Tuesday, April 7, 2015

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USC can’t get no… Minutes >> pg. 2 Concert >> pg. 3 Decision >> pg. 6 VOLUME 108, ISSUE 98

UWOFA loses confidence in Chakma Chakma received $500k from Waterloo in 2010 for untaken administrative leave Iain Boekhoff EDITOR-IN-CHIEF @IainAtGazette

The University of Western Ontario Faculty Association voted 94 per cent in favour of a non-confidence motion in President Amit Chakma and the chair of the board of governors, Chirag Shah. The motion was in response to the news that Chakma was paid double his annual salary for not taking a year of administrative leave as he was entitled to at the beginning of his second term. Alison Hearn, president of UWOFA, said in a press release on Thursday that the faculty has “lost confidence” in Chakma and Shah’s ability to lead. “There’s something deeply wrong when a university president earns close to $1-million while student debt is rising, class sizes are increasing, and staff are facing cuts.” The motion was unprecedented as it saw the highest turnout for a vote in the faculty association’s history. Fifty-four per cent of UWOFA members voted in the online ballot, which took place from Tuesday to Thursday. In an email, Hearn said 885 faculty were in favour of the motion, while 39 were against and 18 abstained. The motion was brought forward from the floor in UWOFA’s general meeting on Monday. “It wasn’t something the executive had prepared — it was a spontaneous motion. Obviously, because people were very upset and outraged,” Hearn said in an interview. Hearn stressed the faculty’s opposition to Chakma’s double payment was about the disconnect between administration and the realities of front-line workers at the university. “We’ve said all along that this is not about the money. It’s about poor judgement and skewed priorities, and the deep disconnect between the senior leadership and the realities on the ground.”

Amit Chakma

After a public backlash to his $924,000 compensation last year, Chakma said on Wednesday that he was returning half of the money to the University voluntarily. The board of governors also announced they appointed a former appeals court judge to conduct a review of presidential compensation at the university. According to Hearn, the announcement by the president and the board of governors did little to deal with the concerns of the faculty members. “It’s poor judgment by the board and the president in allowing this deal to be struck in the first place,” she said. “There needs to be a lot more done to restore trust in the senior leadership on campus — more than just these little steps they took yesterday.” Hearn said that while the motion is symbolic, she is going to attempt to bring it forward to the senate. “I’m going to try to present it at senate if I can get on the agenda or if there is an opportunity to do so,” she said. “It was really a way for our members to express their deep dissatisfaction in the actions of the president and of the board.” Waterloo paid Chakma for untaken administrative leave in 2010; compensated nearly $2-million over two years Chakma received $500,000 from the University of Waterloo in 2010, plus his full presidential salary of $440,000 from Western. With taxable benefits, he received a total of $969,743 in 2010. That followed his 2009 midyear appointment to Western, when Chakma received $737,640 from Waterloo and $220,000 from Western. With taxable benefits, his earnings that year were $970,440. His salary as provost and vice-president academic at Waterloo in 2008 was $408,456, and in years previously had been under $400,000. Chakma is listed separately on the 2011 Sunshine List as an adjunct professor at Waterloo in 2010, as well as the president of Western. His total compensation between 2009–10 was $1,940,183. Nick Manning, a spokesperson at Waterloo, said in an email on Friday that Chakma was paid for administrative leave he had not taken when he moved to Western. “The University of Waterloo compensated Amit Chakma in accordance with the terms of his contract. This included payment in lieu of untaken administrative leave when he left his appointment as

