46 minute read
News
NEWS DIRECTOR YASMEEN ALMOMANI news@thecord.ca NEWS EDITOR VICTORIA MORGAN news@thecord.ca
Top stories of the summer
Part 1 & 2: inequity at the board table
In a two-part investigative series, The Cord’s Editor-in-Chief, Emily Waitson, explored the resignations of three former directors from the Students’ Union Board of Directors. Fiza Iqbal, Muna Mohamed and Kianna Low-A-Chee. The three former directors alleged issues related to director conduct and a lack of equity, diversity and inclusion training resulted in their decisisions to each resign from the board. The Students’ Union conducted an internal review and the recommendations included the facilitation of equity, diversity and inclusion training, leadership training for both the chair and vice-chair of the board, as well as ensuring board members are aware of available resources to address concerns.
deborah maclatchy appointed for second term as president
Deborah MacLatchy began her first term as the president and vice-chancellor of Wilfrid Laurier University in 2017. She was recently appointed for a second term from July 2022 to June 2027 by the university’s board of directors. A recent achievement on the behalf of Laurier that she spoke to was the provincial approval of adding Milton to the university campus. She is dedicated to growing the Laurier community and hopes to increase the student population at the Brantford campus from 3000 to 5000 students. MacLatchy said she hopes to continue focusing on Laurier’s equity, diversity and inclusion practices.
vaccines required to return to campus
Wilfrid Laurier University announced on Aug. 13 that they will require all students, staff and faculty to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19. Laurier joined a growing list of universities who have made the decision to require vaccinations to return to their campuses that include York University, The University of Toronto, among others. As of Sept. 7, Laurier community members will be required to confirm their vaccination status in advance of attending the Brantford or Waterloo campuses, or other locations, including in Kitchener, Toronto and Milton. Students who have not been vaccinated will be required to commit to regular COVID-19 testing and receive negative results before attending campus.
hundreds attend anti-lockdown protest in waterloo
Waterloo Town Square saw hundreds of anti-lockdown protestors gather on the afternoon of June 6 to condemn face mask-wearing, COVID-19 health protocols instilled by the government and local business closures. A number of speakers were present at the event — which was advertised as the “True North Freedom Assembly” — including People’s Party of Canada leader Maxime Bernier; Kevin Dupuis, who is now the People’s Party of Canada candidate for Kitchener-Conestoga; and University of Waterloo chemistry professor Michael Palmer. The protest took place during the wake of mounting concerns regarding cases linked to the COVID-19 variant, B1617.
laurier to hire more bipoc faculty members
Laurier made an announcement in May that it’s making a commitment to hiring “no less than six new Indigenous faculty members and six Black faculty members.” The hiring strategy is part of the “Inclusive Excellence” initiative which aims to build on the university’s plans for diversity and inclusion. Faculty scholarship will follow the six themes outlined in Laurier’s Strategic Plan: “environments and sustainability; psychological and social determinants of health and well-being; governance and policy; Indigeneity, decolonization, equity, diversity and inclusion; business, technology and inno vation; and society, culture and community.” Positions will be posted in September.
CAMPUS
FILE PHOTO/EMILY WAITSON Laurier 201 supports second-year students
YASMEEN ALMOMANI
NEWS DIRECTOR
The start of the pandemic was a taxing time for Laurier students who had to quickly adapt to a new online schooling experience.
Incoming Golden Hawks were especially impacted as they did not have the first-year experience that sets up the subsequent years of their time at university.
This is what prompted the launch of Laurier 201, a brand new, exclusive campus-wide program dedicated to these (now second-year) students to experience what they could not before.
“This program was designed to literally show students campus and to create opportunities for social connection that they would have missed out on last year. Even if they were living in residence, they were still confined to their own dorm room,” Devyn Kelly, Laurier 201 coordinator, said.
The program has many campus partnerships which include sustainability, the Students Union, athletics, and wellness.
“[Laurier 201 aims to] help orient and welcome second-year students to campus since they missed out on a lot of the traditional first-year experiences due to the pandemic and the remote learning environment,” Kelly said.
- Devyn Kelly, Laurier 201 coordinator
It officially begins with a kickoff weekend on Sept. 3 and 4 on the Waterloo campus, and Sept. 4 on the Brantford campus.
This will be comprised of icebreaking activities, upper-year student mentors, opportunities to win prizes, welcome kits of Laurier merchandise, and campus tours.
The welcome kits also contain important information about services and resources on campus, and this time will be the only early opportunity for a campus tour as the welcome centres will be closed until the end of September.
There will be tailgate parties on Sept. 3 in the Quad at the Waterloo campus, and on Sept. 4 in the courtyard at Brantford, with games, live music, food, and drinks for students to enjoy.
Kelly plans to follow this kickoff weekend with many events and opportunities throughout September.
“[We’re doing] trivia nights, movie nights and a headphone disco. There will also be academic programming, so, faculty mixers, study groups, designated study space for second-year students on each campus, which will be exclusive access for just them, and then a bunch of different social programming and academic programming all through the fall semester,” she said.
This program is essential for students as we return to a new normal on campus this year.
“We’ve been getting a lot of emails forwarded to us from other departments of students asking if there will be orientation activities or any opportunities like orientation week offered to second-year students, so I think a lot of students want this programming, they just don’t know that it’s happening.”
Kelly is passionate about giving students the experience they should have had during their first year.
