March 27, 2013

VOLUME 22 ISSUE 24

MARCH 27, 2013

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Pride parade building momentum 2

Corporate sponsorship examined 3

‘Pack medal at curling championships 7

Might not look it, but still on track

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TRU’s Independent Student Newspaper

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March 27, 2013

Feature With pride

The past, present and future of the TRU pride march Devan C. Tasa Ω News Editor

It was not how one would expect such a large parade to be organized on TRU campus.

It started around March of last year when Katie Hutfluss and Katelyn Echlin-Scorer were working on an event connected with the TRU Pride Club, said Matthew Griffiths, the club’s leader.

“They were planning on doing a week of breaking stereotypes, I think,” he said, “but when they were trying to plan that out, it just morphed into, ‘Let’s do a parade on campus, or a march of sorts.’”

Hutfluss said she remembered what happened when the word of this march spread.

“My friend Katelyn and I, we started a Facebook group, just going to go out on the street and march for fun with a group of friends and overnight our Facebook group grew to about 400,” she said. “We said, ‘Oh, oh,’ and hit the ground running.”

Echlin-Scorer was responsible for talking to the media and promoting the event, while Hutfluss took care of the parade’s logistics.

Within two weeks, on April 5, 2012, Hutfluss and Echlin-Scorer had organized the first pride parade ever in Kamloops, which had nearly 500 people marching and would be the basis of similar parades in the future.

“Last year was the first year that we even thought of, or even acted upon, making a parade happen,” Griffiths said. “That was entirely Katie and [Katelyn’s] work.”

Other cities in Interior and

Northern B.C. have had pride parades before this. For instance, Prince George has had a pride parade since 1997. Hutfluss said certain conditions had to be met before Kamloops was able to have its first pride parade.

“I just think it took time. It had to be with the right group of people in the right mindset and it had to be done in a certain way, because you can’t throw something when people aren’t ready,” she said. “Last year was a time where a couple of us said, ‘Yup, it’s time for Kamloops to have a pride parade.’”

The reaction to last year’s parade was positive.

“People were just really hyped up,” Griffiths said. “Like, ‘Oh, it’s happening, okay, we’d better go,’ and during and after we were really surprised and really happy that so many people showed up.”

Don Reid, the treasurer of the Kamloops Gay and Lesbian Association (GALA) said the parade was a success and that the organizers did a good job.

Hutfluss also remembered a positive atmosphere.

“Everybody wanted to be there if you were an ally or part of the LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered, queer and questioning) community,” she said. “It was the first time where it was okay to be gay and everybody was really proud of it.”

She added that many people came out to their families that day, while other people were there to support their LGBTQ friends or family.

Hutfluss said there were few negative comments toward the parade, most of which showed up in the comments section of the local

Katelyn Echlin-Scorer (centre and below right), one of the organizers of the first pride parade last year, leads that march across campus.

—PHOTOS BY SAMANTHA GARVEY

newspapers’ websites.

“That’s where we saw the community support the most,” she said, “because every time there was one bad comment, at least two to three people would stand and say good things and help support our case.”

The speed at which last year’s parade was organized also had some disadvantages.

Griffiths said because of the time frame, TRU Pride was unable to organize some events after the parade.

“Last year we didn’t have a dance or anything after the parade and a lot of people were like, ‘Okay, what’s next?’ after it was done,” he said.

Reid said that GALA was caught a little off-guard by the sudden parade. Because it is a large organization, it was a little harder to give lots of support quickly.

But despite those problems, the parade started something.

“It did set up a foundation and a lot of opportunity for years to come,” Hutfluss said.

“That was something we were really proud of.”

Around the same time as the parade, something else happened to set the stage for this year’s parade.

“A week or two before, I had just got elected into TRUSU,” said Hutfluss, who serves as a director on its council, “so this was a good opportunity for me to fight for the LGBT collective for the year and get all of the logistics done for that so the pride parade could take place every day as part of TRUSU and having that backing and student union support.”

