It’s an unseasonably warm September Saturday—perhaps the last real tshirt-and-shorts kind of Saturday we’ll get this year. The sun is unobscured by the few wisps of cloud wafting lazily above Springett parking lot, which is mostly empty but for a small group of engineering students gathered at one end. There is just enough of a breeze to keep the heat comfortably at bay. It’s a beautiful day for a drive. The car sits waiting as some of the students set up a makeshift track with battered orange pylons. Out here, compared to the pickup trucks and sports cars, the car doesn’t seem very big. At a glance, it could be mistaken for a large go-kart—though if you sat in a go-kart to race against this machine, it would be moving at 100 kilometres an hour before you figured out which pedal was the gas. This is no go-kart. It’s a Formula racecar. It goes from zero to 100 kilometres an hour in just 3.4 seconds, and it was designed and built by the students of Western’s Formula racing team to compete against other cars designed, built and driven by students from universities around the world. Today, Miguel Achtymichuk will drive the car for the first time. The second-year mechanical engineering student is the team’s brakes manager, and was a member of the team for his entire first year at Western. When the engine fires, it doesn’t roar so much as it rumbles and sputters. With two team members standing at the ready at either end of the track with fire extinguishers, Achtymichuk drives over to the track and begins his first lap. He starts off slowly, to get a feel for the car’s unique handling. He takes
each lap a bit faster than the one before, and though he hits the odd pylon, you can soon tell by the sound of the engine that he’s growing comfortable with the car. By the sixth lap, the car is howling down the straightaway and careening around hairpin turns—now the engine is roaring. This car is loud, and this car is fast. By the 12th lap, Springett feels less like a parking lot and more like a speedway, and by the 15th lap, the car is going around the track so fast that the other students barely have time to replace the knocked-over pylons before it’s back around again. The car will have at least six drivers today, many of them first-timers. When the weather is favourable, the team does this about once a week. Every committed member of the team gets a chance to drive the car, and eventually may even get to race it in competition. “It’s unlike anything I’ve ever driven before,” says Adam Bezzina, technical lead and chief driver for the Western team. “It accelerates so fast, brakes so fast, you can corner a lot faster—the corners that we take at 60 kilometres an hour. An average car couldn’t even make that corner because the turn radius is larger.” “Obviously, we don’t have anywhere near the technology that a Formula One car does, nor do we approach the speeds that they hit. But the driving is difficult nonetheless, and it takes a lot of practice.” Each year, the team builds a new car to compete in Formula SAE events, organized by the Society of Automotive Engineers International. The SAE sets the rules and standards for the cars, and organizes competitions that >> see formula pg.3
Andrei Calinescu & Mike Laine Gazette
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thegazette • Friday, September 21, 2012
Caught on Camera
Crossword By Eugene Sheffer Ritchie Sham GAZETTE
DUCK DUCK GOOSE. Western’s favourite residents were seen walking throughout campus yesterday. How long will they be around? That, we don’t know.
News Briefs
Nothing shows you care like a gift card for the Wave/Spoke Buying food on campus at student-run operations is about to get a lot easier. The Wave and the Spoke have recently begun selling reloadable gift cards. The objective of the gift cards is to improve the wait times for students and staff that purchase meals at either restaurant— especially at the Spoke, where wait times can be long during peak
CORRECTION NOTICE Please note, that due to a production error, an incorrect offer appeared in The Athletic Club ad on page 121 of The 2012 Westernizer. Please refer to The Athletic Club’s January divider ad for the correct offer information. The Ad & Marketing Office apologizes to The Athletic Club, its clients and Westernizer readers for any inconvenience caused.
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business hours. “[The gift cards] will improve service, as they process faster than cash, debit and credit. It also makes a great gift,” Tony Ayala, vice-president finance for the University Students’ Council, stated. The cards are unique because they process quicker, as students do not need to fill out a piece of paper, like they currently do with Western ONEcards. “If you use the gift card, it’s a quick chi-read and go. This should really speed up lines, specifically in the Spoke,” Ayala explained. The same gift card can be used at both the Wave and the Spoke. They do not require a start-up fee, and can be purchased in any denomination from either location. According to Ayala, all students need to do is simply to ask for a manager. The USC has prioritized improving convenience for students in student-run operations. “We are excited to keep coming up with new initiatives to better our customer service to students. We take pride in our student-run operations, and the constant direction of improving our service levels to where students want it,” Ayala concluded in a press release yesterday. —Amanda Law
OSAP Express pulls into Western Ontario post-secondary students who rely on OSAP will no longer have to spend hours of their time waiting around in financial aid offices. This semester, the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities introduced OSAP Express—a streamlined application process aimed to make the entire OSAP procedure easier for students. According to the ministry, OSAP Express
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requires a student to sign a loan agreement only once throughout their entire post-secondary studies, and speeds up the enrollment verification process and direct deposit options. The procedure will also result in government savings of over $150,000. When Joanne Afghani, a secondyear psychology student at Western, first heard about the new process, she didn’t know what to think. “To be honest, my first reaction to the new OSAP Express system was, ‘oh great, there’s going to be more annoying paperwork to fill out,’” she admitted. “But once I found out you only complete the [Master Student Financial Assistance Agreement] form once, and they keep it on file for years to come, [...] I was super happy because, let’s face it, no one likes lines.” According to the ministry, wasted time was the main reason behind the switch to a new format. Last year, when financial aid offices were still using the paperbased loan document process, a typical student would receive their first electronic payment between September 19 and 26. This year, students received their first electronic payments between September 17 and 21. With the additional free time, the ministry explained financial aid offices would be able to dedicate more time to answering student questions. Afghani agreed this is a better system for everyone involved. “I didn’t have any problems with the system—everything was right on schedule,” she said. “Now that the form is out of the way, I won’t have to fill it out again next year or wait in line. It’s definitely a great system.” —Jesica Hurst
Check our more photos from our Formula 1 photoshoot online at
westerngazette.ca/ photography
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.
