January 15, 2013

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TRU considers itself ready for H1N1 Pg. 2

The Omega Thompson Rivers University’s Independent Student Newspaper

Volume 23, Issue 15 January 15, 2014

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News

Editorial & Opinion

Life & Community

Arts & Entertainment

Sports

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Pages 3, 9

Page 5

Pages 6, 7

Page 11

Accolades not closing, yet Jessica Klymchuk Ω News Editor

Elevator access to the fourth floor via the new elevator that scales the outside of the building is not yet available. (Sean Brady/ The Omega)

Law school starts semester in new facility Jessica Klymchuk Ω News Editor As the $24.5 million renovations to Old Main which began in September 2011 come to a close, law students and faculty are settling into their new 40,000-square-foot home. The third and fourth floor of Old Main opened for classes on Jan. 6, but a grand opening will be held in the spring, near convocation, according to vice president of administration and finance Matt Milovick. Although the building is fullyfunctional, some cosmetic details remain unfinished. A circular staircase between the third and fourth floor is not complete and the area around it is still a construction zone. Milovick said the staircase would be delayed by two weeks following the opening of the space. The renovations were originally scheduled for completion in September of 2013, and then delayed to November 2013. Milovick said issues with completing the ceiling caused the final delay. “The ceiling is curved and it’s a complicated process,” he said. “It all got resolved but it did create about a two-month delay.” The renovation of Old Main was former vice president of administration and finance Cliff Neufeld’s last project at TRU. Neufeld retired in 2013 and his successor,

Milovick, credited him with much of the development of the university saying “he built the majority of this campus.” “It’s quite fitting that this be his last project, and what a showpiece it is for the university,” he said. “We are all quite proud of it. It’s an amazing facility.” Stantec and Diamond and Schmitt Architects won the design bid for the revitalization of Old Main in February 2011. TRU interim dean of law Anne Pappas was looking forward to the law students returning for the winter semester to a space that has been designed specifically to their needs. Both Pappas and law professor Richard Oppong reiterated the importance of the law school being able to have its own space and develop an identity. “They have all the things they didn’t have for three years, so it’s going to be awesome,” Pappas said. The new facility includes a silent reading room, a law library, student lockers, several meeting rooms and classrooms that have been acoustically designed to make discussion easier. Pappas said law classes are very interactive and other classrooms don’t accommodate dialogue as well as is required. The facility also includes a moot court room to simulate court proceedings that were previously

being carried out in flat classrooms. Oppong, who was also on the building committee, called the moot court one of the most needed aspects of the new facility. “It’s going to make a difference because it’s a simulated learning experience and while you can do it in a regular classroom, it’s not the same experience as when you’re in a room with a raised dais for the judge and tables that emulates a courtroom,” Pappas said. “I’m very excited about that because I think the students are going to feel very differently going through it here.” Pappas said services and amenities will be easier for students to access because they won’t be scattered. There is reserved space for career services, admissions, and permanent space for the Student Law Society and clubs. In the Brown Family House of Learning, law faculty were sometimes sharing an office with two other professors, making it difficult to meet with students on a drop-in basis, which Pappas said is how the law school operates. Now they all have their own offices. There will also be space for the legal clinic and the legal information centre.

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Despite earlier reports, no decision has been made to close Accolades. However, changes are expected in response to budgetary constraints. “We are in discussions around reforming the operations of Accolades,” said vice president advancement Christopher Seguin. A press release from TRU media relations and communications manager Diana Skoglund said discussions are exploring options related to the culinary arts program, and that TRU is looking to have an alternative plan in place by the fall 2014 semester. In regards to whether or not Accolades will close in the fall, Seguin said TRU is going to work to avoid shutting down the restaurant, which was recommended by the national restaurant guide Where to Eat in Canada. “We are going to do everything that we can to not have that happen, including reforming practices and looking at hours of operation,” he said. The release said the budgetary restraints that are currently affecting the culinary arts program include faculty and staff salary increases and the lack of a general funding increase in many years. The release said the two per cent increase in tuition revenue will not cover rising operating costs as well as annual costs continuing to rise due to inflation. “For the last recent years our budget has been frozen, meaning every year we have to do more with less.

“That includes the recent labour settlements, it includes everything that we pay more every year for,” Seguin said. “So we have to find ways to become more efficient.” TRU plans to reduce its operating costs by 5.1 per cent for the next two years. The press release said students would not be negatively affected if any changes to the operation of Accolades were implemented and their training needs would still be met. Accolades is run by students on the professional cook two program, which they take in their third and final semester in the culinary arts program. Students spend their final 14 weeks of the culinary arts program working afternoons and evenings preparing dishes for Accolades and its six-course menu. In a 2012 interview for a documentary on the culinary arts program, professional cook two instructor Ron Rosentreter said Accolades allows students to show more presentation and fine dining skills. “It has a very high reputation, so when they come out of here they are very prepared to go out and work in a fine dining restaurant,” department chair and instructor Ed Walker said in the documentary. “We try to make this a very real experience.” TRU states in the press release that the highest priority amidst the discussions regarding program changes is that students continue get the most effective training “Our main priority is to ensure that those students that are being trained using Accolades have the same quality experience and we will do so,” Seguin said.

Accolades is facing reform after budgetary constraints force discussions about changes to the culinary arts program for fall 2014. ( Jessica Klymchuk/ The Omega)


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January 15, 2013 by The Omega - Issuu