Tuesday, September 30, 2014

BANNER ME LIKE ONE OF YOUR FRENCH GIRLS Western unveils larger than life banners of alumni for fundraising campaign >> pg. 3

thegazette What a bodacious day since 1906

WESTERN UNIVERSITY • CANADA’S ONLY DAILY STUDENT NEWSPAPER • FOUNDED 1906

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 2014

Undergrads only for USC council The University Students’ Council passed amendments to a bylaw that changed election candidate eligibility at their meeting last Wednesday.

The amendments to bylaw 2 were recommended by the governance and agendas committee and included a change to the terms surrounding USC electoral candidate eligibility.

Candidates are now required to be registered as a full or parttime undergraduate or professional student at Western for two consecutive semesters at the time of their candidacy. Before the amendment, students could technically be elected without having been a Western student the previous term.

Special circumstances are noted for first-year students and students on exchange who would fail to meet the conditions but should otherwise be entitled to run and vote.

Trevor Hunt, a social science councillor, said there was a high level of unanimity among the USC in passing the motion.

“It’s a guarantee that we’re electing students who have had some amount of time to get themselves involved in the Western campus and who have an understanding of […] what’s going on,” Hunt said.

• Amy O’Kruk

Inside

•••

Freedom of speech on campus • P3 Exercise is Medicine

• P4

Review: A Most Wanted Man

• P5

The role of the opinions editor • P6 I’m sorry

• P6

Good, bad and ugly

• P8

TODAY high 18 low 12

TOMORROW high 21 low 12 VOLUME 108, ISSUE 17

>> WOMEN’S SOCCER

Grace Chung • WESTERN MUSTANGS

RUN STANGS RUN! Fatima Braimoh of the Mustangs carries the ball past a Waterloo defender. Western trampled the Warriors 8–1 at home this past weekend. > SEE PAGE 7 FOR MORE

USC begins work on new strategic plan Plan would map out the next three years for council

FREE TEETH WHITENING WITH COMPLETE EXAM AND CLEANING

Hamza Tariq NEWS EDITOR @HamzaAtGazette

The first general meeting of the University Students’ Council on Wednesday saw the initiation of the strategic planning process.

“Constitutionally we have a mandate to rewrite the strategic plan every three years,” Jack Litchfield, president of the Social Science Students’ Council said.

According to Litchfield, who moved the motion, the plan is an important part of a student government because of the high yearly turnover of most members of council.

“If everybody is turning over like that you’re going to have a very different tactical plan every year,” he said. “It’s really important to have an overarching strategy to tie together

those initiatives to make sure we actually get somewhere.”

The planning process will see the involvement of the USC executive, the steering committee, the long term plan and budget committee, the board of directors and the corporate administrative staff.

“In the last strategic planning cycle they focused on the number of respondents they could get. This year, we are looking at a variety of respondents as opposed to just pure numbers,” said USC vice-president finance Andrew Lalka.

According to Lalka, the relevant USC committees are looking to engage a broad spectrum of students, ranging from students in athletics and councils to students-at -large who do not affiliate with any particular organized structure.

“It’s particularly exciting this

time round because not only are we doing a three-year strategic plan, we are also doing a three-year rolling budget paired with the three-year plan,” he said.

He added that the combination of a planned three-year budget along with the strategic plan could possibly lead to a new tactical plan.

“I think the strategic planning process initiative is important because it will guide the process that will eventually lead to the production of a new long-term strategic plan for the USC,” health science councillor Megan Yang said.

According to Yang, it was important that the council had passed this motion in a timely manner and that this would allow ample time for planning. >> see PLANNING pg.3

• Family and Cosmetic Dentistry • • New and Emergency Patients Welcome • • Insurance Plans Accepted for Direct Payment •

www.dentalstudiolondon.com

2•

thegazette • Tuesday, September 30, 2014

Caught on Camera

CROSSWORD By Eugene Sheffer Damon Burtt • GAZETTE

FEELING TIPSY? After visiting Beerfest last Thursday, Mike Brock, Brendan O’Sullivan, Ryan Kohler, Kate Stewart and Emma Newman went to the top of UC Hill with nothing but slackline webbing and a dream. Slacklining requires good balance, core strength and perseverance.

News Briefs

Kindness key to mental health

The Student Experience Wellness Series is presenting Kindness, Doing, Feeling and Being Better, an event hosted by Dr. Jennifer D. Irwin, an associate professor in the Faculty of Health Sciences.

The event will discuss what kindness is, its impacts and information researchers have discovered about both the mental and physical benefits of kindness.

Irwin hopes the event will get people thinking and looking for opportunities for kindness in their everyday lives.

“Little acts of kindness add up and if we can create a norm, or culture, of kindness we can make a very substantial positive impact on the UWO community and all of its members,” Irwin said.

This talk was inspired by Irwin’s health promotion class, which created an initiative concerning random acts of kindness.

Following the success of that initiative, Irwin was approached to give a kindness talk to launch the Western Wellness Series. She also hopes her talk will remove the “fluffy” and “flaky” factors of kindness and explain that kindness is an

evidence-based positive endeavour.

Mental health is a very important issue on Western’s campus, said Irwin, and these new events intend to promote positive mental health as kindness and positive health have a strong correlation.

The free event will take place tomorrow, October 1, in the Mustang Lounge at 5:30 p.m. Students, faculty and staff are asked to RSVP online.

