hard Rider fan, will keep forever,” said ten-year but CFL great, and now Rider veteran Neal Hughes. “It’s Roughriders’ receiver Geroy so cool to be a part of it and I can’t Simon, has a different idea. really say [playing for the Riders “Everybody you see, everyhas] been a job, it’s still very sur- one’s on board with this team,”

he said. “It’s really something I’m embracing.

After being acquired this summer from the B.C. Lions, Simon has become a mainstay in the Riders’ offence, racking up 268 yards and three touchdowns in only five games, but he still is a new Rider Prider.

“ I still remember my first games as a child coming here, it was something that was really special and they are memories I will keep forever.”

Neal Hughes

You really don’t understand the pride this fan base shows unless you grew up with it.

Watching them through the roller coaster times of the Grey Cup in 2007 to the tragic thirteenth man incident truly made you feel a part of the team each week, whether that week ended with a win or with a loss.

One could imagine how backward it would be playing against the team you grew up cheering for. Hometown boy Labatte says that this has always been a dream of his to wear the green and white.

“Coming back to this field and playing for this team was a set out ultimate goal, so to finally reach that and to play in front of these great fans was a dream come true,” he said.

Let’s now hope the former U of R Graduate stays with the team.

I don’t think anyone will ever figure out what makes us tick as Rider fans.

Personally, I do believe it’s in our blood and that this team is Canada’s team. The 101st Grey Cup Championship will be played on November 21st in Regina. Every Saskatchewan citizen is hoping that the Green and White will be hoisting the storied trophy.

I just hope that Canada is ready for the Rider Pride.

the carillon | September 5 - 11, 2013

sports 17

Off-field penalties A recent history of crime in football dylan criddle contributor On June 26, 2013, former New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez was arrested from his Miami home, and was formally charged with the murder of semipro football player Odin Lloyd.

He now faces a trial for his murder as well as six other gunrelated charges from past years.

Before his arrest, it was teammate Rob Gronkowski who was notorious for his questionable character, stemming from his post-superbowl celebration in 2012, when pictures of him partying shirtless with LMFAO went viral.

Aaron was not well known for his off the field antics, and his connection to Lloyd’s murder was a shock to most who follow the NFL. As time went on, people began to fill in the blanks on who the former Pro-bowler really was. An article released by Rolling Stone magazine on Aug. 28 illustrates a player who separated himself from the team, missed practice, surrounded himself with shady characters, and whose abuse of PCP (or Angel Dust) led him to the paranoid conclusion that his life was in danger.

As it turns out, several NFL organizations had an idea of the kind of person Hernandez was.

onlyagame.wbur.org

Multiple money sign tattoos won’t help you now.

Cincinnati Bengals’ owner Mike Brown admitted to Fox Spots Ohio that the organization “stayed away from [Hernandez]” in the 2010 draft because of character issues.

What’s really concerning is how team executives closely involved with Hernandez managed to let his behaviour go unchecked.

Not only was Hernandez on good grounds with the Patriots a year before the arrest, but he was resigned to a five year extension.

Patriots’ owner Robert Kraft told the Boston Globe, “No one in

our organization was aware of any of these kinds of connections….Our whole organization was duped.”

Yet, if the reports of Hernandez missing practice were true, and the Patriots’ were aware of his off-the-field issues, this should have been a red flag to investigate further.

While Hernandez’s case is probably the most shocking one in the last ten years, it definitely doesn’t stand-alone.

There have been 130 incidents of current NFL players getting arrested since 2011 alone. Since the

Superbowl in February, 30 NFL players besides Hernandez have been arrested.

Ex-Detroit wide receiver Titus Young may have broken an NFL record this year with three arrests in just five days. However, NFL players aren’t the only ones with a bad record of law run-ins.

Over two hundred NCAA football athletes were arrested in 2012 alone. For example, Georgia Alec Bulldogs’ linebacker Ogletree was arrested twice before the end of his college career.

Yet he was talented enough for

the St. Louis Rams to risk a first round pick on him in this year’s draft.

Canadian football is not immune to problems with players getting arrested either. But, it’s also worth noting that the only arrest noteworthy of active CFL players this season was Jonathan Hefney’s arrest for marijuana possession.

CIS football incidents have also been few and isolated. The most recent arrest incident to note was of former Manitoba Bisons’ lineman Joe Botelho, who was found not guilty of manslaughter in 2012. Still, off-field problems that plague U.S. football is not nearly as evident north of the border.

To be fair, many NFL organizations believe that their team is capable of reforming troubled players, like the Minnesota Vikings did with newly inducted hall of famer Cris Carter.

However, for every success story there seems to be two or three players who can’t stay out of trouble. If NFL organizations are willing to risk incidents like that of Hernandez for the sake of improving their team, they should be willing to take a more active role in preventing situations like his to happen again.

What’s your fantasy?

If you aren’t an NFL fan, don’t read this matt wincherauk contributor NFL football is almost upon us, and one of my new favorite traditions, as of three years ago, is fantasy football.

Fantasy football has become immensely popular in recent years, and I am here to tell you how I got into fantasy football, why you should get into it, and give you a quick preview of the 2013-14 season.

Fantasy football has become a rather bad addiction for me; I started three years ago as a last minute inclusion to a new league that friends were setting up.

This turned out to be a great decision because I won the league, and was immediately hooked.

This year, I have nine major leagues that I am paying attention to – two are for money and the rest are for bragging rights.

For an addict like myself, I don’t find it all that hard to pay attention to nine different leagues, but if you’re new, focus on one league, or two at the most.

So, you’re in a league now.

Who do you draft? Well, you draft Minnesota Vikings powerhouse running back Adrian Peterson – there is literally no one else you should want over AP. But that’s only if you’re not lucky enough to get the first pick,

themacgufflinmen.com

or lucky enough to play in the league where everyone is too drunk to make a good decision, then you have to go running back with your first round pick.

And if some asshole takes AP before you get the chance, some of my other favorite running backs are Jamaal Charles of the Kansas City Chiefs, Doug Martin from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Buffalo Bills man CJ Spiller.

Oh, and please don’t be the guy or girl who takes Oakland Raiders running back Darren No one likes an armchair quarterback.

McFadden early, I guarantee you’ll regret it when he gets hurt in week two.

Also, try to avoid taking Calvin“Megatron” Johnson until you have a true number one running back – it’s tempting I know, but show some restraint.

Now, what about quarterbacks? Well, unless you’re getting one of Aaron Rodgers, Peyton Manning, Tom Brady or Drew Brees in late round three or early round four, then just wait. The difference between the top 10 QB’s is

very small, and you can take an Andrew Luck, or Matt Stafford in the later rounds, and stock up on running back and wide receiver talent instead.

Now that you have a running back and quarterback on your roster, next let’s look at some wide receiver value picks. Megatron Johnson, as mentioned earlier, followed by AJ Green, Dez Bryant, Brandon Marshall and Julio Jones are my top five.

