Thursday, October 9, 2014

The precarious path to professorship Students pursuing higher levels of education with an eye on a professorship have found a jarring reality awaiting them: shortterm contract positions with no job security, benefits and little chance of becoming tenure track professors. While these sessional professors have been around for many years, their role at universities is changing. Amy O’Kruk investigates.

Amy O’Kruk NEWS EDITOR @AmyAtGazette

Many of Western’s incoming students associate university professors with ivy clad lecture halls, research sabbaticals and maybe a tweed jacket or two. But for a rising proportion of post-secondary teachers across the country, the road to tenured professorial positions is disappearing. The changing face of academia means that in 2014, there are profs who are living paycheque-to-paycheque.

While contract academic staff have been around for a long time, their role at Western and other universities across North America has changed. Contract positions have gone from a choice to an inevitability for some. This is most easily seen in the rising number of parttime teaching staff at universities.

In 1999, only 15.5 per cent of Canadian university professors were non-permanent. By 2005, that number had doubled to 31 per cent.

The University of Western Ontario Faculty Association estimates that, at present, 39 per cent of its members are contract academic faculty.

These contract staff, sessional instructors or limited duties teachers are hired part-time on a courseto-course basis — making between $6,800 to $7,250 per half credit course. In lieu of benefits, included in the sum is an additional four per cent of their base rate of pay.

On September 21, the Campaign to Support Contract Academic Staff at Western University was launched

through a video where tenured faculty members and students were interviewed. The video participants called for better wages, job security and benefits for the university’s contract faculty.

Travis Welowszky, a member of the Faculty of Information and Media Studies Undergraduate Students’ Council and creator of the video, said the campaign isn’t the work of a specific organization but a grassroots movement that includes members in faculties across campus.

“It was deans, associate professors, contract academic staff and students that are networking and who are talking about this, trying to bring it to light,” Welowszky said.

The video has been shared upwards of 80 times on the campaign’s Facebook page, which itself has accumulated over 300 likes. The Twitter handle the video endorses, #SupportWesternCAS, has been retweeted by members of the Western community, alumni and by supporters outside of the school.

Eric Cortens, a lecturer in the Faculty of Music, said it might be possible to make ends meet with a full course load but for many contract academic faculty, that’s not the reality. >> see PROFESSORS pg.2

NEWS

ARTS&LIFE

ARTS&LIFE

SPORTS

Mayor Madness: Matt Brown Pg. 3

Big Wreck in London tonight Pg. 4

Kenny vs. Spenny coming to campus Pg. 5

Tennis team wins championship Pg. 7

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thegazette • Thursday, October 9, 2014

Contract profs face challenges >> PROFESSORS continued from pg.1

Cortens himself was hired to teach only one half-credit course this upcoming winter semester. He added that making the transition from a limited-duties lecturer to tenure track can be complex.

“One of the challenges with being a lecturer is that there’s no career path,” Cortens said. “Because you’re effectively reapplying for the same job every year, you don’t gain seniority, you don’t get a promotion, you don’t move up.”

Along with a lack of job security, Cortens added that contract faculty aren’t paid to conduct research. He said many part-time faculty members need to pursue research with limited resources on their own time in order to remain relevant in their field while also bringing something new to the classroom.

Helen Connell, associate vice-president of communications at Western, said there are a number of factors that play into how many contract staff the university hires and why.

“Many of the part-time faculty are employed full-time outside of the university, in professions in the public and private sector,” Connell said. “We want to provide that expertise they’ve got. We feel it’s an advantage for our students to have teachings from them.”

Connell added that part-time faculty can include retirees, graduate students who are seeking teaching experience and members who

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are covering sabbaticals or instructing a course because there’s a particular student demand for it.

Western’s proportion of parttime contract faculty is similar to universities across the province.

An Ontario government study found that it’s likely more than 50 per cent of undergraduate students and/or courses are now taught by non-permanent faculty. This past September, UWOFA released an article stating 40 per cent of undergraduate courses at Western are taught by contract academic staff.

The campaign to support contract academic faculty comes during a period where UWOFA is undergoing negotiations with Western to determine a new collective agreement.

Each collective faculty agreement lasts four years and serves to protect educators’ rights, determining things like compensation, benefits and ownership over course content.

Negotiations began last May and Alison Hearn, president of UWOFA, said she’s hopeful the new collective agreement will include more support for contract academic staff.

“We understand that the problem of increasing levels of reliance on contract faculty isn’t unique to Western,” Hearn said. “But we are hoping at the very least to improve their working conditions by … getting them better compensation and finding some ways to get them more job security. Those are the two things: improved working conditions — in terms of more opportunities for job security — and better compensation.”

While part-time positions have been on the rise in recent years it hasn’t necessarily meant a decline in tenured positions. Full-time positions at Western have risen over the past decade and a half. In 1999, there were 857 tenured or probationary positions at the university versus 1,090 in 2013.