• Rita Rahmati

is to further involve the students in the municipal policy-making process so they can make an informed decision with their opportunity to vote.

“We want to send the message to politicians at the local level that students and young people have unique interests that need to be included in policy-making in a meaningful way,” she said.

• Drishti Kataria

Mayoral debate at King’s

Bloody cool science at Western

The students of King’s College will be hosting a mayoral debate next week on Wednesday, October 8.

“This event offers students and the broader community the chance to engage with the next mayor of London,” said Patricia Mockler, political science student and a teaching assistant at King’s. “We are bringing the election to our campus, in the hope that students will have the chance to engage and think critically about the issues raised and the candidates’ responses.”

According to Mockler, the topics of discussion will be transit, employment, the environment, housing and local issues of food security.

Mockler added that the purpose

Look here on Tuesdays for special Western student deals on food and entertainment from London businesses

A team of Western researchers is involved in the development of a state of the art non-invasive monitoring technology.

The invention of the device known as C-Flow enables physicians to non-invasively monitor patients’ cerebral blood flow — in real time.

According to Dr. John Murkin, professor at the Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, this device will prevent complications and assist in making important decisions regarding the treatments that must be administered to the patients.

“There are certain things that happen to patients with blood pressure changes and changes in their hemoglobin levels,” he said. “If they’ve got some kind of head injury, changes in the pressure within the brain can compromise brain blood flow.”

He added that it is crucial to be aware of the status of the brain blood flow, as it is an important early warning indicator.

C-Flow is being designed by Ornim Medical, an Israeli based company that specializes in non-invasive monitoring techniques.

Currently, there is no set date for when the device will be released.

• Drishti Kataria

TOMORROW The Gazette’s municipal elections coverage begins with a profile of mayoral candidate Dan Lenart.

We will be publishing a profile of a mayoral candidate for the next 15 issues.

The Cryptoquip is a substitution cipher in which one letter stands for another. If you think that X equals O, it will equal O throughout the puzzle. Single letters, short words and words using an apostrophe give you clues to locating vowels. Solution is by trial and error. © 2002 by Kings Features Syndicate, Inc.

•3

thegazette • Tuesday, September 30, 2014

Report highlights lack of free speech Campuses across Canada critiqued and ranked Olivia Zollino NEWS EDITOR The Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms has released their report that measures free speech at 52 Canadian public universities.

The Campus Freedom Index scores universities on a letter grading system, using “A� as excellent and “F� as failure. Western University scored an F in both university and student unions practices, a “B� in university policies and a “D� in student policies for 2014.

Michael Kennedy, communications and development coordinator for the JCCF, said Western could improve their rank if they rectify injustices to free speech conducted in the past. In particular, Kennedy referenced the University Students’ Council’s denial of equal access to the atrium on campus to Western Lifeline, a pro-life group, in 2011. “It is in effect censorship,�

Kennedy said. “It’s a bias that the university was displaying against students with controversial views.�

Amid the universities graded the worst at sustaining free speech include McGill, Waterloo and York University. Ryerson, Simon Fraser and St. Thomas University are amongst the highest graded in the country.

In comparison, however, Western is rather mediocre in the rankings.

Keith Marnoch, director of media relations for Western, calls the majority of the report subjective. Additionally, he said the report has looked the same for the past five years. “The index can be seen as an instrument to rehash decisions that were not appreciated by groups in the past [‌] It does not speak to the process or procedures put in place to deal with them,â€? Marnoch said.

Marnoch also finds it peculiar that student councils are rated because of the yearly changes in their members and executives.

T

HE INDEX CAN BE SEEN AS AN INSTRUMENT TO REHASH DECISIONS THAT WERE NOT APPRECIATED BY GROUPS IN THE PAST [‌] IT DOES NOT SPEAK TO THE PROCESS OR PROCEDURES PUT IN PLACE TO DEAL WITH THEM.�

KEITH MARNOCH

Kelly Samuel • GAZETTE

EXTRAORDINARY BANNERS. Banners of famous alumni hang above Alumni Hall. From left to right, Cameron Bailey, Stacey Allaster, Roberta Jamieson and Joseph Rotman.

DIRECTOR OF MEDIA RELATIONS FOR WESTERN

Extraordinary people advertising for Western

“Given that our student leadership has a yearly turnover, I am skeptical of the bearing that decades-old pieces of evidence have in contributing to our current score,� said USC president Matt Helfand.

Additionally, Helfand said the study does not accurately portray everything that occurs on campus.

A new addition to the ranking this year is the amount of government funding each university receives and how much it makes up of the school’s budget. Western received $282.4 million, comprising 44.8 per cent of the university’s budget. “If tax payers are footing the bill for these universities to such a high degree, then what we would like to see is students, parents, faculty and concerned stakeholders get involved in making sure the universities are held accountable when they do censor students,� Kennedy said.

Kennedy maintains universities should simply refrain from censoring students.

When Western needed to “create a face� for their “Be Extraordinary� campaign, they took the expression literally. “Be Extraordinary� is a fundraising campaign meant to highlight the role the university had on its alumni’s extraordinary lives and accomplishments.

To generate renewed excitement for the campaign in time for Homecoming, 30-foot-high banners were hung on Alumni Hall featuring four prominent Western alumni.

So which alumnus were deemed right for the campaign? According to Western News, that decision was

made jointly by the communications department and university deans.