Great Western Clothing
LowerLevel UCC … Coming soon to the UCC Atrium
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thegazette • Friday, September 21, 2012
The perfect formula >> continued from pg.1
host teams from around the world. The biggest event happens each May in Michigan, and this year it hosted 120 teams. Western has sent a car every year since 1996. These cars aren’t cheap—Bezzina estimates Western’s cost between $50,000 and $60,000. While Western provides part of that, the majority is paid for by sponsors in the automotive and engineering industries. The team’s business arm, comprised mostly of non-engineering students, organizes the sponsors. Some provide cash, while others provide free or discounted parts, or perform some of the more complex machining and laser cutting that the team doesn’t have the resources to do themselves. However, the whole car is assembled by the students on the team. “The whole goal of this, and the reason the SAE puts it on, is to prepare engineers for the automotive industry when they graduate,” Bezzina says. Many former team members credit the team with helping them get a job, and some even go on to work for sponsor companies.
The majority of the team— which is open to all students, not just engineers—has no previous experience with cars. Older team members teach the younger ones, and the rest comes from books, Shaun Salisbury, the team’s faculty advisor, says.
It’s not a glamourous, fantasy thing. We’re not the Mustangs—well, we consider ourselves Mustangs—but we do it because we love it. —Nathan Leifer
Fuel systems manager for Western’s Formula racing team
“They’re obviously very committed. They do all their work after hours, so it’s weekends, after school and in the summer that they work on it,” he says. Teams must build a new car every year to compete in SAE events. While some of the betterfunded teams in Europe are able to
save their car from each year and put them all on display, Western must dismantle each year’s car for parts to build the next. Formula racing is much more popular in Europe, accounting for some much more lucrative sponsorships common with European universities. “Some of the European teams have $50,000 moulds just for their carbon fiber rims,” Andrew Kisielewski, a former team member, explains. The European teams may have the money and the renown, but that doesn’t change the experience for Western’s engineers. The team’s more-involved members will often put in 30 to 40 hours a week on the car, on top of their heavy course loads. These students probably won’t go on to win the Grand Prix, and they might not get the most lucrative sponsorships for their car, but that’s not the point. “That’s the epitome of our team—no one hears about us,” Nathan Leifer, the team’s fuel systems manager, says. “It’s not a glamourous, fantasy thing. We’re not the Mustangs— well, we consider ourselves Mustangs—but we do it because we love it.”
The president has arrived Chakma joins 21st century with Twitter account
Western takes new look at inequality Kaitlyn McGrath Associate Editor Earnings inequality may be higher in Europe than in North America, according to recent study conducted by Western’s CIBC Centre for Human Capital and Productivity. Presented in a policy brief released earlier this week, studies showed that depending on how inequality is defined and the measures used to examine it, lifetime inequality is similar between North American and Europe. Previous studies on inequality have only taken into account one year of data, but Audra Bowlus, CIBC faculty fellow, chair of Western’s department of economics and co-author of the policy brief, said single-year trends are important, but measuring inequality based on a lifetime earnings might be more accurate. “Current inequality tells us something about that current year, and the situation that people faced in that current year and […] what was the difference between the top and the bottom in that current year,” she explained. “But it is only a snapshot, and people’s earnings go up and down over the course of their life cycles for lots of different reasons.” The report also looked at earnings mobility, a measure of an individual’s movement in the earnings distribution and employment risk, which is the risk an individual may be unemployed. Bowlus explained both factors played a role in closing the inequality gap. “The U.S. and Canada, in particular, exhibit a lot of earnings mobility than the other countries we studied, which were in continental Europe,” she said. “If we just took a current snapshot and we don’t incorporate that mobility, we don’t get really how much inequal-
ity there is.” Including employment risk also greatly affected the results of the study. European countries tend to have more generous unemployment benefits than North America, meaning Europeans tended to have longer spells of unemployment. Bowlus also explained when people were returning to the workforce in Europe, they were more likely to enter the distribution at the lower end, whereas people in North America were able to reenter at the middle or even higher end of the earning distribution. “If I put in earnings mobility, the North American countries shrink substantially and the European countries shrink somewhat substantially,” she explained. “If I then add in employment risk, North American countries actually shrink more in inequality, but Europe goes back up. In the end, they look very similar in terms of inequality but they got there from very different processes.” Although Bowlus said it’s an open debate as to which is better, she added policy makers should consider both factors. “They should not only think about current inequality when they are developing polices, they should also be thinking about long-run and lifetime inequality.”
