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After growing up in Guelph and earning a bachelor’s degree from the University of Guelph in applied science with a specialization in gerontology, Anne thought she would become a social worker that works with the elderly.

She stands in between the shelves of approximately 16,000 boxes of archival material held at Western’s Archives and Research Collections Centre.

But her career goals made a drastic shift when it came time to apply to graduate school.

As an associate archivist at Western, she is well-versed with the plethora of documents held in Western’s impressive and under-utilized collection.

Nestled in behind the desktop computers on the first of floor Weldon, Western Archives is an untapped treasure containing archival material including a letter written

by Charles Darwin, Emma Donoghue screenplay drafts, old London building plans, microfilm, photographs and almost any other type of documentation you can think of.

“The most rewarding thing, I would say, is the constant search for information,” says Anne of her 15-year career at Western Archives. “I like the fact that I never know what kind of question is going to come in.”

After realizing that a masters of social work wasn’t for her, Anne applied to Western’s masters of library and information science program, admittedly on somewhat of a whim.

“I worked part time at the University of Guelph library during my undergrad, and I think this might be what sparked my interest,” Anne says of her choice to pursue information science.

After completing her masters, Anne applied for her current job at Western and was hired.

Now, Anne specializes in health and medical reference at Western Archives and helps people find missing pieces of their research through using the many primary documents in the archives.

On a typical day, Anne responds to questions from researchers, students, faculty and members of the community who are looking for specific pieces of information.

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Anne Daniel is just a fraction of the height of the towering stacks of boxes on either side of her.

“This, for example,” Anne says holding up a photograph from the 1800s, “is a picture of the superintendent’s house at the London Insane Asylum.”

Anne is preparing to send a scan of the photo to the researcher who requested an image of the home during that time period.

While Anne happily spends her days responding to research questions via email and managing the Western Archives social media accounts, she didn’t always know that information management was the career path she wanted to take.

“I think the biggest thing is [the archives] teach students how to use primary resources, which a lot of students don’t have exposure to anymore,” Anne says. “Students think everything is on Google or Wikipedia, and that’s not the case.”

“I think if students realized more about what we have, like the comic book collection for example, there’s a lot of material in there I think they would find interesting,” Anne says. “Anybody should feel free to come in.”

Western Archives is open 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday to Friday. You can contact Anne at anne.daniel@uwo.ca.

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TUESDAY, JANUARY 24, 2017 • 3

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Trudeau’s visit to Western follows in his father’s footsteps HILL DU GAZETTE STAFF @NEWSATGAZETTE

JENNY JAY GAZETTE Hassam Ansari (left) and Robbie Cohen (right) connected to form the Student Organizations Union to advocate for clubs.

Western Hillel and MSA form “student union” to address USC clubs’ issues MOSES MONTERROZA NEWS EDITOR @MOSESMONTZ Things have to come to a head in terms of clubs and their relationship with the USC. So much so that the Muslim Students’ Association (MSA) and Western Hillel have come together to form a new group called the Student Organizations Union (SOU) to advocate on behalf of clubs.

Hassam Ansari, MSA president, and Robbie Cohen, Western Hillel’s vice-president of engagement, have come together to form the first organization of its kind at Western.

“We want to show that it can be done,” said Cohen. “A Jewish student and a Muslim student coming together and bringing everyone else together.”

In response to a number of contentious issues — including lack of communication between the USC and clubs, lack of food accommodation and lack of club space — the SOU was brought together to foster relationships between clubs and the USC. As of yet, the group is still in its initial stages with Ansari and Cohen acting as co-chairs. In the future they hope to formalize the group with more members.

“Moving forward we’re actually going to put together a committee that oversees how SOU should be structured,” said Ansari. “As of right now, we’re trying to build consensus and work together and have everyone as equals at the table.”

While the current issues faced by the SOU solely deal with clubs, the group hopes to advocate for students and any groups in need of support.

“That’s why we called it the Student Organizations Union and

We want to show that it can be done, a Jewish student and a Muslim student coming together and bringing everyone else together ROBBIE COHEN WESTERN HILLEL VICE-PRESIDENT OF ENGAGEMENT

not just the clubs union — because there are multiple organizations here that are student led and could need help in the future,” said Cohen.

Ansari and Cohen stressed that the SOU is not an adversarial group; Rather, their purpose is to facilitate better communication between the USC and clubs. The group also hopes to bring clubs together for more interaction with the varying cultures and interests across campus.

The university, argued Ansari, is a microcosm of society, housing an eclectic sample of individuals from all backgrounds. As a result, Cohen and Ansari see their initiative as having benefits outside the University.

“If you look at some of these communities that tend to be more insular, I think that it’s the perfect opportunity for them to actually interact in this microcosm of society,” said Ansari. “It allows them to understand one another before they actually step out into the world.”

Ansari argued that this interaction is important, especially considering the fact that some students will go on to hold political positions.

Currently, there are about 20 clubs who are members of the SOU, including the Muslim Students’ Association, Western Hillel, the Black Students’ Association, Indigenous

Student Association and the Caribbean Students’ Organization.

The SOU plans to have an impact on this election by collectively endorsing a presidential slate. As some of the biggest clubs on campus, their endorsement can potentially have a significant swing on the election. According to Ansari and Cohen, the group hopes to endorse a slate that best aligns with their plans for clubs’ relationship with the USC moving forward.

Moving ahead, the SOU simply hopes to bring students together through groups and clubs.

“At the end of the day we’re all students, we should all be friends,” said Cohen. “Why not have a platform to feed off each other, learn from one another and make these connections and make these friends.”

When Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau visited Alumni Hall on Jan. 14, 1980, 1,000 people were locked out of the building. Almost 27 years later to the date, when his son PM Justin Trudeau visited the very same campus building, almost 1,500 were turned away from the venue.

In 1980, the former PM visited Western’s campus to deliver a platform speech while on the campaign trail and Alumni Hall was filled to capacity with 2,700 people attending. An audience of such size would be repeated three decades later when Alumni Hall was packed with more than 2,000 people in one of the biggest town halls held by the current PM on Jan. 13 (Fire code regulations prevented organizers from filling in any more people in 2017).

Although separated by a generation, the father-son duo proved to be nothing short of each other’s charming charisma.

“He kissed me, and it was damn good,” a woman said about PM Pierre Trudeau in an interview with The Gazette in 1980.

“He’s very intelligent. He turns me on,” added another woman.

Almost 30 years later, PM Justin Trudeau’s London town hall saw three different venue changes to accommodate the large crowds expected.

Comparing the politics According to advertisements from The Gazette’s 1980 issue, Pierre Trudeau’s visit was an expected event for the London community, a planned speech from the former Prime Minister during his 1980 campaign period.

Liberal workers were originally reluctant to let Pierre answer questions from the audience because of time restrictions, but eventually allowed it, even though the Prime Minister was evasive at times.

“We were rather disturbed that Pierre was coming on campus and he was going to go unchallenged,” said an event attendee from 1980.

In contrast, Justin Trudeau’s town hall, despite the warm reception, saw the PM challenged by a series of tough questions.

PM Pierre Trudeau’s speech had a central focus on economic growth and opportunity for Canadians, while lambasting Tory policies on the side.

“We will not introduce the gas tax,” said PM Pierre Trudeau. “We will have a ‘Made in Canada’ price mathematically based to ensure Canada will continue to explore and develop, but not one based on OPEC or world prices.”

He would later mention that he aimed to reduce the country’s deficit and increase economic activity without costing jobs in collateral.

He emphasized that Canadians were looking for a government to provide stability.

“All the Tory promises went out the window on budget night,” he said.

PM Justin Trudeau’s town hall covered a range of issues including economics, social and international policies.

On the economy, while the older Trudeau rallied against the “gas tax”, the current PM is supportive of the federal carbon tax. Pierre Trudeau’s quote from the event saying the gas tax would affect “those who are hardest hit already” will probably resonate with many current Conservative opponents of the carbon tax.

When asked about Canada’s $1.5 trillion debt projection and the government’s deficit spending, Justin Trudeau responded by saying that the Liberal Party is investing in the middle class and he stands by the government’s fiscal direction.

That was pretty much the same thing his father said in 1980.

“Our pledge is to hold the line on government expenditure growth.

The deficit is still higher than many countries in proportion to the GNP. We will reduce it but not at the expense of job,” Pierre Trudeau told the crowd at Alumni Hall.

Despite the eerie similarities and differences in what the two popular Prime Ministers actually said, it is safe to say the Trudeaumania of the 1980s never really left Western.

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USC executive responds to formation of SOU MOSES MONTERROZA NEWS EDITOR @MOSESMONTZ

MAAILAH BLACKWOOD GAZETTE Student senator-at-large Arjun Singh (centre) speaks up at a previous council meeting

Senate votes to keep subcommittee meetings closed SABRINA FRACASSI NEWS EDITOR @SABFRACASSI Western’s senators hit the ground running in 2017 as they debated opening up their subcommittee meetings at their first meeting of the year.

SENATE COMMITTEE TRANSPARENCY The biggest topic of contention for this meeting revolved around whether or not Senate subcommittee meetings should be open to the public. The debate lasted a considerable amount of time, with both sides making their arguments.

Senators like Nick DyerWitheford and Courtney Hardy were in favour of increased transparency. Other senators argued that Senate subcommittee meetings should be made public in order for more people to feel engaged and to show that Senate does not have anything to hide.

It was also brought up that there are many other post-secondary institutions in Canada which have open committee meetings, including York University, the University of Manitoba and

McGill University, as shown in a student senator-led report.

Senator Samuel Trosow proposed an amendment to institute a one-year trial period in which Senate subcommittees would be made public. After the trial period, a decision could be made on whether or not to make the decision permanent.

Despite this amendment, many senators still felt that committee meetings should be kept confidential. For example, student senator Arjun Singh was against making meetings open, since the population should put their trust in the senators to make sound decisions.

The issue of self-censoring was also raised, where senators may not feel as free to voice their opinion if the public is involved.

Another amendment that was proposed suggested that instead of opening up the committee meetings to the public, they could be opened up specifically to student senators instead. This motion was quickly shut down by Senate with 37 opposed and 26 in favour.

Debate on the matter continued until Senate decided to to scrap the original proposal to

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make committee meetings open.

38 people were in favour of this decision and 18 were opposed.

OTHER TOPICS OF DISCUSSION As debate on whether or not to open Senate meetings took up the majority of Senate’s attention, other issues raised during the meeting were rushed through.

