Issue 14 Volume 50

Volume 50 | Issue 14 | January 25, 2016

Trent students’ candid response to the external review of Catharine Parr Traill College

By Reba Harrison

In Arthur’s last publication, Trent University president Leo Groarke submitted a special message to the campus: Catharine Parr Traill College is undergoing a review. Is this a big deal? I talked to students, alumni, and staff at The Trend on Tuesday, January 19 to get an idea of their perspective.

The article begins by inviting Trent students, staff, faculty, alumni, board members, retirees, and members of the Peterborough community to participate.

About half of the stakeholders I talked to had no knowledge of an upcoming review of Traill College. The potential closure of Traill has been a threat since the 1990s’ “neoliberal assault,” as one stakeholder described it, when the Peter Robinson downtown college was closed despite the student fight to keep the historical building now known as Sadleir House.

The information of the review is almost unanimously met with a strong “no!” or a loss for words. Students immediately relate the review to the decade-long threat of Traill’s closure.

“No, thank you,” replies Trent student Morgan Smith. “[Traill College] has so much history. Why would [Trent] want to take that away?” Smith has four of her six courses this year located at Traill, and she is delighted. She describes Traill as being much quieter than the Symons campus, where the busy atmosphere makes it difficult for her to be productive.

Surrounded by student housing, the liberal arts graduate college still hosts classes and space for many English and Cultural Studies undergraduates. Students are concerned about where these departments would re-locate in the case of the College’s closure.

“What is the purpose of taking down history?” asks Cultural Studies undergraduate Charlotte Hannah. In her second year at Trent, Hannah is thrilled to meet more like-minded people from her major in the Traill community.

Some students mention that, even with the new student centre being built, they would much rather study and lounge at Traill.

Undergraduate students who feel a particularly strong connection to Traill have fought to switch their college affiliation to Traill, simultaneously directing their compulsory college ancillary fees towards helping fund the small college.

“The [Gzowski] College experience failed me. Inadequate information was given to me about the colleges, and I was very unimpressed once I was there and they had my money,” says Biology and Chemistry undergraduate student Sabrina Calogeracos.

She notes that the Traill community now provides her with a wonderful college experience. “Trent administration needs to give Traill College the support and acknowledgement it deserves.”

Cultural Studies and History undergraduate student Sarah McDonald describes Traill as a “special place” outside of the stressful and busy world of Symons campus. So far, she has spent three years interacting with the College.

“The computer lab has saved my butt,” McDonald says, adding that Traill is only a short walk from her home and she will sometimes walk to Traill for lunch at The Trend, noting the pub staff as friendly and familiar faces.

When Jeff Curtis first arrived in Peterborough 11 years ago, he resided in Traill College and called it home.

After meeting his partner at Traill and graduating with Traill College affiliation, he is thrilled to have the opportunity to return to work for The Trend, which is Traill’s gastro pub.

The Trend is known widely for its delicious food, affordable prices, available hours, and friendly staff. Owned by local business BE Catering, The Trend is a profitable pub and would cease to exist in the event of Traill’s removal.

“The food is amazing! Better than on [Symons] campus,” Hannah exclaims.

Even The Ceilie doesn’t live up to her expectations after having eaten at The Trend.

If Traill closes, Curtis would not be the only person out of a job. Troy Bordun works not only as an instructor at Traill, but also as a staff member of The Trend.

As a former doctoral student in Cultural Studies, Bordun spent four years regularly at Traill, and continues to call it home today. For Bordun, the College perfectly joins Trent University to the downtown of Peterborough, and creates a sense of belonging to both.

In Groarke’s article, the words “sustainable” and “financial” are mentioned three times, in contrast to “culture” being mentioned once and “experience” twice.

Bordun explains that focusing on whether or not Traill is profitable is missing the point. It delivers an essential academic and

cultural purpose.

Groarke claims that downtown businesses might not be dependent upon Traill’s traffic.

But Bordun notes how, often after lectures and events at Traill, students and event attendees walk down to Aji Sai or Amusé café if The Trend is not open.

According to Bordun, Aji Sai in particular would feel the impact of losing these customer transactions.

Groarke asked the co-author of his book, Good Reasoning Matters!, and University of Windsor professor Christopher Tindale to solely conduct the external Traill College review. This is a main topic of concern to stakeholders.

Cultural Studies undergraduate Lyne Dwyer says she would be incredibly upset if Traill is closed down. She expresses great concern over the fact that only one person is doing the review and both students and alumni are excluded.

Trent University Politics Society president Ashley Fearnall points out that students and alumni have been excluded from the larger conversation about what Trent could be.

“Trent needs to change. We all know it needs to change,” Fearnall explains. She suggests that, by excluding the directly affected stakeholders (i.e., students), Trent University is avoiding a potentially wonderful future.

When asked what could be done to improve Traill, maintenance repairs and temperature control were the only two items that came to mind for the stakeholders.

“To update [Traill] would be to remove a piece of history,” says McDonald.

Groarke’s article reads: “The review’s aim is conclusions about the future rather than the past.” But every high school history teacher will tell you that understanding the past is the key to making the right decisions of the future.

Another Cultural Studies undergraduate student, Calla Durose-Moya, says overlook-

ing Traill’s history and student efforts to keep the downtown colleges open is a lack of institutional memory.

If Traill is suggested to close down following this review, “there needs to be a protest,” Durose-Moya says. “We have to keep Trent’s tradition of students fighting for their downtown campuses alive.

Traill has been important to me as part of my [undergraduate] experience at Trent, contrary to the idea that it’s only about graduate students.”

Throughout my Tuesday afternoon conversations, one person’s name kept coming up.

Students are concerned that by considering the replacement of current Catharine Parr Traill College principal Michael Eamon, the Trent administration is looking to remove the driving force of Traill’s continued existence.

Chair of Political Studies Nadine Changfoot describes Eamon as a key and strong spokesperson for Traill in his role as Principal.

“He understands the purpose of the College, the diverse ways required for building the many parts of college community, and how community and intellectual life on the downtown campus are inseparable,” Changfoot says.

Politics student Jeanisa Haider describes Eamon as “a symbol of the old system,” referring to the importance of community that was once fostered by Trent University.

Often seen around Traill and Trent events, Eamon is known as a friendly face and person who will always say “hello” and sit down with students to listen.

“He’s one of my favourite things about Trent!”

Fearnall shares.

Curtis describes Eamon as a fabulous teacher, administrator, person, and community leader, as well as “the best man for Traill.”

“He contributes to the community feeling of home,” McDonald says.

“He makes Traill a wonderful place… [he is a] huge part of what I like about Trent,” Bordun adds.

Hannah even describes Eamon’s presence at Traill as being similar to glue, holding the community positivity and spirit together. “I cannot imagine Trent without him,” she says.

Smith reflects on one of her favourite university experiences: in the beginning of December, Student Affairs Office orientation co-ordinator Sako Khederlarian played piano in Scott House at Traill College, while Lady Eaton College Head Lindsay Morris and Michael Eamon sang Christmas carols.

Students’ fondness for Catharine Parr Traill College is making them question why it is undergoing a review, specifically by only one person on a seemingly hushed scale.

Want to contact Tindale? You can do so by contacting Ashley Horne, executive assistant to Trent’s Vice President of Finance and Administration, at ashleyhorne@trentu.ca

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opinion

Letter to the Editor: a message from President Groarke Dear Editors, I am gratified to see that my article on the review of Traill College has already generated a great deal of conversation. I welcome the differences of opinion I have heard – they are a good sign of a healthy discussion. I will let others drive the conversation but in the wake of some misunderstandings I have heard, I would like to clarify a few aspects of the review.

I have initiated a conversation about Traill and what needs to be done to make it a dynamic, viable and sustainable part of Trent’s future. My article was an invitation

to take part in that conversation. I want everyone in the Trent community to have an opportunity to participate.

One of the famous maxims of Confucius is the dictum that good government is calling things by their right names.

With this in mind I want to emphasize that the Tindale review isn’t a “committee” set up to make decisions about Traill. It is no more – and no less – than an attempt to have someone knowledgeable look at different aspects of Traill and the way it operates.

Inside and outside of academe, it is common practice have external people who have no stake in the outcome of a decision

review complex issues. Last year, we had an external reviewer look (very successfully) at Trent’s Recruitment and Marketing operations. Every academic program at Trent is regularly reviewed by external reviewers who provide feedback on its strengths and weaknesses.

In the case of Traill, I am confident that Professor Tindale is well situated to comment and shed light on the questions we need to discuss.

A few people have asked me why they should participate in the review. Of course, no one is compelled to. That is a personal decision. I have provided an opportunity that individuals can pursue or not.

I will say that one good reason to participate in the review is because one cares about Traill.

The best way to make it succeed is by honestly and openly addressing the issues and opportunities that lie before it.

This will include some difficult questions the Trent community needs to ask, answer, and argue about. I remain hopeful that doing so will be the first step in making Traill College be the best that it can be.

-Leo Groarke President of Trent University

Editorial: a review of our own

By Zara Syed

Founded in 1964, Trent University is a relatively young campus. In such a short time, we are already going against the very foundations it was built upon: a strong college system, small group teaching, and an emphasis on the Liberal Arts.

A hub of academia with a downtown campus; the entire identity of Trent was well-known in Canada in its countercultural heyday.

As we enter the new year, there is a lot of change on the horizon for Trent University.

Three major reviews are coming up that could shape the way things function here.

The first is the external Traill Review, an announcement made in Arthur last week (Issue 13) by Trent University’s President, Dr. Leo Groarke. To even think of such a thing happening in the late ‘90s is an amusing thought, and we hope to shed some light on why that would have been through the reprints.

If you have been following the direction of Arthur in Volume 50, you may have noticed that we ran said reprints from the Bonnie Patterson era last semester. Knowing that Traill College was undergoing a review, it is a stark and wonderful comparison between where Arthur and Administration stand now that the downtown college conversation is resurfacing. The Trent International Program (TIP) and the looming student retention issue are also undergoing reviews this year.

Though we place an emphasis on Traill College, we do not want to become distracted by this one issue. I believe that Arthur should act as a fair representation of the community involving all of the upcoming reviews. Once we were flooded with feedback about the Traill review, it became obvious that the restructuring of the Colleges and the importance of a downtown college is inexplicably interconnected.

Very recently, the Colleges have been restructured in a way that goes against the concept Principal Tom Symons once envisioned. There was a time when College life was quite different. To get an idea about what Trent University was like during the 1960s and 1970s, one does not have to look far to see alumni who reside in town and are still active in various other community initiatives. The stories are incredible, and the tales of the parties alone are worth the envy.

In the summer of 2014, a long awaited change finally came to pass. College Heads would no longer be academics. Our professors were replaced with Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU) employees, professional administration qualified in the areas of student services.

Other student services were moved to the Colleges, and college secretaries were replaced with eight to eleven paid stu-

dent interns. The procedure in which this change occurred at a structural level is still unclear to us, and Arthur will be investigating the University’s mechanisms to exact changes like these in the weeks to come.

This is because the same fate of procedure is sure to occur with the review of Traill College. In the outcome that Traill is deemed essential to Trent students, will it undergo the same restructuring that took place at the other four Colleges? Now, that is something that should make us really question what direction this review might take.

Upon interviewing several students, the feedback Arthur received had many comparisons to the restructuring of Colleges. Many attribute the success of Traill College and the engagement they feel towards it due to the strong academic vision of Principal Michael Eamon.

However, that is not for us to deem as an accurate portrayal of the College’s success.

If you have an opinion you wish external reviewer Dr. Christopher Tindale to take into account, we will publish it.

Upon hearing about this review, many students began a movement of changing their college affiliation to Traill College.