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Music Tees Superhero Tees file photo
Jesica Hurst News Editor Please welcome Western president Amit Chakma—er, @PresWesternU—to the Twitterverse. In an attempt to catch up with the times, and bring a more specific focus to the initiatives the president is involved with on behalf of the university, the media relations team at Western thought it would be beneficial for Chakma to finally jump on the social media bandwagon and join the rest of us in 2012. “Up until now, it has been tricky to get a good handle on the various types of interactions the president has with individual campus community members—particularly students,” Keith Marnoch, director of media and communications for Western, said. “We hope that this communication vehicle will provide the community with some insight into the great work and initiatives happening around campus,
as seen through the eyes of the president.” “Both he and a communications support staff will contribute to the account in hopes of making it as relevant and timely as possible.” With nearly 200 followers in less than 24 hours, Chakma has received a very warm welcome and an abundance of support from the staff and students at Western. But don’t expect a follow for a follow. “When it comes to following, the president far prefers meeting with students in person in all corners of the university, and puts a priority on that happening as soon as possible,” Marnoch explained. “While the president recognizes that dialogue and sharing are important elements of micro-blogging, for now he will concentrate on the sharing aspect of Twitter and see where it leads him.” According to Marnoch, the tweets from Chakma’s personal account will differ from the already
established @westernu account. “The profile of the account is specifically geared to activities that the president come across through the normal course of his daily schedule,” he said. “The @ westernu account is more of a public address account about anything ‘Western’—not as much about what the president is doing or seeing.” Marnoch hopes Chakma’s personal account will serve as an effective tool for reaching out to the entire student body. “This account represents a tangible outreach to students, as well as to the general Western community,” he said. “Hopefully, the account will bring a greater understanding to those priorities and encourage students to either get more involved with particular initiatives, or at least know more about where the university is headed.” Next up, Instagram.
WE WILL ROCK YOU!
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thegazette • Friday, September 21, 2012
Arts&Life
funfact The Hawaiian alphabet has 13 letters.
Cultivating a sense of community Student plants new addition to the Huron environment Our ultimate goal was to develop student awareness. If you want something done, if you see something wrong with the campus or you feel needs improvement, you can make that motion.
Brent Holmes Art&Life Editor Huron University College has gotten a little greener. A student-led initiative to grow a garden for student reading and reflection has just sprouted up. Huron students Gideon Bell and Rebecca Barr built the garden, located behind Benson House and Huron University College, because they wanted to provide a space where students could get outside and enjoy their environment. Resting on the top of a hill with a great view of the surrounding area, they couldn’t have asked for a better spot. “We started this initiative last year when we found this area that we felt could be turned into a garden,” Barr says. “There’s not a lot of outdoor space for students to read on campus, or [to] just enjoy nature. It’s a lot of time in the library, a lot of time indoors.” The garden is funded by the Huron University College Students’ Council with assistance from the Huron administration. Now that the garden is built, Bell and Barr are hoping it will inspire future generations of students as a site for reflection and reading, and to encourage other students to engage their community.
—Gideon Bell Huron student.
Cameron Wilson GAZETTE
FLOWER POWER. After planting the seeds this past summer, Gideon Bell and Rebecca Barr’s garden has sprouted up, giving Huron students good soil to read, reflect and relax with.
“It’s a great example of allowing students to make changes to the community. It doesn’t have to be from one central source, people can step up and take that kind of leadership,” emphasizes Vivek Prabhu, president of the HUCSC. The Huron administration has also responded positively to the initiative, helping to locate a site that would be noticeable and would be easy for students to use. “[Bell and Barr’s] work has meant
that students, faculty, staff and visitors have a comfortable outdoor space on the Huron campus for conversation, reading and reflection,” comments Neil Carruthers, chief administrative officer at Huron. Now, after a substantial amount of work, the garden is complete. After Bell and Barr move on to future studies, the caretaking and potential expansion of the garden will fall to the HUCSC, who hopes other students will take interest in
keeping the garden blooming. “I would love to see if it expands.I don’t know if it can because it’s on the side of a cliff, but there are so many different possibilities,” Prabhu comments. “I think students should make that decision and we will definitely be looking forward to that in the future.” “We want to find some students who we can teach, so that we can pass on what we’ve learned from
this project so that they can carry it on,” Barr echoes. “[Through this], we’ve become closer to the Huron community and administration, but also just the nature around Huron and how it has made us appreciate what Huron has to offer and how we can build upon it.” For Bell and Barr, student awareness around opportunities to develop their campus environment is paramount. “Our ultimate goal was to develop a student awareness. If you want something done, if you see something wrong with the campus or you feel something needs more improvement, you can make that motion,” Bell says. “We see people out there for lunches and reading. We are really happy because we are leaving behind something that will allow students to be involved as well,” Barr concludes. “There are a lot of available resources that are untapped.”
