March 6, 2025

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The paths of 25 USC presidents

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TIFFANY CHENG GAZETTE

Kat Henricus elected as USC president

FINN TOPOROWSKI STAFF REPORTER

MABEL ZHAO NEWS EDITOR

Kat

Henricus will be the 2025–26 USC president after winning 5,448 votes in the fourth round of ranked ballots in this year’s election.

Henricus, a fourth-year international relations and School for Advanced Studies in the Arts and Humanities student currently serves as the Western Student Senators chair, a Board of Governors member and the University Students’ Council associate vice-president of external affairs.

Henricus’s campaign focuses on improving the USC’s external advocacy and student outreach efforts. Her platform’s 81 action items prioritize student support, affordability and equity, diversity, inclusion, decolonization and accessibility initiatives.

“This campaign wasn’t just me, it was countless people who participated in the process, who did the consultations, the people who told me to run before I ever thought I could run,” said Henricus. “This is not a win for me, it’s a win for Western and I’m very grateful that I get to spend a year doing this job.”

Looking at the year ahead, Henricus told the Gazette she’s most excited to work on a federal lobby program, multi-day music festival and her proposed Take Back the Night initiative — to bring together London and Western University community members for conversations around gender-based and sexual violence.

She emphasized her desire to increase student engagement by working with the rest of the executive team and staff to collect student feedback and make the USC more accessible to students.

Henricus says her “biggest priority is to develop a really strong, achievable roadmap for the year ahead.”

Her decision to get involved in student politics came after the death of a close friend during her first three weeks at Western in 2021, when she used the previous Self-Reported Absences policy, which motivated her to run for Senate and advocate for policies that support students’ well-being.

“I knew how much I needed it and when it was taken away, I knew how many more students would be impacted by it,” Henricus said.

Outside of student government, Henricus attended the 2024 G7 Youth Summit in Italy, researched supports for gender-based violence survivors through the Scholar’s Elective program and was a club executive for the Western Pre-Law Society and UNICEF Western.

Henricus will be the second woman of colour to be elected to the USC’s highest office since the organization’s founding in 1965, the first being Sondra Gibbons when she held the role in 1985.

“I am truly grateful to be following in the footsteps of Sondra Gibbons, the first and only woman of colour to hold this office until now,” said Henricus. “I would not be here without her and without so many of the women who brought this organization to where it is right now.”

This election also marks the first time two female presidents will serve consecutive terms. She will be the eighth woman to serve as USC president in the council’s 59-year history.

Henricus also thanked 2023 USC presidential candidate Nika Bajaj in her speech, who she described as being “there for me at every turn of this election.”

Current USC president Emilie Kalaydjian congratulated Henricus on her victory.

“Watching her family brought back memories of watching my own and the pride that they have is so beautiful. I think she has a wonderful plan. The people have spoken,” says Kalaydjian. “I’m very excited for our transition, because I just know that she’s going to bring that energy that she has in her campaign into the USC offices.”

— With files from Hannah Alper and Sophia Schiefler

Meet your new affiliate student council presidents

GABRIELLE WADE

Western University’s affiliate colleges have announced their student council presidents for the 2025–26 academic year after elections in early February.

Jayden Wright will be the next Huron University College Students’ Council president and Braedan Lovie will be the next King’s University College Students’ Council president.

Huron University College Students’ Council

Jayden Wright

Jayden Wright, a third-year political science student, has been elected as the next president of the HUCSC.

Wright has held multiple leadership roles on the HUCSC since her first year from equity commissioner to the current vice president of Student Affairs. She ran for president to continue challenging herself and to make a lasting impact on the student community.

“Huron’s Black Students’ Association was only founded in 2021, and I know there are still so many actions we can take for students,” said Wright. “I’m eager to find those opportunities and bring them to our student body.”

A key focus of Wright’s platform is expanding Huron’s reporting system to include incidents beyond diversity, equity, inclusion and racism. She said this will ensure that support is also available for students facing religious discrimination and anti-LGBTQ2S+ hate incidents.

“We want to provide more institutional support so that no matter what students are going through, they know where to turn,” said Wright.

Wright also aims to enhance student support by providing students with access to subsidized first aid training, post-graduate financial literacy sessions and additional study resources.

“Students are capable of more than they think,” said Wright. “I always try to push that if you think there’s too much on your plate you still have a bit of bandwidth, so get involved and take up as much as you can.”

King’s University College Students’ Council

Braedan Lovie

Braedan Lovie, a fourth-year student majoring in French language and literature and social and political thought, will be the next president of the KUCSC.

Lovie is the current executive assistant to the KUCSC president and also ran for president last year. He said his motivation to run again came from his hope to continue amplifying student voices on campus.

“The idea is to keep the fire going. I think we have a lot of great projects underway and I want to ensure their success,” he said.

One of Lovie’s main priorities is fostering authentic representation for underrepresented stu-

dent groups and ensuring that all students — including LGBTQ2S+ and BIPOC individuals — feel included and heard in council decisions.

“That representation is really important to me,” said Lovie. “Even within our own council, I want to make sure every voice matters in these discussions.”

Lovie also plans to implement student-focused programming, such as distributing exam kits, latenight breakfast and handing out treats as well as career support to help students find post-graduate work opportunities.

Another goal for Lovie is increasing the student council’s transparency and communication on matters that impact King’s students and continue to gather feedback through surveys.

“What I really want is a council that is approachable, transparent and easy to navigate,” said Lovie. “Students should know who to turn to, how to reach them and where to find support.”

NEWS INTERN

KAI WILSON GAZETTE Kat Henricus, UCC, Jan. 17, 2025.

ANGWARA NILANONT GAZETTE HUCSC president-elect Jayden Wright (L) and KUCSC president-elect Braedan Lovie (R).

London roads rank 9th busiest in Canada, U.S.

GABRIELLA MCKENNA NEWS EDITOR

Alocation technology developer ranked London’s traffic time and congestion as ninth busiest in Canada and the U.S.. One Western professor thinks City Council could do more to keep road infrastructure growing in pace with the city’s population.

TomTom, a Dutch company specializing in GPS products, released its 2024 traffic index in January. According to its website, the traffic index evaluates cities by their average travel time, fuel costs and carbon footprint.

In the 2023 traffic index, London, Ont. ranked 11th for congestion among Canadian and American cities, while Toronto ranked first.

According to the index, it took commuters an average of 20 minutes and 22 seconds to travel 10 kilometres within London’s city centre in 2024. In 2023, travelling the same distance took an average of three minutes and two seconds less.

Other cities ranking in the top 10 include major cities Toronto at number four and Chicago, ranking below London at number 10. Vancouver, Winnipeg and Montreal are ranked second, sixth and seventh, respectively, on the list.

Martin Horak, a political science professor and director of Western University’s Centre for Urban Policy and Local Governance, said that the increase in congestion may be partly due to London’s recent population growth.

“London has become a fast growing city,” said Horak. “London grew pretty slowly until the mid 2000s and 2010s. Around 2015, 2016 the population growth rate started taking off.”

London ranks as one of Ontario’s fastest-growing cities. In the next 25 years, its population is projected to grow by as much as 50 per cent.

Horak said London’s road infrastructure “hasn’t really grown very much” in recent years,

making it difficult to support more drivers.

Doug MacRae, the City of London’s director of transportation and mobility, acknowledged London’s growth has led to increased traffic volumes on city roads, in a statement to the Gazette. He said the city is developing a long-term plan to ensure the city’s traffic infrastructure can keep up with its growing population.

“The Mobility Master Plan, or ‘MMP’, will be London’s first fully integrated mobility plan which considers all forms of mobility, including general traffic lanes, bus lanes, cycling facilities, sidewalks, and pathways,” wrote MacRae.

TomTom also tracks real-time traffic data in cities. According to its report, it usually takes an average of around 14 minutes to travel 10 kilometres in London’s city centre on Tuesdays at 5 a.m., compared to more than 25 minutes on Fridays at 5 p.m..

Horak believes the city could be doing more to curb increasing congestion.

“To be honest, I don’t think they’ve been doing enough. There are some things in the works. The challenge is that changing transportation infrastructure often takes time,” he said.

Horak said certain plans to reduce traffic congestion have been shot down in the planning stages like the road-widening projects along Wonderland Road and Adelaide Street North. City council voted to suspend both projects due to negative impacts on climate change and the environment.

He also said a proposed light rail transit system may have been unappealing to Londoners because of their preference for private transportation. In May 2016, the city updated its plan to move away from LRT to a bus rapid transit model.

“London is a city where most people get around by car, right? And so people don’t tend to want to spend a lot of money on projects that they don’t necessarily understand will benefit them,” he said.

Horak added that some recent projects have the

potential to ease congestion. One example is the recently completed underpass beneath the Canadian Pacific Railway tracks on Adelaide Road, which allows traffic to pass without stopping for trains.

Other projects which are currently in progress may further ease congestion in the city including an intelligent traffic light system where lights will change based on traffic flow calculations, said Horak.

But Horak said the most important measures London can introduce are expanded public transport.

“A bus rapid transit system will probably do the trick, although it’s perhaps not as attractive as a light rail system, but it is cheaper,” said Horak. He added that a bus can fit seven times more people

than a car while taking up the same space on roads. MacRae told the Gazette one of the new MMP recommendations is new rapid transit corridors at key major roads including one along Wonderland Road between Fanshawe Park Road and Southdale Road.

