The Fulcrum - Volume 78, Issue 10

VOL. 78 ISSUE 10

Nov. 6, 2017

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In this week’s issue...

Catching up with the university president P. 6 Jacques Frémont’s thoughts on the year so far Tolstoy’s letters P. 9 U of O prof publishes Tolstoy’s letters to is wife What goes into strike negotiations? P.10 A look at the issues facing parttime professors on campus

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Ball so hard P. 12 Men’s and Women’s Basketball teams get wins at home Exploring the Amazon (headquarters bid) P. 15 Ottawa is a good choice for the new Amazon HQ Anne of Green Gables drives PEI immigration P. 16 The renowned readhead inspires confidence around the globe

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NEWS

NEWS EDITOR Anchal Sharma

news@thefulcrum.ca (613) 695-0061 @anchalsharma_

U of O strike negotiations come to a close

Part-time profs reach a tentative deal with the administration ellie sabourin

associate news editor

I

n the early hours of Monday, Oct. 30, the University of Ottawa and the Association of PartTime Professors of the University of Ottawa (APTPUO) reached a tentative deal.

According to Shawn Philip Hunsdale, communications director for the APTPUO, the best gains for the association concern job security and collegial governance. Currently, part-time professors are not permitted to be on the university Senate, but the new agreement allows for the necessary policy changes to allow part-time professors’ representation on the Senate.

“In terms of job security, there has been an easing of

the punitive evaluation system,” said Hunsdale.

At the moment, the full time professors’ collective agreement specifically states that students’ evaluations will not result in disciplinary measures by the employer, which is not currently the case for part-time professors.

“We’ve made significant advances on removing the punitive nature of those evaluations,” said Hunsdale.

“Right now, part-time professors don’t necessarily have a sense of what courses they will be teaching next semester even if they have been teaching the same ones for 15 years.”

Further gains were made in this tentative agreement in regard to unpaid labour, in areas such as technology training, which part-time professors often have to do on their own time.

The tentative deal also in-

cludes an increase in remuneration for part-time professors, which goes above the rate of inflation.

In a written statement released by the university on Oct. 30, Jacques Frémont, president and vice-chancellor of the U of O expressed that “part-time professors play an important role in our academic programs. I am pleased to see that we’ve been able to conclude a fair and reasonable agreement. I would like to thank members of both bargaining committees for their efforts.”

The bargaining committees’ ability to avoid a strike situation has been well received by students overall.

“Although I wouldn’t mind a little extra time to study for my midterms, I’m pretty relieved that we are not on strike,” said Kyle Fletcher, a first-year student in the Faculty of Arts.

The negotiation was finalized in the early hours of Oct. 30.

“I think just seeing what’s happening with Algonquin (College) right now has made me really glad that we didn’t go on strike,” said Angela White, a second-year student in the Department of Classics and Religious Studies. “I’m happy that I don’t have to worry about an ex-

tended semester or loss of any tuition money.”

The university’s Board of Governors and APTPUO members will attempt to ratify the tentative deal on Nov. 24. If the deal is ratified it will be in place until August 2018, at which point a new deal will need to be negotiated.

Photo: CC, Stock Snap.

“I think that with the advances in job security and collegial governance in particular, part-time professors are shedding somewhat of the perception of two different classes of instructors and we’re hoping that further negotiations continue this trend,” said Hunsdale.

U of O last in student satisfaction, Oct. 30 BOG hears

Board meeting discusses low ranking, sustainability measures eric Davidson editor-in-chief

The University of Ottawa’s Board of Governors (BOG) met on Monday, Oct. 30 to discuss university rankings and its progress on sustainability measures, among other items.

LOWEST RANKING IN STUDENT SATISFACTION During his report, U of O president Jacques Frémont noted that in several cases the university’s ranking in research-related areas had gone up, thanking those responsible for making that happen. However, he noted that in the recent Maclean’s ranking, the university came dead last in terms of student satisfaction.

David Graham, vice-president academic and provost at the U of O, said he is taking measures in the wake of the raking to improve student satisfaction at the university.

Graham said the university is currently doing surveys on

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student satisfaction, which are finding that students are more dissatisfied now than in the past. He also said that despite the dip, the university is spending a lot on student satisfaction, and that the money needs to be reallocated in a more effective way.

According to Graham, the university is making a working group to focus on the issue of student satisfaction, one with heavy student participation. Frémont later said the university could be open to a majority student presence in the working group.

Victoria Barham, a board member and a professor in the Faculty of Social Sciences, said the services provided to students in her faculty are “catastrophic,” noting long wait times to see academic advisors and a lack of response to questions over email.

Jamie Ghossein, an undergraduate student representative on the board, said that

he’s glad for the low ranking, because it forces people to acknowledge the underlying problems. He further noted he and the other student representatives are happy to assist in dealing with the issue.

After the meeting, Ghossein told the Fulcrum that he has also been in touch with the Student Federation of the University of Ottawa about the issue. He added that he has faith that the Board of Governors will be able to make the situation better.

REPORT ON CAMPUS SUSTAINABILITY At the meeting, Frémont also presented the university’s first annual progress report on addressing global warming. He said that after the BOG voted at their meeting on April 25, 2016 to reduce the university’s carbon footprint by 30 per cent by 2030, it wanted to have an annual report to see how their objectives were being met.

The report said that the U

Photo: Eric Davidson.

of O was moving to address climate change on several fronts. For example, it said that new courses like “Animal Studies” and “Future Earth” were being added to the curriculum. It also said that the university wants to coordi-

nate and test new activities to cultivate public awareness.

The report stated that the university funds and supports researchers who are trying to find solutions to climate change, especially through its Clean Innovation Research Fund.

According to the report, the university’s finance committee is “gradually tilting the (investment) portfolio away from fossil fuels,” and is working on metrics to make this happen and measure the impact of the shift.

NEWS | 5

Are we doing better? Touching base with Jacques Frémont

U of O president discusses plans for 2017-18 academic year anchal sharma news editor

On March 16 2017, the Fulcrum interviewed Jacques Frémont, president of the University of Ottawa, on his first year in the role. On Tuesday Oct. 31, in another exclusive interview, Frémont shared his aspirations for this year, addressing student satisfaction, the part-time professor strike negotiations, the progress of mental health services on campus, and the university’s budget restrictions.

The Fulcrum: What are your thoughts on the year so far? What has gone well, and what can be improved?

Jacques Frémont: Getting back to classes has been smooth in some respects; in other respects, I have some uneasiness about the level of support given to students. Certainly I hear left and right that there have been communication problems between the students and their faculties, or their departments concerning their courses. And actually, Fulcrum, you published a very good (feature) on that, the dossier was exactly, actually reflected what I’ve heard on campus, so I was pleasantly surprised, and it was a wake up call certainly for us.

We discussed that yesterday at the (Board of Governor’s meeting), you see, we’ve been fairly blunt about that, we do have a problem as pointed out in the Fulcrum. That was before the Maclean’s ranking, and the Maclean’s ranking was like the cherry on the sundae, it added the last coat of uneasiness. But as we said yesterday, there will be measures taken, we have to understand where it hurts and how we can get better.

So for me, la rentrée has been very much around these things; some anxiousness concerning drugs and fentanyl and the opioid crisis. We’re nervous about that, and we hear that there might be more drug consumption on campus, so there’s some uneasiness there, and certainly repeated concerns concerning mental health and the Indigenous files. Generally, we ought to do better.

So these (problems) are mostly what we’ve been working on since getting back to school.

F: You addressed the Maclean’s report. Just to build off of that, what exactly does the

university plan on doing to improve the current discord between students and their various departments?

JF: Well my concern is not to, once again, study things forever. What we’ve announced yesterday is that there will be a committee, consisting of professors and students, which will work and identify very quickly the host of problems and how we can improve … so that in the longer term we’ll know what changes we have to bring to the system, so that we have an actual plan immediately.

I suspect that part of the problems might have a cultural basis, that is… we have to change the minds of the people who designed the system and who run the system. We have to be in a position where if you have an easy question, calling for an easy answer, that people get it in real time, so that the energy is kept for people who are in real trouble, or real complex files.

It’s a matter of really making a difference... it’s true we have huge systems, it’s a complex business, but if one student has a problem, then odds are that many students have the same problem. So we really have to listen and find the solutions—and I’m not saying that we will find all the solutions, and all the problems will be solved, but students should not have to wait for weeks before getting an answer for a real difficulty that they have.

F: How have mental health issues been progressing since last year?

JF: I believe there has been some progress, but let’s be realistic, the progress will never be fast enough. We work really to re-design the entry points to the system so that whoever knocks on the door, there’s someone to answer. And the resources that we had were split under different administrative responsibilities, they were not necessarily talking to each other, now they’re talking to each other. So people in need can be seen by one type of resource or another, there’s been a concertation between all these people. We are launching publicity campaigns so that people know what are the entry points, and the easy entry points.

F: Can you elaborate on the entry points with some ex-

amples of how students can seek help?

