Volume 49 Issue 13

Volume 49 | Issue 13 | January 13, 2014

INside:

Debating the future of the college system

Photo by Jenny Fisher

Trent Planning New Teaching Assistants Local currency Trent Film Society Capital Project Planning strike vote expanding its reach Presents: The Room

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The “Arthur Hour� is on the air every Saturday at 4pm on Trent Radio, 92.7FM. that it is sadly no longer necesThisIssueinHistory:Volumes 39-48(2005-2014),Issue 13 saryThisformeans the editors to produce four pages of This edition of “This Issue in History� is a eulogy the death of a long-held Arthur’s tradition: the themes of issue 13.

Going back more than a decade, issue 13 has been an anomaly in the Arthur volume.With a month-long break in between the last issue of fall semester (issue 12) and the first issue of the winter semester, issue 13 has traditionally been given a different format from the other issues in a given volume.

And although many have speculated that this divergence from the status-quo is perpetuated annually in order to give readers a greater diversity of content, the truth is actually much more simple... and unfortunately much less thoughtful.

Since the winter semester used to start on the Monday directly following New Year’s Day, the submission deadline for issue 13 often had to be sometime between Christmas and New Years, a time which is not traditionally known for inspiring productivity. Therefore, faced with the prospect of a few pages of blank space Arthur editors often resorted to planning special themed issues in order entice writers to submit pieces on time and to make it easier to fill any gaps in content.

However, now that Trent has delayed the start of the winter semester (school starts the Wednesday of the week after New Years) it makes more sense for Arthur to publish its issue 13 on the first full week of school rather than the first half-week back.

Consequently, our writers now have ample time to celebrate the holidays, attend New Years parties, nurse their alcohol or turkey induced hangovers, and then sit down to write and submit their articles by the deadline.

content just to get the paper to print (Whew!).

So in honour of this now-lost tradition, let’s take a quick look back at some of the notable issue 13 themes from the past decade. t Some upper year students might remember the “Arthur Revisited� issue 13 from volume 46. This issue was produced by editor Miranda Rigby and included old letters to the editor, opinions, and cartoons from the Arthurs of yore. t Last year’s issue 13 had a “Letters to Trent� theme and was produced by editors Sara Ostrowska and Pat Reddick. It comprised of letters from Trent students and community members on various issues addressed to the university administration. t Volumes 39 through 43 had an issue 13 dedicated to “Looking Ahead, Looking Back�. In these issues Arthur staff would pick a particular topic and give an overview of past developments and try to envision how they would develop in the future. Some of this was tongue in cheek, of course, as in the “Alternative look at the future...� article published by editors Ariel Sharratt and James Burrows in volume 43. t Not every issue 13 is themed however, volume 45 editors Meaghan Kelly and Jes Sasche switched up the tradition and published their themed edition, “Scientific Arthurian�, in issue 12, while the themed issue was conspicuously absent in volume 44.

Do you want to check out these themed issues? Stop by Arthur’s office in Sadleir House to peruse our physical archives.

Upcoming Special Issues in 2015 Issue 17 (Feb 10): Self-love Issue Issue 18 (Feb 24): Trent Arts Issue Issue 19 (Mar 3):Women’s Issues Issue 0QJOJPOT FYQSFTTFE JO UIJT QVCMJDBUJPO EP OPU OFDFTTBSJMZ SFGMFDU UIPTF PG "SUIVS TUBGG WPMVOUFFST PS JUT #PBSE PG %JSFDUPST $POUSJCVUPST BSF FODPVSBHFE UP BUUFOE UIF TUPSZ NFFUJOHT PS DPOUBDU UIF &EJUPST UP EJTDVTT TUPSZ JEFBT "MM BSUJDMF TVCNJTTJPOT BSF EVF .POEBZ BU OPPO -FUUFST -JTUJOHT $MBTTJGJFET BOE &WFOUT BSF EVF 5IVSTEBZ BU BN BOE TIPVME CF TFOU UP MJTUJOHT!USFOUBSUIVS DB "EWFSUJTFST BSF FODPVSBHFE UP DPOUBDU BEWFSUJTJOH!USFOUBSUIVS DB GPS BE SBUFT BOE DPOUSBDUT

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All February issues will have content relevant to Black History Month.

The success of our special issues depend heavily on volunteer submissions. If you’ve ever wanted to write something for Arthur, this can be your chance. Email editors@trentarthur.ca for more info.

CampusNews Trent, Durham College, and UOIT planning new joint building

By Caleigh Boyle

In Trent’s 2014 Strategic Mandate Agreement, the university administration made it clear that “develop[ing] strong partnerships and collaborations with external communities, professions, and other institutions” was going to be an important building block of the future.

Now, Trent is now taking its first steps towards achieving this vision as it is planning an important new capital project in conjunction with Durham College and the University of Ontario Institute for Technology (UOIT).

“Originally Trent wanted to expand on its own campus, but when that was not a possibility Trent joined with the two other institutions,” explained Joe Muldoon, Head of Trent University’s Oshawa Campus.

Trent, Durham College and UOIT have all come together to plan a building that will be shared jointly between the three institutions to create a more cohesive and accessible learning environment for students.

By joining these three institutions together, a trifecta of education is created in a single space, marrying a university, a college, and technical institution, each with their own strengths. This collaboration will mean both additional spots for students

and the facilitation of inter-institutional transfers.

Although Trent has existing ties with colleges such as Fleming, Durham, and Loyalist, this shared building will only increase the number of educational options for its students.

Trent also has ties with UOIT through the Trent-UOIT Synergy Project and according to last year’s SMA “the institutions are exploring a new level of systems thinking that brings individual institutional strengths in humanities, science, and social science.”

“There has always been collaboration between the institutions and the new building will likely lead to increased academic collaboration,” says Muldoon. “In 2014-15 Trent and UOIT developed a new joint Kinesiology program where students take the first two years at Trent Peterborough before moving to UOIT to finish their degree. Trent has recently signed a GAS (General Arts & Science) articulation agreement with Durham College that will allow students to do their first year at Durham and then transfer to Trent into second year.”

Muldoon guesses that the approvals from the government will come through sometime in the spring of 2015. If and

Trent University’s current Thornton Road Campus in Oshawa. Courtesy of Trent University.

when the proposals are approved the building will be 57,000 square feet and cost over $200 million dollars. “The current design has three buildings joined on the second floor,” he says. “The current Trent University Durham campus located at Thornton Rd. will continue to be the focal point of Trent University and new interdisciplinary programs in Child and Youth Studies and Cultural Heritage Management are being developed.”

With the new building comes the promise of more programs and “this process will create greater choice and mobility for students, increase research collaborations between the institutions, and increase ineffi-

ciencies,” explains Muldoon. “The Ontario Government is engaged in trying to make education more accessible.

They see the synergy amongst the three institutions (two universities and a college) as potentially a model for other institutions working together to make the system more student friendly with less duplication,” says Muldoon.

With more than 20 proposals being reviewed by the government at this time Trent is now waiting to receive approval for this major capital project.

If approved, this project could mark a major change in the direction of Trent University’s growth in the coming years.

Negotiations stall between Trent and Teaching Assistant union

By Caileigh Morrison

After five days of bargaining in November and December, CUPE Local 3908 Unit 2 and Trent University are going to conciliation. Though some progress was made, the groups reached an impasse, mostly over financial matters.

CUPE 3908 Unit 2 is comprised of students employed as Teaching Assistants, Academic Assistants, Proctors, Lab Demonstrators, and Lab Advisors at Trent.

Generally, these are Master’s and PhD students working with undergraduate students in seminar rooms and labs.

According to Unit 2 VP Phil Abbott, the bargaining team’s main goals are to negotiate an agreement that would reduce the incidence of working unpaid hours, protect existing funding, and keep current wages and benefits from being eroded by rising costs. “Tuition has increased more than our wages in the past three years, as has the amount we pay for our health plan.

We don’t want to fall even further behind in the next three years.”

Rising levels of grad student debt are part of the motivation for the members of the Local. “Almost all of what I earn as a

TA, I pay back to Trent as tuition and fees”, says Gary Larsen. “I am very concerned that if tuition hikes keep going up faster than wages, it will make it that much more difficult for me to start a life after gradu-

ating.” A recent study by TD Bank found that high levels of student debt were leading many post-graduate students to delay goals such as starting a family, getting married, and buying a house.

“It’s very frustrating”, says Stephen Horner, President of the Local. “TAs play such a vital role in the undergraduate experience. Now we are being told that there is an expectation for them to accept a twoyear wage freeze while Trent continues to take more money out of their pockets every year. This is an unconscionable way to try to balance the books.”