Those currently hanging include: Cameron Bailey, artistic director for the Toronto International Film Festival and Gazette alumn; Stacey Allaster, chairman and CEO of the Women’s Tennis Association; Roberta Jamieson, the first female Ontario ombudsman; and Joseph Rotman, businessman, philanthropist and chancellor of Western.

The remaining alumni banners will be put up in other high-traffic campus spots sometime in the next six weeks. Those left in the series are Ken Chu, Sarah Richardson, Stephen Poloz and Adrianne Pieczonka.

Before the signs, the “Be

USC looks to the future >> PLANNING continued from pg.1

“The committee guiding this initiative will act as the long-term plan subcommittee and report regularly to council,� she said.

According to Litchfield, the planning should be geared towards bettering relationships with the university, as well focusing on longterm on-campus programming. “It’s pretty evident from our budget processes the last couple of year that our financial situation could be better,� Litchfield said. “I hope that this strategic plan guides us towards that long-term stability because I think that’s vital to our survival as an institution.�

Yang added that the council would be available to entertain questions about the planning process from constituents and will also provide the necessary support to the planning committees.

According to Lalka, the strategic plan affects not only the council’s decisions but also how the USC’s operations such as creative services perform.

Lalka explained that even though strategic planning is not a new phenomenon at the USC — in the last 20 years the planning has evolved from involving a few councillors and executives to including the broader Western community.

Extraordinary� campaign had already raised two-thirds of its overall $750 million goal.

The banners are planned to remain up until the campaign ends in 2018. •  Kevin Hurren

Solution to puzzle on page 8

LATE NIGHT MOVIE MARATHON 393 33�3 3�3 3� 3 3 3 3 3­3 35

37 3 34 3

3

3 3 35 3 3 34 35

3335

35 34

3

3 3

3 334 34 3 3

333

MOVIES GAMES REFRESHMENTS DOOR PRIZES

3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3

3 3 3 3 3 3 33 3 33 3 33 3 3 3 33 3

336 3 33Â 3

3 3

3 33 3 3 3 336 3 33 3

LONDON

4 •

thegazette • Tuesday, September 30, 2014

arts&life

funwithpuns I’ve been jogging my memory, but I can’t remember the last time I went for a run.

Kelly Samuel • GAZETTE

October is exercise month Campus club promotes healthy living this fall Conrad Floryan ARTS AND LIFE EDITOR @ConradAtGazette

They did it. Doctors have discovered a powerful treatment for dozens of diseases — exercise.

Exercise is Medicine Canada at Western University is a graduate student club committed to fostering relationships between health and exercise professionals to increase the emphasis on physical activity in health care. EIMC at Western will be hosting its first annual symposium this Friday.

The club is part of a network of campus clubs partnered with the EIMC initiative from the Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology.

The Western chapter was formed this January by Shawn Slade, PhD student in health promotion, and Dr. Liza Stathokostas, researcher at the Canadian Centre for Activity and Aging.

“I knew I was going to be coming back for my PhD so I figured I had four years to have a go at it and see what we could do with this club,” explains Slade.

The symposium will present a distinguished bill of speakers. Dr. Rob Petrella will be sharing his experiences as a physician with familiarity in exercise referral, Dr. Harry Prapavessis will be discussing exercise behavior change, Dr. Michelle McCullough will speak about exercise and pregnancy and EIMC director Dr. Susan Yungblut will open the conference.

The symposium will be followed by a campus walk and refreshments.

October is EIMC month and EIMC campus groups across the country are organizing events.

“We’re just asking all of those groups to be active during the month of October and we’re hoping that by being active and hosting

I

KNEW I WAS GOING TO BE COMING BACK FOR MY PHD SO I FIGURED I HAD FOUR YEARS TO HAVE A GO AT IT AND SEE WHAT WE COULD DO WITH THIS CLUB. SHAWN SLADE

FOUNDER OF EXERCISE IS MEDICINE CANADA CLUB AT WESTERN

community and campus events that promote our EIMC philosophy, goals and objectives, that will get lots of people moving and interested,” Yungblut enthuses.

In addition to the symposium, EIMC at Western is working on a newsletter of relevant literature on exercise and health prescription that they hope to coordinate with universities across Canada. They will be hosting the Family Medicine Day conference at the Schulich School of Medicine and are planning an obstacle course race for the student body.

Still, the symposium is their flagship event.

“The symposium is going to be our big one,” Slade affirms. “That’s why we made all efforts to get that up and running in our first year of existence.”

EIMC at Western is presently focused on recruitment and awareness. Slade aims to generate enough buzz to spark interest in having a course offered at Schulich that focuses on effectively prescribing exercise.

Only 15 per cent of Canadians over the age of 18 are meeting the Canadian physical activity guidelines recommending 115 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity per week.

“Physical activity has now been shown to be primary prevention against 35 chronic conditions,” declares Stathokostas. “Exercise also contributes to life satisfaction.”

EIMC aims to increase the number of Canadians who are meeting the physical activity guidelines by encouraging more health professionals to prescribe exercise to patients. They seek to encourage the use of qualified exercise professionals such as certified personal trainers and kinesiologists in health care. There has traditionally been a misguided separation between health care and exercise, according to EIMC. “It’s really trying to build that bridge and increase the health care professionals’ understanding and awareness of what community resources are out there for their patients,” explains Yungblut.

These multidisciplinary on-campus groups present an excellent networking opportunity for future health and exercise professionals to work together and familiarize themselves with each other’s respective fields.