- Devyn Kelly, Laurier 201 coordinator
“They’re going to get the experience that they should have gotten last year, just a year later,” she said
“The biggest thing that students are going to take from this program is the connection to the physical campus and the connection to each other because they’re going to have a ton of opportunities to meet other students who are in their program, or at least in [their] second year because they’re all really in the same boat right now.”
Second-year students can register on the website or check their @ mylaurier emails for a Laurier 201 email from last week.
Program aims to transform campus landscaping
Laurier project endeavours to integrate more practical, community-based gardens for student-use on campus
YASMEEN ALMOMANI
NEWS DIRECTOR
The Laurier Food Justice Garden is a project that aims to transform campus landscaping from decorative planters to useful community-based landscaping.
The founder, Veda Hingert-McDonald, is a founding member of Climate Justice Laurier, which is where they wanted to incorporate social and racial justice into the climate activism aspect of their group.
“Something that came to mind was advocating for more pollinator planting on campus ... and if we’re going to try to change what’s being grown, why don’t we, as well as benefiting pollinators, benefit students and community by way of feeding people,” she said.
Hingert-McDonald was passionate about this project being visible to the Laurier community.
“I like the idea that rather than having to grow food ‘over there on a farm’ where we don’t necessarily all see it, it can be something that people are really involved in and it can be something we’re all proud of,” she said.
She was inspired by the GSA report that concluded significant inequality in food security status for racialized students at Laurier and she wanted to benefit racialized and Indigenous groups with this project.
“The hope is that there will be more educational pieces brought in around Indigenous ways of growing and preserving [food],” she said.
The food from the garden is distributed through a free food distribution by LSPRIG at Martin Luther University College.
“I feel like in student populations, [food insecurity] is not really that talked about ... I like the idea of contributing to a solution, in terms of literally distributing food to people who need it, and I like the idea that, hopefully, we can show that food landscaping can be really beautiful and doesn’t need to be hidden in somebody’s backyard,” she said.
Hingert-McDonald faced difficulties when the project launched because COVID-19 guidelines made it difficult to have volunteers on campus.
“I spent a few days just fully on my own shovelling ... eventually we did get permission to have a small team of registered volunteers, which was really awesome.”
She appreciates volunteers so that they can also be involved in this cause.
“The feedback that I was gettinfrom some of the volunteers was not only just learning how to grow food, but also that it felt really good to be able to have something to contribute to and that’s something that I think can empower people to go out and do other awesome stuff.”
Permission to use the main campus for the garden was also an obstacle but it was ultimately approved. Hingert-McDonald and her group wanted to have it near their founding symbol, the climate mural on campus.
The food garden will “build a culture at Laurier of caring about each other and caring about racial justice and food justice,” according to Hingert-McDonald.
It can be seen on the main campus where students will walk by it every day.
“I think it can be really beautiful, just like a decorative flower garden, but have a deeper purpose.”
-Veda Hingert-McDonald, founder of the Laurier Food Justice Garden
GOVERNMENT
Student voting: how to mark your mail-in ballot for the election
ASHLEY BARRY LEAD REPORTER
In the upcoming federal election on Sept. 20, Elections Canada anticipates that their mail-in-ballot service will be a primary source voters will use to mark their ballot.
The challenges imposed by COVID-19, including social distancing and indoor capacity restrictions, have made the mailin-ballot service a convenient way to vote through the safety of your home.
Elections Canada is prepared to receive up to 5 million mail-in-ballots in this year’s election.
In contrast to the 50,000 mailin-ballots in 2019, this is a drastic increase.
If you’re 18 years old by election day, you are eligible to vote and are encouraged to do so.
With Elections Canada cancelling their Vote on Campus program, young voters will have to choose between in-person voting at an elections office or a mail-inballot.
Without the Vote on Campus program, it is crucial that students who are interested in voting are aware of the options and resources that are available to them to cast their vote.
The Vote on Campus program would have temporarily opened voting offices on university and college campuses, making voting accessible and convenient for students.
If you choose to vote by mail, you need to apply online or at an election office by Sept. 14 at 6:00 p.m.
You can also vote in advance at your local election office starting on Friday, Sept. 10, to Monday, Sept. 13.
The election office in the Waterloo region is 725 Bridge Street West, Suite 101, Waterloo, ON; hours of operation, Monday - Friday: 9:00 a.m - 9:00 p.m; Saturday: 9:00 a.m to 6:00 p.m; and Sunday: 12:00 p.m - 4:00 p.m.
If the application for your special ballot is approved, you will receive a voting kit with two envelopes and instructions to properly mark your ballot.
The ballot you receive will be slightly different than what you would receive at the polling station.
It won’t have a list of the MP’s (Members of Parliament) in your riding — candidates in your electoral district who, if elected, represent their party as an MP in the House of Commons. The party with the most number of MPs across the country usually forms the Government, and the leader of that party will become the Prime Minister.
Instead, your mail-in-ballot will have a blank space to write the first and last name of the candidate. It is not mandatory to write the name of the party you are voting for on the mail-in-ballot — just the candidate’s full name.
In the Waterloo region, the riding candidates are: Liberal - Bardish Chagger; Conservative - Meghan Shannon; NDP - Jonathan Cassels; Green Party - Karla Villagomez Fajardo; and People’s Party - Patrick Doucette.
Once you mark your ballot, you will need to place it in the unmarked inner envelope you received in your voting kit and seal it shut.
Then, place the sealed inner envelope in the outer envelope — the one that displays your information.
After you have sealed the outer envelope, you will have to sign and date the declaration on the front of the outer envelope.
The final step involves just one more envelope.