JF: My understanding is that they can go to (the Student Academic Success Service), they can go to the health services, they can go through their residences, and their student associations who can point them to the right resources.

It’s a bit like for the sexual violence policy, there’s not one entry point, there are many entry points, and what’s important is that if you knock on the door of one of the entry points, you will be taken over by the system. Now, of course the challenges are with the divergences. The challenge really is not only for the people who knock on the door, but it’s also for the education of professors, the education of staff.

We’ve approached the unions, and so far they are perfectly willing to work with us in the community for mental health.

Where we’re going really is… what we’d like to develop is an integrated mental health policy and wellbeing approach on the campus. It’s all linked, if you exercise, you do sports, you will probably have fewer chances of being ill, it might help your mental health. So we have to look at it as a holistic approach, but that’s many years down the road. I’m not sure we have the sports facilities we deserve on our campus, for instance, and that the access is wide enough for the real needs of our community.

So these are all things we’re working slowly to progress, but concerning mental health, what’s important is the frontline and I think we’ve improved since last year, and I hope that next year I’ll be able to demonstrate how we’ve improved from this year. So we really have to collectively work on that challenge. But of course there are many thousands of students and staff ... so it’s quite a lot of people, and there’s us, and there’s the normal provincial health system and the relationship between the two. So, it is a great concern, but we’re trying to push the system in the right direction.

F: With no rises in the amount of government grants to the university, what is the university doing to increase its revenue going forward?

JF: The revenue grants?

Frémont talks student satisfaction in an exclusive interview with the Fulcrum.

They’re decreasing. Basically, what I’ve said again and again, is, for the last three years, transfer payments to the university have been frozen, and now with the new financing (plan) that’s been in place for a few months now, it’s guaranteed it will not increase. So we went from about 50 per cent of our cost per Ontario student (being) paid for by the (province), now we’re around 44 per cent. And at the same time our costs increase year after year, because we have 5,000 staff, we have 1,300 faculty members, because all the expenses, it goes up by three per cent per year, whatever we do.

Heating, salaries, collective agreements, raises… so that becomes more expensive. The only place we can get money is through tuition, and that’s where it hurts, because I know very well what the challenges are for students. I think with OSAP, the government has made a real effort to integrate and better support some students … but certainly in this university, it’s not a majority of our students.

And with international students it’s a different problem, because we do not get money from the province. Quite the contrary—for every international student, we pay money to the province. So it’s a situation where we rely on tuition from national and international students just to pay for the basic requirements we have.

I would be the first one, if I could give a break to the students, I would be quite happy.

But we have to do something, because a few years ago (grants) were well above 50 per cent and now it’s 44 per cent and next year it will go down, so tuition will have to go up, and is that the society we want? … It’s not necessarily fair to students, certainly in some disciplines where the earning capacity eventually to pay off student loans will not be as good as other sectors.

There has been some conversation between the government and student associations at Queen’s Park, but in the end, with universities, it’s not just the University of Ottawa, we’re all stuck in the same situation … I hope it will be one of the issues in the next electoral campaign, is what is fair to students who are not otherwise covered by OSAP. F: With the strike negotiations, are things where they need to be and if not, how can they get there?

JF: There was an agreement between Sunday and Monday. Part-time professors are very important members of the community and actually what’s interesting is that students don’t always distinguish between part-timers and fulltime professors, and part-time lecturers really bring very important dimensions in their teaching. So it’s important that we’re all comfortable within the community, and if we had enough money it would be easier to solve many of these challenges, what’s important is that we settle and negotiate until the very end, we did and

6 | NEWS

Photo: Eric Davidson.

and we reached an agreement.

Like all agreements, I guess no parties got exactly what they wanted, but what’s important is that we have an agreement for the next couple of years, which will give us time to reflect a little more about the status of part-timers.

F: Last year, the Student Federation of the University of Ottawa (SFUO) was accused of stealing bus passes and the U of O and the OC Transpo launched an investigation. Are you able to say what they found, or when a report will be released?

JF: I’m not aware that there was an investigation.

Néomie Duval (manager, media relations): The OC Transpo conducted an investigation, and we’re still waiting on their (report). They’re building a financial reconciliation essentially for 2016-17, and the report isn’t complete yet, so once they do complete their analysis they’ll be providing us with their guidelines and next steps.

F: Is there anything else that you would like students to know?

JF: I think the campus will change greatly after this year, in the spring we’ll have a learning centre which will be open to students… I think 2018 will be a great year for that. For me it’s very very important that the student experience improves. It is a major concern, I think we can do better. And I hope you’ll get back to me in the future, and ask me, “Are we doing better?”

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Algonquin Times forced to shut down amidst college strike Student journalists create alternative website to report on strike updates ellie sabourin

associate news editor While the University of Ottawa narrowly missed a strike this past week, it’s important to remember that Ontario colleges, including Algonquin College, which hosts several joint programs with the U of O, have just finished their third consecutive week of faculty striking.

While this has caused many disturbances on campus, one of the most notable is the pause in production of the Algonquin Times, the college’s newspaper, which is run by students in the journalism program—one of the joint programs with the U of O. The decision to shut down publication of the paper for the duration of the strike came from the Students’ Association.

“The Algonquin Times is a learning enterprise that involves faculty supervision. Every function within Algonquin College that involves faculty has been suspended during the strike, so we had to extend that to the Times,” said Victoria Ventura, president of the Algonquin Col-

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lege Students’ Association.

“Our decision this time was made out of respect for faculty and the collective bargaining process.”

The stop in production is unprecedented, as the Algonquin Times continued to publish during the last faculty strike in 2006.

The paper operates differently than a typical campus newspaper, like the Fulcrum, as it serves as a learning vehicle for the journalism program.

Students are required to write stories for the biweekly publication in lieu of assignments as a part of their core journalism courses. A professor in the program, Joe Banks, overlooks the paper as editor-in-chief, making the final call on what gets published. Moreover, the Algonquin College Students’ Association (SA) owns the paper.

“The Times published without interruption through the 2006 strike so this was a surprise to me,” said Banks. “However, the SA is the publisher and owner and has every right to do as it sees fit.”

Not only has production

of the paper stopped, but the website has been taken down, along with Glue Magazine’s website, which is a bi-annual magazine produced by students in the journalism program.

“The fact that the websites have been taken down is incredibly frustrating because my past work is now unavailable,” said Wade Morris, a thirdyear student in the digital journalism program at U of O, which operates alongside Algonquin College.

The websites feature all of the articles that past students like Morris have written, serving as published pieces for their portfolios.

Although Banks said that he was not consulted prior to the decision, he believes that the decision is solely out of respect for his role as a faculty member in the production.

Journalism students were upset, saying that more than ever they are looking to provide answers and updates about what is going on with the faculty strike.

“As a classroom, collectively, we all decided that

The Algonquin Times has closed its doors for the duration of the faculty strike.

no, this is our job. Our job is to inform people so that’s exactly what we’re going to do,” said Dennis St. Pierre, current editor of the Algonquin Times.

This is what prompted the students to create their own publication, the Algonquin Timeless, to pro-

vide updates concerning the strike.

“I’m delighted with their ingenuity and determination,” said Banks. “This speaks to the character of those students by pressing forward, and the ‘get ‘er done’ work ethic we promote in the program. I’m

Photo: Jazz Laforge.

very proud of everyone involved in its production both online and offline.”

For more information about the strike, you can visit the Algonquin Timeless website or follow the Times on Twitter.

Ellie Sabourin previously worked at the Algonquin Times.

NEWS | 7

A&C EDITOR Ryan Pepper arts@thefulcrum.ca

ARTS&CULTURE Slack Bridges brings soulful sound to Ottawa (613) 695-0062 @pep_ryan

Local music collective releases funky, soulful Joy of Joys Alex Szigeti

staff contributor

S

lack Bridges, the six piece soul/funk/R&B collective from Ottawa, is looking to get some soul into this city.

The sextet’s debut fulllength album, Joy of Joys, will be released on Nov. 11. After helping set up Bangers and Mash, Ottawa’s first soul music festival—which was an overwhelming success, completely selling out—at House of Targ last March, they are trying to help grow the scene throughout the city.

“If we can help to kinda (elaborate) now that Ottawa’s getting kinda funky, getting some

kind of interest in hip-hop and things that are outside of just punk, garage, indie rock, then that would be considered a big success in my eyes,” said Garett Barr, the band’s bassist.

Barr aspires for younger people to begin following Slack Bridges into the scene. University of Ottawa graduate student and singer, Matt Gilmour, says that not only does the talent already exist within the city, but so does the infrastructure for a successful music scene. The issue, however, lies in connecting them together.

“It’s hard to find access points to discover these things if they aren’t immediately presentable or if the existing musical structure doesn’t acknowledge them,” said Gilmour.

For their debut LP, recorded entirely at drummer Paul Ross’ house, they not only built on the experience of playing such major festivals as Ottawa Bluesfest, but also the band members’ differing musical backgrounds.