A presentation on the revision of policy and administrative procedures involving computer resources was also presented to Senate. Another presentation was made by Erin Campbell regarding the recruitment and retention of female faculty members. Her finding outlined a decline in the number of women holding long-term faculty positions.

Briefly discussed was bus rapid transit and the proposed routes on Western’s campus. Currently, the suggested route goes through Lambton Dr., citing the minimization of impact to sensitive activities and supports the objectives of a vehicle-free core campus. Due to a lack of time the presentation was cut short and there was minimal time for debate.

The Student Organizations Union (SOU), a collaboration between clubs spearheaded by Robbie Cohen and Hassam Ansari, recently formed in response to a series of issues concerning clubs at Western. One major issue that the SOU has been advocating for is club’s space.

The Gazette reached out to Allie Adamo, student programs officer, to respond to the SOU’s claims.

Throughout the year Adamo has been searching for a space.

In November 2016, the club space was set to be in the UCC basement across from the Spirit Hair Studio.

However, this space was not feasible as it was commercial.

The decision to put it in the basement was a scramble. Adamo said that recognizing how important it was for clubs to have a space, she tried to fill it as soon as possible despite not being the best place for a clubs space.

“We recognize that the basement space was not ideal,” said Adamo. “We knew that the space was a commercial space to begin with and we were willing to say that we won’t have a tenant fill it this year because the clubs need a space.”

Though, due to chairs and items going missing from the space, the USC ended up changing the location from the basement to the second floor of the UCC, room 269A. Adamo said that eventually the room will be put off the bookable list and exclusive only to clubs.

Upon hearing this, the SOU and many clubs were upset about how things transpired. In their first meeting held on Jan. 18, 15 clubs showed up expressing their grievances on the USC. Included was the Chinese Students’ Association

that felt there was a lack of communication between clubs and the USC. According to Ansari, many clubs were angered by how the USC has been handling clubs, especially when clubs space was brought up.

“When we mentioned it to all of the clubs, after bringing them all together, they were not very happy with it,” said Ansari. “They’re definitely not happy with the way that things are being done, [the USC] promised they were going to replace that club space with a new club space.”

“The USC’s relationship with clubs is already at quite a low and I don’t see that improving in anyway shape or form,” continued Ansari.

From Adamo’s perspective the issue of the clubs space was difficult to deal with from the start, being handed the issue from the previous executive team.

“Is was like the previous administration said ‘the associates have a space but there’s no club space, so good luck!’”

The USC has known for some time about the club space issue, it wasn’t until months after they decided to take action. However, Adamo said that had clubs come forward with their issues earlier, much more would have been done.

“I’m sure that if I looked at the list of the 20 clubs that are part of this union, a majority of them have either never reached out, have never asked for help or have never asked for the reasoning behind why we have our certain policies,” said Adamo.

Moving forward Adamo said that the current club space will be a temporary solution until, in the summer, she can start talking with events and building services to plan for renovating or making a space that’s dedicated to clubs.

London Women’s March attracts Western students JILL O’CRAVEN CONTRIBUTOR @NEWSATGAZETTE Over a thousand people gathered in Victoria Park to march in solidarity with the Women’s March on Washington this past Saturday.

This march was one of over 600 sister marches attended by millions of protestors around the world to show their support for women, people of colour, individuals with disabilities, the LGBTQIA+ community, immigrants, Muslims and other marginalized communities. Though the London march was smaller than the sister marches, it had a powerful impact on many who attended.

The event began with a series of speeches from women of the community, including indigenous and Muslim women. The speakers touched on personal experiences of violence and oppression.

The audience responded

enthusiastically to the speakers, exclaiming “Shame!” Women waved their signs high in the air with clever slogans such as “We will overcome” and “The Handmaid’s Tale is a dystopian novel, not an instruction manual!”

“I think it really opened my eyes to what the actual issue is and how everyone’s voice really matters,” said Paige Johansen, firstyear MIT student. “I was actually surprised at how many people turned out but I think it’s good to see all the support.”

Also in attendance was Micah Ton, a social sciences student in her second year, who was a firsttime rally participant, and left the experience impressed.

“I was really impressed with the diversity,” added Ton. “All the children and men and everyone, and all the speakers were really diverse too… it was really good representation.”

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TUESDAY, JANUARY 24, 2017 • 5

elections

USC slates question each other at media debate RITA RAHMATI & SABRINA FRACASSI NEWS EDITORS @NEWSATGAZETTE The UCC atrium was filled as the USC media debate, hosted by The Gazette and Radio Western, was held featured the three presidential slates running in the 2017 elections.

The first debate of the elections season was moderated by Radio Western’s Richard Raycraft and The Gazette’s Bradley Metlin.

The questions for the debate were drafted by the two media outlets as well as a number of questions were sent in by students at large to The Gazette.

The three slates — Team Tobi, Team DiBrina and Team Jan/ Mohammad — were quizzed on their platforms, their stances on various issues affecting the campus community, and they even got a chance to question each other.

GENERAL QUESTIONS Student engagement was a hot topic during this debate. All of the slates agreed that students feel they are disengaged with the USC, and determined that inclusivity and transparency are major hurdles.

Team Tobi noted that the programming offered on campus, specifically during O-Week, needs to move away from raves and focus on providing alternate programming — especially for international and mature students. They also want to focus on first-year students by working with residence councils and conducting town halls in residence.

Team DiBrina stated that they would focus on implementing

cultural club programming for firstyear students. They also wanted to bring back a first-year engagement coordinator, despite the role of firstyear involvement coordinator being scrapped only a year ago.

Team Jan/Mohammad suggests introducing an international soph team made up specifically of international students. The slate also mentioned working with residences to improve the first-year experience.

The slates agreed that the current club system needs a reform.

However, their methods of how it should be addressed differed.

Team DiBrina proposed implementing a clubs strategic plan, which would outline long-term goals to deal with the club issues.

However, they were met with criticism from Team Tobi, who noted that a strategic plan is not best suited to deal with short-term, tangible goals.

Instead, Team Tobi proposed coordinating with the newly formed Student Organization Union (SOU) to address some of the concerns that clubs share.

Finally, Team Jan/Mohammad noted that it is important to recognize the disappointment and anger that clubs have expressed, and that their slate wants to work to address these issues.

Slates were asked hypothetical questions by the moderator regarding some controversial topics that have gained traction on university campuses this year. These included both the King’s University College’s student council’s BDS referendum and University of Toronto professor

Jordan Peterson’s refusal to address students by their preferred pronoun.

While Team DiBrina implied that would facilitate conversations including BDS, the other two slates — Team Tobi and Team Jan/ Mohammad — said they didn’t believe campus would be the right place for the politically charged topic which causes divisions.

When asked how they would, as USC executives, react if Peterson was invited as a speaker on campus despite criticisms from students, all slates leaned towards facilitating the conversation and not stifling debate, although Team Jan/Mohammad was more hesitant and wanted to make sure that minority groups on campus would feel comfortable or would at least have the opportunity to protest.

CANDIDATES’ PLATFORMS Each slate was asked specific questions about their platform.

A heated topic throughout the debate was the use of UCC space.

While Team DiBrina proposed closing the Purple Store due to a lack of revenue and replacing it with Freshii to provide healthy options to students, the other slates raised concerns that doing so would give the retail space to Western versus keeping it as a potential revenue source for the USC, student jobs and competition for The Wave and The Spoke.

Team Tobi criticized the closure of the Purple Store, citing their worry that students would lose jobs, although Team DiBrina rebutted, stating the replacement would also hire students. Team

MOSES MONTERROZA GAZETTE From left to right: Landon Tulk and Tobi Soledo of Team Tobi, Harry OrbachMiller and David DiBrina of Team DiBrina, Mohammad Hussain and Anooshae Janmohammad of Team Jan/Mohammad.

Jan/Mohammad said they would like the space replaced with something other than a Freshii, such as additional club space.

Team DiBrina’s platform called for Western Film to allow free tickets in hopes that more people will attend and spend money on food and beverages.

The other slates questioned the likelihood that this change would increase revenue.

A topic up for debate from Team Tobi’s platform was their proposal for an airport shuttle that would take students from campus to the Toronto airport. Tulk noted this is something out-of-province and international students have brought forth to him as wants.

Both Team DiBrina and Team Jan/Mohammad questioned the feasibility and practicality of the

initiative.

Among Team Jan/Mohammad’s platform topics that were criticized was a statement on mental health.

On their platform they stated “Mental health and low grades are often correlated.” Team DiBrina pushed them on how they plan to address mental health concerns outside of peak stress times and criticized them for stigmatizing high performing individuals with mental health issues.

Another point on their platform that was debated was their desire to have parental income disclosure removed from OSAP applications.

Team DiBrina stated it was unrealistic to think they could remove parental income, with Team Jan/Mohammad noting it was a long-term advocacy goal.

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election

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Getting to know the two candidates vying for Brescia presidency DRISHTI KATARIA NEWS EDITOR @DRISHTATGAZETTE

TAYLOR LASOTA GAZETTE

Let’s talk about the University Students’ Council GRACE TO NEWS EDITOR @GRACE_KTO The University Students’ Council, Western’s student government, sits at the heart of Western’s campus in the University Community Centre.

The USC’s main responsibility is for the students — they advocate on behalf of students, develop leadership opportunities and provide services, aiming for the best student experience possible. Its mission statement, “To enhance the educational experience and quality of life for all undergraduates at the University of Western Ontario,” is expected to be adhered to in all that they do.

WHO THEY ARE The USC is comprised of a board of directors, student executives and council. Each body has their own set of duties.

The board of directors manage the corporate and financial activity of the USC. Every year, they must approve the yearly budget, and approve changes to proposed USC policies. They have a fiduciary responsibility to the corporation.

Currently, the executive council of the USC is made up of five members: president, vice president, student programs officer, communications officer and secretary-treasurer. Together, they oversee USC activity and supervise council-run programs during their 13 months in office. Undergraduate students of Western vote for their president and vice-president each year, and other executive members are then selected.

Undergraduate students are also elected to be USC councillors, representing different faculties and colleges. They are responsible for addressing the needs of their respective peers. They must also be present at council meetings and actively engage in discussions on policy changes, initiatives and student concerns.

WHAT THEY DO By getting involved with the USC, students are able to advocate ideas and concerns to the University’s administration, political groups and other local leaders. With over 31,000 undergraduate students at Western, the USC acts as their

JIAXUAN ZHANG GAZETTE \\SITE BY JORDAN MCGAVIN

voice. Advocacy projects include the addition of a Fall Reading Week, Fair Trade products on campus and experiential learning for non-STEM faculties.

