Tuesday, January 15, 2019

SINCE 1906 TUESDAY JANUARY 15, 2019 VOLUME 112 ISSUE 16

Western University’s Student Newspaper DeJong responds in lawsuit PG3

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TUESDAY, JANUARY 15, 2019 •

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christine stapleton

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Christine Stapleton was born to a family of five girls in Goderich, Ont., a small agricultural town on the shores of Lake Huron. It was a childhood spent playing sports and working on the farm, one where she grew up with the belief that the best ones for the job get the job — and do the job well.

It’s a personal proverb that has remained at the core of her career, from student-athlete to basketball coach to university athletics administrator. Despite being a woman in a field long dominated by men, Christine doesn’t define herself as such.

She is, simply put, “the best person for the job.”

And her resumé certainly backs this sentiment. After a successful basketball career at Laurentian University, Christine took a head coaching gig at the University of Regina, seemingly worlds away from home.

“I was young and moved two provinces away, so that was definitely a challenge,” says Christine. But she was up for the challenge, eventually building the Regina women’s basketball program into one of the nation’s best. During her decade-long tenure, Stapleton won three Canada West conference Coach of the Year awards, a U Sports (then Canadian Interuniversity Athletics Union) Coach of the Year award, three consecutive conference championships and a national championship in 2001.

Christine also worked for Canada Basketball, coaching the junior national and World University Games women’s teams along with other roles in national development.

This passion for leading young people and developing them on and off the court made athletic administration at the university level a natural career progression.

“I want to help young people, whether it be their personal health and wellness or their engagement with student life and their school,” says Christine. “And I want to make them feel safe and make them feel like they belong; when I was at Regina, it was about making the young women on my team feel safe, and that’s the same now with all of our students at Western.”

Christine’s university sports administration career began at the University of Waterloo, where she took on a role

as associate athletic director. Then she moved to the University of Calgary in 2015, where she worked as director of athletics. She made major impacts at both schools, helping lead their strategic visions in an everinvolving Canadian university sports landscape.

But when former Western University athletic director Thérèse Quigley retired in 2017, Christine couldn’t pass up the opportunity. Not only would it be a homecoming for her and her husband, Chuck McMahon, who also grew up in Southern Ontario, but it would give her the chance to lead one of Canada’s most successful athletic departments at a prestigious institution of higherlearning, where her vision for combining athletics with student health and wellness could come to fruition.

“There really is broad-based excellence here, in terms of varsity sports and health and wellness,” says Christine, pointing to the success of Mustangs programs on the provincial and national level in both men’s and women’s sports, as well as the unique merger of student life, health and wellness and athletics at Western. It’s what brought Christine to Western, and it’s what has helped her succeed.

“Western has a breadth and depth of opportunity for students,” says Christine. “We have a really diverse student body here at Western — students from the city, students from other places, some who come to our games and some who just want to be well — so we are finding ways to engage with all of them and make them feel like they’re a part of this.”

Facilities are being upgraded, Western’s varsity teams are winning and thousands of students are pouring through the Western Student Recreation Centre. But while all of these accomplishments are measurable, it’s something more intangible that Stapleton hopes will be her defining legacy whenever she might leave Western.

“I want people to have had positive interactions with me and with this department,” she says. “If people feel safe and included by the work I do and the work we do, then I know I will have been successful.”

The right person for the job, indeed.

■ MIKE DEBOER

Western by the Numbers

All articles, letters, photographs, graphics, illustrations and cartoons published in The Gazette, both in the newspaper and online versions, are the property of The Gazette. By submitting any such material to The Gazette for publication, you grant to The Gazette a non-exclusive, world-wide, royalty-free, irrevocable license to publish such material in perpetuity in any media, including but not limited to, The Gazette‘s hard copy and online archives.

The Gazette is owned and published by the University Students’ Council.

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men's hockey goalie Luke Peressini in Friday's loss to Laurier.

56th place world-wide for Ivey Business School in 2018, according to Bloomberg Businessweek

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and other materials in the Western Engineering Toboggan Team's toboggan.

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news

• TUESDAY, JANUARY 15, 2019

Drunk driver: The Spoke also to blame for student’s death MARTIN ALLEN NEWS EDITOR @MTRALLEN The drunk driver who killed a student on campus in 2015 has filed in court that The Spoke, where he drank for hours before the incident, is partly responsible for the death.

In October of that year, Jared DeJong struck and killed 18-year-old Andrea Christidis on Lambton Drive, near Talbot College. Following a public criminal trial, DeJong pleaded guilty to drunk driving causing death and received a five-year sentence and a 10-year driving ban.

Two years after Christidis’ death, which prompted a campus-wide mourning, her family filed suit against DeJong, as well as the University Students’ Council, which runs The Spoke.

The family claims The Spoke negligently served DeJong alcohol up to or beyond intoxication and failed to properly train their staff to handle drunk patrons.

With these claims, they have sought damages totalling $7 million from the USC, DeJong and his father.

If true, The Spoke, not just DeJong, would have violated the law.

DeJong’s new filing, his first appearance in the suit, agrees with the family’s claims that the bar is liable for Christidis’ death. But he also claims he has no knowledge of whether The Spoke served him alcohol.

This claim clashes with an agreed statement of facts from the criminal trial, which says he

drank at The Spoke for three to four hours. The Spoke’s security company also said DeJong drank there when the USC brought them into the suit. His blood-alcohol content was over double the legal limit at the time of the incident.

In their own court filing, the USC denied even serving DeJong alcohol and similarly denied or pleaedd ignorance to all of the family’s other allegations.

And they went on the offensive, claiming Christidis was partly responsible for her own death.

If the court finds the family’s a l legat ion s t r ue, Wester n University’s quintessential bar would be implicated in one of campus’ most tragic moments in recent memory.

Representation for all parties did not respond to requests for comment; the USC declined to comment, as the suit is still underway.

DeJong, like the USC, filed that Christidis herself was negligent.

He claims Christidis was intoxicated, not watching traffic and not wearing her glasses when she crossed the street and was struck by his father’s Volkswagen, which witnesses estimated was travelling 90 to 100 km/hr in a 20 km/ hr zone.

“On the occasion in question, she was the author of her own misfortune,” reads his claim, a verbatim refrain of what the USC said in their own response to the family’s claims.

No claims made in this early stage have been proven or disproven by the court.

ONE BY ONE, PARTIES RESPOND The suit began when the Christidis family filed a statement of claim to the Ontario Superior Court in London. In it, they allege the bar made a series of mistakes the night of Oct. 7, which stretch beyond letting DeJong become intoxicated to letting him leave unimpeded and not informing the police when he did so.

They say The Spoke failed to exercise “due care and skill” and did not implement a system that properly trained its employees about the dangers posed by drunk patrons.

Their fi ling cites provincial legislation, which dictates liquor cannot be sold to someone who is, or appears to be, intoxicated.

The family alleges that, as a result, they suffered harm that extended beyond Christidis’ death — including the death of her father, which they argue was the result of his heightened stress following the incident.

Originally, the family sued Western. The USC was added to the suit after Western informed the family’s lawyers it was the student government who ran the bar. Western and the USC have been fi ling their claims together, represented by the same law firm, but Western has since asked to be removed from the suit.

After the USC’s forceful reply, DeJong’s claims became the third major step in the suit.

The suit’s next phase will be discovery, when evidence is submitted and witnesses provide testimony.

It is possible The Spoke employees will be brought to testify.

DEREK RUTTAN LONDON FREE PRESS Jared DeJong leaves court on March 2, 2016 after pleading guilty to drunk driving in the death of first-year student Andrea Christidis in October of 2015.

fill a gap in your program Athabasca University has over 850 courses to choose from to meet your needs and courses start every month, AU has over 6,600 transfer agreements around the world (including with this institution).