That LGBTQ collective was established by a vote at Jan. 24’s TRUSU annual general meeting. One

After the march, there will be a resource fair that will deal with giving support to the LGBTQ community.

On March 15, Hutfluss said there would be 14 organizations coming to the resource fair, as well as the B.C. Nurses’ Union.

Both Hutfluss and Griffiths see the pride march expand even further next year.

However, in the near future, that might not involve a march in Kamloops’ downtown streets.

“There has been talk about it,” Hutfluss said. “I think there will be in later years. You can’t just jump straight into it.”

Reid said this year, GALA is working on a major event on July 13 at a city park, with a dance in the evening. That event won’t include a march because TRUSU and TRU Pride are already having one.

“We’ll support them as best as we can and rather than provide any sort of controversy or conflict,” he said, “it —Matthew Griffiths makes more sense just to have the one TRU Pride Club pride march event rather than two.”

Reid added that GALA is trying to in what’s going on.’”

TRU Pride will be holding a dance work together more closely with TRU at Heroes that night, with tickets Pride and the university community. costing $3 if pre-purchased or $5 If for some reason, the university at the door. It will also be hosting community ceases doing the march, workshops that week run by member then it would consider holding one of its Cory Keith on subjects like sexual own.

Hutfluss did say that in the long-term, communication and discussing a method of mapping out relationships a move downtown could be possible.

“Hopefully by the fifth year, we that includes those with different might see it move downtown. I think orientations.

“We’ve had more time to organize that would be when we have enough it, so we’re going to have, for example, foundation of business and people more tables with sponsors set up for coming out and supporting,” she said. the end of the march and hopefully “But right now, I do want to keep it on more staff and students come out to campus just because there are so many resources and people who can help.” show support,” Griffiths said. of its responsibilities is to organize a pride parade each year on campus.

Hutfluss is responsible for organizing this year’s parade, which will be held on April 5 starting at 11 a.m.

“This year, I’m using much of the same foundation Katelyn and I built up last year; however, we’re trying to get more community involvement and we really do hope the event will be larger this year,” she said.

The extra organization time gained from knowing there will be a parade this year has been advantageous for all involved.

“This year, [GALA] got on top of it in early December and then again in January,” Reid said, “and said, ‘Look, we want to work with you, we want to support you, we want to be involved

“People were just really hyped up.”

ON THE COVER: Construction supplies sit in Old Main where future classrooms will eventually exist. – PHOTO BY TAYLOR ROCCA

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The Omega · Volume 22, Issue 24

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March 27, 2013

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Volume 22, Issue 24

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Decreasing government funds lead to more corporate donations on campus Karla Karcioglu Ω Contributor

“We apply with a use already in mind,” Seguin said, adding donors do not have any control over how their money is spent within the school.

“You have to draw a thick line between donation and expectation and influence,” Seguin said. “If they wanted to dictate the spending, we wouldn’t accept the gift.”

He said corporations could invest in a number of things, including health care, but by investing in education, “they are making a statement.”

Seguin said there is a stigma with gifts and that often people assume investment comes with influence, but he recognizes the huge opportunity they create.

Sutherland, vice president academic, has mixed feelings about corporate donations. She said that since government funding is not increasing, schools are left with two options: make cuts or seek other funds.

She said although some may feel the university is selling itself on the market, the thing to remember is “[everyone] will complain equally loudly when things are cut.”

She said there are three major ethical questions arising from corporate or private funding: where are the funds coming from, what is the organization’s mission and what will the funds be used for.

The number of corporate donations to TRU is increasing, leaving the face of our campus covered with brand names.

With the newly-renamed BMO Student Street in Old Main, the CIBC Mezzanine in the Campus Activities Centre and the Kamloops Daily News classroom in the House of Learning to name a few, students would be within their rights to question the ethics of corporate funding.

Christopher Seguin, TRU’s vice president of advancement; Jason Brown, TRU faculty association (TRUFA) president; and Katherine Sutherland, TRU’s vice president academic, all feel it is ethical, yet still a complex issue.

