The math behind the sport Features, page 10-11
THE Charter controversy
The tie that binds Wilfrid Laurier University since 1926 Volume 54, Issue 6
National, page 7 thecord.ca
Wednesday, September 18, 2013
Top of the charts
Paying it off
CRISTINA ALMUDEVAR
LINDSAY PURCHASE
Students’ Union works on debt SENIOR NEWS EDITOR
ARTS EDITOR
The town
Wilfrid Laurier University was recently bestowed the title of best music campus in Canada by CBC Radio 3 in an online poll. While this is a great honour — in which students, faculty and alumni voted online for — there is a little confusion as to what exactly this title entails. “You would define a bet music campus by several aspects: venues in and off the vicinity of campus, local musicians and alumni and … the faculty of music is highly regarded,” stated James Blake, Station Manager at Radio Laurier when asked to define a best music campus. Glen Carruthers, the dean of music at Wilfrid Laurier University, echoed a similar sentiment, but with a twist. “Anything these days involves diversity, involves welcoming all kinds of activity and I think that Laurier is that kind of campus where we do a lot of things very well,” he said. “I think to be best at anything, you need to be diverse, you need to be responsive to new situations, you need to be welcoming, you need to be, in a sense, confident of who you are in an institution to allow flexibility. I think we’re all of those things … I think we want students to explore themselves musically,” Carruthers continued. Laurier is the proud starting point of many musically associated people, boasting famous alumni such as Shad, who graduated from the BBA program, and the indie act Will Currie and the Country French, who all attended Laurier together. Evan Abeele from Memoryhouse also attended Laurier. As well as famous alumni, Laurier also has a very supportive community when it comes to exposing students to different facets of
that rocked K-W got loud last week with Passion Pit at WLU, Koi Fest and Starlight’s Block Party Arts, pages 13-14
Arts, page 14
Having already completed its prescheduled payment for 2013, the Wilfrid Laurier University Students’ Union (WLUSU) was recently able to make an additional $75,000 payment on its debt to the university. Their debt in total reached a point of approximately $6.8 million at of the end of April 2012. “The fact that we were able to do an additional 75,000, it feels great and just knowing that we’re working towards building our relationship with the university in terms of the financials is always a good thing and we’re looking to continue doing more things like that,” said WLUSU president Annie Constantinescu. WLUSU’s agreement with the university allocated for them to pay $75,000 for the 2012-2013 year and $150,000 for each year after. The recent payment was outside of this agreement. “What happened was that our initial agreement with the university was a very conservative one, just because we wanted to make sure we were secure in being able to budget for it,” Constantinescu explained. For Jim Butler, the vice-president of finance at WLU, the additional payment was “not entirely unexpected.” “We set forth a minimum payment and if they were able to pay more, then they should pay more,” he said. The point of the debt repayment schedule is not to eliminate the debt, but to reduce it to under a $5 million level. According to the loan agreement between WLUSU and the university, the Students’ Union is not allowed to exceed a borrowing amount of $5 million, which includes loans from the university, as well as external loans that are guaranteed by the Campus, page 4
Inside
Critiquing the free labour News, page 3
Clinger watch
Music delay
The long wait
Staff Writer Scott Glaysher writes about the warning signs that come along with a ‘5-stage clinger’
Maxwell’s runs in a bit a trouble with the OMB with their proposed move to University Avenue
The new year brings a long wait to Laurier’s Bookstore — and it isn’t a population concern
Life, page 8
Local, page 6
Campus, page 4