New presidential contract eliminates possibility of double pay JUDY BASMAJI NEWS EDITOR @JUDYBASMAJI The contract of Western University’s incoming president Alan Shepard specifies that, contrary to his predecessor Amit Chakma, he will not be able to receive a cash payment instead of a paid administrative leave.

The contract was recently published by CBC News, who acquired it through a Freedom of Information request.

Shepard’s contract states that “administrative leave cannot be monetized and paid out in cash in whole or in part,” while Chakma’s contract stated that he would be entitled “to take this administrative

LIAM MCINNIS GAZETTE

leave or to receive a payment in cash.”

Shepard’s contract further specifies that if he accepts employment at a different institution at the end of his five-year term or during his administrative leave, he will waive entitlement to any period of paid or remaining administrative leave.

The administrative leave is a 12-month leave taken immediately upon the end of the five-year presidential term for the purposes of re-engaging in research and academic activities, where payment is equal to the base salary received in the last year of term.

In 2015, the Sunshine List revealed that Chakma chose to work through his year of administrative

leave and to receive the alternative monetary payment prior to the end of his second term. As a result, he collected close to double his annual salary in 2014 — nearly $1 million — causing a wave of public outrage and controversy.

Chakma made a public apology and returned part of the money he received in place of an administrative leave.

“Alan Shepard’s contract aligns with current provincial legislation,… which does not allow for monetization of an administrative leave,” said Keith Marnoch, Western’s director of media and community relations.

Provincial legislation on the effective date of Chakma’s contract did not explicitly forbid this. In the aftermath of Chakma’s pay controversy, an independent investigation into Western’s presidential compensation practices conducted by retired justice Stephen Goudge called for an end to monetizing administrative leave for university presidents.

Marnoch added that even if legislation were to change, Shepard’s contract would still prohibit the monetization of the administrative leave.

Otherwise, renumeration and benefits for the two presidents are similar, including a $440,000 annual base salary, a performance-based bonus of up to 10 per cent, a non-luxury vehicle and luxury housing at Gibbons Lodge.

CROSSWORD SOLUTION Solution to puzzle on page 11

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TUESDAY, JANUARY 15, 2019 •

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Perspectives campaign tackles fear of failure JUDY BASMAJI NEWS EDITOR @JUDYBASMAJI The Science Students’ Council, in association with the Wellness Education Centre, recently launched a month-long campaign to address the culture of fear surrounding failure by sharing different perspectives from the Western community.

From Jan. 7 to 30, the Western Perspective Project presents daily personal accounts of failure from various Western University community members, including student leaders, professors and members of the LGBTQ2+ community.

SSC members Montana Hackett, vice-president academic, and Kevin Zhang, student support commissioner, organized the initiative in an effort to promote mental health

awareness and highlight the normality and importance of experiencing failure.

“When we compare ourselves to other people’s highlight reels,… we start to feel imperfect and start to evaluate ourselves as failures,” said Zhang. “People shouldn’t fear failure; they shouldn’t be ashamed of failure but should understand that it’s a normal part of life, and it’s something that everyone experiences.”

The campaign will culminate on Jan. 30 with the Bell Let’s Talk Day event in the Allyn and Betty Taylor Library with the release of a video compilation of community members vocalizing their experiences with failure and how they dealt with it.

The first week of the campaign included stories shared by USC

president Mitchell Pratt, Schulich professors Anita Woods and Michael Boffa, and LGBTQ2+ community member Virgilio Manabat.

Hackett added that responses from community members have been very positive. For example, he explained Woods shared the story of how she failed a second-year cell biology course as an undergraduate. “[When] students see that, and they [see how] someone so successful, so widespread, [who] teaches these massive 800-person classes, didn’t do very well in cell bio, a lot of people in Western science can relate to that,” said Hackett.

Hackett and Zhang explained they decided to expand the initiative beyond the science community to include members from all walks of life on campus in order for it to

KYRA KARAKATSANIS GAZETTE

have the largest impact and outreach possible.

“We wanted to bring about not just student opinions and student perspectives, but also those of

professors and leaders in our community, those who students really look up to,” said Zhang.

“If we help one person, then we’ll call it a success,” said Hackett.

Housing proposal faces backlash LIAM AFONSO NEWS EDITOR @LIAMAFONSO AMY O’KRUK GAZETTE Onlookers at The Spoke waiting for the USC elections results, Feb. 7, 2018.

2019 USC elections underway JUDY BASMAJI NEWS EDITOR @JUDYBASMAJI The University Students’ Council’s elections for the positions of president and vice-president are now open for student slate nominations.

The nomination period is running from Jan. 8 to 18. Approved slates will then be able to start campaigning on Jan. 21. A three-hour debate between presidential slates will take place on the evening of Jan. 28, with the media debate planned for earlier that week.

“Our goal this year is to ensure that we run a fair election for everyone who is participating,” said Michelle Wang, the USC’s chief returning officer.

The elections process will feature several changes compared to previous years. In particular, candidate violations will be assigned as major, minor, warnings or fines instead of the previously used demerit point

system. Wang explained the specifics of further changes in terms of violations will be finalized and shared at the all-candidates meeting on Jan. 18.

“The candidates will receive a piece of paper outlining everything … just so that everyone has a fair chance to be able to understand the rules,” said Wang.

Ballots will feature two referendum questions regarding the university health and dental plans. The questions will ask if students support a nine per cent increase per year for two years for each of the health and dental plans. After two years of increases, the health and dental plans will return to the existing five per cent cap on increases.

If the referendum passes, the health plan fee will increase from $138.47 to $150.93 during the first year and then up to $164.52 in the second year. The dental plan will increase from $141.50 to $154.24 in

the first year and then up to $168.12 in the second year.

The motion for presenting the referendums was carried forward with a 77 per cent vote at a November USC council meeting.

Presenters cited upcoming changes to the Ontario Health Insurance Plan and other problems facing the Campus Trust fund.

The voting period will run from Feb. 4 at 8 a.m. to Feb. 5 at 8 p.m., with results being announced on the evening of Feb. 6. Full-time or parttime undergraduate students may vote by logging in online using their university user information.

To run for a slate, students can fill out a nomination form, accessed through VoteUSC.ca or the USC main office, and submit it to the USC main office by 4 p.m. on Jan. 18.

Further information on the elections process and conditions for eligibility can be found online through WesternUSC.ca.

Gazette wins three national JHM awards MICHAEL CONLEY EDITOR-IN-CHIEF @MIKECONLEY4 The Gazette won three John H. McDonald awards for excellence in Canadian student journalism earlier this month.

NASH, the annual conference

and awards gala tailored to Canadian student journalists, saw its most recent rendition, NASH81, happen in Calgary from Jan. 3–6.

Attendees received education through panel and classroom sessions from industry professionals, before an awards banquet.

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The Gazette won in each of the three categories it was nominated in.

Check out the awards and the work that garnered them below:

The proposal of two townhouse buildings on Windermere Road has sparked backlash from its surrounding neighbourhoods.

The proposed buildings are two high-density complexes to be built at 536 and 542 Windermere Rd., which will consist of a total of 16 individual townhouses.

The neighbours in the area, who voiced their concerns during a public town hall meeting last week, focused on the likely residents of the new townhouses — students.

One frustrated neighbour likened the proposal to a “60-bedroom rooming house” and was worried it would put their safety at risk, according to the London Free Press.

City politicians eventually decided to send the proposal back to the planning committee, agreeing with the community’s notion that the proposal needed refinement.