The increase in full-time, tenurestream faculty in Ontario, however, has not kept pace with the growth in student enrolment. The number of full-time equivalent students in Ontario universities increased by 52 per cent during the 10-year period from 2000–01 to 2009–10, while the number of full-time tenure-stream faculty increased only by 30 per cent.

Kane Faucher, an assistant professor in FIMS, points to a reliance on contract academic staff that puts profit before education.

“Far too many universities depend on a growing pool of precarious academic workers who have no security and poor pay as an economic rather than an educational strategy,” Faucher said.

“Some of us are teaching too much just to make enough money to get by but that means we are less available to students for mentoring and consultation.”

Other universities in Ontario have put caps on the number of sessional instructors they hire. At Brock University, no more than 14 per cent of credit courses can be taught by sessional instructors and at Wilfrid Laurier University, the bar is set at 35 per cent.

Martin Rowlinson, a tenured professor and chair of graduate studies in English at Western, said that as universities move towards relying on contract faculty members, the relationship between teaching and scholarship degrades. He said the trend can create an unnecessary

CROSSWORD By Eugene Sheffer

S

OME OF US ARE TEACHING TOO MUCH JUST TO MAKE ENOUGH MONEY TO GET BY BUT THAT MEANS WE ARE LESS AVAILABLE TO STUDENTS FOR MENTORING AND CONSULTATION. KANE FAUCHER

FIMS ASSISTANT PROFESSOR

class system within the professoriate and among colleagues who may ultimately have very similar qualifications.

Richard Wiggers, research director at the Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario, argued that while some public statistics are available there’s still a big lack of data surrounding the prevalence of different university part-time faculty positions in the province.

The absence of this information obscures how heavily universities may be relying on contract academic staff.

“I wish the data was there and I wish it was more readily available because this is huge part of the fundamental mission of our universities, to teach, especially at the undergraduate level,” Wiggers said.

“We don’t have one of the most basic inputs into that mission which is, who’s doing the teaching?”

Wiggers added there have always been a high proportion of doctoral graduates who do not go into academia as they intended to. He said the issue may be heightened at present because in the past few years, the number of newly hired faculty have gone down or remained stagnant while the output of doctoral graduates has nearly doubled.

Welowszky remarked that for many students in the Western bubble, it can come as a surprise to them to learn that some of their teachers are struggling to find a place in academia’s ivory tower.

“There’s kind of an expected power dynamic where there are all of these students gathered in a classroom being taught by a professor,” Welowszky said. “You assume that they’re established, that they’re comfortable financially and that they can put all of their mental real estate into teaching the content of the course. There’s a harsher reality outside of the classroom for a lot of professors.”

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 • Thursday, October 9, 2014

City councillor costs cause crackdown Katie Lear NEWS EDITOR @KatieAtGazette

London city council endorsed tighter rules regarding the council members’ spending habits last Tuesday.

The new restrictions were proposed in light of councillor Dale Henderson’s purchases of $12,000 worth of camera gear to film city related videos he posted on YouTube. The videos mostly show Henderson discussing various city issues in an effort to connect with London citizens.

Henderson has since received a negative reaction from both city council and the public. It was also pointed out that the comments section on the YouTube videos was closed and this defeated the purpose of encouraging public discussion of the issues.

According to Henderson, the expenses for the cameras were approved by all channels of the city council and were in line with council’s bylaws. The cameras were bought with the yearly allowance that the city councillors are provided.

“Whatever your opinion is, if the law says this is the number, then that is what is approved of,” he said.

Mayor Joni Baechler expressed concerns over the city councillors’ current spending habits.

“If you have individuals that spend taxpayers’ money in what I would say might be considered an extravagant way, it’s really important that we clarify the rules and put limits on what we can expend,” she said.

According to councillor Joe Swan, concerns from the public have prompted the council to revise the regulations regarding the councillors’ spending allowances.

“They are stronger, clearer and they are better than the old rules,” he said.

The restrictions are designed to restrict council spending on technology and merchandise, with a focus on limiting one-time purchases.

“The council moved that we allow for a one-time purchase of a maximum of $750,” Baechler said.

“Purchases such as a laptop with your office account or possibly some other piece of technology — that’s the maximum amount you can spend on one item.”

Courtesy of Leon Desouza

This is the third of seven profiles of the candidates for Ward 6, which encompasses the university and the surrounding student housing.

Name: Amir Farahi Email: amir4ward6@gmail.com Phone: 226-448-9763 Facebook: www.facebook.com/amir4ward6 Twitter: @AmirFarahi Courtesy of Matt Brown

This is the sixth of fifteen mayoral candidate profiles.

Name: Matt Brown Number: 226-271-1201 Facebook: www.facebook.com/MattBrownLondon Twitter: @Matt_Brown_ Website: www.votemattbrown.ca ABOUT THE CANDIDATE:

ABOUT THE PLATFORM:

The adage “painting the town red” should be changed to “painting the town Brown” when it comes to London and mayoral candidate Matt Brown.

Brown, current Ward 7 councillor, has been part of several committees, commissions and organizations in London. These involvements include leadership positions with Childreach, Hyde Park Lions Club, the YMCA and the London Public Library.