The USC provides a variety of services to the students at Western.

They own the Wave, the Spoke, Western Film, the Purple Store and Creative Services, which are all located in the UCC. They also organize student health and dental plans, and bus passes for undergraduate students. Other more exciting events throughout the year also include concerts and festivals — HOCO programming and Beer Fest are two of their most famous ones.

Student leadership is highly valued by the USC as their activities require the help of hundreds of workers and volunteers. Students are able to get involved with internships, programming and services.

The purpose of all of these experiences is to strengthen the student experience at Western.

Get involved with the USC elections by visiting the WesternVotes website and The Gazette’s election website for more information about this year’s candidates.

Elections season is all over Western these days — from main campus to the affiliates. Monday and Tuesday (Jan. 23 and 24) are polling days for the Brescia University College Students’ Council (BUCSC) presidential elections.

In the running are two BUCSC executives: Emily Rose West and Rachel Ogilvie.

EMILY WEST Emily West is running for BUCSC president because she believes she can make a positive change for all students at her college.

West, a third-year family studies student, is the current BUCSC vicepresident student life.

By working together with the student council and collaborating with other resources at Brescia, such as the student life centre and campus ministry, West plans to make the council’s efforts worthwhile for the students.

West foresees that the biggest issue with BUCSC will be not filling up all the positions on council and, as a result, having difficulty properly representing the Brescia community.

West wants to increase student-at-large engagement with the BUCSC by making sure students on council understand their role and don’t take on the positions solely to pad their resumes.

West’s two big platform points consist of wellness training and animal therapy. She wants to provide wellness training that will allow students to be aware of their own and others’ well-being.

“I personally utilize the stress and endorphin release from handling my dog, and I want to bring dogs and bunnies or any animal as long as its therapeutic,” she said.

In her first year, West was the awareness and outreach chair on her residence council. She later became the family studies and sociology representative to the BUCSC. Currently, as the vice-president of student life in her third year, she manages the largest executive portfolio, consisting of 20 people.

West believes her first-hand knowledge of what has and has not worked at Brescia, as well as direct student engagement gained through her position as vice-president student life, makes her the best candidate for the presidency.

GAZETTE FILE PHOTO

“Not only through planning events but knowing the students side of it and what they’re going through and being a student myself — I feel that that allows me to have a large wealth of knowledge to come into the presidential position,” she said.

RACHEL OGILVIE Rachel Ogilvie is running for BUCSC president with goals of increased wellness resources, financial freedom, transparency and diversity of events.

Ogilivie is the current BUCSC vice-president student events and a second-year BMOS student.

According to Ogilvie, the biggest issue with BUCSC is not being incorporated and the resulting lack of financial freedom.

“In general we’re not seen as an organization, not as our own entity, we’re just seen as a big club so it is kind of holding us back from what we want to do and what we can provide for students,” she said.

Some of Ogilvie’s main platform points consist of diversity of events tied in with more LGBTQ inclusivity, a focus on mental wellness and mental health programming. She also wants to promote Western’s mental health resources to Brescia students and increase awareness of services available to them.

“I want to add more inclusion for minority students like the LGBTQ community, a huge population of students here are from the community and I don’t feel they’re being represented as well as they should be,” she said.

She was previously a first-year residence representative on the BUCSC. Currently, Ogilvie is a residence staff member at Brescia in addition to her role with the BUCSC. Ogilvie wants to ensure that Brescia’s student body is heard at USC meetings on main campus by establishing expectations that both organizations have of each other from the beginning. She believes starting off the year with strong communication will avoid hiccups in the middle of the year.

Ogilvie wants to increase student-at-large engagement with the BUCSC by strongly encouraging BUCSC representatives to reach out to their constituents, as well as working with clubs and other organizations to reach as many students as possible to ensure everyone’s voice is being heard.

• www.westerngazette.ca

TUESDAY, JANUARY 24, 2017 • 7

election

USC voter apathy isn’t something to worry about Rita all about it RITA RAHMATI NEWS EDITOR @RITARAHMATI There’s one message that remains consistent between last year and this year’s USC contenders: the promise to engage more students.

But I don’t think this is something the slates should bother focusing on students are disengaged, and this won’t change anytime soon.

Only 24 per cent of students voted for a president/vice-president slate last election and only 19.5 per cent voted the year before that. There’s clearly voter apathy at Western, but unlike our candidates, I don’t view it as a prevalent issue.

At the end of the day, many students may simply think — and fairly so — that the USC’s decisions won’t greatly affect them. And they’re probably right.

At last week’s debate all three slates noted students were disengaged with the USC and that this is an issue that needs to be addressed.

In the slates’ introductory interview with The Gazette, Team Tobi cited low voter turnout as a significant issue and a central objective of theirs to improve student engagement with the USC. Team Tobi promises to make the

USC more accessible by taking on initiatives like hosting town halls and having their own form of postUSC meetings coverage.

Team DiBrina said they will actively put in an effort to understand why students are disengaged and “implement a strategy to build those relationships.”

Similarly, Team Jan/Mohammad said students feel the USC doesn’t listen to their voices and this is why they are disconnected from the organization.

From my perspective, none of the approaches any of these slates are taking will greatly affect student disengagement with the USC. Many students just don’t care about the services the USC provides and don’t believe their lives will be significantly affected by the USC’s decisions.

Youth and the rest of the public care about federal and provincial elections far more as they view the impact of these elections as severely important to their lives.

For example, 56 per cent of eligible voters aged 18 to 24 years old voted in the last federal election. Clearly more people are going to vote in these elections as the winners can drastically affect their lives with power over areas such as healthcare and post-secondary education funding.

Unlike federal and provincial elections, regardless of who the next USC executive is, no one’s life will be greatly affected.

Will there be hashbrowns or a breakfast buffet at The Wave next year? Will The Wave be shut down altogether? Frankly, we’ll all survive whatever the outcome is. Slates can talk about things like removing parental income from OSAP, but it’s ridiculous to think they’ll have real power over that.

Moreover, in federal and provincial elections the candidates typically have very contrasting viewpoints on some significant issues which motivates people to vote.

For example, in the last provincial election the 30 per cent-off tuition rebate would have been scrapped under Tim Hudak.

Candidates in USC elections aren’t all that different. All the USC slates have promised to improve mental health resources, improve diversity on campus and advocate for items like “3 in 23.” They may disagree on details, but the overall points are the same. The likelihood of each candidate achieving their goals is the same.

I know that regardless of who wins this election, I’ll sleep easy. I won’t be fearful that my health will be harmed — like many Americans are with the Obamacare cuts.

If you’re a student like myself who can put the time and effort in to understand the slates specific platform points then please do so and please vote. But if you’re busy with exams or extracurriculars then don’t sweat it, because you won’t be affected by it all that much.

The great USC elections voter turnout crash of 2013-16 Breaking Brad BRADLEY METLIN DIGITAL MANAGING EDITOR @BRADLEYMETLIN Just like a roller coaster after its peak, voter turnout for the USC president and vice-president has plummeted — but it has not climbed back up another hill.

Instead, turnout has flat-lined.

Last year, 21.6 per cent of eligible voters cast their ballots for a slate — and that was a three-year high. In the past two federal elections, youth turnout has been estimated at 38.8 per cent in 2011 and 57.1 per cent in 2015. Students know how to vote, but they haven’t managed to make it online to vote at Western.

At other similarly-sized universities, students also manage to log onto a website and make a few clicks.

Last year at Queen’s, 44.3 per cent of their students voted in their student government elections. McMaster boasted a turnout of almost 50 per cent. Get it together, Mustangs!

We pay around $800 to the USC every year. They control the clubs’ system, our bus pass, health and dental plan, the Wave, the Spoke and a tonne more. We contribute enough that people should be voting ,so what’s happened with turnout?

The 2012 election represents a high watermark for voter turnout

at Western — around 36.8 per cent picked a presidential candidate.

Back then, slates did not exist – other executives were elected by council.

This election five years ago was a barn burner. After a rather exciting campaign, the voting website was hacked, rendering all the votes invalid. With Reading Week a few days away, it took a full week for another election campaign to start up again. By that point, virtually everyone at Western knew about the election — or was tired of it.

A year later saw the introduction of the slate system where a president ran with a vice-president internal and vice-president external. There were only three options for voters to choose from but this time there were nine candidates to evaluate.

For many it proved too much.

Voter turnout plummeted nine per cent to 27.5 per cent.

2014 saw a two-slate race that was cripplingly boring. Most assumed that eventual-winner Matt Helfand was going to cruise to victory. While the opposing slate had similar experience and a different vision for the USC, they were bogged down by a candidate who lacked charisma.

Voter turnout took another tumble and as Helfand easily captured a lopsided win, only 19.6 per cent of students decided to vote. In two years, voter turnout had almost been cut in half.

Hopes were high that when the slates were changed to have just two candidates to a team, voter turnout would rise again. Voter turnout inched up but only marginally.

Candidates always pitch ideas they hope will engage the student population but something has happened in the past few years. Apathy like this is not the norm for Western.

In 2008, there was concern about the low voter turnout that year — only about 26.4 per cent of students picked a candidate. Nine years ago, that number made people worry — it’s still five per cent higher than last year’s turnout.

AMY O’KRUK GAZETTE

A history of campaign colours AMY O’KRUK GRAPHICS AND FEATURES EDITOR @AMYOKRUK For the last six years, no matter how diverse the slates, they have one thing in common — a campaign colour. The USC has been treated to rainbow of them: reds, greens, oranges, yellows, dark blues and light blues. It’s the colour that will decorate everything from the candidates’ bag tags to platform points.

This year there are no surprises. We’re seeing tried and tested colours — blue for team DiBrina, red for Team Tobi and green for team Jan/Mohammad.

But do these colours mean anything? Is there one campaign shade to rule them all?

Let’s find out.

MOST POPULAR COLOUR The data shows candidates’ favourite colour is blue. It’s won twice over the last six years and made an appearance each election season without fail. In 2012, two shades of blue entered the

race with presidential candidate Logan Ross choosing teal and opponent Jon Silver picking a dark blue. Both colours struck out: Adam Fearnall ascended to the presidency in forest green.

OUTLIERS While blue is beloved, other colours are snubbed most election seasons. Orange and yellow have been notable exceptions over the years, with Team Roy choosing yellow to represent their campaign last year and presidential candidate Omid Salari choosing orange way back in 2011. Both have yet to decorate a winning presidential campaign.