You should have received a pre-addressed return envelope in your voting kit. Put the signed outer envelope in the return envelope and seal it shut.
Finally, all you need to do is go to your nearest mailbox or post office.
Check out www.elections.ca for more information on the election, candidates or voting.
FILE PHOTO Laurier Students’ Union approves $15k video project
EMILY WAITSON EDITOR-IN-CHEIF
On July 26, 2021, the Board of Directors for Wilfrid Laurier University’s Students’ Union had an emergency board meeting to discuss — and approve — a decision to outsource a promotional video project of up to $15,000. During the meeting, the “Student Union Story” proposal was framed by Students’ Union president Pegah Jamalof as both a significant part of her presidential platform and aligned with the marketing and education goals of the Students’ Union. “A key priority of my presidency has been to explore new ways to meaningfully and effectively communicate with students,” Jamalof said in email statement. “The financing of the professional videography project approved by the Board of Directors will create a multi-use visual representation of the Students’ Union’s purpose, services, and diverse programming that aims to raise awareness and connect undergraduates to the social and extracurricular experiences that will define their time at Laurier.”
The video is planned to be finished in time for Orientation Week, with the goal of getting the attention of students and helping them understand the programming and services, and volunteer and employment opportunities that are available to them through the Students’ Union. Since the video will only be approximately 2-3 minutes in length, the full scope of the video is still unclear. It was the subject of questioning by directors of the board Victoria Bothwell and Francesco Del Giudice during the meeting. The video is also going to be produced by Memory Tree Productions, a Canadian-owned video production company based out of Kitchener, ON. The company has produced films for Laurier over the last eight years, and was chosen over a student for a number of reasons, including their already expansive footage of the Laurier campus, the need for the video to be professional-quality and the significantly reduced timeline available for its production. Following the meeting, the decision faced criticism online, both related to its cost and the decision to not allow the video to be made by a Laurier student. A Spotted at Laurier tweet was published on July 27 that brought attention to the decision. Several unconfirmed Laurier students noted their disapproval of the choice, with one user going as far as to label it “large scale fraud.” “Hiring a Laurier student from the digital media and journalism program is a far better idea @students_union. It would help launch a Laurier student’s career and save the Student’s Union and in turn the students money. A video should not cost $15k,” one user tweeted.
To watch the full video of the board’s discussion and decision related to the Laurier Video Project, you can find links to the recorded sessions on the board’s resources page.
-Pegah Jamalof, Students’ Union president
-Pegah Jamalof, Students’ Union president
Laurier to examine impact of namesake prime minister
Wilfrid Laurier University aims to re-examine the political legacy of Prime Minister Wilfrid Laurier in what it calls the Laurier Legacy Project. The aim of the study is to further public knowledge about Laurier and the politics of his era. This research is expected to take place over the next two years and will involve three qualified scholars heading the effort, with the hopes of engaging interested students in the process. While there is a body of research on Laurier, the project offers new, modern insights into his life. Part of that is how Laurier’s policies may have fueled the oppression of Indigenous peoples in Canada.
Proof of vaccination required to attend Laurier campus
As of Sept. 7, all students, staff and faculty will need to show proof of full vaccination in order to be on Wilfrid Laurier University’s campuses. The university released an updated statement on Aug. 30, stating that returning students must follow three important steps before Sept. 7: ensure you are fully vaccinated, get proof of vaccination, and download the SAFEHawk app on your mobile devices. The third step requires you to upload your proof of vaccination status to the app, which will be used for a variety of COVID-related procedures, including daily self-assessments.
PUBLIC HEALTH
COVID-19 region updates
AARON WAITSON
HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGER
As of Aug. 31, the Waterloo region had 30 new positive cases of the COVID-19 virus, bringing the total number of active cases up to 165, with a single case of a variant being detected on Aug. 26.
There have been 18,988 total positive cases, and 18,530 total resolved cases, within the region.
Seven of the current active cases are being hospitalized, and five are currently in intensive care.
As of Sept. 1, there have been zero confirmed positive cases on either the Waterloo or Brantford campus of Wilfrid Laurier University. However, public health linked two cases, confirmed in employees and reported on Aug. 15 and 18, to an outbreak.
The last significant outbreak of COVID-19 variants, which included numbers up to 120 new daily cases (Apr. 19), began in April, in which the total number of variant cases was close to or higher than the total number of regular cases.
This trend had not begun to see improvement until Aug. 17, when the number of variant cases began to fall below 31 per cent.
While new active cases have been trending between 11 and 30 daily, there have been no significant variant spikes as of this week.
Currently, Waterloo region is surpassing the Ontario average for cases per 100,000, with a seven-day moving average rate of 4.5 per (KW) versus 3.9 (ON).
During the April spike in variants, Waterloo region nearly doubled the moving average rate of new cases, with Apr. 18 seeing 30 cases (KW) versus 13.8 (ON).
As of July 16, Waterloo region officially entered step three of “Ontario’s Roadmap to Reopen,” part of the province’s public health guidelines for observing the ongoing progress of vaccination rates and the impact of the Coronavirus and its variants to determine when public health measures can be lifted.
From the government of Ontario’s website, step three includes “expanding access to indoor settings, with restrictions, including where there are larger numbers of people and where face coverings can’t always be worn.”
The final stage, “Exiting the Roadmap,” involves lifting the majority of public health measures, with a small number still in place. Ontario is currently paused in response to information regarding the Delta variant of COVID-19, who “will continue to monitor the data to determine when it is safe to exit the Roadmap.”