Stathokostas has been impressed with the new club’s enthusiastic response from students, faculty and staff. Furthermore, locals are eager to contribute ideas and get actively involved.

“This is very exciting and I can’t wait to increase the capacity of our network and promote the role of exercise to health to our campus as a whole,” she says.

The EIMC’s first annual symposium will be held Friday, October 3 in Somerville House 2355 at 11 a.m.

The Blacklist is back and just as intriguing as the first season. The crime show’s second season premiered last Monday with an episode titled “Lord Baltimore.” Unlike CSI or Criminal Minds, the FBI agents in this crime drama do not only seek to catch criminals — they also work with one. James Spader plays Raymond “Red” Reddington, a former government agent who went rogue and is now a high-profile criminal. In the first season Redding surrenders himself to the FBI and offers to assist in capturing an array of most wanted criminals, many of which the FBI do not even realize exist. In exchange for his assistance in capturing the criminals on the blacklist, Reddington will avoid imprisonment himself and also has one key condition – he will only communicate with agent Elizabeth Keen (Megan Boone).

The fact that these FBI agents are teamed up with a criminal allows them to see into the minds of other fugitives, making this show unique.

A multitude of TV series exist which centre around criminal profilers solving bizarre cases, with intriguing back-stories of the main characters. The Blacklist is different in that the specific cases that are solved in each episode are not the primary focus of the show. Rather, these cases are secondary to the main story that is gradually unfolding regarding the personal lives of Reddington and agent Keene.

While the first season began

with Keene and her team tracking down criminals with the assistance of Reddington, it ends with the team trying to protect Red from these international criminals.

“Lord Baltimore” succeeded in providing a captivating start to the second season. Full of drama and unexpected twists, it reminds viewers what was so alluring about season one. Viewers watch with horror as the episode opens with Red handcuffed, lying in the back of a jeep. He is being taken to make a deal with a Cameroonian warlord and it’s just unnatural to see him in a position when he is not in control. But like always, these feelings of worry do not last long as viewers learn that Red has been in control all along.

Nothing seems to faze Red, who just looks plain annoyed as he proceeds to demand the name of the person who compromised his coordinates.

As explosives begin to erupt on Red’s command, the warlord gives up the name: Lord Baltimore.

As the episode continues, viewers get glimpses of Keene attempting to move on with her life after the unbelievable events that unfolded last season. She is currently in the process of getting a divorce from her husband Tom, who she discovered is not at all who she thought he was.

Despite Keene’s best effort to shake off the traumatic events and take control of her life, an unnoticed figure proceeding to stalk her appears to tell otherwise.

• Jennafer Freeman

Courtesy of NBC

•5

thegazette • Tuesday, September 30, 2014

>> A MOST WANTED MAN

Courtesy of Lionsgate

A mostly satisfying movie Kaitlyn Clark CONTRIBUTOR GGGFF Director: Anton Corbijn Starring: Philip Seymour Hoffman, Rachel McAdams, Willem Dafoe and Grigoriy Dobrygin

Story by Brooke Horrobin • Graphic by Mike Laine • GAZETTE

A Most Wanted Man, based on John le Carré’s novel of the same name, follows the illegal arrival of Issa Karpov (Grigoriy Dobrygin), a suspected terrorist, to Hamburg in the wake of 9/11. Annabel Richter (Rachel McAdams) comes to Karpov’s aid in his search for a banker (Willem Dafoe) who can help him claim his father’s ill-gotten wealth and find amnesty in Germany.

His arrival attracts the attention of German and American espionage agents, primarily Günther Bachmann (Philip Seymour Hoffman), who is also tracking a Muslim philanthropist who may be helping to fund terrorist groups.

Philip Seymour Hoffman should be proud to know his last completed film has been well-received and it’s easy to understand why. With

of precise handling. While the classic “good cop, bad cop” routine is in play, this film moves past that basic concept and focuses on intimate manipulation — a truly beautiful thing to watch.

Where A Most Wanted Man fails is it isn’t very thrilling. This is not an action movie, so there should be no expectation of car chases and explosions. That’s okay. The problem is all of the players are given and explained from the start. Hoffman is a strong agent and he willingly shows his ability of deception to achieve his ends.

Dobrygin’s character is considered to be unknown even to himself — part Chechen, Russian, Muslim, homeless immigrant and rich son. One half of the story tells you he is a terrorist and the other half tells you he is an innocent, tortured man. Ultimately, A Most Wanted Man is a great movie as long as one has the patience for a steady, thoughtful plot.

A Most Wanted Man will be playing at Hyland Cinema until Thursday, October 2. Showtimes can be found at hylandcinema.com.

big names packed in, viewers can expect the best. Hoffman played his part with incredible subtlety and maintained that balance without falling into a lack of emotion.

While those of you with a good ear may fault McAdams for her German accent, she works well with Hoffman, avoids the usual Hollywood clichés and brings her character to life. The best performance, however, comes from the almost unknown Grigoriy Dobrygin. A powerhouse of emotion, Dobrygin speaks the loudest through his impeccable body language, emphasizing every line he says.

The plot returns viewers to the days of old-school espionage with hidden cameras and cigarette pack drop-offs. Most often described as a mystery-suspense thriller, A Most Wanted Man succeeds the most in its psychological aspects.