Brown’s campaigning has been centered on his “London Plan” – a vision for the city that lays out broad directions over the next 20 years.

One feature of the plan includes collaboration with schools like Western and Fanshawe. As chair of the city’s town and gown committee, which serves as a forum for exchanging ideas and issues involving students, Brown has led initiatives to engage students in the past and plans to continue doing so if elected.

Brown’s platform, or his “London Plan,” is a combination of overarching directions and specific campaign promises.

Some of these broad themes include a strengthened environment for business, better government, and an attractive, liveable community.

One of his specific campaign points is fixing the Springbank Dam. After the dam failed six years ago, park visitors, canoeists, rowers and boaters have been prevented from interacting with the river. If elected, Brown pledges to fix the dam within his four years in office.

But the dam is just one of many points to his long and comprehensive platform. He makes several other pledges to accomplish actionable tasks within his tenure as mayor, ranging from arts enrichment to job creation to affordable housing.

time of his arrest. He was originally charged with mischief, resisting arrest, assault and escaping custody. Charges were dropped later after he completed a mental health diversion program.

“The case has been settled to the satisfaction of all parties,” said Keith Marnoch, director of media relations for Western.

• Olivia Zollino

have started fall reading breaks and now the Wilfrid Laurier University is joining those ranks.

The hope is that this initiative will “improve student mental health,” explained Sam Lambert, president of the Laurier Students’ Union.

The Laurier Students’ Union hopes that universities, like Waterloo, who do not yet have a fall reading week will follow suit.

Lambert believes that this fall reading week will have an overall positive effect on Laurier’s student body.

“Students are really excited about having the break, myself included,” he said.

• Abby McGivney

News Briefs

Western settles in civil suit

Irnes Zeljkovic and Western University have reached an agreement in the civil suit launched for excessive force.

Zeljkovic was suing for $950,000 after he alleged that Campus Police used excessive force during his arrest in 2009. The altercation, which was caught on video, showed six campus police officers striking Zeljkovic in the Social Science Centre.

The particulars of the settlement have not been disclosed. A confidentiality requirement is in place.

Zeljkovic was suffering from an acute psychotic episode at the

Fall Reading week for Laurier students

For the average university student, October has become associated with midterms, essays and lots of stress.

Fourteen universities in Ontario

ABOUT THE CANDIDATE:

ABOUT THE PLATFORM:

Amir Farahi grew up in London where is currently enrolled as a second-year political science and economics student at King’s University College.

For the last year he has served as a youth ward councillor for the London Youth Advisory Council.

Despite being a young politician, Farahi uses his age as motivation and hopes to prove cynics wrong.

Farahi’s platform revolves around building London’s identity. He plans on doing so through making the city functional, attractive and connected. Some highlights include a transit plan that would have the buses run until 3 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays. Additionally, he wants city hall to be accessible with plain language documents and open-data. Farahi wants to bridge gaps and unite the community, such as the relationship between students and their near-campus neighbours.

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thegazette • Thursday, October 9, 2014

arts&life

badwriting: bad lyrics “And I was like / Baby, baby, baby oooh / Like baby, baby, baby nooo”

• “Baby” (feat. Ludacris) by Justin Bieber

Big Wreck crash into London

>> IN THEATRES: GONE GIRL

Ian Thornley talks band’s 20-year history Conrad Floryan ARTS AND LIFE EDITOR @ConradAtGazette

Canada has always been particularly receptive of Big Wreck, in part because Canadian lead vocalist and guitarist Ian Thornley formed the band in Toronto in 1994, in part because the Great White North appreciates good ol’ rock ‘n’ roll. Thornley is excited to return to the Forest City tonight with his troupes at London Music Hall — the latest stop in their Canadian fall tour — but he’s drawn to London for reasons that most people don’t associate with our town.

“I remember the last time we played there it was the first sunny day that we’d seen in maybe a month and a half, that we actually got to wear shorts and it was great,” Thornley reminisces. “I’m looking forward to playing there — it’s always great playing in London.”

Fans can expect some theatrics from the gang. They’ve been working on developing the visuals for their live performances and creating a cohesive theme.

“It’s still five guys on stage playing rock ‘n’ roll but we’re trying to step it up a little bit,” says Thornley.

The show will prominently feature material from their latest album Ghosts, which hit number one on the iTunes Rock Charts when it dropped this past June. While the record stays true to the vintage Big Wreck sound — sweeping guitars, melodic vocals and booming drums — it also explores new territory.

Fans have noticed that the new material veers into progressive rock territory and although it’s not a concept album, it borrows from those

T

HE THING I REALLY ENJOY IS THE FRIENDSHIPS — THESE ARE ALL MY BEST FRIENDS. I GET TO HANG OUT WITH THEM 24/7 AND PLAY MUSIC WITH THEM. IAN THORNLEY

BIG WRECK GUITARIST AND VOCALIST

ideas.