Looking to the future, Horak says London must prioritize transportation expansion, including public transit, to avoid worsening congestion.

“They’re going to really choose a very assertive strategy of developing a lot of new transportation and transit infrastructure so that we can keep up with this growth, because otherwise, we’re going to have a very congested city,” he said.

Western considers for-profit partnership to teach first-year international students

GABRIELLA MCKENNA NEWS EDITOR

MABEL ZHAO NEWS EDITOR

Western announced it is again considering a deal with a for-profit education company that would outsource the education of first-year international students, sparking concern among some faculty.

Western University provost and vice-president academic Florentine Strzelczyk announced the university is considering the partnership with Navitas at a Senate meeting on Feb. 14.

Navitas, a private non-university educational company based in Australia, is already partnered with five Canadian universities and a private college. Only one Navitas partner, the University of Manitoba, is part of the U15 Group of Canadian Research Universities — Canada’s 15 leading research-intensive universities.

Navitas’s services include “pathway programs,” that provide first-year education to students and collect their tuition. The company then pays some royalties to the partner school, like Western. Students who successfully complete the pathway program then begin their second year receiving instruction directly from Western.

This potential partnership comes at a time

when Ontario universities are facing financial challenges due to the tuition freeze for in-province students, a cap on international student visas and a lack of funding from the provincial government for post-secondary education.

Strzelczyk said at the Feb. 14 Senate meeting that Western’s 2025–26 operating revenue is projected to be at a loss for the first time in 25 years.

“No one is coming to save us,” said Strzelczyk. “We need to find our way to move our university forward in a context that is not friendly to us.”

Strzelczyk added Navitas would help Western form connections with overseas communities and attract more international students by expanding the school’s global footprint.

“They help with recruiting because they have the market intelligence that we don’t have,” said Strzelczyk. “They help students who desire an international education.”

She added that Navitas specializes in “wraparound services” that can better help international students succeed.

In its 2022 strategic plan, Western wrote it aims to increase international undergraduate enrolment to 20 per cent by 2030.

Western initially proposed a partnership with Navitas in 2020. At the time, the move was criticized by the University of Western Ontario Faculty Asso-

ciation, which expressed concerns about the quality of labour and education provided by the company.

In a Feb. 19 statement, UWOFA said while the proposal had changed since 2020, their concerns around “privatization, academic integrity, and precarious labour conditions remain unchanged.”

Following the announcement in the meeting, several senators asked questions about what a partnership between Navitas and Western might look like.

Johanna Weststar, an associate professor in Western’s department of management and organizational studies and UWOFA president, said the new proposal failed to address the union’s concerns in the meeting.

“My understanding is that this new model, if it’s new, is still going to rely on hiring people to work on contract in the first year pathway program,” she said, adding that part of UWOFA’s opposition to the original plan was related to its reliance on contract work.

In UWOFA’s statement on the potential partnership, the union’s opposition to contract-based employment was further explained.

“Many current faculty on ‘limited term’ and ‘limited duties’ contracts already experience second-class citizenship and are not well-supported in their research endeavours,” read the statement. “Outsourcing could further exacerbate job insecurity and polarization across the University.”

Jacques Lamarche, a French studies professor, expressed concerns about Western’s dependence on funding from international students.

“Because the government doesn’t give us money anymore, what do we do? We use people from outside to let us fund our system,” said Lamarche. “That’s completely unethical, as far as I’m concerned.”

Science dean Matt Davison supported considering the partnership, adding that, in the face of frozen domestic tuition, funding from international student tuition is essential for the faculty’s high standard of science education.

Western would be the only Canadian university to partner with Navitas for professional graduate programs. Professional graduate programs prepare students for specific careers, such as law, medicine or education.

Strzelczyk emphasized that no formal plan had yet been put in place to partner with Navitas.

“I just want to emphasize that there’s no proposal, there’s no agreement,” said Strzelczyk. “Any proposal that goes forward needs to be aligned with what works for Western.”

Western has held campus consultation sessions and will be discussing the potential partnership further at the next Senate meeting on March 14.

ANGWARA NILANONT GAZETTE

WHERE DID THEY COME FROM, WHERE DID THEY GO?

The paths of 25 USC presidents

SOPHIA SCHIEFLER COORDINATING EDITOR

Alawyer, a government worker and a consultant walk into a bar.

The beginning of a bad joke, or three former University Students’ Council presidents on a night out?

The Gazette examined the career paths of 25 USC presidents from 2000 –01 to the 2023 –24 school year to see where they ended up after graduation.

The most common destination is the government or public affairs sector, with seven of the 24 presidents currently working in the industry in various capacities.

Initially dreaming of a legal career, 2011–12 USC president Andrew Forgione says his career took a “hard right turn” when he became involved in policy and advocacy work through the USC.

Starting as Social Science Students’ Council president, Forgione says he worked to “calibrate the council” to what students needed and held practical conversations with the dean.

“I saw a lot of momentum and progress in that role, and that really drove me to want to bring it to the entire campus and the entire community,” says Forgione.

After serving as USC president, Forgione deferred an opportunity to study in a legal program several times because he loved working in politics — eventually deciding not to pursue further education.

“My career has just kind of been a fluid journey ever since,” says Forgione.

He says the USC taught him to be selective with his career, choosing to find roles that positively impact others. After graduating, he worked as a press secretary in communications for the Ontario Ministry of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade and was the director of issues management and strategic communications in the Office of the Premier.

Forgione has since branched out of politics, working in public affairs for a pharmaceutical distribution company during the COVID-19 pandemic. He now works at Gilead Sciences, a medicine company.

Forgione says his time with the USC taught him to be resilient, prepared him to work with people with different views and helped him learn how to motivate others.

“It prepares you for a career in any space because you’re just constantly pushed with issues that you might not have thought were on your plate,” says Forgione.

Ontario Minister of Energy and Electrification Stephen Lecce also launched his political career as USC president in the 2008–09 school year.

“I was a great beneficiary of the USC and the broader student leadership experience at Western. It really helps to cement the foundational skills that leaders in business and government and civil society need,” says Lecce.

He says it was through the connections he built as USC president that he went to work in the office of former prime minister Stephen Harper after leaving Western.

After government and public affairs, law is the second most common path for former USC presidents — six of them currently work in different kinds of law. But the presidency isn’t just a stepping stone to law school.

2021–22 president Zamir Fakirani had already been offered admission to law school when he decided to run for president. After winning the election, he deferred his acceptance to take the role.

“For me, the USC was a way to kind of give back in my community before returning to Toronto,” says Fakirani.

During his presidency, the USC launched programs like the free menstrual product program Free the Dot and opened a reflection and prayer space in the University Community Centre.

After his year as president, Fakirani continued to work in advocacy and deferred his acceptance, working in government relations with the Ontario Medical Association, at 2SLGBTQI rights organization Egale Canada and finally the Attorney General’s office. He returned to school last September to achieve a dual MBA and law degree at York University.

“I think just being able to champion others and advocate for others, that’s been my passion, and that’s always what I seek out as an opportunity,” says Fakirani.

He says he learned and grew throughout his time in the position, which he described as a “microcosm” of workspaces students will be in the future.

“I was inspired by the role that the USC plays in creating our student experience at Western, and I saw it as a vehicle to make a difference in areas that I had been hearing students asking for change,” says Fakirani.

The common career trajectories of former USC presidents come as no surprise based on the types of majors they studied during their undergraduate degrees at Western University. Of the 25 presidents including current president Emilie Kalaydjian, 15 studied in the Faculty of Social Science during their undergraduate degree.

Five other former presidents majored in either arts or social science at Huron University College or King’s University College.

In the past 25 years, only two science students and one medical sciences student have been elected to the USC’s top job.

Eddy Avila, 2016–17 USC president and current senior associate at Springboard Policy, got his start on Western’s campus as a medical sciences student.

He initially got involved in the USC through sophing. As a local Londoner, Avila says he pushed himself to get involved on campus as much as possible.

He joined the Science Students’ Council, beginning as a first-year representative and says his experience, in addition to working with the orientation program, helped him understand student issues.

“Getting a sense of some of the regular complaints students had, and some of the challenges that students face, not only within the orientation program, but the university writ large, I think, is what opened my eyes to the possibility of running for something like USC president,” says Avila. He says he hoped to relay the student perspective on a more “meaningful stage.”

After finishing his presidential term, Avila didn’t return to his roots in medical sciences — instead, he pursued a career in public policy.

He worked as a political staffer for the previous Ontario Liberal government, where he says he had the opportunity to learn the inner workings of policy implementation. Later, he worked with the Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance — representing undergraduate students in Ontario — and eventually became executive director.

Avila also sat on the Blue Ribbon Panel, which released a 2023 report with recommendations on maintaining financial stability in the Ontario postsecondary education sector.

In his current role at Springboard Policy, Avila says he applies tools he learned throughout his presidency, like client management, advocacy and public policy knowledge. He also values the ability to hold conversations that challenge the status quo and assess whether policies are achieving their intended impact.

“All of those are really important things that I think I’ve been able to carry in the work I’ve done outside of this,” says Avila.