According to the bargaining team, they expect to continue negotiations and hope that the conciliation process will be productive.

A strike vote is planned for January, but the bargaining team emphasizes that a strike would not be called unless it was impossible to otherwise negotiate an agreement that met the mandate its members had set.

Volume 49 | Issue 13 | January 13, 2015

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Campus: Life

After graduation: Life lessons from Pintrest and High School Musical

By Kaitlin Jingco

Over the holidays, how many times did your relatives ask you, “What’s next after graduation?”

For those of you who were able to answer that question no sweat, congratulations and I’m jealous of you.

For everyone else, you’re not alone. When asked that question during my final year of undergrad (last year), I told my aunts and uncles that occupational therapy school was my next step, even though I didn’t think that was what I wanted.

For some reason, I was under the impression that I had three choices: I could hold onto my youth by continuing to be a student, I could start my career, or I could do neither and be deemed a failure.

I wasn’t ready to start a career and I didn’t want to be a failure, so although I wasn’t sure about the program choice, I decided to go with the school option.

At the beginning of May, I learned that I was accepted to three OT programs, and I had one month to accept or decline the offers. Everyone was so happy for me and I wanted to be too, but for some reason, I cried everyday throughout May. Driving to the grocery store: tears. Going for a jog: tears. Watching High School Musical: tears.

No 21 year-old should cry for Gabriella while Troy badmouths her to the basketball team: High School Musical wasn’t re-

ally the reason for my tears. The real reason was that in the back of my mind, I was constantly worrying about what I would do with my OT offers.

Occupational therapy is a great field, and I knew I was blessed to have been accepted, but I couldn’t see myself going back to school for a career that I wasn’t 100% sure about. At the same time, I was so worried about what people (particularly my parents) would think about my decision to decline such a great opportunity.

I spent the next couple of weeks really thinking about what to do and building my confidence to make a decision that was true to myself. On the day of the response deadline, I clicked decline three times. I knew my parents wouldn’t be happy, but I couldn’t pick a career that put their happiness over my own.

Not too surprisingly, my seemingly irrational crying came to a stop after I declined my offers.

With the OT option closed for the meantime, I was able to start making other plans.

I turned to books, TEDx Talks, and Pinterest quotes to help me realize that I’m young; I don’t need to have everything figured out right now. However, indefinitely chillin’ on my parents’ couch was also not an option. After a month or two of reflection, I made a plan for my next steps.

I’ve always had an interest in journalism but the fear of the instability of the

field and pressures to stick to the status quo (High School Musical reference— sorry, but it’s a good movie!) influenced me to pursue other things.

After taking that reflection time though, I realized that I had to go back to that interest. Although it may not be the safest choice or the route that my parents prefer, it’s the path that makes me most excited. And I’m convinced that following one’s own happiness will result in the most success (I got that from Pinterest).

Right now, I’m working for a newspaper back home, applying to do a master’s in journalism, and planning a work/travel trip for the summer.

My parents were originally disappointed when I decided not to go right back to school, but they’re glad to see that I’m happily moving in the direction that I am.

I don’t have my whole life figured out like I thought I should’ve in fourth year, but I now know that’s okay (thanks again, quotes on Pinterest). For the meantime, I have a plan for my next steps and I’m working confidently towards them.

So if you’re one of those people who cringes when asked what’s next after graduation, here are some tips to help you figure it out so that you can give your nagging aunt an answer.

Firstly, remember that you’re lucky to be graduating and to be in the situation that you’re in. Maybe you’re stressed, but be grateful and stressed.

Value what your heart’s saying over anyone else’s opinions. If you can’t hear what it’s saying, take some time to slow down, really listen, and reflect.

Make a plan that’s in line with what makes you happy and follow that plan confidently. Your happiness and confidence will quiet the opinions of everyone else.

It’s okay to turn down a good opportunity to explore other opportunities that are better suited for you.

You don’t need to know where you’ll be in thirty years, but if you listen to your heart today, you’ll be fine tomorrow.

I leave you with another quote from High School Musical: “There’s not a star in heaven that you can’t reach.” Yeah, I’m a loser but the quote applies. Good luck!

Reflection: What I learned from a breaking down

By Simon Semchuck

Here’s the thing about mental health: when your mental health is poor anything can seem insurmountable.

So when you have mental health problems, you cannot compare yourself to how anyone else is coping. “I should be happy.

I should care more. I shouldn’t be so perfectionistic.” I told myself that if someone else could do more than me, I wasn’t good enough to live.

But the truth is, obviously, that if you struggle with mental health, you can’t handle what other people can handle.

Sometimes taking a shower is insurmountable and I just deflect and don’t take a shower. And sometimes getting food is insurmountable so I don’t eat. And sometimes everything is just so long, and exhausting, and terrifying, that I think about dying.

But you wouldn’t know that to glance at me.

I can still smile and laugh, my eyes can still sparkle, I can still have fun. Depressed

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people are very good at hiding depression; a lot of us have had years of practice. We know how to put up a veneer of the everyday, even of happiness.

But somewhere down the line, between what you see and what I feel inside, there is discord. If you peel back the layers, talk to me long enough and hit a chord that resonates, the veneer can slip back and reveal something haggard and worn. An expression of fear, and resignation to that fear.

It’s a very human fear that I won’t be good enough. But the depressed brain is built on a very slippery slope – it takes fear as a matter of fact and says: I will never be good enough. If I’m not good, I deserve to die. Therefore I should die.

I’ve told myself this many times. Sometimes once in a week, sometimes multiple times a day.

I’ve reworked the equation, the premises can change, but the answer is the same.

Yet, the argument is built around a false premise.

Human life is not valued in some pass-

or-fail dichotomy of good and bad. We all do good things and bad things, have good times and bad. This does not define us.

To reuse an old turn of phrase, I am more than the sum of my parts.

I don’t think that’s an easy thing to remember. Think of some minor embarrassing moment from elementary school, and you’ll still feel shame even though it was years ago. We linger on past discomfort and future fears instead of accepting the present in its multiplicity. That is to say, we get caught up in everything we have been and everything we could be and forget that we exist right now, and are all of these things together.

Life is more than success or even happiness: it’s simply an openness to exist, to learn, to feel both joy and sorrow. Experience is existence, and put into this perspective, I’m not as afraid to keep living.

Early in December, I nearly committed suicide. I had a mental breakdown. I had to take days moment by moment to even handle living. Instead of what I’ve written here, I could have had an obituary. I won’t

say that suicide is something cowardly or shameful, but it is a choice and I made the right one. I can’t promise that things will get better for anyone else, but they did for me. And through breaking down, I’ve learned how to rebuild myself.

I’ve learned that it’s okay not to know what the future has in store. In the words of W.H. Auden, “Knowledge may have its purposes, but guessing is always more fun.” I know I will change through life in ways I could never predict, but that’s part of living.

I’ve learned that I need to be kinder to myself. That yes, I cannot do what other people may be able to (some days I can’t do anything at all), but that doesn’t make me less of a person.

I’ve learned that the best way to heal yourself is to connect with other people.

Talking through my problems with the ones I care about saved my life, and maybe it can save yours too, or someone you know. So keep talking, texting, tweeting, because no matter who you are, there is always someone who will listen.

LocalNews

Local currency looking to expand membership in 2015

By Ugyen Wangmo

Kawartha Loon Exchange (KLE), Peterborough’s local currency, currently in its second year has about 140 members and around ten non-member business that accept the Kawartha Loons (KL)–but the membership is still not enough for self sustenance.

The main challenge fronting the currency right now is its lack of membership for the self sustainable use of KL. “The short term strategy is to reach a membership of 250 by the end of this year, which we believe is the tipping point,” said the founder of the KL, Fred Irwin.

He explained that ‘tipping point’ in terms of membership is when the system starts to work on its own. After which it will begin to have the quality of being ubiquitous, and the members will then cross pollinate the system such that they will begin to sell themselves.

Besides, it could be higher than 250 but we will not know until they get there, he added. “ We need to get that targeted number so we have more places for the people to sell them or use the KL,” he said.

The major complaint according to him is that people don’t want to be the member of the KLE because they don’t buy anything

National News

from the places where KL is accepted, “What I am saying is that at some point you have enough members; that they are self sustaining”, he explained.

The founder also mentioned that they are trying to bring in some large locally owned business as members to increase the credibility of the system, as well as the economic impact.

The first thing they did to up the membership was reduce the fee substantially.

Further, the annual membership is now changed to permanent, requiring the members to pay only once.

They believe that in the long term, membership wont even be necessary.