Don’t be too worried if you miss one of these five, as the WR

position is the deepest position.

And for my final two tips, wait to get your defence until a late round, and don’t pick a kicker until you’re very last pick.

Continually scour the waiver wire for talent, as there’s always someone who can win you a fantasy championship. Even make a trade here and there to fill weaknesses in your team that can’t be solved through the waiver wire.

Fantasy football is filled with highs and lows, and that’s what’s so fun about it.

In reality, it’s a crapshoot where you take risks on players you think will do well. Once you draft, it’s out of your hands.

I suggest all football fans get themselves into a fantasy football league, as it’s a great addition to your Sunday programming.

Instead of just watching your team, which for me is the New England Patriots, it encourages you to watch the other teams that you have players on. It makes the experience of watching football with your buddies, even more enjoyable.

So, with that I say, happy drafting, and I hope you have the luck of Tim Tebow – before he got cut of course.

op-ed

Op-Ed Editor: Michael Chmielewski op-ed@carillonregina.com the carillon | September 5 - 11, 2013

opinion

‘Everyone welcome’ is not enough On June 11th 2013, the Russian Federation passed a restrictive law against its sexual minority citizens. The Russians claim protecting children was this law’s focal point.

It would punish individuals spreading "propaganda of non-traditional sexual relations." Amnesty International says the fines for individual violations would reach up to about $156 or 5,000 RUB (Russian currency). Any public officials that dissent against the law would face fines reaching ten times that amount. Organizations that advocate Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transvestite (LGBT) rights face heavier fines of $31,547 or 1,000,000 RUB. Citizens of other countries trying to discuss LGBT rights would face immediate expulsion or a brief jail stint (15 days) followed by deportation. At the end of June, President Vladimir Putin wrote it into law.

After the Soviet Union collapsed, Russia ended legal prohibitions against homosexuality. Yet reactionary elements, ranging from individuals in the Russian Orthodox Church to ultraconservative politicians, have moved against greater rights for the LGBT community.

There has been political outrage. U.S. President Barack Obama said that he had "no patience" for such a discriminatory edict. In Ottawa, foreign affairs minister John Baird called the law "mean-spirited and hateful." There has been rightful concern over the safety of LGBT athletes at the upcoming Sochi Winter Olympics.

Celebrities denounced the law, some calling for boycotts of Sochi. George Takei, Lt Sulu on Star Trek: The Original Series, called for Vancouver to be the alternative venue.

Wentworth Miller of Prison Break came out as gay on August 22nd and refused to attend a Russian Film Festival.

The Russian government on August 22nd claimed western athletes and those at-

tending the games wouldn't be harassed.

Article 6 of the Olympic Charter says "any form of discrimination with regard to a country or a person on grounds of race, religion, politics, gender or otherwise is incompatible with belonging to the Olympic Movement." The Russians told the International Olympic Committee (IOC) that they would uphold that provision.

According to the Globe and Mail, they had sent a letter of reassurance to the IOC that discrimination against the LGBT community would not occur. IOC President Jacques Rogge said the Russians had said "everyone will be welcome."

This is simply not enough. For one thing, it is still unknown if Russian officials would attempt to arrest athletes or fans calling for rights for the LGBT community. For the athletes’ safety, and because of the IOC's ban on "political gestures," the call for human rights in Russia will have to be made outside Sochi. If Russia wishes to be part of the international community, then it is up to human rights activists around the world to let them know that there are standards. Putin and his government can think again if they think human rights supporters will forget about this law.

This is an effort that must stretch beyond the end of Sochi. In the West, we have a responsibility to not forget and to let our politicians know this. Our government cannot forget about this crucial human rights issue, and it must be at the forefront of future negotiations with the Russians. Let us write to our Members of Parliament, expressing concern with these laws. We must call on a bi-partisan effort to craft effective policy on this issue. Specifically, we must ask for stringent human rights improvements in any economic or political agreement with Russia. We should not be afraid to have future agreements with "teeth."

Business Insider

A cup full of civil liberties. Mmmm.

Obviously, not all Russians support this bill. Many have protested against it and have been arrested and imprisoned. A Telegraph poll shows that 39% of Russians want equal rights for LGBT Russians. There is a large progressive element in Russia.

We must let them know that we are aware of the issues, and we care. Therefore, at the Olympics and after, let supporters and advocates of human rights remind Russia that this law is unacceptable.

While it is tempting to call for a boycott of Sochi, I do not think that is the answer.

Not because of the athletes and their train-

Square incognito

People used to laugh at me when I told them that Justin Trudeau would be made the leader of the Liberal Party of Canada.

People said that it was impossible in between fits of obnoxious scoffing. Well scoff away now, you trembling swine, because not only is the spawn of Pierre Elliott the leader of the Liberals, but he’s also now the most real threat to the Tories that there’s been for a decade.

Many different people will attribute Justin Trudeau’s inevitable victory to many different things: his brilliantly greasy hair, the fact that he threatened to fistfight all of Ottawa, “One fast-talking shithead at a time,” or the fact that he may, in fact, just be ghost riding his father’s whip. The “Right Honourable” Stephen Harper will almost certainly attribute the Liberal victory to the fact that Justin Trudeau recently admitted to smoking marijuana during his time as an MP. Oh, you didn’t know? Admitting smoking pot has become a trend in Canadian politics literally overnight. Rob Ford, unsurprisingly, has admitted to smoking “a lot” of pot, and Kathleen Wynne has admitted to toking “infrequently.” Meanwhile, Justin Trudeau’s admission to smoking pot has passed with the Conservatives about as well as a fart in church. Stephen Harper, when asked if he’d ever smoked marijuana, rolled his eyes and asked reporters if he

Kyle Leitch

looked like the kind of a person who would smoke, citing his asthmatic problems as making smoking “impossible.” However the Globe and Mail did find an absolutely hilarious quote from Captain Asthma when, during a speech at an Ontario school, Harper said that someone offered him a joint at a party, but he was too drunk to accept it.

Anyone in touch with reality or modern voters could have predicted what happened: after Justin’s announcement, popular opinion of the Liberals shot through the roof. That’s not the troubling thing about

all this. What’s troubling is the backpedalling that Justin Trudeau has done. Sure, he’s defended his position, saying that it’s time Canada has another discussion about decriminalization. But he’s more or less denounced his involvement with marijuana, drinking, smoking, and basically everything that makes life tolerable.

Keep in mind, this is a Trudeau we’re speaking about. The Trudeau line of politics is infamous for flirting with laws, and not giving a damn about who knew it.