The plot is driven by the hunt, but oddly not for just one man as the title suggests. Instead, the film follows Hoffman as he works his way through various levels of contacts, from small to big fish. Psychology and criminology students should particularly enjoy these moments

AUTUMN

OCTOBER 1-3, 2014

80 UP TO

%

OFF

3 DAY SALE

OPENPUBLIC TO THE PUBLIC OPEN TO THE

FIRST TIME EVER IN LONDON! WEDNESDAY OCT 1 (11AM - MIDNIGHT) THURSDAY OCT 2 (11AM - 10PM) FRIDAY OCT 3 (11AM - 8PM)

WOMENS & MENS CLOTHING

DENIM . JACKETS . DRESSES . HANDBAGS . SHOES . ACCESSORIES . AND MORE MICHAEL KORS, SUPER DRY, TOM SHOES, KATE SPADE, WILD FOX, NUDIE, GSTAR, TRUE RELIGION, RAG + BONE, DIESEL, ROCK REVIVAL, NAKED ZEBRA, AG, SEVEN FOR ALL MANKIND, HUDSON JEANS, VINCE, FRED PERRY, LACOSTE, VERSACE, LOVE PEACE WORLD, BENCH AND MORE.

10 % OFF

WITH UWO STUDENT ID* *CASH ONLY. SOME RESTRICTIONS APPLY.

THESAMPLESALEGUYS.COM

1.877.777.0774

2ND FLOOR, ROOM 5 300 YORK ST, LONDON, ON

6 •

thegazette • Tuesday, September 30, 2014

opinions My role is to disseminate opinions, not regulate them Abracadabra Al-Azem

Nusaiba Al-Azem OPINIONS EDITOR @NusAtGazette

It’s easy to read the opinions of people with whom you agree. Browsing the “comments” section of almost every social media outlet, however, will tell you that reading the opinions of people with whom you vehemently disagree is incredibly difficult.

Sometimes these perspectives are coarse, rude, mean and poorly written. Sometimes they’re just misinformed or ignorant.

But is that enough to warrant censorship?

Trying to define the limitations and boundaries of freedom of expression is an age-old debate and certainly not one I’m going to pretend I have all the answers to.

But working as the opinions editor for a university newspaper, I have a few thoughts on the matter.

The way I see it, a free press is designed for the benefit of the public sphere. The public benefits from wide and varied points of view, not just the same opinions and ideas they already hold.

Over the weekend, some people voiced their concerns about The Gazette’s publishing of a letter that they found offensive. Regardless of my personal views on the matter, the fact remains that these opinions are present in the wider campus community. It is of particular public interest especially when those community members happen to hold positions of influence over other students. As such, it would be unethical for The Gazette not to publish these pieces.

My job as an opinions editor, particularly when it comes to letters to the editor, is to create a platform whereby it is possible to disseminate campus opinions to the public.

It is not to ensure that nobody will ever feel offended by something written. It is not to try to portray people in the best, or worst, light possible. It is simply to be a mirror: to reflect the diversity of opinions, however they are written, without allowing my presence to alter that view.

I edit for length, for clarity, libel and in the event that the content contains hateful speech — that is, speech that will lead to danger or an unsafe space for individuals.

If you’re offended by something written — good. Whether it’s now or later, you will come to realize that in this life people hold opinions you disagree with. You’re at an institution for higher level thinking, for grappling with a plethora of ideas and thoughts. Use this opportunity to identify how you’d like to handle differences of opinion. Do you want to address them with insight, depth and maturity, or do you feel entitled to a world that pretends they don’t exist?

Granted, these are the thoughts of an opinions editor who has been in her role for a very short amount of time and is still a young adult forming her thoughts on the world.

In 10 years will I still feel this way? I’m not sure.

But I know that regardless of what I think at any point in time, it is always beneficial to be exposed to a variety of thoughts. At worst, it reaffirms the things you do believe, or mobilizes you to affect change. At best, you experience the beauty of diversity and the spice of life.

I think offense is taken, not given. That’s not just an expression, that is how it tends to work — different people take offense to different things.

• Jimmy Carr

We Get Letters!

Apology for charity letter

Charity letter offensive

RE: “Sophs getting soft on charity” Friday, September 26, 2014

RE: “Sophs getting soft on charity” Friday, September 26, 2014

To the editor: To those affected by Friday’s “Sophs getting soft on charity” letter, I will begin with simple terms everyone can understand: I fucked up.

While I intended to provide Western with an unpopular, enlightening view on the idea of charity, inappropriate terms, poor writing and overall carelessness combined to create an inaccurate, insulting article that I’m terribly embarrassed about. I wish I could reimburse everyone who experienced such negative emotions as a result of reading the letter.

Unfortunately, life doesn’t work that way and all I can do is apologize. I’m sorry.

Referring to cancer patients as “genetically defective” is disgustingly offensive. It is unfortunate many human beings suffer from diseases like cancer and cystic fibrosis. Research guided towards the goal of making all humans live long lives is progressive for humankind and criticizing such research is insulting to our race’s intelligence. Shinerama brings students together to create a positive impact on the world — you can’t argue with the value in that.

I remember the feeling of intimacy I felt with CF when doing a backflip outside of a grocery store on Shinerama for a child actually suffering from CF. The look of happiness on her face was indescribable. Her parents thanked us for our efforts and we actually felt like we were doing something. Us getting up early on one Saturday morning and meeting new people actually changes lives. Charity has the power to change the world — look at the country-wide Terry Fox Run. The force behind anything that brings a country together for a day is immense.