“Our long time plan calls for everybody to accept it, but we’re at least couple years off from that now because we don’t have any source of income to sustain if we don’t charge the $25 membership fee,” he said.

Irwin, is aware that Kawartha Loon is still a boutique currency, but strategically they know where they want to be. It is just a question of people saying that they don’t have enough places to use the KL. He explained that it is a demonstration of what one can do by localizing the economy and changing lifestyle to local.

Because, according to him it is the number one way to reduce carbon footprints and increase employment.

The essence of what they are trying to achieve through KL is to embrace the concept of moving away from consumerism to becoming a citizen and supporting the local community.

“Kawartha Loon acts as a catalyst even if you don’t always use it, but just by knowing that it is there,” he stated. Still, 95% of the people doesn’t know that it exists, and the remaining 5000 people who know and have known for years haven’t tried it. So only about 500 people use it, he informed.

“What I am looking forward to is to strategically reach a tipping point, and

that Kawartha Loon will be looked at as the necessary part of the economic localization, a critical real driver of the new economy,” said Irwin.

The East City Flower Shop is one of the KLE members. The owner, Janet McLeod, is of the view that with time, more people will use the KL. “We don’t see a lot of customers using it, usually I get about two customers in a month and makes an average purchase of about 30 KL,” she said. This is without taking into consideration the records outside of her shift.

But she always uses the local currency, and to her KLE is a great opportunity to support and strengthen the local community.

Black Honey is another member business using the local currency.

The owner of Black Honey, Lisa Dixon, said she sees customers use KL about four to five times in a week. The average amount of KL that goes in to her deposit ranges between 20 KL to 40 KL in a week.

I don’t think the use of the local cur-

rency is a matter of convenience, but it is more a philosophy or culture–knowing that they are putting the money back in to the system, back into the community.

She agrees with the need for more members because it is hard to sell, not to mention the fact that most people don’t even understand the way it works, which promotes sustainability and supporting local business.

A staff at the Black Honey, Malory, said that it is a great concept but she doesn’t use it herself. “I don’t know much about it, where it comes from or why use it,” she said. She feels that there should be more advertisements, such as posters and pamphlets educating people about it, to bring more people to use KL. Meanwhile, the float of the local currency is at around 45 thousand KL and can now be bought from remote banking stations, namely Stuff Store in Lakefield, Crawford Copy in Millbrook, and Green Street in Peterborough, in addition to their Central banking agent–Peterborough Community Credit Union.

New year, new copyright processes

by Zachary Cox

As the new year ushered in declarations of change from those seeking selfimprovement, it also marked a change in part of Canada’s copyright law process.

As of January 1, 2015, a “notice-andnotice” process has come into effect and Internet Service Providers (ISPs) are now obligated to pass notices from copyright holders on to Internet Protocol (IP) addresses suspected of copyright infringement.

Previously, ISPs could chose to forward on such notices at their own discretion.

Additionally, ISPs must keep records relating to the suspected infringement for a minimum of six months.

In simpler terms this change means that if a copyright holder finds that someone is infringing on their copyright, they can now send a notice to the service provider who must then pass it on to the user suspected of copyright infringement.

An example would be a record label seeing that someone is illegally downloading their music and sending a notice to the ISP being used to do the downloading. The ISP now has to pass the notice on to the user who is doing the illegal downloading.

This new process marks the imple-

mentation of the final element within the Copyright Modernization Act that the Conservative Government introduced and passed in September of 2011 and which received Royal Assent in June of 2012.

All things considered, the “noticeand-notice” process is a minor change in the system. Copyright holders have been sending these notices to ISPs for ages, and most ISPs have already been passing them on to their users, this change just sets that last step in stone.

The notices themselves do not indicate immediate legal action, but are meant to

serve as a warning that a copyright holder is aware of copyright infringing activity at an IP address and there is the potential that legal action may be taken.

ISPs still have no obligation to give out the personal contact information of their users unless they are legally requested to do so by a court order when a lawsuit is launched by a copyright holder. Much of the time the notices in Canada are released in the hopes that an acknowledgement of the infringing activity will encourage users to stop of their own accord.

As always, copyright is a topic of much discussion, and this change is no excep-

tion. TekSavvy, an ISP based in Chatham, Ontario and Gatineau, Quebec is one of the many ISPs to comment on the change.

In a post on their website they outline the copyright law changes that are taking place and state that they are committed to protecting the privacy of their users. The company believes that their customers have a right to “have their privacy safeguarded,” “be notified that a request for their personal information has been made by a third party” and “have an opportunity to defend themselves when claims are made against them.”

“TekSavvy will do everything in its power to protect its customers,” the statement continues. “However, we must comply with all court orders requiring us to disclose the personal information of our customers.”

Other service providers such as Rogers and Bell have released similar statements indicating that they will be following the new rules but that customer privacy will remain protected.

In the end, most internet users, even those who may download copyrighted materials in a less-than-legal fashion, will not likely see any result of the change as the main intent of the notice-and-notice process is to target those who provide the copyrighted content for download.

Volume 49 | Issue 13 | January 13, 2015

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The Future of Trent’s

ColLegeSystem 50 years of transformation: The evolution of Trent’s college system

By Ugyen Wangmo

The Trent collegiate system has transformed over the years since its inception so as to keep pace with the inevitable forces of changing time. In fact, it is experiencing change as we speak right now and will continue to see more transformations in years to come.

The founding principles of colleges as said by the founder of Trent, Thomas Symons, during the Trent University official opening ceremonies was: “Through the colleges, members of the university may be helped to preserve a sense of individual identity … and to find richer personal associations and a greater measure of academic assistance.”

However, just as Trent University has changed since its inception 50 years ago, so too have the colleges. “The residential college model changed after the Trent student population grew, and the role of Trent faculty evolved,” said Associate Vice-President Students, Nona Robinson.

The incoming first-year students now primarily take up residence spaces, but not all students are able to afford to do so. They have extended the college experience to off-campus students to reduce barriers to student life participation, she said.

Similarly, faculty and college heads living in residence dwindled over the decades, and largely ceased during the 1990s.

The vision of the colleges has evolved to reach out more to off-campus first-year and upper-year students, so that colleges again can become social, educational, and support hubs for all members of the Trent community.

Robinson shared with Arthur the changes the colleges are currently undergoing, as well as those we will soon see.

In this respect, Trent is hoping to reengage faculty in creative ways with the colleges to revive the distinctness of having significant faculty-student interaction throughout the Trent community.

Each college has its own social traditions, in no small part thanks to their cabinets, and some college activities have been focussed around the faculty departments that are housed in them. But Robinson says that colleges have the potential to further develop their unique identities and vision.

The Colleges Planning Committee in 2013 identified that many students chose their colleges based on which residence they wanted to live in and that for offcampus students there may not be a strong sense of college affiliation, she explained.

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While Trent recently reinstated asking off-campus students to pick their colleges instead of being randomly assigned, many still don’t, she regrets. So they are hoping that with increased contact and support of off-campus students from the college offices, even before students arrive, that this will change.

Currently, the colleges are working with students, faculty, and staff to build their identities and activities so that each college has its own unique appeal. They reasoned that this will help in building a sense of community for students, faculty, and staff beyond the residences and classes, and it’s hoped this will further strengthen each of the colleges.

On the other hand, Professor Emeritus of Chemistry at Trent University, Dr. Raymond E. March, one of the earliest Trent professors, who had a hand in the restructuring of the colleges during the early Trent days, recounted on how it has changed since.

He began by saying that Lady Eaton and Traill College started off as women’s colleges, while Peter Robinson and Champlain were men’s colleges. Having an all women college offered opportunities for women in student administration that didn’t exist anywhere else.

After that they had college councils, which were a springboard for new courses.

It involved the students in the program initiation. One of the first courses that involved the student council was in, which they described as the scientific basis of environmental pollution, the program that turned out to be the first course in the en-

vironmental program, which has now become huge, said Dr. March In terms of senate, the college members were electable; the senate in fact was the upper administration-college heads plus the dean, and three faculty members from each college or staff, as well as three students. That went on for a number of years but it was disastrous.

As the university needed to change more rapidly, that was not a good method to achieve change, he recollected. So they decided to cut down the number of students, it still being one of the largest student representatives in the province on senate. And he feels that it is working a lot better now than it used to.

But the number of faculty in college and college councils is now very low.

“There were attempts in the earlier years to do something unique in various colleges that was to create an identity, but it was frowned upon,” says Dr. March. The reason according to him was that colleges should walk step by step; they should be similar and there should not be any great difference. The university at that time didn’t want, for example, Lady Eaton to become better known as an academic centre than Otonabee College.