According to Wilfrid Laurier University, as of Sept. 1, the university plans to move forward with its strategy for navigating the fall term. The strategy includes in-person learning, outdoor accommodations for studying and socializing and various health measures in place.
TIM HARRISON/PHOTO EDITOR
The earth is experiencing a climate crisis and it’s time to act
YASMEEN ALMOMANI
NEWS DIRECTOR
Climate change is unfolding rapidly before our eyes and a lack of inaction would lead to disastrous outcomes worldwide.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released their working group 1 report on Aug. 9th and it starts with a clear statement:
“It is unequivocal that human influence has warmed the atmosphere, ocean and land. Widespread and rapid changes in the atmosphere, ocean, cryosphere and biosphere have occurred.”
This report is the first one to undoubtedly state that humans have greatly contributed to climate change.
Debora VanNijnatten, associate professor in the political science department at Wilfrid Laurier University, explained that the IPCC was created by the World Meteorological Organization and the United Nations Environment Program in the late 1980s.
“It asks scientists from around the world to go through all the relevant scientific literature related to climate change and then make conclusions based on what they found,” she said.
Every seven to eight years, the IPCC carries out assessment reports which are composed of three sub-reports: working group 1, working group 2 and working group 3.
The report that was released last month was the working group 1 report, which gathered information about climate change science from the literature and will contribute to the assessment report that is due in Sept. 2022. It involved over 750 scientists who reviewed 14,000 scientific publications and summarized the best of what is known about climate change. “This report gives us the most up-to-date natural science information on what’s happening with global temperatures and with some of the climatic impacts,” VanNijnatten said.
Three basic takeaways from the report are that climate change is human caused, its impacts are already underway and worse than anticipated in previous reports and our future corresponds to how much action is taken to decrease greenhouse gas emissions in the atmosphere.
The impacts outlined include increases in extreme heat events, rising sea levels, melting glaciers, monsoons and extreme precipitation events.
These events are not only catastrophic for the earth, but they are also a hazard to our health, which is clear in the Ontario climate change and health modelling study that was done at the University of Toronto in 2016.
“[This study] made some predictions that our area would experience the most heat waves in Ontario, higher levels of ground-level ozone or smog, higher levels of West Nile virus transmitted by mosquitoes and increases in extreme precipitation events,” VanNijnatten said.
Rising temperatures and reduced air quality leads to an increased incidence of heat-related illnesses, respiratory illnesses, and cardiovascular diseases and the high temperature increases the risks of West Nile virus and Lyme disease, which are transmitted by vectors benefitting from the changes in the ecology.
Extreme weather events, such as flooding and thunderstorms, increase the risk of food and waterborne illnesses and the weakened infrastructure caused by these events causes injury and death.
Climate change has progressed faster than it was previously anticipated for multiple reasons, one of them being our energy system.
“We build our entire energy and economic system on fossil fuels and just about everyone in the system profits by keeping the system in place,” VanNijnatten said.
The IPCC report lays out five scenarios ranging from “kind of bad to intermediately bad to really bad” depending on the action taken. Scenarios four and five are the worst ones.
“They foresee a much greater increase in the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and much greater global temperature change.”
Although these increasing concentrations are irreversible, we can still do something to mitigate the severity of them and avoid the worst scenarios.
“We can’t walk back the stuff that’s already happening … but what that report says is that we can stave off the very worst stuff if we act,” VanNijnatten said.
The government and policymakers are responsible for preventing a worse progression.
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, the government stepped in, shut down the economy, mandated masks, expanded hospital capacities and funded social welfare programs for its citizens.
“I think that the impact of that is that the impression of what government can do has changed … the idea of spending huge amounts of money on anything, that also became more acceptable.”
VanNijnatten spoke about the Liberal government’s climate mitigation policies, which are policies designed to reduce greenhouse gas.
“They are active on the whole range of areas from focusing on specific pollutants, like methane, black carbon … what we call HFCs. All of those are particularly bad greenhouse gases, so they’re regulating in those areas and trying to reduce those … and they’re trying to move on the whole electric car thing,” she said.
The IPCC report concluded that these policies to reduce greenhouse gas need to be ramped up more quickly.
“As a political scientist, I can sit here and tell you that I think the Liberals are working at the very end of their tether. They’re pulling on that leash as far as they can on climate policy, but there’s a whole bunch of political constraints in place. A big one is money, and a second big one is that we’re fighting a pandemic. There are so many other things: equity issues, Indigenous reconciliation, and the government is trying to address all of these things. There are many very serious challenges at once, so there are other things that are competing for the government’s attention,” she said.
The state of the environment may seem hopeless for citizens, but people and communities can help too.
“Here’s your political science professor saying the first thing you can do is go out and vote. Vote on the basis of who’s going to actually do a good job of climate change,” VanNijnatten said.
She emphasized the importance of going online and looking at the party platforms and contacting the local candidates in whichever way is accessible to you.
“Get out and talk to them, ask some questions, give them a really hard time, inform yourself on some of the legal action that’s happening,” She said.
VanNijnatten said that speaking about the topic is important too.
“I understand how scary it is, and that we all need a break sometimes, especially now, when all the news is so depressing … it’s important to talk about it, and to bring it up … make sure that your friends understand what’s going on and that your families talk about it,” she said.
Climate action on the streets is also a way for people to be involved.
“In 2019, before COVID hit, we had the biggest climate demonstrations ever around the world, especially in Canada,” she said.
Hopefully, people can be protesting and pushing for change again soon post-COVID.