Barr came from ska and Gilm-

our from punk, as just two examples, adding an element to the music that allows them to sound different than your typical soul band.

“A friend of ours said, it’s like soul music written by hardcore kids,” Barr explained.

As Barr puts it, Ottawa was run by the hardcore punk scene until very recently, but the musical attitudes have begun to shift, perhaps in the favour of bands like Slack Bridges.

“The same guys that used to hate anything but punk are now running Beyoncé’s Lemonade,” said Barr.

This shift has come at the right time for Slack Bridges, as they began recording what was intended as an EP but became their debut full-length. After they had finished recording the 10 songs, they received a grant from the Ontario Arts Council.

This allowed them to include trumpet parts from “the (trumpet) man in town,” Ed Lister, additional vocals from Mack-

Photo: Laura Mueller.

enzie Di Millo, and allowed for it to be transformed from a total DIY project to a professionally mixed and mastered album, done by local legends Jason Jaknunas and Phil Bova, respectively. It also allowed for Joy of Joys to be pressed onto vinyl.

As final advice for university students wanting to start play-

ing music, Gilmour and Barr agree that the key is to leave the university bubble, and to get into the Ottawa music scene.

“Look up venues, resources, show listings, and promoters, and ultimately these people are relatively friendly, and although sometimes people have differences of opinion and dif-

ferences of taste, but generally speaking, they are all well-intentioned people who want to be inclusive and give exposure to new acts,” Gilmour said.

Catch Slack Bridges at the Rainbow Bistro on Nov. 11 at 9 p. m. for their LP release party, supported by Mushy Gushy and DJ Zattar.

U of O hosts conference to inspire emerging artists

Art symposium brings together youth and gallery owners Hannah sabourin Fulcrum Contributor

Starting Nov. 10, the Ottawa Art Gallery Youth Council will launch a three-day Youth Art Symposium at the University of Ottawa. Attendees will have the chance to both engage with visiting artists and discuss the development of new artistic outreach programs in Ottawa. Participants will also be able to voice their opinions on what sort of exhibitions they’d like to see featured in local galleries, and exercise their creative skills.

“We’re really trying to emphasize the importance of sharing opinions and giving suggestions. People from museums and galleries are listening for what the participants of this event have to say,” said Candide Uyanze, a third-year U of O communications student and member of the Ottawa Art Gallery’s Youth Council.

The most anticipated events include a keynote address by Morgana Mckenzie, a Canadian film director, cinematographer, colourist, and editor.

Mckenzie’s body of work has won her many awards, including the Canada 150 Award for Best Film for her film,

8 | ARTS & CULTURE

The first Youth Art Symposium hopes to bring together young people and established artists.

Atlas World. On the Saturday, Branch Out Theatre artistic director Naomi Tessler will lead workshops in poetry and multisensory drawings. That evening, the Youth Arts Symposium is hosting a party at the National Arts Centre where participants will listen to music and engage in artistic endeavours.

“There will be DJs there, and live

art, little stations where you can make art. Our artist-in-residence will also be making poems on the spot—so you can just give her words and she’ll text you a poem,” said Uyanze. “There will be a lot going on that night. It’s going to be a lot of fun.”

The weekend will wrap up with a panel discussion with established artists and arts educators discussing

Photo: Courtesy of Youth Art Symposium.

methods for artistic training.

Youth art symposiums are a relatively new addition to the many activities Canada’s art community organizes. The Youth Art Symposium works to remind established Canadian artists that they should convene with young, aspiring artists to foster excitement about the future of national artistry.

It is clear that this sort of event be-

comes an integral part of the artistic process. Not only does a convention like this help to expand an artist’s social network, it also allows facilitates collaboration between artists. According to fourth-year visual arts student and Youth Council member Anika Lalonde, this sort of event allows people to explore “what kinds of resources are offered and what kinds of experiences people can have” as emerging artists.

The coordinators explained that this event was open to persons of all backgrounds. “One of the things that we want to see happen through this event, is that a greater number of people become integrated into the arts community,” Uyanze said.

Their ultimate hope is that attendees will be inspired to push beyond conventional art forms and explore the realm of interdisciplinary arts.

“Combining different art forms to create art that people have never seen before,” Lalonde said. “There should be less convention in art.”

Those interested in attending the Youth Art Symposium can find tickets on their Facebook event page.

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U of O prof translates letters between Leo Tolstoy and wife New volume sheds light on relationship between the Tolstoys over hundreds of letters holton shulman Fulcrum contributor

University of Ottawa Russian literature professor Andrew Donskov is no stranger to Leo Tolstoy. His entire professional life has been spent studying Russian and Slavic culture and literature, with a focus on the great Russian novelist.

This passion makes Donskov perfectly suited to this new project, the collected letters of Tolstoy and his wife Sophia Tolstaya, sent to each other over their many years together, and now available as Tolstoy and Tolstaya from the University of Ottawa Press.

Donskov and his team have collected and translated 239 letters between the Tolstoys. They span from their courtship in the early 1860’s to his death in 1910. It is only a small sample, though, of the over600 existing letters. Their correspondence covers a wide array of subjects: philosophy, literature, religion, and everyday top-

ics like the running of his estate, money, and raising children.

This is not Donskov’s first involvement with Tolstoy or the life of his wife.

In 2010, he translated for the first time into English My Life, Sophia Tolstoya’s memoirs. Among many accolades he has been awarded the Russian Presidential Pushkin Medal, and sits as a member of the Academic Council of the Tolstoy Museum in Moscow.

Professor Donskov has close ties with Russia. His grandfather and father, both Officers in the White Army, fled to Serbia after the Russian Civil War in 1920. He credits his mother and father with instilling in him an interest for Russian and Slavic culture and literature.

Donskov was even responsible for bringing a group of Canadian students on exchange to the Soviet Union for the first time in 1973.

The project illuminates the immense influence

that Tolstaya had on her husband and his literary work. Sophia was unlike most noble wives of the period and had a unique relationship with her husband. She was a fierce critic and advocate, and helped him edit much of his work.

She also helped him write more complex and believable female characters in novels like War and Peace.

One of the most interesting findings from the letters is how critical Sophia could be of her husband.

“Her strongest criticism of him occurred during his ‘religious epiphany’ which occurred around 1880,” Donskov gave as an intriguing example.

“Around that time Tolstoy experienced a religious shift away from traditional orthodoxy and a shift to more egalitarian and socially just beliefs.”

It was during this period until his death that he concerned himself with the lives of ordinary Russian peasants and their welfare.

In short, his writing be-

The Tolstoy and Tolstaya book launch featured academics and a speech by the Russian ambassador.

came more political.

At the reception held on Nov. 2, attended mostly by scholars, Donskov’s latest project was unveiled to the public. The Russian Ambassador, Alexander Darchiev, spoke at the ceremony and said that Professor Donskov’s work was, “part of a special and important

project to bring the gigantic legacy of Tolstoy and his values of truth and tolerance to Canadian readers.”

For Donskov, Tolstoy represents Russia. “(Tolstoy) writes about Russia. Her language, her people, and her culture.

It is in many ways (that) Tolstoy represents every-

Photo: CC, John Petrov.

day people in both ordinary and extraordinary circumstances. He writes about life, children, death and tries to seek out the ultimate truth in his writing.”

Tolstoy and Tolstaya, edited by Dr. Andrew Donskov, is available now through the University of Ottawa Press.

ALBUM REVIEW: Weezer • Pacific Daydream | 5/10

fulcrum contributor Weezer’s eleventh studio record Pacific Daydream is an album of offshoots and outtakes. Here, the band trades powerchords for pop harmonies to create a series of latenight party jams.

The album was born out of early recordings for Weezer’s upcoming release next year, the long anticipated Black Album, and according to the band’s frontman Rivers Cuomo, features reworked demos and b-sides from the hidden corners of the band’s discography. In an interview with National Public Radio (NPR), Cuomo addresses this, and revealed that the bombastic beach anthem and album opener “Mexican Fender” was an outtake from last year’s fantastic Weezer (2016), known as the White Album.

However, calling Pacific Daydream a record of leftovers would be unfair—the album has a personality of its own, though long-time fans might not love that personality.

Pacific Daydream noticeably leans towards a pop-friendly audience. Cuomo and bandmates eschewed power chords in favour

of slick production, softer acoustic instrumentation, and electronic samples and effects. No more than two band members met at a single time during recording sessions.

Weezer is a group known for their reactionary directions, and Pacific Daydream is a rejection of White in a lot of ways.

The first half of Pacific Daydream is loaded with hit after hit—from the energy of “Mexican Fender” to the summery sounds on “Beach Boys” to the melancholy late-afternoon jam “Happy Hour,” Weezer’s flirtation with radio-friendly pop works resoundingly well.

Weezer doesn’t always delve into unfamiliar territory on Pacific Daydream. “QB Blitz” sounds like a modern take on the Weezer classic “Island In the Sun,” and “Any Friend of Diane’s” could have been found on any Weezer record post-Pinkerton.

