THE STRAND VICtoria University’s Student NEWSPAPER • est. 1953
15 SEPTEMBER 2011 VOL. 54 NO. 2
WWW.THESTRAND.CA
Frosh Week: the recap
OOHLALA: Saving Money, Time and Trees From the basement of University College to the phones of over 8000 students in 33 different campuses
Andrea Themistokleous
"No matter how cheesy the frosh events might sound, go to as many as you can, I regret skipping stuff." Following this advice by an upper-year Victorian student, and having attended as many frosh events as possible, here is a recap. 4 Sept 2011 marked an important day for first year residence students of Victoria College, as they moved into their new homes away from home. Upon arriving they were greeted by friendly and enthusiastic frosh leaders, who helped to create a positive and inclusive atmosphere throughout the week. After unpacking, students received their frosh IDs and a bag of freebies including items such as mugs, shirts, and of course, condoms. On Monday morning students gathered in the quad for the Grand Meet and Greet. As this year's frosh theme was "To Victoria and Beyond," students were separated into groups named after stars. The icebreaker games began, and students learnt the Vic Cheers. Next was pizza with the Dons, where commuter students who chose to stay on residence for the week met their roommates. Although they had to sleep on the floors, Sam Reyes explains, "I made closer friends by staying over for the week. Yes, I had to sleep on the floor but it was fine because my roommates
sabina Freiman
"even though I didn't know how to play any casino games, everyone helped me out." Other popular events of the week included the Wacky Tacky Dinner and Boat Cruise on Wednesday, as well as the highly-anticipated Scarlet and Gold party. Students chose between two different-sized boats and went on a cruise for four hours
OOHLALA, available for iPhone, BlackBerry and Android phones, is more than just a social app. It is a calendar, a coupon, an event advertiser, a medium to meet new people, and a ticket to guest-lists all over town – all without the use of a single sheet of paper. Only a year ago, developers Danial Jameel, James Dang, and Alice Dinu sat in the basement of their UofT residence, building an application that they hoped, Jameel explains, would, “provide students with greater awareness about what events were happening on campus, and [would be] a means for students to use their collective power to snag great deals and guest-lists for nightlife.” “However,” says Jameel, “feedback and requests from students turned it into a student life app that allows you to meet other students nearby, stay connected with campus life, and have an easy way to stay in touch with university friends.” Upon entering the main screen of the app, one is greeted with nine categories of events and savings: University, Food, Nightlife, Arts and Culture, Entertainment, Fashion, Bars,
see “the week” on page 2
see “OOHLALA” on page 3
First year Vic students march to the Friday parade accompanied by their Frosh leaders
were awesome and made it comfy." Students learned the frosh dance, which was to LMFAO's “Party Rock Anthem.” Those who skipped this event eventually learned it as the song was played repeatedly throughout the week. Monday ended with the Space Jam. It was quite empty as students did a few activities outside of the assigned schedule (Frat parties, anyone?). But
for those who didn’t attend any of them, not much was missed — unless watered-down beer is their thing. Undoubtedly, the most popular event on Tuesday was Casino Night, as there was a long line-up outside Old Vic. Students socialized and played blackjack, Russian roulette and intense games of poker. Agape Hermans explained that casino night was her favourite event because,
Photo: annie narae LEE
Centre for Environment may be shutting down Memo to faculty, staff and students proposes to downscale Centre’s undergraduate teaching Shiraz noor news editor
In a memorandum sent out on 9 Sept, the Faculty of Arts and Science has proposed program changes that would lead to the closing of the Centre for Environment. The proposals consist in restructuring the current programs offered by the Centre, Environment & Science and Environmental Studies. Both programs have an explicitly interdisciplinary approach, emphasizing the interaction between areas of
Liberal tuition cuts 3
knowledge to provide a comprehensive understanding of the environment and the issues that surround it. The new program proposals, Environmental Science major and Environmental Studies major, more carefully distinguish between scientific and non-scientific approaches. According to the memo, ESci would focus on the scientific basis of environmental processes while ES would focus on human interaction with the environment. A shift away from the interdisciplinary emphasis embedded in the
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Centre for Environment’s current program offerings will lessen the compatibility of the new programs with the Centre’s research and teaching methods. The Faculty predicts that students will welcome the specialization and enrolment in the programs will increase. Some current students cite the interdisciplinary nature of the courses as a source of confusion and pedagogical inefficiency, pointing out that instructors have to always assume that their students have no background in the subject-matter.
Go away (to study) 8-9
Other students worry that without the interdisciplinary emphasis, environment education at UofT will be come impotent as a driving force for tackling the environmental crisis. “Scientists can no longer operate in a vacuum,” says James Birch, who is completing a program in Environment & Science. “They need to be able to understand the social, economic and political contexts that not only shape the problems they face but are also very likely to interfere with their research.” In addition to the aforementioned
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proposals, the memo also stresses the need for greater participation by other departments and their faculty members in the course offerings of these programs. This means more courses from science departments for ESci, and more courses from social science and humanities departments for ES. An increase in course offerings from other departments will render many of the Centre for Environment’s undergraduate courses obsolete. As stated in the memo, the Faculsee “plans” on page 3
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