SOPHIA SCHIEFLER GAZETTE

SOPHIA SCHIEFLER GAZETTE

GAZETTE

SHAUN DING GAZETTE

SOPHIE BOUQUILLON GAZETTE

JENNY JAY GAZETTE

Grooves Records is London’s vinyl haven for music lovers

ALYSSA DUARTE STAFF REPORTER

Though small and narrow, Grooves Records is brimming with character. Step inside, and the walls are plastered with gig posters and album release flyers, while shelves overflow with vinyl in every colour and pressing — most shrink-wrapped, others well-worn from years of love.

Music plays softly in the background, never too loud but always drawing you in. Some days, it’s a newly released album. Other days, it’s a hidden gem that makes you stop in your tracks, forcing you to listen.

Grooves was founded 21 years ago by Troy Hutchison and David Clarke, both veterans of the city’s legendary Dr. Disc Records shop.

“We were both vinyl fans,” Hutchison says. “It wasn’t quite how it is today back then, but we made vinyl a priority while stocking CDs and DVDs, and it slowly grew from there.”

While the name wasn’t chosen on a whim, it didn’t take long to settle on it.

“We were just spitballing names, and that one was on the list, and it stuck,” Hutchison laughs. “It’s one of those classic, solid record store names.”

At its core, Grooves isn’t just a record store — it’s a haven for music lovers. Whether it’s a classic album or an unforgettable treasure, there’s always music to spark curiosity.

The goal is simple: make sure people find what they’re looking for, offer fair wages to the staff and keep the lights on. It’s a labour of love, but not without its challenges.

“We stalk every local artist that cares to put out an album and always put up posters for shows,” Hutchison explains. “We want it to be an inviting environment for any kind of music fan, be it student or otherwise.”

Grooves’s commitment to local music doesn’t end there. In 2017, the store launched its own independent label, Grooves Records Records, releasing its first album and spotlighting local London artists, including bands formed by its own staff.

Being located in a university town adds another layer of vibrancy to Grooves Records, blending different generations of music.

“We love students and want to invite everyone from Western University and Fanshawe College to come and shop here,” Hutchison says. “Students add this energy to London and our store, specifically when students go away in the summer, it’s a bit quieter here, a lot less exciting.”

Grooves takes pride in its thoughtfully curated selection, pulling from a wide range of Canadian labels and distributors to stay ahead of the latest releases. But what if you’re looking for something specific?

“We do special orders,” Hutchison says. “If it’s a self-released album, we’ll even contact the band directly. If it’s out there, we’ll find it for you.”

The store also sells tickets for shows at venues like the London Music Hall and Palasad SocialBowl.

Independent record stores and small venues have supported each other, driven by local music scenes. Small venues often serve as the place to not just listen to artists, but experience the raw, live feeling of music on stage.

But now, things are starting to change.

Hutchison says Grooves recently tried to partner with Canada Life Place but the venue signed a deal with Ticketmaster, an entity caught in controversy over surging ticket prices. Even London Music Hall, a long-time ally, has its own Ticketmaster deal for larger shows.

“We need lots of smaller clubs to build that natural allegiance. It really fosters smaller bands to become big bands one day,” Hutchison says. “I’m sure it will come again. People love music, and music will be made, and we’ll find a way to listen to it.”

Troy says running a record store isn’t as glamorous as some might imagine.

“I got into this because I was a music nut who loved music and lived and breathed music,” Hutchison says. “But when it becomes your job, like every day, it’s not your hobby anymore. It’s still fun, but it sort of changes.”

The pressure to keep up with every new release, every up-and-coming band and every trend starts to take its toll after all these years. But Hutchison found his balance.

“I’ve veered away from what’s popular right now, and I’m just into whatever tickles my fancy,” Hutchison says. “I’m always listening to what the youngins on the staff are playing, and I’m loving Waxahatchee. I’m always in tune with what’s going on, but I don’t feel the pressure to be on top of everything anymore.”

The recent opening of a second Grooves location in London’s Wortley Village acknowledges the need for a break. The last stretch was gruelling — six months without rest.

“It was a lot of work,” Hutchison says. “But I get this weird stress where if I work, it goes away, and I was in that mode.”

For Hutchison and his team, it’s not about being the biggest or the loudest — it’s about staying true to what matters: the music. As long as that’s at the heart of what they do, Grooves will remain an essential part of the city’s soundtrack.

Chiara’s Confessions: I’m finally over it

CHIARA WALLACE

SENIOR SOCIAL MEDIA AND LAYOUT EDITOR

H

ow do you stay friends with a situationship you were never friends with in the first place?

The answer is: you don’t.

How do you manage all the leftover feelings with someone you never dated? How do you get closure when technically nothing was official, and it never had a label? How do you mourn something that technically never existed?

To me, moving on isn’t about getting closure or knowing why it ended. Most of the time, you’ll never get a reason, and they’ll never tell you why they changed their mind. You also can’t forgive and forget when running into them at the Spoke or Delilah’s is likely inevitable.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: Western University is smaller than you think. You may think you’re over someone, but the second you see them on campus with someone new, you’re right back where you started.

While they’ve moved on, you’re stuck in place. Stuck with the residual feelings, frustrations, whatifs and the audacity that they thought you’d be fine with everything. Spoiler alert: it’s okay not to be.

My last situationship taught me a lot. It taught me exactly how I never want to be treated by someone who’s not even my boyfriend. It taught me that, for my sanity, I need to stay away from mechanical engineering majors.

Most importantly, it taught me how to move on. Everyone has their own methods and philosophies, but some things remain the same.

Sit with how you feel.

The best way to heal is to feel every part of it.

I know some people say that listening to sad music while you’re already sad only makes matters worse. I think the opposite. Sad music puts my feelings into words when I can’t.

So, assemble your playlist. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned — a.k.a. Phoebe Bridgers, Taylor Swift and Lucy Dacus. Find the artists that speak to you. Put your phone on Do Not Disturb, stare out a window dramatically and let yourself feel it.

If you’re the journaling type, open a Google Doc or grab a notebook and start writing. Using it to heal from the situation might leave you feeling angrier, but at least you have something to throw, or publish in my case.

If journaling isn’t your thing, find other ways to process: text in your group chat to get the supportive validation you need, go for a long walk or watch a really sad movie. I recommend 500 Days of Summer if you’re brave enough.

Wallow, rot in bed, do whatever you need to get the emotions out of your system. Whether it’s self-reflection or self-destruction, you’re getting out your feelings, and that’s better than nothing.

Get them out of your headspace.

Block them. Mute them. Remove them from your followers and your life.

You don’t need to know what they’re up to, and they definitely don’t need access to you anymore. Keeping them on Instagram or Snapchat may seem like you’re trying to keep things civil, but you don’t owe them that.

The people pleaser in me always wants to play it cool, act like I’m above it all, chill and okay with everything. But I’m not.

I’d rather go no contact than live in a weird in-between, wondering if they’re seeing my stories, checking if they’ve liked my posts and wondering if I’ll ever get a drunk text that they miss me.

It’s better to have no signals than mixed signals.

For anyone just getting

no

you

you

Find a mindset that works for you.

Sometimes the classic breakup quotes don’t fit how I feel.

Sometimes, I don’t want to wish them well. Sometimes, I don’t want to pretend they didn’t know they were hurting me. And I especially don’t want to start seeing someone else in the hopes that they’ll fill the gap someone else has left. When it comes to rejection, I cope with intention. The age-old advice: sometimes you have to remember that not everything is about you. You can’t control other people’s actions and decisions — just how you react and respond to them. So if someone doesn’t want me in their priorities? Then no way do I want them in mine — or my Instagram followers.

Since that last situationship, I’ve been (mostly) practicing what I preach and have never been better. I still don’t go within 10 feet of the engineering building to be safe, I walk or bus around it. But that’s also because, all around, the Gazette office is much more enjoyable than that building. So, cheers to thriving, blocking and avoiding engineers at all costs.

into vinyl, Hutchison recommends The Dark Side of the Moon by Pink Floyd or Led Zeppelin IV “There’s

wrong answer anymore. If there’s a band

like, an album

like, come get that album. Whatever your favourite might be.”

SOPHIE BOUQUILLON GAZETTE

Troy Hutchison, owner of Grooves Records, at downtown location, 236 Dundas Street, London, Ont., Feb. 7, 2025.

SOPHIE BOUQUILLON GAZETTE

Grooves Records, 236 Dundas St., London, Ont., Feb. 7, 2025.

These students have cracked the code to networking: Meet Nodes

YUSUF SEID CULTURE INTERN

Nicholas Lam, a fifth-year computer science and Ivey student, and James Yang, a thirdyear computer science and engineering student, have spent enough time reviewing LinkedIn profiles and drafting cold emails to know there must be a better way to land that dream internship.

Enter Nodes, a platform they created that helps users “scrape” email addresses from LinkedIn and send mass emails, streamlining what they see as an outdated and inefficient process.

Now, rather than manually going through a profile on LinkedIn and reaching out one by one, the Nodes extension allows users to select profiles they are interested in through LinkedIn’s search feature and, using the web app, draft and send a mass email to the profiles — all with just one click.

“Networking is a numbers game, so it’s all about how many emails you can get out there, how many chats you can do, how many referrals you can get,” says Lam.

Officially released in January, Nodes has already seen over 800 users with just about 5,000 emails sent through the platform — and they’re just getting started.

But when Lam first built the early code for Nodes in his third year, he wasn’t thinking of launching a product. He just wanted to make his own job hunt easier.

