March 12, 2014

Page 1

Brier photo gallery and attendance problems examined Pg. 11

The Omega Thompson Rivers University’s Independent Student Newspaper

News Pages 1, 2

Editorial & Opinion Page 3

Volume 23, Issue 22 March 12, 2014

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Life & Community

Arts & Entertainment

Sports

Pages 5, 9

Pages 6, 7

Page 11

Surveying their domain National Survey of Student Engagement helps administration see how students think it’s doing coordination with other Canadian universities. Because so many universities Ω News Editor participate, Maclean’s and the Globe How many times have you met with and Mail often use the results for their a faculty member? How many times university guides. have you participated in a study group? But, why is it important for students to In order for the university to know participate? what services are “Otherwise working, it needs to we’re just know which ones guessing,” said successful students dean of students use. That’s where Christine Adam. you come in. “Otherwise we’re The National only listening to the Survey of Student students who show Engagement up at things.” (NSSE) allows NSSE asks first- and fourthstudents about year on-campus their behaviours, baccalaureate the frequency of students to behaviours that are express their related to things educational habits, that successful from academic students do, and advising to use of looks at educational technology. practices that NSSE is an are related to i nter nat ionally —Christine Adam engagement. administered “NSSE is a survey, with over survey that reports TRU Dean of Students 3,000 schools what students do. participating since It’s not a satisfaction its launch in 2000. TRU first participated survey. It’s not an opinion survey,” Adam in 2008 and made the survey available said. “It’s looking at actual behaviours.” every year until 2011 to collect an accurate base of data. Now the survey is only administered every three years See INTERNATIONAL Pg. to first- and fourth-year students, in

Jessica Klymchuk

Nominations for the TRUSU general election are open until March 14. Campaigning begins on March 17 and polling will take place on March 26-27. ( Jessica Klymchuk/ The Omega)

Campus democracy: cast your vote Voter turnout lower at TRU than UBC, UBCO, UVic and UAlberta last year

Jessica Klymchuk Ω News Editor It’s election time. Students head to the polls on March 26-27 to select their student union representatives for the 2014-2015 academic year. But will you participate? Last year, TRU saw a lower voter turnout for the student union election than the University of British Columbia’s Vancouver campus (UBC) and Okanagan campus (UBCO), the University of Victoria (UVic), Simon Fraser University (SFU) and the University of Alberta (UAlberta). Most student union elections attract between 10 and 20 per cent of students, but numbers are higher at schools where online voting is available, reported The Phoenix in March 2013. Student unions at UBC, SFU, UAlberta and UVic use an online voting mechanism, but TRUSU does not. Numbers also tend to be higher when more than one slate is running and positions are

highly contested. A significant increase in voter turnout generally indicates a higher stakes election. Voter turnout for the TRUSU general election dropped last year, with 7.5 per cent of the 7,000 eligible students casting a vote. In 2012, 10.4 per cent of the 7, 090 eligible students voted. But in 2011, when 44 candidates ran, TRU saw an 18 per cent turnout. Comparably, UBC Okanagan had 8,157 eligible voters for the UBCSUO election in 2013 and yielded a 10.5 per cent voter turnout. In 2012, 25 per cent of eligible students voted but less than seven per cent did in 2011, as reported by The Phoenix. SFU’s SFSS election had an 11 per cent voter turnout in 2012 and 23.4 per cent turnout in 2011. Several Western Canadian university students have already elected student representatives for the coming academic year. UAlberta’s UASU 2014 election had a 19.9 per cent voter turnout, as reported by The Gateway on March 6. In 2013 it saw a 22.1 per cent of eligible

student voters at the polls. UBC’s AMS election had a 22.4 per cent voter turnout this year and a 43.9 per cent turnout in 2013. UVic’s UVSS election had a 17.08 per cent voter turnout this year, while 18.83 per cent of the students voted last year. TRUSU’s electoral committee was unable to provide comment on election participation before press time, but 2012-2013 TRUSU president Dustin McIntyre’s post-election comments in 2013 revealed the union was happy with the election, despite the drop in voters. Nominations for the TRUSU 2014 general election are open until March 14, with the campaign period opening March 17. There are 13 positions for election: four executives, five advocacy representatives and four directors at large.

See DEMOCRACY NEEDS Pg.

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It’s not a satisfaction survey...it’s looking at actual behaviours.”

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If you could start over again, would you go to the same institution you are now attending? The NSSE survey lets you give feedback to help administration and management of the school know what you actually care about, engage with and how they should improve. ( Jessica Klymchuk/ The Omega)


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March 12, 2014 by The Omega - Issuu