Trishna doesn’t live up Laura Trabucco Gazette Staff GGFFF Director: Michael Winterbottom Starring: Freida Pinto, Riz Ahmed, Anurag Kashyap Trishna touts itself as a modern update of Thomas Hardy’s novel, Tess of the D’Ubervilles. While the trope of rich boy falls in love with poor girl continues to enchant, Michael Winterbottom’s adaptation causes the story to lose much of its poignancy. The problems in Trishna stem from the lovers’ failure to communicate with each other. It makes for a far less sympathetic tale than the novel, and ultimately falls flat. Frida Pinto, as the title character, provides a pretty face, but remains inaccessible—at the end of the film, Trisha feels like a stranger. Much of the script is spent admiring her pretty face, while little is done to develop her personality. Riz Ahmed, as the male lead, delivers a promising performance, but is limited by poor writing. With so little insight, the actions of both seem contrived and bizarre. A cast of flat and clichéd secondary char-
file photo
acters supplements the leading roles. Winterbottom relies heavily on the film’s unconventional soundtrack to reveal tense or redemptive moments that would otherwise be lost. The film is interspersed with beautiful shots of both rural and urban India, but they seem to have little to do with the struggles of the glossy looking Pinto. Trishna strives to impart an important social commentary, ending with a blunt political message
that seems like an afterthought. Hardy’s novel is a classic, but it was originally written for serialization in a newspaper. Translated to the big screen, the drawn out plot seems dull and haphazard. It is frustrating to watch Trishna, like Tess before her, fail to speak up for herself until it is too late. What is praised as stoicism in the nineteenth century just seems like weakness in the twenty-first. Overall, the visually appealing movie fails to achieve the same status as the classic novel.
Naira Ahmed Gazette
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thegazette • Friday, September 21, 2012
Dada Life brings both energy and bananas Danielle Bozinoff Contributor Swedish electro house duo Dada Life began their musical career in 2010, and have since attained international success. This week, they are touring Ontario university cities, including Guelph, London, Toronto and Ottawa. But where did their journey to international stardom all begin and why did they decide to collaborate in a realm dominated by solo artists? Oddly enough, Olle Corneer and Stefan Engblom met while waiting in line for a ride at Disneyland. They bonded instantly over their hometown of Stockholm and similar taste in music. Next thing they knew, their track “Big Time” became popular in England. It was then they realized this fun project could turn into something bigger. Now, they are performing for sold-out concerts around the world, with a large university student following in Canada. “The Canadian audience is awesome. I would say the ones that come to our shows, they just live the Dada Life. They rage so hard, people stage dive—it’s madness,” Stefan Engblom says. “Spe-
cifically, in regard to Canadian students, playing the shows in Canada, we get so much energy from the crowd, and hopefully we give it back so it just escalates.” ‘The Dada Life’ is a term often used by the duo—it’s a way of life they feel strongly about. “Dada is whatever you want it to mean,” Engblom explains. “It’s more like a feeling and way of life. Have fun and don’t think too much. If you bring your brain to a rave, then you’re screwed from the beginning. Just leave your brain at home, go have fun—jump off the walls. If you’re smiling, then you know you’re having fun.” More so than the confusion over Dada Life, fans often scratch their heads at the recurring theme of bananas as seen throughout their music videos, concerts and logo. “The thing with bananas is that they are the best. Bananas on their own, not so good. You need to combine them with champagne. You should try it,” Engblom says. While this seems like a peculiar combination, Engblom insists it’s not. “Bananas are the perfect food at a club because you don’t want to eat an apple or a sloppy sandwich. Everything is going to get messy.
FILE PHOTO
GOING BANANAS. The Swedish duo that performed in London last night, swears by the combination of bananas and champagne at their shows.
But a banana is in a perfect protective shell. You open it up and it’s fresh. Combined with champagne, it’s explosive.” The inventive duo’s motto is “destroy dance music and have
Classic tale, modern twist
fun. Do the Dada.” “Try to destroy what has been done and make new things,” Engblom urges. “Always look forward and don’t follow trends or listen to top 40s—we do what we feel like
and lucky for us, people love it.” Dada Life made their stop at the London Music Hall last night. Look for the review in Tuesday’s issue of the Gazette.
On Disc
Jason Oncz Gazette Staff GGGHF William Shakespeare’s Othello, directed by Jason Rip, brings a classic tale of deception, lust and jealousy to the stage at The ARTS Project. This adaptation brings an old plight into modern day context by marrying major themes with wartorn Afghanistan. Othello tells the story of the Moor of Venice and his recent marriage to the Venetian Desdemona. Othello (Demis Odanga), having recently risen in his military ranking, earns the ire of fellow soldier Ensign Dana Iago (Danika Barker) when he promotes the less experienced Cassio (Colt Forgrave) to lieutenant instead of Iago. Iago becomes the central character of the play by learning secrets from each of the men, and orchestrates the downfall of Othello. Through the course of the play, Iago learns of a wealthy man named Roderigo (Sarah Abbott), and Cassio’s love for Desdemona (Sarah Stanton). Strong performances by the lead actors bring the characters to life, and the audience into their world. Barker’s interpretation of Iago as a female ensign is an empowering rendition of the cold and calculating character. Her ability to bring full emotion into the dialogue, and extensive command of the language, brings forward a believable performance. This is ever present in scenes alongside Odanga as Othello, in which the two actors play well against each other. The emotional spectrum of Odanga is powerful, whether it’s smitten love when with Desdemonda, or full-on anger and jealousy when speaking of Cassio—even the raw angst when he discovers the error of his ways. He is able to navigate these emotional variants with a fine-tuned compass. Rip wants to remind the audience that they’re still imagining these events in Afghanistan amongst the barracks, on the base and in the field. He effectively ac-
Courtesy of Richard Gilmore
complishes this with modern dress, weapons and context. The play suffers in two areas. While performances by Turner, Sheppard, Forgrave and Adler are strong, others are not. While comical at times, Sam O’Beirn’s portrayal of Montano betrays the raw emotions contained within any scene in which he partakes. Additionally, while Michael Van Holst is well-versed in his character of Lodovico, he too lacks the conviction to bring the character forward on stage into something more real. It may seem easy to criticize a community production for a lack of set design, but in this case, it’s not so much the lack of design. Rather, it is the issue of set changes. There is no indication between
each act that there is a change in location, and it isn’t until the second half of the play that we see the welcomed sign of a new set piece. It’s not to say that the changes in scenes aren’t signalled—the director has chosen modern songs as well as sounds of war to indicate venue changes—but the play would benefit from some other indicators. With the overall runtime coming in at just over two hours, this artful rendition of a literary classic would be well-received amongst Shakespeare fans and any fan of the theatre looking for a new twist on an old play. Othello plays at The ARTS Project until tomorrow. Showtime is 8 p.m. Tickets are $20 at InfoSource, or at the door.