Brown said universities are under Students hang out in the newly great pressure to make up for the short

fall of government funding in more recent years.

Brown. TRUFA would be concerned if “If the government is not keeping up restrictions were put on academic freewith the same percent of funding as it dom or if the donor was “socially irrehas in the past,” he said, “then what’s the sponsible.” university going to do? You either shut “Corporations aren’t bad just because down a lot of programs [or] lay off a lot they are corporations,” Brown said. of faculty, it’s not in our best interests to Sutherland said private donations from just blanketly say corporations are bad, individuals are not necessarily a better we don’t want them around.” option than corporate donations.

In 2010 government funding for TRU “There is no guarwas about $78 million. In antee that an individ2011 it was $78.6 million, ual donor is a more but by 2012 it dropped to ethical donation than only $74.2 million. In fact, a public donor, and it when you calculate the may be harder to get rate of inflation, TRU has information on an inreceived less government dividual donor than a funding in recent years than it did in 2008, when it —Jason Brown, public donor.”

Sutherland also received $73.94 million –

$80.22 million in today’s President, TRUFA said even when you get money from the money. government it is nevSeguin, the university’s er without strings. chief fundraiser, said that “Sometimes they’ll say, ‘Yes we’re go“There’s tons of discussion about how it applied for the funding from BMO that resulted in the renaming of Student we organize those priorities,” Sutherland ing to give you funds, but only for these two programs because we’ve decided Street in exchange for a donation of said.

Brown said that TRUFA, which has its these are the two important programs,’” $600,000.

He said the best type of fundrais- own human rights committee, hasn’t had she said. “And let me tell you that proing is where both parties understand any concerns with the corporations who gram is never philosophy.

“Students have a huge say in our each other’s motivations and expec- have made donations to TRU. “Naming is not so problematic,” said fundraising priorities,” Sutherland said. tations upfront.

“Corporations aren’t bad just because they’re corporations.”

renamed BMO Student Street.

—PHOTO BY K ARLA K ARCIOGLU

More than 3,000 students contributed to the new academic plan, which is used to drive fundraising priorities. “Students have had a huge impact on setting those priorities,” she said, “and they are very academic priorities.”

Sutherland said ideally governments should fund universities more, but “looking at public debt, its ultimately our students who have to pay off that debt.”

“I know that sometimes when you walk down that hallway and you see all these things that are named you can feel a little bit cynical,” Sutherland said. “But the other way you could look at it is each one of those placards is an announcement of support from your community for this university.”

“It’s a trend across the country,” Brown said. “It hasn’t affected TRU as much as some other more established universities, but it seems to be coming.”

Sutherland said it’s important to question the decisions of the university and to always have public discussions.

“It’s the role of the students to question and scrutinize everything the university does,” Sutherland said. “As soon as they start asking us about every decision we make, it means our job is done, we’ve created educated citizens.”

Students and faculty explore the new Centre for Student Engagement, unveiled by provost Ulrich Scheck, dean of students Christine Adam and TRU students on Monday March 25. The centre will be home to media production services, student engagement and retention and student leadership.

Check out next week’s Omega to find out more about how you can take advantage of the facility.

—PHOTO BY COURTNEY DICKSON

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March 27, 2013

C ongratulations 2013 TRU Grunert Scholarship

Nominees

Thompson Rivers University launched the Alvin & Lydia Grunert Scholarship to recognize and foster academic achievement – eight scholarships valued at $5,000 each, offered to the student with the highest Fall/Winter GPA from each faculty and school and one athlete.

Each Winter term, the 10 students from each faculty, school, and athletics with the highest Fall GPAs will be nominated for the scholarship. Each May, the students with the highest combined Fall and Winter GPAs will each be offered one of eight Grunert scholarships for use in the 2012 Fall term.

Almost 1,000 top TRU students met the scholarship’s stringent minimum criteria. Of those, only the top 10 from each area were selected, for a total of 70 nominations, as listed below.

This elite group’s average Fall GPA was 4.23.