Pierre Trudeau used to call in to Parliament

ing, but because Russian reformers and human rights activists need to know we have hope for Russia and believe that things can improve. So for their sake, lets treat Russia as a modern country, but remind it internationally, that modern countries must respect human rights. So let our eyes turn to Russia and other violators of human rights, and let them know that we are watching and not forgetting.

liam fitz-gerald contributor

sick, only to go to New York discotheques with well-known models, and you know damn well he was “fuddle-duddling” the whole time. Justin’s scared abrogation of his involvement with unlawful vices is not reminiscent of a Trudeau, but of a square incognito. Here was a man who we thought would be the new, fresh face that Canadian politics so badly needed. But lift the mask, and I guarantee you’ll see the quivering jowls of another fat-assed political pig, just waiting for the slaughter.

Huey Lewis once sang that it was “Hip to be Square,” but I think the leniency of rock ‘n’ roll can only go so far. Justin Trudeau isn’t the kind of square that we could reasonably be expected to tolerate.

He’s a square with no vision, no backbone, and with a glaring inferiority complex. And he’s going to be our next prime minister.

kyle leitch production manager

the carillon | September 5 - 11, 2013

op-ed 19

The Great Debates

A formal contest of argumentation; two writers enter, two writers leave.

AZ Jewish Post

Is the Egyptian military establishment sincere to democracy in its motives and acts?

Pro The Egyptian military putsch of July 3, 2013, ousted the democratically elected President Mohammed Morsi. However, moving past the knee-jerk reaction to label this an anti-democratic effort, I believe the Egyptian military establishment acted sincerely in the name of the Egyptian people.

That is to say, quite plainly, that the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces is acting in the interests of democracy. I will be the first to admit that this thesis, at least initially, has all the trappings of contradiction. But, when combining an analytical assessment of the military’s actions between the Revolution of 2011 to the events surrounding the putsch in 2013, and an objective assessment of what democratic consolidation looks like, I conclude that the military acted with genuine concern for democratic values.

The main pillar on which my argument rests is the fact that since the start of the Egyptian Revolution, the military institution has proven itself to be in sync with the Egyptian people. After decades of military or pseudo-military rule, this comes as somewhat of a shock. Despite this, steps were taken to not only sympathize with, but also support, the democratic revolution that swept over Egypt in 2011. It was a do-or-die situation for the military: either they could defend Hosni Mubarak as Muammar Gaddafi was in Libya or Bashar Al-Assad currently is in Syria and that would see an immediate elimination of international aid and prestige, or they could side with the growing tide of popular discontent and thus become partners. Military leadership thus judiciously and perceptively sided with History. There is no turning back in a Revolution when the critical mass of support has passed the point of no return, as it had in Egypt. The military saw this, and on their own initiative along with the legitimacy of the people’s wish, removed the Egyptian ruler. It was a move that saved the military’s reputation (as it is a highly respected institution) and ensured a place for it in the future.

This historic and pro-democratic move by the military has shaped their ongoing

Contra policy of ensuring the establishment of a legitimate government of the people. The latest move of deposing the democratically elected President Mohammed Morsi was part of this policy. According to the Egyptian electoral process, Mr. Morsi’s election was indeed legal. However, several issues and a growing unpopularity eroded this legitimacy to the point where forceful removal was the safest course of action for the up-and-coming democracy.

Keeping in mind that a healthy and resilient democracy requires the careful balancing of powers between the judiciary, the executive, and the legislature, Mr. Morsi was found to regularly shrug off rulings of the courts (as with the ruling that the election of Mr. Morsi was unconstitutional and that a re-run was necessary). In fact, the President showed blatant disrespect for this basic tenant that his Nov 2012 Declaration called for what amounted to his government’s immunity against the courts.

Without the courts to restrain excessive executive powers, who takes their place? As things would have it, it was indeed the people who returned to the streets as before to protest what was a flagrant attack against democratic values.

Add to this the embarrassment that was the Constituent Assembly, a disregard for the fundamental rights of minorities, as well as an uncompromising approach to legislature with the other democratically elected secularists, liberals, and moderate Islamic parties, and we are left with a President who despite being elected has nonetheless lost popular and legal legitimacy. Based on the military’s prior actions and their vested interests in seeing themselves allied with the will of the people, I am certain that Egypt is on the correct path to what will hopefully become a functioning and consolidated democracy in the near future. I can only hope that the need for such interventions will be reduced.

sébastien potvin contributor

Democracy has been ripped from the womb in Egypt.

Across the sea, a savage and efficiently over-equipped military has stolen democratic rights out of the hands of Egypt’s people. This was the first democratically elected government in Egypt’s history.

The protests in Egypt started out as a demonstration against President Morsi, which by all accounts is fine by me. I don’t agree with the Muslim Brotherhood or Morsi on most points, and I welcomed the healthy democratic protest against the government.

I felt apprehension as the military began to get involved. Wasn’t this the same military that was a foundation for autocracy before the Arab Spring? Why didn’t they overthrow Muburak’s government, if they were sincere to democracy?

Turns out, that apprehension was justified, as the military started gunning down protestors in the street.

Our question here asks if the coup is sincere to democracy, and I say no. The military only has its own interests in mind. It is the only political power in Egypt, over the last few tumultuous years, to remain relatively unscathed.

When the Arab Spring came across Egypt, the military let Muburak be disposed, and pretended to side with democracy. Now, another opportunity came for them to seize power, and they seized it straight away, again siding with popular opinion.

The fundamental fact here, though, is that they overthrew a democratically elected government. The will of the people had spoken, but the military believes it knows better, and it acts like it is protecting democracy.

I agree with my debating opponent, and with people who possess common sense, that Morsi himself was not a great democratic leader.

In fact, the initial protestors agreed as well.

Agree with the military’s intentions or not, one thing speaks loud and clear: murder.

The military killed protesters in cold

blood. They targeted Muslim Brotherhood supporters just because of who they were.

The people who protested the sacking of a democratic government were met with bullets, while the original protesters were supported by the military.

Yes, the Morsi government had lost popular support, and that’s why it was up to the people to protest and bring that government down, not the military. Democracy is rule by the people, not by the military.

If the military was in such favour of democracy, then why are they actively trying to shut down the Muslim Brotherhood after Morsi had been thrown out of office?

Spiritual leaders have been arrested, Brotherhood members are being discriminated against. To me, it seems the military, if it so chooses to have one, is trying to heavily destroy the chances of the Brotherhood to even run in the next election. In a rule by the people, it should be the people deciding the chances of a political organization in an election, not the military. They are currently charging Morsi with the killing of opponents protesting outside his palace while in office.

Then isn’t the military guilty of the exact same crime? Except the military, and my debating opponent in saying the military is sincere, claims that it is helping democracy by killing innocents.

As a Washington Post article said, “Egypt’s Ministry of Health stopped publishing a total casualty count from the crackdown on Aug.17 ‘because of the huge number of deaths’...at that point, more than 900 people had been killed in four days, according to the official tally.”

Let’s say that the military does host an election, and it’s deemed fair and legal.

