July 2014 by The Omega

The Omega

Volume 23, Issue 29 July 2014

Thompson Rivers University’s Independent Student Newspaper

Tenancy Feature

Op-Ed

Features

Puzzles

Sports

Page 2

Page 3

Pages 4, 5

Page 6

Page 7

Know your rights as a renter

Adopting open textbooks

Not all rental situations are equally protected by the Residential Tenancy Act

How some are attempting to mitigate the exorbitant cost of attending post-secondary

Your guide to campus construction

A look at sports corruption

How campus, especially food services, will look different in the coming academic school year

Dave Zirin explores Brazil’s (and the world’s) relationship with major sporting events

Feature Know your rights as a renter 2

July 2014

Assuming, of course, that you have any rights to begin with Kim Anderson Ω Contributor Meg Sequeira was searching for a place to rent during her first year at TRU. Like many other students, she used classified ads in her housing search and found an attractive posting for a furnished suite, went for a viewing and decided it would be a good fit. Sequeira said she was told that she would be staying in the bottom portion of a split-level home and would have her own bathroom and access to a private entrance. She would be paying a flat fee for rent and the living situation fit her needs. After moving in, Sequeira found that her landlord was changing much of what was agreed upon originally. She said the landlord tried to increase the rent, never provided a key to her private entrance (only to the main entrance upstairs), and the family started using the downstairs bathroom without consultation or discussion while the top floor of the home was under repair. Not wanting to stay in the house any longer, Sequeira decided to move out. She packed her things, left them in her room and went to visit her family. When she returned, she found that the locks had been changed and all of her personal items were outside in the snow. In January, right before winter semester, without money, a place to live or a backup plan, Sequeira was forced to stay with friends. “It was rough. I went to a really bad place. I didn’t go to class. I didn’t pay my fees. I told my parents that I wasn’t coming back here,” she said. Sequeira and her landlord did sign a Residential Tenancy Agreement, but she was never provided a copy. Because she didn’t have a copy to show the police, there was no proof that she had ever lived there. All she could do is collect her things and try to move on. Under the province’s Residential Tenancy Act (RTA), landlords are required to provide tenants with a copy of the signed form within 21 days. Unfortunately, situations like

the one Sequeira found herself in are common amongst university students. Many are first-time renters and can easily fall into bad or unsafe living situations. An affordable renting option that attracts many students is renting out a single room, rather than a full suite or apartment, which is what Sequeira intended to do. The bulletin boards at TRU are plastered with ads for “rooms for rent.” Kijiji boasts dozens of “rooms for rent” postings. Renting a single room is attractive to students for many reasons. Primarily because the room and the rest of the house is oftentimes furnished. Basically all the student has to provide is personal items. Additionally, these rooms offer utilities and Internet included in the rent, which can save the renter anywhere from $50 to $100 per month. Usually, these rooms are in the landlord or owner’s home, and this is when things get complicated. In a typical renting situation (where the landlord does not live in the same residence as the renter), the landlord will require the tenant to sign a month-to-month or fixed term lease. The lease agreement is a standard form that outlines all the rights and responsibilities of both landlord and tenant. It is issued by the province’s Residential Tenancy Branch. The Branch offers legal protection and representation for

Signing a Residential Tenancy Agreement might give you confidence you’ve got legal rights, but that’s not actually the case if you’re renting a room in your landlord’s house. (Kim Anderson/The Omega)

common areas, the renter is not protected by the RTA. Technically, they are not even “tenants” under the law. Even if the standard form is filled out and signed, it essentially just becomes a personal contract outlining how long a person agrees to stay in the room. Neither the renter nor the landlord has protection under the RTA in this situation. If any dispute should arise, the landlord or tenant must pursue the case through small claims court. This can be surprising and misleading, because —Meg Sequeira, many might believe that by signing the Student and renter agreement, they have the same legal rights and protections as a tenant. Law student Matt both parties in case of legal dispute, Livingston volunteers for the TRU law program’s free legal according to the province’s website. According to the Tenant Resource information clinic for students & Advisory Centre, an organization and community members and that provides legal and renting confirmed that this is an issue. “If there are any kind of shared information to tenants, when a renter agrees to rent a single room in the utilities, like a bathroom or kitchen, same house as the owner that shares with the landlord or owner, the RTA