“I think that has come about to a small degree but they have not developed their own character. So all the colleges have a very similar culture,” he added.

In the earlier days the colleges tried to be different, for instance Champlain College wanted to have a drinking festival that was called ‘the Baccus’. That was the beginning of it and that was as far as it went, he said.

The recent change that the Trent college system is currently undergoing is, as explained by Dr. March, another aspect of faculty to student ratio.

The university simply doesn’t have the money to allocate an academic person as the head of a college, and even if this was a possibility, it would significantly take away from their time to teach.

So, if one cannot afford to put a professor there then it is expected that the position be filled by someone else.

March said, “It is not because we wanted to downgrade the colleges by putting nonacademics there, but they are there because we needed someone to be responsible for the colleges.”

Associate Professor Steven Rafferty, the Chemistry department’s undergraduate advisor, said that his only contact with the college system now is occasionally through the senior tutors. If a student has a problem in a chemistry course, he, as the advisor, is

contacted by the senior tutor of the college.

He understands that originally it used to be like a residential college system where faculties were associated with a particular college and the masters of the houses were in residence with the students. That, however, was because the faculties were quite young and students relatively old, which is not the case now as the age gap has widened.

Back in the old days one would find a lot of faculty from different departments intermingling through the college system, getting a chance to talk with people from other departments. That doesn’t happen very much these days and that is regrettable, he said. Now, since so much time is spent doing their job there is not a whole lot of time for doing that.

“Besides there is so much physical space where you can actually meet people socially these days,” pointed out Professor Rafferty.

The change in the last few years has been to increasingly describe the uniqueness of each college in terms of the differences between buildings, said Trent’s new Director of Colleges, Barry Townshend.

But they are now trying to put more emphasis on the people, communities, and culture that is unique in each college, which he believes is going back to the roots.

When he started exploring the opportunity to come to Trent this summer, as an outsider he wanted to know more about each college and what was distinctive about them. One of the first things he found was a description of the buildings.

As important as the buildings may be in how they shape communities - they can lend themselves to bringing people together, or they can work towards keeping subgroups apart. However, the colleges more than just the buildings, stated Townshend.

Buildings and titles don’t make people proud of us; acts of wisdom, ingenuity and kindness make people proud, he said.

When it comes to change within the colleges, “I hope that we will increasingly tell the stories of what is special and amazing about our college experiences and let the buildings recede into the background a little more,” he said.

And, what remains the same is how intentional they are about creating profound learning experiences that help to make people’s lives and the world around a little bit better, says Townshend.

Meanwhile, the Trent college system is currently going through an active transformation, and looking at ways to build the college community in new ways.

Colleges Focus

Alumni can be the catalyst for college renewal

By Bob Taylor-Vaisey, President of the Trent University Alumni Association

about establishing a vision for alumni involvement that is relevant, mutually beneficial and evergreen.

This article is a condensed version of a presentation made by Mr. Vaisey at the 2014 Collegiate Way Conference at Durham University, England. The full text is published online at www.trentarthur.ca.

The college is the future vehicle

This paper will suggest opportunities for alumni to infuse their energy into college life with a view to enhancing the student experience and enhancing the reputation of the university.

It argues that the enhancement of college life requires a strengthened sense of belonging and a renewed academic environment, with partnerships between faculty, students and alumni that inclusively build the university’s intellectual capital.

The literature There is an impressive body of literature addressing the involvement of alumni with their alma mater. We read about institutional advancement and human capital, alumni satisfaction, and with alumni as both fundraising targets and prominent and successful products of their alma mater.

But there is something missing. Simply stated, the research is virtually silent on how alumni interact in the life of their university.

The future needs to endorse and champion opportunities for alumni to reengage with the university and to nourish not just the experience of current students but also a more integrated alumni, faculty and student experience.

It needs to identify and build on opportunities for alumni in their alma mater as they progress through their life. And it needs to recognize the vested interest alumni have in the reputation and advancement of their university.

What is the issue?

Alumni are a largely untapped resource for universities. The percentage of active alumni on a per-university basis may range from three to ten percent, and in Canada, where 4.7 million people hold university degrees, thre are half a million people who have something to offer.

Maria Gallo, in an excellent article on alumni engagement, speaks to four phases in the life cycle of an alum: affiliation, affinity, engagement and support. The first two are normally passive stages, and the last two are active and potentially interactive.

This paper is about facing that challenge by forging the future of a college system through aggressive involvement of alumni as clients, suppliers, collaborators, partners, sponsors, volunteers and consultants. It is

Nowhere can such a renewal - and sustainment - of involvement be accomplished better than at the college level. Why colleges?

Because colleges, from the very beginning, provided a living and learning experience that underpins the institutional imperative of educating critical-thinking, politically active, globally aware and responsible citizens.

As one of our most prominent student leaders has said, the university is like the trunk of a tree, with the colleges forming our roots and the students who become alumni our branches. Strong colleges, whether in a traditional collegiate university or not, are superior vehicles to provide a university with something badly needed… a sense of being different.

Colleges that have a unique identity and provide the much needed balance of community and scholarship, academic and personal growth, will give any university a competitive advantage to attract prospective students.

A university with a robust college system is fundamentally different from a university without one. One of our international alumni wrote to me that “the college experience is a unique selling point. The relationship with my college is perhaps the most unique and important part of my undergraduate experience… alumni who can explain how unique the college system is to a prospective student are gold.”

The vision (or, why do we care so much) My university is Trent University, in Peterborough, Ontario, Canada. It celebrates its 50th anniversary this year. It was modeled after Oxford, Cambridge, Harvard, and, yes, Durham, and it was based on a vision.

The founding president, Tom Symons, set out to establish a university that was like no other in Canada - a university designed, from the ground up, to express and embody the ideals of friendship and community.

In all its academic, administrative, organizational and even architectural details, Trent University was conceived to fulfil the ancient ideal of a community of scholars, and to nourish the spirit of friendship that animates every true community. Trent aimed to foster community and fellowship between students; between faculty; and, above all, between students and faculty.

In its college system, Trent hoped to create communities where students and their teachers would not only learn together but also work, eat and live together, and develop conversations and relationships far beyond

the classroom, and the narrow confine of individual disciplines and programs.

In its emphasis on small-group teaching, Trent hoped to create and model genuine dialogue between students and between students and their teachers, the kind of dialogue on which all real learning depends.

This vision saw the use of gowns in all aspects of college and university life: worn to class, to dinner, on the streets.

It promoted a sense of academic inclusion through the college common rooms, bolstered by the role of academic college dons, and featured colleges with an interactive residence life where first-through fourth-year students lived together.

The result was a sense of community and belonging, loyalty, allegiance and identity that endures among graduates to this day.

A changing college model The college model at Trent is in transition.

As with the university, the model faces challenges providing an environment that responds to fiscal uncertainties, governmental interference and mandate, and a hugely competitive marketplace.

The model is based on four functional pillars: sense of community; academic strength; life, learning and career skills building; and student support. The result will be a stronger college system more relevant in today’s environment. The challenge is how to do that and at the same time inculcate traditional values, the values alumni share with their alma mater and the values that will draw them back. As alumni it should be our legacy to facilitate and expedite that change.

Colleges will need to go beyond the safe house of brick and mortar buildings. Most students live off campus. A lot never live in residence and if they do, leave residence after one year. Trent was built and nurtured on the concept of town and gown, in a community that provided unconditional financial and emotional support.

Can the college experience be restricted to an on-campus edifice? I would argue that a strong college has a visibility and presence both on and off campus that provides students as a community of learners with options to meet and dialogue on their own turf, in informal and formal settings optional to them. And alumni can help make that happen.

Where do alumni fit? What is the potential role of alumni in building a college environment, to help meet the needs and expectations of all students, including part-time students, off-campus and senioryear students, non-residential students and graduate students? And, more importantly, what’s in it for them?

Intellectual homecomings (or, alumni as

clients) Alumni should not be expected just to give back; they should also be given an opportunity to benefit from an interactive and interdisciplinary college life.

It is not just about being asked to give a lecture, or lead a seminar or simply mingle with students. It is also about continuing education, being aware of what is happening at the college in all aspects and having the option to participate and, at the same time, reconnect with faculty.

It is the opportunity for alumni to enjoy an intellectual, social, cultural and interactive homecoming. And, it promotes the sense of lifelong learning to current students who see alumni who continue to grow and use the college as one vehicle to do that.

The college as a virtual gather space Common rooms have always been the centre of activity. My brother, also a Trent alumnus, wrote this to me: “in the junior common room of life, we all have something to learn and the learning never stops.