What will happen with that government once it falls out of favour with the military? Will it be up to the people, or the military? This coup sets a bad precedent.

michael chmielewski editor-in-chief (interim)

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the carillon | September 5 - 11, 2013

20 op-ed

Call centre chronicles My attention is occupied, my brain is engaged, my eyes are devouring.

As I pour over the details of Obama’s latest comments about the proposed Keystone XL Pipeline, I simmer with anger, rebuttals, and counter-arguments. I ignore when the next customer might phone and intrude on this important moment of selfeducation. I ignore when the next customer might disrupt this important moment I so badly want to understand. So-called metrics like Average Order Size, Monthly Sales, Sales Offered, Average Handle Time, and Call Volume are non-entities to me. How dare another pathetic, greedy, shallow, impatient “valued customer” (read: small business owner) inhibit me from deconstructing and understanding the numerous discourses on this controversial carrier of Alberta’s bitumen.

My heart races as the connections emerge. One article finished, now on to the next one.

But, my learning is pierced. Pierced and deflated with the sharp, whining interruption of the next calling valued customer, always signified by that distinctive, sharp beep.

– BEEP – Thereafter is the familiar, male whisper, “customer service,” recorded for and played at the beginning of every inbound phone call made to the call centre, part of an office supply company that employs (read: exploits) my services. The whisper functions as a primer; it lets me know how I need to construct the façade of the best experience for customers. Other primers include “order processing,” “inside sales rep,” and “outside sales rep.”

My cubicle, previously an enclosure of solitude and comprehension, becomes a box of confinement; a space where I cater to the greedy, impatient, anxious, and at times schizophrenic needs (read: demands) of seemingly infinite valued customers.

Usually, the masquerade involves various amounts of contrived reassurance, and, if I’m having a bad day, excessive handholding. I often wonder how these valued customers were able to dial the phone in the first place.

Kyle Leitch

Naturally, the phone call ends with a false guarantee that whatever blip has allegedly ruined a customer’s day will not happen again. And of course these valued customers are always told to call again if “there is anything else we can do for [them].”

But, I don’t give a shit if this helpless sap calls again or not. I’m just grateful for the silence I can enjoy again. I can, at last, return to something relevant: my self-education, my own interests. I’m reminded why the Keystone XL issue is an important one.

Now I can finish the article and see what else the author has to say.

– BEEP – Pierced again...

As I survey the rows of cubicles, succeeding at least forty meters ahead of mine, I’m depressed and surprised at the same time. The rows span about twenty meters across, wall-to-wall, dissected down the middle by a wide aisle. The aisle allows me to quickly return to my cubicle (read: box of confinement) on time after my breaks; after all, a low Customer Availability score means my biannual raise

will be a few pennies less than the normal, meagre amount. The aisle doubles as a perfect vantage point to survey each row in its entirety; no doubt that as supervisors and managers pass each row, they ensure “reps” (read: people) are all providing the best experience to customers.

When I stand to survey the floor, I’m reminded how apt a phrase “box of confinement” is for each cubicle.

Save for two breaks and a thirty-minute lunch, each rep is plugged into his/her phone via the headset, never leaving his/her cubicle. The headset is never removed; it functions as the constant link to the infinite, continuous stream of valued customers. Should someone chance upon a moment of silence after a phone call, he/she is pierced with that persistent, whining beep, signalling another valued customer.

With the aural confinement comes the ocular confinement: the large, bright computer monitor ensures each rep will never lose focus on what’s happening with each valued customer’s account. The monitor confines me so efficiently. I wonder if dis-

couraging interaction among reps is encouraged among management. Think of Marx’s arguments, but fast forward about two hundred years: the less connected I am with my colleagues, the more focused I am on consoling the customer; the less interactions among employees, the less likely we are to realize our mutual contempt for our shitty wages and exploitation, and the less likely we are to demand change from management, collectively and hence effectively.

Perhaps such confinement is most obvious in the corporeality of the cubicle. My cubicle stands about 1.4 meters in height, consists of three panels (one left, one centre, and one right), and each panel is covered in dense cotton and polyester to mute out the passage of sound. No doubt the cubicle’s panels confine my attention too; in this regard they double as blinders, keeping me focused on the big, bright monitor.

As I survey the floor, I’m depressed to see how robotic, how machine-like everyone is. Plugged in to their cubicles, reps never avert their eyes from their monitors, they never turn their heads to look behind or beside themselves. My depression deepens as I see I’m the only one who stands to take stock of this confinement.

It is a scene of chattering complacency.

With each processed electrode in each computer, with each flicker of a pixel on each monitor, a synapse is discarded, no longer needed and no longer useful. No doubt a brain cell or two extra die along the slide into docility.

My depression is matched only by my stupefaction: the floor consists of numerous rows, rows that stretch at least forty meters ahead of mine; the rows span twenty meters across, wall to wall, dissected down the middle by a wide, aisle of surveillance.

Each complacent rep is plugged in.

– BEEP – The machine-like, mindless repetitions continue.

evan radford contributor

The book borrowing etiquette After more than a few heart-wrenching experiences, and a recent experience at a certain bookstore, I have set out to write this plea to you: respect books.

I was carefully shopping at the bookstore, picking out new volumes in pristine condition, and the best used textbooks desperate digging could uncover. Both excited for the semester, and depressed for having to pay so much for the stack, I ambled over to the checkout. Hesitantly pulling my wallet out of my pocket, I stared in horror as the bookstore clerk carelessly slammed around the texts I had so slowly picked out. The unexpected violence shocked me, leaving me speechless, unable to protest.

After this beat down, the cashier tried to stuff all the textbooks into one bag without sense. I’d now regained my ability to speak, and asked for more bags. How could she do this? These are books that I am going to use for one semester, if not more. I want them in perfect condition, whether I choose to keep them, or to return them for some money (far too little, as you can attest, dear student). Once, as an optimistic and snot-nosed first year, I went to return a textbook almost immediately after purchase for some reason or another, and the ever careful return clerk at the bookstore noticed a small bend in the corner of my Political Science text after scrupulous inspection. A 100-dollar textbook was bought back for 70. I lost thirty dollars from

Kyle Leitch

the ordeal, hence my shock at my last visit to the bookstore.

It makes me wonder if the clerk’s blitzkrieg on my tomes was purposeful racketeering so that the bookstore could fatten its bottom line, or spite towards all literature and those who enjoy it, perhaps a heavy-handed coordination, or maybe the result of a bad day or something petty like that. In any case, some of my books may not be worth nearly their original value.

Awful, I know, yet not a soul is excused from such puerile behaviour, including friends, family members, and anyone else looking to borrow a book from my collection. This experience brought back many heartbreaking memories. I have lost too

many dear friends (books) to similar negligence on the part of my friends (people).