But the Pacific Daydream experiment isn’t a total success. In classic Weezer style, littered among some good songs are some objective duds. “Weekend Woman” and “Sweet Mary” sound like poorly written holiday tracks, and they

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alex grichmanoff

don’t distinguish themselves from one another. “Weekend Woman” also features the weakest hook on the record, with Cuomo crooning oddly over a chorus of bells, “Fell in love on a Sunday / By Monday morning I drifted away.”

Lead single “Feels Like Summer” provides an excellent example of the faults in Cuomo’s ‘spreadsheet’ song-writing formula, where Cuomo combines incoherent lyrics and chords. Despite success with the formula on White, the method fails repeatedly here. “La Macha Screwjob,” one of the better songs on the record musically, features weak lyrics such as “We’re getting stronger, stronger, going faster, faster.”

Pacific Daydream provides a bizarre world parallel to some of their other albums. On an album like 1996’s Pinkerton, Cuomo cried out in search of belonging, trying to find his place within the world and music industry as a young man; on Pacific Daydream, Cuomo is trying to reconcile a youthfulness which has begun to leave him behind in his older age with nostalgic attachments to another time.

Pacific Daydream is caught in be-

Weezer’s newest album trades riffs for pop harmonies.

tween two worlds: on one hand, the record is a superb pop record full of windows-down summer anthems; on the other hand, it’s a subpar Weezer record which does little to satiate fans longing for the 90s-style riffs and structures that

Photo: Crush Music.

marked the so-called ‘return of Weezer’ between 2014 and 2016.

It’s a record which needs to be taken on its own, and it deserves a fair listen—but if you’re looking for riffs, maybe they’ll be on next year’s Black Album.

ARTS & CULTURE | 9

APTPUO NEGOTIATIONS PART O PIC T U R E A ROU N D PR ECA R IOU Students are directly affected by conditions facing part-time professors—and here’s why When news broke that the Association of Part-Time Professors of the University of Ottawa (APTPUO) voted for a strike mandate, and would be in a legal position to strike if no agreement was reached by Oct. 30, much of the same messages were littered across social media feeds.

It was either “please let there be a strike so I can hand in my assignments late,” or “why are these profs striking? I just want to finish my semester.” While I recognize both of these points are important to students, they largely miss the greater issues at play.

In the 2014 fall semester, the Fulcrum wrote about the conditions facing part-time professors after they reached their last collective agreement. Although it’s been three years since that report, upon looking into the reasons behind the latest strike mandate it appears that not a lot has changed for this section of the university’s teaching staff.

But in light of the near-strike this past week, the Fulcrum believes it’s imperative to look at the ways in which the conditions facing part-time profs directly impact students—during the learning experience and beyond.

WHY THREATEN A STRIKE? Given the reactions leading up to the strike, to many it may not seem like a student issue. But given that part-time professors make up 50 per cent of the U of O’s teaching staff, this could not be further from the truth.

According to Shawn Philip Hunsdale, the communications director of the APTPUO, part-time professors’ employment has always been precarious, but there has been an evolution in how their roles are used at the university.

“What part-time professors were, used to significantly be people who are recognized for their expertise in a given area, and would come in and teach a course,” says Hunsdale.

“Because of the direction that post-secondary has gone, many people are now being trained at the masters and at the doctoral level. And there is an academic streaming for this, but it means that there’s been an explosion of work for part-time professors because the university has been able to pay them significantly less.”

However, part-time professors are not just paid less than full-time professors. Hunsdale says that in fact,

many part-time professors travel to teach elsewhere in the area, and they are paid 15 to 20 per cent more at other regional institutions like the University of Quebec and Queen’s University.

Jules Carrière, associate vice-president of faculty affairs at the U of O, said in response to Hunsdale’s statement that “any comparison in terms of salary scale must take into account local market which also includes Carleton.”

According to Marc Prud’Homme, a part-time professor in the Faculty of Social Sciences’ Department of Economics, Carleton does pay less per three-credit course than the U of O. For comparison, he makes $6,745 for a three-credit course at Carleton, whereas at the U of O he makes $7,805 per course.

But the reasons for the strike mandate were not simply monetary—Hunsdale says that another major factor that continues to be an issue is job security.

“The university wants to make it very easy to remove part-time profs if they don’t like them or they want to replace them with friends,” Hunsdale says.

“Or they’re looking to ... let’s say recruit a professor from another university, and that person says ‘oh well my wife or husband is interested in teaching, is there a spot? I would come if I could, you know, bring my spouse along.’ So the university wants to be able to take away unionized work positions and bring in spousal hires to replace these workers.”

However, when asked for comment on this allegation, Carrière said that any proposal from the university would have had no impact on the APTPUO’s membership and called this statement an inaccuracy.

Another issue that part-time profs face is the continued expectation of unpaid work on the job—a plight that many students at the U of O can surely relate to.

“A number of part-time professors are being asked to develop their entire curriculum before an offer of employment contract, that work not being remunerated,” says Hunsdale.

“A lot of the work that part-time professors do is voluntary, so it’s things like signing letters of reference, and making particular time with students to guide them through their studies within their department. This is not part of their employment contract, but when professors care they will do this anyway.”

NO SERVICE Prud’Homme has been a part-time professor in the Department of Economics for 30 years, and in that time he’s noticed a major gap in support services for part-time professors. One example among many he provided was training on new systems that professors use to provide students with learning materials.

“When we switched over to the new platform, away from Blackboard to Brightspace, most of the training was offered during the weekdays, during normal business hours,” Prud’Homme recalls. “They tried to accommodate the part-time professors, to be fair, and for the first time ever they offered the training on a Saturday. But we don’t get compensated for showing up to do training on a Saturday.”

He also noted that although the university offers a 24-hour hotline for assistance, the lack of face-to-face support for part-time professors can be problematic.

“When I needed to have some face-to-face support, I had to physically, and I have a full-time job, go to the university, and not even during lunch because they’re closed during lunch, to get that face-to-face support for that Brightspace plat-

OF L ARGER US WOR K savannah Awde features editor

Illustration: Christine Wang.

form or even Blackboard before that.”

students, Prud’Homme recalled a time when his exams were not delivered to his office and were behind locked doors in his department secretariat office by the time he arrived on campus.

“If I’d been a full-time prof I would’ve just walked into the secretary’s office and said ‘where are my exams?’ and away I go, but I didn’t have access to that,” he said.

“Because I’d been there for 30 years I knew I could phone security, and they could open the office … I was able to find them, so luckily enough.” However, this type of close call could easily end differently for other part-time professors who don’t have long-term experience at the U of O as Prud’Homme does.

Prud’Homme has a full-time job in addition to his part-time teaching, which he says makes it extremely difficult to access the same services as full-time faculty as these services tend to only be open during business hours.

Not to mention that students do benefit from professors having a good understanding of the virtual campus. As Prud’Homme mentioned, if training for these new platforms is not accessible to part-time profs due to timing or lack of compensation, students will be the ones to bear the consequences.

Grading Scantron sheets, for example, can be difficult if you aren’t on campus full-time. “You have to arrange somehow to physically go to the university during your work hours to get those graded,” he notes.

Prud’Homme’s difficulties with getting the Scantrons graded during his part-time hours also could mean delays in receiving grades for students who take exams under part-timers.

“If you happen to have a class large enough for you to have a teaching assistant, that helps. But that’s not always the case. So you have to do it yourself, but it’s not practical to be able to do that during normal working hours. I’m not on campus.”

HOW DOES THIS AFFECT STUDENT LIFE? Both Hunsdale and Prud’Homme agree that the issues they face while doing their job are directly related to the quality of the learning experience at the U of O. “Whatever extra time I have to put in trying to work around all of these constraints I mentioned to you, is time away from the time I could spend with the students or preparing my classes more for instance.

And so it must have an impact,” Prud’Homme said.

To illustrate how these shortcomings can affect

In addition to the logistical difficulties Prud’Homme faces, Hunsdale says that the points discussed in the latest round of bargaining are all “things that directly impact the learning conditions of students.”

“So this is things like the professor-to-student ratio. Making sure that we don’t have ridiculous class sizes. This is about basically recognizing the expertise of people who have been teaching for many years, and not to have that eliminated in favour of the university having let’s say the flexibility to appoint whoever they want to a course.”

HOW WILL THE UNIVERSITY ADDRESS THESE ISSUES? On Oct. 30, the university and the APTPUO announced that they had reached a tentative agreement, narrowly avoiding a strike at the U of O. Through an email from the APTPUO, the Fulcrum was able to access the details of the collective agreement to be ratified by both parties. Although it seems some issues discussed here have been addressed, it remains to be seen how others will be handled.

On job security, the new tentative agreement features several notable changes. First, the email says that “Every member who has taught a course shall be automatically qualified for that course as long as the member received a course evaluation higher than 3.2.” In addition to this, “All existing LTAs (Limited Term Appointments) will have three-year contracts extended to five years,” and “New LTAs will receive 5-year contracts instead of 3-year contracts.”