When we exchange what we learn and absorb the value of a world through others’ eyes, we grow.” This suggests that we need to create a new strategy that: t Rebrands and rekindles the sense of loyalty to draw alumni back, not on the basis of nostalgia but on the basis of the mutual benefit of giving back and receiving in return t Promotes a mix of formal and informal interaction between alumni, faculty and students, on and off campus, the idea of the porous classroom we heard yesterday t Respects and integrates a variety of alumni communities supporting multicultural and interdisciplinary interests t Revisits the benefits of an increased town and gown relationship with colleges taking a lead role as an integrated team t Fosters students as future alumni and ambassadors for the university anywhere in the world, to promote the idea of an exceptional college-based experience in the minds of prospective students Where do we go from here?

Can one university do this on its own? The answer is “no”. Rethinking the interaction of alumni in colleges is a relatively new challenge and certainly my review of university alumni associations in Canada suggests that we are just now beginning to think through what is such a seminal task but, individually to this point.

I offer two overriding considerations, both collaborative opportunities and both mutually beneficial to alumni communities anywhere interested in becoming an interactive and integrated partner in the university they call their alma mater.

First, the opportunity to twin. Churches and cities twin, all around the world. There are synergies to be found by twinning alumni associations: college to college, university to university (and in particular collegial institutions). What a superb way to create a collaborative environment to build common plans and programs, share challenges and their resolution.

Second, the leadership that Durham University has shown in inaugurating this conference and, in fact, holding a specific session on alumni relations and involvement, deserves to be commended.

I suggest that we establish an international working group on alumni involvement, perhaps as part of a future international association of collegiate universities.

Volume 49 | Issue 13 | January 13, 2015

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College focus

Constructing Trent’s colleges, literally

Top left: Lady Eaton, top right: Gzowski, bottom left: Traill, bottom right: Otonabee Lady Eaton photo by Park's Peterborough

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artspage Movie Review: Unbroken - Louis Zamperini makes your life seem easier

By Brian Lukaszewicz

Unbroken, based on the Lauren Hillenbrand biography of the same name, makes one thing abundantly clear: Louis Zamperini lived a fascinating life.

There are details in his story that are so unbelievable there were times I wondered if I wasn’t watching a Dos Equis commercial about the most interesting man in the world.

What else could you call Zamperini (played by Jack O’Connell), an Olympian and World War 2 bombardier who survived a plane crash in the middle of the Pacific Ocean and then a Japanese POW camp… all before the age of 30? At the very least, he’s got to make you wonder what the hell you’ve been doing with your life all this time.

Regardless, while Zamperini’s story itself is quite amazing, Unbroken often seems hurt by the transition to the big screen.

A lot of this material is the sort of stuff that would be riveting in book form, but put it in a movie and it plays like a group of tired actors wishing they could just read the prose from Hillenbrand’s book to you.

Certainly that’s most evident at the start of Unbroken, which covers Zamperini’s childhood and his development into an elite long distance runner.

These early scenes just never quite feel lived in, functioning more as a collection of personal anecdotes than an attempt to build his character.

They provide context sure, but they feel too artificial to leave much of an impression.

Eventually though, around the time Louis and the rest of his bomber crew crash land in the Pacific, the movie does take a breath and let us experience Zamperini’s story a bit more naturally.

The series of events following the crash are particularly impactful, highlighting a survival tale that probably could (and frankly has) support an entire movie in its own right.

Without giving away too much, I audibly gasped as the film progressively flashed the number of days these poor guys spent on the water.

The latter half of Unbroken takes place in a Japanese POW camp under the command of a particularly cruel Japanese corporal, Mutsuhiro “The Bird” Watanabe (played by Japanese singer-songwriter Miyavi).

Once again, Louie’s experience is truly extraordinary (in a heartbreaking sort of way), though I did take issue with the pacing of this particular portion of the movie.

Now certainly I would never fault any

of the plot points in a true story like this.

I’m a big proponent of filmmakers just telling it as it is in these things, warts and all – true stories should really be held to a different standard. But in this case, there were certain decisions that seemed to just slow down the movie unnecessarily.

You can’t show everything sometimes, and on the whole the film probably could have shaved about 20 minutes off its running time and been all the better for it.

In fact, someone involved in this film was so worried that a detail may be left out, or worse, that someone may momentarily not understand what’s going on in any given moment, that they felt the need to spell things out in intricate, and oftentimes distracting, detail.

Frankly, Unbroken could have used a gentler touch. Subtlety is everyone’s

friend in these cases, especially for a film that aspires to be in the conversation come award season.

The actors for their part do a pretty great job. Jack O’Connell is always compelling, even when the script is working against him.

He and his cohorts in many cases deserve points just for the physical transformation alone, which had me harkening all the way back to Tom Hanks in Castaway.

Still, it’s hard to not see Unbroken as a so-so film elevated by the fact that its subject was a pretty amazing guy.

It may impress, but that has a lot more to do with Louis Zamperini than it does the filmmaking. It’s too bad the latter couldn’t elevate to the level of the former.

TUMS Battle of the Bands now accepting submissions

By Lindsay Thackeray

It’s that time of year again… the Trent University Music Society is now accepting auditions for Battle of the Bands 2015, so get those submissions in.

The deadline for this year is Friday, February 6th, so there’s at least a few weeks to pull something together. Lucky for you, here is a cheat sheet with all the criteria

you’ll need to make sure your band is in the running for the +$1000 in prizes up for grabs: How to enter: Email Send us your auditions electronically, by either submitting audio files or web links to your band’s stuff. Email everything to trentumusic@gmail.com.

How to enter: Live audition

Eligibility

You can also email us to schedule a live audition, which is always fun. However, if you choose this option be sure to get in touch with us early so we have enough time to work something out before the deadline.

Battle of the Bands is an annual competition showing off Trent’s musicians, so you must have at least one Trent student in your band, current or alumni. A maximum of three songs is permitted for each audition.

Any genre is encouraged, and we’re hoping to showcase a diverse array of styles across the musical spectrum. Make sure to submit everything before the deadline on February 6th. Good luck!

Prizes As always, there are some pretty significant prizes up for the taking: third place: $200; second place: $300; first place: $500 & 8 hours of recording time. These prizes are awarded on the night of the competition after the final scores have been determined by the judges.

All auditions will be reviewed by the TUMS executive and we’ll get in touch with successful groups who will be performing at the competition. This year, the event is scheduled for Saturday, March 21, in the Sadleir House Dining Hall. It’s usually a fantastic show, so come out and support your fellow Trent students!

Volume 49 | Issue 13 | January 13, 2015

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Opinionpage Editorial: “Notice-and-notice” process not going to work

By Pat Reddick

As you’ve likely read (on page 5 of this issue), or perhaps experienced yourself, Canadian Internet Service Providers are now required to pass on notices from copyright holders that an IP address they administer (i.e. yours) is suspected of copyright infringement (i.e. downloading something illegally).

When it comes to stopping piracy, there are many ways to deal with it effectively, and then there are the measures governments and “copyright holders” push for.

Let’s be clear here, when I say “copyright holders,” the now ubiquitous term for the corporations that lobby governments to crack down on piracy, I’m not talking about all record labels, I’m not talking about most artists, I’m not even really talking about content producers.

I’m talking about the few major record labels, television stations, Hollywood film studios, and textbook distributors who have the resources to push for this kind of thing.

No sensible artist would see a university student downloading their album as a bad thing. In fact, many bands I’ve seen live have told their fans to do exactly that.

I don’t think independent labels would be so forthcoming with a similar recommendation, but I’ll bet that they

aren’t about to push for any crackdowns anytime soon.

Most indie artists figure the more people who listen to their music, the better it is for them. The more people who listen to their music, the more who will come see them live, and the more who will buy their merchandise, whether at shows or from the band’s online store.

Furthermore, it makes it more likely that they’ll buy the band’s future releases.

A 2013 study by the European Commission titled “Digital Music Consumption on the Internet: Evidence from Clickstream Data” indicates support for those beliefs.

Two interesting things they found were that “the vast majority of the music that is consumed illegally… would not have been legally purchased if illegal downloading websites were not available”, and that “clicks on legal purchase websites would have been 2% lower in the absence of illegal downloading websites.”

In other words, when people have the opportunity to experience new things they wouldn’t otherwise get to experience, there’s a good chance that will result in more purchases.

Case-in-point: I once illegally downloaded the album Causers of This by the band Toro y Moi (come get me, Carpark Records).

As a result, I discovered my favourite

band, and now I make a point to exclusively pay for their music and attend their shows whenever possible.

Not only that, I now also support similar artists like Neon Indian and Washed Out whenever I can.