Finally, online activism is an asset for this generation.
“Get on Twitter, highlight some of these reports, pose questions to your elected representatives, bug people, ‘what are you doing?’ and really point out that some of the decisions they make are not climate-friendly,” she said.
It is especially vital for younger generations who are growing up with this looming climate threat.
“We have to act now … we have run out of time, and people your age should be furious, absolutely furious about what the older generations have done and continue to do.”
The climate crisis is not a future concern. It is happing now and something must be done to mitigate the severity of it and save our earth and its inhabitants.
-Debora Nijnatten, political science associate professor
Mask wearing is a barrier for hearing-challenged people
YASMEEN ALMOMANI
NEWS DIRECTOR
One of the barriers that the COVID-19 pandemic has contributed to is that wearing masks makes it difficult for hearing-challenged people to read lips.
There are other methods of communication accessibility, such as hearing aids.
“It’s not as bad as it could have been without hearing aid because I still habitually lip-read and the barriers [of the pandemic] do make it harder to hear people,” said Chuck Fulton on the CBC Morning Edition KW.
Sandra Fulton, vice-president of marketing for the Kitchener hearing aid manufacturer Unitron and Hansaton, is Chuck’s daughter and advocates for hearing health.
“Your ears and hearing should be like any other health aspect and I don’t know why people don’t think about it the same way. If your vision is deteriorating, you certainly would go have an eye exam but I think people quite often with hearing loss, will just not perceive it as the same medical consequence,” she said during the episode.
She emphasized the importance of having hearing tests as part of the annual physical exam, especially after the age of 50, so your doctor can refer you to a hearing clinic. Hearing clinics can also be visited without a referral.
“When you can’t hear what people are saying… [it] makes you anxious and tense and I put up with that for years before I finally got the hearing aids. The anxiety that went along with struggling to hear what people were saying went away,” Chuck said.
A big part of opposing hearing aids is the stigma surrounding them and aging.
“When I began to realize that I wasn’t hearing properly, I resisted the idea of hearing aids… I connected it with being old,” Chuck said.
It is also a concern for hearing-challenged people that hearing aids are “very visible.”
“Hearing aids, I think, is a popular mind have a greater stigma, they really indicate that you’re old, so you’re really shy about them being visual.” He stated.
The electronic advancements with hearing aids have made them smaller, which has helped some people come to terms with them.
“One thing that’s really helped people to be more willing to try them is because now they’re definitely more discreet,” Sandra explained.
Chuck wants the stigma around hearing aids to be mitigated.
“They’re so discreet now that people never mentioned that I’m wearing hearing aids … you have to help people to understand that they don’t make you look old ...” he said.
Aging is a natural process and the stigma surrounding hearing challenges can prevent people from seeking hearing support.
DARIEN FUNK/LEAD PHOTOGRAPHER
KASH PATEL/MULTIMEDIA DIRECTOR Dismantling COVID-19 vaccine myths
YASMEEN ALMOMANI
NEWS DIRECTOR
As of July 28, 81.10 per cent of adults in Ontario have received at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose, and 69.22 per cent are fully vaccinated.
Despite these positive vaccine rates, there are still reluctant residents. More than 2.5 million eligible Ontarians have not yet been vaccinated.
Misinformation has been rampant throughout the pandemic and is partially responsible for COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy. Some residents are also unaware of how a vaccine works, which is discouraging them from receiving it.
“A vaccine works by introducing pieces of a virus into your body so that your immune system recognizes the virus and establishes memory,” Stephanie DeWitte-Orr, associate professor in the departments of health sciences and biology at Wilfrid Laurier University, explained.
If there is an infection in the future, these established memory immune cells would activate quickly and work to eliminate the virus.
In Canada, three COVID-19 vaccines have been approved: Pfizer and Moderna, which are mRNA vaccines; and AstraZeneca, which is a viral vector vaccine. The mRNA vaccines are currently more in use.
DeWitte-Orr explained that these vaccines weren’t developed with mixing in mind; however, there have been applications in the past, such as HIV vaccine trials, that show evidence of better immunity after mixing vaccine platforms. Public health has evaluated the risk of mixing platforms as much lower than the risk of the virus and have gone ahead with it.
One of the common myths about the COVID-19 vaccine is that it was produced “too quickly,” which makes it unsafe.
DeWitte-Orr clarified that the technology behind the vaccines has been around for a long time.
“Scientists have been working on these technologies for decades. It’s just that our original platforms, the inactivated or attenuated vaccines, have worked thus far so we didn’t really need to change platforms; but now that we have this virus where the traditional vaccine platforms don’t work very well for various reasons, we needed to change platforms,” DeWitte-Orr said.
“As for safety concerns, the vaccine still had to go through the same steps of approval as any other vaccine, they just were given priority.”
The misconception that the vaccine gives the recipient COVID-19 has also been a cause of worry, but it is untrue.
“The vaccines that we are administering now do not contain SARS-CoV-2 … both the RNA and the virus vector vaccines are just using pieces of the S protein … you’re not going to be able to get a live SARS-CoV-2 virus from these vaccines. You’ll never get an infection of SARS-CoV-2 from the vaccines. It is physically not possible,” DeWitte-Orr said.
Furthermore, there are beliefs that the vaccine alters DNA, but the vaccine does not even enter the nucleus where DNA resides.
“The nucleus is like a bank vault and nothing is getting in there unless it has a special code to get in,” DeWitte-Orr explained.