“

I told my parents that I wasn’t coming back here,”

doesn’t apply,” Livingston said. Because the traditional legal rights of tenants are non-existent in this circumstance, the landlord is free to act in whatever manner they choose. This could mean changing terms that had been agreed upon, or invading the renter’s privacy. “It’s just intimidating if you don’t have experience looking at legislation. Just be aware of your rights before you enter any agreement,” Livingston said. This means that students who are first-time renters can get into trouble quickly, unless they take the proper precautions to protect themselves. If students or members of the community find themselves in a troublesome legal situation, there are resources available on campus. The school of law at TRU is offering free legal information. While they cannot give legal advice, they can help individuals navigate the laws. The law school provides online resources, toll-free hotlines, pamphlets and most importantly, assistance in navigating through often complicated legal text. “We will sit and go through the information with the client, and if they still need help with some

of the information, we can direct them to advisory or informational resources,” TRU law professor Margaret Hall said. The weekly information services run during the school year and are currently being scheduled for the upcoming fall term. TRUSU also has experienced and knowledgeable members’ advocates who can provide support for housing and tenancy issues. They can be contacted through a request form on the TRUSU website. Once the form is submitted, a meeting with an advocate can be scheduled. They can also provide contact information for nonprofit and pro-bono legal assistance. All students should be aware and knowledgeable about their legal rights as tenants and what protections the RTA actually provides before searching for housing. The last thing students need is the added stress of an uncertain or unsafe living situation. Looking back now, Sequeira recalls the lesson she learned. “Keep a copy of the agreement. Bottom line. Even if you see a place and like it, spend a long time looking for [warning] signals and talking to the landlord. Even if you’re desperate, it’s better to wait.”

The Omega · Volume 23, Issue 29

The Omega www.truomega.ca

July 2014 Volume 23, Issue 29

Published since November 27, 1991

editorialstaff Mike Davies Sean Brady editor@truomega.ca

250-828-5069

@PaperguyDavies @iamseanbrady NEWS EDITOR

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ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR

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Editor’s Note

ROVING EDITOR

Sean Brady Ω Co-Editor-in-Chief

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SCIENCE & TECH EDITOR

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omegacontributors Kim Anderson

publishingboard EDITOR-IN-CHIEF * Mike Davies INDUSTRY REP * Chris Foulds FACULTY REP * Charles Hays STUDENT REP * Travis Persaud STUDENT REP * Hugo Yuen STUDENT REP * Adam Williams

letterspolicy

Literary and visual submissions are welcomed. All submissions are subject to editing for brevity, taste and legality. The Omega will attempt to publish each letter received, barring time and space constraints. The editor will take care not to change the intention or tone of submissions, but will not publish material deemed to exhibit sexism, racism or homophobia. Letters for publication must include the writer’s name (for publication) and contact details (not for publication). The Omega reserves the right not to publish any letter or submitted material. Opinions expressed in any section with an “Opinion” label do not represent those of The Omega, the Cariboo Student Newspaper Society, its Board of Directors or its staff. Opinions belong only to those who have signed them.

All material in this publication is copyright The Omega and may not be reproduced without the expressed consent of the publisher. All unsolicited submissions become copyright Omega 2014.

After reading the work of Mike Davies (pg. 4) this issue, I wondered what the future of post-secondary education might look like if a model like this is not ignored. The move towards open textbooks is a step that no educator should be afraid to take. On the horizon of post-secondary education are things that do not even resemble modern academia. There are no textbook deals, there are no major worries over tuition and there’s barely even a university campus. So what am I talking about? Well, a number of things. First, there’s the MOOC. The massive open online course. These courses are wildly successful, in some regards, and struggling in others. Harvard and MIT teamed up to release data on 476,532 students (that’s the “massive” part) who had participated in free MOOC courses in the 2013 academic year. Data compiled by San Francisco software engineer Max Woolf shows that completion rates across the 13 free courses were around just three per cent. Woolf said this is likely explained by people signing up “just for fun.” He’s probably

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right. They’re free, after all. But the poor completion rates shouldn’t be anything to worry about, and the sheer numbers of signups alone should indicate to educators that the interest is there on a scale that is massive indeed. Increasing completion rates can always be things to work on in the future. The fact that Harvard offers its Intro to Computer Science course for free online makes me hopeful for the future of accessible education. It serves as a statement that the most important part of postsecondary is that people are being educated. When I look at universities who never seem to stop talking about money, I find it pretty difficult to remember that students should only be there to learn and educators should only be there to teach. Of course there are economic realities that keep this from happening, but it should be every a d m i n i s t r a t o r ’s responsibility to minimize that as much as possible. MOOCs might not be the solution, but they’re a giant leap in the right direction – one you don’t see many universities taking, and really, I don’t blame them. The decision to start giving it all away for free is a very difficult thing to go back on, and once you start, your success might even hurt you. So, forget the giant leap. Let’s

try a baby step. How about open textbooks? The widespread adoption of open textbooks would not only alleviate a huge financial burden on already cash-starved students, but it would serve as a bellwether for postsecondary education. The direction towards open and accessible education would be undeniable. The proportion of Canadians acquiring a university degree has doubled since 1990. In 2012, it was 22.1 per cent according to Statistics Canada. If this trend continues and accessibility to post-secondary education becomes even more important, does the traditional model sound like it would work? To me, it doesn’t. Should the purchase of a $150 textbook really be the deciding factor of a student’s performance? Should textbook companies really be treating professors like targets for a big sale?