You bet Carpark Records itself receives some support. After all, if they signed Toro y Moi, it’s reasonable to assume they have some other great bands on the label as well (they sure do, by the way).

You see, this is precisely why I, and most people I know, download media: to experience new things, to find new favourites.

I don’t need to tell anyone reading this that students don’t have a lot of money to their names. We can’t afford to buy all the music we think we might want to listen to, or go to the movies every time there’s a new film.

And yet, everyone I know loves to own (legally) their favourite music, movies, and TV shows—usually on physical media as well. They love supporting the artists they like.

This is why the “notice-and-notice” system will probably not be effective at curbing piracy. All it’s going to do is scare people who just wanted to listen to an album or see what some popular show is all about. A real pirate will be able to clearly see through the facade of these notices.

Really, it’s a way of protecting profits for companies who can’t fathom doing things differently than they were done 20 years ago, or who want to do things with minimal risk.

No doubt, it’s risky to tell people “go home and download our music,” hoping the music itself will inspire people to support your band.

I’d imagine it wouldn’t work as well for a major label anyway. They sort of require unsustainably high profits to do things they way they want to do them.

They also require little competition, and a significant upper hand.

Unfortunately, free downloads are a great way for independent musicians to get ahead.

What we really need are intellectual property laws that protect both the copyright holders (here I mean all of them, not just the major ones), and individuals who are downloading things entirely for themselves as a way of experiencing something new.

Obviously there are people out there who use illegal downloading as a way to profit off of other people’s hard work. That needs to be addressed and eradicated.

But it shouldn’t be done in a way that conflates those people with those of us who heard that Toro y Moi is a good band and wanted to see for ourselves what they were all about.

Comment: Are we really political animals?

By Renzo Costa

As the nation of Uruguay selected a new president in November, all the country’s ills seemed to be solvable through proper government policy-making.

Political campaigns stressed the possibility of change embedded in their political agendas. But, is politics the answer?

Are we, as Aristotle put it, truly “political animals”?

Many attribute the power to solve problems such as unemployment and poverty to the government, but at the same time, many reduce politics to a dirty power play of vested interests.

In a utopian world, politicians are the freely chosen representatives of the population, and the administrators of the policies that are directed to improve that population’s standards of living. This notion is based on Rousseau’s social contract; the idea where citizens have a common good to strive towards.

However, many have argued that politics serves as a means for certain individual interests to be realized. When attributing politics with the power to solve society’s ills, a number of assumptions are overlooked.

First, the idea relies on the notion that politicians are altruistic beings that place society’s needs in front of their individual desires. Secondly, it relies on the idea that these politicians can truly represent certain segments of the overall population and identify their needs. And, thirdly, it relies on the assumption that political will is not bent by economic power.

These are just a few of the reasons why many have lost faith in the political process in order to achieve change. Most importantly, nonetheless, one of the main reasons why many individuals do not

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choose a policy making career is the fact that often party politics and vested interests obscure well-intentioned initiatives.

It is certainly the case in Uruguay that just a few families dominate the political landscape, and that the recent presidential candidates were all from families of past political figures. Politics, then, is reduced to a power play between a few who dominate party politics and that undermine the possible renovation of the political scene.

This, in turn, creates a vicious cycle, since citizens lose faith in politics due to the fact that there are no visible and distinct options to choose from. Instead, all politicians are placed in the same bag.

Following this cycle, even well intentioned politicians are not given a chance and are assumed to be as incompetent as the rest.

However, others would argue that placing all agency on politics is unrealistic and that solutions to society’s problems will also come from other sources. The unrealistic expectation that is placed on politics is seen to be the cause of why people lose faith on the political process.

Following that line of thought, civil society is frequently evoked as a space that has the capability of addressing society’s ills more eloquently.

Civil society is used to describe that realm between the private and the public sphere, and is often favored over mainstream politics as a way for citizens to be more directly represented.

The main focus of the debate is placed on the ability of a political process to enact meaningful change in solving common problems. This, in turn, becomes an ethics debate since the very identification of those problems and their eventual solution depend on the perspective of those in the leadership.

A man flies a Frente Amplio flag (the governing party of Uruguay) infront of the Legislative Palace of Uruguay.

Photo by Andrea Mazza, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

Civil society advocates often articulate that, since civil society is less detached from the members of a society, it is better equipped to articulate those ethical questions in a more neutral manner and it is less dependent on an individually oriented vision.

The key merit of the utopian political process is based on the premise that all members of a society can express their concerns, problems, and ideas for discussion, which would lead to an eventual consensus.

The main criticism to that premise is that it has never existed in reality. For instance, the members allowed to participate in discussion have always been framed along ethnic, economic, social,

cultural, and gendered lines. The political process has never been neutral and has almost always been embedded in the ethical visions of a few.

Attributing agency to a certain mechanism in order to achieve change and solve problems will depend on each society’s priorities and political imagination.

In a country such as Uruguay, where people place a strong emphasis on the political process as a means for change, a re-imagination of politics as a more inclusive and open space is needed in order to renovate the political landscape.

The extent to which politics will enable meaningful change will depend on us. At the end of the day, we can all be political animals, if we choose to be.

Clubs&Groups

By Nathan Prendergast

Oh hi Trent movie goers and film enthusiasts!

Next week, Wednesday January 21, Trent Film Society will be screening Tommy Wiseau’s 2003 film The Room, the second part of our three part series of good ‘bad’ movies.

From the creative mind of the writer, actor, director, and visionary, Tommy Wiseau, comes a melodrama of epic proportions!

The Room deals with friendship, romance, betrayal, and love gone wrong in a

completely unique way.

It is most likely the case that it was not intended to be received by audiences the way it was, but Wiseau put together a movie that so completely misses its mark that many consider it a masterpiece.

The film is about a successful banker who is betrayed by his fiancé when she has an affair with his best friend.

This emotionally stressful plot, however, is poorly executed by the actors and production. This results in a movie that, instead of being cathartic, is completely laughable.

Though Trent Film Society tries to show

the best of alternative cinema, The Room is a movie experience too good to pass up.

Tired of dramas with the same old predictable plot and dialogue? Bored by films with actors portraying characters that develop in a logical manner? Dulled by the lack of variety at Galaxy Cinemas? Then The Room is the movie for you!

With the combination of illogical dialogue, inexplicable plot developments, and acting so bizarre you’d swear we were screening a surrealist film. The Room is sure to leave you speechless, that is, when you aren’t laughing in hysterics!

Since its release it has become a cult

classic played by fans everywhere. Tommy Wiseau himself has joined eager viewers for a good laugh.

Though the initial box office was a complete failure (with a budget of $6,000,000 and an initial box office run of a measly $1800), Wiseau has managed to gather a large and loyal following by participating in various interviews, cameos, video games, guest appearances, and even personally attending screenings of the film.

Unfortunately Wiseau was too busy to join us for our screening, but we assure you that it will still be quite the show!

We will have some viewing customs, like the throwing of plastic spoons and the shouting of jeers.

If you are confused, don’t worry! The rules for watching will be explained beforehand.

We hope you can join us for this hilariously bad film.

Our screening will be held at Market Hall which is located downtown at 140 Charlotte Street on the corner of George Street at the clock tower.

All Trent Film Society screenings are free and the doors are open to everyone.

You don’t have to be a Trent student to attend, so invite your friends and your doggie!

Trent Radio: Unused Memories

By James Kerr

As you return to school, Trent Radio returns to the air, with the same regular schedule you started hearing in September.

Our broadcast season runs from September to April, then we destroy it and have a different summer schedule, then we destroy it again and have a different September to April. That continues on into infinity as a kind of perpetual motion audio machine, feeding back on itself and constantly changing.

Speaking of a perpetual motion audio machine, feeding back on itself and constantly changing, let’s talk Audio Art. (Audio Art, where such things are done.)

Below are memories of Trent Radio, binaries, by David Grenon.

Grenon is a superb and strange audio artist who programmes here on Trent Radio when the wind takes him; he’s also part of the local band hello babies. Recently he collaborated with Bill James on the performance art piece “eidolon.”

(1) Moving back to Peterborough after a long absence, I turned on the radio & heard a hoarse-voiced programmer taking a call.

The caller could not remember the name of the song requested, but both recalled the tune and together they sang, voices faltering, rising, and drifting off again.

When they’d sung it through, they began to reminisce about long-gone local songwriters and musicians. It was tender and glorious and true.

(2) I mostly remember the weirder peo-

ple, those kind and awkward avoiders of eyes, disarming in their intense, obscure interests. Late nights with Brion Wagner or with Dahn Mirabelli or with Meagh Culkeen, hauling old electronics into the studio and setting them free, howling away into the microphone, heart afire and that sickness still drifting through the air.