“It can be background music but I think it’s best enjoyed when you dim the lights and listen to it nice and loud by itself,” Thornley suggests.

In addition to the exciting new tunes, Big Wreck will be performing their classic material, including hits such as “The Oaf (My Luck Is Wasted)” and “Albatross.” Ghosts is the band’s fourth album and it finds them gaining momentum after reuniting for 2012’s Albatross following a decade-long hiatus.

Big Wreck debuted with a bang in 1997 with In Loving Memory Of… The album was certified double platinum in Canada and marked the boys as a band to watch but when their second album failed to meet expectations, they shortly broke up.

Thornley then launched a new band on Chad Kroeger’s 604 Records, Thornley, which met with great success. When original Big Wreck rhythm guitarist Brian Doherty filled in for some Thornley shows, they rekindled their friendship. Doherty

rejoined the band, and they once again took on the Big Wreck name.

“The thing I really enjoy is the friendships — these are all my best friends. I get to hang out with them 24/7 and play music with them,” expresses Thornley. “That can wear on your nerves but for the most part it’s a sheer joy.”

Thornley is fully committed to Big Wreck and as he experiments more within his diverse range of musical tastes, he plans to incorporate those sounds into his band.

He studied jazz at Boston’s Berklee College of Music, the largest independent college of contemporary music in the world.

Although he enjoys borrowing from various styles, at the end of the day Thornley prefers to stick to what he knows best. He would not feel comfortable releasing a fusion instrumental LP because it takes years of experience to master a musical style sufficiently to produce a full-length album.

“I’m not going to go put out a reggae record or a blues record,” says Thornley. “If I did something with a bit of a reggae feel, it would be a reggae-feeling Big Wreck tune.”

After the guys wrap up their tour at The Danforth Music Hall in Toronto next week, the future looks as bright as the London sky as Thornley muses over different ideas in the works.

“There are some really cool things coming up that if they come together, it’ll be pretty sweet.”

Big Wreck plays London Music Hall tonight at 8:00 p.m. Tickets are $29.50, available at londonmusichall.com.

Courtesy of Brook Reynolds

Courtesy of 20th Century Fox

Gone Girl going in the right direction Bradley Metlin SPORTS EDITOR @BradAtGazette

GGGGG Director: David Fincher Starring: Ben Affleck, Rosamund Pike, Neil Patrick Harris, Tyler Perry, Carrie Coon, Kim Dickens There’s a moment about an hour into Gone Girl where the narrative collapses and shocks the audience — completely changing the trajectory of the film and cementing it as a truly mesmerizing story.

Early in the afternoon on his fifth wedding anniversary, Nick (Ben Affleck) arrives home to discover it out of order and his wife Amy (Rosamund Pike) nowhere to be found. He quickly contacts the police and due to the suspicious nature, they immediately declare Amy a missing person, sparking a media frenzy. Due to Nick’s awkward behaviour in the aftermath, he’s deemed the prime suspect.

Director David Fincher sets the pace early on with incredibly quick shots of the quaint Missouri town of the disappearance. Fusing the humbleness of antiquated architecture and gaudy McMansions, Gone Girl quickly puts the audience uneasy. Especially throughout the initial moments of the movie, Fincher infuses a melancholic nature in all the present day scenes.

Aiding in creating this mood is a jarring score by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. The team are frequent collaborators with Fincher and have a talent in creating an unsettling backing to any scene.

Rosamund Pike delivers a phenomenal performance, as she inhabits a posh, glacial Manhattanite constantly overshadowed by her fictitious counterpart — Amazing Amy. Pike’s charisma makes her easy to rally around, especially during

flashbacks that reveal how her and Nick first ended up together. Even as her character unravels, she is scarily compelling.

In perhaps a slightly meta nod, Ben Affleck’s smarmy nature is used to the fullest as it becomes juxtaposed with his character’s smalltown politeness. Some might find it easy to criticize Affleck’s acting abilities but his every-man nature is perfectly deployed here.

Gone Girl is a film about many things — doubt, betrayal and punishment — but at its heart, it tells the story of a marriage. Perfect by no appraisal, yet containing qualities that are eerily common. It’s alarming to watch this relationship go so horrifyingly sideways but what makes it so unnerving is how easy these characters are to recognize.

Adding to the realism, the relationship between Nick and his twin sister, Margo (Carrie Coon), is one of incredible mutual support. Coon, who is primarily a stage actress, delivers a nuanced performance provides an accessible centring point-of-view for the audience.

Supporting players Neil Patrick Harris and Tyler Perry are perfectly cast as a creepy former stalker of Amy’s and a cheery but intelligent defence attorney respectively. Kim Dickens as detective Rhonda Boney serves as the scene-stealer. Dickens’ captures detective Boney’s everchanging feelings towards the case with a great sense of believability and charm.

Fincher has crafted a brilliant film that thrills audiences as it weaves more and more into the narrative. Anchored by two strong lead performances and supported by an extremely competent ensemble, Gone Girl soars. This is a film that definitely shouldn’t be missing from your film schedule because it will surely wow with brilliant complexity.