The professor-textbook company relationship almost reminds me of the relationship between pharmaceutical companies and doctors. When they make a deal, the mutual benefit is clear, but there’s a third party whose interests might not be respected like they should: the patient. The student may be equally left out of the deal when a textbook choice is made. Did the professor choose the textbook based on its quality, or was it the swathe of proprietary test banks and supplementary material that sold the book? Students shouldn’t have to worry about backroom deals made before they even arrived on campus. At the very least, they should know what to expect from their learning materials, and with open textbooks, that’s very easy. editor@truomega.ca

(Image courtesy Max Woolf)

Foodservice woes All the food services construction in the world can’t help you if you don’t operate them properly once they’re open

Cariboo Student Newspaper Society (Publisher of The Omega) TRU Campus House #4 900 McGill Rd, Kamloops, B.C. V2C 0C8 Phone: 250-828-5069 E-mail: editor@truomega.ca Ad Enquiries: accounts@truomega.ca (Correspondence not intended for publication should be labelled as such.)

The open future of academia must be embraced by educators

CO-EDITORS-IN-CHIEF

SPORTS EDITOR

Editorial & Opinion

Editor’s Note Mike Davies Ω Co-Editor-in-Chief When Sean Brady told me he was going to be doing a piece for this edition of The Omega on the current food services construction and upgrades happening (see page five), my immediate thought was, “They can do all the construction they want, but unless they’re going to be open decent hours and staff them properly, it’s not going to improve anything.” You see, that’s been my main complaint throughout my time here,

and I’ve been here a long time. It seems there are never decent food options available when you need them. And if there are places offering them, they’re staffed terribly. Does your class start at 8 a.m.? You’d better be the first one in line before Tim Hortons opens in the morning, because if you only arrive on campus at 7:30, you’re going to be late for class if you wait in line for that coffee and bagel. I suppose you could go over to the Independence Centre for your coffee and muffin (no bagels) instead of waiting in line, but you’ll still be late, since you’ll then be walking back to wherever your class is. Does your class start at 6:30 p.m.? I hope you packed your dinner and brought it with you, because when you go on your break at 7:45, your only choice will be a bag of chips from the vending machine. Wait… sometimes there are pre-packaged cookies in there. Lucky us. Get out of class at 8:30 and want a cold beer at the campus pub? Sorry, it wasn’t busy enough, so they just decided to lock up and go home. In this hypothetical situation (based on real events that happened

frequently), they did last call at 7:30 for the three tables of people who were enjoying themselves, and just assumed nobody else was coming in for the rest of the night, despite knowing, if they’ve spent any length of time in food and beverage service, that the post-dinner rush won’t be happening until likely after 9:00, and there is generally a lull you have to fight through to get to your bigmoney hours filled with liquor sales. If they don’t know that, why are they running a pub? Anyway, the point I’m making is this: for an institution that claims to want to create an atmosphere where people stick around on campus, they sure force people off it more than they should. I mean, there isn’t even a place on campus to buy groceries or toilet paper, so even the people who actually live here are forced to leave just to satisfy their basic everyday needs. So when I read Brady’s finished piece on the improvements, and saw, “Along with the new restaurants will come longer hours, intended to serve students who hang around campus after most have gone home for the day,” I perked up.

About time, I say. Although, it remains to be seen what “longer hours” means, exactly, since an extra hour really won’t cut it for those of us who want to go to Heroes on any day that isn’t Thursday, or for students who live on campus who don’t want to have to head out into the city for dinner. And it certainly won’t solve the issue of needing to leave your own community (TRU) in order to get shampoo. For me, the whole “University Village” concept that they’re trying to get people to subscribe to can’t come soon enough. Let’s start with the fundamentals, though, which, despite their awesomeness, are not Bento’s Sushi and Thai soup. They are a grocery store, a pub that’s open late and coffee shops that are open early and managed by people who know what they’re doing. Start with those things and grow from there. Don’t start with expanding what you’re already doing poorly and hope people can live with it because it was even worse before you did. editor@truomega.ca