“I think people were upset that the development was going forward in an area that had not been developed before,” said Ward 6 councillor Phil Squire. “It was something certainly new, and the density of the development was quite high.”

“There seems to have been some concerns expressed about the type of people who might live in this building,” he added. “That was where I have concerns.”

According to Squire, neighbours’ concerns about the development attracting too many students dominated the discussion.

“This focus on students and perceived student behaviour was taking over a discussion that really should have been about the building and whether the building

was appropriate for the space,” explained Squire.

According to Squire, the developer was “fairly clear” that they weren’t focusing on any particular group.

The proposed townhouses are part of London’s infill development initiative. Commonly known as land-recycling, infill development is aimed at rededicating already-used land rather than expanding the geographic borders of the city.

“It is the future,” said Squire.

“We’re going to have to start providing this type of housing or we’re not going to retain people in London who can contribute to the city.”

Councillor Squire’s optimism was not echoed by the proposal’s neighbours. Tony Mara, one of these neighbours and head of the OrkneyAngus Ratepayers Association, expressed his fears during the meeting.

“What we ask is that the planning committee not make us, the neighbours, pay the greatest price in this situation,” said Mara.

Sandra Leckie, a fellow neighbour, echoed Mara’s sentiment, stating that “the lands don’t need infilling.… They’re full.”

City councillors voted in favour of sending the proposal back to the planning committee to make adjustments.

“We didn’t throw it out, we sent it back for them to make changes,” said Squire. “So, hopefully, they’ll come back with a development that will match up to the property.”

“There are lots of [students] who live in the city and a few bad apples who caused problems — we deal with that,” he added. “We take care of that, but students are always going to be welcome in London.”

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PHOTO OF THE YEAR “Benny” Michael Conley A full list of winners is available on a Medium page linked from the NASH81 Twitter account.

COURTESY OF THE DEVELOPMENT’S URBAN DESIGN BRIEF An illustration of the proposed development on Windermere Road.

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opinions

• TUESDAY, JANUARY 15, 2019

have your say The Gazette asked students if they will be voting in the upcoming USC Elections.

Christian Marsden

SECOND-YEAR KINESIOLOGY “I actually have no intention of doing it, to be honest. I don’t know any of the candidates or how it really works at all.”

Akhil Nathoo

THIRD-YEAR COMPUTER ENGINEERING “Probably yeah. I don’t know the candidates but I will definitely vote.”

Sanskriti Ravi

THIRD-YEAR INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS “Probably not. I think I don’t know the candidates and it’s not something that I’m really aware of.”

Udbhav Kamboj

THIRD-YEAR MANAGEMENT AND ORGANIZATIONAL STUDIES “Yes, I will definitely be voting this year. I think having a really good and effective USC makes our lives as students better and makes our university experience that much more holistic and effective so it’s important to have leaders who really care about the students.”

Diversify your syllabi Gift of Gab

GABRIELLE DROLET OPINIONS EDITOR @GABRIELLEDROLET When I first read Michael Ondaatje’s work in high school, I was entranced.

Through both poetry and prose, he wrote about growing up in and eventually leaving Sri Lanka, describing a notion of Canadian identity that I had never encountered.

When I learned that he was one of Canada’s most famous literary figures, I expected that he would follow me through my university English degree. But as an English major, I have never read Michael Ondaatje for class. Nor have I read George Elliott Clarke, Dionne Brand, James Baldwin, Margaret Laurence or Esi Edugyan — all of whom are crucial to North America’s literary landscape. I have, however, read Hemingway, Emerson and Pound time and time again.

Western University’s English program seems to have a problem with representation. Though people of colour and women have written incredibly important and compelling literature, they’re often left out of syllabi. In every literature course I take, I’m met with similar stories told from similar perspectives: those of white men.

My literature courses aren’t completely free of diversity. They’re often dotted with works by the

token “other”: authors who seem to be slapped onto a syllabus in a lazy attempt at variety. A reading list might be filled with the names and narratives of white men, then have a single feminist or abolitionist text just for the sake of inclusion. But while the majority of the texts in class are simply taught for their literary value, the texts by the token women or POC are usually politically motivated: the authors are taught because they participated in social movements rather than because of the quality of their writing. So while I’ve never read an essay by Hemingway or Pound — only their fiction and poetry — Mary Wollstonecraft’s Vindication of the Rights of Women has made it on to three of my syllabi — but I’ve never read her fiction.

There are contexts in which it makes sense for a reading list to lack diversity. I wouldn’t expect a class about Medieval England to feature the works of people of colour, nor would I expect a Shakespeare course to showcase plays written by women. My issue is with courses like American Cult Classics or The History of Theory and Criticism — courses that have the space and potential to include a variety of voices but often fall short.

I counted the readings I’ve done in my English Literature classes at Western, making note of how many women and POC were taught in each class. Leaving out courses whose readings would unfairly skew the stats, like a Shakespeare class, I was left with 87 readings across five courses: American Cult

COURTESY OF BROCK UNIVERSITY Brock University, June 28, 2018.

Brock professor accused of sexual harassment shouldn’t be welcomed back

BY GAZETTE EDITORIAL BOARD In the era of #MeToo, questions are constantly raised about forgiveness. As celebrities return to the spotlight following allegations of sexual misconduct, we’re forced to ask ourselves whether or not they’ve learned from their mistakes and to what extent their careers should suffer. Brock University is currently facing the same questions about one of their own professors: after a three-year disciplinary absence, a professor who sexually harassed at least one of his students was set to return to the classroom this past week.

In 2014, David Schimmelpenninck (Van Der Oye) — a history professor at Brock — faced two allegations of sexual harassment from female students. A 2016 internal investigation conducted by the university concluded that one instance “involved an unwelcome sexual advance, inappropriate and unwelcome physical touching, comments of a sexual nature, [and] a provocative comment attempting to arrange ongoing intimacy.”

When Schimmelpenninck was assigned to teach a second-year history class this semester, students at Brock adamantly protested, with over 1,500 students signing an online petition to have him removed. Brock ultimately decided to cancel the course on Jan. 9, one day before it was scheduled to begin.

Brock was right in their decision to cancel the course, but Schimmelpenninck shouldn’t have been invited back to teach in the first place. Three years

is not long enough for students or faculty members to feel safe around a professor who has sexually harassed his own student. In a university setting, the power dynamics between professors and their students is already skewed — Schimmelpenninck’s history of abusing that power dynamic makes it hard to believe that he could be in that setting again.

As of right now, Brock has declined to comment about their choice to remove Schimmelpenninck’s course. The university should issue a public apology and provide support to the students who need it.

They should promise students that he will not be employed in the future and prove that their safety is being prioritized.

The university’s decision to reinstate Schimmelpenninck stemmed from an arbitrator’s Dec. 14 decision, and hinged on the professor completing coaching for respectful workplace practices. But even still, when someone in a position of power abuses that power, they need to be held accountable for their actions. Allowing a professor like Schimmelpenninck to return after only three years of absence sets a dangerous precedent in which professors can harass their students without facing any serious, long-term consequences.

Schimmelpenninck claims that, in the past three years, he has grown and learned from his actions.

But even if three years is long enough for him to feel ready to return to the classroom, it clearly isn’t long enough for Brock’s students.

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.”

Classics (0.5), Romantic Revolutions (0.5), History of Theory & Criticism (0.5), American Literature (1.0) and Multicultural Canadian Literature (0.5).

I’m sure that there are professors who strive to create diverse syllabi, but my experience hasn’t reflected that. Across my classes, an overwhelming majority of my readings have been written by white men: only 32 per cent were written by women and 23 per cent by POC. It’s also worth noting that, of the 28 female authors I read in total, only 10 were women of colour.