The following continuing students held the 10 highest GPAs* in their faculty last term Athletics Kaitlyn Bleasdale Rolena de Bruyn Mark Carolan Kristen Giesbrecht Spencer Reed David Rouault Amanda Shibley Justin Smeaton Katie Sparrow Taiysa Worsfold

Faculty of Arts Eleonora Calviello Samantha Carto Brenna Hussey Will Plommer Travis Repka Christopher Schile Jacob Unger Nicole Vance Elizabeth Warner Adam Williams

Faculty of Adventure, Culinary Arts and Tourism Jack Jones Chi Hou Lei Keri Lewis Colin Loose Paul Ludolph Evgeniya Petrova Aleksandr Ponomarev Gabrielle Scollon Clara Shipp Yan Yan Wu

School of Nursing Rebekah Abrahamse Karri Andriashyk Robin Farquhar Kyle Graham Jana Jakes Caroline Munnings Megan Pierobon Marianne Smeaton Sophie Stanley Jennifer Werkman

Faculty of Science Colin Bailey Mark Carolan Katie Degroot Matthew Drayton Karalyn Forsyth Kristen Giesbrecht Nicole Lussier Justin Mufford Nadim Reinprecht Rachele Ricketts

Faculty of Human, Social, and Educational Development Marion Boulter Jacqueline Catalano Laura-Lee Dodds Whitney Elliott-Learie Alissa Foster Kerry Hill Lacey Loewen Stephanie Skoda Konnie Solomon Lonette Tobin

School of Business and Economics Carla Clark Bailey Elliott Niklas Friedberg Jamie Glendinning Sana Khan Matthew Klassen Artem Losinskyi Rebecca Plysiuk Mackenzie Sampson Chang Wang

*based on scholarship criteria For complete criteria, see www.tru.ca/finaid/awards click View the TRU Awards Guide, select Award Type “Scholarship,” and click Alvin & Lydia Grunert Scholarship

LEARN MORE about this award and other student awards at

www.tru.ca/finaid/awards

MC117616

The late Alvin Grunert

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The Omega · Volume 22, Issue 24

Life & Community

Old Main and law school still on track for September opening

ABOVE: Construction within Old Main. When complete this space will hold classrooms.

BOTTOM RIGHT: Exterior construction on Old Main is complete but the internal construction phase is ongoing.

Courtney Dickson, Taylor Rocca and Adam Williams Ω Staff

Hanging in vice president advancement Christopher Seguin’s office is a picture of what the finished product of the Old Main renovations should look like. It serves as a reminder for him as to what he and the rest of the university has worked so hard to accomplish.

The Old Main renovations that began in September 2011 are scheduled for completion in September this year.

“I would challenge any institution anywhere to do a project of this scale — $20 million and under these time constraints,” Seguin said.

Construction was held up last summer due to unexpected flooding and asbestos.

The priority for the university is getting the students into the new space, according to Seguin. Before any administrative spaces are finished, he said classrooms and study spaces first have to be completed.

“For the first year of law school students, it’s important that they get time in this building,” Seguin said. “They believed in us when we were just a collection of faculty so getting them in here is a huge priority for us.”

Patrick McIlhone of the TRU Society of Law Students is excited about the transition from the Brown House of Learning to Old Main.

“There are two main issues. Number one is just spaces to sit. Second, this isn’t exactly the quietest building to sit and study in.”

Should there be an issue with the renovations, McIlhone said it would be tough on the law school, because they are struggling with space as it is.

“We always feel like we’re imposing on the rest of the TRU students because we’re always here studying.”

Two crews have been working around the clock to get the project finished; one works during the day doing quiet activities and another starts working at full-scale as soon as classes end in the evening.

According to assistant dean of law Anne Pappas, there is no “plan B” if the renovations get pushed back due to unforeseen circumstances. She added there were once discussions about moving the law school off-site should Old Main not be ready on time.

“There’s two and three people sharing an office so there’s no way that we can sustain that next year and there’s no way we can sustain the students,” Pappas said.