GGGFF English Words Red Potion This is Luck Productions Highlight Tracks: “Pay to Play” “All my Lovers”
GGGGF Women Public Strain Flemish Eye Records Highlight Tracks: “Can’t You See” “Heat Distraction” “Eyesore”
English Words, formerly Smothered in Hugs, is looking for a good time, and they aren’t looking to reinvent the wheel while they do it. Ryan Crane’s vocals on Red Potion’s opening track “Bumblebee” have the timbre of another Prince Edward Island band, Two Hours Traffic. The similarities taper off from there, and English Words leaves the Atlantic behind. Instrumentally, the minimalist punchy guitar melodies ride over the drum machine, while the synthesizer does the leg work. Red Potion works when the band slows things down and allows the layers to breathe. With the heartbeat drum machine and subtle synthesizer, English Words finds steady ground. “Pay to Play” offers a loose narrative, suggesting listeners pay their dues and to endure life’s hardships. On “All my Lovers,” he croons through the reverb about kissing former lovers on the neck. His words resonate with detail, but at times, he seems more concerned with rhyming than producing a coherent thought. Shakespeare it’s not, but English Words is looking to keep you either dancing or tapping your feet in a trance while staring at the pretty lights. In their first time out, the band achieves both of those ends with ease. — Alex J. Carey
Hailing from Calgary, Alberta, art rock band Women provide a sound incomparable to most bands on the radio today. On their second studio album Public Strain, the quartet comes together to create a mood that is both spacey and ambient, while at the same time melodic and progressive. The reverb-splashed, airy vocals of guitarists Chris Reimer and Patrick Flegel, combined with the simple, yet soulful grooves of bassist Matthew Flegel, and Michael Wallace’s aggressive drum beat drums, create a sound suitable for a rainy day. The album kicks off with “Can’t You See,” a dense concoction of sounds from every register, all guided by a deep, dark and distant vocal line hidden carefully in the background. The initial dreary tone of the album is quickly washed away by the second track entitled “Heat Distraction,” an oddly-metered, progressive tune reminiscent of a 1970s rock band. The album concludes with the more mainstream, upbeat “Eyesore,” with a beginning drumbeat and explosion of the full band into the mix helplessly captures the listener. The organized chaos of Public Strain is an innovative bouquet of sounds pleasurable to the ear and soothing for the soul. —Shane Rodak
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thegazette • Friday, September 21, 2012
Opinions Fair prof evaluations important for students A recent study published in the journal Aggressive Behaviour revealed students who receive a low grade in a class are significantly more likely to give a professor a poor teaching evaluation. When picking courses, one of the most important considerations students make is who’s teaching the class. A good professor can make a class exceptional, whereas a bad one can make it a nightmare. It’s important to know what kind of experience to expect before you sign up for a class. For this, students can turn to online resources, like ratemyprofessors.com, to find reviews of professors written by other students. However, it’s important to be discerning when researching a professor online. Oftentimes, reviews will be extreme, as not many students will take the time to say their professor was perfectly adequate. It’s important to look beyond both the diatribes and love letters, and see if the reviews give specific pros and cons. The best method is to look for reviews that touch on aspects of the professor’s performance, such as entertaining lectures, understanding of concepts and interaction with students. Of course, ratemyprofessors.com is an informal system and may not always provide the information a student is looking for—it’s hard to imagine how a professor’s looks could impact the learning experience too much. Students can also turn to the in-class professor evaluations given out towards the end of each course. However, this system has its own problems. Not everybody fills them out, resulting in similar selection bias to ratemyprofessors.com. Making the evaluations mandatory would also present problems, as students will often fill them out with little to no thought, giving perfect or zero in every category. Since there may not be a perfect system to accurately review professors, schools shouldn’t place too much emphasis on them when considering things like promotions. However, professors should still be aware of their reviews—there may be specific or general improvements they can make based on constructive criticism. Overall, nobody is better equipped to review professors than the students they are teaching. Students should take responsibility for providing accurate, non-biased reviews. A good grade in the class should not wash out a professor’s flaws, just as a bad grade shouldn’t overshadow their positive qualities. It’s important for students to put serious consideration and try to provide useful, thoughtful feedback, rather than basing it on the course material or the grade they received. —The Gazette Editorial Board
Some of us will do our jobs well and some will not, but we will be judged by only one thing—the result.
—Vince Lombardi, former American football coach.