AND THE WINNING COLOUR...

An analysis of our six-year sample size shows the colour of romance comes out on top — Red. While not the most popular choice year over year, it’s won 50 per cent of the last six elections — not bad.

Colour trends aside, this year’s tight race makes predictions tough. I’d say a spin of the Twister wheel is a good a guess as any.

www.westerngazette.ca

8 • TUESDAY, JANUARY 24, 2017

election

•

The three teams vying for the top USC jobs

TEAM DIBRINA | www.teamdibrina.com

President: David DiBrina (right), Vice-President: Harry Orbach-Miller (left) What is your current year and program?

David: Year 4, Honors Business Administration (HBA).

Harry: Year 4, Jewish Studies.

Why are you running for president and vice-president of the USC?

D: When I learned about the USC I knew I wanted to get involved because I thought it was a place where students could make an impact. I saw the potential in the amazing opportunities for students.

I am running for USC president because I truthfully believe we can make a positive impact on this campus if we change things up and do things differently.

H: The USC has so much potential but over the past few years

it has drifted from its original purpose: serving as a strong voice for the student body. There have been so many instances in the past year where students were looking for leadership but were met with silence. Students deserve a USC executive who is ready and willing to stand up for our interests.

I’m running for USC vice-president to bring the strong voice students deserve back to student issues.

Why did you choose each other as slate partners?

D: While recruiting for the Ally Western executive team I was looking for someone that was knowledgeable about the USC and knew how to push change through the organization. Not only did I discover that Harry was a walking USC encyclopedia, but he was also incredibly passionate about ensuring he would leave Western better than he found it. Harry keeps impressing me by being an incredible advocate and making the student voice heard. He is not afraid to go against the norm and I am confident that in working together we will create a USC that students will be proud of.

H: I’m running with David because I know the USC needs a

leader who is ready to tackle the status quo head on and speak their mind on issues students care about. Working with him over the past two years has revealed someone who thinks deeply about improving our campus, but is never one to think he can do it all himself or that he has all the answers. In all of his leadership roles, the one constant is his commitment that everyone on his team gets a voice in the process, one that will serve him well as USC president.

What relevant experience do you have that makes you qualified for the position you are applying for?

D:

USC councillor (2016-Present) VP university affairs, Ivey HBAA (2016-Present) USC strategic planning committee member (2016-Present) Ally Western Coordinator (2015-2016) Diversity and inclusion champion for the City of London (2016-Present) Theatre Western executive (2014-2015)

H:

Chair of the Western student senators and senator-at-large (2016-present)

FIMS/social science senator (2015-2016) Western’s committee on Fall Reading Break (2016-present) president, Medway Sydenham Hall (2014-15) Community review panel, City of London (2016) Board member, Pillar Nonprofit Network (2015-2016) What do you as a slate see as the biggest issue on campus and why?

Many students aren’t aware of the power they have to make a positive impact on this campus or the resources that are available to help them. This is a huge issue because if students knew about the change they can create, it would foster a culture of empowerment where student voices are being properly represented and meaningful change is occurring.

There is so much potential for good on this campus, but it has to start with students. Students must be the champions of student issues.

What do you as a slate see as the biggest issue with the USC and why?

The biggest issue with the USC is that we have a built a bureaucracy that consistently favours itself over students. This is seen throughout the USC in its food policy, bias for closed-door decision-making and treatment of the club system. Students deserve a USC that supports us, not one that constantly holds us back. The ingenuity of students has far surpassed the USC’s current policies and practices.

It’s time the USC caught up.

What are the top three tasks/initiatives you as a slate want to accomplish if elected?

Close the Purple Store: The Purple Store represents everything we want to change about the USC. It is an overpriced and expensive duplication of service. We will close it down and provide students with a healthy food option in its place.

Mental health support referendum: Our mental health services are overburdened and underfunded, with no meaningful financial support oncoming. We’ll give students the choice to fund services our campus needs through a referendum on adding $500,000 in annual support to core mental health and mental illness services.

A transparent, accountable & fair USC: This is as much

about the little things as it is a culture shift. So many students feel disenfranchised with the USC because it unnecessarily hides information behind a veil of confidentiality and shields itself from criticism. We will create a USC that values openness and ensure it is reflected in our policies and day-to-day practices.

How will you engage students at large with the USC? The first step in any sort of meaningful engagement with students across campus is to create a USC that students actually enjoy engaging with. This means making the USC more transparent. The USC needs to become more fair, so any student who wants to get engaged knows they are getting an equal opportunity. If we want students to engage with the USC, we have to look internally first.

TEAM TOBI | ww

President: Tobi Solebo (right), Vic What is your current year and program?

Tobi: Year 3, Economics.

Landon: Year 3, Political Science.

Why are you running for president and vice-president of the USC?

T: I’ve enjoyed every moment I have been at this school and

been driven to meet and experience everything. I hope my role in this election will inspire people to learn more about the USC, get more involved with what we hope to do as well as join more clubs and improve the campus community. I hope to ensure students feel represented, valued and connected to their student council. Once that happens a lot of the issues we see with communication and relationships with the USC will be eradicated.

L: I am running with Tobi for the USC because we will lead

a USC that’s open and engaging with everyday students. I’m ready to address the real issues students are facing on campus and bring those issues to the university administration as well as the municipal, provincial, and federal government. I am running to lead the USC with Tobi because we need a USC that students can feel comfortable bringing their issues to.

Why did you choose each other as slate partners?

T: Landon is one of the hardest workers I have ever seen.

He puts his mind to something and gets it done. And I knew that he was the perfect running mate because he will focus on each and every student issue and work until he resolves it. We’ve worked together quite a few times and have always worked well together and I think we are the best slate to take this USC in the direction it needs to go.

L: Tobi’s ability to diversify his thoughts based on his experi-

ences sophing, working with clubs and raising awareness about mental health on campus has demonstrated that he can make a positive impact. Tobi reflects more than just a qualified leader; he reflects the everyday student. I chose to team up with Tobi because it’s about time we had a leader that advocated for every student.

What relevant experience do you have that makes you qualified for the position you are applying for?

T: In my three years at Western I have been actively involved

in many clubs and extracurricular activities. The likes of which include my time as a social science soph, a member of the Black Students Association, and also the Pre-Business Students Network. Furthermore, I also have taken executive positions in the Fraternity of Phi Gamma Delta, the Purple Spur Fashion Show and last year as an event planner for the Austen Berlet Campout for mental health. I have also coordinated several meetings with the Mental Health Student Advisory Board to discuss what students want to see on campus.

L: Bringing an endorsement from a local London MP reflects

how strong of an advocate I will be for students. I’m eager to bring my soph experience to the table, as well as everything I’ve learned working on the Clubs Governance Committee.

I’ve been a residence representative on the Huron University

• www.westerngazette.ca

TUESDAY, JANUARY 24, 2017 • 9

PRESIDENT & VICE-PRESIDENT

The USC president occupies the highest position in the organization and serves as the chief executive officer (CEO) of the corporation. The president provides the strategic direction for the organization, represents both the political and corporate interests of the USC and works closely with Western administrators. The USC vice-president is responsible for advocating post-secondary issues faced by Western students, including lobbying at Queen’s Park and in Ottawa. The president and vice-president are voting members of the USC Council.

Submissions have been edited for length and clarity

ww.teamtobi.ca

ce-President: Landon Tulk (left) College Students’ Council, as well as their Chief Returning Officer the following year. Most importantly however, I’ve been active in the Western community here with clubs, local community organizations and in the local political landscape.

Most recently, I was the fundraising director of an annual mental health event held in 2016 that raised $20,000 for the Canadian Mental Health Association to fund the new USC - CMHA partnership bringing mental health crisis counsellors onto campus. Lastly, I’m a co-director of research with the student senators and I’ve been assisting with research on academic issues students are facing right here on our campus.

What do you as a slate see as the biggest issue on campus and why?

It’s clear that many students are overwhelmed by a variety of campus, academic and mental health issues on campus and feel like the USC is not something that can help them.

Students who have expressed concerns to us feel like there isn’t a forum for them to bring forward their issues or ideas.

The biggest issue is an inaccessible USC to students who do not feel represented.

What do you as a slate see as the biggest issue with the USC and why?

We have chatted with many different students leading up to this election and the common theme seems to be a lack of USC engagement and accessibility. We’ve chatted with sophs who think their town halls don’t allow them to fully voice all their opinions, club presidents who have said their wasn’t any consultation done with them on recent changes and affiliate councils who said more communication would have solved problems with the USC. It’s clear that the biggest issue on campus is the USC not looking outside the organization to communicate with every student.

What are the top three tasks/initiatives you as a slate want to accomplish if elected?

Re-Engagement: We need to put a big focus on serving

all students to ensure that students do not feel the over $700 in student fees they pay to the USC are going to waste. We’re going to prioritize connecting with everyday students on the entire campus during our term.

Addressing all students’ needs: There are many services that the USC can improve upon. Over our term we are looking forward to hearing what students have to say, because little changes add up to make a big impact. For example, airport shuttles during exam seasons and implementing a mobile app for The Spoke & The Wave.

Increasing community partnerships: After the recent USC – CMHA partnership which we take much pride in saw so much success, we are looking to work more with community partners to engage with students, such as with Innovation Works, FEMAP, and the London City Council.

How will you engage students at large with the USC? We are most excited about engaging students at-large with our ‘open community office hours. ’ The current USC made great strides with engaging students through their ‘office hours’ in the USC office, however, we are looking to build on that.

TEAM JAN/MOHAMMAD | www.teamjanmohammad.com

President: Anooshae Janmohammad (right), Vice-President: Mohammad Hussain (left) What is your current year and program?

Anooshae: Year 4, Double Major in Business & Psychology

anywhere else. I continued exploring Western in second year by interning at The Gazette to gain a better understanding of student politics and the behind the scenes.

at Huron.

Mohammad: Year 4, Honours Specialization in French Studies.

Why are you running for president and vice-president of the USC?

A: I am running for the president of USC because I want to

bring a new and fresh perspective. Year after year, it’s always the same people running with the same ideas and platforms.

My main goal is to provide a unique and different vision that students are proud of. My central focus is to engage students and make them aware that their voices are being heard. Western has provided me with an amazing experience for the past four years but there are a lot of improvements to be made to the USC.

What do you as a slate see as the biggest issue on campus and why?