Though your student fees were already distributed by November of 2015, this move will send a clear message to Administration and Dr. Tindale, and we want students to know that it is an option, though it does not appear as one on the website when selecting your College. This is a technicality of Traill not being classified as an undergraduate college, therefore not collecting the fees other colleges benefit from. All of this information can be found in the allocation of funds in the college budget.

Many have also asked us to keep their names anonymous when speaking out about the college restructuring, to which we have this to say: We ensure that if you are at all worried about your position as a student being compromised at Trent University because of your opinion, we will absolutely protect you in having your voice heard in the paper. In an interview with one of the Trent Eight in this issue’s Feature, Ziysah discusses the protests surrounding the closure of Peter Robinson College (PR), a very lively campus of Trent University that was sold off in the most controversial move this University has ever made.

This move launched a lawsuit between Trent professors and the Board of Governors, which would determine the final say that students had in any decision-making at Trent University. In the interview, you will read about how all the students involved in the protests were simply trying to achieve fair representation in determining how this university operates. This has since been a question and remains one that we are still trying to answer to this day.

So, how did something as large and

expensive as the Student Centre get approved for construction with such low votes from students who are footing the bill for all of this? Where are we when decisions such as re-structuring an entire college system that receives $1.6 million of pure student ancillary fees are made?

How do students leaders feel about doing voluntary work that others now get paid to do due to the College’s restructuring?

These are all questions we ask in investigating the review process ourselves, because at the end of the day, you pay for more than just your classes when you go to Trent. You pay out of your own pocket for administrators to make these decisions for often twice the amount of money you pay your own professors. That is way too much money for administrators to be earning from students to make decisions you are against. The University works for you- so, is it working for you?

At a time when students were asked what they would like to see changed in the College Head positions when Academics held them, we requested that those positions become full-time. Up until 2012, College Heads were half-time professors, doing the same amount of work that full-time administrators now do. We are, ourselves, academics. With fewer full-time teaching positions available today, that very position was taken away from our professors on the basis of a request we made: a desire to see them be paid adequately for doing a very difficult job. Currently, all OPSEU administrators that hold the position of College Head are paid full-time due to this request, with the exception of, you guessed it: Traill College. We are paving our own path as academics, and it is a bleak future in academia, my friends.

Now, a lot of people have asked me for my opinion. I would care more about the opinions of those that are subject to the structure of Trent University, and of alumni, as well as downtown businesses. However, to set an example of what we are even asking for, here is my opinion as follows: My feedback for the Traill Review is that due to being an off-campus student, I never had much of a passion for college affiliation. I wish I did because it sounds like a lot of fun to be a part of a college in first year.

After first year, there is a life downtown; a rich and vibrant life, a life that can be explored not only in this newspaper, but also many other publications in town. It is quite positively electric.

Traill College is vital in student retention, as students move downtown and fall in love with the vibrant scene here. I would argue that downtown Peterborough is why a lot of students choose to stick around. The relationship between a downtown university presence and local economic prosperity are co-dependent. The more students that rely on finding a job in town, the more

expansion of businesses and employment occurs, and this is coming from someone who relied on having two part-time jobs downtown in order to survive life at Trent University.

Regardless, if you live downtown, there isn’t a shred of Trent around except at Traill, Sadleir House, and Trent Radio. It is a depressing and extraordinarily unfortunate thing, not just because there was once a vibrant community that bustled in and out of these buildings, but because at the end of the day, you need to hand in that paper.

That’s right. You need to go to the library, sit in a quiet building and do work, and you need to access the same printing options you have at main campus in order to hand in that environmental hazard. You can do this at the computer lab at Traill College, and here exists an extension of Trent University that makes more sense in terms of accessibility than re-situating a campus “downtown” at George and Simcoe where the Peterborough Public Library is.

There is a severe shortage of student spaces on campus, but these downtown spaces such as Traill and Sadleir exist for students and are often the most picturesque places to do critical thinking. In the end, they don’t cost a fraction of what the colleges at main campus take from you.

What does that say about the success of Traill College? Ziysah makes another important point about PR being closed due to “deferred maintenance.” She made the point that we paid our student fees, but Trent did not use them to fix its problems - so you can’t say the reason why something is an issue is because you haven’t received money for it. English and Cultural Studies majors pay the exact same student and tuition fees as everyone else, so why does this College (Traill) not receive the same treatment as the revamping of Wenjack and Bata Library?

At the end of the day, it’s not about dollars and cents to us. We love Traill. The feeling cannot be quantified in a budget.

We’re philosophers, idealists, artists. I was told that as the years go on, Trent students will only become more and more apathetic, which is why it was a surprise to us that this new generation of students are willing to fight for Traill, to change their affiliation, and if it comes to it, to go to battle for the College they have grown to consider home.

When President Tom Symons left the University, students protested him leaving.

It was Trent’s very first protest. That didn’t mean it would change the outcome, but people did it anyway. You can do that, too.

Think the Student Centre should be downtown? It may be too late for that, the ship may have sailed, but you can fight for it. Because it’s yours, you paid for it.

So, have your voices heard here in Arthur newspaper, because it is here where you can surpass the bureaucracy within the system.

Volume 50 | Issue 14 | January 25, 2016

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Campus

Overcharged in college fees, undercharged in housing

By Ugyen Wangmo

Trent University students were overcharged by about $0.71 each in college ancillary fees for the 2015/2016 academic school year.

For housing, however, the increase was about $4.70 less, as re-calculated by Financial Services on request from the College and Student Services Committee (CASSC).

College fees are compulsory for all students, while housing and meal charges are applicable only to those students who live in residence.

However, the report from Financial Services pointed out the challenges of budget re-calculation because of some uncertainties in the compulsory ancillary fee protocol in a number of areas.

CASSC issued a statement in light of the inaccurate ancillary fee increase by the University: “CASSC is made up of representatives from the elected student associations, college cabinets, international students, and Trent staff. Part of the Committee’s mandate each year is to recommend by student vote any ancillary fee increases

beyond automatic increases.

“There are two types of automatic increases: by the cost of living (Ontario Consumer Price Index [CPI]), or by the increase in costs for unionized staff and utilities.

“Due to an oversight at CASSC last year, it was thought that Housing, Colleges, and Athletics were entitled to cost of living, but in fact, the amount was staff and utilities, and a vote should have been taken to approve a CPI increase for Housing and Colleges. (Athletics increased by staff and utilities.)

“At the most recent CASSC meeting on Wednesday, January 20, the Associate Vice President Students Nona Robinson provided figures that CASSC had requested from Financial Services about what the difference would have been if staff and utilities had been applied instead of CPI. For colleges, the difference was a budget reduction of $4,788, or about 71 cents per student less.

For Housing, the difference was a budget increase of $5,186, or about $4.70 per student more if staff and utilities had been applied.

“After discussions, the student repre-

sentatives voted to approve the 2015/2016 increases; five in favour, none against, and one abstention. CASSC extends our apologies for the mistake.”

Robinson stood by her earlier statement to Arthur, saying she apologizes and takes responsibility for the mistake. But CASSC is the committee that approves student ancillary fee increases, she added, so in effect, it was also the responsibility of all the members of last year’s committee (including herself) to determine whether or not the increases needed a vote.

In keeping with her pervious comment to look into ancillary fee increases over the past years, Robinson confirmed during the recent CASSC meeting that the increases were all in compliance with protocol.

However, it was discovered that the ancillary fee budget for the 2008/2009 and 2009/2010 academic years were not presented to the CASSC. They will look further into the missing budget.

Because of difficulties faced while ensuring compliance to the compulsory ancillary fee protocol, Financial Services identified a number of areas that required clarification, such as, “Does the protocol allow for salary increases for exempt staff?”

Financial Services also stated “charges for physical plant services will increase if the space occupied by the ancillary operation increases, or if there are increases in the physical resources staff complement that partly underlay these charges.”

It was also pointed out that increases in volume are not addressed by the protocol, and that the administrative overhead is a percentage of revenue and will therefore increase as revenue increases.

It was further stressed that the Athletics budget, which is funded by a combination of student fees and community memberships, in particular will have a problem adhering to the protocol.

It was suggested that the current protocol assumes very simple, static circumstance and is not well suited to more complex, dynamic situations, according to Financial Services.

CASSC is currently looking into revising their terms of reference.

In response to the suggestions put forth by Financial Services in terms of the protocol, the need for a more transparent, easy to understand ancillary fee protocol in particular was raised at the recent CASSC meeting.

Sonia Faruqi speaks about the ethics of farming at Traill

By Caitlin Coe

Have you stopped to truly think about where the food on your plate comes from?

What actually has to happen for us to get milk to go with our morning bowl of cereal and cup of coffee?

Considered the effects of animal agriculture on animals, the environment, our health, and workers?

These are topics that are pressing issues today, as problems surrounding factory farming and environmental impacts from animal agriculture are becoming increasingly debated and brought to the attention of the public.

If learning more about these issues is something that interests you, then come out to Farming and Ethics: An Evening with Sonia Faruqi on Wednesday, January 27 at Bagnani Hall at Traill College.

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The evening will begin with refreshments at 6:30 p.m., followed by a talk by Faruqi from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

Afterwards, there will be questions and discussions including book signings and the opportunity to buy the book that Faruqi will be reading from and discussing, Project Farm Animal, which was released last year. Farming and Ethics is a free event open to the public, and is supported by the Sustainability Studies and Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems programs, as well as the Trent School of the Environment, the Kawartha World Issues Centre, and Trent Oxfam.

Dartmouth graduate and former Wall Street investor Sonia Faruqi goes on a four year long journey travelling the world, visiting and volunteering on farms from the United States to Belize to Malaysia.

She writes brilliantly about her experiences, exposing the truth of global agriculture and the grim realities of the egg and dairy industries. Part narrative, part expository, Project Farm Animal deals with the harsh truth behind organic and free-range farms, and the injustices that still occur on “humane” farms.

Gone are the lovely images in your head of cows happily grazing in a vast field of grass and chickens roaming free – many of these farms are not much of an improvement. Project Animal Farm discusses issues such as animal production for fast food, and raises the question of how the high demand for fast food has affected animal welfare and intensive meat production.

Faruqi’s travels also ended up taking her from intensive factory farms to small, rural farms around the world. She discusses

solutions to larger pastoral farming and sustainability of animal agriculture, and the future of farming.

Project Animal Farm additionally touches on the large environmental impacts behind animal agriculture, the role of workers in the business, and health issues surrounding hormones given to livestock.

Raw, informative, captivating, and extremely eye opening, Project Animal Farm is a book to surely inspire us to think about where our food is coming from, why we should care as consumers, and solutions to issues that are raised.

Every time we sit down for a meal, we have an important choice to make.

Farming and Ethics is sure to be a highly educational and engaging evening that will get audiences thinking differently.

Certainly a not-to-miss event!

Campus

“Internationalization”subject to external review

By Adriana Sierra

A university “where the world learns together,” Trent welcomes students from over 80 countries and has study abroad programs in over 40 locations across the globe. The international community is, in the words of the University itself, “remarkable in its diversity for a university our size.” However, like Traill College, Trent’s “internationalization” is scheduled to be subject to an external review.

President Leo Groarke stated, “Essentially, we are asking how we might extend our internationalization efforts and improve this aspect of what we do.”

The review is meant to look at all aspects of Trent’s international operations, which include the Trent International Program, international enrolment, international research, student services, programming, and curriculums.

The review is conducted with the hopes that it will foster initiatives to improve practices in internationalization.

The same person who oversees internationalization at the University of Regina will be conducting this external review, and will be aided by Trent University’s Environmental and Resource Studies chair

and professor Chris Metcalfe. Brenda Blackburn, executive advisor in the Office of the President, notes that the review will involve students, alumni, staff, and faculty; however, the details pertaining to the inclusivity and impact of these voices were not specified.