Seguin, however, said the university is currently figuring out how they will handle extra students and faculty should the renovations be delayed.

—PHOTOS BY TAYLOR ROCCA

Pappas said the law school has been able to utilize its space in HOL quite well the past two years, however the additional 80 to 100 students in September will not fit.

“It doesn’t look very good optically when you can’t fit all the students in a guest lecture because there are 80 [people] in that room and it only seats 48. It’s that external optic that I’m really concerned about,” she said.

The top one and a half floors take up the same amount of space as the entire international building — a whopping 50,000 square feet.

An additional $1.4 million is needed to complete the project. Though the university has that money in cash reserves, they are looking to fundraise externally so that money can be spent elsewhere.

“We’re currently in discussions with individuals and organizations and corporations throughout B.C.,” he said.

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March 27, 2013

Arts & Entertainment Experiencing African style Allison Declercq-Matthas Ω Contributor

getting acquainted with people.

“When I see a group dancing, I can see if they get along,” she said. “Now we have different dances, but originally it was a way to get to know people.”

Essombe said she was used to the lack of dancing by the time she moved to Vancouver.

Jacky Essombe greeted the crowd with a grin in the Clock Tower’s Alumni Theatre on Thursday, March 21.

With Yoro Noukoussi, Nawcro Franco and Josiane-Laure Nodjom accompanying her on stage, Essombe began to dance — the African way.

Prompting the audience to show some energy, she handed out an array of imaginary fruit to the crowd, hoping to liven it up.

“So these are coconuts,” she said as she motioned tossing fruit to audience members. “Be careful.”

After showing the crowd how to trill out (a vocalization) their joy as they do in Africa, Essombe moved into sharing various dances and songs.

“Nobody goes, nobody leaves, bar the doors!” she shouted as she motioned for the audience to stand and dance.

Using Zangaléwa, a popular song familiar to audience members through Shakira’s “Waka Waka (This Time for Africa),” but originally created by a band in Cameroon, Essombe strung the performance together.

“Maybe sometimes we had to Jacky Essombe singing and pull you by the ear,” she said near dancing with her audience on the end of the show. “But we are March 21 in the Clock Tower so proud to share our culture.”

She was born in Cameroon Alumni Theatre. Behind her and later moved to Paris where Yoro Noukoussi, Nawcro Franco she was shocked to find that and Josiane-Laure Nodjom people are less comfortable with accompany the performance. dancing. She relates dancing to —PHOTO BY ALLISON DECLERCQ-MATTHAS

Canadian Music Corner Travis Persaud

Ω Resident Music Guy Folk-punk is an intricate genre.

While it relies on some of the musical rigour of well-versed folk and country roots, it would be a shame to call folk-punk a tame, reverent offspring of full-blown punk. If you’re a fan of folk-punk bands like The Weakerthans look into David R. Elliott of New Brunswick.

On Elliott’s March 2013 release, Rearrange, he melodically picks his way through the simplicity of a worn working man’s resignation and the youthful resilience of his distorted guitar riffs. Themes of romance run deep throughout the album matching the highs and lows of Elliott’s sounds.

Using his lyrics as a guide, it

Brendan Kergin

Ω Arts & Entertainment Editor When discussing Canadian indie, Toronto is always brought up as the central city. It’s where musicians meet, mix and inspire each other.

One of the bands central to that culture is the Wooden Sky. The quintet create a soft, twangy, folksy style of indie. It could be classified as alt-country even, but strays a little more than other bands, such as Elliott Brood and Rural Alberta Advantage (with whom they have toured), with a more complex musicality and a tad less rawness.

would seem that Elliott is a passionate storyteller at heart. Rearrange puts Elliott at the centre of the songs allowing for insight into the passion that Elliott sings with.

Though you won’t find Elliott’s work on iTunes, his Bandcamp boasts an impressive array of releases dating back to 2007. Many of the tracks off of Rearrange can be sourced back through his Bandcamp page to demos of earlier versions showing the progression of many songs that made it onto Rearrange. The early demos provide a glimpse into the creative process often lost on the listener.