The biggest issue on campus is that the average student doesn’t care about their government and not enough is being done to change that. Students don’t believe that their government can actually make tangible changes. This is a huge issue because when students feel that way they don’t think sharing their opinions will ever amount to progress. Each and every student voice brings something completely new to the table and right now it seems the conversation for the past few years has been dominated by the same voices.

M: The USC needs to actively be advocating and fighting for

What do you as a slate see as the biggest issue with the USC and why?

Why did you choose each other as slate partners?

The biggest issue with the USC is the lack of communication.

During our time talking to club members, many of them felt that too many decisions were being made behind closed doors.

This is a huge problem that needs to be addressed. When a government isn’t transparent, people stop believing in its abilities. We want to create a government that makes hard decisions with the input of clubs and councils, not behind their backs. When we hold ourselves to a higher standard, it builds confidence in the people you represent.

students. It’s about making sure the student voice is heard.

Too often decisions are made with absolutely no input from students or their concerns are brushed aside. To me, healthy communication is the most important part of a strong and effective government. I am running for the USC because I will never stop listening to and fighting for students with everything I have. Complacency and indifference can no longer be the norms in student government.

A: I chose Mohammad as my vice-president because I see the

passion and the drive in him to implement change. He is very dedicated and hardworking which is something I value about him. If there’s an issue that hits home with Mohammad, he makes sure to express his concerns and to always find a solution. Mohammad understands my strengths and weaknesses and makes sure to hold me accountable for my actions. We are very compatible and work well together in personal and professional settings. Mohammad is someone I consider a best friend but also a role model.

M: Anooshae is a force of nature, when she wants to get some-

thing done nothing gets in her way. The reason I chose to run with Anooshae is because to me it’s important to have a running mate that will hold you accountable to your word and will be open to being criticized. We always push each other to strive for the best.

What relevant experience do you have that makes you qualified for the position you are applying for?

A: I have been involved with Huron University Students’ Council

since 2013. In first year, I was the secretary under the presidential portfolio and a member of the Red Surge Promotions Team as well as a froph. In my second year, I was the special events commissioner under the vice-president student life portfolio. In my third year, I became the vice-president student life and sat on orientation programming committee as well. In my fourth year, I became the associate vice-president of marketing under the vice-president communication’s portfolio.

M: In second year I was a soph at Huron that really got me to understand why the spirit at Western can’t be replicated

What are the top three tasks/initiatives you as a slate want to accomplish if elected?

The club system: Reforming the club system is extremely

important to us. Currently many issues exist that clubs have to face, from renting out space to having to get all catering done by The Wave. The thinking needs to shift from ‘us versus them’ to a collaborative process.

Keeping promises: Empty promises are made too often dur-

ing election time. If students are making promises, there should be a way to track their progress and allow discussion to what’s being done right and what could go better. We want to implement something similar to the Trudeau Metre to stay accountable.

Academic counselling: One of the initiatives we want to

push is the inclusion of student feedback in the academic counselling process. Counselling is crucial to the academic progression of a student, and if they don’t get the help they deserve, it’s important we push for a system that allows student feedback.

How will you engage students at large with the USC?

We can’t stress enough how important it is to engage the USC with Western students. We want to start by making the USC more accessible to Western students. No students want to read council minutes; they’re not written in a format for the average student to care. However, by summarizing the content of these meetings and creating videos and graphics that present this information accessibly, we will create a social media campaign that lays the foundation for a relationship between students and the USC.

www.westerngazette.ca

10 • TUESDAY, JANUARY 24, 2017

election

•

The insider/outsider debate is just not valid What the Frac

SABRINA FRACASSI NEWS EDITOR @SABFRACASSI The campaign for president and vice-president is now well underway. Despite all of the talk about microwaves, the Purple Store and brunch at The Wave, I see a clear theme that underlines this election: these slates continue to define themselves as “insider” or “outsider” candidates. But underneath all of the debate was an attempt to solidify their qualifications.

Team Tobi has continually highlighted their outsider status. The very first sentence in Team Tobi’s platform focuses on how the team is “made up of students just like yourself.”

On Team Jan/Mohammad’s Facebook page, their description

focuses on the fact that they are separate from the USC as an administration that claims perfection. They specifically brand themselves as normal students.

But Team DiBrina focuses on the opposite — they have knowledge of the institution and through their experience they recognize inherent problems in the institution.

The arguments in favour of an insider candidate lays in the fact that they have knowledge of the institution that the president and vice-president are expected to work within. As David DiBrina pointed out in the past media debate, his slate wouldn’t be starting off at “home plate” like the rest of the slates would be.

The outsider argument mainly lies with the perception that the system is flawed and having an outsider outlook will be beneficial.

With this perspective, outsider-candidates haven’t been bogged down by the bureaucratic leviathan known as the USC, so they are more suitable to serve the needs of the students.

As much as I would like to sympathize with the whole “political outsiders actually understand their constituencies” argument, the truth is that this is just not the case — especially in terms of Western’s students’ council.

Just because team DiBrina has an impressive résumé of USCrelated titles doesn’t mean that they were excused from being a student. They still went to class, socialized with other students and can therefore associate themselves with the average student just as much as Team Jan/Mohammad and Team Tobi can.

Both members of Team Tobi are part of a fraternity — something the average student can’t connect with. Team Jan/Mohammad are from Huron which clearly separates them from main campus students.

At the end of the day, being a part of the USC is merely one item that makes Team DiBrina unrelatable to the average student, but no slate necessarily relates to each and every student. Last time I checked, most

MOSES MONTERROZA GAZETTE

students don’t vote in USC elections and most students would never consider running for any position.

This isn’t to say that I think these other two slates’ platforms are not up to par with Team DiBrina. It’s far from it. I want to point out that

this whole insider/outsider argument is a sham which enforces false divides. I call on students to base their decision on the platform points and ideas that they connect with more, regardless of who is advocating them.

Science presidential candidates fill a gap in your program DANNY CHANG

Athabasca University has over 850 courses for you to choose from to meet your needs. Monthly start dates of undergraduate courses fit into your

YOUSUF AHMED

GAZETTE NEWS EDITORS @NEWSATGAZETTE

GAZETTE NEWS EDITORS @NEWSATGAZETTE

Why are you running for president of your faculty?

Science is a community of passionate and creative individuals, striving for excellence. I want to provide the programming and services science students need to pursue their academic, co-curricular, and post-degree goals. By bringing the community of science together and supporting the visions of the students, I hope that together we can turn these visions into reality. I am so passionate about the positive impact we can make for students in science, and I can’t see anything more worthwhile than investing in the success of my peers in the faculty.

Why are you running for president of your faculty?

I think it’s important to recognize that everything can always be improved. Having experienced how other people see SSC for the past three years and being involved on council puts me in a position where I’m aware of major issues that exist and what can be done to fix them. I’m impassioned by the work done by previous SSC presidents but I believe Western science still has so much more untapped potential. That’s where I want to step in and ensure students are having the best possible student experience.

How will you engage students in your faculty with the faculty council?

Having been on the SSC, I have yet to see a student-atlarge attend a meeting to hear discussion on motions/ other topics controversial or of large importance to science students. I think a big reason for that is that students don’t have regular access to the initiatives that the SSC is running. I’m hoping to work with the incoming VP Communications to work on “council updates” to be shared through our social platforms. With almost 4,000 likes on our Facebook page, rolling out updates to students could really catch their attention, even if feedback were in the form of Facebook comments.

How will you engage students in your faculty with the faculty council?

Working with the science-oriented clubs and science orientation team will be an incredible first step in increasing student engagement. Having direct relations between these organizations and the SSC will allow us to target more niches of science students and allow these students to see that the SSC cares about them.

The science orientation team is the direct link to first years and that is a huge connection that we are missing out on. Rather than creating new tracks to target the students it would be much more efficient and create a better foundation to have strong connections with these organizations.

What are the top three initiatives you want to advocate for or accomplish in your term as president?

Open Textbooks: I hope to work with the faculty administrators to launch a pilot project on Open Textbooks, similar to the OpenEd initiative in BC. This means little to no cost for textbooks; it may sound too good to be true, but with the creation of eCampus Ontario, we’re seeing that even the provincial government is supporting initiatives to lower students’ financial burden.

Mental health support (Faculty): Often, course instructors and TAs are the first to see the burden that university may have on students’ mental health. I want to work to provide more robust resources for faculty to access, directing students to the resources they need.

After the Degree: I want to work with professional development stakeholders in science to initiate a professional development expo, bringing in industry leaders, the science internship program, and other resources for students to find opportunities to develop skills applicable to their future.

What are the top three initiatives you want to advocate for or accomplish in your term as president?

Closer collaborations with science clubs: Science clubs work with huge amounts of science students to get them involved and active in university and community life.

Working with science clubs by providing better access to money, volunteers, and publicity via our page would have an immense impact on the clubs that need it.

Engaging department representatives on council: Many department representatives feel like their involvement on council is minimal. Creating working relationships with the representatives and their respective administration will give them independence as well as allow specific concerns to be brought up faster.

Online textbook supplement fees: Many courses require external programs to be purchased that act as a form of graded evaluation. This puts students who can’t purchase them at a disadvantage as grading is often not shifted. Discussions need to be started about changing or removing these forms of evaluation.

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• www.westerngazette.ca

TUESDAY, JANUARY 24, 2017 • 11

elections

King’s presidential candidates have their say GAZETTE NEWS EDITORS @NEWSATGAZETTE MARK D’SOUZA Why are you running for president of the KUCSC? Student council is something that I am deeply passionate about. I have quite a few ideas for King’s and the future of the KUCSC that are all extremely important to me. I also think it is important for there to be more than one candidate to choose from in high-level positions to encourage the discussion of ideas.

I’m tired of hearing candidates say they want to make change and make a difference, throwing around buzzwords that are completely meaningless because they have no action plan behind it.

What relevant experience do you have that makes you qualified for the position you are applying for?

During my time here I have been involved in a diverse array of activities. I have been a member of multiple clubs, a club executive, a two-time soph orientation volunteer, and more. All of this has given me an in-depth understanding of the student experience.

More importantly, this year on council has been an extremely rapid but thorough learning experience. I will not deny that this is my first year on council, however, I have been observant to the systems working around me during my undergrad. Additionally, being best friends with Nate and friends with all the other members of the executive has definitely taught me a tonne about what the job entails and what the position entails beyond what is written in the by-laws, policies and Terms of References.

What do you see as the biggest issue on campus and why?

The biggest issue to me is the lack of student engagement in many avenues of student life. Many students don’t feel like their voices are valued and this affects everything from advocating for improved mental health services to working with administration for the little things like improving the games room.