An “internationalization review” has the potential to bring about the positive change international students across campus have been voicing through Arthur, the Trent International Students’ Association, the Community and Race Relations, and the international student commissioner position.

International students have long been using these platforms to voice their concerns about Trent’s “internationalization” process and on issues that remain unresolved.

The notion of international students being used as “cash cows” has appeared on these platforms numerous times.

International student tuition fees continue to rise and Trent’s recruitment efforts gravitate toward wealthy students from a limited number of countries that can afford to pay $20,000 per year in tuition fees alone.

In addition, the number of jobs that are

open to applications from international students is significantly low, meaning that exorbitant tuition fees, limited recruitment, and a lack of jobs do not contribute to a true “internationalization,” but a biased one.

The review is meant to extend Trent’s internationalization efforts, but what exactly does that mean? Based on these trends, internationalization may mean simply increasing recruitment efforts to this limited pool of international cash cows.

International students have also voiced concerns along issues of inclusivity and cultural awareness. Often students have mentioned that university events and programming fail to meet the needs of international students.

In addition, the lack of culturally appropriate food on residence has been a topic of contestation.

Furthermore, issues along ethnic and racial lines have also emerged. Although often under the radar, racism on campus continues to be an issue at Trent, which affects international students’ inclusivity.

The internationalization review has the potential to bring about positive changes to Trent University.

However, the direction of the review

highly depends on the definition of “internationalization” that the University adopts.

If Trent continues to view international students as cash cows, to neglect culturally appropriate practices, and to be lacking in culturally relevant programming, then the results and recommendations of the review will favour a particular kind of internationalization – one that does not coincide with the concerns of the multicultural community at Trent.

Student voices have been speaking loud and clear for quite some time: cap international student tuition fees, diversify recruitment efforts, address issues of race and marginalization based on difference on campus, introduce culturally appropriate content to curriculums and programming, and strive for a diverse, involved, and inclusive Trent community.

This is the kind of internationalization that students at Trent would like to see, but unfortunately, not the kind of internationalization that Trent seems to be pursuing.

With two key components of Trent University under review (Traill College and Internationalization), let’s take this opportunity for student voices to affect change in what it means to be a Trent University student.

Deconstructing disbursement: on late student loans

By D Dmuchowski

Many students are familiar with the pains of being in receipt of Ontario Student Assistance Plan (OSAP). While OSAP makes post-secondary education more accessible to residents of Ontario, the debt that is accrued, in addition to interest rates, is universally dreaded.

In many places in the world, access to higher education is considered a citizenship right. In others, it is a privilege that only the very few can afford.

Here in Canada, accessing post-secondary institutions is universally available on paper, but this isn’t always the case in practice due to stipulations that don’t take into account various family dynamics and financial situations that haven’t been preapproved as legitimate by the board.

According to Statistics Canada, the average cost of tuition fees in Ontario for the 2014/2015 school year was $7,539. Statistics Canada also states, “Canadian full time students in undergraduate programs paid 3.2 per cent more on average tuition fees for the 2015/2016 academic year this year than they did the previous year.”

The fact that average tuition fees are $1,500 higher than they were five years ago in Ontario is a sobering reminder that tuition costs will only continue to skyrocket.

As post-secondary education tuition fees and the cost of living become expo-

nentially more unaffordable, students are increasingly forced into applying for student loans.

Students can no longer work full-time summer jobs at minimum wage and expect to cover the majority of their tuition and living expenses for the school year, as they were once able to decades ago. It is for this reason that the timing of OSAP payments becomes crucial.

Trent students are not alone in receiving chronically late OSAP payments. Similar situations happen across various universities in Ontario, some of which include the University of Toronto and Fleming College. Many of these students have to reach out to family and friends for extra funds.

Late OSAP disbursement has serious consequences for students who don’t have the privilege or ability to accrue savings to cover living expenses for the gap time between semesters.

In addition to the stresses and pressures of being a university student, many have the added stress of worrying about not being able to pay rent, hydro, phone bills or even necessities as basic as groceries.

While late payments have negative effects on students in terms of their academics as well as the ability to provide basic necessities for themselves, it becomes all the more concerning when approximately 70 per cent of Trent students are receiving OSAP. We reached out to Financial Aid at Trent

University for comments on the current and historic chronically late OSAP disbursement, and were directed to Christopher Rooney, the Manager of Operations and Client Services at the Office of the Registrar.

While not willing to speak directly to Arthur staff, Rooney was open to commenting through email in collaboration with a “Media Relations and Strategic Communications Officer”. When asked about the delays in funding that affect many students so drastically, he responds, “If there are delays in funding, often these delays are caused by the student having outstanding paperwork, a need for additional documentation, course load changes that were not updated on the application, or restrictions on their OSAP account.”

However, this is simply not the case for many students who access student loans.

One Trent student, who wishes to remain anonymous, states that their funding was cut off without warning due to an overestimate on the part of Financial Aid, after which they owed the University a large sum of money.

Many other students echo similar concerns surrounding abrupt changes or prolonged delays in funding.

Rooney also states that “all OSAP loans and grants are released close to the beginning of each term to ensure students are enrolled for their classes and provided the

support needed to allow them to focus on their studies.”

Third-year Philosophy and Sociology student Nicky Varma shares the fact that students have to pay a late fee of $70-$75 for late tuition fees, which is due before OSAP release dates, lying in stark opposition to the former point.

Confirmation of enrolment is required for all OSAP-related financial aid, which can take until October. Many students already struggling financially must pay this rather significant fee to the University, due to the University’s inability to release funding on time.

This becomes even more difficult for students who are living with chronic illness and disabilities, to whom the energy to navigate the bureaucracy of the system is not as accessible as to those students who don’t face the same challenges.

The inevitable failings of an overly bureaucratic and inefficient system seem to be at fault in this case. A lack of notices and general oversights seem to be causing most of the problems with students.

However, continuing to sweep these issues under the rug, avoiding responsibility, and denying the severe impact these late disbursements have on students’ academic success and ability to provide basic necessities for themselves will only contribute to a system where students continue to struggle unnecessarily.

Volume 50 | Issue 14 | January 25, 2016

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Campus

Trent Film Society: Fruitvale Station

By Tumelo Drametu

Since January is the time of year when the Sundance Film Festival is hosted, TFS has decided to screen a few films that have had past debuts at the festival.

Last week we successfully screened director David Zellner’s fantastic film debut Kumiko, The Treasure Hunter (Which turned out to be quite the successful screening) and we will continue this week with Ryan Coogler’s (director of this year’s Academy Award contender and Rocky follow up, Creed and the upcoming Marvel Studios film Black Panther) directorial debut ‘Fruitvale Station’ (2013). The film, which stars Michael B. Jordan, Octavia Spencer, and Melonie Diaz, and is produced by Academy Award winner Forest Whitaker, debuted at the Sundance Film Festival in 2013.

It won the coveted U.S. Grand Jury Prize as well as the Audience Award for U.S. dramatic film, and also received the award for Best First Film in the Un Certain Regard section of the 2013 Cannes Film Festival.

The film is based on the true story of Oscar Grant III (Michael B. Jordan), a man who was killed by a Bay Area Rapid Transit police officer on New Year’s Day in 2009.

The film follows Oscar in the hours prior to his killing, where we see him struggle with personal conflicts, make encounters with friends and enemies, and attempt to

better his life for the sake of himself and his family. Now, what makes this film so relevant is the way that the film handles the difficult topic of police brutality. The power of this film lies in the real sense of humanity it displays in one of the countless victims of police brutality through its simplistic structure.

Coogler utilizes the minimalist nature of the film to great strengths, making the film that much more impactful. In our current climate, it seems as if we are seeing continuous news stories of black men and women being killed by police.

With these occurrences constantly rising and with media representation of the victims tarnishing much of their dignity,

Coogler here has created a film which shows us that behind the political nature of the issue, the victims were still human, and who went through their own personal highs and lows and deserve to maintain their dignity.

Through this approach, and with its subtle and minimalist nature, Coogler makes the film feel as though it is not just a condemnation of police brutality, but also a celebration of livelihood and a tragedy of when its cut short.

Coogler also lets the power of the film have a voice of its own by relying on strong character work and performances. Coogler and lead actor Michael B. Jordan approach Oscar Grant in a way that is unique for a

film of this nature. Usually, film biographies tend to have a reputation for seeming hagiographical, where they treat the main subjects of the film as flawless individuals.

Thus, we never see these characters commit any wrongdoings or struggle with their moral compass throughout the film. This makes it difficult for the audience to truly empathize with them.

Coogler and Jordan, on the other hand, avoid this issue by portraying Oscar Grant as a person who is constantly struggling with making the right decisions.

Throughout the film, we see him attempting to get a job to help provide for his family, grappling with the ramifications of his past criminal offences. Throughout these struggles, we empathize with Oscar and understand him as a person, not just a newspaper headline, which gives the film more honesty.

Ryan Coogler has directed a heartbreakingly powerful film which offers its viewers the opportunity to critically reflect upon an issue that is prevalent in our society today.

From the first frame of the film, an unsettling tension is created that continues to build all the way to the shocking conclusion.

Please join the TFS on Wednesday January 27th at Artspace at 8:00 p.m. for a free screening of this film, which should be sure to spark reflection regarding the contemporary institutional tensions between citizens and the state.

street style

Photo by Samantha Moss

Kristianne Diores was spotted hanging out in the hallway of Champlain College. Where do we start with ensemble? The mish-mash of symbols, robots and fruits on Kristianne’s tights are awesome. Paired with a simple sweater, This outfit balances itself out well, while still keeping that fun tone with a bunnyrabbit pattern. We wish we could look this stylish while wearing actual practical winter boots. Also, having your photo taken with Mr. Shakespeare is an instant fashion yes. To top it all off, Kristianne has a super colourful phone case that mirrors her tights.

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www.trentarthur.ca

JUST got back in the game at Trent University

By Pippa O’Brien

The Journal of Undergraduate Studies at Trent (JUST) has been revived this year and is once again accepting submissions!

JUST is the undergraduate journal at Trent.

We aim to provide undergraduate students with a chance to be published and to highlight some of the amazing undergraduate research that is happening.

Although undergraduate journals do not have the prestige of more established and mature academic journals, they provide a starting point and can certainly contribute to the undergraduate academic experience.

I have only recently joined JUST. Hamza Khattak and myself are the two co-editors starting this year. We also have a wonderful editorial board made up of members who have patiently helped us rebuild the journal since September.

JUST published their first issue in 2007, followed by another in 2009, and finally in 2010. Between all these issues, 39 students published content.

However, although JUST has been in existence for almost 10 years now, there has been a struggle to maintain student interest.

This year we are trying to establish a journal that can functionally contribute to the undergraduate academic experience

campus

and carry over year-to-year.

This year, we have one general call for papers, which has been posted around campus. We have decided to extend the deadline to January 31. We are also merging the Student Conference with JUST to highlight the top eight papers.

The authors of the top eight papers will be asked to present their papers on March 3-4, 2016 so that students will have an opportunity to learn about their research.

There is also going to be a $100 honorarium for the top eight papers, as decided by the editorial board. All papers that have already been submitted will also be considered for this prize.

Please email all paper submissions to just@ trentu.ca, making sure to include your name, student number, and college affiliation.

Papers from all academic disciplines will be considered.

The previous issues of JUST can be found online at

publish.sadleirhouse.ca/catalog/just.

CANDY: Trent Fashion Show promots self-love and confidence

Photos by Keila MacPherson

By Ugyen Wangmo

The Trent Fashion Show CANDY spirited away more than 40 spectators that were in attendance on a journey to a night of sensuous, risqué, and provocative experiences in the lingerie land.