It’s often said that “any publicity is good publicity” or “there is no such thing as bad publicity.” These statements are both false. My reputation as a writer is significantly damaged and I hope I’ll have the opportunity to redeem myself in the future. While some may see this article as positive in some way, considering it got an extraordinary amount of passionate comments and views in just two days of it being posted, this does not outweigh its overall arrogance and general lack of true value.

Again, I would like to apologize for making those who read it feel so hurt.

Additionally, I would like to apologize for causing the pain of reading such poor writing. I welcome all criticisms and appreciate those who took the time to comment on the article. I write to share ideas with the world that help people think. In the future, I’ll make an effort to have those thoughts be accompanied by positive feelings instead of unbearably negative ones.

• Sam Gray

To the editor: Sam Gray has obviously never been touched by a serious illness, otherwise he would have never written such an absurd letter. He should consider himself lucky to be in such a place, but not everyone is so fortunate — for many of us, cancer, cystic fibrosis and other serious illnesses have had an intimate impact on our lives.

The fact that students can even afford to be at a university means that they are already in a pretty good place compared to someone who is fighting just to live another day — how could anyone possibly label that as “objectively less important”?

As one of those “genetically deficient humans,” I love that this school has such a passion for charity and a heart for those with chronic illnesses, and I want to thank Western Charity for all their incredible work.

• Helen Ngo

Philosophy II

thegazette

Volume 108, Issue 17 www.westerngazette.ca

Hans Boekhoff Dad-In-Chief Brent Holmes Deputy Editor Richard Raycraft Managing Editor

Contact: www.westerngazette.ca University Community Centre Rm. 263 The University of Western Ontario London, ON, CANADA N6A 3K7 Editorial Offices: (519) 661-3580 Advertising Dept.: (519) 661-3579

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

Editorials are decided by a majority of the editorial board and are written by a member of the editorial board but are not necessarily the expressed opinion of each editorial board member. All other opinions are strictly those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the USC, The Gazette, its editors or staff.

To submit a letter, go to westerngazette.ca and click on “Contact.”

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

Engineering IV

Science III

Dear Life

Gazette at fault

Your anonymous letters to life

RE: “Sophs getting soft on charity” Friday, September 26, 2014 To the editor: I’m sure my response is just one of many that you will receive with regards to the letter sent to you by Sam Gray about his dissatisfaction with Western Charity’s scope of work. And I’m sure you’re ecstatic that his letter has generated a buzz — it’s certainly good for a website’s traffic metrics.

I’m not here to express my anger at Mr. Gray. I’m not really all that mad at him.

He’s just another young adult learning how to express himself and he made a misstep with the letter he sent in. Now, I want to be clear about one thing — the misstep was not in the intent behind the letter, which was simply to ask us to take a critical look at which causes we support as a community. The mistake was in his execution. It was by anyone’s measure a poorly written piece, with unrefined arguments and with unnecessarily coarse language. For example, what was the need to refer to people living with CF as “genetically defective humans”? Moreover, in his letter, Mr. Gray dragged the Huron soph team into the conversation, creating an unfair association with what was a very personal opinion. That’s a pretty major faux pas. But everyone makes mistakes.

I’m sure Mr. Gray has learned a couple lessons from this experience. So, once again, he’s not the focus of this particular letter.

Instead, I’m here to hold the editorial

Gazette Composing & Gazette Advertising Ian Greaves, Manager Maja Anjoli-Bilic

board accountable for its egregious error in judgement by going ahead and publishing that letter, without so much as fixing any of its glaring flaws. The role of an editor is to ensure that the content in The Gazette meets some level of quality, that it doesn’t slander any groups or individuals and that it isn’t downright degrading to certain people. This letter clearly met none of those requirements.

And yet it was published. So, that raises a couple questions.

What was the motivation behind publishing this piece? And why was the Huron soph team not consulted about the letter before its publication, given that they are explicitly mentioned in its opening few lines?

My goal is not to shame the editorial board of The Gazette. I am, however, calling its integrity into question. I’m also seeking answers to the above questions, both of which are troubling many of us in the community. My hope is that sometime in the near future, the editor is able to formally provide a response to the issues I have raised. The Western community is owed at least that much.

• Ishan Tikku

Diana Watson

Gazette Staff 2014-2015 Christine Bonk, Sarah Botelho, Tabitha Chan, Jonathan Dunn, Spencer Fairweather, Conrad Floryan, Sam Frankel, Jennafer Freeman, Janice Fung, Stephanie Grella, Dorothy Kessler, Kevin Heslop, Jenny Jay, Nathan Kanter, Katie Lear, Emory Liu, Haida Liu, Winnie Lu, Cheryl Madliger, Sara Mai Chitty, Soheil Milani, Mackenzie Morrison, Robert Nanni Jr., Amy O’Kruk, Vidhant Pal, Lily Robinson, Morgann Sampson, Alex Seger, Tiffany Shepherd, Tristan Wu, Olivia Zollino

Dear Life, Rename “Letters to the Editor” to “Sam Gray’s ramblings.”

Dear Life, I didn’t know The Gazette published letters from Hitler.

Dear Life, I would be only too happy to come teach The Gazette staff when to use “fewer” vs. when to use “less.”

[Editor’s note: We would welcome it! We’re always striving to make fewer mistakes.]

Dear Life, I think I made out with the USC president last Friday night.

