InsideOut finds you a friend B1
The
Silhouette
McMASTER UNIVERSITY’S STUDENT NEWSPAPER
THURSDAY, MARCH 21, 2013 VOL. 83 NO. 26
ANDY reveals movie magic C5
EVICTION NOTICE
Wentworth House tenants seek suitable relocation with demolition around the corner LEFT: MACycle requires space suited to its equipment. TOP-RIGHT: The Lodge is one of few spaces for off-campus students. BOTTOM: Mac MSA students don’t want to lose central prayer space. ANQI SHEN / ONLINE NEWS EDITOR
Anqi Shen Online News Editor When Amina Khan and Yusra Munawar were told last year that their on-campus prayer room would be torn down, they didn’t hit the panic button. Khan and Munawar, executive members of the McMaster Muslim Students Association, were assured by the University that they would be relocated before Wentworth House, home of the space, was demolished. Now, with weeks left until eviction, the MSA, along with
INDEX
several other groups, are still looking for answers. “Everybody’s scrambling. They’re trying to find spots for us in random places on campus, trying to find temporary solutions. We don’t know how long we’ll be in those spaces, and it’s just really frustrating,” said Khan. The MSA has more than 1,000 Muslim student members at McMaster and has rooms in Wentworth House that allow up to 100 students to pray at a time. “We were clear about our requirements – that the [new] space needs to be
carpeted. It needs to be a large, accommodating area that’s accessible to campus in order for Muslim students to pray there. Surprisingly, the space we were given is anything but that,” said Khan. Recently, some tenants, including the MSA, were told they would likely be moving to a portable unit in Lot O. The lot is about 1.5 km from campus, located past the bridge behind Mary Keyes. “Muslim students pray five times a day … between classes,” said Khan. “A place that needs a shuttle bus to reach is completely
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unacceptable to the Muslim community.” Khan and Munawar said if the MSA had to temporarily move to Lot O, students would end up praying in various nooks on campus. “You can’t fit a thousand Muslim students in hallways of libraries and little corners across campus,” said Khan. About two weeks ago, several tenants came together to form the “Wentworth Group” in hopes of getting their individual needs across with more impact. “We’re deeply concerned there hasn’t been uniformity in
Elections for the sole seat for student representatives on the Board of Governor’s were held on March 19 and 20. But the question most candidates were asking was, how many students even know what the Board of Governors is? The Board of Governors (BoG) is the chief governing body that oversees the University’s financial and administrative operations. The BoG is legislated by The McMaster University Act, 1976. The act has been unchanged since its inception. Several of this year’s undergraduate candidates have called on the BoG to change member allocations, which are governed by the Act. They argue that by increasing the number of seats held by students, the Board will be better able to garner student interest and adequately address their needs. According to a 2011 OUSA report, the lobbying body that represents the MSU, McMaster has one of the lowest student representations on its chief governing body. One seat of the 34 has been allocated, under the Act, to undergraduates since 1976. One seat is also allocated for graduate students. The provincial average for student representation on governing bodies is roughly 1 in 14. Candidate Rory Yendt remarked upon how McMaster’s undergraduate student representation is significantly lower than other universities in
C/O JONATHON FAIRCLOUGH
the province Candidate Shanthiya Baheerathan noted that the Board is interested in giving students what they want. “Having one rep is not okay for 28,000 students. This is really important to recognize, if they really want to gauge student interests. Regardless of their receptiveness to student interests, they need to be more actively engaging with students.” In contrast, candidate Leah Pantich focused on how an increase in the size of the BoG could be detrimental to governance. “When additional members are added to a group, the structure of communication between the representatives and the group represented must be altered, and this can give rise to complication.” Candidate Derrick Yick reiterated the importance of the BoG but emphasized
how inaccessible it can be for undergraduate students. “Despite the influence and the responsibilities that the Board holds (such as overseeing financial investments), it seems that the largest group affected –undergrad – students, have the smallest voice.” Multiple candidates identified the issue of representation and student body awareness as core ideas in their platforms. “Honestly, if I were to ask students across campus if their concerns of the university are being heard, I can say that the majority of us will somehow mention the MSU,” said David Cheng, another BoG candidate. In general, the majority of the members of the BoG are from the external business community. Board members are also allocated to sit on specific committees. The current undergraduate representative, Melanie Iarocci, sits on the Finance and the Human Resources Committee. Helen Ayre, Acting University Secretary, explained that most of the BoG is governed almost entirely by the McMaster Act of 1976. “[In order to increase the number of student seats], it would require changing the Act, which would require the provincial government to change the Act, as a provincial piece of legislation. This would be a long and complex process.” When The Silhouette went to press, online voting was still being processed. The elected student representative for the Board of Governors should be announced on March 21.
the communication between McMaster and the tenants,” said Norm Pase, vice-president (external) of CUPE 3906. Pase started an open Facebook group Monday called “Save Our Space: Wentworth House Shutting Down” to create a forum for the parties involved. The MACycle bike co-op, located in the Wentworth House basement, finds itself in the same boat as groups like the MSA. MACycle director Connor Bennett knew that relocating would be a big project. WENTWORTH, A5
Your 2013-2014 SRA
WINNERS Arts & Science: Pullen, Naomi (106)
Business: Cicchi, Gabriel (acclaimed) Long, Jimmy (acclaimed) Mallon, Scott (84)
Engineering: Abdelrahman, Salah (168) Candemir, Melike (154) D’Mello, Ethan (189) Mackinnon, Jonathan (153) Tichenkov, Andrei (158) Van Nood, Adam (150)
Health Science: Harper, Chris (185) Jeyasingham, Gabriel (145)
Humanities: Leslie, Tiffany (120 + 32) Loewig, Hans (190) Milani, Elise (252) Wolwowicz, Jason (163)
Kinesiology: Collins, Stuart (acclaimed) Omran, Janine (acclaimed)
Nursing: Palczewski, Kornelia (acclaimed)
Science: Abbas, Anser (226) Brodka, Jacob (466) Garasia, Sophiya (272) Guarna, Giuliana (326) Morrow, Aaron (368) Narro Perez, Rodrigo (362) Rheaume, Alan (253)
Social Science: D’Angela, Daniel (229) Dicenzo, Kristine (136) Gillis, Eric (166) Paul, Tristan (262) Sparrow, Ryan (147)