CANDY, a sexy lingerie show, was a runway event put together by Trent University students for the enjoyment of audience

members aged 19 years and older. It was a preview show, leading up to the main show, which will be held on March 4, 2016.

“The main objective of the event this year is to promote self-love and confidence as well as raise money for youth and families of Youth Emergency Shelter (YES),” said Reba Harrison, creative director of Trent Fashion Show (TFS).

The theme CANDY is symbolic of the colourful, sweet, and sexy nature of the ensemble showcased by the models on the runway, explained Harrison.

The designers in play were namely No Regrets Fashion, Gear Punk’d, Salti Yoga, House of Sass and Magic (HouseSM), and Dead Daisy Vintage, a mix of Peterborough- and Toronto-based independent designers.

The event saw models of different shapes, sizes, colours, and ethnicities walk the platform, another priority of TFS. Pettigrew Spa worked their magic on the models’ hair in addition to offering space to the makeup artists.

Keila MacPherson, TFS photographer, said the event was for a good cause, and was glad to volunteer. She expressed that she feels there may be a stigma around the youth who live in the YES. MacPherson didn’t think there should be

one, so she would invest her time to help them. She talked about how she enjoyed being a part of TFS, and that it is always fun to be able to photograph different models dressed up in different clothes by various local designers.

In talking to the models, Arthur found out they had become a part of TFS for various reasons - for one, Peterborough did not offer many modeling opportunities, while other models said it was to hang out with girls and have some fun.

Perhaps most importantly, the experience with director Reba Harrison was enriching, said the models.

She encouraged them to be comfortable and confident in themselves, and taught them “self-love”.

Hostess of the evening Melissa Salvadori informed the excited crowd that TFS is a student-based charity group supported by Trent University, and that it depends on the hard work and dedication of volunteers belonging to the Peterborough and Trent University community, ranging from models, music, makeup, hair, to the photographer.

TFS began in 2010 and brought together artistic students to show off the styles of local fashion boutiques.

In 2013, when Harrison took over as

creative director, the show grew immensely and they began to focus on self-love and charity, explained Salvadori.

Over the past five to six years, TFS has raised roughly $3,000 for the local charities in Peterborough, she added.

The Sapphire Room donated the space in support of the event and its cause to host the Trent Fashion Show Candy on January 22, 2016.

Volume 50 | Issue 14 | January 25, 2016

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Campus

Reflecting on the re-structuring of the colleges

By Anonymous

The restructuring of the Trent University Colleges is a topic that elicits a spectrum of emotions from utter confusion to frustration.

The Colleges are at an interesting crossroads with the resignation of Barry Townshend, director of the Colleges. This period certainly sets a platform to reflect on how the Colleges have functioned under the restructured model.

The college system at Trent is seen as an integral and unique part of Trent. Modelled after British universities like Cambridge and Oxford, the founders of Trent sought to bring a sense of community to the student body, alumni, and faculty by having every student and faculty member affiliated with a college within the larger university. The outcome was an actively engaged student body that, in some ways, has been sustained, but in other ways hasn’t.

The restructuring of colleges occurred after Radical Recovery: An Academic Plan of Trent University — a plan that outlined five principle objectives: “to articulate clearly [Trent’s] unique academic identity; to become an efficient and fiscally healthy university; to improve [Trent’s] reputation and visibility; to build a culture of respect and pride in what [Trent does]; and, to improve continuously its overall quality and performance.”

With the principal objectives set for Trent, the restructuring of the colleges was put in place to remedy rising concerns over the diminishing role of Colleges’ ability to actively engage with students.

In essence, the restructuring was put in place to revive the college system and to encapsulate Trent’s founders’ vision of creating a sense of community. With the growing student body population at Trent, in addition to the fact that the majority of Trent students are living off campus, it has

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Images sourced from Trent University Archives

become more challenging to achieve this goal.

Summer 2014 marked implementation of the Colleges’ restructuring, with the main goal being to alter the model of college management. The creation of a new position, director of colleges, and the hiring of four full-time college heads, marked the larger changes made to the model of college management.

The college head positions were previously part-time positions filled by faculty members of colleges that took up this responsibility in addition to their academic commitments such as classroom duties.

The expansion of the college management was intended to increase the amount of support that students received and to extend the role of the colleges.

The current heads of the colleges are as follows: Lindy Garneau (Gzowski), Ashley Wall (Otonabee), Melanie Sedge (Champlain), and Lindsay Morris (Lady Eaton).

Garneau is a Trent graduate and current Trent Master’s student.

Wall is also a former Trent student of Otonabee College and former employee of Trent Accessibility Services. Sedge has worked for Trent in a number of capacities in Canadian Studies, Athletics and Recreation, and Continuing Education.

Morris has worked in the Office of Student Affairs at Trent and at Wilfrid Laurier University. The creation of 11 student position in each college is also a notable change that has been implemented.

Whether these changes have achieved the set goal of engaging students is still a highly contested topic within the student body. Programming and the provision of student services have seen positive changes, whereby academic advisors have been integrated into the colleges and a more social opportunities for student involvement have been made available.

However, there are also concerns that the colleges’ restructuring may be just another form of the University administration’s expansion, citing overlaps between responsibilities of college cabinets and a

decrease in student engagement due to increased bureaucratic barriers placed in allowing students to access the available opportunities as well as a lack of events that actively engage students in critical thinking (with an abundance of events that exist simply to increase portfolios of college events).

Students have also raised concerns to college heads in terms of accessibility. This can be related to the bureaucratic structure currently in place that does not allow for the autonomous decision-making process that had once existed.

In addition, there is a growing concern the college offices no longer foster an environment where students can have meaningful academic conversations.

This perhaps will serve as an opportunity for the four colleges to reflect on what is working and what isn’t.

By Roy Nicholls Photography

Campus

Arthur speaks to Chris Tindale: external reviewer of Traill

By Keila MacPherson

Last week’s issue of Arthur saw the first announcement of the review process that Catharine Parr Traill College will be undergoing beginning Feb. 1, from President Leo Groarke.

The external reviewer Chris Tindale coauthored the book Good Reasoning Matters! with Groarke.

Arthur spoke to Tindale regarding the review process.

“I think this should really trigger some serious reflection within the Trent community,” Tindale expressed.

He will be visiting Peterborough for three days from Feb. 1 to 3, to speak with faculty, graduate students, and undergraduate students, and will be conducting the review based on the four questions mentioned in Groarke’s announcement.

“I will be coming to Peterborough at least once, maybe further times depending on how many people now request an opportunity to meet me … I’d like to talk to the department heads [about how they] see their future at Traill as they continue,” said Tindale.

During his initial visit to Peterborough, Tindale is hoping to gather a lot of information from the groups he is meeting with. “[M]ore than likely I will find that those three days are not sufficient and I will need to return, or engage with people in another way, say through social media, which might be sufficient,” he explained.

Tindale said it will take subsequent visits to talk to members of the larger Peterborough community, but not before he has enough input from the Trent community to move forward to the Peterborough community.

There has been worry and controversy regarding the review from many Trent community members. Despite this, there is potential for great things to come out of this review.

“I’m excited for the review, and that the president is taking interest in the future of the college,” said Michael Eamon, Principal of Traill College.

Eamon held a preliminary meeting at Traill last Monday to discuss the issues surrounding the review and any questions students or faculty may have had prior to the beginning of the review.

Eamon said there are some difficulties that the Traill community needs to face head-on, including college fee revenue, deferred maintenance, and reaching out to the graduate science community at Trent.

He encouraged members from other departments to think about how Traill could be strengthened. Some people present at the meeting mused about the creation of a unified Humanities program being beneficial for the College.

Eamon, along with many others believe that Traill has a clear connection to the downtown community, not just because of its location, but also because of the Trent Community Research Centre and Continuing Education programs.

Budget and the greater community out-

side of Trent will be two very hot topics of conversation during this review. Tindale wants to take a look at Traill’s budget including the distribution of funds.

“I would like to see what kinds of revenues Traill receives currently, what revenues they received in the past, whether Traill is getting its fair share from college funds, [and] how things are distributed among the other colleges as well.

“You can’t just look at Traill in isolation; you have to look at Traill in relation to the other colleges,” Tindale explained.

Undergraduates do, in fact, contribute a portion of the college funds to Traill as graduate college fees cover only approximately $9,000 of Traill’s annual costs.

This means that many large items such as salary, space charges (rent), and maintenance have to be covered from the ancillary fees collected from undergraduate students.

In response to the question Groarke raised about the budget in his article, Tindale and Eamon both talked about how alumni support could be very important to Traill’s future financial success.

“The key budget issues were elaborated upon [at the meeting]; but no concrete suggestions were made at that time; it was agreed that an endowment (possibly with alumni support) would be key to the College being more independent,” explained Eamon in his meeting summary.

“I would imagine if they’re Traill alumni, then Traill has played an important role in not just their education, but [also] a lot of their social life. I’d be very interested in how they see the success of Traill in the future,” Tindale said.

“If there are students who wanted to move to Traill and been prevented from doing that by the bureaucracy involved, those individuals should certainly make themselves known to me while I’m there,” Tindale encouraged.

All photos by Samantha Moss

Volume 50 | Issue 14 | January 25, 2016

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Feature

Dissent and solidarity: a word with Ziysah on Peter Robinson College

“ Protest was a valued thing that students were encouraged to do.

Students were at Trent for that history. That’s what attracted us to the University. That’s what attracted us to taking action. And far from being applauded for doing something we believed in, Bonnie called the police and asked them to arrest us.

Pictured: Ziysah

My Student Loan (2013). Bonnie Patterson was very candid with them in the beginning, as she thought they were doing a positive film about the campus. She referred to students as captive customers in terms of corporate sales. When she realized that they were supporting the demonstration, they were banned from campus.

What brought you to Peter Robinson College?

Ziysah: I was a total Trent nerd, so I was reading up on it and following it on the news when I was still in high school. Trent was in the news because people were already protesting the idea of Peter Robinson closing. I knew that Peter Robinson was known for being queer and activist, and that’s where I wanted to go. I already had an affinity for the College even though I had never been there. There was an OPIRG group called the Downtown Action Group (DAG) that knew that there was a plan to close Peter Robinson down, so they were already organizing the pushback. DAG included professors, TAs, grad students, and undergraduated students. I started going to DAG meetings when I showed up.

Did you witness anything suspicious in terms of administrative behaviour?

By Yumna Leghari and Zara Sayed Co-editors

In 2001, Trent students barricaded themselves in the Vice President’s office for three days.

They were fighting for transparent democratic representation regarding changes to the the impending closure of Peter Robinson College. They demanded that democratic processes be reviewed at the university, to ensure that decisions were being made fairly. Students, professors, artists, and community members came together in a show of solidarity. Eight individuals arrested via order of former Trent University President, Bonnie Patterson. An unforseen response, this contradicted Trent’s tradition of healthy student protest.

Arthur spoke to Ziysah, who was one of the eight who remained locked in the Vice President’s office for three full days. Despite the narrative of the “Trent Eight” that has permeated the retelling and press coverage of this story, countless people were involved in the protest against former Trent president Bonnie Patterson’s decision to sell Peter Robinson. What follows is a one on one with Ziysah that delves into the process behind the protest, and what followed.

When did you come to Trent?

Ziysah: I came to Trent in 2000. I was really interested in social justice and inequality. It’s interesting because there is a rich and diverse immigrant community in Peterborough and there’s also a rich network of not-for-profit community organizers and activists that aren’t necessarily connected to Trent. You think that everything is happening at Trent, and that the rest of the community is boring and unlearned. People would say, “I can’t wait to finish my four years so I can get out of this town,” and I’m like, “Have you even looked at this town?