Dear Life, Why is housing advertising for open rooms when they overbooked a bunch of people? wgaz.ca/dearlife

News Amy O’Kruk Hamza Tariq Katie Lear Olivia Zollino

Sports Bradley Metlin Nathan Kanter Robert Nanni Jr.

News-at-large Kevin Hurren

Photography Kelly Samuel Taylor Lasota Winnie Lu

Opinions Nusaiba Al-Azem Arts & Life Conrad Floryan Jennafer Freeman Jenny Jay

Online Megan Devlin

Graphics Jennifer Feldman Illustrations Christopher Miszczak Graphics/Video Mike Laine

• Please recycle this newspaper •

•7

thegazette • Tuesday, September 30, 2014

sports

factattack The Cubs and White Sox both finished 73-89 in 2014, the first time in the city’s history that two of their teams finished with identical records.

Rundown >> The Mustangs’ men’s rugby team arose triumphant over the Waterloo Warriors• Frederico Sanchez made five conversions leading the ‘Stangs to a 60–15 victory.

Mustangs take down Warriors 8–1 Women hope to secure tomorrow’s win against Windsor Robert Nanni SPORTS EDITOR The Mustang women’s soccer team arose victorious this Saturday afternoon after demolishing the Waterloo Warriors in an 8–1 win.

The game started against the Mustangs, as the Warriors displayed a full-fledged attack but their momentum quickly faded as the Mustangs pushed right back.

“For the first 15 to 20 minutes, Waterloo put us under some pressure, but we were able to counterattack really efficiently and create some chances,” Mustang women’s soccer coach Martin Painter said.

“Once we got the first two goals the momentum shifted in our favour and we finished the first half strong with two more goals.”

Waterloo attempted once more to come out strong at the beginning of the second half, but Western’s strong offensive and defensive lines immediately shut them down.

Throughout the game, the Warriors managed three shots on goal, only one of which made its way to the back of the net. The goal was still an uninspiring effort

by Waterloo, as defence Alisia Mar barely managed a goal against Western goalkeeper Tori Edgar.

While the Warriors attempted to minimize the gap between the two teams’ scores, Western showed no mercy, coming full force with another four goals in the second half.

The Mustangs’ striker Amanda Boyle had a good day on the pitch, scoring four goals and two assists throughout the game.

“She’s had a great year concerning her energy, confidence, health and fitness,” Painter shared. “She

has 17 goals in 10 games […] seven of those were game-winning goals.”

This game thrust Boyle to number one on the Ontario University Athletics leaderboard for most goals, tied with Laurier Golden Hawk forward Emily Brown.

Despite Boyle being consistently offside, these minor issues were entirely overlooked as her impressive offence shined.

Along with Boyle, strikers Paige Howard and Sarah Deakin each scored a goal, as did midfielders Stephanie Di Tella and Jess Friend.

Reaching an overall 12 shots on goal, the Mustang women had a 75 per cent success rate with their offensive play. “[The team] was fairly well rested, so we were expecting a win,” Painter said. “We surely were not expecting to win 8–1, but that’s the way the game went and we’re happy about it.”

Despite only having lost one game in the season, the loss happened to be served by the York Lions in a devastating goal in the last 10 minutes of the game by Lion Nour Ghoneim.

Now with 27 points, Western sits one point behind York in the western division. The battle between the Mustangs, Warriors and Golden Hawks is certainly a tight one, but Painter strongly believes that the Western women will rise to the challenge.

“We’re comfortable for the playoffs and we’ve got another home game,” he said. “Right now the team is healthy and confident, and we’ve got a lot of positive energy and momentum going for us.”

However the Mustangs may have a rocky path awaiting them in Windsor on Wednesday, where they

Grace Chung • WESTERN MUSTANGS

MUSTANGS ARE THE REAL WARRIORS. Mustang striker Paige Howard races for the ball in Saturday’s game against the Waterloo Warriors. Howard scored once in the match, her fourth goal of the season.

F

OR THE FIRST 15 TO 20 MINUTES, WATERLOO PUT US UNDER SOME PRESSURE, BUT WE WERE ABLE TO COUNTERATTACK REALLY EFFICIENTLY AND CREATE SOME CHANCES. MARTIN PAINTER

MUSTANG WOMEN’S SOCCER COACH

Grace Chung • WESTERN MUSTANGS

will face the Lancers. The previous game featuring the two ended in a close 0–0 tie, with a goal by none other than Amanda Boyle in the final 15 minutes, allowing Western to scrape by with a win.

“It’s going to be a tough game, there’s a lot at stake,” Painter explained. “Windsor’s got some good athletes that play tough defensively.”

In addition to the already prominent stress is unfortunate timing, as the Mustangs are traveling

mid-week, during a busy academic time for undergraduate students.

“It’s going to be a challenge for us, but hopefully we’ll be ready for it,” Painter shared, sounding confident in his girls.

Aiming to continue their hot streak throughout the season and into the playoffs, the Mustang women’s soccer team hopes to secure yet another win against Windsor tomorrow.

8 •

thegazette • Tuesday, September 30, 2014

Good

Ugly

Derek Jeter’s Final Goodbye An easy pick for good or even great this week is the career of Derek Jeter. Over the last eight months so much has been said about not only the player, but the man as well. A class act on and off the field, Jeter’s career has been about respect. Respect for the game, respect for the fans and even respect for his opponents. His final opponent this week was none other than the Yankees’ long-time rival the Boston Red Sox. Boston was able to return the class and respect that Jeter has shown the game over his 20-plus seasons by thanking him with a standing ovation before the game. As the captain of the New York Yankees, Jeter will go down as one of the greatest of all-time and a perfect testament to what it means to be a baseball player. Perhaps one of the reasons why fans have adored Jeter for so long is because they can see themselves in his shoes. He plays the game just like they would want to play it and that is a perfect way to end a career.