Feature

July 2014

Struggling to afford books? There are obstacles, but free open-sourced textbooks are on their way to classrooms, and you can help get them there Mike Davies Ω Co-Editor-in-Chief Of the many significant expenses one incurs while attending postsecondary, perhaps none are as frustrating as lining up at the bookstore to purchase a textbook for hundreds of dollars only to find out over the course of the semester that you only needed it for a couple of its chapters. There are people that are trying to fix that, and you can help them. The solution may be the relatively new “open textbooks” model, which sees instructional material distributed in an open-source manner to anyone who wishes to use it. An open textbook is, in many ways, the same as a traditionally published textbook, at least in terms of being written by experts in their field, according to Mary Burgess, director of open education with BCcampus, the organization tasked with the creation of 40 open textbooks for adoption within B.C. institutions. The most important difference between traditional textbooks and open textbooks, however, is around their licensing. Open textbooks are licensed in a way that allow faculty to adjust and adapt them to make them more appropriate for their students’ learning context. Burgess used the example of instructors replacing American references or case studies with Canadian ones to better suit their desired learning outcomes and make the content more relevant to their students. The best aspect of open textbooks? They’re free. They’re created as digital resources (allowing for ease of editing by those who wish to use them), though they can obviously printed after their creation for those who still like physical copies of their learning material. Printing of an open textbook is done for students “on demand” and “at cost,” meaning, “we’re talking about a 300-page textbook costing something like $11,” according to Burgess. “Students are accustomed to spending $200 or more for a physics textbook, for example,” Burgess said, “and we hear lots of cases of students enrolling in a course and finding out how much the textbook is, and dropping that course because of it, or not buying the textbook at all, so then they’re short the readings that they need to succeed in the course. It’s definitely a huge problem.” “This is really all about improving access to higher education and improving students’ success within that context.”

study on student retention that broke the numbers down according to the financial support they received. The study, unsurprisingly, concluded that funding availability was a major contributor to people not returning or continuing with school. He also recently performed a little (self-admittedly non-scientific) study of his own, where he “did a wander through the bookstore,” and collected data on the cost of a large selection of required material for various arts courses. “It averaged out to about $180 per course, and if a student is taking four or five courses, that’s next semester’s tuition,” he said, adding, “That is one little fact that just hammers at me all the time.” What’s hammering at him isn’t just the financial cost, or the retention issues that arise through financial stresses, though, it’s that he wants to see his students succeed. “A student working part-time one semester to be able to afford to pay for the next semester … that work is taking them away from their studies,” he said. “That work, in order for them to be able to afford those damn textbooks, is also costing them the difference between a C and a B or a B and an A.” McGivern has also noticed the gouging by publishers that students assume is happening when they are told to buy the most recent edition of a text and are wondering what was wrong with the previous edition. You know, the one that they could save money on by buying used. He once received the seventh edition of a sociology text from a publisher, “and I happened to have all six previous editions on my bookshelf,” he said, so he performed another little independent study. He went through all the editions and came

BCcampus held a recent summit on the topic of open textbooks, for which they produced this informational literature. The organization has been tasked with the production of the first 40 open textbooks for implementation across B.C. post-secondar y institutions. (Image courtesy BCcampus)

Obstacles and opportunities

One of the main reasons open textbooks haven’t been widely implemented yet, according to McGivern, is simply that it takes time for institutions to adapt to change. “As with everything,” he said, “it takes a bit of time to seep its way into the system.” There are also concerns about the quality of the texts being produced. Since it’s still a new concept, instructors are wary to jump on board. “A lot of the concerns I get from faculty are things like, ‘Are they peer reviewed?’” McGivern said. McGivern and Burgess both claim that open textbooks are diligently peer reviewed, however, so there’s no legitimate worry there, and are created in such a way that the individual professors or faculties themselves then adapt them to their needs, so in adopting the use of —Ron McGivern, them, an institution becomes part of the TRU Associate Dean of Arts vetting process, as well. Another issue is to the following conclusion: that, as McGivern said, “We have a “Other than the glossy photos and long-standing culture built up that’s the cool graphs and some updating based on a relationship with—if not of the data sources, the first version a dependency on—publishers.” wasn’t too much different from the “The textbook itself is only a seventh version,” he said. small part of it. [Publishers] offer If the course were built around study guides, test banks, video an open textbook, however, not resources, class management only would the material have been platforms…it’s a package deal. And free from the start, but the changes we’ve gotten quite used to that. made to the text—that under the There’s a bit of complacency here. traditional publishing model would When you order the textbook, you have necessitated a new edition— get all this extra material, and it’s would instead be a “running become an accepted norm now.” revision,” continually updated by He thinks that can change, those who use it. however. “It would be a living document,” “Are they more work? Well, McGivern said. “Some new data yes they are at first, for a faculty comes out? You plug it in. There it member. Yeah, you might have is. It’s done.” to sit down and, if you want to do