Secondly, whether it is a club event, KUCSC event, or King’s event, many of the events held on campus are under-attended. Many students are not engaging in student politics

COURTESY OF MARK D’SOUZA

COURTESY OF VIOLETTE KHAMMAD

and are not attending events that other students have put hard work, long hours, and plenty of student dollars into.

What are the top three tasks/initiatives you want to accomplish if elected?

• If elected, I want to empower the voices of King’s students in being a part of what they think is important and what they want me to advocate for. I plan on doing this with the creation of caucuses for priority groups such as first year students, mature students, and international students.

• I want to work with the city of London to advocate on the needs of King’s students that do not affect main campus students. King’s students have a beautiful park across the street from Broughdale Hall, which I would love to work with the city to reinvigorate, and make into a WiFi enabled study spot with picnic benches in order to get students enjoying green spaces which is a key pillar of mental health.

• I want to fix up all the little things at King’s that have been overlooked in battles for greatness. One example is to make KUCSC executive Facebook pages because transparency is just another buzzword unless you have a plan of action to back it up. These Facebook pages will be transparent in showing the KUCSC what they are doing under their portfolio. One thing in particular that I would like to do is to upload post-council videos giving a brief summary of what happened the council meeting from motions passed to executive reports.

GAZETTE NEWS EDITORS @NEWSATGAZETTE

The ins and outs of demerit points RITA RAHMATI NEWS EDITOR @RITARAHMATI Demerit points are a term often heard throughout election season, but what are they actually?

Demerit points are points awarded to University Students’ Council candidates who violate campaign procedures as stated in by-law #2, elections procedures. A presidential candidate will be disqualified if they receive more than 30 points, and all other candidates will be disqualified if they receive more than 20 demerit points.

In a hotly contested election two years ago, the elected slate was disqualified for exceeding the maximum amount of permissible demerit points.

Candidates may be awarded demerit points for pre-campaigning. Any points accumulated during the pre-campaigning will be added towards the total allowable points throughout the campaign period itself. As one slate learned last week, pre-campaigning may include acts such as ‘liking’ a Facebook post.

Demerit points are awarded by the Elections Governance Committee (EGC) and the chief reporting officer (CRO) is the chairperson of the committee.

DEMERIT POINTS MAY BE AWARDED FOR THE FOLLOWING:

3 pts: Misrepresentation of Facts 1 pt: Campaign Materials displayed in an unauthorized area (per piece of material) 6 pts: Campaigning in person in an unauthorised area 4 pts: Failure to submit campaign receipts (or signed statement of having no expenses) 4 pts: Same violation in multiple locations 6 pts: Improper distribution of campaign materials (e.g. without consent) 8 pts: Multiple violations in different locations 8 pts: Pre/Post Campaigning Breaking any municipal, provincial or federal law while campaigning At the discretion of the EGC the points may be cut in half if there are mitigating circumstances surrounding the violation.

The EGC may charge candidates with a fine for each demerit point up to 15 points — $10 per point a president receives and $6 per point for all other candidates.

The EGC meets “from time to time” at the call of the CRO to discuss demerit points.

Demerit points are also awarded throughout a winner’s term, however this is part of a different by-law and procedure.

VIOLETTE KHAMMAD Why are you running for president of the KUCSC? I want to ensure that every King’s student is reflected through council’s work. It is important for the KUCSC to engage with diverse groups on campus by providing students-at-large with various opportunities for involvement. In my three years on Council, I have seen different visions and strategies implemented to gauge the student experience at King’s. This year’s council has started working beyond the clubs system and council members, but for the entire King’s student population. There is still so much potential for growth and advocacy that I plan to push for.

What relevant experience do you have that makes you qualified for the position you are applying for?

• My experience on the KUCSC consists of being in the role of vice-president student affairs. I planned speaker series and awareness weeks with the student outreach team. I also had experience advocating on behalf of students on various King’s committees, including: food services; scholarships and bursaries; and planning committee.

• OUSA Delegate: I was elected through the USC to represent Western and King’s University College at OUSA’s general assembly, as we collectively debated the contents of the

JAN. 30–31 U.C.C. MUSTANG LOUNGE 9–6 9–5

rural and northern students paper; Sexual violence prevention; and ancillary fees to present to the provincial government.

• I have been on the KUCSC since my first year (first off-campus representative, and King’s College Council (KCC) Representative)) - Ward 10 Youth Councillor in the London Youth Advisory Council: I represented the youth of Westmount area and amplified their voices to local politicians and leaders. In order to gauge the youth opinion, I hosted focus groups in my community about important issues in our ward, and the city.

What do you see as the biggest issue on campus and why?

The biggest issue on campus is ensuring that students-at-large feel included in the King’s community beyond their classroom experience and spending their time in the Student Life Centre. Yes, student engagement is an issue.

Another key aspect in this conversation is: do students believe that they are receiving adequate services (specifically mental health services through King’s)? Perhaps if students were able to easily navigate these services, they would be more inclined to further participate within the community.

What are the top three tasks/initiatives you want to accomplish if elected?

• Full review of mental health services at King’s.

• Sexual violence prevention and education on the new policy.

• LGBTQ+ programming.

How will you engage students at large with the KUCSC? My primary goal is to create opportunities such as co-op placements in London for King’s students and the graduate application assistance program that ensures that those interested in applying for graduate school can have a student who has been through the process look over the applications. I plan to have student consultations on the KUCSC’s vision and strategy in order to see that it is in line with what students expect of the KUCSC. Through active consultations and providing students-at-large the opportunity to make use of new services is a different way in engaging with students.

Submissions have been edited for length and clarity.

www.westerngazette.ca

12 • TUESDAY, JANUARY 24, 2017

elections

•

Breaking down the slates’ platforms MOSES MONTERROZA NEWS EDITOR @MOSESMONTZ

they’ll fix it by including a “collaborative process.” How that will pan out exactly is yet to be seen.

The slate also stated they will be implementing “something similar to the Trudeau Metre to stay accountable” which is essentially a tracker of broken promises, achieved promises and promises in progress.

Jan/Mohammad also said that they will engage with the USC by making meeting minutes more accessible.

“By summarizing the content of these meetings and creating videos and graphics that present this information accessibly, we will create a social media campaign that lays the foundation for a relationship between students and the USC,” they said in the statement.

TEAM DIBRINA Team DiBrina includes presidential candidate David DiBrina, fourthyear HBA student at Ivey, and vice-presidential candidate Harry Orbach-Miller, fourth-year Jewish studies student.

DiBrina believes that the most important issue on campus is that students aren’t aware of the “power they have to make a positive impact on this campus.”

Their top three tasks/initiatives as elected slates would include closing the Purple Store, holding a mental health support referendum and fostering a more transparent

The floodgates have opened as the USC presidential slates released their platforms, websites and social media accounts on Monday night.

The three slates running in the race include Team DiBrina, Team Tobi and Team Jan/Mohammad.

The Gazette reached out to each slate with questionnaires inquiring about main tasks/initiatives, biggest issues on campus and how they will engage students-at-large with the USC. TEAM JAN/MOHAMMAD Team Jan/Mohammad consists of presidential candidate Anooshae Janmohammad, a fourth-year double major in business and psychology student at Huron, and vice-presidential candidate Mohammad Hussain, a fourth-year honours specialization in French studies student.

When asked what their top three tasks/initiatives were, Jan/ Mohammad responded with: reforming the club system, keeping promises that are “made too often during election time” and pushing the “inclusion of student feedback in the academic counselling process.”

Jan/Mohammad argue that the current club system is predicated on an “us versus them” mentality and

and accountable USC. “The Purple Store represents everything we want to change about the USC,” the slate noted. “It is an overpriced and expensive duplication of service. We will close it down and provide students with a healthy food option in its place.”

The mental health support referendum will call on students to add $500,000 in annual support to core mental health and mental illness services.

The slate also claims that students “feel disenfranchised with the USC because it unnecessarily hides information behind a veil of confidentiality and shields itself from criticism.”

When asked how they will engage students-at-large with the USC, Team DiBrina said that “the first step in any sort of meaningful engagement with students across campus is to create a USC that students actually enjoy engaging with.”

They also said that by making the USC more transparent, students won’t have to struggle to find information they need.

“The USC needs to become more accountable, so students can feel confident that those who represent them are doing so,” the slate said. “If we want to engage with the USC, we have to look internally first.”

TEAM TOBI Team Tobi includes presidential

JENNY JAY GAZETTE

candidate Tobi Solebo, third-year economics student, and vice-presidential candidate Landon Tulk, third-year political science student.

Team Tobi believes the biggest issue concerning students is that they are “overwhelmed by a variety of campus, academic and mental health issues on campus,” and that the USC is inaccessible to students who do not feel represented.

As a slate, they believe the biggest issue with the USC is a lack of engagement and accessibility. “It’s clear that the biggest issue on campus is the USC not looking outside the organization to communicate with every student.”

The slate’s top three tasks/initiatives that they wish to accomplish

include re-engagement, addressing all students’ needs, and increasing community partnerships.

“We need to put a big focus on serving all students to ensure that students do not feel that the over $700 in student fees they pay to the USC are going to waste.”

Team Tobi said that they will engage students at-large with their “open-community office hours.”

They’ve also proposed bringing all the USC executives to the first floor of the UCC so that they can chat with students on a weekly basis.

You can find more information about each slate’s platforms on their respective websites: teamtobi. ca, teamdibrina.com and teamjanmohammad.com.

New clubs’ union could swing this election Green Eggs & Hamza HAMZA TARIQ EDITOR-IN-CHIEF @HAMZATARIQ_

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With a week to go before polls close, it has been a pretty uneventful election so far: a total of six demerit points and barely any drama. But there is definitely something interesting happening on the sidelines which can have a powerful effect on the results of this election.

The newly formed Student Organizations Union (SOU), a club advocacy group led by Western Hillel and Muslim Students’ Association (MSA) executives, will be collectively endorsing a presidential slate in this year’s elections. When joined by clubs such as the Black Students’ Association (BSA) and the Indigenous Students Association, the SOU is a potential powerhouse.

The collective membership of these clubs numbers in the thousands, enough to swing this USC election which already has a low voter turnout each year.

And the slates know this. From debates to interviews, all three have acknowledged the new “union” and have been much more enthusiastic about clubs than the current USC executives. All slates have made clubs’ reform a major point in their platforms.

It’s difficult to say how well-meaning each of the slates are towards actual clubs’ reform

and if they’ll actually make any changes once in power. But for now they’re on their toes.