Elliott has mastered the smalltown feel, churning a nostalgia often overlooked by artists rushing to make it in the bigger centres. If you’re up for a casual night in, warm the evening with some of Elliott’s East Coast flavour.

Not that they’re over produced, it’s just a sweeter sound.

They formed in 2003, though the name is a more recent addition, from 2007. Since then they’ve released three full albums and some additional material. All of it has been well received critically and popular amongst those willing to delve into Canada’s music scene, though they still tend to be considered a smaller indie band. Perhaps the lack of happy pop restricts their popularity, but anyone looking for a warm song should check out their material, like “North Dakota” off of 2007’s When Lost at Sea.

Swollen Members still slugging away Owen Munro Ω Contributor

If the set Swollen Members played March 20 at Cactus Jacks Nightclub is any indication, the revitalization has reinvented the group with familiarity and new sounds that are both edgy and energetic. After a long and well-publicized battle with drug addiction, Madchild and the rap triumvirate Swollen Members has been making up for lost time.

Four years after what Madchild refers to as being “normal” [sobriety after a long bout with oxycodone addiction], there has been a noticeable change in presentation that has allowed Swollen Members to pick up where they left in 2006. The 2011 release of Dagger Mouth was a refreshing sign. It proved that they could recapture their fans with imagination, raw beats and the commitment to excellence, something not seen during the 2009 album Armed to the Teeth.

The culture Swollen Members has set out to embrace is one that appeals to both contemporary hip-hop fans and the old regime of Swollen Members fans that have stuck with the group throughout the ride.

It couldn’t be more evident at the show, attended by a varied audience between the ages of 19 to 40. However, the age didn’t matter, everybody had their hands up with a raucous energy.

The crowd rocked out to classics such as “Lady Venom,” “Red Dragon,” “Night Vision” and “Grenade Launcher” as Swollen Members played an upbeat set, mingling with the crowd, high-fiving outstretched hands of fans in the front row.

The new album, Beautiful Death Machine, dropped on March 19, and Swollen Members played quite a few songs from it. “Bax War” is an ode to the Battleaxe Warriors fan support movement that Madchild personally worked feverishly on to promote his rise back into the hip-hop game. Beautiful Death Machine is the epitome of Swollen Members; one can identify the roots in production that

Madchild and the boys played an energetic crowd at Cactus Jack’s Nightclub March 20.

—PHOTO SUBMITTED

made Swollen Members so successful in the first place and the lyrics are as hard-hitting as ever.

The Battleaxe movement can be seen as something like a gift back to the fans for the lost time.

During his ascension back to popularity, Madchild has really connected with his fans (he’s a religious user of Twitter) and it’s seen during his shows. Swollen Members played to the crowd all night, Prevail at one point even entered the crowd.

Prevail is often the odd man out with the immense popularity of Madchild, but he holds his own on the microphone. His imaginative lyrics f low perfectly from word to word, his style

a superlative product that identifies with Rob the Viking’s production characteristics. Nothing embodied that better than when Prevail busted out a wicked one minute freestyle that may have been the highlight of the night.

Swollen Members are currently about to embark on a worldwide tour; the tour will take them to some unique locations, including Russia. It will continue into the summer with the Vans Warped Tour.

This will be the third fullf ledged tour Madchild has taken on in the past year and a half as he tries to re-establish his image as one of the rawest rappers in the game.

Students sharing their homeland’s moves at the World Music Celebration event in the Panorama Room on Thursday, March 21. The event was sponsored by the TRU Faculty Association Equity Committee to celebrate the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.

—PHOTO BY ALLISON DECLERCQ-MATTHAS

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The Omega · Volume 22, Issue 24

Sports WolfPack men’s curling team locks up bronze Adam Williams Ω Contributor

Wolf Pack curlers continued to hammer home Kamloops’s reputation as a sporting mecca this past weekend. The hometown Wolf Pack men’s curling team played their way to a bronze medal finish at the CIS-CCA Curling Nationals.