“

It’s an opportunity for TRU to put its stamp on something as a leader,”

So why are you still paying hundreds of dollars for textbooks? TRU associate dean of arts Ron McGivern sees textbook expense as one of the major barriers to cross in facilitating student success. McGivern cites a recent TRU

multiple-choice exams, actually write out the questions. I’ve done it. It’s a bag of work. But so be it!” “If there are things we can do [as faculty] to help our students stay engaged in their studies, we should be doing it,” he said. “I want our students engaged, and I want them focused, and if part of the problem is textbook cost, and we can respond to that through open textbooks, we have an obligation to do that.” And McGivern sees the opportunity presented in open textbooks as far outweighing the obstacles. “I actually see open textbooks for a university or department or discipline to really focus on what it is they’re teaching. To create instructional materials, a pedagogy, that suits where that department is going within that institution,” he said. In other words, it’s a chance for an institution to take charge of its own teaching individuality, according to McGivern. “It’s an opportunity to create top-notch curriculum. To develop curriculum that has an identity. It’s an opportunity for TRU to put its stamp on something as a leader.” “Can you imagine if all the sociologists in a department or all the psychologists sat down and said, ‘alright, we’re going to take an existing open text and we’re going to sit down and make it ours’? That’s an incredible opportunity,” he said. And it’s happening. They’re coming, albeit slowly. Open Learning is currently engaged in redesigning a few courses in order to “wrap them around,” open textbooks, as McGivern put it, including Introductory Sociology, Research Methods in psychology and Pre-Confederation History. Susan Buis used one for a lowerlevel English course she taught this summer. McGivern himself has pulled together enough open-source resources to create a lesson plan for his upper-level Sociology Research Methods course this winter—for which there is no open textbook produced—so that his students will not be required to purchase any reference material or texts.

“Yeah, I had to do some up front work, but I’m going to be doing this course without textbooks. The previous time I did the course, I think the textbook was $110,” he said. What can you do to help? “The biggest barrier is that [professors] just don’t know about it,” Burgess said. “We’ve done a ton of outreach to a whole bunch of different faculty groups, but we have thousands and thousands of faculty in this province, and so we have to find other ways of getting that information out there. Students are one of the ways that that’s happening.” Meaning you, as a student, need to be part of the discussion if you want to see this change happen more quickly. “Having this mobilized force of people who can go to their professors and say, ‘My friend is taking a sociology course and using an open textbook, how come you’re not using it?’ I think that’s a really good way of building awareness,” she said. And if you’re worried about your professor getting mad at you, and thinking you’re trying to tell them how to do their job, McGivern said that’s not a concern you should consider. “Students have every right to ask their instructors if open textbooks are offered in a course,” he said. “We are in an academic setting, and everything has to be transparent and defendable,” he said, pointing out that a professor may have a defensible position for not making use of open resources. “It could be there are no open resources out there to develop an open text. It might be a specialized course. Probably the majority of courses at TRU will not go the route of open texts. [The information] is just not out there, yet.” “But I can assure you,” he added, “for the introductory courses…the resources are out there,” and it’s just a matter of time, until they’re the standard being used, so we should be getting on this train now, and stop wasting our money.

Feature

The Omega · Volume 23, Issue 29

(Sean Brady/The Omega)

Your guide to campus construction The TRU campus might look a little different next year – here’s how Sean Brady Ω Co-Editor-in-Chief From food services to alternative energy, many construction projects are underway on the TRU campus.

Campus Activity Centre Solar panel installation More alternative energy is coming to campus in the form of a 10 kilowatt photovoltaic solar installation on the roof of the Campus Activity Centre (CAC). The installation will provide enough energy to power the lighting in CAC and the plug load in TRUSU’s Independent Centre, according to TRU director of environment and sustainability Jim Gudjonson. The $50,000 install is a joint venture between TRUSU and the department of environment and sustainability, which is using its revolving energy fund, created in 2011 following a campus-wide energy retrofit which resulted in $200,000 annual savings. Now, that money goes directly towards further energy projects and currently sits at $225,000. Solar power isn’t exactly new to campus. In 2010, CAC, Old Main and Culinary Arts all had solar-

powered water heating systems installed at a cost of $300,000. This new system, which may be expanded in the future, will be up and running in mid-September.

Campus Activity Centre Heroes pub upgrades Heroes, the campus pub, is set to receive a bit of a makeover. The pub will be painted “top to bottom” and will see improvements to its lighting, according to ancillary services director Glenn Read. But that’s just phase one. In phase two, slated for next year, the pub will have its bathrooms updated and the seating will be replaced.