•5

thegazette • Thursday, October 9, 2014

The two most deranged people on Earth Jenny Jay ARTS AND LIFE EDITOR @JennyAtGazette

Kenny vs. Spenny, a reality-TV show about two “best friends,” Kenny Hotz and Spencer Rice, who compete against each other, is coming to Western.

If the show does anything, it stretches how far the title “best friends” can be used.

“I think the show essentially destroyed what was a relatively healthy friendship,” says Rice. “There was a point where we couldn’t even be in the same room together.”

Hotz states that the hatred was beneficial for the show.

Hotz says the show, “totally impacted our friendship, but our show got better the more we hated each other … It made him look stupider and made me want to humiliate him more.”

For the uninitiated, Kenny vs.

Spenny was a show that ran from 2003–2010 and featured the titular “best friends” competing against one another with the loser having to perform an embarrassing act. Rice was often found at the brunt of the punishments, almost always delivered and enjoyed by Hotz. Kenny vs.

Spenny will be coming to Western as part of their live world tour, which kicked off in Alberta on September 18.

“I’ve hated [Spenny]. He’s a total idiot, a real dick to me during the series. But I don’t hate him any more.

He’s so destitute and destroyed it’s hard to hate him,” Hotz says.

In speaking about receiving the humiliation from Hotz, Rice admits that repetition has allowed him to get used to it and is no longer phased by Hotz’ shenanigans.

“It’s almost like my soul became calloused,” Rice admits.

While Rice describes Hotz as an insecure individual who needs the love and support of his fans, Hotz claims he “was actually cloned from

For those of you starting the school year with a new laptop running on Windows 8, don’t fear — there may still be hope.

Early last week, Microsoft announced the release of Windows 10, including some big changes that never should have been absent from the earlier version. Now for the bad news — Windows 10 won’t be publicly released until mid-2015.

And now for a huge sigh of relief — the start menu is back! After inexplicably being removed from Windows 8, the Start menu will return, equipped with a search bar, and a new, personalizable space for apps, programs and websites.

With the new multitasking feature, Microsoft has added a new Task View button that displays all your running apps on the screen.

Microsoft has also made multitasking more efficient by improving upon the “Snap” feature, which desperately needs to make an appearance in Mac OSX Yosemite as well. “Snap,” which allows work on multiple apps at once from the same screen, has been redesigned with a new quadrant layout to let users work on up to four programs at once.

Courtesy of Showcase

SHOCK AND AWE. Kenny Hotz and Spencer Rice, pictured above seeing who can withstand the most torture, are bringing their popular reality show, Kenny vs.

Spenny, to Western with a live show in the Mustang Lounge on October 14.

Hitler’s eyelash in the final days of the Second World War,” — an ironic statement considering he wears a shirt during Season 4 stating that Hitler is Rice’s dad, making Hotz the illegitimate cloned father.

These strange references to Hitler may help explain the relationship that Hotz and Rice have, as Hotz uses the word “dominance,” stating that he is the dominant, and Rice goes on to state that the relationship is simply “dysfunctional.”

“Let him think that he dominates not just me, but the entire planet Earth, because that will make him happy —a happy Kenny is probably a better thing for the world,” Rice says.

In fact, according to Rice, Hotz can be described as a “narcissistic, maniacal freak” but their constant bickering both on and off the show

A new Windows feature, already familiar to Mac users, is the ability to create multiple desktops. In an effort to reduce clutter, users who wish to work on several projects at once will be able to spread them across multiple virtual desktops and toggle between them using the Task View button.

The last small change is the ability to run Windows Store apps in a window that can be resized and moved around.

Since Windows 7, Microsoft’s strategy has been to create a single operating system that can be used across all platforms, allowing for a seamless transition among devices. One of the biggest issues with Windows 8.1 was that the Start Screen was great on tablets but terrible on a laptop or desktop.

Windows 10 is geared for laptops, desktops, tablets — and now even phones. With Windows 10, Microsoft is trying to make users forget about the dreadful operating system that was Windows 8, even if that means skipping over Windows 9 completely.

• Shachar Dahan

is what makes the show so funny to their viewers.

Furthermore, the greatest part about seeing the show is that viewers realize that the two people they get to know in their living rooms really are the same people in real life.

“I’m who I am in the show. When Spenny’s on acid, or trannie’s are sucking him off or gay guys are raping him, I’m not acting — I’m ecstatic and I’m creaming in my jeans,” Hotz says.

While they are looking forward to coming to London and performing at Western this coming Tuesday, it should be noted that their show uses crude humor and is not meant for the faint of heart. When asked about what Hotz would not be okay with his hypothetical children seeing, he replies: everything.

“We are a horrible example of human nature and the male ego — it’s disgusting, and we should be killed by Al-Qaeda or ISIS,” Hotz says.

Regardless of the contrasting personalities, Hotz and Rice both admit that it’s what makes the show work — at some point it’s the audiences’ decision as to which they like more.