The team, skipped by Darren Nelson, faced off against the Waterloo Warriors in the championship semi-finals, after defeating the Waterloo rink in the final game of round robin play.

The semi-finals came down to the final rock of the tenth, where Nelson forced Waterloo skip Jake Walker to throw a hackweight hit-and-stick around a centre guard to win the game and move on to the final.

“I guess there’s always a few shots throughout the game that kinda make the difference,” Nelson said. “Obviously if we make a couple more shots here or there it could have given us some extra points, or if we could have scored our two points with the hammer a couple more times it would have helped put us in a better spots.

“But he made a real nice shot on his last one — when you’re playing 10, tied without the hammer, you just have to try and give the other skip a difficult shot and hope he misses it. This time he made it.”

Nelson felt his team started the week off slow, even though they were winning games they weren’t as sharp as he would

—PHOTO BY G. WYCHERLY

have liked. However they managed to finish the round robin in third place, with a 4-3 record and were doing some of their best curling heading into the playoffs.

The team came in with an expectation to medal and though they were able to do that, not having the opportunity to compete for the gold was difficult.

“I think every team was hop-

ing to win, I definitely saw our team as making the playoffs,” Nelson said.

“Overall you can’t be too disappointed with the outcome, obviously it would be nice to be playing in the final right now but I think given a little more time the bronze medal might feel a little more satisfying.”

A playoff berth wasn’t in the cards for the Wolf Pack women’s

No future for TRU curling?

Brown says that if TRU doesn’t have a Adam Williams university-level team it won’t necessarily Ω Sports Editor hurt her development, but her team will be forced to put more emphasis on junior The conclusion of the CIS-CCA Nacurling; they won’t have the added bentional Curling Championship and the efit of playing at both the university and successful performance of TRU’s men’s junior levels. Brown says that her team team has led to questions about the future would benefit from added exposure to of curling as a university sport at TRU. high-calibre events if she were to play at TRU organized a men’s and women’s the university level. team in September for the purpose of The appetite exists on a number of hosting nationals and at the time the fronts for a curling program to start up at future of the program beyond the event TRU, except for with those who matter. was largely left undecided. According Currently, athletics has no intention of to Linda Bolton, event chair for the boncontinuing to support curling as a universpiel and former Kamloops Curling Club sity sport at TRU. Athletpresident, TRU Athletics director Ken Olynyk ics was behind bringcited a number of reasons ing nationals to Kamfor this decision but fundloops and was open to ing was a central issue. the idea of discussing a Though it’s not currently future for the program. in the works, Olynyk “We approached said a team funded by Ken and his team and the Kamloops Curling presented the idea and Club and supported by he was all for it, went athletics is likely the only behind it 100 per cent,” Bolton said. “He was

—Ken Olynyk, scenario that could be considered. diplomatic, about seeing the sponsorship Athletics director, TRU “I would be willing to have those discussions and seeing how strong but I wouldn’t make any curling is, but he thinks it’s a possibility of something to present loops and plans to attend TRU in 2013- commitment though on behalf of the unito the athletics board to move forward. So 14. Her teammates Erin Pincott and Sa- versity,” Olynyk said. “At this juncture I’m very excited that it may happen and mantha Fisher will also be TRU students. we aren’t entertaining adding a curling “I really hope that curling becomes a team.” continue to happen.”

Coming off the high of a podium Darren Nelson, who skipped his team permanent team [at TRU] because curlto a bronze medal this weekend, hoped ing isn’t always perceived as a sport,” finish at this year’s nationals, it’s a disthat the weekend’s event would bring Brown said. “If it was put in the ranks appointing development for Kamloopsenough attention and publicity that a fu- of basketball or volleyball, spectators based curlers, who have been vocal about ture for curling at TRU would be consid- would appreciate the sport a lot more. I the city’s ability to support a permanent ered. Though Nelson and his team had hope having this national event here in university-level program. It begs the great results in the bonspiel, he also had Kamloops has opened the eyes of not question, if a top-three finish at a national feedback about the way the team was put only TRU but also other universities to event isn’t enough to sway the university get more involved in curling and supply to create a permanent university-level together. program, what will be?

