Arts & Culture
Opinion
Feature
Hoof & Mouth Advantage delivers Depression-era fun 29
The Gateway spends a day in RATT 37
Life’s game-mechanics are broken 16
gateway October 12th, 2011
Issue No. 7
Volume 102
THE
TH E O F F IC IA L STUDE NT NE WS PA P E R AT TH E UN I V ER S I T Y OF A LBERTA
Fall reading week dates put forward for consideration Four possibilities put forward for week-long break in November Simon Yackulic news editor
Provost Carl Amrhein is currently considering four options for creating a fall reading week at the U of A, and the break is now inching closer to actually being implemented. The fall reading week proposal has been gaining momentum since former Students’ Union President Nick Dehod ran on creating a new break for the fall semester, a key part of his overall campaign theme of addressing student mental health during the 2010 SU elections. During the 2011 elections, a plebiscite question on implementing fall reading week passed with 55 per cent of the vote. The proposal would have created the break during the Remembrance Day long weekend, with school starting before Labour Day to make up for the time off. Dehod took the narrow margin of victory as an indication of general student support, though he felt that it also showed that the SU should look at some of the concerns that were raised about the break and consider the timing of the week. Tighe explained that following the supportive plebiscite, a task force that included Tighe and Dean of Students Frank Robinson was struck, and met during the summer to consider the different options for creating a new break. The task force looked at logistical concerns at the U of A, and how other institutions dealt with breaks. “We decided to look at finding three days instead of four, and we decided that the Remembrance Day break would be better than Thanksgiving,” Tighe said, adding that the task force decided that class time would need to be affected. “With any proposal, we need to cut
instructional days.” “The U of A is among the highest in Canada in the number of instructional days we have. If we were to cut two or three days we would then be in the middle of the pack.” The task force settled on four of multiple options and scenarios, which they have given to the Provost for consideration. All four scenarios involve taking a week off in conjunction with Remembrance Day. The first option would see classes start a week earlier — if it was implemented on this year’s calendar, classes would’ve started on Wednesday, Aug. 31 instead of Wednesday, Sept. 7, maintaining the current 63 instructional days. Another option has classes starting Tuesday, Sept. 6, and reducing the study break before final exams by one day, reducing total instructional days to 62. The third option is similar, with classes starting on Sept. 6, but with no reduction to the pre-final exam study break, taking total instructional days down to 61. The final option would have classes start as they normally would, on Sept. 7, with no reduction before final exams. Instructional days would be cut to 60. According to Tighe, however the break ends up looking, the end goal is to help out students. “The big benefit, to put it in a category, is student success. For mental health, students can take a break and look at what help they really need,” Tighe explained, noting that the task force looked at similar fall breaks at other Canadian institutions and were impressed with what they saw. The fall reading week would not be implemented next year, but would at it’s earliest begin in the fall of 2013.
transit upgrade
hossein mortazavi
bears Hockey Late-night bus service gets Stunning start for Hockey Bears green light to begin next term Rebecca Medel April Hudson news staff
A new late-night bus route is starting next semester as a pilot project to ferry after-midnight crowds from Whyte Avenue to Southgate, after dodging controversy when it was first announced. The route, which has been dubbed the “Night Ride,” runs from about 1:30 a.m. to 3:30 a.m. and stops at various places, including the University of Alberta. The Night Ride route was postponed in September so that neighbouring
communities could be consulted, and the route could be the first step in more extensive citywide late-night transit system. “A lot of people go to Whyte Ave for other reasons than partying,” said Students’ Union VicePresident (Student Life) Colten Yamagishi. “If they live near Southgate or the university, it’s a lot safer for them to take the bus than to walk home, so I think it’s really good because students will use it for other reasons than being drunk. They’ll just use it for transport.”
PLEASE SEE transit PAGE 3
sports editor
Two wins, including a shutout, rookies racking up goals and evenly matched goaltenders fighting for ice time was the way the Golden Bears started off their hockey season last weekend. Last year’s number-one ranked Canada West team played their home opener against the University of Regina, beating the Cougars 5-2 on Friday night and 2-0 on Saturday. The two wins keep the number-one Canada West ranked Bears in the top spot. Head coach Stan Marple said the team played well
enough, but he would have liked to see higher net results. “Unfortunately we didn’t score maybe as much as we should have, so the game was maybe a little tighter than the play showed, but we stuck to our game plan and got the result we needed,” Marple said after Friday night’s win. “We scored five, but for awhile there it was a pretty tight game in the third period. We just needed to stick to our game plan, which we did. Regina played well. They trapped it up well in the neutral zone.”
PLEASE SEE hockey PAGE 36