If that isn’t enough about audio art, here’s some FEEDBACK. The point of such memories, and such articles about them, is to give you a slight glimpse into this little weirder world.

Please don’t think of Trent Radio as insular or self-reflexive—bad jokes about radio only go so far—what actually happens at Trent Radio is a whole lot of individuality.

Myself, I can only express that through puns about feedback—but other people have their memories, and even experiences.

Over 100 volunteer programmers are right now living those experiences on Trent Radio.

When you tune into Trent Radio at 92.7 FM, you’ll probably hear some pretty cool stuff, and then hear something upsetting or bizarre fifteen minutes later and turn it off.

Then listen in again for something amazing. That’s the nature of Trent Radio; producer-oriented programming. Anyone can be a producer.

This could be your show… and it continues on into infinity as a kind of perpetual motion audio machine, feeding back on itself and constantly changing. It’s all audio art.

Volume 49 | Issue 13 | January 13, 2015

13

Clubs&Groups

OPIRG: Dealing with Rape Culture Trent4Israel:TCSA’santi-Israelpolicy runscountertoTrent’sValues

By Crystal Peckford-McGrath

Rape culture is a worrisome phenomenon in which attitudes of sexual harassment, rape, and misogyny are perpetuated and normalized within our society through forms of media and social interaction.

To get a better understanding of the effects of rape culture in the university setting, I sat down to talk with Karen Basciano from the Kawartha Sexual Assault Centre (KSAC).

“Rape Culture is woven into the fabric of our society, especially in social media,” she explained.

According to Basciano, in today’s climate of digital connectivity, we are not critical enough about what is spread through social media.

“Television programs such as Two and Half Men, Family Guy, and reality shows are feeding into rape culture,” she says.

These shows make light of sexual violence and deem it as funny and entertaining. Ask any survivor of sexual violence, it is not funny.

In 2010, a MacLean’s Magazine article pegged Peterborough’s rate of reported sexual assaults at 26 percent higher than the national average.

Women aged 15 to 24 continue to be at the highest risk of sexual assault locally, a fact which is consistent with global statistics. In fact, young woman are four times more at risk of sexual violence during the first eight weeks of college or university, according to Metrac.org.

As a city with both a college and university, says Basciano, we have many young

people at risk of sexual assault, but also other forms of sexual violence including harassment and intimate partner violence.

So, do we feel safe to report in Peterborough?

According to Canadian statistics, of every 100 sexual assaults only six are reported to the police, and only one to two percent of date rapes are reported. Is rape culture to blame?

The Kawartha Sexual Assault Centre is currently doing research and speaking to survivors about their experiences.

The truth is, yes, it is hard to report. As a survivor of rape, I was bullied, blamed, and even had my car scratched up.

I was also almost kicked out of my college program because of the academic impacts of the violence on my life, so I have a very good idea about why it is hard to report.

I finally did report, and my attacker faced jail time. I am a survivor who took that frightening step, and with every step after I grew stronger to fight against the violence I had faced since I was 12 years old.

Rape and rape culture on campus needs to be stopped now. Please speak up when someone makes a ‘rape joke’ because it is not funny.

Make it easier for survivors to report the violence by being a supportive friend and listener.

Be the voice of survivors when they can’t speak. Speak up!

If you have experienced sexual violence, people are there to support you. Please call the Kawartha Sexual Assault Centre 24/7 Crisis Support Line at 1-866-298-7778.

Sports

Excalibur volleyball stands tall against George Brown

By Matt Seaby, updated by Pat Reddick

Both the Men’s and Women’s volleyball teams were ready to resume the 2014-15 season as they took on the Lords in Durham.

As a result of a successful first half, Excalibur’s Volleyball program is making a case for the playoffs later this semester.

Thursday was a big test for the men, as they took on Durham, who were undefeated prior to the game. In the end, that didn’t change, but the Trent team did give them a run for their money.

Prior to the game, the Captain of Trent’s Men’s Volleyball, Christian Zimmer (#8) stated, “Durham has an impressive record, but we are looking forward to the chance at taking some sets away from them.”

Indeed Trent did. It took five sets for Durham to win, with Trent taking the second and fouth by scores of 25-23 and 26-24 respectively.

Durham took the fifth set 15-11.

Zimmer is coming back from a solid first half of the season in which he was named OCAA athlete of the week in the final week of play.

The women took part in a competitive match against the female half of the Durham Lord’s program, who were just behind Trent in the standings.

Trent went down in four sets, moving the Lord’s team to second and Trent to fourth. The teams are tied, along with Seneca, in terms of points with 14.

14

www.trentarthur.ca

On Saturday, January 10, both volleyball teams continued their season on Symons Campus.

However, these games were not over before it was time to go to print, so scores cannot be reported on until next week.

Excalibur hosted the Algonquin Thunder with the women taking to the court at 1:00 pm. The men followed at 3:00 pm.

Women’s Volleyball currently holds eight points over Algonquin in the standings, but the match will be important for the regular season points race.

Samantha Belsey (#13), a veteran of the Excalibur women’s volleyball teams, had this to say prior to the match on Saturday: “We are very excited for our first home game to start off second half! Being tied for second in our division, we are hungry for wins to get us to first.

“Algonquin is a good team with some good servers and scrappy defense, but having home court advantage Saturday with our support system in the stands gives us even more confidence in our play and will allow us to come out on top!”

The men will also be looking for a win.

With Algonquin currently only two points ahead of them, Trent has the potential to catapult themselves in the OCAA East Division standings after their loss to Durham.

This story is an updated version of an Excalibur release, available online, originally sent Wednesday January 7.

By Corey LeBlanc

Israel and its right to exist has been the subject of much discussion lately in North American media.

Many of the mainstream media outlets covering this issue have unfortunately taken a stance that is unabashedly proPalestine and frequently report misinformation about the casualties of the latest conflict in Gaza, the settlements in the West Bank, and the nature of the ongoing violence between the Palestinians and Israelis.

Conversely, we don’t hear enough about the discriminatory and anti-Israel policies of Hamas, the elected government of Gaza that is officially considered a terrorist organization by Canada and many other Western states.

We don’t hear enough about the continued terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians committed by Palestinian insurgents.

We don’t hear enough about the billions of dollars in aid provided to the Palestinian territories by the Israeli government.

We don’t hear enough about the daily humanitarian missions by the IDF (Israel Defence Forces) to protect and save the lives of Palestinian civilians.

Furthermore, we don’t hear enough about the more than 1.5 million ArabIsraelis who live alongside their 6.5 million Jewish-Israeli brothers and sisters – a truth that is not replicated in the Palestin-

ian controlled West Bank and Gaza Strip.

This needs to change.

Here at Trent University, we pride ourselves on inclusiveness, diversity, and the freedom of culture and expression. However, this school’s largest student union, the TCSA, currently has a policy that discriminates against Israel and its more than eight million citizens.

This policy can be found on page 66 of the document “TCSA By-Laws, Policies, & Operating Resolutions 2014-2015” (page 72 if looking at the .pdf version online). This policy states that the Association can’t host any Israeli academics or be a part of exchanges with Israeli academic institutions (some of the best research universities in the world are located in Israel), including both student exchanges as well as exchanges of information and ideas.

This policy is completely counterproductive to the values that we share at Trent. We ask, therefore, that the undergraduate students of Trent University vote to have this policy removed at the TCSA Annual General Meeting scheduled for the end January.

Israel is the only legitimate liberal-democracy in the region, and it shares the same values we cherish here at Trent University and Canada as a whole.

Trent University, it’s time we stand up for Israel. You can reach us at Trent4Israel@Gmail.com.

Sports standings will return next week.

Upcoming Matches Sport

Home

Away

Date/Time

Women’s Volleyball

Trent

George Brown

Jan 17 @ 6pm

Men’s Volleyball

Trent

George Brown

Jan 17 @ 8pm

Women’s Volleyball

Trent

Loyalist

Jan 21 @ 6pm

Men’s Volleyball

Trent

Loyalist

Jan 21 @ 8pm

listings Clubs & Groups Herbal Tinctures: How to make your own medicineswith Marianne Beacon, Registered Professional Herbalist. Learn the basic techniques of making herbal tinctures, including using fresh and dried herbs, creating herbal combinations and the art of pressing herbs. Wednesday, January 14, 5-7pm @ The Spoon. $5 or pwyc. spoonvolunteers@gmail.com for more info.

Come Cook With Us. The Seasoned Spoon is pleased to announce that we will be re-introducing our “Come Cook With Us” workshop series for the upcoming winter semester!