“Hopefully we cause TRU to take more opportunities in the sport.” a deeper look at having a curling team, considering this year they kind of threw one together and there wasn’t a lot of thought or support put in,” Nelson said.

“Hopefully they see the result — that we could get a medal with that — maybe they can start a curling team and give them a little bit more support and see what they can really do.”

Future generations of TRU students have waited to hear about the long-term future of the program as well. Corryn Brown, skip for Canada at the World Junior Curling Championships in Sochi, Russia earlier this month, is from Kam-

“At this juncture we aren’t entertaining adding a curling team.”

curling team, who struggled throughout the week and in fifth place with a 2-5 record, failing to make the playoffs. For skip Tiffany Krausher the opportunity to play on a national stage was an experience she will cherish forever, despite the disappointing outcome.

“It definitely wasn’t our best performance,” Krausher said.

“There was definitely games

where we played absolutely amazing, but it was tough near the end. For some reason we just couldn’t perform like we know we can perform.”

The Waterloo Warriors went on to win the men’s gold medal by a score of 7-5 over the University of Alberta Golden Bears and the Manitoba Bisons defeated the University of Alberta Pandas by a score of 9-7.

Harder, better, faster, stronger...smarter?

Dan Leroy

The Fulcrum (U of Ottawa) OTTAWA (CUP) — The stereotype of the dumb jock has consistently been perpetuated by mainstream media.

Some people can’t help but wonder, “All these people do is skate around a rink or kick a ball, so how smart can they really be?”

According to a recent study by Jocelyn Faubert of the University of Montreal, professional athletes actually learn more quickly than the average student population. The study showed that professional athletes get to where they are not by being big, athletic powerhouses, but by possessing high biological motion perception—or, the ability to track multiple fast-moving objects simultaneously. Think Wayne Gretzky or Sidney Crosby: they are not necessarily the biggest players, but their ability to anticipate the play and know where the puck is going sets them apart from the rest.

“Biological motion perception involves the visual systems’ capacity to recognize complex human movements when they are presented as a pattern of a few moving dots,” Faubert states in his study.

In his research, Faubert happened upon a trend which indicated that athletes tended to be quicker and become adjusted to new patterns at a faster rate than the average individual. This led Faubert to conduct a study with CogniSens Athletics, a lab which has access to professional athletes in the National Collegiate Athletic Association, the National Hockey League (NHL), and Major League Soccer. Faubert’s study found, with almost no ambiguity, that athletes do learn more quickly than the average university student.

This doesn’t mean that athletes are smarter than students in every way—to be smart can mean many things. Einstein was a brilliant physicist, but might not have been a 50-goal-a-year scorer in the NHL had he laced up his skates.

Some intelligence relies on quick, instantaneous learning and hyper-focus, while other intelligence requires longterm concentration and rational induction. An NHL player, though, will generally be able to focus intently for the five to eight seconds necessary to make that outstanding play nobody else could have seen.

Félix Morin, a master’s of science student at the University of Ottawa and a member of four intramural hockey leagues, said being an athlete has a postive impact on his school work.

“Although [sports] takes time away from school work, I think it has a positive effect. If being happy makes me more efficient at school and if doing sports makes me happy, then exercise is clearly positive,” said Morin.

Faubert’s study highlighted that “professional athletes as a group have extraordinary skills for rapidly learning unpredictable, complex dynamic visual scenes that are void of any specific context.” It also found that athletes tend to learn quicker than the average student in kinetic intelligence, as well as in classroom-like settings where the athletes process random information.

Now this is no reason for us nonathletic university students to despair.

Crosby or Alex Ovechkin would probably prove quite unable to carry out scientific experiments or lead a political debate in the same way many students can. However, if they faced off against us in a test of processing multiple events in a small period of time, these two guys would most likely put us all to shame.

8

March 27, 2013

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