An opportunity for a degree of success Verbal Azalt
Aaron Zaltzman News Editor Hi student. How are you? Are you having a good first few weeks of school? Making friends, expanding your mind, stuff like that? Great! Unfortunately, I have something sad to tell you. You should probably sit down for this, hypothetical student—it won’t be easy to hear. Okay, hear it goes… Your degree is worthless. That’s okay, you can cry. Let it all out. It’s never an easy thing to learn. You’ve been told your whole life that this is what it’s all about. Getting good grades so you can go to a great university and get a great job and live a great life. That’s been the dream—living the successful life of a university graduate and earning $1 million more than somebody without a university degree. Well, it’s all a lie. This chain of events is not quite so linear. However, this is not to say you shouldn’t go to university. In fact, there’s a high chance if you don’t get your degree, you won’t get a good job—you need it just to be in the running. The truth is, whatever you do in life will at most be tangentially related to what you learn in this place. The courses you’re taking now aren’t even close to vocational training. Nothing you learn is going to apply to your future career—unless you’re in engineering, in which case you may stand up and leave. At most, your degree is going to be a standard qualification for a job or a ticket to graduate school. Other than that, it’s just a very expensive piece of toilet paper. I’m sorry to lay all of this on you,
“My fall wardrobe.”
Everyone’s still going to call it the JLC anyway. 51% The new name is dumb, and they should leave it alone. 37% What’s the John Labbatt Centre? 8%
Gloria Dickie Editor-In-Chief Nicole Gibillini Deputy Editor Cam Parkes 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.
Dear Life, What won’t Meat Loaf do for love?
leaves.”
The John Labatt Centre is changing its name to Budweiser Gardens. What do you think?
Volume 106, Issue 12 www.westerngazette.ca
Your anonymous letters to life.
but you need to understand why you’re here. Even though university may be a Dear Life, station on your path to career land, you Why do I fall asleep in shouldn’t treat it like high school. You pay far too much money and put far too lectures even after sleeping much time into this place to just coast for eight hours the night through it. For over $6,000 per year, before? your academic experience here better mean something. So if you aren’t here to prepare for Dear Life, your job, and if you really don’t need I didn’t understand why your lessons here to help you succeed drivers needed those signs in graduate school, why are you here? on the bridge telling them The answer, simple as it may seem, is to not to pass cyclists, until I learn something. Yes, you are here to learn just for was driving on the bridge learning’s sake, not for any other pur- behind a cyclist. pose. You are here to understand that not everything done in a classroom is a means to an end. You have to real- Dear Life, ize that the value of your lesson here is An open-faced sandwich is the inherent benefit of learning some- not a sandwich. thing new. To make this place worth it, you have to fall in love with learning— otherwise you will end up completely Dear Life, burnt out by the time you have to write I’m so easily seduced by your 50th theory-based essay. violins that it’s shameful. And if you absolutely feel the need to obtain some tangible benefit from your four-year degree, use the opportunity Dear Life, to improve some skills. Even the seem- Why are there so few “J” ingly pointless stuff you have to do to words, but so many “J” pass your classes is a way to build your names? critical thinking, reasoning and writing skills—something that apparently half of all university students don’t seem to Submit your letters to life realize. So if you find yourself skipping class at www.westerngazette.ca/ or resenting your program, stop and dearlife. take a second to reevaluate. Sign up for an elective you like rather than one that’s an easy A. And if you really hate all your courses, take another look at your Your Say program—what’s the point of doing it if you hate everything you’re learning? What is your favourite So rest easy, student. That critical analysis essay may not help you get a thing about autumn? job, but it’s the most important thing you’ll do here. “Stepping on crunchy
weeklypoll
thegazette
Dear Life
“The crisp and cold outdoor air.” “The smell of the autumn air as leaves decompose.” “The reintegration of scarves into my outfits.”
I like the new name better. 4%
“The upcoming NHL season. Oh, wait.”
Vote on next week’s poll at westerngazette.ca
“Pumpkin pie.”
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.
Gazette Composing & Gazette Advertising Ian Greaves, Manager Robert Armstrong
Karen Savino Diana Watson
Gazette Staff 2012-2013
Greg Colgan, David Czosniak, Megan Devlin, Kevin Estakhri, Connor Hill, Elton Hobson, Kelly Hobson, Katherine Horodnyk, Sarah Mai Chitty, Victoria Marroccoli, Megan McPhaden, John Petrella, Megan Puterman, Chen Rao, Pat Robinson, Taylor Rodrigues, Nathan TeBokkel, Amy Wang, Hillete Warner, Kate Wilkinson, Kartikeya Vishal, Usman Zahid, Mason Zimmer
News Alex Carmona Jesica Hurst Cam Smith Aaron Zaltzman Arts & Life Sumedha Arya Brent Holmes Kevin Hurren Sports Richard Raycraft Jason Sinukoff Ryan Stern Opinions Ryan Hurlbut Associate Kaitlyn McGrath
Photography Andrei Calinescu Ritchie Sham Cameron Wilson Graphics Naira Ahmed Mike Laine Illustrations Christopher Miszczak Liwei Zhou Online Julian Uzielli Web Cameron Wilson Video Chris Kay
• Please recycle this newspaper •
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thegazette • Friday, September 21, 2012
Sports
gameday The men’s hockey team will kick off their season with an exhibition game against Concordia this Friday at 7:30 p.m. The Mustangs will be on a mission this season, looking to avenge their championship loss to McGill from last year.