There’s no real excuse for the lack of representation across my classes. There are so many authors at the forefront of both classic and modern literature who have never made in onto my syllabi; as a thirdyear English student, the fact that I’ve never read Ondaatje, Brand or Baldwin in class is shocking. When accomplished writers like these fail to make it onto reading lists, there might be a problem with the way

readings are chosen.

At a diverse university, representation is valuable for the students enrolled in literature courses.

It’s always exciting to read works that you feel an emotional connection to: as a young woman, I light up whenever I get to read narratives close to my own. Every time a woman’s name appears on a syllabus, I feel genuinely excited to learn her story.

And when I encounter a narrative or a life I’m unfamiliar with, the opportunity to learn more is meaningful.

But beyond the emotional aspect of feeling represented, diversity in literature is important because it’s honest. Syllabi that are primarily white and male don’t showcase the nuances of the eras they’re supposed to be teaching.

For example, let’s consider modernism: a literary movement that challenged traditional beliefs in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. If every time a professor tries to teach modernism, they whip out the texts of Hemingway and his

male contemporaries, the texts will all be saying essentially the same thing. But female modernists will have different perspectives of the movement: marginalized writers like Gertrude Stein and Nella Larsen challenge the beliefs and works of men like Hemingway. Neglecting to include them in syllabi wouldn’t be representative of the modernist movement as a whole.

Professors should make an effort to include more than one narrative in their class readings, because the beauty of literature lies in its ability to showcase a variety of perspectives and narratives. In failing to assign diverse readings, the English program doesn’t only fail its students — it also fails the discipline it’s trying to teach.

Note: Statistics included were initially going to include queer authors. However, these are harder to quantify because many authors who might have been a part of the LGBTQ2+ community never officially came out.

By Katrina McCallum

Outcry amid protests for London restaurant accused of underpaying student employees feature TUESDAY, JANUARY 15, 2019 •

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feature

• TUESDAY, JANUARY 15, 2019

M

egan Huffman has done the math: with the hours she worked at Walker’s Restaurant and the salary its manager promised her, she made over $1,000. But after weeks of work, she says she was paid only $160.

Walker’s was her summer job that she relied on to pay for school at Dalhousie University. It’s a story echoed by nearly a dozen former employees about their experience of underpayment at two restaurants owned by 56-year-old Robert Pouliot, whose business practices have brought protests from the community and scrutiny from local media.

Jasmeen Porillo, a fourth-year nursing student, says Walker’s owes her over $600 for her own summer work there. Both Huffman and Porillo have filed claims with the Ministry of Labour to seek help.

Walker’s is a fish and chips restaurant in downtown London at Wellington Street and Horton Street. It has been owned by Pouliot since the 2000s, along with a second fish and chips restaurant in the Sherwood area called Robbie Walker’s Fish N’ Chips.

Pouliot told the CBC in December he missed payrolls because one of his managers stole from him. But his allegation does not explain disgruntled employees, including Huffman and Porillo, who say they were underpaid before Pouliot’s new manager started work.

Pouliot did not respond to repeated requests for comment on this story.

Only $160 in cash Huffman grew up in London, but she now studies costume design at Dalhousie. In between semesters, she lives and works in London with her family and boyfriend.

In June of last year, she found a job listing for Walker’s on Kijiji: She was asked for an interview, the same day she applied, and in the interview, was hired on the spot.

She started at the downtown location under then-manager Ralph Black, where she worked until she quit in mid-August.

During this time, she says she received only $160 despite consistent work for nearly three months. She was paid in cash for her first week with no paystub provided.

Though Huffman said Black promised her bi-weekly payments in her interview, she never saw them.

Huffman claims she was owed around $1,000 by the time she lost hope and quit.

In trying to get the wages she worked for, she tried to total her time on the job — but

Walker’s never formally told her how much she worked.

In mid-July, now having worked unpaid for a month, she emailed her manager asking for this information. Black replied 20 days later on Aug. 12, and did not answer her question.

Instead, he said, “life sometimes never falls on schedule.”

In the weeks she waited for the reply, she continued to work unpaid. When she followed-up at work, Huffman says Black deferred.

“I kept being continually promised that I would get paid the rest via e-transfer,” said Huffman. “A date was promised and then it didn’t happen and then a new date was promised.”

At one point, Black said she should use her old schedules to figure out how much she had worked. Huffman provided copies of her schedules to the Gazette. According to those numbers, she worked 82 hours, which at that summer’s server minimum wage earns $1,000.40 gross.

Huffman had difficulty finding summer work as an out-of-province student, so she decided to stay at Walker’s. She believed she would eventually be paid her remaining wages — a hope she’s still chasing.

Huffman turned for help from the government, filing a claim under the Employment Standards Act against Walker’s on Aug. 21.

ESA claims are meant to uphold workers’ minimum rights through Ontario’s Ministry of Labour.

An agent has been assigned to the case, but Huffman said there has been no further progress.

If the claim gets Huffman her wages, she’ll put them toward school. But Huffman has also sought help from the Canada Revenue Agency, and she has even called the office of London-West MPP, Terence Kernaghan.

“I think I was just naïve enough to believe that when they were telling me I would be paid that they were telling the truth,” Huffman said. “It’s a lot of stress emotionally and financially.”

No pay with no explanation Like Huffman, Porillo was later put in the same difficult situation.

Porillo found a posting for the downtown branch on Kijiji. She was called into the restaurant, where she met with Black. He mostly asked about her expectations for the job. Once she said she was fine with how he described the job, she was given a shift for the next week.

Porillo said she was only paid for her first week of employment with $60 in cash, $100

less than what she was owed. Black promised her the rest for the next day, and after she sent several reminder emails, she received $175 in an e-transfer. This transaction occurred in the middle of July.

She did not receive paystubs — nor any further payment from the restaurant.

“He would give excuses like he was waiting for a business loan, and it would take 10 days to get the money,” Porillo said. “After 10 business days, none of that even happened.”

According to her schedules, Porillo earned $911 gross. Porillo continually asked Walker’s about this payment but never received replies to any of her subsequent emails regarding wages.

“I kept being continually promised that I would get paid the rest via e-transfer, a date was promised and then it didn’t happen and then a new date was promised.”

MEGAN HUFFMAN

On Aug. 15, Porillo told Black she would not be coming in for her next shift and that she was resigning. Her pay was still unresolved.

Two days later, after Black had not responded, she reached out to the restaurant’s owner, Robert Pouliot.

Her email raised the pay issue to Pouliot, that she had been paid for 1.5 of eight weeks worked, but again, received no response. In a final email to both Black and Pouliot, she asked one last time about pay.

“I would truly appreciate a quick response from either of you on when I can expect to receive remuneration for the weeks I have worked,” she said. “I would prefer to resolve this issue without involving a third party.”

Since then, Porillo has also filed an ESA claim for her $681 in payment. She has been assigned an agent but there is no progress as of yet.

Porillo, Huffman and other employees eventually quit, and soon resolved to organize.

“I don’t know who quit first but I ended up quitting and the other servers and the cook as well. We were all hired at the same time,” said Porillo.

A protest was organized after another two employees were hired in the fall of 2018.

They were Hunter Healy and Oliver Taylor, both local high school students looking for part time work. Healy’s and Taylor’s parents lead the charge, rallying their families and neighbors for support.

The rest of the attendees were garnered through social media posts.

The group first protested at the downtown location the night of Nov. 28 and continued throughout the week. Around a dozen people picketed the restaurant’s front door.

The manager at the time, John Cameron, came out to urge the protestors to leave and contacted police. Cameron told the Gazette at the protest that owner Pouliot told him all wage disputes had been dealt with. But during a standoff between Cameron and Huffman’s boyfriend, Cameron said that he knew some employees had not been paid and he himself was missing wages.