“The vaccines do not have this code, and even if they did, the RNA cannot recombine with our DNA; our cells are not capable of doing that.”
Long-term effects of the vaccine have also been a concern, especially regarding women’s fertility.
DeWitte-Orr clarified that the RNA in the mRNA vaccines have a short half-life, meaning they are only going to remain active in the body for a couple of days.
After the muscle cells take up the RNA, they make the S protein. This stimulates immune cells to remember it so that they can recognize it in the future on a real virus and shut the virus down. After one or two weeks, only these memory immune cells remain in the body, meaning there is nothing left that can cause longterm effects. “If you were going to see [longterm effects on fertility, the cardiovascular system, or the pulmonary system], it would only be in a short period of time within a week or two of vaccination. After that, there’s no S protein left, there’s no mRNA left, it’s all been degraded,” DeWitte-Orr said.
For Canadians who have previously contracted the virus, there is a belief that they are protected from future infections because an immune response has been triggered.
While this may be true for other viral infections, it is not the case for COVID-19. Antibody levels against the virus, which are an indicator of immunity in the body, decrease rapidly for people who have had mild or asymptomatic cases of COVID-19, meaning they are not protected.
“If you’ve been infected and you have a mild case, you likely don’t have protection after a few weeks to months. Whereas so far, with the vaccine, we’re seeing protection [from the clinical trial that was happening last year] … protection by the vaccine is actually lasting longer than what we’re seeing for people who were actually infected,” DeWitte-Orr said.
Vaccine hesitancy is normal in the community, but public health must ensure that communities are well-informed.
“Public health is trying to communicate the need for vaccines in a simple way … I think that the community wants more, yes we’re not all scientists, but we’re human beings who can understand if you explain to us, and I honestly think public health could probably step up their game in explaining why [we need to get vaccinated], like addressing these concerns in a very clear way,” DeWitte-Orr said.
“We need to create simplified scientific concepts so that the general public has confidence and they can evaluate some of this themselves.”
She also emphasized that people with autoimmune disorders or pre-existing health concerns should speak with their healthcare provider, and eligible residents should do their research using multiple reputable sources to see what the majority says.
“If I believed that these vaccines weren’t safe, I would say something,” DeWitte-Orr reassured.
This is true for other scientists and scholars as well.
During this critical time in the pandemic, it’s important to vaccinate the majority of people to get herd immunity and stop the virus from replicating. Otherwise, the virus will eventually create a variant that is far from the reference vaccine strain and our vaccines will not protect us from it.
Eligible individuals should ensure that they are getting vaccinated to protect themselves from getting sick and to protect their community from a potentially dangerous variant of COVID-19 lurking in the future.
-Stephanie DeWitte-Orr, health sciences associate professor
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New COVID-19 app required to access student resources
ASHLEY BARRY LEAD REPORTER
As students prepare for a safe return to campus this Fall Term, Wilfrid Laurier University has taken important steps to prioritize student and faculty safety.
SAFEHawk, Laurier’s mobile safety app, introduced a COVID-19 self-assessment feature, where students will have access to newly available resources and study spaces on-campus, in person.
The SAFEHawk app is designed for students wishing to safely indulge in on-campus resources and amenities throughout the semester, including access to the Waterloo Campus Library, Athletic Centre, food services and classrooms.
Before stepping onto the campus, students will fill out and submit a daily self-assessment questionnaire. They will need to download the app on their smartphone and log in using their Laurier credentials.
If approved, students will be provided with a 24 hour “green pass” that contains a unique QR code. This QR code may be required to present to staff to access certain areas on- campus. If a student’s self-assessment is not approved, they will receive a red “fail badge,” and will be prohibited from accessing any amenities on-campus and will instead be advised to stay home or reach out to Public Health.
This small, yet crucial step of enforcing self-monitored COVID-19 screening, coincides with WLU’s requirement for students to be fully vaccinated upon returning to campus with hope of reducing COVID-19 outbreaks.
As of Aug. 9, the Waterloo Campus Library is now open for students to book study spaces.
Located at the west end of campus across from the Martin Luther University College and Dr. Alvin Woods Building, the library has 35 study spaces available on a rotating half-day basis. The booking times are available in three-hour time blocks (one user per block), and is open Monday through Friday: 10:00am-1:00pm (morning time slot), 1:00pm2:00pm (no bookings - closed for cleaning) and 3:00pm - 6:00pm (afternoon time slot).
Students will need to book appointments through the Eventbrite booking system on WLU’s Library website and will be asked to show their OneCard, proof of Eventbrite registration and “green pass” from the SafeHawk COVID-19 self-assessment app.
Other resources to check out this semester through WLU’s Library are Scan on Demand and Mail on Demand.
WLU’s Scan on Demand service was launched as a pilot during the Fall of 2020 with faculty and graduate students serving in the trial.
Because of its success and easy accessibility, this service is extending to undergrad students.
The Scan on Demand service lets users request scans of book chapters or journal articles held at WLU’s library. Users must log in to Omni, an academic search tool connected with the Library (accessible via WLU’s Library website), to be presented with the Scan on Demand option.
Along with the reopening of study spaces and the continuation of COVID-safe services at WLU’s library, here is a list of more amenities that will be open this semester and will be accessible to students with a “green pass” on their COVID-19 self-assessment: -The Athletic Complex; open Monday - Friday: 7:00 a.m - 8:00 p.m and Saturday - Sunday: 9:00 a.m to 6:00 p.m. -The Fresh Food Company and The Terrace Food Court (hours to be determined) -Study spaces; Alumni Field, outfitted with four large tents and picnic tables across artificial turf and no reservation required.