Always wanted to learn about vegetarian cooking? Well now is the time! Beginning Mon Jan 19, learn how to prepare delicious soups, sauces, entrees and much more in a 4 week series of workshops with Seasoned Spoon Head Chef, Gar. Registration required. Come by the Spoon to sign up and secure your spot! Space is limited so hurry up and sign up before it’s too late! $30 for the series. Email spoonvolunteers@ gmail.com for more info Seasoned Spoon Volunteer Call Out. Exiting 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 nonprofit 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.

Weekly Open Mics EVERY Thursday evening at 8pm at the Trend pub in Traill college!

Hosted by the Trent University Music Society. Bring your instruments or just come to listen for a night of good music and good company. Free admission, all welcome! More info: trentumusic@gmail.com.

Come learn basic to advanced Arabic! Our classes cover reading, writing and speaking. Weekly Arabic classes every Tuesday from 5-6pm at GCS 108. Absolutely free!

KWIC AGM & Appreciation Pub featuring circle dancing & the CHESTER BABCOCK Jazz Trio. Thursday January 17, 2015. AGM begins 7:30pm, Sadleir House. Suggested $5 donation. Cash Bar. Family friendly. Everyone welcome. www.kwic.info Call for Directors: Interested in world issues and looking to get involved? Consider joining KWIC’s Board of Directors!

Excellent not-for-profit experience with great people. For more information, contact James Wilkes: visualvoices@hotmail. com. www.kwic.info KWIC World Issues Café Series presents Rummaging Through the Myth: The True Cost of Food Waste, featuring Canadian food policy analyst & author, Dr. Wayne Roberts. Sat, Jan 24, 2015, Showplace Ptbo at 7:30pm in partnership with ReFrame Film Festival.

More info at www.kwic.info

Tuesday t Graham Norman @ The Tankhouse (5pm) t Earl Wilfong @ The Black Horse Pub (7pm)

Seeds for Justice: Are you between the ages of 17-26 and interested in facilitating global education workshops in schools and community groups? Join KWIC’s Youth Facilitators Collective and gain skills in youth leadership, workshop facilitation, anti-oppression work, and more. Full day training Saturday January 17, 10am-5pm at Sadleir House. To learn more visit kwic. info/facilitators-collective. Please email Rachelia at workshops@kwic.info to RSVP.

Trent Walkhome—Trent’s safe walk service. Late class? Working in the lab? Call us for a walk; 25 minutes from Symons or Traill (downtown) Hours of operation: Monday to Friday: 7pm to 1am, Saturday & Sunday: 9pm to 1am 705-748-1748 Walkhome—Pre-book your safe walk. Do you regularly have practice Monday night, work in the Library Tuesday night or go downtown Friday night? Our team of volunteers walkers can meet you, on campus or downtown. Monday to Friday: 7pm to 1am, Saturday & Sunday: 9pm to 1am. Call us 705- 748-1748 or email walkhome@tretnu.ca to Prebook a walk.

Summer Job Fair, Trent University. Are you looking to get experience this summer?

Come to the Summer Job Fair to meet representatives from organizations interested in recruiting YOU. Mark your calendars for January 14, 2015 10:00AM to 2:00PM in the Gzowski Atrium. Contact the Career Centre for more information. For a list of exhibitors, visit www.trentu.ca/sep.

The Academic Mentoring Program is recruiting! Need help with course concepts or effective studying? Apply as a mentee and request an upper-year student mentor. Want to aid another student in a course you’ve taken before? Apply as a mentor to help out and gain valuable experience. Visit http://www.trentu.ca/academicskills/peermentoring.php for more information.

send yours to listings@trentarthur.ca

24-25, 29-30, Contact: sjapeterborough@ bellnet.ca, 705-745-0331, sja.ca St. John’s Ambulance CPR Recertification (Weekdays at 6:30 pm, or Saturdays at 1:00) Jan 10, 20, 24. Call for additional dates, or organize your own group at a convenient time at any location--discounts for groups! sjapeterborough@bellnet.ca, 705745-0331, sja.ca Travel/ Teach English - TEFL Certification with The TESL Trainer at One World ESL School. Free info & registration Open House. www.tesltrainer.ca Contact: tesltrainer@sympatico.ca ESL Help & Editing - Contact: worldeslschool@sympatico.ca

one-

Arts Galerie Q Solo Exhibit: On until January 15, 2015. Free Admission. This winter, at Galerie Q, the artist Allen Sapp will tell you the stories of his life through the paintings, where you can also feel the love and peace from the reserve.

The Peterborough Storytellers usually meet on the third Wednesday of the month, from 7 to 9 at the Peterborough Public Library.

Our next meetings will be on Jan 21 (Troubadours), Feb 18 (Personal Storytelling) & March 18 (World storytelling day. Theme “Wishes”). the motley collective proudly presents: Proof by David Auburn, Directed by Amy M. Cummings. Sponsored by Theatre Trent. Show dates Wednesday Jan 21 thru Saturday Jan

our New Years Resolution is to always have

24. 8pm each day, with an additional 1pm matinee on Saturday. Admission is $10, but is also PWYC on Wednesday and on the Saturday matinee. The Theatre on King, 159 King St, entrance at back of building. “Proof” is a story about love – the love between a father and daughter who are very alike, the difficult love between two sisters who are very different, and the love between a man and a woman who share a tremendous passion for mathematics. Featuring: Lyndele Gauci as Claire, Andrew Little as Hal, Meg O’Sullivan as Catharine, Keith Smith as Robert, with special performance from Sarah McDonald as Catharine on Saturday Jan. 24 at 1pm.

Kawartha Youth Orchestra presents: Music Magic. Come join the Kawartha Youth orchestra for their first concert of 2015, “Music Magic” on Sunday, March 1 at Market Hall theatre. Ticket buyers will hear our region’s talented youth “make magic” performing some of the world’s greatest music, including Schubert’s famous “Unfinished” symphony and Bizet’s Carmen Suite as well as oboe and violin concertos by graduating members of the KYO! Tickets for this 3pm concert are $15 for adults ($5 for youth and $20 at the door) and available by visiting the box office or purchasing online at markethall.org.

Jazz Duo with Donna Collison and Biff Hannon, All-you-can-eat buffet, January 24, 6-9pm, at Curry Village, 306 George St. N., Peterborough, (705-742-1432).

Tonya Bosch, local singer/performer and Trent Alumni, is performing lively and contemporary tunes in a bar near you. On Saturday Jan 17 6-9pm she’ll be at Carpe Diem Cafe in East city performing 80s-90s hits with new radio tunes too.

SUDOKU

Thinking about exams? The Academic Skills Centre can help you to hone your study skills and to set up a study plan that fits your exam schedule. We have added extra appointment times to our schedule for the end-of-term “Crunch” period. To make an appointment, go to trentu.ca/sep and click on Book Appointments, call 705-748-1720, or drop by Champlain College Suite 206.

Local St. John’s Ambulance Standard First Aid Our Standard Certificate is valid for 3 years! Includes CPR and AED training! This course provides a certificate in Standard First Aid & a CPR/AED certificate. 13 to 14.5 hours of instructional time (2 days); includes 435-page First Aid/CPR/AED book. **This course is required by the WSIB if your place of work employs more than 5 employees per shift.** Upcoming sessions: Weekdays(8:30-4) January 14-15, 20-21, 2930, or Combo Course SFA/Level-C CPR (8:305:00) Jan. 10- 11, 14-15, 17-18, 20-21,

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Bobby Brioux and t Chelsey Bennett @ t Tami J Wilde @ Sticks t guest @ The Tankhouse Carpe Diem Cafe (6pm) Sports Pub (6pm) (5pm) t TUMS Open Mic @ The t Wylie Harold @ Carpe Trend (8pm) Diem (6pm)

This Week in Live Music: presented by ElectricCityLive.ca

Saturday t Randy Hill @ Tankhouse (4pm)

The

t Tonya Bosh @ Carpe Diem Cafe (6pm)

t /JLLJ &OHMJTI BOE t Brigette Foley & the Keith Robertson @ The Pocket Kings @ The Black Porch and Pint (7pm) Horse (8:30pm) t Four Lanes Wide @ t Television Rd. w/ Ele Mark’s Finer Diner and Broken Foot @ The (9pm) Spill (8:30pm) t Cold Creek County @ t 5BSB 8JMMJBNTPO @ The The Red Dog (9pm) Garnet (9pm) t Diamonds & Smoke Eatt 5IF 8FCFS #SPUIFST ers @ The Garnet (9pm) w/ guest @ The Red Dog (9pm)