While Hotz can be seen to be more manipulative and cunning, Rice is a straight edge that generally lets Hotz get away with his sadistic ways, leaving Rice stuck in what he calls a “hellish vortex.”

“I’m not that interested in spending my whole life — it’s enough with the show — fighting him on things … if he has a better hotel room than me I couldn’t give a flying fuck,” Rice says.

Despite the passionate dislike that the two have for each other, Rice admits in the spirit of Thanksgiving that he is grateful for Hotz. And if he wasn’t, well, he’d be idiotic to put himself through this.

“I’ve learned a long time ago you can’t truly be happy in life unless you have gratitude — I’m grateful that people still remember the show, still love it, and still get off on our dysfunctional relationship,” Rice says.

The dysfunctional duo will be performing their show on Tuesday October 14, at the Mustang Lounge.

Tickets are available for students at Western Connections for $29. Doors open at 7 p.m. Students should be prepared for anything, as Hotz recommends that clothing is optional and Rice suggests wearing a raincoat.

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6 •

thegazette • Thursday, October 9, 2014

opinions Contract profs deserve better

It’s best to understand that white people do not recognize public transit as a viable option until a subway line is built that runs directly from their house to their work.

• Christian Lander, Stuff White People Like: A Definitive Guide to the Unique Taste of Millions

Unthankful for Greyhound monopoly Seven Minutes in Kevin

We are in the age of non-tenured faculty. No jobs, no benefits and barely any pay, let alone funding for research, these sessional and involuntarily part-time professors are certainly making their voices heard. Their growing number and the sheer difficulty of their situation mean that this is an issue that will plague universities, including Western, for years to come.

It’s important to note that a large number of sessional faculty are so voluntarily. Think of areas such as writing or even law. Many teaching courses in these fields have other careers and only want to teach part-time. Unfortunately, many would work full-time if they could, but since the university does not make this distinction in their statistics it’s tough to say.

What is the solution? Considering the large number of factors contributing to this problem, it’s difficult to say precisely. A prospective professor with a PhD in the humanities or the social sciences has very little bargaining power, given the large number universities are producing yearly.

Despite the blood, sweat and tears that go into graduate work, the market appears to be oversaturated. Cutting back on admissions might help, but this most likely isn’t going to happen considering that growth is a top priority for most universities.

The economics of the situation are brutal, which is depressing. But it’s important that we don’t fall into cynicism. Tenure positions are being replaced with non-tenured ones. This is troubling and efforts to draw attention to this troubling trend, such as the recently released video concerning sessional faculty, should be encouraged and supported. The proletarianization of trained professionals may be a side-effect of labour trends from outside the academy working their way in, but this is no reason to ignore that these people are being offered a false dawn. If there are no jobs or only part-time jobs, Western and other universities should not promote an illusion.

Working a difficult job with no benefits and no safety net is no way to live. Though we believe in the long run we will see some job market corrections and structural changes will occur as people avoid looking for work or racking up qualifications in these fields, in the short-term it’s important to be vigilant in ensuring that exploitation is spotted and stopped where it occurs. Complete salvation may not be on the way for sessional faculty, but we need to make sure that conditions improve.

• The Gazette Editorial Board

Kevin Hurren NEWS-EDITOR-AT-LARGE @KevinAtGazette

I bemoan holidays like Thanksgiving.

Partly because of the cheek-pinching, estranged family members I’ll have to update. Yes, I’m still in school. No, I don’t have a girlfriend. Yes, my name is still Kevin. Partly because of copy-andpaste aesthetics I’ll have to endure during my stay in the ever-expanding suburbs.

But the main reason I breathe a heavy sigh when holidays approach is because I know I’ll have to find a way home.

Like any frugal, economic student, my financial plan is relatively straightforward: go with what’s cheapest. When it comes to inter-city transportation, however, “cheap” seems to be an increasing amount.

For instance, Greyhound is often hailed as the most cost-efficient option for students returning home — especially if they’re from Toronto or other cities in the GTA. But this holiday season, as with all “peak” times, Greyhound will be raising their ticket prices.

I get the corporate perspective behind this. For a town with so many temporary student residents, it makes good business sense to raise the cost of a ticket during this influx. Though it makes sense, is it fair?

After all, there’s no real travel alternative. Students could opt for the more expensive VIA Rail if they want a comfortable ride — but what about those who don’t feel comfortable dropping almost $100 on a round-trip ticket? What’s their

Dear Life Your anonymous letters to life

alternative option?

Thanks to Greyhound, the answer is none. In fact, every time I purchase a Greyhound ticket I have a short moment of mourning for the now non-existent London Rocket. Conceived two years ago by a group of Western students, the London Rocket was a project aiming to offer affordable transportation from London to cities like Toronto, Mississauga and Oakville. The idea was that by using school buses instead of newer and expensive coach buses, the London Rocket could charge significantly less than their bus competitor.

But before the London Rocket could make it’s inaugural ride, Greyhound presented a cease and desist notice ultimately shutting down the start-up — squashing not only an alternative mode of transport but also an entrepreneurial opportunity for students.