For the monetary side, part-time professors will receive a pay increase per course of 1.8 per cent, plus a $200 lump sum bonus payment per 3-credit course taught by the member. The email notes that this lump sum payment is not included on the salary base or considered pensionable earnings.

Other improvements in working conditions to be noted include general liability insurance to be provided to all APTPUO members by the university, payment by the hour for technology training programs, improved maternity and parental benefits for LTAs, “up-to-date bereavement leave,” and computer equipment in every office.

Although these details seems to be improvements on many of Hunsdale’s comments, they leave the logistical barriers to services experienced by part-time profs like Prud’Homme out of the picture.

Because this is only the tentative agreement, it is important to note that these details will not become official until ratified by the APTPUO at their next annual general meeting on Nov. 24.

FIGHTING BACK AGAINST A LARGER TREND Even though this conflict has been mostly mitigated for now, Hunsdale says it’s important to note that these ongoing talks represent more than just the conditions facing part-time professors.

“This is about a trend which is going to be extremely significant for people of our generation, which is that of employment precarity and the rise of parttime and precarious work,” he said.

“This is simply one front where we see an employer making use of what they’re hoping to be more disposable.”

While as a student it may be easy to stay removed from the part-time prof negotiations, it’s important to remember that—if you aren’t already affected by it—precarious work conditions will be a reality that all of us will have to face.

Finance Minister Bill Morneau expressed the same prediction in 2016, saying that young Canadians should get used to short-term work and high employee turnover in their careers, and that Canada’s government must get prepared for this situation.

This is just one reason why students should pay close attention to the demands by part-time profs.

Although the needs of these staff members are important to our quality of education now, their experience may be something students of today will have to face as they move into their careers.

And at the end of the day, that just might be slightly more important than getting that week off to finish assignments.

SPORTS

SPORTS EDITOR Nico Laliberté sports@thefulcrum.ca @nico_laliberte @FulcrumSports

Gee-Gees score early and often to make a statement

Freshman Muise and veteran Pierre-Charles power the Gee-gees to their first win Zack Goobie

Associate Sports Editor

T

he University of Ottawa men’s basketball team took to the court against the Algoma University Thunderbirds on Nov. 3 to start their season.

Jean-Emmanuel PierreCharles and Brandon Robinson hit back to back threes to give the Gees an 8-0 lead less than two minutes into the opening quarter. Robinson got a great feed from Sean Stoqua to sky to the rim for a three-point play, giving the Gees a 14-2 lead with seven minutes to play.

The Gee-Gees continued to add to their lead with 2:20 to play from a long three by Gabe Sabean, making the Gees go up 23-11. The Gees took a 30-16 lead into the second quarter, with Brandon Robinson lead-

ing the way with nine points.

Brody Maracle followed up a Gee-Gees miss to convert a three-point to increase the Gees’ lead to 33-16, with nine minutes remaining in the second quarter. Two more threes

by Robinson built an imposing 42-18 lead for the Garnet and Grey with seven left to play.

Freshman Chase Tynes converted on two contested layups to stretch the Gee-Gees lead to 53-20 with three to go in the half. Another freshman, Alex Muise, hit his third three-pointer of the game soon after to add to an already dominating half for the Gees.

Calvin Epistola hit his second buzzer-beater in as many quarters to add to an already dominating half. The Gees headed to the locker room with a 6228 lead. Robinson led the Gees with 15 points in the first half, while rookie Alex Muise converted on all three of his first shots for nine points.

Stoqua and Pierre-Charles started the Gees off strong in the third by hitting two layups early, but Algoma would push back slightly, before Kenny Jean-Louis hit a three-pointer to give the Gees a 69-34 lead.

Muise hit another three-pointer to help his team increase their lead to 76-38.

Muise continued his stellar debut with a transition layup to go with his excellent shooting from downtown. “(Head coach James Derouin) tells me everyday to keep shooting even if I’m missing, so today when I hit my first one, I just kept shooting,” Muise said on his first big game.

The Gee-Gees held an 84-39 lead going into the final quarter.

Maracle opened up the fourth quarter with an excellent hook shot and a floater to stretch the Gee-Gees advantage to 88-41. Stefan Duric hit two threes to give the Gee-Gees 91 points with more than seven minutes left to play. Chase

The Gee-Gees men’s basketball team pulled out a big win over Algoma.

Tynes’ aggressive play in the paint brought the Gees over the 100-point mark for the game with 4:20 to go.

The Gee-Gees took this one 111-55 and ultimately proved they were capable on both ends of the court.

Derouin gave his thoughts

on the new recruits who had big games. “Muise, Tynes, and Sabean are special recruits, and we wanted to see what they could do tonight, and did they ever show well,” said Derouin. “It has been a while since a freshman has been part of the rotation and that tells you

Photo: Parker Townes.

how special those kids are, especially (Muise) and (Tynes), 18 year-olds.”

The University of Ottawa Men’s basketball team’s next home game will take place on Nov. 17 at 12 p.m. at Montpetit Hall against the University of Western Ontario Mustangs.

Women’s soccer playoffs come to abrupt end

Despite loss, several Gee-Gees players recognized for work on and off field Eric Davidson editor-in-chief

The Gee-Gees women’s soccer team put an end to their Ontario University Athletics (OUA) playoff run on Oct. 29, after losing a heartbreaking shootout to Queen’s.

Things looked good for the Gees going into the game, as they’d dropped Queen’s 4-0 in the regular season.

When the game started, the Gees came out strong, setting the pace early in the first half.

Eventually, midfielder Katherine Bearne, who notched eight goals and two assists during the regular season, put one home for the University of Ottawa to make it 1-0.

To close out the half, Queen’s put on the pressure and tied the game at 1-1.

Tensions ran high, with each side having a goal disallowed by the referees.

After a scoreless second half, the game went on to overtime. But even two

The Gees’ season came to an end last week on Oct. 29.

15-minute periods of extra time couldn’t crown a victor, so the game went to a shootout.

After a long, close game, a miss by the Gees in the shootout spelled the end of their

playoff chances, handing the 2-1 victory to Queen’s.

It was a disappointing end to the season for a team that went 10-5-1 in the regular season, while leading such categories as shots on goal

Photo: Tristain Pollard.

and assists, and coming second in goals scored during the regular season. Once again, a lack of consistent offence in the playoffs cost the team dearly.

Though the early exit will

mean the team will miss out on the U Sports championship once again, the team knows they’ll get a berth next year, as they will be hosting it.

Despite the loss, the team

12 | SPORTS

did get recognition for the players’ hard work. Seven Gee-Gees players were recognized by the OUA for their strong performances this year, both on and off the field.

Hannah Landry, a Gees defender and fourth-year health sciences student, won the OUA East Community Service Award for her role in working to advance mental health programs at the U of O. Landry volunteers at the Minister of Health’s office, is a member of Canadian Society of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, and has assisted with research on the effects of toxicants on the maternal brain.

The Gee-Gees also had four players named to the first allstar team, including Bearne, defenders Kayla DaCosta-Pachecho and Cooper Lee, and midfielder Miranda Smith.

They also had two players named to the second all-star team: goaltender Margot Shore and midfielder Katerin Delev.

THEFULCRUM.CA

THE BOXSCORE: BASKET BALLIN’ BASKETBALL(W) BASKETBALL(M) FRIDAY, NOV. 3, 2017

Gee-Gees VS

76 45

ALGOMA

RUGBY

HOCKEY(W)

FRIDAY, NOV. 3, 2017

THURSDAY, NOV. 2, 2017

SUNDAY, oct. 29, 2017

Gee-Gees

Gee-Gees

Gee-Gees

vs

ALGOMA

110 55

AT

58

ACADIA

5

VS

3 2

MCGILL

FRIDAY, NOV. 10, 2017

FRIDAY, NOV. 10, 2017

SATURDAY, Nov. 4, 2017

SUNDAY, NOV. 12, 2017

Gee-Gees

Gee-Gees

Gee-Gees

Gee-Gees

AT

LAURIER

TBD TBD

AT

LAURIER

TBD TBD

AT

CALGARY

TBD TBD

TBD

vs

MONTRéAL TBD

For detailed game coverage check out the Fulcrum’s website at www.thefulcrum.ca.

Veteran McAlear strong in Gee-Gees big win Gees recover from slow start to embarrass Thunderbirds in home opener Zack Goobie

Associate Sports Editor The University of Ottawa women’s basketball team took on the Algoma Thunderbirds in their season opener at Montpetit on Nov. 3.

Brooklynn McAlear started the game hot, forcing her way into the key with four points in the first three minutes. At the five-minute mark, the game was all tied up at 10 a side, Algoma being powered by two three-pointers early. Gees coach Andy Sparks talked about their poor start, saying, “we started the game poorly, 10 points for them in the first four minutes of the game.”

A quick steal on the defensive end by Maia Timmons resulted in a breakaway layup, giving the Garnet and Grey a 16-10 lead with 3:08 to play in the opening frame. At the end of the first quarter the GeeGees were up 23-10 powered by six points apiece for McAlear and Angela Ribarich.