After seeing how well it worked out and sharing it with some friends, he reached out to Yang. With multiple hackathons under his belt and experience making Google Chrome extensions, Yang was the perfect partner.

“In the developing community, everybody uses these libraries to help them do CSS, which is, the styling and everything that you have. James does it by himself,” says Lam. “He

doesn’t rely on any sort of library, and he prefers to just make all the transitions and everything himself. You can’t help but admire that.”

Yang’s hackathon journey started in his first year, when his team failed to place in a competition. But in the past year, he’s gone on a winning streak around Canadian universities, placing in five competitions. Now, he has his sights set on American hackathons.

But it was an event in his second year where the early idea of Nodes was born.

“We did a hackathon at McMaster, and we found some success there as a team. And I think that’s when Nick got the idea to reach out,” says Yang.

As project developers in Western Founders Network, where Lam is now co-vice president of projects, the two had some experience turning ideas into reality. Over the past year, through coding, refining and troubleshooting, they turned their small tool into a fully fledged platform.

“I also think having people that look up to you is really rewarding. There’s more responsibility, it also forces us to be more on top of things as well,” adds Yang.

What started as a year-long two-man project to help others land internships has expanded into something much bigger, with Lam and Yang now taking in interns of their own.

“It was really important to me for me to use the place I was in to give hungry, ambitious students a chance,” says Lam.

Yang and Lam’s project is rooted in helping students, which is why neither has made money through the extension yet — they say it’s not the focus.

Publishing is far from the last step in Nodes and their team’s journey. With a growing user base, their next step is creating alumni databases to help students reach out to people they have a higher likelihood of getting a response from.

“We’re

trying to just build the app out to give the best experience for the user,” says Lam.

The environmental impacts of AI

PANIZ VEDAVARZ CULTURE EDITOR

If you’ve been on social media, you’ve probably seen infographics circulating, highlighting the environmental impacts of AI.

These Instagram posts and TikTok clips often show ominous statistics or visuals suggesting that AI workloads could create a huge strain on the environment.

In a TikTok posted in May 2024 by NowThis Impact, they claim one ChatGPT request is the equivalent of pouring out a bottle of water and using a lightbulb for 15 minutes.

According to Mark Daley, Western’s chief AI officer and computer science professor, while AI does have an environmental impact, the conversation is far more nuanced than social media suggests.

“There’s been a lot of media that isn’t particularly well sourced and references saying things like, ‘Every time you do a ChatGPT query, it uses more water than the entire city of Berlin in a day,’ which isn’t true, and the water does not just vanish in existence,” says Daley.

According to Daley, there are two primary contributors to AI’s carbon footprint: training the model and running inference — meaning the daily questions we submit to AI systems. Training requires more computational power, while interference has a smaller impact.

He acknowledges that while misinformation often circulates, AI does have a real environmental impact. He urges students to rely on concrete data rather than sensational headlines.

Daley points out that AI’s overall carbon footprint depends heavily on where its energy comes from.

“If that energy is coming from a hydroelectric dam in northern Quebec, there isn’t a carbon cost in the traditional sense because we’re not burning fossil fuels,” Daley explains “But if that

energy is coming from a fast response gas turbine generated plan, absolutely every query is having a carbon footprint.”

This tension around energy sources is why tech giants are exploring alternative power solutions. For example, Microsoft recently announced plans to purchase energy from the Three Mile Island nuclear plant — the site of the worst nuclear disaster in U.S. history. The plant would give Microsoft access to carbon-free energy, a necessity if AI models continue to grow.

As AI models become more advanced, it also becomes more power-hungry. According to Da-

ley, this increasing electricity demand can create significant economic pressure on major tech companies — like Microsoft — to secure cleaner, cost-effective energy sources, like nuclear power.

“Last year the efficiency in terms of energy cost of models, came down by 97 per cent and it’s not because the companies are good hearted and they want to save the world,” explains Daley.

He explains that this is because companies running AI models like ChatGPT have strong financial incentives to minimize energy costs, as every query requires computing power. Lowering energy consumption reduces expenses and

increases revenue, making shareholders happy. Daley also points to a study published in Scientific Reports that compares carbon emissions from AI-driven tasks — like writing or creating illustrations — to the emissions from a human doing the same job.

The study focused on two specific tasks — writing and illustrating — and compared the carbon footprints of AI models such as ChatGPT, Bloom, DALL-E2 and Midjourney with the footprints of humans doing the same work.

The findings are striking — while AI models generate carbon emissions, on a per-page or per-illustration basis, they emit far less carbon dioxide than a human producing comparable output.

“Students should do the research and look at grounded numbers that are backed up by experimental study. There’s a lot of infographics on Instagram and TikTok, and what’s the veracity of those?” says Daley.

In a Washington Post op-ed, Steven Cowley, the head of the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, says that using computer models — rather than old-fashioned trial and error — will help scientists develop fusion energy, a clean, safe and virtually unlimited source of clean power.

Cowley says that recent breakthroughs were made possible by very accurate computer models. These models help scientists see how the super-hot plasma in a fusion reactor behaves and keep it under control. They also let researchers test different ideas quickly, which can lower costs.

In the end, Cowley believes that using AI to improve these models will help us build fusion reactors that give us plenty of clean energy.

“I really want to believe that op-ed because if that’s true, we get to live in the solar punk world instead of dystopian cyberpunk,” Daley remarks.

ANGWARA NILANONT GAZETTE

KAI WILSON GAZETTE

Founders of Nodes, Nicholas Lam (L) and James Yang (R), March 2, 2025.

TikTok’s looming ban — what’s next?

YUSUF SEID CULTURE INTERN

TikTok’s reign looks to be coming to an end. With a possible U.S. ban looming over the app, users and creators are left wondering: where to next?

The rise and fall of social media apps is nothing new — Vine and Tumblr make that clear. But the potential TikTok ban is no ordinary shutdown.

TikTok’s ties to its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, have raised national concerns in the United States. In early 2024, Congress passed a bill forcing its sale to an American owner or face a ban, which former President Joe Biden signed into law in April 2024.

Fast forward to January, the Supreme Court unanimously upheld the federal law requiring ByteDance to divest TikTok by Jan. 19 to avoid the ban.

The platform was removed from app stores, initiating a 12-hour shutdown in the U.S. on Jan. 19. TikTok came back online with a short message thanking U.S. president Donald Trump, who signed an executive order granting TikTok a 75day extension to comply with the law.

“TikTok might be banned again down the line, coming down to these 75 days,” explains Atle Mikkola Kjøsen, assistant professor in the Faculty of Information and Media Studies.

“That means sometime in March or April, we could have this discussion again.”

The debate over a ban in the U.S. has raised concerns in Canada after the federal government removed the app from government-issued devices almost two years ago.

As TikTok hangs in the balance, Xiaohongshu — meaning “little red book” and known internationally as RedNote — has stepped up as an alternative. Following TikTok’s temporary removal, the number of U.S. RedNote users jumped from 300,000 to 3.4 million within a week. RedNote is one of China’s largest social media platforms, with 300 mil-

lion users globally, making its growing popularity outside the Chinese-speaking world noteworthy.

But for content creators, making the switch isn’t as simple as downloading a new app.

“It’s kind of scary because you have to start from scratch,” says Lauren Levinsky, a third-year media and communication studies student. “It’s not like you’ve just put your following from TikTok onto RedNote. It’s a total restart. Everyone starts from scratch.”

With around 137,000 followers, Levinsky knows what’s at stake. The looming ban served as a wake-up, fueling her decision to branch off outside of just TikTok, and like many others, she

Science behind: Brain rot

OWEN JOHNSTON CULTURE EDITOR

“Brainrot” was named Oxford’s word of the year for 2024 — a term that gained significant traction over the last year or so. Chat, are we cooked?

If you’ve spent any time scrolling through Instagram Reels or TikTok, there’s a good chance you’re familiar with the kind of absurd and random content.

According to the Oxford University Press, “brain rot” refers to “low value, low quality content found on social media and the internet, as well as the subsequent negative impact that consuming this type of content is perceived to have on an individual or society.”

While the phrase might be thrown around humorously, Oxford points out that it’s not necessarily harmless. The rise in popularity of “brain rot” content may be part of a larger problem about social media overuse, passive scrolling and how it affects young people’s behaviour and mental health.

Emma Duerden, a professor in Western University’s Faculty of Education and Canada Research Chair in neuroscience and learning disorders, has studied the effects of social media and technology use on youth aged five to 18.

“Internet use disorder is in the actual classification manual for psychiatric disorders, but social media use or overuse is not classified as an addiction per se,” says Duerden. “We’re seeing that there are teens and young adults who are overusing it to the point where they have serious mental health concerns.”

Duerden explains signs of social media overuse include screen time interfering with daily life, developing an emotional attachment to online content and, more seriously, withdrawing socially from real life.

Another major consequence of social media overuse? A reduced attention span. Duerden ex-

plains that too much screen time can directly affect concentration through a phenomenon called “popcorn brain,” where the brain becomes accustomed to rapid content. Sleep deprivation can be another byproduct of excessive scrolling, leading to reduced focus.

Subere Houssein Ali, a first-year engineering student, estimates that he looks at his phone more than 100 times on an average day. After waking up and before going to bed, Houssein Ali spends most of his time on his phone, often scrolling on social media for over half an hour.

