Local writers workshop helps hone skills Pg. 7
The Omega Ω
Thompson Rivers University’s Independent Student Newspaper
News Pages 1, 2
Editorial & Opinion Page 3
Volume 23, Issue 7 October 16, 2013
Life & Community
Arts & Entertainment
Sports
Pages 5, 6
Page 7
Page 11
Many choices in coming byelection Students to choose new TRUSU student representatives Oct. 16 and 17 Jessica Klymchuk Ω News Editor
Heather Pratt-Johnson of McGill Residence (left) and Acacia Schmietenknop of Enactus discuss solutions for culture-related barriers among and within clubs. ( Jessica Klymchuk/ The Omega)
Club leaders address segregation and cultural barriers Intercultural Council’s club leaders social highlights inclusiveness issues across campus Jessica Klymchuk Ω News Editor Everyone in the room was told to close their eyes. Upon opening them, each had a coloured sticker on their forehead, and when they were asked to silently group up, they sorted themselves by colour. Some were pushed out of groups where they didn’t match, while others were pulled in where they did match. “Why did you go by colour?” Kyra Garson asked when they finished. “All I said was get into groups.” “This is what happens on campus.” The TRU Intercultural Council hosted the campus leaders social on Oct. 10 to begin a campuswide conversation about cultural separation. The council brought together around 100 of TRU’s club and association leaders in an effort to begin creating partnerships between groups on campus. “We want to challenge each other to work together,” said Craig Engleson, founder of the council and TRU World employee. “We want everyone to be involved.”
Groups were represented widely across campus with leaders from TRUSU, Enactus, the Visual Arts Student Association, both residences, the focus club, the writer’s club, the pride club, the Japanese club, the Pakistan club, the student leadership club, Kappa Sigma and Zeta Beta Psi, just to name a few. Garson, TRU intercultural consultant, led different activities to stimulate cultural conversation and address inclusiveness issues that affect every group in one way or another. It took the attendees under three minutes to organize themselves by colour, even without being able to see their own colour. Garson said that is always the case. “Really, the world is on our campus,” she said. Together, the leaders identified common cultural issues on campus as differing customs among cultures, lack of international or domestic representation in a group, communication barriers, lack of outside engagement and cultural pressure.
See THIS IS JUST US, Pg.
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Nominations for the TRUSU byelection closed on Oct. 9, with ten candidates for the directorat-large and two for the graduate students’ representative. Both TRUSU president Dylan Robinson and executive director Nathan Lane said ten nominations was an extremely high number for one position, especially for a byelection. In the spring elections, TRUSU might have 40 candidates in total for its 13 positions. Seven of the 10 directorat-large candidates and one of the graduate students’ representative candidates attended the all-candidates forum on Oct. 10. There was a large international student presence among the director-at-large candidates with a couple lobbying for lower international student fees. “When I sat down and talked to my friends I saw that how much I paid was a huge difference,” said Akinmodiro Fadekemi, one of the ten candidates for director-at-large. When asked if fellow international students shared
her concerns Fadekemi said many are unhappy with the price of international student fees. Sunanda Chowdhury, another director-at-large candidate, also named international student fees as a key concern she wants to address, while candidate Charlotte Nyungou Tibia cited overall fee increases as a concern. “I don’t want to promise students that we can decrease fees but that we can work towards it,” Tibia said. Candidate Meshari Alanazi is campaigning for longer hours in the cafeteria, a reduction in parking fees and a 24-7 study area for students. Candidates Ajay Borasi and James Maraun share a concern for TRU being characteristic of a commuter college, with very little campus life outside of class. They would like to see that change. The electoral committee asked the candidates what they think makes a good director-at-large and what they think the role of a director-at-large is, which spawned answers including being a good listener, being optimistic and being responsible. Sabina Donnelly was
the sole graduate students’ representative candidate in attendance. Donnelly has been a student at TRU since 2006 and is now doing her masters in environmental science. “The grad programs are quite young, and they are growing and having growing pains,” she said. Grad students face very different issues, depending on their program, she said, but she did highlight funding as one of the key concerns. The electoral committee asked Donnelly how she would build community with the grad students, given that the grad representative position is new. She said she hopes to see some kind of a society formed so issues can be addressed collectively. The gallery was mostly TRUSU representatives, including Robinson, vice president external Leif Douglas, vice president finance Trad Bahabri, vice president internal Will George, membership development coordinator Natalie Reisle and research coordinator Alex McLellan. Polling will take place on Oct. 16 and 17. Full biographies of all the candidates will be made available by TRUSU.
(Left to right in front row) TRUSU representatives Dylan Robinson, Trad Bahabri and staff member Kaitlin Clement were in attendance at the TRUSU byelection all-candidates forum on Oct. 10.
( Jessica Klymchuk/ The Omega)