For example, I used to own an amazing copy of The Communist Manifesto, which I borrowed to a friend interested in learning more on the subject. This particular copy was prized because it included forwards to all the different editions that were printed during the lifetimes of Marx and Engels--an invaluable resource, because the forwards were written either by one of the two, or sometimes both. This placed the manifesto in specific historical contexts in their lifetimes. The thief still maintains that I have the book. Lies: that book was my private property god dammit and I want it back.

It’s probably lying on a shelf somewhere untouched since taken by my friend after it

was borrowed.

Another victim was my copy of Doctor Zhivago, whose cover is in worse condition than Zhivago’s heart because of a banana that was left in a backpack of the borrower for months, and managed to submerge the book’s spine and cover in a black, soupy, banana paste. A morose state for a book that just nearly escaped the grips of the savage regime that it details.

Call me...paranoid, but history will not be farce for this bookworm. Once, a good friend asked me if he could borrow my copy of my favourite novel, Moby Dick. I categorically refused, lest it end up destroyed and purposeless like so many before it.

Every book one reads and enjoys is internalized, so don’t let anyone mistreat books: not the bookstore racketeer, not your friends, not your superiors, not even whatever god you worship, and most importantly, never yourself. To the vandals: return books in the same condition you received them, and most of all, have something interesting to say about the text. The only thing possibly worse than a tarnished book is the unappreciated one.

michael chmielewski editor-in-chief (interim)

the carillon | September 5 - 11, 2013

op-ed 21

First years: don’t defecate in your pants

Natalie Geddes

Unless defecating in your pants is your thing. It’s a free country.

Secular haze

Fundamentalist Christian schools teach their students in a manner that is detrimental to their overarching learning and development.

In particular, the manner in which religious doctrine is intertwined within their courses denies the students the opportunity to develop analytical thought. To exemplify this, one only needs to look at the textbooks used in Biology classrooms at these schools.

These books claim that the Earth is approximately five thousand years old, that all human lineages descend from Adam and Eve, and that the Theory of Evolution is incorrect. Teaching religious material that has been discredited by scientific studies leaves no room for questioning, self-assertion, or even the prevalence of reason.

These are features that are essential to every educational institution and should be fostered by them.

It is, therefore, rather disturbing that these supposed houses of learning opt to dismantle and replace the power of reason with the power of their Lord. It appears to me that these two categories would overlap in a Venn diagram only if the latter truly held water. It is obviously a major problem that fundamentalist schools teach sciences incorrectly as they fail to prepare students for any type of secular post-secondary education, or even social integration outside of similarly devout practitioners. This is a rather sad situation, but it is only the beginning of the madness. It has been established that the students learn the wrong information, but what is truly detrimental to their development is that the information is presented in a fixed-fight scenario.

Revered scientific theories such as the Big Bang Theory and The Theory of Evolution are put up to the test against the Book of Genesis’ creation myth. This would be acceptable in a secular environment that did not bend the rules for one of the competing views, but this is not what happens inside of a fundamentalist school. It is important to note that the former scientific theories are subject to the scientific process and its rigorous laws, but the latter reli-

gious text is not—instead, is self-reliant in its quest for evidence. Consequently, it is fallacious in its very nature because it must argue in a circle. Therefore, in a fair secular fight, the scientific theories would come out as the victor due to simple logic, but in a fixed-fundamentalist-school-fight, the absence of scientific processes and the presence of a cyclical argument in the Book of Genesis’ theory are completely ignored.

The referee, Mr. or Mrs. Teacher, is therefore said to fix the fight, guaranteeing that the nonsensical education continues. It is in this sense that the fundamentalist schools are not only detrimental for providing incorrect information, but are also detrimental because they demonstrate and encourage fallacious reasoning.

The students that accept the school’s religious teachings and disregard the teachings of reason are the ones that the institution recognizes and rewards. This is a terrible environment for education because it breeds obedience, not independence. It tightens the students’ mental shackles as opposed to unlocking them through reason-based enlightenment. It does not focus on problem solving and reasoning, and instead substitutes in non-questioning and conformity. Education in this perverted form is more akin to brainwashing than education, only this brainwashing happens to be society-approved with funding stretching back millennia. Perhaps it is no wonder that people don’t think about political issues and instead vote for the political party that best corresponds to their religious views. After all, we have educational institutions rewarding this very substitution of reason for religion.

This substitution that inevitably proves catastrophic as history repeats itself.

dan sherven contributor

Remember that first day of Kindergarten?

Remember how you didn’t know what, exactly, you were doing and you had no clue where to go, but you knew you had to go into that big, noisy building? The first day of university is essentially the same, except Mom isn’t there to hold your hand and Dad didn’t pack you an extra peanut butter sandwich. The first day is always the hardest, but it’s not the beginning of the Apocalypse.

The first rule you should always follow when entering a new situation is to not panic. I mean it. Take a deep breath and walk right in through those doors to the chaos of adulthood, or what we believe adulthood to be.

While you’re wandering around, remember that you’re not the only one silently freaking out. There are hundreds of first years just like you who don’t know how they’re going to make it through the day, let alone the semester. Band together. If you see a familiar face, or even if you don’t, go to someone and start talking. You’ll likely find out their major and see if you have the same class together. Don’t be afraid to ask someone who looks like they’ve been doing this for a while how to get to said class. Despite how intimidating it can be, we’re all here for the same reason: get our degree and get the hell out of dodge.

Okay, you got to your class. If you’re taking a class in Campion College or Luther, the size shouldn’t frighten you too much. A hundred students, max. Not so

bad, right? If you’re taking classes in large lecture halls with over one hundred students, I fear for your eardrums, but it’s not the worst thing that can happen. Find a place relatively close to the front so you don’t have to strain to hear what the professor is saying. If you need some space between you and the next person, that’s okay.

No one wants to be sitting on top of each other, especially when they have an hourlong lecture on the difference between RNA and DNA. The key to success is taking good notes, so don’t slack off in that area! Those are going to be your go-to come test time. They may seem far off, but tests are ninjas in disguise.

University is a lot of hard work. Your limits are tested on multiple occasions and while sometimes you might want to call it quits, especially if you’re balancing a job and classes, there are fun times to be had.

The Owl, our on-campus bar, is great for getting together with friends and having a drink. There is no shortage of clubs, either, and they all give students a chance to make friends and de-stress. Don’t slack off but have fun, too. It will be hard to find the balance, but once you do, it will make university seem less like work. That’s the key to getting through these four years, or however long you’ll be on campus.

robyn tocker a&c editor

A note on celebrity There are three types of celebrities: the ones who were famous because of some sort of family relative (didn’t realize you were reading this, Mr. Trump), the ones who are famous for something stupid (cough, cough, Kim Kardashian), and finally, the ones who actually have done something amazing with their lives.

Yet, because society is made up of idiots, we care about them all equally. Not only that, we spend more time hoping for some kind of failure on their part, when we should be celebrating their successes.

For instance, Syria deploys chemical weapons and all we say is, “Oh, another segment of wall to wall coverage on CNN? Why not Teen Mom 2 instead?”