The three-pointer was again big for Algoma, allowing them to reduce the Gees’ lead to eight with seven to play. A charge taken on one end by Anne Carr resulted in two points for her at the other off two

perfect free-throws, which continued to build on the Gee-Gees lead, 28-19 with four minutes to play.

The Gees showcased a full press from the beginning of the game and it continued to pay dividends giving the Gees opportunities from the line after forcing turnovers. Angela Ribarich led the Gees with 10 points in the first half, scoring with ease in the paint and from the line. To keep their lead, the Gee-Gees 33 per cent from the field in the first half, but 75 per cent from the line to give them a 36-20 lead at recess.

In the third quarter, Timmons scored the first five points for the Gee-Gees off a free-throw, layup, and an offensive rebound. A big steal thanks to the full court press resulted in a steal and layup by McAlear, giving the Gees a 49-22 lead. McAlear did a good job distributing, finding Hachey in the corner and Ribarich in the paint, helping the Gees to a 51-30 lead with 2:30 to play.

Aliisa Heiskanen scored an easy layup from two-feet from the net off a great feed from Maia Timmons. The Gee-Gees took a 58-33 lead heading into the final quarter.

The Gees took home a win in their first game of the season.

The Gees continued to lead just before the midway mark of the fourth quarter 65-40. The team’s defense was especially good in the fourth, denying the ball and forcing a 24-second violation.

The Gees forced 24 turnovers in the game and forced the Thunderbirds to shoot 27 per cent from the

field, but coach Andy Sparks is looking for more. “There were times that we were pretty good defensively, and there were a lot of times that we were outside of what we are supposed to be doing to be successful.”

Despite taking a big victory in the home opener, Sparks is looking for more consistent play from his

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Photo: Parker Townes.

team going forward. “The reality is that our compete level is not high enough.” Said Sparks, “We’re way too up and down to compete with the best teams in the country.”

The Gee-Gees next home game will take place on Nov. 17 against the University of Western Ontario at Montpetit Hall at 10 a.m.

SPORTS | 13

OPINIONS

OPINIONS EDITOR David Campion-Smith

opinions@thefulcrum.ca (613) 695-0062 @davidcs96

1848 could meet a real student need, more study space

U of O Campus is not the right place for a struggling student bar david campion-smith opinions editor

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his has been a tough year for 1848 financially.

The bar, which is owned by the Student Federation of the University of Ottawa (SFUO), lost over $35,000 last year. This high loss occurred while the business wasn’t paying rent, which they will have to do this year, possibly resulting in an even greater loss. These consistent fiscal failures raise the question: What could replace 1848 and actually be profitable?

After all of the SFUO’s financial problems in recent years, they really don’t need an unprofitable business on the books dragging things down. Despite the fact that two of their businesses, Agora and Pivik, have been more successful, Café Alt has also been generating a loss, as discussed at the Oct. 15 Board of Administration meeting.

While it’s understandable to want a cheap bar on campus, there is too much competition from neighbouring bars downtown for that to survive, as 1848 has proven.

The same argument can be made for just about any type of restaurant that might be proposed, especially in the age of Uber Eats.

If the SFUO wants to put in place something that would benefit students, what they should do is create more study spots with the space from the bar. Wouldn’t it be nice to have some more areas

to sit and do work on campus, especially if they added in a reasonable amount of plugs?

They could even leave the pool table and most of the existing furniture, just run a cord with some outlets down the picnic tables, and add some more wall outlets.

It’s just not practical for many other types of businesses to be profitable in 1848’s current location. When students can walk five minutes in any direction and find a similar product for the same price at a sometimes higher quality, why would they stay on campus?

A new study space isn’t sexy, and it doesn’t have a flashy appeal. You could even make the case that it’s something the university administration should provide, and not the SFUO. All of those things are true, but a new study space is the kind of boring, unappealing piece of infrastructure that can actu-

The Oct. 15 BOA meeting revealed that 1848 has been struggling financially.

ally improve the lives of students on campus.

As we all have to buckle down and start doing more work than we’d like to, think

about what you’d really like to see on campus. Would you rather have a bar providing the same thing you could get at almost literally count-

Photo: Parker Townes.

less places around campus?

Or would you rather have something that will prove beneficial to students for decades to come?

Are our campus mental health services improving?

Examining where we’ve come from last year, and how to move forward graham robertson managing editor

This past week, the Fulcrum sat down with Jacques Frémont, president of the University of Ottawa, to discuss the year thus far and his goals for the rest of 2017-18. Among the issues focused on during the interview were campus mental health services, following up on the Fulcrum’s conversation with Frémont at the end of last year. The biggest takeaway from both interviews? Our campus’ mental health services still have a long way to go.

Last year, Frémont told us that the university’s services are “overburdened,” and that “we get nothing from the state.”

This year, as Frémont put it, “there has been some progress, but let’s be realistic, the progress will never be fast enough.”

While it’s comforting to hear that the university believes it has made progress in its men-

14 | OPINIONS

tal health services, what we’re lacking are statistics and stories to back up this claim. Has more money been put towards the on-campus mental health services? Have more counselors been hired for the Student Academic Success Service (SASS)?

The best way to prove that progress has been made in this “overburdened” area is by giving students hard evidence that our services are delivering better results.

Frémont highlighted the need to educate professors and other staff about the mental health issues that students face, which, in itself, is admirable. Our professors need to be more accommodating to the fact that students simply cannot make it to class some days because of a mental illness.

But of course, this isn’t always the case, and our professors are not as understanding as we would like them to be.

It’s no secret that Canadian

universities are facing a mental health crisis. Our own campus has seen first-hand what can happen when these issues are not addressed in a timely and effective manner. Students are demanding more in our mental health care, and with good reason. If our university receives no government funding for counseling services, then perhaps it’s time we call on our government to do better. But in the meantime, our university needs an overhaul in the way it views mental health issues and their impacts on students.

How can we do better? In the Oct. 31 interview, Frémont noted publicity campaigns on “entry points” to services. He also shared that the university is working to develop an “integrated mental health policy and wellbeing approach.” What exactly will this policy entail?

If we want it to be successful, comprehensive and ongoing consultation with students of

The Fulcrum had an exclusive interview with U of O president Jacques Frémont on Oct. 31.

diverse demographics need to be a priority, and students need to be at the forefront of the development of such a policy. Publicity campaigns should take place throughout the year, not just in January during Bell Let’s Talk, when our society

deems it socially acceptable to discuss mental illness.

“I hope that next year I’ll be able to demonstrate how we’ve improved from this year. So we really have to collectively work on that challenge,” Frémont told the Fulcrum. Indeed,

Photo: Jaclyn McRae-Sadik.

students and the administration need to work in tandem to make mental health care timely, affordable, and effective at this university. Next year, we hope that we will be able to concretely say that yes, we are doing better.

THEFULCRUM.CA

The SFUO needs policy on executive spending

After past financial troubles, recent auditor’s report, issue can’t be ignored. eric davidson editor-in-chief

At the Student Federation of the University of Ottawa (SFUO)’s Oct. 15 Board of Administration (BOA) meeting, Deloitte presented the yearly audit of the federation.

The auditors went over their findings, and said that they could only find one notable issue the federation should address—the small fact that they were unable to find any checks on executive spending in SFUO policy.

The fact that the SFUO either has no policy on executive spending, or has one so obscure that a major auditing firm couldn’t track it down is a glaring issue.

No matter what, it’s unacceptable to have a student federation with no policy to control spending by the executive. In fact, the past few years have generated a list of examples to prove this point.

Last year, a report by the comptroller general publicized the fact that some members of the executive had taken food from the SFUO-run business Pivik without paying, and had spent a significantly large sum of money on taxi chits to their own homes.

Contributing to the issue is that even if there was a clear policy, no one outside of the SFUO would be able to find it. The most recent version of the SFUO constitution has not yet been posted online, and another document that could possibly clear up the situation, the executive work manual, is not likely to be made public at all.

When it comes to money in general, the SFUO has a bad reputation. It nearly went bankrupt two years ago after mismanaging money from the health plan, and the executive caused

a stir when they voted to raise their own salaries by over $6,000. Thankfully, this vote was reversed by students at the winter 2017 General Assembly. The salary increase came over protests from their own union and students, and after the BOA chair told them he believed such a vote would violate conflict of interest principles.

After years of missteps, the SFUO has a chance to address a serious organizational flaw, and prevent further issues from arising in the future.

But this is not solely the responsibility of the SFUO executive. Any measure to regulate executive spending would be voted on by the entire BOA, so it’s incumbent upon all members of the board to consider the presentation made by the auditors, and decide if they want to introduce a motion

The latest auditor report should cause real change.

to alter the constitution.

And it’s incumbent upon the organization in general to ensure that the docu-

ments that outline such a policy in the first place are made available to the public.

In short, a lack of pol-

Photo: Parker Townes.

icy on executive spending is a big problem, but it can be solved in these two easy steps.