Rundown >> The Mustangs men’s baseball team fell by a score of 12-8 to the Brock Badgers > Travelling to George Taylor Field, the Mustangs put up a strong fight against their division rivals, but fell on the strength of an eight run fourth inning by the Badgers.
Mustangs look to bounce back against Windsor Identical 2-1 records ensure major playoff implications Richard Raycraft Sports Editor This Saturday afternoon will see the Mustangs line up against their Southwestern Ontario rivals in the Windsor Lancers. Western looks to get back in the win column after a tough 18-11 loss to the Queen’s Gaels in their last game. The Lancers are coming off a dominating 55-4 win against the Toronto Varsity Blues. Western beat Windsor 33-27 in last year’s Ontario University Athletics semifinal. Both teams have posted two wins and one loss so far this season, making this a crucial contest for their respective playoff hopes. The teams have had equal success on offence, scoring 127 points apiece across their first three games. Western has been slightly more solid on defence, allowing 35 points to Windsor’s 50. The Mustangs are looking for their offence to rack up points after it failed to score a touchdown against Queen’s last weekend. It will be led by veteran quarterback Donnie Marshall, who typically relies on his ability to run the ball, but who was shut out completely by Queen’s. Running backs Garret Sanvido and Yannick Harou will also be essential. Sanvido currently leads Canada Interuniversity Sport in yards rushed with 377. Despite sharing duties with Sanvido, Harou has managed to post 210 yards on the season. Both are currently averaging just less than seven yards a carry. “We know [Western] runs the ball extremely well,” Joe D’Amore, coach of the Lancers, said. “You’re
Ritchie Sham GAZETTE
WHERE DID ALL THE OTHER PLAYERS GO? The Western Mustangs will host the Windsor Lancers tomorrow afternoon at TD Waterhouse Stadium. With both teams boasting 2-1 records, and the exact same number of points scored, the match is sure to be a tough one. Additionally, this game will have huge playoff implications.
not going to stop it, so we’re just going to try to control it and hopefully get them into some passing downs.” Though the running game is a big part of the Mustang’s offensive threat, Marshall will have some strong options down field in receivers Brian Marshall and Justin Sanvido. “We need to get back the consistency that we had with the football in our first two games,” Greg
Marshall, Mustangs coach, said. “I think we might have to get a little more aggressive throwing the football.” The defence looks to put up another strong performance after holding the line well in their last three contests. The defence is currently allowing an average of 11.7 points per game, the lowest in Canada. Linebackers Marcus Babic, Sean Blake and defensive end Ricky Osei-Kusi have posted three
sacks apiece, while the Mustangs have a total of 15, good for second in the CIS. Linebacker Pawel Kruba has also been strong defensively, intercepting a pass to score the Mustangs’ lone touchdown in their last game. The Lancers possess a dangerous pass-oriented offence led by Windsor native Austin Kennedy. Kennedy currently leads the CIS in passing yards with 1026 and in touchdowns with eight. Kennedy
may prove a tough nut to crack for the Mustangs, as he has thrown only one interception in three contests. “[Kennedy] is as good a quarterback as we’ll play this year,” Marshall explained. “They’re not going to run the ball a ton, but Kennedy is slippery—with pressure he can take off and run with it.” You can catch the decisive match-up at 1 p.m. Saturday at TD Waterhouse Stadium.
Western to try to return to winning ways vs. Gaels Jason Sinukoff Sports Editor Autumn is upon us and that means two, and only two things—pumpkin spice lattes at Starbucks, and rugby. The Mustangs men’s rugby team is already 1-1 this season— with a 40-3 win against the Waterloo Warriors and a 12-5 loss to the Guelph Gryphons. And tomorrow, when the Mustangs head to Kingston, they will face the very team that they defeated in last year’s Ontario University Athletics championship—their rivals, the Queen’s Gaels. “It’s going to be a tough, hardfought battle like most games with Queen’s usually are,” Steve Thomas, head coach for the Mustangs, said. The Mustangs will have a lot on their plate against Queen’s tomorrow. A big difference between last year’s OUA finals and this time
around is that last year, the purple and white had the pleasure of playing at TD Waterhouse Stadium. Unfortunately, Western didn’t get so lucky this time, as the Mustangs will challenge the Gaels tomorrow on Queens’ home turf. “They’ve got home-field advantage. It’s huge,” Thomas explained. However, the Mustangs were able to dodge a bullet, as this Saturday was also supposed to be Queen’s homecoming—which means a sold-out, hostile crowd. “The fortunate thing for us is that it was supposed to be Queen’s homecoming this week, but that has been pushed back a week,” Thomas said. “So we will still deal with a hostile crowd, but perhaps not as hostile as they would have been on homecoming. It plays a huge part.” “But we’ll be going over there with a game plan in mind and >> see rugby pg.8
Ritchie Sham GAZETTE
8•
thegazette • Friday, September 21, 2012
Western continues journey back to OUA finals after 1-1 start >> continued from pg.7
we’ll stick to the game plan and see what happens,” he continued. If playing away from home and dealing with travel fatigue weren’t enough, the Mustangs are rusty and are also missing some key cogs in the machine that was their championship winning team from a year ago. “We’ve only had a month together, so we’re still a bit rusty,” Thomas said. “We’re still dealing with a number of injuries, and also to add to that, we have three people away with the Ontario Blues—which is the provincial team—so they’re not available to us,” Thomas said. “But you know, we have some good guys, we’ve got a strong squad.” However, regardless of what their record is after this game and whether they win or lose against the Gaels, Thomas and the rest of the Mustangs know that the season
It’s going to be a tough, hard-fought battle like most games with Queen’s usually are. --Steve Thomas
Mustangs head coach
is far from over. “With the guys we have on the team, they’re really focused and willing to learn. We know we have some key players out, but we know that they will come back,” Thomas said. “So if we happen to go 1-2 against Queen’s, we know the season is not done because we’ve got returning players, and it gives us a number of weeks to build for those key games. So it’s not over until the fat lady sings—or in my case, the fat guy.”