“I don’t think it really affected me much in high school,” says Houssein Ali. “Given the heavy content that university requires, I tend to realize how much time I lose by being on my phone.”

Endless passive scrolling is not only a waste of time, but it’s linked to mental health concerns like anxiety, stress and low self esteem. In a recent study Duerden was part of, passive scrolling was identified as one of the worst activities you could do on your phone.

Aside from its direct effects, screen time also has indirect consequences. Duerden points out that when you’re sitting and scrolling, you’re not doing other things that contribute to social development, like talking with friends.

Much of the content Houssein Ali consumes on his phone is “brain rot.” According to Houssein Ali, the most recent meme that has taken Instagram Reels by storm is “Chopped Chin,” a video showing a young man dancing courtside at a basketball game.

Often, this content features Gen Z internet jargon like “rizz,” “hawk tuah,” and “sigma,” and incorporates pop culture references like the minions from the Despicable Me movie series and characters from TV shows like Family Guy and Spongebob

Houssein Ali says the demand from viewers to see brain rot incentivizes creators to make increasingly weird brain rot content. Due to the

ended up making a RedNote account.

According to Levinsky, the apps are similar enough — the biggest difference for her is the community aspect. As she explains, RedNote mirrors everything but isn’t the same as the “organic trends and niche communities” she’s been a part of on TikTok.

RedNote has a similar look to TikTok, focusing on short-form videos and allowing users to browse content through their “Explore,” “Follow” and “Nearby” pages. It also has the same potential concerns around its data and privacy.

Like TikTok, RedNote collects vast amounts of user data, including IP addresses, locations and

browsing activity, as outlined in its privacy policy. But unlike TikTok’s efforts to store American user data in Texas, RedNote’s data is likely stored on Chinese servers, making it subject to China’s data regulations and potentially accessible to government authorities.

Although Canadian creators like Levinsky still can’t make money through TikTok’s creator fund, the potential of a Canadian and American ban does affect the brand deals that offer Canadian creators financial security.

“You know, losing a platform overnight isn’t just really a social shift. It’s a financial and professional disruption and for micro-influencers like myself, even the short-term ban sort of makes you rethink your strategy,” says Levinsky.

Kjøsen understands why influencers are worried.

“The problem is you built up your own kind of self or brand or network on one apps. There’s nothing saying they will just follow you to the next app,” says Kjøsen. “If you go to RedNote or go to Instagram or YouTube, whatever it is, would people actually follow you? It’s unlikely.”

According to BBC, Instagram is considering launching a separate app for its its short-term video feature, Reels, to capitalize on TikTok’s uncertain status.

YouTube has also made changes to its YouTube Shorts videos by expanding the maximum length of a video to three minutes, up from one, to capture creators used to TikTok where videos can be up to 10 minutes.

Now TikTok is back at the top of downloaded apps, but its future is far from secure. Given the fast-changing nature of social media, a completely new platform may replace the app.

“For content creators, it’s got to be an issue,” Kjøsen says. “But for consumers, in the end, there’s always going to be another social network.”

demand, the social media algorithm drives these videos to eager viewers — and the cycle continues.

“[Chopped Chin] does that head nod and after that it becomes the craziest brain rot,” says Houssein Ali. “They started combining it with different brain rot where now you have ‘chuzz.’”

But beyond the goofiness, Duerden warns of a darker side to viral content. Social media’s incentive structure rewards increasingly extreme content, sometimes desensitizing users to violence and harmful behavior.

“It releases neurochemicals in our brain like dopamine, and after a while you need more and more to get that same rush you had at the beginning,” says Duerden. “That’s why content is get-

ting more and more sensational.”

But Duerden makes it clear that even studying screen time and social media use is difficult, especially because researchers don’t know what users interact with because everyone’s feeds vary. This means they cannot necessarily determine whether passive scrolling directly causes mental health disorders or if existing mental health issues drive people toward excessive scrolling.

The Canadian Society for Exercise and Physiology recommends young adults limit screen time to three hours per day.

To put it in Gen Z terms, brain rot enjoyers should probably “lock in” and “touch grass.”

MINA AHMAD GAZETTE

MADELEINE MCCOLL GAZETTE

HANNAH ALPER GAZETTE

Opinion: Letterboxd isn’t just for film bros

CHIARA WALLACE SENIOR SOCIAL MEDIA AND LAYOUT EDITOR

Igrew up with family movie nights every Friday. Microwave popcorn and a slightly disorganized DVD collection were staples in our house — no genre went unwatched.

Now that I’m older, my Letterboxd account is just as precious to me as that DVD collection. It might seem intimidating to jump into, but trust me — it’s a place for every kind of movie fan.

You might have seen Letterboxd correspondents on the red carpet of award shows, tiny microphone in hand, demanding to know an actor’s top four movies. But it’s so much more than that.

Letterboxd is a social media platform where you can track, rate and review the movies you watch. Sure, you might assume the average user is a pretentious film snob who only watches the “classics” and writes long and confusing reviews. And you might not be totally wrong.

But that’s just one corner of the app, I promise we’re not all Fight Club enthusiasts.

In reality, it’s a space where movie lovers — even those who unapologetically love The Kissing Booth — can have fun. Whether you’re a regular at SilverCity London Cinemas or can barely get through one film a month — Letterboxd is filled with people just like you.

It’s a whole community in one place, sharing their thoughts, one-liners and unhinged takes at your fingertips. It’s the type of movie commentary you’d be hard-pressed to find anywhere else.

Launched in 2011, the app has seen a huge increase in popularity. In the last four years, usership has grown from 1.8 million to 17 million with the majority of users being in our demographic, aged 18 to 24. With the rise of streaming services and the popularization of independent films, we’re entering a new era of cinema with Gen Z at the forefront — and Letterboxd is letting us comment on it.

After seeing many creators talking about the app on TikTok, I decided to make an account in 2021. Since then, I’ve had an on-and-off relationship with Letterboxd. I’ve sometimes felt unmotivated to log my rewatches, but I ultimately come back to the app after every trip to the movie theatre.

But that’s what I love about Letterboxd. After a trip to the movies with my friends or family, we all sit down and contemplate our star ratings and reviews. It promotes community online and in person.

There’s always someone in the group who gives out five stars and another who gives out one star to every movie. No matter what deputy editor Ryan Goodison might tell you, A Complete Unknown is not a four-star movie.

The more reviews I read and write, the more time I spend crafting a semi-original review for every movie I see. It’s made me more critical of the content I watch, and while I usually write silly little one-liners as my reviews, it still encourages me to be engaged with the media I consume.

It has helped me to distinguish what about a film makes it good, bad or completely strange — I’m still so confused about what Megalopolis was. Reading through other users’ reviews, I’ve learned so much

about movie genres and styles; I’ve started to pick up on little things I never noticed before.

It can sometimes feel like Letterboxd contributes to the echo chamber of baseless opinions people tend to put online, similar to what you’d find on X or Reddit. But you can’t deny that it offers an accessible way to engage with film and fosters a space where personal taste and constructive criticism can coexist.

We can’t all take a film class during our time at Western University to engage with people our age — and experts — about classics like Star Wars: A New Hope or modern masterpieces like Parasite

Opinion: Aging in place should be the norm

ANGWARA NILANONT

GRAPHICS EDITOR

WhenI first moved to London, my family settled in a yellow-brick apartment.

It wasn’t long until we realized that this wasn’t your typical apartment — all of our neighbours had white hair, many were well into their 70s or 80s and the apartment’s notice board had a new obituary posted every few weeks.

Strangely enough, it was also the time when I attended the most parties.

The apartment’s community of elderly residents hold gatherings every holiday — Thanksgiving, New Year’s, Easter — you name it. On Halloween, my sister and I found ourselves bobbing apples with 70-year-old Sherlock Holmes and Superman.

The residents put the ‘golden’ in the golden years. They were full of life, wisdom and independence in a society that views aging as an unfortunate side effect of being alive.

During the months that I lived there, aging was redefined for me. It no longer meant being confined to retirement homes, losing independence and incurring chronic diseases, but rather a stage in life to look forward to.

Aging in place, surrounded by a loving community and adequate support in our own homes, should be the norm.

Canada’s population is getting older. One in five Canadians is now over the age of 65, and that number is expected to keep rising. Yet, despite the clear preference of most older adults to stay in their own homes, many are forced into long-term care facilities when it becomes too difficult to manage their needs on their own.

Barriers such as a lack of affordable housing, limited access to health care services and insufficient support for physical limitations make it challenging for seniors to maintain their independence and age in place.

This is where Naturally Occurring Retirement Communities and their supportive service programs — NORC-SSPs — can make all the difference.

A NORC is exactly what it sounds like — a community that naturally becomes home to a high percentage of older adults over time. These can be apartment buildings, neighbourhoods or even clusters of homes.

In my case, the yellow-brick apartment I lived in was a NORC.

Because so many seniors live in one area, NORCs present an opportunity to bring essential services — health care, social programs and housekeeping — right to where people already live.

Studies show that seniors who remain in their communities stay happier and independent longer. Providing on-site health services reduces hospital visits and keeps older adults engaged in preventative care rather than emergency care, reducing the strain on our emergency rooms.