Have you gone to an event that isn’t a Trent event?” I was fortunate enough to meet people in the community who showed me this side of Peterborough.

Why is it important to have figures at Trent and in the community re-tell stories?

Ziysah: The institution erases you from memory. Stories are being erased from public memory. We didn’t know about anything that people had done in the past and we learned about it overtime.

Ziysah: I’m pretty sure that they were intentionally re-routing students who wanted to be a part of Peter Robinson, and putting them on main campus. I had friends who requested Peter Robinson but they were put on main campus. I had more than one friend that was told that Peter Robinson was full, meanwhile none of my roommates had requested to be a part of Peter Robinson.

What did you know about the Colleges at the time?

Ziysah: When I was deciding on going to university, I read the Maclean’s university issue, and it talked about each college at Trent. It said that if you were an activist or into art, Peter Robinson was the place. If you’re kind of like a hippy who plays hacky-sack, go to Traill. Champlain and Otonabee were the jockey ones.

What was it like in the early days of your arrival?

Ziysah: We got into our townhouses, and the first event was a talk with the college head George Nader. We went into Sadleir House and we were all crowded around these tables.

Nader was speaking in this British accent and it felt like Harry Potter. It felt candlelit. Nader had a British accent. He was telling us about the traditions of Peter Robinson and the feeling of it as a community, along with the rules of course.

Was it a welcoming atmosphere?

Ziysah: Yeah, but it wasn’t welcoming the way I would be welcoming. It felt really intimate, like, there was a rich, very special tradition and space. I felt excited to be a part of it. It was very collegial even though the houses were shabby and my bedroom wall was concrete bricks.

Sadleir House was a beautiful building, but our rooms weren’t particularly inspiring. It was more that we were a part of a community and that we were downtown and a part of Trent.

When did you decide to become super involved and fight this thing?

So, an oral history keeps institutional memory alive?

Ziysah: I just started going to the meetings. I was committed to it right away, no one had to convince me of anything. I absolutely believed everything I was hearing, and then I started going to the Board of Governors meetings whenever they were open, and protested what was being said.

Ziysah: Yes. That’s why it’s cool that there are documentaries out there that tell the story, like

What was the Board discussing at the time?

”

Ziysah: They were making economic arguments that in order for the University to be financially viable, they needed to close the downtown colleges. They kept talking about deferred maintenance, saying that they couldn’t keep Peter Robinson opened because of the many millions of dollars of deferred maintenance. Deferred maintenance is something they intentionally didn’t do over many years. As students, we had been paying our fees and they hadn’t been using those fees to maintain our campus, and then they were telling us, “We have to close your campus because we haven’t been maintaining the colleges.”

Was there resistance at the meetings?

Ziysah: We thought as young people, let’s just tell them how we feel. Let’s just show them what people want. You can see how that was being done already, through petitions, letters, and emails, and being totally ignored. Like, they weren’t even pretending to care or looking into the complaints. We were not asked to be on any committee. We were just told “no” and kicked out of the meetings.

How many were involved in the protest?

Ziysah: There were so many of us. The coverage somehow branded us as the “Trent 8”, but there were so many people involved that the term actually devalued the efforts. It was sort of unfortunate that it became known as the Trent 8 because there were all these people who were not locked in the room, but were there the whole time doing media communication, crowd control, and getting us what we needed. They were taking our buckets of pee out the window because we didn’t have a bathroom, right? People were doing stuff like that, and working a lot harder than I was. I wanted to be a physical body, despite my lack of skill. I was happy to be locked in there for as long as it took.

Were professors involved?

Ziysah: Oh yes, and artists in the community. There were events and parties. It really brought everyone together. The Administration is threatened by relationships between professors and students. If professors and students care about each other at a basic human level, it isn’t easy for Administration to pull the wool over anyone’s eyes. Politicized professors and students are a dangerous threat to administration.

How did you occupy the Vice President’s office?

Ziysah: We knew how to go about it properly, we had researched it. We were the biggest nerds in a good way. We had done training so that we knew exactly how to take the office in a way that would be non-confrontational. We had training where the idea was not to be aggressive, but to be really assertive and clear that this was happening. We had trained to assert that the people we were taking the office from were going to be happier if they were on the outside.

Some of them were more stubborn than others, and some of them were scared. So, yeah, we went in and asked everyone to leave.

Were you all students?

Ziysah: Yes, we were all undergraduates.

What were your demands?

Ziysah: We had a list of demands. One of them was “stop the closure of Peter Robinson College.” But it wasn’t, like, “stop it, never close it.” It was “stop this and have a democratic process.” Another demand was looking at the democratic system of Trent, and doing an assessment of it. Just to make sure that the democratic process was functioning. So, it wasn’t so much of a do this, and don’t do that, it was have a commitee on this, and have fair representation.

How did Bonnie Patterson react?

Ziysah: Bonnie said right away that our terms were non-negotiable, and would not talk to us.

That’s just who she is. Somebody asked her neighbour about her, and the neighbour said this thing about how Bonnie is a person who just gets up in the morning, gets into her car, and it doesn’t matter what the weather is, even if it’s an ice storm, she just drives straight ahead. She is focused on her goal and that’s it.

How did you feel about Bonnie’s refusal to negotiate?

Ziysah: Our voices were never valued. At all. There was no way for us to have any impact on things that were happening at our school. That was not the history of Trent I knew. I knew that people had occupied offices in the past at Trent, and that the President had interacted with them. In one case, he ordered them pizza. This went against everything Trent was about.

Protest was a valued thing that students were encouraged to do. And new students, this particular group of students, were at Trent for that history. That’s what attracted us to the University. That’s what attracted us to taking action. And far from being applauded for doing something we believed in, Bonnie called the police and asked them to arrest us.

Tell us about the arrest.

Ziysah: Bonnie called the cops and told them when the best time would be to come and arrest us. It was in the middle of the night, when the least supporters were there, and when we were the least on guard. Essentially, she directly told them what to do.

They arrived as riot cops in full gear, handcuffed us, and dragged us out. They strip searched everybody and put us in jail.

They talked to each of us individually, and tried to pit us against each other. They used standard manipulative tactics, which we had trained for. We knew not to believe them and to remain in solidarity. They transported us to the courthouse in the morning, and we were given bail.

Essentially, we were only allowed to be in residence or in class. If we had to be anywhere else on campus, we had to make appointments. All the administrators had posters with our faces on it on their desks.

Do you think you committed a crime?

Ziysah: We knew how to go about the protest properly. Bonnie had orchestrated our arrest in a way that was totally unnecessary. We researched the history of dissent, and were basically going to argue that we were following in the history of our predecessors whom we valued, and that was a valued tradition at Trent. We had done our research and the University had never called the police or charged anyone, so we thought that this was something that was acceptable.

We knew that Bonnie wasn’t going to budge, therefore we knew that she was incongruent to the traditions of Trent. Regardless, we wanted to follow in the history of our school.

What were you charged with?

Ziysah: We were charged with criminal mischief. They could have just charged us with trespassing, but they decided to charge us with the harshest thing that they could. The hearing date was set for the next Fall, and we had months in which we had to fundraise money to pay the lawyer and prepare for the trial. All these Trent people came out to support us at the courthouse.

What was the trial process like?

Ziysah: A few days before the trial, they offered us a conditional discharge. After we had already raised all this money and spent it on legal feels and even practiced being interviewed on the witness stand, they give us this offer that if we plead guilty to criminal mischief, we would have to do community service, and after a few years, it would be erased off of our criminal records. They would only offer it if we all agreed to it, so we felt we had to accept it because of the risk.

What was it like, knowing it was over?

Ziysah: It was messed up because if they had offered us that in the beginning… they just waited until we were burnt out. We had spent so long fundraising, we were exhausted. All of a sudden, it was over. We were going to put Bonnie on the stand and expose all of the antidemocratic things she had done. We weren’t able to do that.

Thank you for re-visiting a very difficult time for us.

Ziysah: It was traumatic but also a nostalgic time. It was the reason I came to Trent: to be a part of a community that was basically dying when I got there. I got to be there for that, not to say that it isn’t still here now. We actually had a funeral for PR [Peter Robinson College].

Is there anything that you want Trent students to know or to take from this re-telling?

All photos provided by David Tough

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Ziysah: I want people in the community to know that they come from a rich history of creative demonstration and resistance that can be credited for a lot of what is still awesome about Trent. Other ways are possible. The University should belong to the students. It should be up to us how we want the University to run.

Volume 50 | Issue 14 | January 25, 2016

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community

Anti- Poverty Week

By OPIRG & Peterborough Housing Co-Op

OPIRG and the Peterborough Student Housing Co-op have collaborated on Anti-Poverty Week – a week of events happening January 23 to 29.

The week’s aim is to raise awareness and create an impact in anti-poverty work in Peterborough.

Peterborough has some of the highest poverty rates in Ontario. This week, we hope to synthesize campus and community poverty issues, and to take actions that will have an immediate impact on poverty in Peterborough.

On Monday, January 25, a community dialogue on poor-bashing and its impacts will take place at Black Honey from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m..

Then, from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m., there will be a panel discussion in the Gathering Space on Mental Health and Poverty.

Food Not Bombs will serve their usual Monday night community meal at Confederation Park; arrive at 3:30 p.m. to help cook, or join us at 6:30 p.m. to enjoy it. Then, at 7 p.m. at Sadleir House, there will be a talk on food banks and their limitations with the specific context of the OPIRG Food Cupboard.

On Tuesday, January 26, come to Seeds of Change to learn about practical strategies for eating healthy on a limited budget while cooking a community meal (11:30 p.m. to 2 p.m., please RSVP).

Then join us at Sadleir House from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. and learn about basic income as a practical method of poverty alleviation and strategies to implement it with Nourish Peterborough and Basic Income Peterborough Network. From 7 p.m.

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to 9 p.m., the Peterborough Student Housing Co-op is presenting a panel discussion on housing insecurity at Sadleir House.

On Wednesday, there will be a launch of OPIRG’s research findings on Campus Food Security with a question and answer period and visioning session for food security models on campus from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. at OC 207.

From 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. at Sadleir House, Fiona White will give a presentation on Poverty in Schools, using Peterborough as a case study.

Then, City Councillor Diane Therrien and OPIRG anti-poverty activism working group will host a workshop on the ins and outs of doing anti-poverty activism from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. at Gzowski 345.

On Thursday, the day will start with a discussion from the Revolutionary Student Movement on how class is enacted in the University in LEC 212 from 12 p.m. to 2 p.m..

From 5 p.m. to 6 p.m., come out to Sadleir House to learn about the Free Market and tips for finding gems in a sustainable, anti-capitalist fashion.

A popular education and art workshop on how to translate ideas about poverty in Peterborough into art will take place at Sadleir House from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m..

Finally, on Friday, January 29, come to Black Honey from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. for a workshop hosted by OPIRG on how to write letters to politicians, with a focus on living wage but with resources for multiple issues.

All students, faculty, staff, administration, and community members are encouraged to attend all events. Hope to see you there!

Welcome to the Free Market

By Crystal McGarth

“If you have a job, why do you use the Free Market?”

This is a common misunderstanding that comes up, one I’d like to set straight.

The Free Market opened it doors in 2005 with the efforts of a small group of Trent students.

The aim was to keep clothing out of the landfill, and to recycle it and provide it to people who could use it.

Everybody is welcome to stop by and take what they want. The key word here is “everybody.”

No matter who you are, come on in and see what we got. We don’t ask for ID and we don’t need any proof of income. The outcome of this is that we, as humans, need clothing for survival.

The need to feel good is expressed in our clothing style. We believe this is important for everyone.

We also believe this basic need should be provided, and this is why the Free Market is, well, free.