WLU hopes to further reopen more amenities as the school year progresses, depending on the guidelines in terms of maintaining COVID-19 protocol from Public Health.
As of now, there are a plethora of resources available to aid academic success, as well as create a positive and comfortable environment.
By continuing to follow COVID-19 safety protocols, students will be able to have a semi-normal university experience this 2021/2022 academic year.
Want to build your portfolio? interested in learning more about photography? Join the cord’s photo team. contact editor@thecord.ca for more info.
DARIEN FUNK/LEAD PHOTOGRAPHER
Arts & Life ARTS EDITOR AMICHAI ABRAHAM arts@thecord.ca LIFE EDITOR CRYSTAL XUE arts@thecord.ca
WATERLOO
DARIEN FUNK/LEAD PHOTOGRAPHER
Local coffee shops to visit in KW
ANNA MULLER
ARTS AND LIFE CONTRIBUTER
EMILY WAITSON EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
The pandemic has been hard for everyone, especially small businesses. As Golden Hawks return to campus life it’s important that we support the small businesses in our community.
Cafe Pyrus Outpost - 150 Roger Street, Waterloo, Ontario
At Cafe Pyrus Outpost there are many dietary options, the atmosphere is right on trend and it is not too far from campus. There is a little trail off King Street that takes students from our busy uptown through a nature-centered path where this cafe lies. This bistro has options for those who are gluten-free, vegan, or vegetarian. There are occasionally farmers’ markets run throughout the warmer months. They invite local vendors from the KW area to their store to sell their products too. In addition, they often add specials like having bread from a local vendor on their menu for the day. If this has not sold you so far, then let’s talk about the atmosphere. The location is surrounded by nature, the walls and tables are painted in a way that fits the aesthetic. All making for great photo opportunities.
Seven Shores Cafe - 10 Regina St. N. Unit 4, Waterloo, Avenue
Another great cafe not far from campus is Seven Shores. They seriously make great coffee. This is a great place to bring your textbooks, grab a coffee and get ahead on your readings of the week. The patio is on a first come first serve basis, no reservations allowed. Their staff is so friendly! If you are not sure what to order, ask the barista what is their favourite. They have a bunch of vegan and gluten-free options available. Specifically, their cookies are beloved as their fresh aroma frequently fills the cafe. On the weekends they often feature different brunch specials.
Smile Tiger - 100 Ahrens St W., Kitchener
Smile Tiger is an excellent choice if you’re looking for an Instagram-worthy place to study and drink a good cup of coffee. The service is always warm and friendly and their bags of coffee are definitely worth the purchase.
Matter of Taste - 115 King St W., Kitchener
A bright space with a nice patio, Matter of Taste in DTK is perfect for a casual date or a few hours spent working on a project. They have a decent drink selection and their gelato is delicious. A great option if you’re craving something sweet!
LIFESTYLE
How does decor affect your mood?
CRYSTAL XUE
LIFESTYLE EDITOR
Crowds not unlike those of Black Friday — the American one, that is — often flock to home furnishing stores during the back-to-school season. After all, the home decor market is predicted to surpass $770 billion by 2024. This can reveal a common desire for a comfortable space tailored to our likes.
It also calls attention to whether home decor is important; or if we should spare ourselves the time, money and surprisingly difficult process of assembling wallpaper. That said, interior design can be a tool to improve well-being.
Namely, here are three ways home decor can support quality of life — and the costs involved in each.
The most you
“I wouldn’t say home decor is any different from other forms of self-expression,” Anne Wilson, psychology professor at Laurier said. She was quick to add that budget plays a role and can be limiting.
From minimalism to vintage, the range of interior design styles allow those with the financial means to create living spaces that show personality.
“It can be a reinforcing way of identity expression,” continued Wilson, “When people believe their space reflects something authentic about themselves, that tends to make them feel good.”
The cost of attuning a home to individual tastes depends on size, style and amount of work needed. For those who opt for an interior designer, the price is $1893 to $11,180 on average.
Catch a breath
Through acts such as enhancing air quality, houseplants not only reduce stress, but improve concentration and memory retention as well, according to Texas A&M.
In this case, the cost is two-fold; money and time. An indoor plant from Home Depot can be up to $59.97 and must be watered, fertilized and in certain cases, pruned regularly. This can be stressful — 67 per cent of millennials surveyed by OnePoll believe the care process to be more than bargained for — while an NCBI study found interaction with indoor plants can be soothing.
Buckling Down
We’ve all been there; faced with a daunting goal that we unconvincingly promise ourselves to “start tomorrow.” In such situations, visible and memorable reminders come in handy.
“Having cues that inspire you, whether it’s a motivational poster or picture of yourself accomplishing something, can be helpful [with goal pursuit],” explained Wilson.
The main cost for wall decor is financial, since little time and upkeep is typically needed. Depending on style, a picture frame from IKEA can be up to $59.99 and a poster anywhere from $4 to $39.99.
DARIEN FUNK/LEAD PHOTOGRAPHER
Finding the balance
One truth is clear; it’s costly, but doesn’t need to be. Cheaper alternatives aim to serve as a welcome solution for a more subtle living space.
“It doesn’t have to be a fancy or expensive space, right?” Wilson said. “It’s a worthwhile reminder to do it for who you are.”
Pump up your workout playlist
SHOFFANA SUNDARAMOORTHY
ARTS AND LIFE CONTRIBUTER
To make the most out of your next workout, curate the perfect playlist!