In New York City, a NORC-SSP partnered with local hospitals to offer health assessments and fall prevention programs. Within a year, the percentage of emergency department visits that resulted in a return visit within 30 days among participating seniors dropped dramatically, from 21 per cent at the beginning to five per cent by the end of the study.

Beyond health care, NORC-SSPs create a sense of belonging. Social isolation is one of the biggest risks for older adults, leading to depression and other health issues. But when communities organize social events and group activities, seniors stay engaged and connected.

Many programs, like the Cherryhill Healthy Aging Program in London, Ont., have successfully provided this kind of community-based support and have become a model for other NORC-SSPs across the country. The Cherryhill community was selected due to a large proportion of older adults — 85 per cent of residents were aged 65 years and

But Letterboxd can at least be a place where you learn something new about your favourite movie or find your next watch.

So be a part of the conversation on Letterboxd. Find your people and your niche. Read and learn from other people’s reviews and write your own. Log your thoughts on the new blockbuster in theatres or your 10th rewatch of your favourite romcom — 10 words or 100 words — writing a review lets you engage and think about movies in a new way. Even if that thought is, “I only watched this movie for Mike Faist, and that’s it.”

older — living in 13 buildings near a mall with full amenities including a grocery store, bank, post office, professional services and health services. The program started in 1996 and was led by Western University’s Division of Geriatric Medicine. The integrated model included a geriatric nurse practitioner which became an important point of contact for residents to navigate the healthcare system as well as home and community-care case managers to bring health care to these residents’ homes.

Some may argue that setting up NORC-SSPs requires extra funding, but long-term care can be even more expensive. Canada will need an estimated 199,000 additional long-term care beds by 2035, costing over $64 billion to build and $130 billion to operate.

Meanwhile, NORC-SSPs make use of existing housing, reducing the need for new infrastructure. In Toronto, a single NORC-SSP was able to provide over 750,000 hours of personal support worker services without major new investments. Instead of spending billions on institutional care, we could be investing in making communities more livable for seniors.

Aging in place should not be a privilege — it should be the standard. But for that to happen, NORC-SSPs need better recognition, funding and support.

In Toronto’s downtown core, there are nearly 500 high-rise apartment and condo buildings where at least 40 per cent of residents are seniors. This trend is also observed in cities such as Vancouver, Montreal and Ottawa, where a significant number of seniors live in high-rise buildings. Despite the presence of these communities, there has been a limited effort across Canada to systematically identify NORCs or provide public funding to support programs that cater to residents’ needs.

Municipal governments can help by improving zoning laws to allow for on-site healthcare and social services in residential buildings. Federal and provincial governments need to invest in NORC programs as a cost-effective way to support aging populations. Most importantly, we need to change the way we think about aging. Growing older does not mean growing isolated and giving up independence. It means adapting communities so that people can continue to live where they feel comfortable and safe — right where they are.

ARISIA QARRI GAZETTE

ANGWARA NILANONT GAZETTE

Opinion: Powering down screens is a power-up for learning

OWEN JOHNSTON CULTURE EDITOR

More and more professors are banning laptops and other electronics from their classrooms. And me? I’m all for it.

Many Western University profs have started to implement “no-tech” policies in their syllabi. Tech-based note-taking has become the norm in most universities. So, naturally, these policies are met with eye rolls and exasperated sighs of frustration from students when the professor tells them to close their laptops.

A recent op-ed in the Gazette that opposes tech bans is evidence of their unpopularity. But this wave of protest is reactionary — it hasn’t given pen-and-paper learning the chance to prove itself.

I think these students will come to realize that powering down the screens is a power-up for learning.

My first point is simple and obvious: computers are as much a distraction machine as they are learning tools. People aren’t taking their education seriously, and it’s seriously distracting to those who are. You can’t help but notice them. Some students are using their devices to watch the latest Netflix show, shop the best deals online or battle it out in a video game — all while I’m trying to learn about critical theory.

Listen, I know laptops offer many convenient features, like the ability to search an unfamiliar

term and rapidly type out notes. But in my experience, even when I’m using my laptop for notetaking, I’m never learning at my best.

A laptop — with all its shortcuts and formatting tools — promises the potential of comprehensive notes. When you lock in on typing out every word your prof is saying, you forget to look up and actually engage with the material. As a result, you’re not even thinking critically and learning as a result.

Besides, it’s been proven that longhand note taking has been found to be a more effective notetaking method than typing on a computer.

A 2023 psychology study shows that handwritten notes develop more connectivity patterns in the brain than typing on a keyboard.

The researchers observed the brain connectivity of participants who were instructed to either handwrite or type a word that appeared on a computer screen. They found that the motor skills used in handwriting strengthened the brain’s connectivity patterns related to learning and remembering.

The results raise an important question: if universities are in the business of education, why shouldn’t they implement the best educational practices?

Often, tech-in-class advocates will argue that professors who ban tech in class are failing to embrace change. But I ask: what change?

Technology is the norm. It’s not uncommon for students to be chronically online or to be craving their next dopamine hit from TikTok, Instagram Reels, or YouTube Shorts. In a culture that is drowning in overstimulation, maybe the progressive step forward is a return to face-to-face, pen and paper learning.

A screen-free classroom has the potential to cultivate a sense of community between peers and profes-

Opinion: Why grief literacy

should

be a priority at Western

sors that a classroom where everyone is staring with eyes glazed over at their own screens simply cannot.

This is not to say that students with accommodations should be prohibited from using technology, I would never argue for that. As long as these students present their professors with documentation of their accommodations, they should be allowed to access their laptops and tablets. There should never be barriers to accessibility.

For students without accommodations, burying your head in a laptop is just bad classroom etiquette. Think about it from the professor’s point of view:

You ask a question and no one answers. No one even looks up from their screen. Students are typing when there’s no reason to be typing. Some-

where in the back row a loud “ding” goes off

It’s disrespectful, distracting and I can imagine it sucks for the professor.

Tech bans remove distractions, promote beneficial educational practices and foster a healthy classroom community.

I’m not arguing that all classes should implement these policies. I understand that some courses are better suited for pen-and-paper learning than others.

But when you find yourself in a tech-free classroom, don’t be too quick to roll your eyes or sigh out of frustration. You might find that you’re performing better, more engaged and doing what we’re here to do at university: learn.

EDIE BRAY CULTURE INTERN

Grief is a universal experience. That doesn’t mean it’s universally understood.

But King’s University College has a course that can teach you about loss and how to handle it, and I think it’s an important lesson for all of us — even if you’re not sitting in the lecture.

This year, I took a course at King’s titled “Thanatology 2231F 570: Bereavement and Grief: Overview and Interventions” with lecturer Adrienne Sauder. In case you don’t know what that is — I certainly didn’t — thanatology is the study of grief and bereavement.

Bereavement refers to “the state of being bereaved,” which happens when a person suffers the loss of someone close to them.

You’re probably thinking, what an odd class choice for a creative writing major, and you might be right. But I think the lessons I learned about loss are invaluable and undeniably relevant in everyone’s life — and not just when someone close passes away.

The course emphasizes the importance of grief literacy, a term used to describe understanding grief and how to deal with it — both your grief and the grief of others. In my opinion, an education about grief literacy is equally as important as other student health and care policies Western University is already keen on promoting.

Now, the word “grief” carries a lot of weight. But grief isn’t restricted to just death losses. In fact, one of the most important things I learned in my class is that people experience grief from losses everyday, even if they aren’t directly related to death.

In a post-pandemic world where the loneliness epidemic is ever-growing and politics, cost of living and employment difficulties are weighing on young people, it is increasingly important that we as students learn to recognize non-death losses and understand how to process them.

Western has supports in place for student mental health and wellness, like offering group and individual psychotherapy sessions on campus and training faculty members and other community members — like residence sophs and dons — to properly respond to mental health concerns. Also, supports like West-

ern’s Wellness Navigator help connect students to mental health support on campus and online.

These initiatives are commendable, but we don’t need to stop there.

Students have not always been fully satisfied with the mental health supports that already exist on campus. I have to wonder if that’s partially because something is missing — and I think that something might be grief literacy.

Things as big as chronic loneliness and as small as a not-so-great score on a quiz can be considered losses and may carry grief. With the lens of non-death losses as legitimate, the average life and mental health of a university student look totally different.

Students experience loss all the time, and this needs to be recognized. Grief isn’t just about death and dying. And I think Western should make that clear.

Just like it is necessary that students know where they can go for support, it is also necessary that they understand what kind of support they might need and when it is okay to ask for help — it’s always okay.

Grief is downplayed a lot, especially when it is misunderstood. Not dissimilar to education around something like depression, grief literacy can help students understand that they are grieving — even when they don’t think they are.

Compassionate absences, while very helpful, range from weddings to bereavement. But the definition of bereavement here is very literal, and students are expected to submit supporting documentation like a death certificate or obituary notice.

Grief does not always mean death, and students and faculty alike should recognize that and demonstrate it through compassionate absences. The undocumented absence policy introduced earlier this year is a step in the right direction, but it isn’t perfect.

A 2022 paper suggested that grief literacy and grief support are community efforts. This means it’s important that all of us understand what it means to grieve —in all its forms —and how to deal with that grief. Grief literacy is about compassion and support both for oneself and for others.

In my time at Western, I have experienced a lot of loss — big and small. Grief literacy has helped me — and can help you — process loss and know how to seek support for feelings that might otherwise be difficult to understand and address.