NFL in Europe? No Thanks For a second straight week, the NFL lands in the ugly section.

However, this time it’s not for fan brawling, domestic abuse or NFL policies. This is about their idea to play three regular season games this year in London, England. The first one was this weekend featuring two of the worst teams in the league — the Oakland Raiders and Miami Dolphins. The game was largely unexciting but was incredibly popular in Britain. These games have speculated a possible move or expansion to London in the near future. The NFL has already flirted with moving the Jaguars to England and the league has shown no signs of letting up on their expansion plans.

If plans eventually go through to have a team in London, it would be an absolute mess in everything from finance, to travel, to advertising and to the game itself. Let’s hope this trend of playing in jolly old England is just a fad and will soon go the way of NFL Europa.

Bad Ryder Cup Mismatch For the eighth time in the last 10 years, the European squad captured the Ryder Cup against a weak American team. The bad here is certainly not the Ryder Cup, which provides golf fans with an extremely competitive and interesting weekend after the four majors (something that tennis has lacked for years). The bad is the American squad who every year fails to take this event seriously until it is much too late. After all, their captain, Tom Watson, who plays most of his games on the senior tour, is 65 years old. Most of the names for the Americans were not recognizable to the casual golf fan, especially when Tiger is not in the mix. This seems to be another sign pointing at a new trend of international dominance in golf. The best player in the world, Rory McIlroy, carried the Europeans to victory and has created a renewed interest in the sport in Europe. Don’t expect the Americans to be winning any time soon.

To place your classifed ad, please contact us at 519-661-3579 or adoffice@uwo.ca

thegazette When thinking of an intramural sport, one will generally think of just that — a sport. You know, things like soccer or hockey or maybe even dodgeball. A mythical and fictitious sport like quidditch seems like a joke but alas, not so!

In a rendition that would make J.K. Rowling want to give up at least a fifth of her fortune, quidditch is being played on university campuses across the world. Western recently picked up on the trend and it — shockingly — does not feature people riding through the air on broomsticks.

Rather, players must run up and down a field while straddling a broom. I’ve seen 1,000 Ways to Die only once but I know that anything with brooms near your crotch is just a bad idea. The safety hazard doesn’t deter anyone it seems, which would maybe suggest that quidditch players are some of the most adventurous intramural athletes at the university.

The idea behind playing quidditch is a fun one but looking through the rulebook elicits more rules that make this intramural seem a little peculiar. The role of the snitch, for instance, is a little more questionable.

Magic is thrown out the window in real life “muggle” quidditch

— instead of an enchanted gold sphere that speeds through the field, a person is designated “the snitch runner.” They’re charged with running around and preventing anybody from stealing the snitch which is akin to a flag in flag football. This runner is encouraged to be creative in their defence.

This includes booking it off the field. There are very loose boundaries for where the snitch runner can run around. It seems like a very chaotic game if people can just run around the field haphazardly.

Organized chaos could be a great thing, though.

Ultimately quidditch — while perhaps the most organized mess possible — is undoubtedly fascinating. It’s easy to look at the quidditch with puzzlement or even enjoy the “crazy” of the intramural but at the end of the day let’s keep some things in mind — people are still getting a ton of physical activity in a fun and creative way. It’s interesting and not something typical. While there are oddities with the rules, who cares?

Inner tube water polo was probably considered super weird at some point too. Yet now, it’s accepted as a unique university sport — is quidditch next?

• Bradley Metlin

Write for Sports! UCC Rm.263

EMPLOYMENT

classifieds

GYMWORLD-GYMNASTICS CLUB in North/West London is looking for gymnastics coaches. On bus route. Work as little as 3 hours per week or as many as 20 hours. Great pay. Please call 519-474-4960 or e-mail to info@gymworld.ca.

UPCOMING EVENTS

DANCE CLASSES AT DANCE STEPS- 275 Colborne St. between York and Horton Accessible by bus. Ballet, Jazz, Hip-Hop drop in or join a session. www.dancestepslondon.ca or contact us dance_steps@hotmail.com, 519-645-8515.

PUT YOUR SUDOKU SAVVY TO THE TEST! To solve a sudoku, the numbers 1 through 9 must fill each row, column and box. Each number can appear only once in each row, column and box. You can figure out the order in which the numbers will appear by using the numeric clues already provided in the boxes.

For solution, turn to page 3

ANNOUNCEMENTS

HAPKIDO: TRADITIONAL KOREAN Martial Arts, The Huron Hapkido Society meets Tuesdays and Thursdays, 8:00PM-9:30PM, Huron University College Dining Hall (Huron Room) Visit us at “UWO Hapkido” on Facebook for more info.

WANT TO FLY? Soaring is the purest flight experience! Plus it is the most economical! If you are interested in getting a campus soaring club off the ground see tinyurl.com/oujy912

CLASSIFIED ADS STARTING AT

8

$

ISSUE FOR 30 WORDS 35 PER

adoffice@uwo.ca

Great Western Clothing

!

VISIT US IN

UCC MAINFLOOR

ATRIUM