Music Speed
One component of music to keep in mind is tempo/speed, specifically the amount of beats per minute (BPM). During physical activity, our body subconsciously synchronizes movements to a song’s tempo. In doing so, our body fixates less on the impending exhaustion and allows for better performance by optimizing energy. This trend reflects the results of a 2006 study where participants ran on a treadmill under different conditions (ex. mMusic or no music, fast music or slow music). Participants who listened to fast music ran at a greater pace and a further distance before feeling fatigue.
Volume
Another factor with music to consider is loudness. If you listen to soft-spoken music, you should expect an easy-going workout that relaxes the body. High-energy music, on the other hand, features lively instrumentals and powerful vocals that push you to take on a strenuous workout. Keep in mind that your music should not be too loud- that will damage your hearing or take away from your workout. Music loudness serves as motivation to increase work capacity, resulting in greater payoff and contributing to “rhythm response.” According to Scientific American, psychologists use this term to express “how much a song makes you want to boogie.” This is important to recognize considering that listening to music during exercise has the added benefit of elevating our mood. Certain music genres utilize tempo and loudness more effectively and, in turn, seem ideal to incorporate to your workout music. Examples include hiphop, rock, rap and even electronic dance music (EDM).
Section of Workout
There is one other factor to consider when selecting workout music; the given point of your workout. You shouldn’t go straight into an intense workout without proper warm-up or stop without cooling down. It is a good idea to start off slow at the start of your workout as it gradually increases in difficulty and intensity. High-energy music during the warm-up would throw off your composure and can leave you feeling drained before getting to the actual workout itself. This is why careful planning of your exercise music is important. Rather than using the same genre throughout your whole workout, you can rely on different genres for different sections of it.
For instance, a good genre for both pre-workout and post-workout is classical music. The pre-workout stage relies on gathering your energy and preparing for the workout ahead, whereas the post-workout stage emphasizes on the body. Next time you go to the gym or begin your workout, be sure to make a high-quality playlist so that you can have a high-quality session.
DARIEN FUNK/LEAD PHOTOGRPAHER
TELEVISION
Invincible makes a big smash on the small screen
AMICHAI ABRAHAM
ARTS EDITOR
Animation is such a freeing medium where live-action requires you to fit the narrow constraints of physical limitation, impossible camera movements, and safety. In animation, you are only restricted by your artistic abilities. Despite this, up until the last few years, animation has been seen as something directed predominantly at children. This isn’t wrong; I mean who’s childhoods weren’t influenced by Disney and Pixar movies. There are dozens of children’s animated movies that have trailblazed and have become so much more than just a light children’s flick. There has been, however, always a darker intriguing side to animation, a side that appeals to adults. With the freedom of animation comes the freedom to tell any kind of story you want. So while you could go for a gentle family-friendly tale, you could also go for something much more gritty, serious, and grounded. In these stories, there is a place for brutal and grotesque violence. This violence can be found in the Amazon Prime original Invincible and while the series isn’t the first animation to have this kind of violence, it is the magnum opus that violent animation has been building towards for years. Violence has been a part of animation for nearly as long as animation itself, however, the type of violence has typically been (perhaps appropriately) cartoonish. Popeye hits Bluto harder after he’s eaten his spinach, Daffy Duck shoots himself in the face causing his bill to flip around his head. Realistic or gory violence however has been scant. An early example is the 1978 film Watership Down. An English animation based on a book of the same name, the film follows a group of bunny rabbits in search of safe refuge. It is animated similarly to other animated features at the time but with the realism associated with being a rabbit in the wild. Rabbits scratch, scream, foam from the mouth, and die exposing to filmgoers the potential animation had in showing darker subject matter. Anime has long been an appealing alternative to western animation when it comes to wanting to experience animated stories with more R-rated content. One of the trendsetters was Akira (1988), a sci-fi dystopian film with superpowers, motorcycle gangs, and grotesque bodily carnage.
Akira would inspire many other Anime shows and movies. Its influence is still felt today with Invincible making a clear reference to the classic film during the first season’s finale.
There are other examples too, Waltz with Bashir (2008), Batman: The Killing Joke (2016), a couple of scenes in the original Robocop (1987) if I’m being generous. Few have used graphic animated violence and even fewer have used it as effectively as Invincible has. The Violence in Invincible is its defining trait. The plot of the series isn’t too unique; the show exists in a world where superheroes are simply a reality of existence and are looked on favorably by the public as they are there to stop supervillains. This black and white, good vs. evil setup is why the gore works so well. As the season progresses the audience learns that the show cares little for animated norms or for what may be visually appealing to the viewer. In Invincible people die constantly and usually not in heroic ways. They are maimed, gutted, and destroyed with few exceptions. Most importantly, the violence isn’t just a part of the show for the sake of appealing to fans of that kind of thing. The violence enhances the plot. Without spoiling too much, betrayals are made more impactful, characters dealing with certain realities become easier for the audience to identify with as we see the cruelty the characters must endure firsthand. It raises the stakes because the consequences of actions are felt so much harder when you know the visual lengths the show is willing to go through.
The animation style while again not particularly innovative, similar to the setup, makes the eventual violence much more impactful. The exterior is black and white until, through the use of character decisions, motivations, and (as if I haven’t already mentioned it) violence the story turns into a picturesque shade of gray.
Invincible is not a show for everyone, but if you’re a fan of superheroes and you want a completely different perspective into that genre, Invincible is a lethal slam dunk.
CONTRIBUTED IMAGE