Do you think Yunel Esobar’s punishment was too lenient? Too harsh? Or just right? Tim Andersen, Social Science I Don’t get me wrong, I’m a Blue Jays fan. But on this, they missed their mark. When you’re a role model in the public eye, as Escobar is, you cannot make jokes like those. As a professional athlete, Escobar should know this. So should his team. They’re partially to blame for this—one of them must have seen it, and they let it go without saying anything. Three games? That’s a slap on the wrist. I’m not saying he should be kicked out of the league, but a little more time—or a lot—to reflect wouldn’t have been amiss. Do you think it is fair that lockedout NHL players are taking jobs from their overseas counterparts? Evan Gropper, Ivey III With all due respect to the players losing their jobs to NHL stars, I have no issue with this practice. From the sides of both the lockedout players, and the franchises attaining these world-class talents, these deals are a no-brainer. For the players, it gives them a chance to get on the ice and stay in shape while earning paychecks and staying out of trouble. Along with that, it bodes well for their negotiations with the NHL owners because it lets them rely less on the return of the NHL.
As for the owners of the various overseas teams, they should be head over heels that the NHL is locked out again. Foreign players returning back to their home countries will undoubtedly fill the arenas, along with also giving owners a chance to sell their teams to North Americans. Other than the players out of jobs, this seems to be a good deal all around. In this case the old adage “you snooze you lose” is applicable. What do you make of Jay Cutler bumping his left tackle J’Marcus Webb during their game against the Packers last Thursday? What does this mean for the rest of the Bears season? Nathan Leifer, Engineering II
ity to win. If the Bears are going to be successful on offence this year, it will have to be through star running back Matt Forte. As for leadership in the Bears locker room, the buck does not stop at Jay Cutler. Brian Urlacher is the undisputed face of the Bears and Cutler’s incident has only solidified that further. With all that said, Cutler is going to have to pick up his game if the Bears are to have any shot at the post season. If I were him, I would also send an apology to his offensive line if he wants to survive the season.
Truthfully I think this incident has little bearing—excuse the pun— on the outcome of the Bears season. Those who have followed Jay Cutler throughout his career understand that he is prone to these kinds of childish fits, and when the Bears traded for him prior to the 2009 season, they knew this was the Jay Cutler they were getting. As much as Bears fans want Cutler to be their leader on offence, he clearly does not have the chops for it. In his not-so-young career, Cutler has barely amassed a .500 record as a starting quarterback—42-38 to date—and he has never shown a sustained abil-
My thought is that if the clock is running and it is a legal football hit, I see no issue. Tom Coughlin and the Giants need to stop crying because the Bucs broke an ‘unwritten rule’. At one point in Coughlin’s illustrious coaching career, he has undoubtedly lectured his players on playing until they hear the whistle. The Giants need to realize that the game is not over until it is over. Schiano is trying to send a message to his young team and Coughlin needs to keep his veteran team muzzled, because the play was a legal play between the white lines.
What are your thoughts on Greg Schiano’s game ending tenacity? Fair or foul? Cameron Reich, English II
Corey Stanford Gazette
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ADULT HOCKEY PLAYERS LEAGUE has LIMITED OPENINGS. Sunday night prime time games. Great recreational league for all abilities. INFO: www.jffhl.com. MEMBERS OF MTV’S “The Buried Life” will be speaking Wednesday, September 26 from 7pm 9pm in Mustang Lounge. The $12 ticket includes a free after party with members @ the Wave. Go to Western Connections, King’s Connection or online for tickets. (www.usc-online.ca/buried_life.asp). S.A.L.S.A. CLUB ISback for a new year of salsa dancing fun! Lessons are Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 7-9 pm; beginners from 7-8pm and intermediates from 8-9pm. First lesson is on September 25th. Cost is $25 to join. Check us out: http://www.facebook.com/groups/salsa.uwo/ Email: salsa.uwo@gmail.com.
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The Laurier Golden Hawks baseball team will not be taking flight any time soon, thanks to some unruly behaviour. The Golden Hawks have suspended their baseball team for four games—including a double header against the Mustangs this weekend—with the possibility of the suspension continuing on for the rest of the season, due to a hazing incident amongst the players. In communication with the Ontario University Athletics, the Laurier Athletic Department has handed down the suspension due to a violation of the university’s Student Athlete Code of Conduct. ”Like our schools, we have a zero tolerance policy for hazing. We as a league are responsible for what happens in games. These kinds of situations occur outside of it and that is why schools make the decisions themselves,” OUA Executive Director, Ward Dilse, said. The suspended games will be forfeited with the final score reading 1-0 in favour of the opposing teams. —Ryan Stern
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