Since the initial protest, Cameron has joined protestors to fight for his own wages, handing out flyers through December outside of both Walker’s locations.

Healy, a 17-year-old Londoner, said he worked 24 hours at Walker’s but said he was not compensated for the $336 he should have earned.

Healy said he is pursuing his wages through a small-claims court in London.

Pouliot responds, but leaves questions unanswered CBC London has reported similar allegations from several other people who claim they worked for Pouliot’s businesses but were underpaid.

Pouliot told the CBC that Walker’s has suffered losses, causing him to miss wage payments; he claims these losses came from manager John Cameron, who began work in October. The CBC detailed criminal record information held by Cameron in several provinces, including convictions for theft and fraud.

Pouliot alleged to the CBC that Cameron stole money from the restaurant, though he was unable to prove the claim.

But even if Walker’s hit hard times in October, when Cameron started, it would not explain the payrolls Walker’s missed in the summer; Pouliot told the CBC that September was the first time he had missed a payroll, despite evidence to the contrary.

Though the Gazette asked repeatedly to speak with Pouliot about Huffman’s and Porillo’s payments, his employees and managers have always said he is unavailable.

Pouliot told the CBC he is working with the ministry to address the claims but Huffman and Porillo have yet to hear back from him.

While they wait, both will continue at school, hoping for word from either their former boss or the government.

sports

TUESDAY, JANUARY 15, 2019 •

• 8

Western alum named as new Canadian Olympic Committee CEO

COURTESY OF CANADIAN OLYMPIC COMITTEE

CHARLIE MARSHALL SPORTS EDITOR @CWMARSHALL98 Western University’s Olympic connection continues to grow as David Shoemaker will follow in the footsteps of Chris Overholt as CEO of the Canadian Olympic Committee.

Shoemaker graduated from Western with an undergraduate law degree in 1996 and Overholt completed a bachelor of arts in 1977.

“We are thrilled that David will be joining our team as our new CEO,” said the president of the COC, Tricia Smith, in a press release announcing Shoemaker’s new position. “Along with an obvious love for sport, he brings to the role strong values and a collaborative and innovative style of leadership, as demonstrated in his impressive work to date as a leader on the world sports stage.”

Shoemaker started his position with the COC on Jan. 7. His responsibilities began immediately with the 2019 Pan American Games in Lima, Peru, and the 2020 Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan.

As well, the Western grad explained to the Canadian Press that encouraging Canadian cities to host future Olympic games will be a major goal of his tenure.

The new Canadian Olympic executive made direct reference to the recent plebiscite in Calgary,

which rejected a bid to host the 2026 Winter Games.

According to Shoemaker’s interview with the Canadian Press, his experience in China — host of the 2022 Summer Olympic Games — made him an attractive candidate to the board of the COC. The former Mustang gained practice in China while working for the Women’s Tennis Association and the NBA. While working with NBA China, Shoemaker collaborated with China’s ministry of education to promote basketball within local schools.

As a result of his new position, the Western grad will relocate his wife and three children to Toronto — closer to his native city of Ottawa.

Shoemaker’s predecessor and fellow Mustang, Chris Overholt, resigned from his position as CEO of the COC in September 2018 in order to lead a new Toronto-based esports franchise.

Former ’Stang footballer named among Top 8 All-Canadians MIKE DEBOER MANAGING EDITOR @SPORTSATGAZETTE Former Western Mustangs linebacker Nick Vanin will be honoured for his impressive academic achievements during his four-year university career.

Vanin’s career ended last year with a Vanier Cup ring as the Mustangs won their first national championship since 1994. He excelled off the field, earning Dean’s Honor List distinctions all four years of his undergraduate degree before being accepted into medical school. He was also dominant on the field, earning OUA First Team All-Star honours in 2017 in a season that saw him record 24 solo tackles and 21 assisted tackles.

Vanin also volunteered his time in the London community with the London Junior Mustangs youth football club, Anova, Ronald McDonald House, and the Andrews Legacy fundraiser.

He also earned the 2017 U Sports Russ Jackson Award, recognized as a player that best exemplified the attributes

TAYLOR LASOTA GAZETTE

of academic achievement, football skill, and citizenship.

Vanin not only became the first Western student-athlete to win the Russ Jackson Award, but was also the school’s first nominee for the award, which was first handed out in 1986.

“Nick is an outstanding young man and was a very well-respected member of our football team. Nick gained the respect of all coaches and teammates with his positive personality, great work ethic and generous spirit,” said Mustangs head coach Greg Marshall. “I am always amazed at how Nick can balance the demands of being a student-athlete and still find the time and energy to volunteer in so many ways. His generous and caring attitude is a reflection of his loving and supportive family.”

Vanin has been named as one of the Top 8 Academic All-Canadians for the 2017–18 season, a distinction given to one male and one female from all four of U Sports’ conferences. The male representative for Ontario University Athletics,

Vanin and his fellow recipients will be honoured on Jan. 29 at Rideau Hall in Ottawa by Julie Payette, Governor General of Canada.

“The list of Academic AllCanadians continues to grow each year,” said Graham Brown, president and CEO of U Sports. “The success of the Top 8 is a testament to the dedication of our student-athletes on the field of play, in the classroom and as leaders in their communities across the country.”

Among those rounding out the Academic All-Canadian Top 8 are Alberta Golden Bears football running back Ed Ilnicki and Calgary Dinos volleyball star Kate Pexman from the Canada West conference, Concordia Stingers wrestler Francis Carter and Sherbrooke Vert et Or pentathlete Amélie Augé from Réseau du Sport Étudiant du Québec, and Dalhousie Tigers basketball player Sven Stammberger and Cape Breton Capers soccer star Ciera Disipio from Atlantic University Sport. Toronto Varsity Blues volleyball player Alina Dormann joins Vanin as the other representative for the OUA.

Radio Western runs first-ever all-female sports broadcast STEPHANIE ORLANDO SPORTS EDITOR @SPORTSATGAZETTE The ladies of Radio Western are taking charge and taking over. On Saturday, Radio Western hosted its first-ever all-female broadcast, covering the Western Mustangs women’s hockey game as they took on the Laurentian Voyageurs in some Ontario University Athletics action.

The crew for the game consisted of Rachael Bishop on the play-by-play, Emily Renneberg covering the colour commentary, Emma Jones as the ice level reporter, Jennie Malone as the studio coordinator, Karina Leung updating social media and Kristen Liang covering photography.

“I think it’s cool that there’s starting to be more representation,” said Malone. “It gives more people a chance who are up-and-coming in broadcasting, and they realize, maybe, ‘Oh! I can cover sports too even though I’m a girl!’ ” While female broadcast teams have been done before at places like Ryerson University, there were still men involved behind the camera. Radio Western took it to the next level, as the broadcast’s studio coordinator, rinkside reporters and production staff were all women. Every aspect of the broadcast, from the back-end to the front-end, was run by females.

“Collectively, it was an idea that has been in the works. Radio Western has been benefiting from numerous females over the last couple of years coming into our sports department. The sad reality is that we just didn’t have enough numbers,” said John Urban, Radio Western’s news, sports and spoken word director. “It’s something that is long overdue and something that I think should be done all across the board, not just in radio and television.”

Many Radio Western alumni have grown successful in the sports broadcasting industry, including Dan Shulman, the voice of the Toronto Blue Jays and a play-by-play announcer for ESPN, and Elliotte Friedman, a regular panelist on CBC’s “Hockey Night in Canada.” To be able to create these same opportunities for females at Radio Western is a long-term goal for the organization.