The reason Greyhound can establish this kind of monopoly is cooperation from the government. Regulations from the Ontario Highway Transport Board make it incredibly difficult and costly to establish inter-city routes.

While cooperation with the government allows Greyhound to offer a higher quality service, it’s also incredibly limiting. After all, even a high school economics class will tell you that competition is good. Maybe if there was another legitimate transportation service in London, Greyhound would not only think twice about raising prices during peak times but also re-evaluate their whole company to offer their competitive best.

But until the government allows other groups to take part in the discussion, I guess we’ll all have to get used to riding a more expensive Greyhound bus. And with so many desperate student customers, for Greyhound the wheels on the bus go “ka” and “ching.”

Dear Life, Why is it that people you call your best friends are the ones that will hurt you the most?

Dear Life, I’d be fine with 5 years of being a semi-isolation state.

I’d rather put the resources into our own people than the never-ending interests of foreign countries.

Dear Life, Regardless of the struggles you encounter — keep your head up, feel the positive vibes and know you’ve got this. I’m just a dude behind a keyboard but I want the best for all my fellow Mustangs.

Dear Life, Play fighting with Tupperware can lead to four stitches on one’s cheek.

Dear Life, I just don’t understand how the spelling “resumé” gained popularity. It is either “résumé” or “resume,” but not the hybrid one.

Dear Life, If “stop resisting” guy received more than 12 cents from his lawsuit, the entire UWO legal team should be fired.

Dear Life, Wouldn’t it be more efficient for The Gazette to just talk to each other over iMessage instead of through Dear Life’s?

[Editor’s note: Probably, but efficiency is overrated anyway.]

Dear Life, Listening to the rich kids talk about Thanksgiving plans makes me even more depressed about a family weekend in London. wgaz.ca/dearlife thegazette

Volume 108, Issue 23 www.westerngazette.ca

Iain Boekhoff Editor-In-Chief Brent Holmes Deputy Editor Richard Raycraft Managing Editor

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Diana Watson

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Online Megan Devlin

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•7

thegazette • Thursday, October 9, 2014

sports

Tweet of the Week “You see a green light on any of the bills players just laugh cause it’s me.”

• @MarkBeslach, suspected of using laser pointer to distract Buffalo Bills players in the Bills-Lions game on Sunday.

Rundown >> The Western Mustangs football team lost their status as the top team in Ontario according to the latest CIS rankings • The demotion follows the ‘Stangs 32–29 loss to McMaster on Saturday • McMaster now ranks third in Canada, with the Mustangs at fourth.

Men’s tennis

squad wins it all Nathan Kanter SPORTS EDITOR @NathanAtGazette

Taylor Lasota • GAZETTE

It was not only an impressive weekend for the men’s tennis team but a tense one as well.

After three days of hard-fought play at the University Tennis Centre, the men’s team came away with a third consecutive Ontario University Athletics championship — and just barely.

“It was not a cakewalk,” head coach Anthony Glavanic said. “This was not, ‘put your feet up, [and] expect to win three in a row.’ It was a good feeling that we won under pressure.”

Under pressure may be an understatement.

In his over 20 years of tennis coaching, Glavanic has never seen a live tiebreaker go as long as it did in Alex Low’s fifth court singles match.

The third set tiebreaker finished 16–14 in favour of Low. And that wasn’t the only drama to take place on Sunday afternoon.

It took another third set tiebreaker, this time at 10–8, for Western to claim the championship, this time thanks to Kurtis Aleksandre’s sixth court victory over Sebastien Hirt.

The tight matches on Sunday created an exciting atmosphere, despite the tight quarters in the dome.

“One thing I take pride in as that we’ll be a very passionate team,” Glavanic said. “I really like that type of atmosphere, it’s like the Davis Cup. It’s college tennis that way.”

For Glavanic, the biggest strength

T

HE FUTURE IS SO BRIGHT. IT’S NOT LIKE WE HAVE A VETERAN TEAM THAT’S GOING TO HAVE TO REBUILD FOR NEXT YEAR. ANTHONY GLAVINIC

TENNIS HEAD COACH

of this Western team was its depth.

Western won courts four, five and six in singles as well as courts two and three in doubles.

“I can’t remember the last team for the event that we played 10 different players,” he said.

Although the doubles matches didn’t end in down to the wire tiebreakers, they were still some great matches, courtesy of the pairings of Peter Askew and Sasha Leznoff, and Max Besworth and Matthew Jaekel.

The two teams won by a combined score of 48 games to 21.

But perhaps even more important than a well-balanced team was the fact that everyone got along and was a team player. Glavanic feels that for an individual sport like tennis, the right attitude is vital.

“I’ve won before with — on paper — way better teams, but

of individuals,” he said. “The last couple years have been some of the nicest teams – true teams, team spirit, team atmosphere and comradery. It’s a good group of guys that like each other. That’s why I do think our chances are great next year.”