In last year’s USC elections, the top two slates were separated by 1,416 votes. The MSA and BSA both endorsed the winning Team Avila.

While every election is different, it wouldn’t be a surprise if the SOU endorsement pushes one of the teams across the line.

I’ll venture a guess. I think the SOU will endorse Team Tobi.

When Team DiBrina suggested a clubs governance overhaul at the media debate, they were attacked by the other two, who were of the opinion that SOU presented the clubs issues upfront and adding another layer of bureaucracy wouldn’t help.

Team DiBrina’s club strategic plan sounds like a lot of work which may or may not fix issues.

Plus the team has been somewhat more hesitant in commenting on the long-term viability of the SOU versus the other two slates who have been much more gung-ho about the “grassroots movement”.

Team Jan/Mohammad has donated a big chunk of their

MAAILAH BLACKWOOD GAZETTE

The collective membership of these clubs numbers in the thousands, enough to swing this USC election which already has a low voter turnout each year. platform towards clubs and showered high praise on the SOU but the current momentum is with Team Tobi. Their social media presence is seemingly stronger, they seemingly have more people stopping by their booth in the UCC, their campaign team is seemingly more visible and they already have endorsements coming in.

The SOU will not only be looking for the slate that best aligns with their goals, but also the slate that has the higher likelihood of winning.

Team Tobi is already doing fairly well considering they were denoted as USC outsiders. If the SOU throws their support behind them, they will definitely be the frontrunners of this election.

• www.westerngazette.ca

TUESDAY, JANUARY 24, 2017 • 13

opinions

“Splitting” mental illness from entertainment Queen Lear KATIE LEAR PRINT MANAGING EDITOR @KATIELEAR_ On Friday, a horror/thriller film that features a villain who has Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) will open in theatres. Five days later, Bell Let’s Talk, a wellknown campaign that aims to overcome the stigma around mental illness through discussion, will kick off for the seventh year in a row.

See the split?

Split is marketed as a horror film where Kevin, the male antagonist, kidnaps three teenage girls. According to the teaser text online, those three girls must convince one of his 23 personalities to release them before the 24th personality, referred to as “the beast,” emerges.

James McAvoy has been praised online for his portrayals of the various personalities, but the film uses these personalities as a warped funhouse carousel where viewers are left wondering which personality is to come next.

The film deliberately takes advantage of and reinforces a perception of mental illness as being dangerous, as the material for the film explains that one of his personalities “compelled” him to abduct the girls.

Mental illness as a plot point in movies, whether portrayed accurately or not, isn’t new. Movies like Psycho, Jekyll & Hyde, The Dark Knight and Fight Club include portrayals of mental illness as central to the film — often as the reasons behind why the villain acted as they did. The problem is that these portrayals of mental illness shape how people think about mental illness, and often those representations aren’t faithful to the experiences of those who have them. This doesn’t exactly encourage people who have mental illnesses to speak out about their reality.

And who can blame those who suffer from mental illness for staying silent when the only representation that the general public receives about people with their condition is that they are dangerous and violent?

Split goes one step further and uses DID as the monster in this monster movie. The title refers to the split in Kevin’s identities, and the posters reinforce this with imagery of broken glass or multiple shadows. The synopsis is deliberately sinister: “Kevin has 23 distinct personalities. The 24th is about to be unleashed.”

DID is the villain of the film and more central to the marketing than the actual character of Kevin, who exists primarily to have DID. Granted, his various personalities are briefly explored, and we’ve only been able to see the trailer so far, but the way the movie has been marketed has basically been an exposé on the perceived dangers of people with DID. It doesn’t seem likely that Hollywood deliberately chose to release this film just before Bell Let’s Talk Day. But the two events happening so close together highlights a double standard when it comes to de-stigmatizing mental illness. While mental illnesses such as depression and anxiety are finally becoming normalized, mental illnesses such as DID and schizophrenia are still understood as dangerous and violent.

I’ve written about this double standard in the context of Bell Let’s Talk before — two years ago, in fact, and it’s really unfortunate that this is still an issue. Bell Let’s Talk fundamentally can’t succeed so long as it only promotes talking about the issues we’re comfortable with. That goes against the whole idea of de-stigmatizing mental illness in the first place.

Anyone who goes to watch Split then supports Bell Let’s Talk Day should examine the hypocritical nature of their actions; the two are fundamentally incompatible, and supporting reductionist, negative promotions of mental illness present in films like Split guarantees that Bell Let’s Talk won’t be successful for all mental illnesses.

MAAILAH BLACKWOOD GAZETTE

SOU promising but long-term viability doubtful

BY GAZETTE EDITORIAL BOARD

Tensions between the USC and some of the bigger clubs on campus have been simmering for a while, and recently that strain has led to the formation of the Student Organizations Union (SOU).

USC shafted the clubs by not only kicking them out of their space but then not providing them with an adequate replacement space.

When the USC did come up with a space — a room in the basement of the UCC — the room couldn’t be used because it was assigned for commercial use. After more than six months of being asked for a space, the USC finally gave clubs a room on the second floor of the UCC. Let’s see how long this one lasts.

Then there was the so-called food “policy,” which is basically not a policy since it really isn’t written down anywhere or passed by any USC body but is more of a best practices measure. The policy limits clubs from catering their events from anywhere except The Wave and Spoke on campus. For clubs like the MSA who look for Halal catering for their events, this was a big problem.

Then there was the miscommunication. Both the clubs and USC have different stories. SOU co-chairs Robbie Cohen and Hassam Ansari are sure they tried their best to communicate with the USC. USC student programs officer, Allie Adamo, tells a different a story of unanswered emails and offers of a

food policy exception.

For a group like SOU to come together at Western is remarkable. But despite the built up frustration, its difficult to see how the SOU will sustain itself.

In many ways, its goal to advocate for all student organizations is basically duplicating the USC’s role. It made its role too broad to be sustainable. Its long-term viability is questionable.

Now, the group has come together to endorse a presidential slate this year. The diversity of the “union” makes it all the more admirable but what happens to the SOU when the founding partners differ in, say, the next election? Will there be no collective endorsement? Who makes decisions for the group? Who decides on the group’s best interests?

What issues do they take up and what issues do they not?

SOU should have presented tangible solutions that it wants to see publicly. One can sympathize with those who have to deal with the USC’s red tape, but the SOU needs its own manifesto stating its immediate goals. Presenting tangible goals and ways they wish the clubs’ system could be reformed would have made the organization stronger and more transparent.

Instead, they’ve planned a long-term organization whose sustainability will be questionable once the current leadership changes hands.

Editorials are decided by a majority of the editorial board and are written by a member of the editorial board but are not necessarily the expressed opinion of each editorial board member. All other opinions are strictly those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the USC, The Gazette, its editors or staff. To submit a letter, go to westerngazette.ca and click on “Contact.”

Do yourself a favour — burst the bubble Got beef?

CONNOR MALBEUF WESTERN TV COORDINATOR @CONNORMMALBEUF London is not Toronto; can we get that straight?

I know that there is no Kensington market for you to get your overpriced craft beer at, and there is nothing that resembles Queen Street’s vibrant indie community. But can we all put our egos aside for a second and recognize that London is not a bad place to live?

A large percentage of Western’s student body comes from the GTA. But where you come from, whether it’s Barrie, Vaughan or Vancouver, should not give you the right to belittle the city you are living in for four or more years.

You can have a conversation with just about anyone who goes to Western and they will tell you how “sketchy” or “unsafe” downtown London is just based on the appearance of individuals at the Dundas and Richmond intersection.

I will be the first to admit that I have criticized downtown solely because it was different than where I grew up. But we have to shift our thoughts and not be afraid of what we do not know. Instead of denying the fact that London may have a

homeless issue, why not acknowledge and volunteer with Unity Project to de-stigmatize the issue?

Why not contribute rather instead of remain ignorant?

There is no benefit to closing yourself off and choosing to stay within the “Western Bubble.” In fact, by choosing to stay solely in Western’s pristine community you are only denying yourself the potential of being exposed to what is actually going on in London. If you go through your four years not fully embracing the city you reside in, you will leave Western a pretty isolated and oblivious person.

We cannot continue to deny the facts and issues around us just because we come from more fortunate backgrounds. Growing up, I was never exposed to things

like youth homelessness, poverty or drug abuse. In my first year at Western, I had a tough time dealing with the harsher realities of London’s issues. I was living in a suburban home north of Toronto where I went to school and had a car — privilege at its finest, am I right?

Being off campus in the following years made me accept the city for what it’s worth. I saw Oh Wonder at London Music Hall, tried a brown sugar latte at Black Walnut Café, bought salami at a Christmas craft market in the Western Fair district and went biking in Wortley Village. For those of you who aren’t aware — Wortley Village is a quaint little neighbourhood just outside of downtown. I bet you haven’t checked

out the Junction rock climbing scene, or visited Museum London’s extensive local art collection, or embraced the unique thrift shopping on Dundas Street, have you?

We have all been in the position where we dissed London or even full-out shamed it. It almost becomes a defense mechanism to show that you are from a better place. Trust me, I know the LTC is not the best, but that is no reason not to hate where you live.

Last time I checked, London has a top-notch restaurant and bar scene, a newly-renovated mall, concerts every week and a Chipotle. C’mon — what more could you ask for?

Stop shaming the city you live in and start actually living.

Pop. That. Bubble.

www.westerngazette.ca

14 • TUESDAY, JANUARY 24, 2017

culture

•

Poetry crossover breaks convention and links faculties SAMAH ALI CULTURE EDITOR @SISTERSAMAH

ANNIE RUETER GAZETTE

CHOPT Competition brings celebrity chef to Perth Hall NICHOLAS SOKIC GAZETTE STAFF @GAZETTECULTURE The air was thick with the smell of cooking oil as the four contestants of the third annual CHOPT Western competition raced to create dishes that would win the heart of the judges in the Perth Hall cafeteria on Thursday night.

Organized by the operations manager of residence dining, Craig Clifford, Perth’s event was the latest in a string of many CHOPT competitions at various residences.

“They’ve been really well received, especially at Saugeen and Delaware,” said Clifford. “At Delaware they were even holding up signs saying ‘Represent’ or shouting out suggestions.”

The positive reception from previous residences bled over into Perth, as first-year medical sciences student, Sammy Chu, explained, “Seeing them compete at Elgin Hall made me want to join.”