TIFFANY CHENG GAZETTE

Why Canadian politicians use hockey in their campaigns

THOMAS IRONS SPORTS EDITOR

WhenConnor McDavid sealed Team Canada’s win in overtime over the U.S. during the 4 Nations Face-Off tournament, the floodgate of hockey-related social media edits began — they just happened to be shared by Canada’s new Prime Minister hopefuls.

After the NHL announced the tournament last year, major political events changed the outlook and intensity of the international tournament. The most major was the United States presidential election last November, which led to Donald Trump’s return to the White House.

As Trump threatened tariffs on Canada shortly after his inauguration, the tournament quickly became more than just some exhibition matches between Canada, the U.S., Finland and Sweden. Canadian politicians quickly seized the opportunity to align themselves with Canada’s national team.

Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre attended a game, as did outgoing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Mark Carney, currently running for Liberal leader, has also incorporated hockey into his campaign.

“They’re trying to demonstrate that they’re someone that you can identify with, and insofar as you’re identifying with them, you can trust them and expect them to do well in office, and therefore you vote for them,” said Sam Routley, a PhD student at Western University studying political science focusing on conservative political thought.

Routley notes the hockey connection can help politicians make that link with voters.

Noah Vanderhoeven, a Western PhD student studying the intersection of sports and politics,

says politicians have used hockey to promote Canada’s dominance in the sport, often referring to it as “our sport” and as a way to show they can stand up to Trump.

“I think that both Canadian politicians are perhaps learning something from that and making use of hockey and that kind of nationalism, to both point out how they can be seen as someone who can stand up to Trump, but also to kind of improve how they connect to younger Canadians,” said Vanderhoeven.

He adds that Trump’s combative approach to Canada-U.S. relations has led to increased engagement with hockey as a symbol of Canadian strength.

“I think more recently, hockey has been held up as sort of a part of a very kind of prominent symbol of Canadians being good at something, some sort of a national symbol,” said Vanderhoeven.

But this isn’t the first time Canadian politicians have used hockey to improve their own image.

John Valentine, a professor at MacEwan University in Edmonton, Alta., recalls that Pierre Elliott Trudeau did something similar during the 1972 Summit Series.

“[Pierre] Trudeau was also a pretty true campaign. He was a pretty intelligent guy. You know, when they had the Canada Cup, when they had the 72 Summit Series, all that sort of stuff, he would always go and drop the puck for the ceremonial faceoff,” said Valentine.

As Cold War tensions escalated, politicians recognized the power of using sports to promote national pride. They realized that using sports as a campaign tool to promote their ideals and their country’s strength on the international stage was key to achieving electoral success.

“I think sport has a prominent place in terms of how political leaders can sort of market to their citizens, their country as being very strong at something. Or basically, they can use national sports teams as symbols of their country being really good in general,” said Vanderhoeven.

Valentine mentions that former Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper used hockey in his campaigns, with a photo of him tying a kid’s

pair of skates all over the front pages of newspapers. According to Valentine, this helped with Harper’s public perception as he was previously seen as stiff.

Vanderhoeven believes the relationship between politics and sports is here to stay, especially with the FIFA World Cup next year, which will take place in Canada for some parts of the tournament alongside the U.S. and Mexico.

Liam Drover-Mattinen’s path from Newfoundland to tennis national championship

ALYSSA DUARTE STAFF REPORTER

Growing up in the picturesque Portugal CoveSt. Philip’s, Newfoundland — a town better known for its rugged coastlines than its tennis culture — Liam Drover-Mattinen’s rise has been anything but traditional.

The first-year Huron University College management and organizational studies student and rookie on the Western University men’s tennis team has quickly emerged as one of the top young athletes in the country.

With huge wins at the Ontario University Athletics Championship, Liam led Western to victory and earned an impressive trifecta of honours for a first-year athlete — Player of the Year, Rookie of the Year and All-Star awards.

Liam’s performance at the Oct. 13 OUA Championship helped propel the Mustangs to a 4-2 gold medal win over the University of Toronto Varsity Blues, securing the program’s 24th title. Playing in the No. 1 position, Liam delivered 6-3 victories in his singles and doubles matches.

Unlike many of his peers, Liam’s commitment to tennis meant leaving home to train with top coaches. This led to weeks-long stretches away from family and friends — an isolating experience for a young athlete.

But the real challenge came when Liam returned to his laidback hometown.

The intensity of his training didn’t quite match the easygoing nature of Portugal Cove-St. Philips. But one constant always kept him motivated — his brother, Aiden.

“My brother was a big inspiration and a super big humbler,” Liam laughs. “For the longest time, I could never beat him regardless of how good I was … It was frustrating, but it gave me something to look up to and something to keep pushing with.”

Now a senior at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York, Aiden is pursuing a degree in computer science while competing at the Division III level in tennis. Aiden also draws inspiration from Liam’s role as a guide on and off the court.

“Succeeding in a sport is impressive,” Aiden says.

“But what I’m more proud of, especially in the past two years, is the initiative Liam has taken to help others through tennis, serving as a coach and a mentor.”

Their relationship started off like lots of other brotherly bonds, with both trying to outdo each other.

But as they grew older — especially during training sessions without a coach in Newfoundland — their sib-

ling rivalry shifted from competition to collaboration.

“Anytime my brother was improving, I saw it as a positive,” Aiden says. “It added credibility to what we were doing.”

While their parents weren’t tennis experts, they supported Aiden and Liam through it all. They prioritized giving their sons opportunities like access to top coaches, sports psychologists and guidance to help them grow as people on and off the tennis court.

“There are a lot of high sports environments that aren’t healthy, and it’s easy for parents to get carried away with the sport and the results,” Liam says.

But their parents weren’t focused on making them good tennis players. Their priority was raising them to be good people.

“Their goal at the end of the day was to raise good boys with values and morals,” he says. “If my brother and I were never tennis players, I think our personalities would come out roughly the same.”

Liam may be a standout player for the Mustangs, but he doesn’t measure his success by personal accolades. A team-centric mindset has been essential to Western’s success this season.

“It was nice to have my success rewarded,” he says. “But really, those were secondary to the team victory. Whether I got Rookie of the Year, MVP or someone else did, didn’t particularly matter to me. What mattered was that we — as a team — won, and we were going to bring home the OUA trophy and go to nationals.”

This season has been a milestone in Liam’s career, but he’s most proud of helping put Newfoundland on the tennis map. He felt he first achieved this after competing at the Junior Davis Cup — a renowned international tennis event for players under 16 — and making it to nationals.

“They were both pretty big and definitely ground-breaking for Newfoundland,” Liam says.

“Nobody had done that in years. I think it was something that put the province on the map on the national and international stages,” emphasizing it allowed him to work towards something bigger than himself.

When Liam was 11 years old, he travelled to Montreal to meet Ralph Platz, a coach who would

become a pivotal figure in his tennis career.

Platz remembers Liam as a young boy with a big smile, always giving his all on the court. He saw something special in Liam and felt a strong connection to the family. This bond inspired him to invest more time and energy into Liam’s development.

“The guy was like a sponge. He wanted everything I could give him,” Platz says.

By the time Liam was 17, his relationship with Platz became a full-time partnership. What stood out to Platz wasn’t Liam’s competitiveness but instead his work ethic and humility.

“He knows when he’s made mistakes,” Platz says. “I always knew that no matter what happened with his tennis, he was going to find something to be successful at.”

For Platz, Liam’s determination, willingness to accept criticism and constant drive to do better set him apart. He’s confident the discipline Liam built through tennis will stay with him far beyond the sport.

“Tennis is really hard when you’re getting to the high levels,” Platz explains. “But when you are learning good work ethic and good discipline, it’s going to carry over into whatever you do with the rest of your life.”

Platz offers simple advice for younger players hoping to follow in Liam’s footsteps: figure out what you want, then commit fully.

Liam explains that in tennis, it’s easy to fall into the trap of measuring yourself against your opponents, peers or even your past performances. He quickly refers to the saying “comparison is the thief of joy,” remembering days when he didn’t play his best.

For athletes just starting or struggling with consistency, Liam says to take your time to understand and process your emotions. It’s important to accept that not every day will be your best.

“Everyone has different paths, and there’s no one path. If there was, then everyone would be doing it,” he says. “It’s about being okay with being different and being okay with not being the same as someone else.”

MINA AHMAD GAZETTE

VERONICA MIRANDA GAZETTE

Western men’s tennis player Liam Drover-Mattinen in University Tennis Centre, Nov. 14, 2024.

Path to the pros: Erik Andersen’s rise to the CFL Draft

THOMAS IRONS SPORTS EDITOR

Anational champion, three-time OUA champion, two-time First Team All-Canadian and the 2024 J.P. Metras Award recipient are just some of the accolades fourth-year star offensive lineman Erik Andersen has accumulated during his time at Western.

An integral part of the school’s football program since he stepped out on the field in his first year on the team, Erik thrives under pressure.

“The goal every time we step on the field is to see how quickly we can break the other team. See at what point they don’t want to be here anymore,” Erik says about his mentality during games.

In the winter edition of the Canadian Football League Scouting Bureau’s top 20 prospects, Erik was ranked 10th — meaning he could be a first-round or early second-round pick in this year’s CFL draft.

But how did this six-foot-six, 307-pound star get his start?