Just how great are the coach’s expectations? Try a championship and nothing less.

“We expect it,” he said. “The future is so bright. It’s not like we have a veteran team that’s going to have to rebuild for next year.”

Glavanic also credits his assistant coach Cameron Cross for a lot of the Mustang success over the past few seasons. Since Cross joined as a coach, Western has won three championships in four years.

“I give him more credit than me,” he said. “He’s such a great asset to our team. I’ve been doing this for so long and sometimes you can get stale but I’m so lucky to have Cameron.”

It just so happens that both of Sunday’s tiebreakers for the Mustangs came against Montreal, to whom coach Glavanic gives full credit.

“I love that Montreal is in the league,” he said. “Montreal is a great team. They’re really into it, [and are] great competitors. I do feel in a sense lucky that we beat them.”

And next year, with the expectations for another championship, odds are Western will run into Montreal again.

“They have every right to think they should have won. They’ll be more hungry next year I guarantee it because they know they were that close.”

Mustangs bludgeon Badgers in 4–0 win Robert Nanni SPORTS EDITOR @robertnanni

This past Sunday, the Western Mustangs’ men’s soccer team destroyed the Brock Badgers in a glorious 4–0 victory on Mustang Field.

Though the Badgers attempted to burrow some goals in the Mustang net, they came to no avail as the ‘Stangs stole the game and the third spot in the division.

The game remained scoreless until a successfully curved low ball

by Mustang Amad El-Houni in the 23rd minute of gameplay. Only two minutes later, the Mustangs blasted into the net courtesy of defender Adam Jaekel. This initiated the momentum for the win the Mustangs were looking for – and ultimately achieved.

“We were definitely looking for a win to enhance our position for the playoffs,” Rocco Basacco, Mustangs coach, said. “Our emphasis in training the last week has been on our attacking schemes.”

The beginning of the second half displayed Brock’s attempts to score against Western, but the Mustangs refused them all. Despite three shots on goal, Mustang goalkeeper Ben

File Photo

Cowman stopped every one.

This game marked the Mustangs’ fifth cleansheet of the season due to Cowman’s exemplary goalkeeping.

“Our defensive core of Adam Jaekel, Aaron Schneebeli and Chuka Ononye minimized [Brock’s] attacking chances,” Basacco said. “[Cowman] controlled and stopped any balls that managed to penetrate our back line.”

By the end of the 66th minute, Mustang striker Christian Douglas scored a goal and then followed up by heading in a second goal merely two minutes later. Douglas is placed second in the overall Ontario University Athletics scoring race, tied with University of Toronto striker Kilian Elkinson with 11 goals.

Having a shot percentage of 0.524, Douglas has performed well

this season, once again exemplifying his skill against Brock.

“We did an awesome job of spreading their team wide and long,” Basacco said. “It created some great opportunities to penetrate and we were able to create and finish on some solid scoring opportunities.”

As Western poked holes in Brock’s game plan, they dove into empty pockets and overcame all the

efforts of their opponents.

Basacco noted that the Mustangs dictated the pace of the game, as they controlled the ball with agility and ease.

Though Brock attempted four shots on goal, they never found the back of the net. Western, however, scored on around 50 per cent of their shots with four of their nine shots making contact with back of the Badgers’ net.

Despite an early offside against Western and a yellow card against Mustang Parker Seymour in the 39th minute, the team let nothing impede their drive to win.

“I’m pleased with our attacking play as of late, we’ve been able to score 10 goals in the last three games, so that part is coming along nicely.”

This game has improved the Mustangs’ record to 8–4–1, bringing them to the third spot in the OUA west division, while Brock burrows into a 1–8–5 record.

After escaping their previous four-game loss streak with three consecutive wins against Waterloo, Windsor and Brock, the Mustangs hope to build off of this momentum and continue the season straight into the playoffs.

8 •

thegazette • Thursday, October 9, 2014

comics

The older that I get, the more that I feel no one ever reaches maturity.

• Bryan Lee-O-Malley

Rundown >> The men’s soccer team is undefeated through two games as they beat Brock 1–0 on Saturday and tied McMaster 1–1 on Sunday > Freshman Haris Cekic scored the only goal for the Mustangs in both games > The women’s soccer team is now 1–1 in their two games after a 3–1 win against Brock and a 2–1 loss to McMaster.

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ANNOUNCEMENTS

ARTS & HUMANITIES PRESENTS: The Coffeehouse and Silent Art Auction! On October 18th at 7:30pm, in partnership with St. Luke’s Anglican Church, we will be raising money for The Canadian Hearing Society (www.cha.ca/). The theme will be “Tapered Lips, Untapered Minds”, focusing on communication through artistic mediums. Come out for lots of food and drinks, entertainment and art! The whole event is wheelchair accessible, and if you would like to perform, contact mstorvol@uwo.ca 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 TIPS ON HOW TO AVOID BEING PHISHED 3. Keep a regular check on your accounts Regularly log into your online accounts, and check your statements. Report any suspicous transactions to your bank or credit card provider.

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