Meanwhile, Miley and Robin do that thing which must not be named, and the Internet explodes. The majority of people who watch gossip shows and keep up with all this so called ‘news’--and let’s face it, most of us do get dragged into this egocentric vortex of death--are celebrating the downright silly. It’s almost an ‘I told you so’ moment when a famous person who used to have a house with 27 kitchens and a movie theatre in their basement files for bankruptcy. At that moment, the collective group is saying, “Haha, no one can be that flawless, welcome back to the real world sucker”.

Professional athletes, for example, are held to a higher standard and then publicly chastised when they have a misstep. I’ll bet if any of us ‘normal’ people were being watched as closely as they are, we would have a few regrets too. Imagine you, the average University of Regina student, in the food court. Now, what if, as you were munching on your second cheeseburger of the day from BYOB, there were two announcers sitting next to you? One is narrating your every move and the other live tweeting the event. Times that by 1000--a very official statistic by the way--and you have what most true celebrities are feeling day to day.

Our definition of celebrity has widened as well. I call a certain show, “Dancing with

the Z List,” because no contestant is really all that worthy of fame. Since when did celebrity-status become about who can rub two diamond rings together and pay the most child support?

There has to be a reason why, at the grocery store, the magazines pronouncing half-truths are presented to you immediately after you have purchased the necessities of life. It is as if the shelves are saying, “Here, you’ve worked hard, now here is a 30-page booklet of dishonesty to make you feel that little bit better.” I mean, only in these kinds of publications is seven spouses something to strive for.

john loeppky contributor

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features

the carillon | September 5 - 11, 2013

Over 444 days trapped in sanctuary Two Nigerian Students from the U of R face deportation; taking refuge in a Church.

Adriana Christianson, CJME

The two girls at the heart of the issue.

michael chmielewski editor-in-chief (interim) Another welcome week commences at the University of Regina, but two students won’t be joining in on the festivities, and perhaps studies at some point.

Thousands of miles away from home, two Nigerian students wait in sanctuary. Confined to a church somewhere they remain, while they wait as the Canadian bureaucratic process hardly moves to do something.

They may be deported from this country, but in the meantime, they’ve been in sanctuary for over 400 days.

On Sept 5th, the date of publication, it’ll be 444 days trapped away from the world. The former University of Regina students first went into hiding June 18th, 2012.

According to the website www.stopURdeportations.com, they were scheduled to be deported on June 19th of 2011. Why are your fellow students being deported? Because in 2011, they worked at Wal-Mart for two weeks. They didn’t have the correct permit: they hadn’t signed up for the then separate work permit. A two-week mistake of working illegally has landed them in these dire straights. Their names are Victoria Sharon Ordu and Ihuoma Favour Amadi.

Allegedly, one of them found out herself that she may have committed some sort of mistake, so she then quit her job after consulting the UR International office, according to their lawyer, Kay Adeogun, in a Saharatv interview.

Adeogun also goes on to say that the Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA) later called her, asking if she was working off campus at the time. She said no, but they also asked about the past, so she admitted her transgression to the CBSA, but also told that she had found out herself, and had stopped by herself.

The other girl was still actively working part-time for a few weeks, and was then arrested.

In a blog post on the

website, stopURdeportations Ordu describes her conditions: “We have lost one year of education hurled up here in sanctuary in total incarceration and deprivation of a comfortable life or go about our normal activities like every other human or student.

Coming from a poor home, my dreams of a Canadian education or completion of my degree at this point is uncertain.”

Amadi reminisces in her posts about her time “as an Ambassador we welcomed new students from across the world who had either come to begin or continue their journey and pursuit for education. I remember the excitement and enthusiasm in their eyes as they asked to be showed around or where the library or book store was.”

Victoria and Favour started their degrees in 2009. Victoria was studying theatre, while Favour studied international relations.

The “Crime” This whole situation begins in 2011, when the two students took up jobs at Wal-Mart. The mistake they made was to work off of campus. Their student visas allowed them to work on campus, but not off of it.

It’s a wonder Wal-Mart even hired them.

Joseph Mburu, a professor of political science at the University of Regina, questions the role of Wal-Mart in the ordeal.

“If the students presented their social insurance numbers, it’s expected that the employers would have detected that these students needed work permits, but WalMart did not notify these particular students, and so Wal-Mart failed in this case.”

After Wal-Mart made this grievous error to hire these two, they have done nothing to support the

two.

If Wal-Mart had noticed this error, Victoria and Favour would not be in the bottom of a church right now, but rather finishing up their studies with the rest of us.

Mburu called the deportation measures “draconian.”

A few people propose, on different websites and even in person, that they deserve the sentence they have been handed, and should face up to the deportation order. Such as Spider_hockey commenting on a national news station’s website.

“They broke the law! they were aware they were breaking the law! why all the sympathy?

They were more interested in making money than going to university and they got caught, time to pay the piper and get shipped home.”[sic] Ralph Goodale, Member of Parliament for the Wascana riding in Saskatchewan points out that this is completely false, and that more appropriate measures would be “reprimands, or warnings, or fines.”

The Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA) arrested Victoria and Favour, and although reports differ, they were arrested on campus. Some reports indicated that one of the girls was arrested at Wal-Mart.

The Reaction “Yes, we are aware of the method in which they were arrested,” said Dr. Thomas Chase, Provost and Vice-President (Academic) at the University of Regina. “We did not think that was appropriate.”

“The University wishes to see both Ms. Ordu and Ms.Amadi allowed by the government of Canada to continue their studies here at the U of R. We don’t condone the breaking of the law, but

we want to make clear that we believe that the punishment in this case is disproportionate to their offence. These two young women have lost a year of their studies, and indeed they’ve lost a year of their lives.”

Chase concluded by saying, “The University of Regina is ready to welcome these students back to their studies as soon as the Government of Canada allows them to do so.”

President Vianne Timmons, on the 7th of June, sent a letter to then Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Jason Kenney asking the Government of Canada to reconsider the case, and to issue a temporary residence permit that would allow them to continue their studies at the University of Regina. Victoria said that Timmons has been “like a mother to us.”

Kenney, during his time as Minister of Immigration, was unsympathetic to the case of the students, even at some points questioning the students’ dedication to their academics, saying in the House of Commons, “I have information in my hands from the Canada Border Services Agency indicating that one of the subjects had not attended classes at the University in the Winter 2011 semester, [and] was required to discontinue from studies based on failure to meet academic standards.”

Goodale responded, saying that this statement “flies in the face of the facts” and that “the University has been very clear that, at all material times, these two young women were properly registered as students at the University of Regina.”

Much reaction has come from the grassroots and the U of R community, and lately a lot has been the focused around

“ The behaviour of the CBSA seems to me to be quite over the top with many of their methods and obviously the ultimate result of deportation, or threat of deportation.”

Ralph Goodale

stopURdeportations website.