“I grew up playing hockey, so I’m kind of a bit of a hockey

“I think it’s cool that there’s starting to be more representation, it gives more people a chance who are up-and-coming in broadcasting, and they realize, maybe, ‘Oh! I can cover sports too even though I’m a girl!’ ” JENNIE MALONE MARKETING DIRECTOR CHRW

freak, and I’ve kind of wanted to do this kind of thing for a while. But everyone was saying there’s not really a lot of opportunities,” said Bishop.

“Now, we are seeing a lot more opportunities and a lot more women in sports broadcast, but it’s still like most of them are doing things like the sideline reporting. So this was a great opportunity to practice and hone my skills and get better at something that I want to do and I know that I’m good at.”

Radio Western has had a number of females come through its door, so having an all-female broadcast seemed the natural and realistic progression. And with six female volunteers working with the station this year, the time was right.

“My volunteer experience has been fantastic,” said Renneberg.

“It’s nice using your talents toward something that can help benefit sports and benefit women. It’s important, so it’s been nice for me doing that, too.”

While previous female-dominated student broadcasts have been one-offs, Radio Western hopes to continue to work toward making this a regular occurrence for the station.

“It sounds bizarre in 2019 to be speaking about this because I feel like it’s such a long overdue concept, but for us to be making the strides here, it’s about time, and I’m glad we have a starting point of something epic,” said Urban.

The game, which also featured two university hockey programs with female head coaches, was a testament to the increasing role of women in sports and in the media.

The Mustangs beat the Voyageurs 6-0 before taking down the Nipissing Lakers on Dunday. They now have 10 wins on the season

9 •

sports

• TUESDAY, JANUARY 15, 2019

Mustangs successful after embracing rebuild MIKE DEBOER MANAGING EDITOR @SPORTSATGAZETTE Two years ago, Western Mustangs men’s basketball head coach Brad Campbell found himself in a tough spot. His team had just lost alltime program scoring leader Greg Morrow, along with veteran leaders Tony Spiridis and Peter Scholtes, to graduation. He was left with a roster void of experience and short on developed talent, and the results reflected that — an 8–13 record left them on the outside looking in of the 2016–17 Ontario University Athletics playoffs.

Campbell had a rebuild on his hands, and it appeared it would be a long one.

So, he hit the

recruiting trail and focused on the long-term, hoping one day that his team would again contend for playoff positions and OUA West Division titles.

Their performance on Jan. 5 at Alumni Hall might have signalled the culmination of that two-year rebuild. His team beat the Brock Badgers 80–75 thanks to a last-second three from Omar Shiddo, a player who might best embody the effectiveness of Campbell’s retooling.

By defeating the Badgers — a team that beat them by 66 combined points last season — before

sweeping the Algoma Thunderbirds in a two-game homestand this weekend, the Mustangs have won seven of their last eight games and now sit tied atop the OUA West at 8–4. Shiddo, the face of the program and an always improving two-way basketball player, has been a consistent scoring threat and has confidently taken on a position of leadership on the roster. Players like Julian Walker, Aryan Sharma and Aaron Tennant have found their roles and have begun to excel in them. And the Mustangs have finally found an identity.

Campbell’s 13-year career at Western has had its ups and downs.

He saw immense success early in his tenure, taking a 15-win team and transforming it into a back-to-back U Sports Final Four program. He won the OUA West Division Coach of the Year award in 2009, a season in which his team took the dynastic Carleton Ravens to the brink in the national semifinal. Campbell’s future with the program appeared bright, destined for a rapid rise to the top of the sport.

And yet Campbell’s tenure since has followed a much different trajectory. Three straight losing seasons from 2011 to 2014 sent the Mustangs reeling, looking to salvage anything they could from those Final Four runs. They seemed destined to return there with Greg Morrow, a London native

who dominated during his time at Banting Secondary School. Yet while Morrow excelled individually, the team stagnated, going 45–71 during his five years with the program. And then Morrow left, and a team that never really returned to its perch had to figure out how to rebuild itself once again.

But now the Mustangs are truly back in contention, and it was all thanks to going through the growing pains with a core that has now blossomed on the court.

“After the graduations of Morrow, Spiridis, [Tom] Filgiano, Scholtes, etc., we went through a significant youth movement,” said Campbell.

“Players like Nik Farkic, Omar Shiddo and Eriq Jenkins played a lot of minutes as first- and secondyear players. This group has grown together and matured nicely. We have also added more talent around them and have several exciting younger players, which have given us good depth off the bench.”

Campbell fully embraced the rebuild because of his long-term vision for the program. There were bumps in the road, certainly, and many of them, but neither Campbell, his staff nor his players pressed the panic button as the losses piled up. Those bumps made players like Shiddo and Farkic better.

And by recruiting with his vision in mind, Campbell finally has a team molded in his image.

And it’s all built around Shiddo.

“Omar has been a confident

scorer and competitor since the first day he joined our program,” said Campbell. “He is not afraid to take big shots and wants the ball in key points of the game. He came back in better shape this season and has made a stronger commitment to his strength and conditioning, which has made a great impact on his game and performance. The aspect of Omar’s game which has improved the most in my opinion is his defence.”

The Mustangs came into the season with higher expectations than they had set for themselves over the last two years. Campbell reiterated before their opener that an OUA semifinal berth was the goal. Despite the fact that the Mustangs haven’t won a post-season contest since 2014, there is a real opportunity for them to make a playoff run and contend for a semifinal berth this year. Outside of Ontario’s “Big Three” — the Ravens, Ottawa Gee-Gees and Ryerson Rams — there is a parity-induced vacuum that the Mustangs could fill for the foreseeable future.

And that win over Brock, marked

by Shiddo’s shot heard ‘round the program, could prove pivotal to getting there.

“The best teams in our league will continue to improve throughout the season,” said Campbell. “That was a must for us.”

It would appear that Campbell’s plan is now paying tangible dividends, with wins piling up and stars forming. That plan, too, was a must.

COURTESY OF MUSTANGS ATHLETICS

Western splits weekend home stand against Golden Hawks and Lions CHARLIE MARSHALL SPORTS EDITOR @CWMARSHALL98 The Western Mustangs may have received their wake-up call at the perfect time this weekend. After receiving an ugly 5–1 drubbing at the hands of the Laurier Golden Hawks on Friday afternoon, the team came back the following night with a hard-fought 2–1 victory over the York Lions.

Friday afternoon’s school day game drew a large crowd comprised of students from 26 different elementary schools. The electric atmosphere didn’t help the team as much as head coach Clarke Singer expected, though.

“I thought [Laurier] jumped on us early, and I thought that might have been the opposite given the energy and the emotion with the 3,000 kids out there,” said Singer on his team’s performance.

Despite what their coach might have expected, the Mustangs never had the energy or tenacity necessary to effectively battle the Golden Hawks. The lack of desire was most exposed on the man advantage, as the team negated two power play opportunities after committing penalties on Golden Hawks shorthanded rushes.

“Unacceptable,” Singer bluntly stated in reference to the power play issues. “We have a good opportunity and 20 seconds later that opportunity, is taken away.… We’re shooting ourselves in the foot, for sure.”

However, while Western lacked offence, the true trouble spot was

their defensive coverage. By the end of 60 minutes, the Mustangs had allowed 50 shots on goal. After the game, third-year winger Mitchell Brooks was forced to hold his tongue while describing the team’s support of their goaltender, Luke Peressini.

“I can’t tell you what I said to him because there [were] a couple expletives in there,… but I said I was brutal,” explained Brooks. “There [were] three goals that were directly my fault, and as a veteran guy, that’s unacceptable.”

The sentiment that Brooks expressed was clearly felt across the entire locker room, though, as the team came out with much more passion and energy to open an important matchup against the Lions.