Ottawa perfect fit for Amazon’s new HQ Northern headquarters would benefit both Amazon and Ottawa connor chase

fulcrum contributor Amazon recently announced that it will be building a new headquarters.

How likely is it that Amazon will leave the United States?

Unfortunately, not very. It’s possible that Amazon merely enlarged the potential new location pool to create a more intense competitive atmosphere amongst the bidding cities, to get a better deal for themselves.

Hopefully that’s not the case, as Ottawa is a great city for Amazon to consider setting up shop in.

In response to the announcement, cities across North America began scrambling together tantalizing incentives that could seduce the company to come to them, as the new HQ will bring with it an estimated 50,000 jobs and billions of dollars in investment. This specific bidding process is unique

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in the company’s history, as now, for the first time, Canada and Mexico also have a shot at landing an HQ. City Ottawa mayor Jim Watson told the New York Times that “we have an advantage” because Canada’s “immigration policy is much more liberal.” And right now that is most certainly advantageous to Amazon, who already has 9,000 unfilled engineering jobs resulting from an inability to bring in offshore talent.

With the political turmoil and immigration nightmare in the United States making business more difficult for companies such as Amazon, Canada stands as a more stable option.

Canada is offering Amazon an escape from restrictive American immigration policies. Amazon can get the talent they need and it’s less of a headache to expand the company.

For a company like Amazon, known for its continuous and bold expansion

into new industries, getting the best talent as soon as possible is mandatory for success.

Moreover, one of Amazon’s specific site requests is an efficient transportation system. As it happens, Ottawa is in the process of constructing a Light Rail Transit (LRT) system. Since most other cities already have a transit system built, Ottawa is in a unique position to tailor more specifically to Amazon’s commuting needs, as ours is still being built.

And Ottawa’s particular benefits extend far beyond preferable commute times; the more affordable health care system, universities and schools, and a growing job market all offer a balanced habitat for ambitious coders and programmers if Amazon chooses Ottawa.

Indeed, Ottawa succeeds in fulfilling almost all of Amazon’s requests, including a strong university system, access to an inter-

Amazon has opened up the bidding process to cities throughout North America.

national airport, and the capacity to begin construction immediately.

Ottawa itself could also benefit from Amazon’s arrival more than most other cities. In a city so depen-

dent upon the public sector, an incursion of well paying private jobs is bound to bolster the economy.

Amazon should certainly consider Ottawa for its new HQ. Beyond escaping

Photo: CC, Robert Scoble.

the logistical nightmare imposed by Trump’s immigration policies, Ottawa is a city waiting for the opportunity to prove its innovative and progressive characteristics.

OPINIONS | 15

Extreme weather forces unusual transportation in Ottawa

Rafts, paddle boats, homemade canoes employed in rain storm chaos Darwin Svenson Tomato contributor The major rainfall in Ottawa this past week has forced many residents to find alternatives to travelling by car or bus. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau drew stares and media attention when he took an ATV from his residence in Harrington Lake to meet his motorcade on drier land. Less publicized, though, were the many other cases of national capital power players finding other unique ways to beat the flooding.

Finance minister Bill Morneau and ethics commissioner Mary Dawson were spotted carpooling together in a Range Rover with platinum rims and a small outboard motor on the back. The vehicle was slowly filling with water, but the pair seemed to be paying little attention.

Paddling through a flooded

street in a canoe, former prime minister Stephen Harper opined about the government’s approach to NAFTA negotiations. His canoe seemed to be pieced together from leftover imported materials.

Nobel Peace Prize-winning Colombian president Juan Manuel Santos’ first official visit to Ottawa was also dampened by the rain. Parts of his visit had to be held in a paddle boat piloted by Governor General Julie Payette, who hosted the state visit. But the Colombian leader made the best of the situation, calling the rain a blessing on the two countries’ relationship.

Of course, students at the University of Ottawa were just as affected as these major figures. Several classes were canceled, but some continued even in the face of flooding. Secondyear French studies student Joseph Ruthenburg, while taking notes with one hand and bailing water out the window

with the other, said “our TA wanted to cancel this DGD, but we can’t afford to get any further behind. We’re all pitching in to keep the water below the chalkboard.”

In another classroom, students had brought inflatable pool chairs and were sitting high and dry, floating on the floodwater.

Some students, however, couldn’t even make it to class.

Thompson residence was completely inaccessible for over 40 hours, and emergency crews advised residents not to try to leave until the rain subsided.

Students at other residences had more luck, with floodwaters shallow enough to wade across in most cases.

“Getting to class was a challenge. I didn’t want my books to get wet, so I had to find a way of keeping them above the water,” said John Walker, a thirdyear economics student. “I tried holding my bag over my head, but the spray of the waves

Some students were seen bailing out their classrooms due to the storm. Photo: CC, Wilson Dias, Fluo Schulke. Edits: Christine Wang.

almost soaked it. After that I tried stilts, then wrapping the whole thing in a garbage bag.”

There was good news as well, though. Students from the Faculty of Engineering and Telfer School of Manage-

ment worked together, quickly building barges and transporting people for reasonable but slightly inflated prices.

In light of recent extreme weather, it is strongly recommended that students keep the

following on hand: waterproof bags, rainwear, a canoe or kayak, an emergency generator, at least one week’s worth of nonperishable food, and a collection of inflatable toys that can be lashed together.

Immigration on the rise in PRice Edward Island

Locals share hope and concern for new life in the maritimes

David Campion-Smith & Anchal Sharma Opinions Editor & News Editor In a surprise announcement, Statistics Canada revealed that the province with the fastest-growing immigration rate is Prince Edward Island. The influx of immigrants has lead to speculation about why they’re choosing PEI, as well as some concerns about the island’s geography from the locals.

“The provincial government has been happy with the results of what they’re calling the “Anne of Green Gables bait and switch,” explained Janet Storm, PEI’s head of tourism. “We really played up the Anne of Green Gables connection to get people here. Once they’re on the

16 | THE TOMATO

island we conveniently cancel all ferries and block the bridge to New Brunswick.”

The program is expected to produce two million Anne adherents, or “immigrants” on the island by the year 2030. The long term goal is to move the entire population of Canada to PEI, in order to create a country in the model of Anne.

“I was pretty sure this was just the mainland, I didn’t even know it was an island,” said Brooke Phish, a tourist from California.

“I guess this is my life now, the life Anne wants for me.” Phish has given up hope of seeing her family again, or making it off the island.

In response to similar claims from other “immi-

Anne of Green Gables welcomes you to PEI.

Illustration: Christine Wang.

grants,” Storm expressed that citizens have no reason to worry. “Why would anyone want to leave here? Anne provides everything you could ever need.” This claim was backed up by the menacing statue of Anne looming over her, as well as the countless posters of Anne scattered around the island.

While the program has successfully increased “immigration” rates, the rising population has locals questioning the island’s structural integrity.

“I’m a little concerned of what Anne would think if we let the island sink into the ocean,” said potato farmer Raghad Graham.

“Those waves are already coming right up to the beach, and between the weight of the new people and this year’s potato crop,

who knows how long we can stay floating.”

One of the more controversial aspects of the program, even more than the towering statues of Anne in every public square, is the mandatory hair dyeing that every “immigrant” has to undergo in order to gain citizenship. While the bright ginger hair hasn’t been popular among newcomers, the government’s decision to outlaw all fast food restaurants except for Wendy’s is another point of contention.

“We just felt that Wendy’s better represents the values of Anne,” commented Storm. “I just want the wider Canadian population to know that Anne’s arms are always open, as are the borders of PEI, at least for entrance.”

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DISTRACTIONS DEAR DI Horny homework: Yoga Fanatic

You’ve been diligently attending yoga classes, so why not show off that new found flexibility? To start, lay on your back with your legs open, wide open, like a sexy little butterfly. Then, have your partner get in between your thighs and see just how high your legs will go.

Dishing with Di: Paying lip service A woman is suing the makeup giant Sephora because she allegedly contracted herpes from one of their lipsticks. The case still hasn’t played out, and there hasn’t been evidence yet that the woman contracted herpes from the particular lipstick she tried on.

However, our verdict is that you should definitely make sure you always sanitize the testers at makeup stores!

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FEATURES EDITOR Savannah Awde

features@thefulcrum.ca (613) 695-0062 @s_awde7

Dear Di, I have a pretty hectic schedule, so any romances I have are pretty brief if you catch my drift. That being said, as a gay man I find it pretty awkward bringing up things like using protection and sexual history when having a steamy one-night stand. Do you have any tips on how to be safe in casual relationships?

—Protecting and Erecting Dear PE, You bring up a really great issue—that when we discuss protection in Canada, we often mean birth control. While preventing unwanted pregnancies is extremely important to the wellbeing of young people, so is protecting against infection and disease. This is something that often comes up in the LGBTQ+ community as well. According to Ottawa Public Health, cases of gonorrhea have more than doubled in 2017 (with 446 cases so far) versus 2016 (270).