Campus Activity Centre Food services upgrades The food services changes first announced in spring 2013 have now entered the construction phase. Barring any further delays, the CAC’s Terrace cafeteria will look a lot different in the fall. A stone pizza oven and expanded kitchen will help serve up pizza and other fresh made-to-go food. The Aramark-run locale will be

called the Urban Market and will open in mid-September, Read said.

Old Main Food services upgrades Last year’s food services plans will be going ahead in Old Main, too, but with a few changes. The original plans called for a number of restaurants to occupy the Revvup space and beyond, but the floor load for the second floor of Old Main was found to be insufficient for a commercial kitchen in the B.C. building code, which requires 100 lbs/ft², twice what the second floor supports. The bulk of the new construction will now take place on the mezzanine above Student Street, instead of just inside the door on the second floor, once occupied by Revvup. The mezzanine will soon be home to a still-unnamed restaurant with diverse offerings like samosas, Thai soups and other fresh made-to-go items. The mezzanine, being a newer structure, met the requirements for a kitchen, according to Read, so the development was moved out there. The project is set to be finished by Sept. 1, 2014. “It’s going to be a big improvement. From the flooring to

the railing, there’s new soft seating going in on that level. We’re hoping it’s a nice inviting environment for students to enjoy the food and to congregate.” The storefront that was once Revvup and Extreme Pita is seeing cosmetic upgrades and will soon become a Bento Sushi. “To accommodate, we’ve blown through one of the walls and we’re creating additional seating for students, as well as another meeting space for students to congregate,” Read said. Along with the new restaurants will come longer hours, intended to serve students who hang around campus after most have gone home for the day.

Old Main Student St. washrooms The washrooms at the Student Street intersection in Old Main are currently undergoing renovations. Instead of the old sequential doors, the new washrooms will be doorless. The entryways have been moved to the side, and a chicane-style entry maintains the necessary privacy. According to director of facilities Les Tabata. New fixtures have also been installed, as well as hand dryers to reduce the paper build up seen in the old washrooms.

Clock Tower Exterior refinishing The Clock Tower is set to be refreshed, as well. The building’s exterior will be receiving a new coating of stucco and have its window mullions painted, according to Tabata. The building, build in 1990, is one of TRU’s oldest.

Arts & Education Stairway to TRUSU Those looking to get from Arts & Education to TRUSU’s Independent Centre will now have an easier way to get there. A new set of stairs has been installed to make the trip quicker and easier.

Campus Activity Centre Future upgrades The CAC will be the next place of focus for upgrades, according to Read, who wants to make sure that when the president is speaking in the Grand Hall, that it’s actually in a “grand hall.” Watch The Omega for updates to keep an eye on these projects and future campus developments.

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MYLES MELLOR AND SALLY YORK

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July 2014

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Sports

The Omega · Volume 23, Issue 29

Book review: Brazil’s Dance with the Devil Dave Zirin shows us how sports writing can be more than box scores and statistics – it can help change the world Mike Davies Ω Co-Editor-in-Chief “In 1729, it was against the law [in Brazil] to construct new roads that would facilitate mining. In 1785, if you owned your own spinning mill or loom, you were ordered to burn it or the state would do it for you. Let us be clear about why this was happening: forced industrial underdevelopment. Deliberately stopping Brazil from industrializing ensured that European industry would reign supreme and Brazil would be used almost exclusively as a source of raw material.” Sportswriter Dave Zirin goes deep in his latest book, Brazil’s Dance With the Devil: The World Cup, The Olympics, and the Fight for Democracy. He uses the Portuguese (and later British) plundering and intentional underdevelopment and exploitation of the Brazilian people throughout history that created the foundation of the country to lay the groundwork and enable the current exploitation of the Brazilian people by organizations such as the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) and the International Olympic Committee (IOC), as well as the behaviour of the Brazilian government itself in its dealings with its own population. Zirin has executed a masterpiece of journalism with this work.