There is no pressure to donate and you are free to take what you want. There is no three-item limit. The Free Market policy has always been “take what you want.”

There is more than enough to make sure everybody can get something. The small space is over-filled with clothing, shoes, bed sheets, school supplies, toys, and books.

This common worry can be debunked when you step into the Free Market.

Donations are gladly accepted, and bins are available around the Trent campus as well as outside Sadleir House. Two bins are also located at Bata library in front of the

Tim Horton’s.

For the past 11 years now, these donations have helped keep Peterborough landfills free of clothing. They have helped in showing what the word “recycling” is all about.

The movement doesn’t stop with the Free Market. With the help of Fleming College students, two versions of the Free Market can now be found at the two main Fleming campuses (Peterborough and Lindsay).

There are huge amounts of clothing donations that come into the Free Market.

Volunteers, staff, and board members are the reason why the Free Market doors are opened every week.

The Free Market is open every Wednesday from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m., and every Thursday and Friday from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m..

This misunderstanding has been cleared up for those who come in and use the free service.

The Free Market has welcomed people in from across Canada – people from as far as Chatham-Kent have even come down to use the service!

Come on by and see what we have to offer. And make sure to spread the word. Word of mouth will make sure that others who don’t come due to these misunderstanding can make use of this service.

Visit us online at opirgptbo.ca/freemarket/ and see what we have to offer. For 11 years, the Free Market has been a staple in OPIRG services and we hope these services help everyone that comes in, so come on by and see what free stuff we have to offer! Stay tuned for a free giveaway day coming up.

community

BE Catering opens its doors on Charlotte Street Photos by Samantha Moss

By Jordan Porter

Chances are, if you are familiar with Traill College, you have, at one point or another, wandered into The Trend for a bite to eat.

You probably haven’t made many decisions better than this, after trying out some delicious mac-n-cheese, or sharing a plate of chicken nachos over a glass of ChurchKey Red and having a laugh with the friendly staff.

If you don’t find yourself at Traill College all that often, and you haven’t had the chance to try out what could arguably be one of the best catering establishments in Peterborough, never fear.

In mid-December of 2015, BE Catering opened up shop at the corner of Charlotte St. and Park St. in downtown Peterborough. I had the chance to meet up with chef proprietor Bonnie as well as Simon, her manager and right-hand man, at the new location for lunch on Tuesday afternoon.

It was a sunny day on Tuesday, and the second I walked in, I felt like I could probably get a suntan if I stayed for long enough.

With bay windows making up just about every inch of available wall space in the restaurant, the atmosphere was very light and uplifting.

There was some locally-made craftsmanship in the wall bar as well as the long table where, what looked like many young professionals and students were busy tacking away on their computers and going over notes while enjoying the sun as well as a hot coffee and sandwiches.

I got a chance to speak with Bonnie’s right-hand man Simon at length about how the business began, and asked him to try and dive into how they have arrived at where they are today.

“We crunched out a business plan over the weekend back in the ‘90s in order to meet the Monday deadline for the CFDC

[Community Futures Development Corporation], and expansion is something we’ve been thinking about for about three or four years now, and somebody mentioned to get in touch with the CFDC. One thing

tain times of the year.

“The possibilities are endless because of how talented Bonnie is,” Simon said.

Simon then got down to the meat of the company and how they have been able to

led to another and here we are,” he shared.

At their new location, BE is offering frozen, ready-made meals like all sorts of soups, chili, stews, meat and veggie lasagnas, different types of potpies including chicken, turkey, and veggie, and many more, including holiday favourites at cer-

survive in the Peterborough community, first at Traill for close to four years, and now here downtown.

This led us onto the subject of where this entire product comes from that goes into this delicious food, and I was pleasantly surprised to learn that everything from the

bread to the meat is local product.

“A great chef has the ability to be presented something from a farmer, and make it into something amazing, and Bonnie certainly has that skill,” Simon explained.

“Farmers are constantly walking through our door with boxes of veggies and things, looking to get their product into capable hands.”

BE Catering, with Bonnie and Simon at the helm, is quickly becoming a Peterborough landmark.

With a prominent reputation already established in the Trent community, and now with a chic downtown location, it won’t be long before Peterborough locals will make a habit of stopping in for some fresh, local food and will enjoy doing so for a number of different reasons.

For starters, you can’t find a friendlier and more amicable team than Simon and Bonnie; second, the food is amazing!

After meeting with Simon, I was treated to a signature chicken club sandwich that was anything but ordinary.

Thirdly, and quite possibly most importantly, in supporting this amazing local establishment, you are in turn supporting local farmers, bakers, and butchers, just to name a few.

It is small, dedicated businesses like these that give Peterborough that X factor, which is obvious especially to any out-of-towner, myself included.

Okay, now go get some soup from Bonnie. It’s cold outside.

Volume 50 | Issue 14 | January 25, 201 6

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Community

Peterborough invests in public arts for 2016 and beyond

By Troy Bordun

Peterborough wowed its residents last summer with Kirsten McCrea’s Hunter Street Bridge Mural Project. In collaboration with Artspace, the city funded a competition for any artist, local or otherwise, to paint under the bridge. Toronto’s McCrea

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won the opportunity and she huddled under the gigantic arch for the better part of a month. Artspace’s Jon Lockyer and Bec Groves organized and managed McCrea’s stay in Peterborough as well as the opening ceremony back in October.

The City and the Downtown Business Improvement Association (DBIA) now

wants more public art. On January 12, Public Art Coordinator Wendy Trusler issued a press release for “Wall Call and All.” The “Downtown Public Art Opportunity” asks businesses and landlords to donate a portion of their walls, doors, windows, staircases or any other spot of their buildings for the purpose of accessible art.

Artspace’s Lockyer is very enthusiastic about the City-funded initiative. “Following on what I think was a very successful 2015 public arts campaign for the City of Peterborough, it’s really great to see a continued interest from both the media and the public in terms of what will be happening downtown in 2016.”

Lockyer continues, “I think what the City of Peterborough, the DBIA, and Artspace [referring to the next bridge mural project] have committed to over the next several years is an ambitious project that will bring new life to the city, [and] bring an increased awareness of the diversity of contemporary art practices to the larger community.”

I met with Trusler to further discuss the “Wall Call.” She likewise expressed enthusiasm about the project and the opportunities it provides the City. Trusler believes that the public art sites will enliven and activate the spaces; they will transform uninhabitable space to inhabitable space. She provided the example of the Hunter Street Bridge Mural – residents can and now want to spend time under the archway, with the art and with each other.

She further clarified that the new public art will remain on the sites for four to six years, in consultation with the businesses and landlords, of course. The site submissions will be evaluated by an eclectic jury composed of individuals with expertise in contemporary art, design, building construction, architecture, history, and cultural tourism. So, this is not the Paris Salon of the early 1860s – their juries were made up of a tight-knit group of academics from the same School. The Public Art Project

will emphasize diversity of art, spaces, and tastes.

Business owners and landlords may not be entirely familiar with the idea of a mural, Trusler mentioned. A mural does not necessarily have to be a grand work; in fact, spaces large and small will do. Additionally, the surface of the wall is not terribly important: paintings, ceramics, collages, and mosaics can be affixed to walls as well as painted directly onto the concrete or bricks.

Trusler hopes that Peterborough might become known for its public art (and thereby become a larger cultural centre in Ontario). This opportunity will hopefully reveal more sophisticated approaches to public art, and we discussed the idea of a public art walking tour once multiple installations are complete.

The deadline to submit a site is January 29 by 4 p.m.. The application process is simple: a letter identifying the site as well as images and dimensions of the proposed area (and adjacent structures). Selected sites will be shortlisted for possible artistic developments over the next five years. The call is not limited to businesses and landlords. Trusler encourages residential tenants to approach their landlords if they feel their building would be an exceptional spot for public art.

Trusler’s endeavour is, undeniably, an exciting bit of news for Peterborough culture. Run-down spaces will be enlivened by local and national artists. Combined with the continued work on the Hunter Street Bride Mural over the next few years, the Electric City may very well earn the title of Ontario’s mural capital.

The City will announce the downtown sites on February 29 with completion of the first public art piece scheduled for the Fall.

For more information about the Public Art Progra, visit peterboroughdbia.com/news/ wall-call-all.

Troy Bordun volunteers on the board of directors at Artspace.

comic by ad astra comix

Community

From a customer’s perspective: Planet of Stuff

By Tyler Majer

The coolest shindig around is a little store called Planet of Stuff. I recently visited the store because the owner requested it, but also simply out of well-timed curiosity. I have driven by the store many times, and have always said to myself, “Oh, I wanna check that place out.” Being prompted to show up just made it all the more convenient.

Planet of Stuff is located close to the intersection of Hunter St. and Stewart St..

Although not far from downtown, getting there has a sort of mystique. It is tucked away just enough to feel almost secret, like a hidden gem.

The first thing you see when you walk into the store is a medium-sized sign pointing towards an older style house. The area doesn’t look like one that would house a shop such as Planet of Stuff.

However, the store’s logo, which looks like a combination of an old-school comic book cover and an Elvira-esque B grade movie title, points towards the same house that once felt odd. Seeing the logo smiling back at you from the top of the entranceway creates a warm welcome from a house that looks sort of like your grandparents’.

Once inside, you will be transported to a different time. The store creates nostalgia for a time that some may never have lived through. However, walking through the doors will make many feel connected to or reminiscent of a time long gone.

Immediately to the right of the entrance is a rack of novels, a mixture of television, and movie-based serials, combined with vintage sci-fi, horror, and fantasy authors that have been lost in the shelves of time.

The store’s layout is reminiscent of a simpler time as well: one long hallway with a room directly to the left, a room straight ahead, and a kitchen-turned-office in the middle. Looking around, you can sense the memories of people long passed. Children rushing, adults hushing, grandparents gasping and aweing seem to be whispered in the actual fabric of the house itself.

It is almost too hard for me to describe the way the store makes me feel. It is a reminiscent of a time so long ago and so distant from my lifetime, that trying to put the

atmosphere of the store in words is almost an insult to the store itself, and the era it’s reflecting.

Each room is filled with – for lack of a better description – the coolest stuff. Vintage figurines are found, both packaged, and unpackaged, but never brand new.

Comic books boxes line some of the floors, board games call to be played, and posters, pictures, and even more books long to be looked at and leafed through. A rack of musty clean t-shirts sit in the entranceway of the first room, as if to say, “You can’t resist. If I don’t get you on the way in, I’ll get you on the way out.”

The middle hallway is lined with a shelf filled with pop culture souvenirs. Coffee cups, glasses, vintage lunch boxes, and plates give reference to eras from the 1950s onwards. The room straight ahead is filled with similar things as the first: books, toys, board games, vintage items, and collectibles. Basically anything that a collector could want could be found, at one point or another, roaming around Planet of Stuff. It is a store that, although slightly out of the way, is worth going to. It is infinitely cool.

Everybody should take an hour out of their day, take a little walk, and look around at the memories that fill Planet of Stuff. Memories that, although may be not yours, are held by someone else, and call back to a time simpler, cooler, and wholly different than the one we live in today.

Call it old school, nostalgia, collectible or even vintage; Planet of Stuff is actually only one thing: and that is awesome.

Photos by Samantha Moss

Volume 50 | Issue 14 | January 25, 2016

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Arts

What happens next? TACSU and Shots nightclub mediation By the Trent African and Caribbean Student Association and Shots Nightclub

On November 14, 2015, an event held at Shots nightclub hosted by the Trent African and Caribbean Student Association (TACSU) was shut down before it finished.

This was an Afrobana after party.

For both TACSU members and Shots staff, this was a distressing incident that caused tension and anger. Representatives from both sides met in early December for a mediated discussion in order to work on resolving the issues.