The community has taken to letter writing, but also Twitter, with hashtags such as #honestmistake and #stopurdeportations while tweeting at the appropriate ministers.

There has been relatively no movement supporting the deportation of the two students, but rather quite the opposite. Goodale called it a “very common public consensus.” He went on, explaining that “you’ve got the the University President, University Administration, the University Faculty, the students, the staff, who all believe that the government can and should show a little bit of common sense and compassion here.”

Even on the partisan political plane of Saskatchewan, there has been agreement.

“You’ve also got both sides of the Saskatchewan legislature: both the opposition and the government…. You would be hard pressed to find another example of such unanimity in the Saskatchewan legislature. They’re usually diametrically opposed to each other on everything. This time, there is just common cause right across the spectrum.”

Goodale explained.

Kay Adeogun, though, expressed concern with the Government of Nigeria in the same Saharatv interview.

When asked if the Nigerian Government has been involved at all in the case of these two, Adeogun said, “Unfortunately, I will want to say the support is not what we expected it to be.”

Later on, he also said that the Nigerian Embassy in Canada has been “very silent” on the issue, claiming that they got inaccurate information on the case, and failed to consult Adeogun and others here in Regina.

“In terms of direct support from Nigeria, none that we’re aware of.”

In essence, the two have been abandoned by the Nigerian government, and hung out to dry by the Canadian one.

the carillon | September 5 - 11, 2013

444 (and counting) days 23

Rebecca Granovsky-Larsen

Postmedia News

Professor Mburu speaks on the case to students in the Ad Hum last year.

A Change in Legislation… A Change in Minister In a video posted on YouTube on Oct 29, 2012, Goodale asks Kenney in the House of Commons, “is the government’s determination to deport these two girls, and thereby destroy their education, based solely on their honest mistake of working for two weeks at a Wal-Mart store, and if that is their only transgressions, isn’t such retribution out of proportion?”

Then Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Jason Kenney replied, “First of all, one of the women in question is not a student, and has not been attending classes, or enrolled in an institution for several months, but was working illegally without a work permit. Now, Mr. Speaker, we do have a problem of many foreign students working illegally in Canada. This has been raised with me by Canadians who are concerned that their kids can’t find work while foreign students are taking work illegally.”

At this point he is justifiably drowned out by the House, and takes his seat.

As Goodale points out, and subsequently argued in the House, “The University has been very clear that at all material times, these two young women were properly registered as students at the University of Regina.”

Since Victoria’s and Favour’s transgression, the legislation related to their case has changed.

Now, international students can work on and off campus with the same permit.

I guess Kenney forgot about all of those worried Canadian parents’ lobbying.

On July 15th, in the Prime Minister Harper’s cabinet shuffle, Chris Alexander became the new Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, succeeding Jason Kenny.

The change in minister has not marked a change in policy, though. Alexander has yet to comment on the case, never mind take any action.

All the while, they have been imprisoned in a church for over a year, and still are.

The Canadian Border Services Agency “The behaviour of the CBSA seems to me to be quite over the top with many of their methods and obviously the ultimate result

of deportation, or threat of deportation,” said Ralph Goodale.

One professor at the U of R, who wished to remain anonymous, posed this question in an interview, “how did CBSA know?” The professor speculated on the role of CBSA informants on campus.

When asked about the role of informants on campus, Goodale said, “I know little of a factual nature, but I have heard disturbing reports about informant operations.

“No one should minimize the difficultly of their task, or the importance of doing it properly.

Canadian public safety and security is at stake, and that’s a very serious matter, in going about that crucial work. There needs to be a very senior and mature degree of judgment applied. That’s what appears to have gone wrong in this case.”

Tobi Cohen is journalist for Postmedia News covering justice, immigration, public safety and politics. Cohen wrote an article entitled “Refugee advocates raise concerns about ‘inhumane’ deportations,” where she interviews Janet Dench, executive director of Canadian Council for Refugees about the CBSA and it’s practices.

This article focuses more so on “inhumane” treatment, as compared to undercover informants, but nevertheless, it raises serious concerns about CBSA and its practices.

Way back home Both girls expressed concerns multiple times since they took up sanctuary, that they will, if deported, go home completely empty handed, having wasted four years of their lives: three years studying for a degree they weren’t allowed to finish, and over a year trapped in a church.

Professor Mburu explained to the Carillon what kind of situation the two would be facing in Nigeria if deported: “their future would be ruined.”

“They won’t be able to get a job; if they go back [home] they will be seen as people who are not good. There is a certain shame… there is a lot of social exclusion.”

Mburu even expressed that the case of these students could shed a bad light on their parents back home. The explanation for this shame and social exclusion would be the fact that these two women were on scholarship from

the Nigerian government.

“It’s going to affect the people who have been paying for their fees. The people who have been taxed very heavily in Nigeria, are the very poor people.” Mburu explained that those who are taxed heavily want to see “good yields” from, for lack of a better term, their investments.

A Modest Comparison Who else has been deported from Canada? Surely, these deportees would have committed similar transgressions along the lines of Victoria and Favour? Well there’s the Acadians, but they’re in a different boat.

Another is American man Richard Goldberg, scum of the earth. Wanted by the FBI for pedophilia, he was deported from Canada in 2007.

Another is David Irving, famous Holocaust denier—a remarkable day’s work by the CBSA. Neo-Nazi Holocaust denier Ernst Zundel, too, was deported from this country.

Another hate inciting asshole booted from Canada was Leon Mugesera, who gave anti-Tutsi speeches in Rwandan.

Other people deported include Nazi collaborators, alleged terrorists, members of Hezbollah, and Mahmoud Mohammad Issa Mohammad.

Let’s not let the government add our classmates to this list of sub-humans.

The Student Voice President of University of Regina Students’ Union (URSU) Nathan Sgrazzutti told the Carillon, “The URSU has been behind Victoria and Favour from the beginning. As an executive, we have personally attended rallies and events to show our support for the students in refuge.”

On top of personal support, the Union’s executive has also lobbied the government.

“Myself, along with past VP External Anna Dipple and new VP External Brooke Paterson have sent messages to many government officials within the Saskatchewan and Canadian government. I have met with Vianne Timmons, Ralph Goodale, and members on both sides of the legislature. “ “We are doing all we can.”

Sgrazzutti concluded saying that “This is the number one stu-

Jason Kenney’s statements in the House contradicted findings from the U of R. dents’ rights issue on our table right now and we will not allow ourselves to be silenced by an unresponsive federal government.

Many of us have been re-elected and they have not gotten their chance of ‘waiting us out.’”

Paige Kezima is a University of Regina student and University Council member finishing her last year of social work. Kezima was been involved in this case since last fall, and she helped organize the first teach-in.