Coming into the game, the Lions sat just one point up on the Mustangs in the Ontario University Athletics West Division standings.

Therefore, with important points on the line, and a tie game through 20 minutes of play, the second and third periods were tight, physical and emotionally heated.

The Western penalty killers dominated in the defensive showdown.

York’s chances were stymied and, even more impressively, converted into Mustangs short-handed rushes.

All told, the special teams unit shut out the Lions on six opportunities with the man advantage.

Perhaps fittingly, the group that dominated the game from the start ended up securing two points and sole possession of third place in the division for the Mustangs.

With just under two minutes remaining, Kolten Olynek was sent

COURTESY OF MUSTANGS ATHLETICS

to the box for boarding. It seemed as if Western was faced with a no-win scenario. If they killed the penalty and forced overtime, at worst, York would gain another all-important point in the standings.

However, Cordell James, seemingly dissatisfied with the defeatist narrative, broke off on a short-handed breakaway with a minute remaining in regulation.

The second-year forward potted his third of the year and secured the win for Western.

Unfortunately, the game-winning goal only oxygenated the hot coals of anger developing between the two teams. Western and York went back and forth with chippy, harsh play in the final minute.

While the Mustangs came away with a victory in the game, the team suffered a loss as a result of the questionable physical play. Team captain Jonathan Laser was administered a match penalty for spearing a York player in the groin area.

After the game, assistant coach

Patrick Ouellet explained that the Mustangs expect Laser to receive a suspension for his actions.

The Mustangs will have a rematch with the York Lions next Friday at Canlan Ice Sports Arena at 7 p.m. With a quick turnaround from a passionate, physical game, Spenser Cobbold admitted that he expects some emotion to carry over.

“I think there will be a little bit of bad blood,” said Cobbold. “Yeah, it’s exciting — looking forward to it.”

culture

TUESDAY, JANUARY 15, 2019 •

• 10

s t n a r u a t s e r w e n cuss is d s r e h t o r b e lf o W

CARMEN MALLIA CULTURE EDITOR @CARMMALLIA As one door shuts for the Wolfe brothers, with the recent announcement that the restaurant co-founders will be closing their casual fine dining restaurant, Wolfe of Wortley, two doors will open.

A post on the restaurant’s Facebook page stated that the Wolfe of Wortley will be closing its doors sometime in March, making way for two new restaurants: Wolfe Pack Company Bar and Through Thick and Thin.

“For us, Wolfe of Wortley was really like a passion project,” says Gregg Wolfe, citing that the posh restaurant, which serves up everything from coldsmoked oysters to chicken fried duck hearts, has outgrown itself as the reason for its closing.

Space was a major deterrent for the restaurant, having only 24 seats available. And while the restaurant did receive widespread acclaim after Air Canada listed it as one of the country’s best 30 new restaurants in 2017, the title also created a high-end perception of the Wolfe of Wortley that the brothers never envisioned. Even though the listing did bring in hungry customers from far and wide, it also pigeonholed the eatery as a “special occasions” dining experience for locals.

“The people in the neighbourhood will sort of walk by, and they’ll think that they need a reservation to come here or that it’s expensive, not realizing that our menu prices will be equal to or cheaper than a pub or something,” says Gregg. “We’re not closing in, defeated with our heads down at all. We’re taking a step into another direction which we’re all happy [about] as a team.”

TWO NEW BEGINNINGS

The Wolfe brothers have made a name for themselves as the restaurant owners who use eye-catching, extravagant decor and unique food combinations at their London-based restaurants: The Early Bird, Los Lobos and Wolfe of Wortley. They plan on expanding their unique brand with two new restaurants.

The Wolfe of Wortley is set to close sometime in March with a simultaneous opening next door, a former bakery which the Wolfe brothers will turn into Wolfe Pack Company Bar. The eatery will be triple the size of the former restaurant, and the entire kitchen staff at the Wolfe of Wortley will be moved into the new space.

According to Justin Wolfe, the new eatery will hold about 60 customers, include two patios, and serve dishes that are currently on the menu at the Wolfe of Wortley — plus some additional adventurous and casual menu options. The restaurant will run longer hours as well, with Wolfe Pack Company Bar serving up both lunch and dinner, as opposed to Wolfe of Wortley’s, which only served dinner.

The brothers believe that Wolfe Pack Company Bar will appeal to a broader demographic in London.

“There’s lots of kids in the neighbourhood. It’s very family-driven down there,” says Justin, citing that the new restaurant, which he describes as a pub-style restaurant that will have the Wolfe twist of flavour flair and over-the-top decor, will offer more of a comfortable setting for locals.

Once employees and customers at Wolfe Pack Company Bar are settled in during the summer, the Wolfe brothers begin preparing for the opening of Through Thick and Thin: a pizzeria that will have Detroit-inspired pan-fried pizza and New Yorkstyled thin crust pizza. Through Thick and Thin will occupy the soon-to-be-closed Wolfe of Wortley lot.

Currently, the brothers have been frequenting Detroit and Toronto to research exactly what their deep dish will taste, smell and look like.

“We’ve always been into doing our research and not trying to steal an idea, but just to try to see what’s out there and what we can do to add our own flavour to that,” says Gregg, adding that the restaurant will also serve delivery and take out.

They are sure to bring a flair of the dramatic to pizza and pub-style dining, expanding their brand of flavourful and unique menu options.

Campus managers on acing interviews KRISTIN LEE CULTURE EDITOR @KRIIISLEE Tell me about yourself.

Leader. Team worker. Someone who takes initiative.

If your answer is this generic, you’ll most likely be forgotten among a sea of candidates who thought to say the same thing.

Set the tone.

Interviews are a crucial part of job hunting as they dictate what kind of person you are and whether the employer should want to hire you. Sure, your resume might be impressive, but words on paper are of less importance than actually being the person your resume says you are.

“Interviews are kind of like a neutralizing thing,” says Karla Pacheco, senior manager people and development of Western University’s University Students’ Council. “If you weren’t going to interview people, you’d just pick people based on their qualifications.

So it really is about getting to know people.”

The modern hiring process often happens online, so it’s likely your potential employer won’t know who you really are until you have a face-to-face conversation. But there are a lot of things employers can tell based on a 30-minute questioning

— or interrogation — period. “[Interviewees] are setting a tone for not only how they’re going to act in an interview, but as an employee as well,” says Susan Malecki, an external recruitment specialist at London Health Sciences Centre.

“They have to take themselves seriously in order to take their career seriously.”

You’re being questioned under pressure among dozens of other candidates, and in as little as 30 minutes, you must impress your employer and prove you’ve got the qualities and skills for the job while maintaining a good impression.

That means the obvious: be professional and dress the part. But there’s also the less obvious: you’ve got to be prepared, which employees can easily recognize if you’re not.

Answering questions with specific examples of experiences shows you’ve taken time to reflect on yourself and your past. If you have knowledge of the company, it shows you’ve taken the time to research the organization and the role itself. If you understand your strengths and weaknesses, it shows you’ve identified the things you need to work on to make yourself valuable in the role.

LISTEN, SPEAK, REPEAT

“It’s

about

looking

at

and

understanding how your experiences relate to something that we’re offering,” says Pacheco. “I think it’s really good for interview candidates to prepare and educate themselves on the employer so when people come in and they have a baseline understanding of the organization, it’s a lot easier to have a conversation.”

Make your questions that you really want to know the answers to, because if it’s a contrived question, that comes off as programmed, the more authentic and good you feel coming out of the interview, the more successful it is.

KARLA PACHECO

SENIOR MANAGER PEOPLE AND DEVELOPMENT WESTERN UNIVERSITY’S STUDENTS’ COUNCIL

But that doesn’t mean you should talk about how much of a leader you are and how much you love the company or organization.