Both sides shared their concerns.

TACSU felt they were being treated differently from other patrons, and perceived that this could be due to racism, while Shots staff members said they were dealing with liquor license violations and some incidents of aggression. There was confusion over why there was a separate TACSU event line, for example.

It was intended to expedite entry into the event, but it wasn’t effective as most people arrived at the peak entry time.

Furthermore, there wasn’t clear communication between Shots staff members and event organizers, so it wasn’t clear what the issues were or why the event was being shut down.

TACSU acknowledged there were some individuals who caused problems, but they

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would also like to emphasize that they were just individuals, not the whole community.

TACSU had a concern about reinforcing stereotypes and how the behaviour some individuals were being projected onto the entire group. TACSU said they were now much more aware of the challenges in running a licensed establishment as well as concerns about liquor license violations and staff safety.

Shots managers acknowledged that they now better understand how their staff ’s actions on the night of the event could be interpreted, regardless of intention, and that experiences are different for those who constantly face systemic racism. They emphasized that they have many different student groups holding events at the bar, and that they are committed to successful student events as well as student safety and the well-being and safety of their staff members.

Both groups wanted to move forward and find solutions, particularly in terms of better communication between student groups and the nightclub, better and safer event planning, and better awareness of the impact of systemic racism and how, even if it is unintentional, staff members’ actions can be interpreted as discriminatory. This event caused distress for both students and the bar staff, which both parties want to prevent in the future. The mediation came up with the following solutions:

Shots has existing anti-oppression training, and sensitivity training for security.

To supplement this, the manager will meet with Shots staff and ensure that they understand how their actions were interpreted, and that they have a better understanding of the effects of systemic racism.

In order to facilitate better planning and communication, Shots will amend their student event booking process to include a face-to-face meeting with organizers prior to the event. During this meeting, they will address any concerns the group has, and cover issues such as licensing laws, venue expectations, door procedures, and how any problems will be handled.

They will also ensure that the student group understands the consequences for the venue if the licensing laws are violated.

They and the student group will identify student executive members who will be key contacts, and they’ll work out a communications plan for the duration of the event (e.g. having executives’ cell numbers so they can be texted if needed, asking an executive member to help with a situation if there is a problem with an individual, etc.). They will also conduct debriefs with student groups after events.

TACSU will ensure communication with their members about expectations for attending an event and consequences for an establishment if licensing laws are violated. This will include ensuring that their

members respect the space. TACSU will also ensure that there is planning and communication done well in advance with the venue. They will look at ways to discourage pre-drinking, too, and will encourage coming to the venue earlier to help avoid long lineups or tension at the door. They will also work with venue staff to deal with any problems if they arise during the event.

Shots will liaise with the TCSA every year to help with planning clubs/groups event training, risk management including how to have safer events, understanding of working with licensed establishments, and understanding the needs of students. It’s hoped that this will in fact show leadership among off-campus venues for better event planning with student groups.

This mediation developed productive ideas moving forward. Better understanding of both sides on the one hand of the impact of systemic discrimination, and on the other of the challenges in managing a licensed establishment, helped create awareness between the two parties.

Everyone involved was thanked for their hard work in building these solutions together, and both sides hope that implementing these initiatives will improve communication, help create safer events for both students and venue staff, increase understanding of the challenges faced by licensed venues, and heighten awareness of systemic racism that many students face.

ReFrame Film Festival 2016

By Keith Hodder

Come Friday, January 29, the ReFrame International Film Festival will open its doors to the Peterborough film-going community. The theatres will be primed, a line of excited movie lovers from across the world will surely run through it, and across three locations a carefully curated selection of films will share their message in the moving light. One of the first of over 60 films, Druglawed, a New Zealand feature documentary, will make its Canadian premiere.

Despite its national heritage, Druglawed focuses on how the war on drugs initiated by the United States has had a massive influence not only in New Zealand, but across our planet as the whole. Their argument focuses primarily on marijuana to expose the hypocrisy of the governments that have been influenced by corporations and war agendas in an effort to weed out cannabis culture.

The film utilizes interviews, intriguing archival footage and recordings, and is bookended by quotes from historical icons to introduce not only where the fear of reefer madness stemmed from, but also the more pressing issues that have been ignored.

Druglawed’s effort is extensive. The film explores a wide range of history that begins in New Zealand’s early colonial days when cannabis was respected and used as a viable medicinal treatment to the present day, where an elderly and retired pharmacist with 20 years of experience is under home arrest for treating her arthritis with the drug. This serves as a prime example of the film’s wonderful contrast that supports its argument throughout.

But some may initially dismiss this film.

The cries for marijuana acceptance have been loud and long for decades, and those of a conservative nature may pass on this feature given their first impression.

Druglawed viewers will understand this outlook, but will also be introduced to how such views were meticulously constructed in the first place. With that said, there is a message here that should be heard, and the film employs interviews with former police

officers, lawyers, academics, and government officials who acknowledge the facts and speak out for a reconsideration of the law. It’s a wonderful surprise and goes to show how far the filmmakers were willing to go to have their message understood loud and clear. This isn’t your grandfather’s protest. Druglawed is beyond your typical hippie fare.

Credit is due to filmmaker Arik Reiss, writer Yuki Sato, and Section 18 media for creating an extensive, yet focused story.

Aspiring documentarians and editors, take note: this is how an intricate and detailed plot is focused into something that general audiences can come to understand and learn from.

Nothing feels blatant and all the presented material has a purpose and doesn’t feel thrown in. This message is carefully woven from start to finish – flowing from President Nixon’s world-changing regulations, to how we’ve been distracted from acknowledging that government-supported legal drugs (alcohol, tobacco, and pharmaceuticals) have caused far more harm than cannabis, and how this aids the businesses that support prisons. The statistics and facts are both shocking and clear, and it shouldn’t be any other way.

It’s evident why the ReFrame team chose Druglawed as one of the festival’s first films.

It grabs your attention with stylistic, clever, and amusing visuals, and refuses to let go.

At first you’re drawn by what you see, but as the film continues you’re stilled by the well-prepared selection of supporting evidence that is impossible to ignore.

Druglawed is a potent and memorable documentary that frees itself of the negative connotations surrounding cannabis culture and elevates it into an educated and informative discussion that is framed in a historical context.

Druglawed will be screened at Market Hall on Friday, January 29 at 7:30 p.m. as part of the ReFrame International Film Festival. Festival passes are $20 for students and can be purchased at www.reframefilmfestival.ca. Should you wish to volunteer at the festival, more information is available on the festival’s website as well.

Arts

ReFrame Picks from Arthur

By Keith Hodder

With the ReFrame International Film Festival just around the corner, I thought it would be best to ask the Arthur team to contribute their top picks for your filmgoing pleasure.

The festival takes place Friday, Jan. 29 to Sunday, Jan. 31, and will be hosting films from all over the world. There’s a lot to choose from, so let us help you choose something that may tickle your cinematic fancy: Rebecca Harrison (Staff Writer) Burden of Peace Sunday, 2:15 p.m., The Venue The Netherlands | 2015 | 74 min Everyone wants to change the world, and we love to praise the accomplishments of those who do, but it is rare that the public gets an insight on the process of change.

This film offers exactly that: an insight into the incredibly hard work of one of the many incredible women that dedicate their lives to improving the future.

A Dangerous Game Friday, 4 p.m., The Venue UK | 2014 | 90 min Though I am annoyed and tired of hearing about Donald Trump’s presidential campaign run, it is important to recognize how destructive our educational and bureaucracy systems continue to be.

It is easy to detest the man, but to criticize the law for allowing him to carry out such projects as these golf courses is to overlook the main issue: The Law. I hope that this film will inspire many student and community members to critique our laws and how they allow destructive enterprises to be established.

Deep Web Saturday, 5 p.m., The Venue USA | 2015 | 90 min I thought the “deep web” Internet was just a concept used in drama and action films. I am excited to learn more about this secretive, international drug trade centre.

Yumna Leghari (Co-editor) A Nation Without A Homeland Friday, 4 p.m., Market Hall USA | 2015 | 11 min There is a diaspora, a certain purgatory where generations are affected by the follies of those who came before them. This film delves into current reality of displaced humans. Warith Kwaish’s aim to help Mohamed search for his parents triggers a

much larger concept; a journey to find one’s roots before the ravages of war.

The Beekeeper Sunday, 12 p.m., The Venue USA | 2013 | 107 min Within the narrative of war, where high numbers of casualties become unfathomable statistics that our brains cannot process are real human stories. Gezer is a Kurdish beekeeper who has lost everything, his friends, family, and his 500 colonies of bees.

This film portrays how the turmoil between the Turkish state and the Kurdish guerrilla has affected one man and forced him to begin a new life in Switzerland.

Keith Hodder (Arts Writer & Columnist) Frame by Frame Friday, 1:45 p.m., Market Hall Afghanistan | 2015 | 85 min Coming in with a slew of awards, Frame

by Frame is sure to impress. This documentary follows four Afghan photojournalists who, after surviving decades under the oppression of the Taliban regime, strive to build a free press that can give their country a better name. Not only is this film topical, it also goes to show how an ambitious mission can make its way around the world.

Gayby Baby Friday, 1:45 p.m., Showplace Australia | 2015 | 85 min Kids say the darnedest things, but are freed by their innocence to say the most profound. Four children speak on what life is like being raised by same-sex parents.

Not only do I expect this to stir the pot of the same-sex controversy, but I also hope to see some emotionally gripping and memorable storytelling.

Hard to Believe Sunday, 10 a.m., The Venue China | 2015 | 56 min As much as it pains me to admit it, I find this film’s dark story incredibly intriguing. It’s one of those seemingly impossible stories, which explains the film’s moniker.

If exploring China’s criminal underbelly to study physicians who are forced to do live organ harvesting on Chinese political prisoners sounds like your bag of blood, Hard to Believe is not to be missed.

Passes are $20 for students. The pass allows you to see whichever films you’d like and is incredibly affordable given the amount of films you can see on a given day. To get more information on the slate of films, and to purchase festival passes online, please visit reframefilmfestival.ca.

ReFrame 2016: Dear Araucaria & Serving Time

By Keith Hodder

While feature-length documentaries can pack a memorable punch, even the short films can leave you reeling. Both ends of the spectrum come with years worth hard work and research, but these short films are masterful in their lean editing techniques, and all without leaving anything meaningful behind.

Dear Araucaria (2015) comes from the David Gelb and Jiro Dreams of Sushi (2011) documentary filmmaking school. This film is beautiful from start to finish, and tells its story through interviews and artistic recreations of the subject’s past. The film revolves around John Graham, better known as Araucaria, who created the cryptic

crossword puzzles for The Guardian for 55 years. After a particularly alarming turn of life events, he shares a secret message with his cherished readers in the clues and answers to one of his many puzzles.

Somehow filmmaker Matt Houghton was able to tell a touching and profound story within such a lean timeframe. It’s a marvel to behold and the story will sit with you for some time. I was particularly attracted to the narrative, which stemmed from Graham’s lifelong passion for solving and creating puzzles, and it was a thrill to discover how his work had touched the lives of millions. What was even more comforting was the fact that his wonderful story had been shared and is continuing to be seen by viewers across the planet.

Serving Time (2014) is one of those feelgood stories that puts a kick in your step. It focuses on a program that takes in previously incarcerated youth and grants them an opportunity to train and work in a culinary environment. This one in particular is a food truck in New York City. The film focuses on how difficult life is for those who have “gone through the system”, and highlights why programs are necessary to not only keep them out of trouble, but to grant them with responsibility and a job so that they feel like contributing members of society.