You don’t usually think of books in those terms, but what else would you call an examination of this depth into injustice, using a historical context, examined from multiple angles, layered onto current issues we generally don’t see and are enraged by when they’re shown to us? This is 216 pages of long-form journalism that you just can’t put down if you care about sports, injustice, history, equality, or, your fellow humans in general. He opens by putting you there, in Brazil, as he and his research partner, Zach Zill, explore Rio de Janeiro, on foot, and delight your senses with the sights and sounds of the favelas (“informal, working class communities”) of the city, reveling in their beauty and culture. “The panorama unfolded in front of us,” Zirin writes, “brown granite hills jutting up dramatically from gentle green slopes, a thick urban patchwork of roads and buildings, the shimmering water of the Lagoa Rodrigo de Freitas, and then the ocean just beyond. “Kids were throwing paper planes off the hillside and chasing after them as they f loated gently down. Music echoed off the squat little houses, cobbled together at odd angles. Neighbors shouted to each other across a passageway. Of course there was a dusty soccer pitch at the top of the hill, just beyond the plaza where the tram ended.” Once you well and truly are “in” Brazil, Zirin takes you on a history lesson filled with slavery,

celebrated race-mixing, Carnival, military coups, and some more slavery (okay, well, “slave-like conditions” that produced the “rubber soldiers” of the second world war who are still fighting for reparations), to show you why it looks like it does, before moving toward the present and getting you even angrier with the current government, the corporate douchebaggery at FIFA and IOC, and examining the validity of the protests and uproar of the people over the injustices being heaped upon them. “If we get swept up in the World Cup, but forget the nobodies who are swept away,” writes Zirin, “then we should not be surprised when FIFA or the IOC comes calling again in our own towns and we find ourselves branded nobodies.” Anyway, go buy this book. I don’t want to just keep telling you about the greatness of it (there’s a whole lot about various other huge sporting events, including the Vancouver Olympics, and about soccer in general, and about capitalism and…) because you’d be better off spending your time with the book itself. It’s a tough read—in that Zirin just batters you repeatedly with well-illustrated terribleness that is hard to fathom—but it’s totally worth being battered with. After all, as Zirin says, “It is [Brazil’s] World Cup. But it is our world,” and we all need to acknowledge the things that are wrong with it.

Recruiting July 2014 Updates Sean Brady Ω Co-Editor-in-Chief

Men’s Soccer Head coach John Antulov has brought over two players from the Thompson-Okanagan Football Club’s U-18 program. Finlay McPhie of Vernon and Nathan Hawe of Nakusp will join the squad and attend TRU in the fall. “I chose TRU because I was impressed with the success they had last season,” McPhie told TRU athletics. “I’m also excited that I get to be a part of their jump to CIS. I have spoken to current students and I hear great things about their business program.” McPhie describes his play as strong technically, adding that his 6’1” height also allowed him to play well in the air. An undecided Hawe will be taking general Bachelor of Arts classes while deciding on a major and working on his game. “I’m excited to be joining the program at this time and have dreamt about playing university soccer for many years. I know I will have to improve my strength and speed though,” Hawe told athletics.

Women’s Soccer WolfPack women’s soccer has added defender Melissa Behrner of Squamish to its roster. “I wanted to carry on my soccer career throughout university and TRU seemed like the best place to do that. The final decision, however, was made easier by the fact that I received an entrance scholarship to TRU,” Behrner told athletics.

degree at TRU. Head coach Tom McManus is hopeful that Behrner will be a strong contributor to the team. “I am looking forward to having her here at TRU. She is another type of player we need to compete at the CIS level. She knows that she has to come in and fight for a position and is more than willing to do that,” McManus said. The WolfPack women will start their season on Sept. 12 against defending CIS champions, the Trinity Western University Spartans.

Women’s Volleyball

WolfPack soccer defender Melissa Behrner (Photo courtesy of TRU Athletics)

With plans to become a physiotherapist, Behrner will be headed towards a Bachelor of Science

Outside hitter/setter Samantha Horth of Surrey will be one of many new faces on next season’s women’s volleyball team. The depth is a welcome addition following last season’s dismal 0-22 record. Horth becomes the sixth addition to the squad by the now fulltime head coach Chad Grimm. Horth, who won a provincial title with the Coquitlam Ducks club program, will be attending TRU’s Architectural and Engineering Technology program beginning in September. As she told TRU athletics, part of the reason she chose the university was because the people were “insanely nice.”

As reward for its insanely nice people, Horth will bring aggressive play and dedication to TRU women’s volleyball. “She is an explosive and aggressive wing hitter and a solid back row player who reads the ball well,” said Horth’s former coach Sara Corneil. “On our team, she was the ‘go to’ hitter and cocaptain. Sam is a very hardworking, dedicated athlete. These attributes along with her passion for the game will enable her to continue to grow as a player and have an impact at the CIS level.” The team will start their season on the road against the Trinity Western University Spartans, but play at home two weeks later on Oct. 24 against the UBC Thunderbirds.

Men’s Hockey The 21-year-old defenceman Hunter Jenerou will be joining the WolfPack men’s hockey team. Jenerou, from Spring Lake, Michigan, will be the team’s second American-born player. This is the first time in team history that the squad has had two Americanborn players, according to TRU athletics. Jenerou leaves the KIJHL, playing his most recent season with the Castlegar Rebels, with 15 goals, 42 assists and 58 penalty minutes in 102 games.