Rates of other infections like syphilis and chlamydia have also risen dramatically in the past few years.

Condoms are in fact the only type of birth control that also protects against STIs. Make sure to always have an emergency stash, whether it’s in your naughty drawer, or car glove compartment. Wherever you keep them, make sure it’s cool, because heat can wear down condoms. Also check the expiration, and double check there are no rips or tears even if it’s not expired. If you need a refresher on putting on condoms, here are some good tips from Laci Green.

Make sure to also clean off any sex toys between partners, and use a condom for strap-ons or dildos.

For women, you can also use female condoms in either the vagina or anus, depending on what turns you on of course! Here’s a guide from Planned Parenthood on how to insert female condoms.

It’s important to note that infections such as gonorrhea and chlamydia can be contracted from both oral and anal sex, in addition to vaginal intercourse.

Now let’s be real, most people don’t think to put condoms on when having oral sex. This brings up the need to discuss your sexual history with your partner, and make sure to get tested frequently. While the conversation can get awkward it’s important, considering in Canada you have a legal duty to disclose whether you have HIV to a partner before sex, and on occasion, other STIs as well.

You should also keep in mind that if you’re treated for an STI, you can get it again if you’re exposed again. In addition, many STIs are asymptomatic, so you might not be able to tell if you have it.

Now before I completely scared you off sex, just think how much more fun sex will be if you don’t have to worry about contracting infections!

Love, Di

DISTRACTIONS | 17

NOV. 6-NOV. 12, 2017

THRYLLABUS

MUSIC EATS SPORTS FUN THINKING ARTS

18 | DISTRACTIONS |

Monday Nov. 6 Harry Potter Quizz night, $5 admission, 1848—7:30 p.m.

Muggy Mondays, free coffee for whoever brings a reusable mug, Faculty of Social Sciences building 2nd floor landing—8:30 a.m.

Tuesday Nov. 7 November Artist (Vernissage) Laurena Finéus, Café Nostalgica—7 p.m.

State of Control Canadian Prisons & Immigration, film screening and Q&A panel exploring the ways that immigration and prison systems target racialized bodies, Tabaret Hall room 325—7 p.m.

Wednesday Nov. 8 Free home-cooked, healthy, and vegan meal, hosted by the People’s Republic of Delicious, Deja Vu kitchen (between Thompson and Morisset)—9 a.m.

Guided Meditation, free session for all students, 90 University room 152—5 p.m.

Thursday Nov. 9 Open Mic Night, free admission with featured artist Lloyd Frost, Café Nostalgica—8:30 p.m.

Jon and Roy, Roxanne Potvin, The 27 Club—8:30 p.m.

Friday Nov. 10 Cherry Bomb, all female pop/ grunge rock dance

party, Babylon Nightclub—10 p.m.

Chris Locke, Sara Hennessey, Tom Henry + more, comedy night, Happy Goat Coffee Co.—8 p.m.

Saturday Nov. 11 Remembrance Day Ceremony, National War Memorial—9 a.m.

Roy Woods, 19+ show, Barrymore’s—10 p.m.

Sunday Nov. 12 Free Screening of Thrive: Trans Shorts, as part of the Inside Out LGBT Film Festival, National Gallery of Canada—12:15 p.m.

The Zolas, Sylvia Wrath, The 27 Club— 8:30 p.m.

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EDITORIAL Volume 78, Issue 10, Nov. 6, 2017 Potato hunting since 1942.

Phone: (613) 695-0061 | Fax: (613) 695-9006 631 King Edward Ave. Ottawa, ON K1N 6N5 Recycle this paper or we’ll eat all your potatoes.

Eric “Glacier Fryer” Davidson Editor-in-Chief editor@thefulcrum.ca Jaclyn “Island Sunshine” McRae-Sadik Production Manager production@thefulcrum.ca Graham “GemStar Russet” Robertson Managing Editor content@thefulcrum.ca Anchal “Banana” Sharma News Editor news@thefulcrum.ca Ryan “Batoche” Pepper Arts and Culture Editor arts@thefulcrum.ca Savannah “Brise du Nord” Awde Features Editor features@thefulcrum.ca Nico “Glenwood Red” Laliberté Sports Editor sports@thefulcrum.ca David “Ranger Russet” Campion-Smith Opinions Editor opinions@thefulcrum.ca Christine “Van Gogh” Wang Visual Editor visual@thefulcrum.ca Dmitri “Fjord” Bakker Social Media Manager social@thefulcrum.ca Ellie “Blue Lady” Sabourin Associate News Editor associate.news@thefulcrum.ca

THE UNIVERSITY SHOULD BE OUTRAGED BEFORE THE RANKINGS COME OUT

When University of Ottawa president Jacques Frémont told the Board of Governors (BOG) that the school came dead last in a Maclean’s ranking of Canadian universities in student satisfaction, all of the board members were shocked—except the members who were students or teachers themselves.

After giving the news that the U of O had done so poorly in student satisfaction, Frémont made a strong statement about how the results were unacceptable, and that he had been hearing horror stories from students about wait times for academic services, mental health services, and more.

He announced concrete measures, saying that vice-president academic and prevost David Graham would be putting together a task force with heavy student involvement to solve the problem.

There’s nothing wrong with that response or with taking measures to

solve the problem, in fact that’s the right reaction—but it should have happened much sooner.

This is not the first time the BOG has heard about terrible academic wait times, campus mental health services, international student fees, and all the other serious issues facing students at the university. Several board members said that they’ve been hearing talks of improving student satisfaction for years, with nothing getting done, and definitely no task force. So why did it take an external ranking to get this strong reaction from the university?

There are several students and professors on the BOG who discuss student concerns, along with plenty of other ways the administration can keep up with student life on campus, like the meetings with students Frémont told the board about.

If the university is able to learn about student life on its own, it certainly shouldn’t be leaving it up to

outside ratings to connect the dots to find a serious problem with student satisfaction, especially when all the pieces have been in front of them for years.

In fact, voicing the issue in terms of rankings is absolutely the wrong way to address the problem in the first place. A ranking may or may not capture the true extent of problems at a university. There could very well be a delay before the problems start to show in the official rankings, during which time the university could just say “our rankings are fine, so there’s not problem.”

An even bigger issue is that rankings don’t deal in absolute terms. A university could be a bad environment for students but still rank high if other schools are even worse.

These are just two more reasons why it’s essential for the university to improve its responses based on observed symptoms at the university, because a ranking may come too late.

Now, it’s important to note that not all of the work the BOG does sees the light of day at the monthly meetings. Committees could very well have been working on solutions to these problems beforehand.

But the ostensible reason the university made such a strong, public response to the ranking was that it was deemed to be a serious problem.

If it was a serious problem before, the strong response should have been made when the board felt it necessary to start a behind-the-scenes procedure.

Hopefully the drop in the U of O’s ranking does spur positive change.

But if we’re really going to maintain a high standard in student experience on campus, the highest level of our university’s governance needs to react strongly when they get news of serious problems from their own students and professors, and not wait until the rest of the country sees how bad the problem is.

Nadia “Ampera” Drissi El-Bouzaidi Associate Features Editor Zack “Bintje” Goobie Associate Sports Editor associate.sports@thefulcrum.ca Parker “Bannock Russet” Townes Staff Photographer photographer@thefulcrum.ca “The Secret Agent” Videographer videographer@thefulcrum.ca Chafik “Baby Bloomer” Kassis Head Web Architect webmaster@thefulcrum.ca Lucas “Cherry Red” Ghosn General Manager manager@thefulcrum.ca Kaylum “Divina” Bobal Advertising Representative ads@thefulcrum.ca

Contributors

Alina “Fambo” Wang Holton “Epicure” Bradley Shulman Connor“Fabula” Chase Hannah “Huron” Sabourin Alex “Jemseg” Szigeti Darwin “Latona” Svenson Alex “Niska” Grichmanoff Jazz “New” Laforge

Board of Directors

Raghad “Norchip“ Sheikh-Khalil Katelyn “NorValley” Murray Jonathan “Norland” Rausseo Mackenzie “Kennebec” Gray Fadi “Katahdin” Azzi Spencer “Krantz” Murdock Kim “Eramosa” Wiens Marguerite “Denali” Gollish Cover Credits: Christine Wang.

Jacques Frémont discussed measures to improve student satisfaction at the BOG on Oct. 30.

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Photo: Jaclyn McRae-Sadik.

EDITORIAL | 19

November 16, 2017 Speak up, take action, and help your campus become tobacco-free for 1Day!

1DAYSTAND Make your post-secondary campus tobacco-free for a day by: Encourage students who use tobacco to quit for the day, with an aim to quit for good.

Get students’ opinions towards tobacco use on campus.

Raise awareness of the benefits of tobacco-free campus policies.

Promote the adoption of permanent tobacco-free policies.

Visit our booth in UCU on November 16th!

Between the hours of 10 am to 3 pm For more information on Tobacco-Free Campuses go to: www.leavethepackbehind.org/policy