Instead, the candidate should be a good listener, ask questions and be prepared to tell their story and talk about their experiences. This doesn’t mean just saying what the

interviewer wants to hear.

“Make your questions that you really want to know the answers to, because if it’s a contrived question, that comes off as programmed,” says Pacheco. “The more authentic and good you feel coming out of the interview, the more successful it is.”

For most employers, qualified candidates aren’t the only thing on their radar. They want to know what kind of person you are and whether you will integrate well into the working environment. Apart from work experience, personality and life experiences, tell the employer what kind of employee you’ll be.

It doesn’t hurt to weave in personal experiences into your answers.

They don’t have to be career specific examples, but you can certainly think of something from your time in school, for example. Knowing yourself and being able to showcase experiences or examples on the spot is really important.

‘ENTHUSIASM AND EXCITEMENT’

“Resumes dictate first impressions to a point,” says The Spoke kitchen/ cafe manager Adam Mortezof. “But I’m really looking for enthusiasm and excitement.”

You can have several pages of valuable experience, but depending on the job, it can still fall short. No

matter how high your position, any job requires learning — and that willingness to learn sets candidates apart.

“You can always train people and correct people, and skills are always something we can teach and work with,” says Mortezof. “But having that personality and being that great team player, being able to work in a team and being able to work independently, is huge.”

Even if you don’t have tangible experience from previous jobs, highlighting personal skills and education and expressing passion for the company or industry can also help.

Most importantly, what will set you apart from other candidates will be your enthusiasm, passion, ability to come prepared, professionalism, consideration of company values, thoughtful questions, and readiness to answer questions about yourself and the company.

“Just be yourself,” says Malecki.

“Sometimes people can over-prepare for an interview, so they’re coming up with things they think are supposed to be the right answer, but sometimes, just being genuine and just being yourself and responding to questions the way you really would is the best thing to do.”

So go ahead, tell me about yourself.

11 •

culture

• TUESDAY, JANUARY 15, 2019

New exhibit blows into Artlab Gallery PHOTOS BY NOUSHERWAN SIDDIQUE GAZETTE

NOUSHERWAN SIDDIQUE CONTRIBUTOR @GAZETTECULTURE On Jan. 10, the “Please - Do Not Take this Lightly” exhibit opened at the Artlab Gallery, showcasing artwork illustrating the danger and impact of tornadoes.

Coordinated by professor Patrick Mahon, director for the School of Advanced Studies in Arts and Humanities, the exhibit showcases work from 21 artists, 17 of which are Western University students. The art ranges from traditional canvas paintings to performance-based pieces, including a visual piece that depicts a tornado tearing through campus and an auditory piece that broadcasts what one would hear in a tornado.

“I think that this exhibition is fundamentally about complexity,” says Mahon. “It’s looking at that subject or those phenomena and actually trying to understand them from the vantage point of a non-expert.”

The exhibition is linked to a major research initiative that has its roots in Western’s Engineering department. Led by the acting dean of Engineering, Greg Kopp, the exhibit is meant to bring awareness to the efforts of Northern Tornadoes Project: a multi-year investigation into the effects of tornadoes.

It is estimated that nearly 230 tornadoes occur in Ontario every year. Of these, only 60 are documented. The goal of the NTP is to discover the missing tornadoes and gather data on them. Last year, Western researchers discovered 12 undocumented tornadoes and improved data for another 10 through the project.

The issue stems from the fact that many of these undocumented tornadoes land in sparsely populated regions. If a tornado strikes down in the forest and no one is there to see it, it can easily go unstudied and unreported.

“My understanding is that we’re living in an age and in a region where there’s definitely an increase in tornadoes,” says Mahon, who stressed the importance of the project in helping to understand the increase in this phenomenon, along with other data present on the topic. “What does that increase look like? Are these tornadoes larger? Are their effects different than we might have experienced in the past? I think fundamentally there are some really primary questions that are being asked in the interest of doing this kind of research project.”

The project stems from Western’s previous work studying a multitude of tornadoes that made landing in Southern Quebec on June 18, 2017.

Wind engineering experts from Western performed an extensive

ground and aerial survey in the region, uncovering the largest-ever tornado cluster in Quebec’s history and one of the worst to ever occur in Canadian history.

These findings are not without their benefits to Western.

“I think that Western’s engineering program, from my understanding, is becoming increasingly understood, known, respected; they have the new building that I think certainly is emblematic of the ambitions of the engineering faculty,” states Mahon.

He believes the NTP’s expanse and ambition further helps showcase how visual and visible the intention for the engineering department’s connection with other members of the community, such as students in visual arts and artists, is.

“Certainly, it can help the Faculty of Engineering, but it can also show Western to be in many ways leading in an area of real, urgent interest,” Mahon adds.

The artists collaborated with engineers and senior guest artists to bring the exhibit to life. According to Mahon, the artists were incredibly involved with the data that the engineers presented. “I really laud the fact that relatively quickly they did the research, they did the readings, they attended the talks with the engineers, and they really did become very engaged and very enthusiastic.”

“I think that when you see this exhibition, you can see that it’s made by a series of individual artists,” Mahon says. “Although they’re working collaboratively, each has a very particular vision, but they also do take on a commitment to really try and understand and communicate some of the information and ideas and the feelings that operate in relation to tornadoes and climate change and weather.”

The true beauty of the exhibit lies in the fact that it is created by a series of individual artists that are working together on a common theme. In one corner of the room, newspaper headlines that relate to tornadoes are pasted high on the wall. In another, people and objects are depicted being thrown about on a long piece of brown parchment.

In the middle is a stall selling homemade merchandise pertaining to the topic. Patches to sew onto denim jackets are lined up side by side with uniquely themed tarot cards. On the walls of the stall hang T-shirts with tornado-themed prints.

“I’m really enthusiastic and proud of their efforts,” Mahon adds with a smile.

The exhibition will remain open until Jan. 24, giving students ample time to enjoy and appreciate the art that has been presented.

LUCY VILLENEUVE GAZETTE

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UPCOMING EVENTS WESTERN’S ARTS & HUMANITIES Students’ Council presents: “The Interrogation of Baruch de Spinoza” written by David Ives and directed by Julia Sebastien.

Once on the path to becoming the leader of 1600s Amsterdam’s small Jewish community, free-spirited Baruch de Spinoza has since left his religious studies in favour of fraternizing with non-Jews about his new loves: mathematics, philosophy, and a Dutch girl, Clara. When Spinoza’s best friend exposes Spinoza’s sacrilegious communications with Christians, Spinoza is tried for atheism, the punishment of which is excommunication from his home and his people. To appease his Christian overlords, Rabbi Mortera, Spinoza’s former mentor, attempts to dismantle Spinoza’s ideas and bring his star pupil back into the fold; however, fuelled by his love of wisdom and his unwavering belief in freedom of expression, Spinoza dodges and parries each ideological offensive with irreverence, humour and wit, painting his interrogators into a corner with irrefutable logic. Faced with an enraged Dutch magistrate and flowering doubts of his own, Rabbi Mortera must make a decision that will seal the fate of his community, himself, and the son he never had. Show times: January 30, 8pm; January 31, 8pm; February 1, 8pm; February 2, 2pm; February 2, 8pm.The Arts Project Centre for Creativity. Cost $15 TIPS ON HOW TO AVOID BEING PHISHED Visit banks’ websites by typing the URL into the address bar. Phishers use links within emails to direct victims to a fake site. If you suspect an email is bogus, do not follow any embedded links within it.

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12 • TUESDAY, JANUARY 15, 2019

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