Kezima, when asked on how the two were doing, she said, “Victoria & Favour have been graceful and gracious throughout this whole ordeal, but it is understandable that they are feeling sadness and loneliness as well. If you look at their twitter feed you can get an idea of what they're feeling and what life in sanctuary is like. They both are lovely people who are truly sorry for the mistake they made, and they really, really want to come back to school.”

The near unanimous consensus on this issue is truly remarkable, but some people are more critical. When the Carillon covered this story in Nov 2012, one self styled “JP” commented online arguing, “While deportation seems a little much as punishment, ignorance of the law is not an acceptable defense in any country in the world. It was up to these girls to ensure they knew what the rules were before seeking employment.”

The commenter went on, saying, ”Hopefully, a middle ground can be struck in this situation. I can understand why the government would be skittish to go easy on them as it opens the door to other offenders and sets a precedent.”

Allison Zorn is a third year History major at the U of R, and argues a counter-point to JP. “The girls should not be deported because they tried and contribute to a normal experience of going to university and having a job.

“This does concern me as a student,” Zorn continued, “because it makes me reconsider my right as a student and a Canadian citizen, and [it is] making me concerned if my rights would also be taken away from me in the future.”

Zorn is a Canadian citizen, but imagine how some international students feel about their rights.

They walk a much finer line, and

the international student population at the U of R has been skyrocketing in the last few years.

Solidarity A professor, wishing to remain anonymous, told the Carillon, “Nobody wants a pound of flesh.”

Because of this case, three University of Regina professors have started the UR Legal Defense Fund, which will be available to international students, if they need, by application. During the summer, the Fund held a fundraiser.

That being said, there are many ways to express Solidarity with the two girls.

As Kezima told the Carillon, “There are a few things that UofR students can do to help Victoria & Favour. They can tweet, call, or phone the Minister of Immigration and Citizenship, Chris Alexander, asking him to let the students come back to school. @calxandr is his username on Twitter, and make sure to include the #letthemstay hashtag.

Another thing that students can do is send messages of support to Victoria (@beingvictoria) & Favour (@missfavour8), themselves, via Twitter. It's very difficult for them to be isolated from their friends and I'm sure they would greatly appreciate any positive messages.”

More formally, one can send a letter to their Member of Parliament, or Member of the Legislative assembly.

Furthermore, and as the stopURdeportations website suggests, one can send a letter to/contact either Chris Alexander, the Minister of Citizenship and Immigrations, or Steven Blaney, the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness.

The website goes on, suggesting to supporters that they can post on their respective social media, follow the @let_them_stay handle, tweet with various hashtags, blog, or write a Letter to the Editor.

With all this activism, with all this positive communal consensus on this issue, how much longer will they stay in sanctuary?

Will the deportation order be lifted?

As the old cliché goes, only time will tell.

humour

the carillon | September 5 - 11, 2013

Drew Wass

Kyle Leitch

DISCLAIMER: Although we find this exceptionally funny , no one at the Carillon was involved with putting this Metro newsbox on top of the bus stop.

the carillon | September 5 - 11, 2013

aka “the funny pages” 25

Drew Wass

Dear Residents of Regina, Saskatchewan: My latest attempt to pursue the meaning of life has failed. In essence, I have created another fallen angel, yet it is no creature. This one was created in a better way, a more dangerous way... I send pictures for comparison points. Please be careful, I believe he has well disguised himself.

My best, and good luck, Victor Frankenstein

Michael Chmielewski

cd ae nrfi ad a ith na fetsd e re acto ihn op fsth ue dn eh na tsrp ae sk a tn ch e w a n sctto u dte nttisceo atin loe nsm cih a ea jlce ksso nm o va e ita l-y tn oa nu uto n-r e p e s t e r c a a d a i n e e l i n w r t i u k a n y e w t a l d y g a g p a i ttg u n re e ce sh so in f g h a n s i t a n t a s e r s d o m e b a o l i u t s h e a t l h c a r e b a n k r u p t c y s w e a t e v r e s h t p i s t e d r o u c h e b a g s ha oye sm a scsa on laa e s w h o g v i e y o u t c i k e t s w h e n y o u p a r k n i t h e w r o n g p a l c e o n c a m p u s a t l h n i g s c a p t i a s i l tthe Carillon: pronounced “Kar-uh-lon” since 1765. do you see another “i” d a i n f e d e r a t o i n o f s t u d e n t s a s k a t c h e w a n s t u d e n t s c o a t i l o n m c i h a e a j l c k s o n m o v e i a l y ta o n u n d e r fi r e t h a t s p e e c h s t e p h e n h a r p e r c a n a d a i n e e l c t o i n t w t i e r t i u n e s k a n y e w e s t a l d y g a g a t p a n i u t o t u n e r e c e s s o i n a f g h a n s i t a n t a s e r s d o m e b a o l i u t s h e a t l h c a r e b a n k r u p t c y s w e a t e r v e s t h p i s t e r inv there, motherfucker? d o u c h e b a g s t h o s e a s s h o e l s w h o g i e y o u t c i k e t s w h e n y o u p a r k n i t h e w r o n g p a l c e o n c a m p u s a lh n i g s c a p t i a s i l t g a y m a r a i g e a n d a f a h 1 n 1 m c i h a e a j l c k s o n m o v e i a l y t o n u n d e r fi r e t h a t s p e e c h sta tte p h e n h a r p e c r a n a d a i n e e l c t o i n t w t i e t i r u n e s k a n y e w e s a l t d y g a g a t p a n i a u t o t u n e r e c e s s o i n a f g h a n s i t a n s e r s d o m e b a o l i u t s h e a t l h c a r e b a n k r u p t c y s w e a t e r v e s t h p i s t e r d o u c h e b a g s t h o s e a s s h o e l s w h o g v i e y o u t c i k e t s w h e n y o u p a r k n i t h e w r o n g p a l c e o n c a m p u s a t l h n i g s c a p t i a s i l t g a y m a r a i g e a n d faara igeandafah1n1mcihaea jlcksonmove ia lytonunderfirethatspeechstephenharpercana aSincerely, the Carillon staff

this house is empty now

Visual Editor: Emily Wright graphics@carillonregina.com the carillon | September 5 - 11, 2013

but not very much longer

the carillon | September 5 - 11, 2013

28 get a phone and some internet service at welcome week

the carillon | September 5 - 11, 2013

and now, a word from the president

Well it has been quite the exciting summer here at the students’ union and after a season of hard work (and a couple successes) your UR Student’s Union is excited to be well underway for the 2013/2014 year.

With so many returning members from the previous year’s Board of Directors and Executive we are excited with the many opportunities we face as a student body. Already underway, our 2013 Welcome Week appears to be a tremendous success and we hope to continue that success throughout the year with many planned events at The Owl, on the Academic Green, and around the city to keep everyone in good spirits as we all trudge towards and through our semester final exams. A quick reminder, your URSU executive is always willing to speak with you during the week, so feel free to stop by our offices sometime between 10 am and 5 pm to say hello!

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