It’s a beautifully put together short documentary, but it left me craving more. The issues and people that are introduced have stories that can surely empower a full-

length film, and I hope the filmmakers Sana Malik and Sean Liliani take this note to heart and give us something to fill our mind, heart, and soul. This is a wonderful appetizer, for sure.

Volume 50 | Issue 14 | January 25, 2016

17

Fuck The Facts at The Spill

By Troy Bordun

The Spill is one of Peterborough’s finest venues for all-ages live music of any genre.

Local and touring musicians take the small stage almost every night of the week.

Katie Green, an instructor of the punk music course in the English department and a doctoral candidate in Cultural Studies, observes that “The Spill a good spot for music” specifically because the “venue consistently strives to foster a strong sense of community support for local musicians and artists.”

She continues, “For anyone that has been inside, you can see the importance of local community on the very walls of The Spill itself, from work by Peterborough artists, to the community events board, to the High Tops neon sign that dominates the room.”

Green emphasizes the diversity of musical acts in this space and the range of events, from your afternoon coffee to a heavy metal show.

On Saturday, January 16, metal juggernauts Fuck the Facts (FTF) headlined a show at this community hub. Peterborough’s Knifehammer and Grotesque Organ Defilement (G.O.D.) were the openers.

Riley Hoffman, a local music promoter and guitarist/vocalist of G.O.D., says, “FTF gets better every time I see them.

This was my third time booking them in Peterborough and the first at The Spill.

I was amazed at how well it worked in such a small space. Huge thanks to Jon Konecny who volunteered his services on sound, recording all the bands and making the The Spill’s staff more available for bar service and supervision.”

When I arrived at The Spill mid-way through Knifehammer’s set, the venue was already packed with people of all ages.

Knifehammer played some rock songs and others bordering on thrash metal.

They find their kin with groups such as Nashville Pussy, a band that played Peterborough some months back.

Knifehammer also donned fluorescent costumes and animal-printed underwear that could only be described as some kind of hybrid of ‘80s pop and punk aesthetics.

The audience was full of cheers both during and after their songs.

G.O.D. then assaulted the audience with blast beats, blistering guitars, effectsladen vocals, and crushing bass lines.

G.O.D. has been opening metal shows in Peterborough for a few years now. They have released records, cassettes, and CDs internationally, and their latest is a split cassette with Ottawa’s The Vanishing Act. For those familiar with goregrind, an offshoot of grindcore, G.O.D. should not disappoint. They play fast – songs don’t often extend beyond the one-minute mark –, they play loud, and Hoffman’s gurgling vocals do justice to their namesake.

Gatineau’s FTF began as guitarist Topon Das’s solo project in 2000. He added vocalist Mel Monegon in the early 2000s and the two have been cranking out grindcore tunes ever since.

Similar to most metal bands’ M.O., Das and Monegon have gone through a rotating series of drummers, bassists, and sessional musicians, although Mathieu Vilandré has been on drums since about 2006.

They have a number of LPs, EPs, and splits for a host of labels, including the prominent metal label Relapse Records.

I’ve been listening to and watching FTF since 2004. Their performance at The Spill was just as remarkable as those in years past.

The new songs are strictly in the mode of grindcore. Their 2006 album for Relapse [Records] was a bit of a disappointment for me.

It resembled metalcore and tech metal acts of the time, such as Black Dahlia Murder and Through the Eyes of the Dead, or the hybrid death metal/metalcore band The Red Chord.

The Unnamed EP in 2011 was a sign of things to come. FTF is at their best when simply playing fast and noisy – and they did this exceptionally well at the show.

In an interview with Electric City Magazine (Jan. 7, 2016), Das told Gabe Pollock that FTF would be playing mostly new material for their Peterborough stop.

In 2015, the band released a new LP/ CD/cassette/digital album entitled Desire Will Rot and a split 10”/CD/digital album with Quebec City’s Fistfuck.

The newer songs I heard at The Spill now split vocal duties between Monegon’s piercing wails and bassist Marc Bourgon’s guttural shouts, more typical of grindcore.

With Das’s riffs and Vilandré’s drumming, FTF continues to be one of Canada’s best metal bands.

Listen to Desire Will Rot at fuckthefacts. bandcamp.com. To read an interview with Das, visit electriccitymagazine.ca.

Volume 50 | Issue 14 | January 25, 2016

19

listings: Want your event in the paper? Send yours to listings@trentarthur.ca

classifieds

Russian recipes! Find out all the tips and tricks from the experts!

Electric City Gardens offers a 40% Student Discount on all Entrees. Daily changing menu featuring lovingly prepared seasonally-inspired dishes. Can cater to any special dietary requirements (vegan, gluten-free, etc) and culinary cravings. (Advanced notice appreciated for menu alte rations). ECG offers attentive service in an intimate setting. Find us on Facebook.L.G.B.T. friendly. LLBO Licensed. Reservations strongly recommended: 705-7491909.

Essential Oils Workshop: Wed Feb. 3 7:00-8:30pm. Learn how to enhance your physical & emotional health this winter with essential oils. In this workshop you will, learn about the properties of various essential oils and different ways to use them in building strong immunity, fighting off colds and balancing your mood during the dark winter season’s dark winter days.

We will make some blends together as a group and you will be provided with recipes to take home in order to bring essential oils into your everyday life.

Interested in Learning how to play guitar, uke, or bass? Take lessons with Nick Ferrio at Hank to Hendrix Guitar Co. Personalized one on one instruction for beginners or intermediate players.

Contact: 70-768-7544 or nicholas.ferrio@gmail.com Contact Improvisation Dance Jam: A dance form based in mindful awareness, authentic expression, and touch. Beginners are welcome, instructions provided.

Contact: 416-996-3195.

Friday Jan. 29.

7:00pm-8:30pm

campus Exciting Opportunity! THE SEASONED SPOON IS LOOKING FOR VOLUNTEERS! Our volunteer crew did such an amazing job last semester of keeping the Spoon ship sailing! We are so grateful for their support. While many of our volunteers are staying aboard this semester, there are some new openings as well. We are excited to offer the opportunity for new volunteers to join our team! If you are interested in food issues, sustainable food systems, cooking, or simply getting involved in community building and non-profit work, volunteering at the Spoon may be the right opportunity for you! Please email spoonvolunteers@gmail.com if you are interested or for more information.

Russian Cooking: Wed January 27th 5:00 – 7:00pm at The Seasoned Spoon .$5 or pwyc. Learn how to make delicious Russian cuisine with the Trent University Russian Speakers Association. The secrets of the famous and much loved pierogi will be unveiled in this workshop as well as other traditional

Trent Sustainability: Project Animal Farm with Sonia Faruqi Reception, 6:30 pm/Talk at 7pm. Bagnani Lecture Hall, 310 London Street.

Donations accepted. Organized by Trent Sustainable Agriculture & Sustainability Studies departments with the Kawartha World Issues Centre. January 27.

Seasoned Spoon AGM: Calling all Co-op members to our AGM! This is your chance to meet and talk to board members, vote on upcoming issues and hear the future plans for the seasoned spoon! A light lunch will be supplied. February 4 at 1:00pm at the Seasoned Spoon.

Raw-Vegan Dessert Workshop: Are you a dessert lover who also wants to make healthy choices? Well this may be the workshop for you! As part of Self-love week, the Seasoned Spoon is offering this sinfully sweet workshop all about raw vegan desserts.

Learn to make a rich & delicious treats that are also healthy & nutritious at the same time. These decadent desserts are good for the mind, body and soul, a perfect selfcare solution for any season! February 10, 5:30-7:30pm. Cost-$5-10.

Future Trends for Future Careers, An Environmental Perspective: This discussion will focus on two important topics: climate change and biodiversity, as well as, feature a keynote speaker, topic to be confirmed. The event will be conference style, with ample time in between the keynote and panels to allow for networking and creative discussions between all guests. Presented in partnership by the Society for Ecological Restoration at Trent University (SER-TU) and the Office of

Student Transitions and Careers, we are happy to present this opportunity students at no cost. It will take place at Trent University on Saturday February 6, 2016 from 10:30am – 4:30pm.

Register today to confirm your spot – limited spaces are available!

Registration Link: https://ccr.trentu.ca/events.htm Project Animal Farm, a talk with Sonia Faruqi: An accidental journey into the secret world of farming and the truth about our food. Faruqi exposes the truth about the global defective food system. Presented by The Trent School of the Environment. Bagnani Hall, Wednesday January 27. Reception: 6:30,Presentation: 7-8:30pm, Book signing 8:309:00pm. Refreshments by BE Catering.

local Friday night Wave-5Rhythms Dance Gathering: Feeling tight? Dragging a weight around? Wondering if there is more to you than a talking, thinking head? Feeling a longing to shed, to let go, to explore, to break out.

Join us in this two hour dive into Gabrielle Roth’s 5Rhythms practice.

Drop into the beat and into your feet and release & renew for the month ahead! Friday Jan. 29, 7-9pm, $15. Last Friday of every month All Saints Anglican Church Parish Hall.

Share your housing Experiences: Seeds of Change wants to hear Peterborough’s housing stories. We are currently doing research with the intention of developing programming to address housing affordability issues in the downtown. If you’d like to share your lived experiences, or you’re interested in volunteering with us for this project, please email Elisha Rubacha at: elisha@seedsofchangeptbo.org.

Letter Writing to Politicians -Using your Voice to Influence Change: Learn about the ins-and-outs of writing letters to politicians in this informative workshop: how to write an impactful letter, who to send it to, and why letter writing helps. This workshop will focus on letter writing for living wage campaigns but will have additional information on how to write letters on your campaign of choice. Presented by: OPIRG Fri Jan 29, 2016, 11am-1pm at Black Honey café. Come with pens in hand and a cause to write about!

A wonderful way to get involved.

arts

KWIC World Issues Cafe with Caleb Behn: Law and Policy in the Anthropocene: “Fractured Land” as Advocacy 2.0. In partnership with ReFrame Sat night feature film @ 7pm, ShowPlace Peterborough. Free entry with ReFrame Film Festival Pass. Caleb will speak after the documentary screening. Jan. 30 Canadian Filmmaker Bruce LaBruce visits Peterborough: On February 25th, LaBruce’s Gerontophilia (2014) will be screened at Market Hall at 8pm.

The fictional film tells the story of a young man’s relationship with an elderly man. On February 26th at 10am at Traill College, LaBruce will give a seminar on his work. More details to follow. For updates email troybordun@trentu.ca Artspace Volunteer Drop-In: Join Artspace for our bi-monthly Volunteer Drop-In Saturday, January 23rd from noon - 4pm at Artspace (378 Aylmer).

We love having volunteers at Artspace and we could always use a hand around the gallery. We are currently in the process of renovating our library and could use help painting, organizing our collection of books and assisting with administrative tasks.

Artspace-arc.org.

Donna Collison & Biff Hannon Jazz Duo: 6:00-9:00 pm at Curry Village Saturday, February 6th, 2016 1-2-3 Slam! On Thursday, January 28th, come to the Spill for Peterborough Poetry Slam’s 1-2-3 finals.

The winner of this slam represents Peterborough at the Canadian Independent Poetry Slam at Verses Fest, in Vancouver this April. 11 poets will slam in the 3-min and 1-min rounds, with the top five advancing to the final 2-minute round. $5 or PWYC. Broken Harmony at The Pig’s Ear Tavern: Jane Archer and Devin McManus perform with Broken Harmony. Jan 30 at 9:00.

Watershed Hour Tape Birthing: Head to The Spill on Feb 6 at 8:00. Watershed Hour will be joined with HX KY, Sheila Beach, and Deathsticks.

Monstrandum corpus hominis: February 11-13th, 8pm at The Theatre On King (159 King St.), doors open 7:30. $10/PWYC at the door.