The competition itself consisted of 45 minutes for the contestants to cook with their supply of two burners, a pantry of ingredients and

four mystery, mandatory ingredients that were only revealed just prior to the start. Afterwards, the judges viewed each participant’s two dishes, one for taste and one for presentation, to decide a winner. A ‘People’s Choice’ would also be awarded based on ballots from the audience.

One of these judges was Vikram Vij, a celebrity chef featured on Food Network Canada’s Chopped, whose passion for cooking and engagement with everyone around him was evident throughout. He never stopped moving, whether it be regaling the audience or helping out the contestants during cooking.

All this happened while the CHOPT Snapchat crew constantly shot the frenetic cooking.

“Anything that is genuinely heartfelt, whether it is a competition or just a person cooking, a person putting passion behind it is the most important thing,” Vij explains of his philosophy. “It’s not about a competition, it’s more about showcasing the passion and love of the students.”

All four competitors discovered

their love of cooking at a young age.

Austin Tam, a first-year computer science and BMOS student, says he was taught by his mom. “She taught me Hong Kong style, Singapore, Italian, Asian, from when I was 10 years old.”

Many of them were fans of Vij, like first-year BMOS student Doug Chiu who said, “It’d be a great honour meeting him and having him taste my food.” Second-year medical science student Megha Shetty echoed his sentiments as Vij is a “favourite of hers.”

Tam’s dish was a Hong Kong style pasta with a tropical salad, Chu created a potato cheese cauliflower medley with steamed rice on the side, Chiu cooked a cauliflower hash, pasta with Vij’s sauce, and fried chicken, while Shetty made some aloo gobi and a tandoori paneer.

Ultimately, it was Shetty who took home the judge’s trophy, while Chu made off with the People’s Choice award. All participants received signed copies of Vij’s cookbook, as well as an increased passion for the cooking arts.

On Jan. 11, the International and Graduate Affairs Building atrium echoed with sounds and poetic experimentalism for the start of Margaret Christakos’ Poetry Crossover.

As this academic year’s Canada Council writer-in-residence, Christakos is collaborating with different artistic hubs on Western’s campus to encourage interdisciplinary crossovers through prose and poetics. The series is composed of four events — Kickoff, Boomerang, Whissper and Fast — welcoming students from all departments to participate in interactive workshops to express their creativity outside of their field of study.

Christakos believes it’s important to encourage everyone who isn’t in a writing program to take part in opportunities offered by other disciplines. She points out that students have a tendency to box themselves into events primarily targeted towards their faculty, and that she organized Poetry Crossover to break this proverbial wall. She hopes more students are willing to take part in this multi-genre series to witness poetic exploration in different spaces on campus.

The first event, Kickoff, opened Poetry Crossover, during which participants found themselves playing with sounds and noises in open spaces.

The second event, Boomerang, will take place on Feb. 9 in the Artlab Gallery. Gaining inspiration from the art installations, students can expect to write pieces on the gallery or the

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art itself and the inspiration they draw from it.

Whissper, the third event taking place on March 2, will be stationed in the library as writers interact with different forms of silence. Christakos explains that in a loud and noisy culture, this event experiments with what it means to be quiet and looks forward to collaborating with the School for Advanced Studies in the Arts and Humanities.

The final event, Fast, will play off the idea of food consumption in food courts and the sustainability of what we eat. The experimental writing class is working together with Christakos to formulate the usage of sound and positioning in a food court and plan on taking this up on March 14.

Christakos points out the topics are extremely diverse but she’s excited to see how each space influences the final poems.

“Over the term these four interactions will be a variety of ways of bringing poetry into spaces with students who think outside the box, think outside their course work and create work that performs public address in interesting ways,” she says.

Christakos continues by emphasizing that we subtly become restricted by our surroundings and fear breaking out of them. She believes analyzing these regulations is where we can deconstruct conventions and increase our creativity.

Through the series, Christakos strives to rework the standard poetry structure of poet and listener and realize that we are all listeners and speakers in an interactive, bustling space.

• www.westerngazette.ca

TUESDAY, JANUARY 24, 2017 • 15

sports

Mustangs support Bell Let’s Talk CHARLIE O’CONNOR CLARKE SPORTS EDITOR @CHARLIEJCLARKE If you see students wearing blue toques across campus this month, there’s a chance that they’re varsity athletes showing solidarity and raising awareness for Canadians suffering from mental health issues.

The Western Mustangs athletic program is participating in the Bell Let’s Talk initiative, a movement that began in 2010 and seeks to open up conversation about mental health in Canada.

According to the varsity athletic coordinator at Western, Bonnie Cooper, the athletic department is holding a number of events across campus this month, culminating in Bell Let’s Talk Day on Jan. 25.

“The big event will be next week on Bell Let’s Talk day,” Cooper said. “We have the hockey game on that day where we’ll have student athletes and a social area in the lobby where anybody who comes to the game can sign the banner, and we’ll have bangers and face tattoos to put around Thompson to show support.”

According to the Bell website, the Bell Let’s Talk initiative has already raised over $79 million since its inception, and is projected to reach the $100 million mark by 2020.

But the movement is about

more than just raising money.

Raising awareness and urging people to seek help and speak out are key aspects that have been embraced by organizations and corporations across Canada. And the Mustangs athletic department has a unique opportunity to spread awareness and push the conversation on Western’s campus.

“It’s such an important cause and it affects all populations, and our student athletes are such a powerful means to deliver messages with what they do,” said Cooper. “And athletes are expected to toughen it up, suck it up and keep playing, but really our challenge is to get them to break that barrier and ask for help.”

As one of the most recognizable and influential groups on campus, Western athletes have an ability to raise awareness through networking and social media.

According to Jedson Tavernier, a third-year member of the Mustangs men’s basketball team, athletes on campus have been working hard to ignite a mental health conversation.

“We’re posting on social media as much as possible and wearing the toques and hashtagging Bell Let’s Talk and putting out inspirational quotes,” said Tavernier. “I also worked with the OUA for that video they put out which had a lot of really intense stories. I think if people see all the varsity athletes

Steve Snyder hired as football’s new offensive coordinator MIKE DEBOER SPORTS EDITOR @MIKEATGAZETTE The Western Mustangs will have a new look on offence with the hiring of Steve Snyder as the program’s new offensive coordinator.

Snyder, a London native, has spent the last three seasons leading the offence at St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish, Nova Scotia. Snyder helped the X-Men win Atlantic University Sport (AUS) titles in 2015 and 2016, and Mustangs head coach Greg Marshall hopes that Snyder can bring this offensive brilliance into the much tougher Ontario Universit y At hletics (OUA) conference.

According to St. FX head coach Gary Waterman, fans can expect Snyder to work hard in continuing to build a powerhouse offence at Western.

“He’s a very detail-oriented, organized guy,” said Waterman.

“He’s an innovative guy and he’s very thorough.”

Marshall has called the plays for the Western offence for the last 11 years. But after the stunning Yates Cup collapse to Laurier this past season, it is clear that Marshall is looking to shake things up to find that piece to take the program to the next level.

Snyder was clear that Western’s offence does not need major improvements. “You’re looking at one of the prolific offences in the country for the last couple years … I don’t know if it needs to be

retooled, but we can always find ways to make things more efficient and more productive and ultimately that’s what this is about.”

Snyder will also play a key role in recruiting, as he did at St. FX, helping to build one of the nation’s top up-and-coming programs.

“He’s a fantastic recruiter,” said Waterman. “He played a huge part in recruiting here. It’s a small operation here and it was all hands on deck but he was an outstanding recruiter and did a great job of building relationships with high school athletes.”

With OUA football as deep as it’s ever been, adding an offensive mind and strong recruiter like Snyder could give the Mustangs an advantage going into the 2017 season. But he made it very clear that the Mustangs offence does not need major overhauling.

During the early stages of his time at Western, Snyder will work hard to recruit athletes to Western while immersing himself in the Western community.

“This university is going to start to mean a lot to me very quickly and certainly the city of London already does,” said Snyder. “I’m excited to get to know students and faculty and support staff on campus, and it might not have anything to do with football. But at the end of the day we’re all a university and community and if we support each other ultimately our individual programs and clubs will have success down the road.”

CHARLIE O’CONNOR CLARKE GAZETTE

see something that pertains to Bell Let’s Talk, it gets the word out more — and all the athletes know people too.”

On campus, athletes are viewed as a subgroup of students who often deal with many stresses a lot of regular students don’t go through. This is another reason why athletes like Tavernier believe it’s so important for the sporting community on campus to speak out and act as role models for their fellow students.

“I think a lot of varsity athletes

are assumed to be stronger people with this great mental toughness, because you deal with stresses a lot of people don’t deal with,” said Tavernier. “But in those videos the OUA put out, we saw a lot of people deal with mental health issues that you don’t expect, and on the court or field they can look so strong, but off the field they’re going through hard times.”

Over 20,000 student athletes across Canada are coming together under the Bell Let’s Talk umbrella to discuss the impact of

mental illness and how the stigma keeps too many people from seeking help. As students who are deeply and passionately involved in student life, Tavernier and his fellow Mustangs can serve a major role in the discussion.

“It’s important to recognize that anybody can go through these things. And no matter how tough of an exterior you have, you can have stuff going on inside you that you should be able to talk about,” said Tavernier.

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VOLUNTEERS WANTED RESEARCH PARTICIPANTS NEEDED As a doctoral candidate I am conducting a study about happiness and health. If you are a full-time, main campus undergraduate student between the ages 17 to 24 who is interested in watching short online video modules that will guide you to explore ways to enhance your happiness, physical wellbeing, and mental health you may be eligible to participate. In addition to the short videos, you will be asked to complete a series of questionnaires at the beginning and end of the study and will also be invited to participate in a focus group at the end of the study. In appreciation for your time, you will be entered into a draw to win one of five $100 gift cards to the Book Store at Western. If you are interested in participating, please contact Gillian at gmandich@uwo.ca.

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PHOTO OF THE DAY

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CROSSWORD BY EUGENE SHEFFER

JENNY JAY GAZETTE Arlene Dickinson tears up on Sunday keynote speech when she spoke about the importance of letting your voice be heard, because there’s no better time to do so than now.

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READERS’ WORKSHOP CHARACTERIZATION WORD SEARCH CLIMAX COMEDY ABSTRACTION CONFLICT ANACHRONISM CRITICISM ANALOGY DIALOGUE ARCHETYPE DIDACTIC ASIDE DRAMA AUTHOR EPIC BALLAD ESSAY BESTSELLER FICTION BIOGRAPHY FORESHADOW

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