Erik got his first crack at football back in high school — a local of London, Ont., Erik attended A. B. Lucas Secondary School. He credits his coaches for getting him into the sport and helping him develop his skills.

Before football, Erik spent the earlier years of his life playing hockey. But he says he spent too much time in the penalty box and was too slow to keep chasing the hockey dream.

“I was playing hockey my whole life. I was in love with hockey, and hockey wasn’t in love with me, I guess,” says Erik.

In the Grade 9, Erik decided to try out football — in his opinion, his start was rocky, but he stuck with it since he had the size for it.

As he was finishing high school in 2019, newly hired Western University offensive coordinator Gaetan Richard convinced Erik that Western was the place for him.

Erik’s rookie season in 2021 came with uncertainty due to COVID-19 — having cancelled the previous season — which led to a good portion of training camp taking place over Zoom.

“I was a rookie, came into training camp, and started at the bottom,” Erik says. “Going into camp, Coach [Richard] did everything he could to make sure that me and everyone was ready. We’re meeting on Zoom, learning the playbook every week, physically they had us in great shape.”

Erik eventually earned the starting job after coming out of camp, and he was ready to go with his first-ever collegiate game against the McMaster University Marauders, which was only about a week after camp ended.

“[Richard] was just throwing every possible look they could give us. And I think I might have had a tougher week of practice, might have felt a bit down on myself,” Erik says, noting the hard practice style typical at Western.

But the hard practices paid off as the Mustangs ran the ball over 300 yards in a dominant 41-13 win in Erik’s first-ever touch of Ontario University Athletics football.

Following that game, the rest of the season followed suit. The Mustangs dropped one game against the University of Guelph Gryphons but would get their revenge in the OUA semifinal before cleaning up the Yates Cup en route to a Vanier Cup championship.

Erik is thankful he was healthy in his first two seasons and had no major injuries until his third year, besides a minor ankle injury in his sophomore season.

In Erik’s third year, during the sixth game of the season against University of Windsor, he tore his MCL and meniscus. It was the first time Erik had a leadership role, and he found himself sidelined for the next six weeks after that game.

“Just mentally sitting back and watching it unfold. It’s tough, but it’s a lot easier when you got

such a good squad with you,” says Erik.

But the team stayed undefeated en route to another Yates Cup. Returning for the Ontario championship, Erik won his third Yates Cup in three years.

Erik credits Western head coach Greg Marshall, who has been at the helm of the Mustangs football program since 2007, for encouraging a positive team culture.

“Just like the culture that he’s built here, one thing that he’s talked about before was how the worst guy on the team has to feel as included as the very best guy on the team,” says Erik. “If everybody feels they’re part of something no matter how small their role is, then we’re going to be successful.”

With his collegiate career now over, Erik has his eyes set on the CFL Combine from Mar. 21 to 23 in Regina, Sask. and the Apr. 29 CFL draft in Toronto.

Erik is currently training out of Komoka, Ont. with Trevor Williamson, a former Mustang football athlete and renowned athletic trainer with a star-studded client list. It’s safe to say his training regimen is definitely in check.

Specifically, Erik wants to show off his athleticism in the testing portion and then combine that with his strength for the practice portion.

“They’ll get to see me put the athleticism and strength together with the one-on-ones, and I’ll get to show off my physicality and all that sort of stuff as well. So it’s cool where you get to just show them how good of an athlete you are,” says Erik.

For now, Erik will continue to work daily for both the Combine in March and CFL draft in April — where he looks to be a top-10 pick alongside fellow Mustang Jackson Findlay.

Either way, Erik knows the work is never done.

“I’m sure wherever I end up, I’ll show up there, and there’ll be a list of things that I need to work on. I think there’s always, always, room for improvement,” he says.

Science behind: The 75 Hard Challenge

HANNAH ALPER COORDINATING EDITOR

Two

45-minute workouts every day, and one must be outside. A strict diet with no cheat meals and no alcohol — that means no vodka crans or pints. Drink one gallon of water. Read 10 pages of a non-fiction book. Take progress pictures every day. No, this isn’t an Olympic athlete’s training routine. It’s the “75 Hard Challenge.”

Created by entrepreneur Andy Frisella, he coins the challenge not just a fitness challenge but “a transformative mental toughness program”, like “an Ironman for your brain.”

The challenge has exploded on TikTok, with everyday creators taking followers through their days of the challenge, what they eat in a day and sharing before and after photos — all racking up millions of views.

Glen Belfry, a kinesiology professor and former Western University varsity swim coach, explains that, in theory, the challenge works. Think of it akin to high-intensity interval training and other intense exercises: if you eat less and exercise more, you burn adipose tissue — also known as body fat. This means that in theory, “you’ll transform your body.”

But he says that if you haven’t been training at a high level as an athlete or exercising regularly, the difference between regular life and doing the challenge is “really traumatic.”

Students face everything from early classes to breakups, stressful exam schedules and unpredictable bus arrivals that could make it difficult to follow the five rigid rules. Belfry says fitting the challenge into your day “becomes the biggest challenge.”

If you’re following the challenge as it’s traditionally set up, missing even a day means that your 75 days reset, and you have to go right back to square one.

Molly Driediger, an assistant professor in kinesiology, studies self-presentation and social physique anxiety in exercise. She says her immediate reaction to the challenge was shock, and her first thought was, “When do you get to rest?”

When it comes to health behaviour change, Driediger explains that your muscles grow when

you’re recovering, and your body gets the benefit and adapts when resting. This would be the difference between something like High Intensity Interval Training and the 75 Hard.

Belfry says this challenge would benefit athletes during the off-season, like the ones he trained that worked 10 to 12 hours per week. For him, this begs the question: who is the challenge targeting?

“I feel like it’s hard enough just to fit in one workout a day and just trying to manage eating mainly healthy, which would be like a better route,

Making physical activity part of your everyday life in a way that works for you is something that Angelica Galluzzo, a former Western student and athlete, resonates with.

Galluzzo recognizes that disciplining yourself to achieve goals puts you outside your comfort zone. But the biggest issue she sees with the challenge is its rigidness. Galluzzo says cancelling plans in your social life to stick to the diet and regimen has implications.

“You might be prioritizing one thing, but you’re missing out on so many other aspects of life,” she says.

This is where something like the 75 Soft Challenge comes in. Instead of working out twice a day, you work out once a day with one day of active recovery each week. Rather than a complete diet, you eat well and avoid alcohol — except on separate occasions. Galluzzo says these modifications allow for the beginner-friendly flexibility that the 75 Hard doesn’t.

As someone who spent time pushing herself to extremes on certain days — whether on the field or training — Galluzzo’s let go of the strict schedule and has turned to a softer approach of listening to her body and making movement work for her.

Galluzzo says that while the community aspect on TikTok can be “inspiring” and make you feel connected, this isn’t always their whole reality.

“It’s really easy to compare ourselves to what we see online, whether that’s physical body image, their routines, what they’re eating. Something I’ve learned and have had to remind myself is that you’re only seeing one tiny piece of their story.”

a healthier route, to getting the gains that you want. It’s a bit of a process. It takes longer. It takes consistency,” Belfry says.

Evidence-based practices that are grounded in rest are important, Driediger explains. She tells her students to focus on the 24-hour movement guidelines, which include 150 minutes of moderate to vigorous aerobic activity weekly and full body strength training twice a week.

“Your body needs to progress and move along and move forward, but not too quickly,” says Dreidiger.

Galluzzo now gives herself permission to take days off and focus on the intentions behind her fitness goals — and advocates for others to do the same.

“Fitness is more than just working out. It does encapsulate more of that holisticness like the eating, the drinking water — something I forget to do sometimes which is so important. When you look at wellness and movement as like these bigger things, rather than just going to Pilates, it just makes you feel better,” she says.

SOPHIE BOUQUILLON GAZETTE Erik Andersen holds the Yates Cup, Nov. 11, 2023.

ANGWARA NILANONT GAZETTE

St. Patrick’s Day

ACROSS

1. With 5-across, what the object suggested by this puzzle’s layout is said to bring...

5. See 1-across

9. Love of France?

11. Joel who sang “Uptown Girl”

12. Competitor of Nissan or Volkswagen

13. Kidney-related

14. Adjective that can describe a cliff or coincidence

15. Peak performance, slangily

16. Test-takers

18. Brand of lip balm named for a Greek goddess

19. Figure commonly associated with the object suggested by this puzzle’s layout...

25. Let down, as a ladder

26. Not well thought out

28. Descriptor of the noble gases

29. Destroyed, in sports lingo

30. Time of year when 19-across is recognized...

31. Colour that would be appropriate for this puzzle...

32. Some members of a food web

33. Norse epic work

DOWN

1. Old slang for legs

2. Largest city in Nebraska

3. Seeps through slowly

4. Bros

5. Old-style term for a king

6. Arm bones

7. Moolah

8. Lowry who played for the Raptors during their 2019 winning run

10. Type of powerful magnet

11. What a Merry-Go-Round rider might hold onto for balance

17. Heavy drinker

19. Underwater “eyes”

20. Poetic contraction that could be said in response to “Was it?”

21. Jackson of teen literature

22. Become less sensitive (to)

23. Hardened (on)

24. Caused joint pain?

25. Like a wet noodle, in an idiom

27. Krabappel of The Simpsons

JEFFREY MARTINOVIC GAZETTE

CAMERON BUYZE GAZETTE