Asked to evaluate his play, Jenerou told TRU athletics “I am fast, jump in the play and am an offensive defenceman that sees the ice very well.”

WolfPack defenceman Hunter Jenerou (Photo courtesy of TRU Athletics)

“I am also solid in the defensive corners and along the boards winning one on one battles,” he added. Jenerou was originally scouted by the BCHL’s Trail Smoke Eaters. When he didn’t make the cut for that team, they found him a spot on the Castlegar Rebels. “I automatically fell in love with the team and the community,” he said.

July 2014

We’re hiring! Got a nose for news? Driven to write? A passion for storytelling? Write for us!

News Editor

Issues Editor

Arts Editor

Sci-Tech Editor

If something of interest to students, faculty or the general community happens on campus, the news editor should know about it. As the news editor, you’ll be responsible for all internal university news, including covering student government, university government and administration. You’ll develop relationships with on-campus sources and rely on them for story ideas and the latest goings-on. You’re all about keeping everyone accountable and honest and you know how to find and tell a story.

The Issues Editor will look for new information and fresh perspectives on issues that affect students and post-secondary education in Canada. Things like cost of education, student living costs and conditions, new teaching methods and technology, international students and more. If there’s an issue that affects all students, the Issues Editor should be writing about it. This position is new to The Omega and applicants should come ready with their own ideas for stories and issues to cover.

The Arts Editor’s role is to bring readers the arts and entertainment information they want and need. As the Arts Editor, you’re tapped in to what students are after. In fact, you’re already ahead of the game, and it’s your job to tell everyone what you know. You’ll review albums, films, plays and more, all with a local focus whenever possible. You’ll also stay on top of campus events of interest and be connected with the campus arts community to give readers a look at the people behind the presentations.

Our world is changing in new and exciting ways, and as the Science & Technology Editor, you know all about it. You’ll be responsible for producing forward-thinking content that examines our changing world, especially in terms of science and technology. You’ll be no stranger to those involved with science and technology at TRU, and your stories will have a local focus whenever possible, always looking for the new and interesting on campus.

Sports Editor

Copy Editor

As the Sports Editor, you’re on top of campus sporting events and news. You’ll be in close contact with the who’s who of university athletics, you’ll attend campus sporting events and you’ll seek the stories of coaches and athletes to reveal their lives outside of the sports world. Knowledge of university athletics is a plus, but a keen attitude and an eagerness to produce are even better.

As the Copy Editor, you’ll do most of your work after everyone else’s deadline has expired. Your job is to take the work of staff and contributors, edit for voice and style and work with writers to make sure they’re writing what they mean. You’ve got a strong grasp on the English language, knowledge of Canadian Press style and you know how to work with WordPress, or at least, you’re eager to learn.

About section editors All of the above section editors will also be responsible for: • • • • • •

Taking and editing photos Finding and managing contributors Editing contributor work Writing in Canadian Press style Attending weekly pitch meetings Regularly scheduled office hours

Multimedia Editor Ad Sales/Distribution The Multimedia Editor will be responsible for producing story packages in the form of videos, graphics and photos for print and web, special online-only presentations and more. As the Multimedia Editor, you’re a creative type who is comfortable with video editing suites like Final Cut Pro or Adobe Premiere and can produce on a deadline. This position is new to The Omega and applicants should come ready with their own ideas for stories and issues to cover.

As the Ad Sales/Distribution Representative, you’re business-minded but savvy of how a newspaper works. At The Omega, you’ll also be in charge of delivery around campus and the community, as well as other minor roles, such as tracking paper pickup. On the sales side of things, you’ll be dealing with local and national advertisers and making commission on your sales. This position requires a reliable vehicle and a valid driver’s license.

The Omega

How to apply

The Omega is Thompson Rivers University’s independent student newspaper. It is published on a weekly basis and hits the stands on Wednesday mornings.

Email your resumé, cover letter and two work samples (and/or a link to your portfolio) to:

The Omega was founded in 1991, and is a registered non-profit society, governed by the Cariboo Student Newspaper Society. All students of Thompson Rivers University in good standing are active members of the Society. Find us online at www.truomega.ca

editor@truomega.ca While The Omega is thankful for all those who express interest, only candidates shortlisted for an interview will be contacted. All applicants must be students at Thompson Rivers University during the 2014-15 academic school year. Positions will remain open until they are filled. Weekly publishing will begin on Sept. 3, and production will begin one week (or earlier) before that.