vice-president academic and provost in 2009.” Manning added that this payment was similar at universities across Canada. “Earnings and contracts for senior academic leadership at the University of Waterloo are in line with those of other universities across Canada. No organization can attract top talent without appropriate investment.” Former president never received double payment Former Western president Paul Davenport never received a double payment despite being reappointed twice and he was not reported on the Sunshine List to have received any payout after his final term ended. The board of governors chair, Chirag Shah, defended the cash payout initially, saying it was a normal clause for top administrators in the academic world, including Western’s former president, Paul Davenport. “It’s an administrative leave position, his predecessor had that administrative leave in their contract and there are a significant number of other institutions with presidential contracts with the same or similar leave in the terms and conditions of their contract,” Shah said in an interview. An analysis of the Sunshine List since its inaugural year in 1997 shows, however, that Davenport did not once make double his salary, despite having the same five-year length contracts as Chakma. Chakma accrues 2.4 months of administrative leave annually while he serves as president, making him eligible for a year off after five years. He is entitled to take that year off or to a payout equal to his base salary. It was mutually decided between him and the board of governors that Chakma would stay on this year and he was compensated with $440,000 for a total of $924,000 in 2014, the year his contract was renewed. The minutes of the June 25,1998 board of governors meeting show that Davenport was reappointed for his second term and granted a study leave of three months, from May 1–July 31, 1999, which he spent at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in Paris, researching “the role of universities in the knowledge based economy.” There is no mention of a sabbatical for Davenport in his November 2002 reappointment to a third term. Davenport is not listed on the Sunshine List following his final half year as president of Western in 2009. He was reportedly set to received $700,000 upon retiring. his is similar to many other university presidents who receive a sizeable monetary amount upon retirement. With files from Hamza Tariq

Taylor Lasota • GAZETTE

Brescia principal double paid in 2013 Iain Boekhoff EDITOR-IN-CHIEF @IainAtGazette

The board of trustees of Brescia University College is defending the 2013 double payment to Principal Colleen Hanycz for not taking an administrative leave — the same payment that Western University President Amit Chakma returned last week following public backlash. As was first reported by The Gazette on Thursday, Hanycz received $444,386 in 2013, which is nearly double her usual salary. This was over $90,000 more than the University of Toronto’s president, who leads a school 47 times the size of Brescia. In an email sent to students on Monday afternoon, the chair of the board of trustees, Liz Hewitt, confirmed this payment was for untaken administrative leave. She said it was necessary for Hanycz to continue as principal and losing her for a year would have set back the university. “It was the board’s view that losing Dr. Hanycz for a year, which would have necessitated appointing an interim principal, would have led to a critical loss of momentum and continuity for the University. The board also considered the fact that there would have been an additional cost to the University in terms of the compensation and recruitment of an interim principal.” Both Hanycz and Chakma made double their annual earnings in years their contracts were renewed and both of their salaries go back down to normal levels the following year. Hewitt added it was “critical” for Hanycz to stay on due to a new academic dean starting in 2013 and the start of a review of Brescia’s academic and operations programming. In 2009, her first year as principal, Hanycz made $213,553. This rose to $222,600.04 in base salary the next year and remained frozen for the next two years. Colleen Hanycz

In 2013, five years after she was appointed principal, Hanycz received almost exactly double this amount, $444,386. Hanycz was reappointed on July 1, 2013 by Brescia’s council of trustees, which is now named the board of trustees. This year’s Sunshine List shows Hanycz earning $265,000. “The importance of continuity and the momentum that Brescia was experiencing were two of the most important factors that led to the decision of the board to pay out Dr. Hanycz’s administrative leave and have her commence her second term immediately on July 1, 2013,” Hewitt said. “Under her continued leadership, Brescia has continued to grow and thrive, and has positioned itself well for the future.” The board of trustees of Brescia is using a similar defence that Western’s board of governors used when they initially defended Chakma’s double payout. The Western board ultimately gave in to public pressure and instigated a review of presidential compensation at Western. Chakma also said he would be returning his double payout and furthermore, would not take the option to receive the same payout in 2019 at the end of his second term. London West MPP Peggy Sattler has introduced a private member’s bill to the provincial legislature to prohibit future deals similar to what Chakma and Hanycz received.

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thegazette • Tuesday, April 7, 2015

Caught on Camera

Kelly Samuel • GAZETTE

WOMYN TAKING THE REINS. Last week the banner hanging in front of the UCC had a bit of a wardrobe malfunction — the usual chirp about non-residential students bearing the cold was partially covered up with a vocal, handmade sign stating “Fuck the patriarchy.� It seems that the birds and the bees aren’t the only things being awoken this April.

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USC fails to post council meeting minutes since July

Food & Entertainment Feature contact cont act Diana Watson Wa tson dwatso4@uwo.ca dwatso4@ uwo.ca 661-2111 x89013 or 519519-661-2111

The annual tradition continues as the University Students’ Council has failed — again — to update its council meetings’ minutes online. The last available minutes are from the July 20, 2014 meeting. The following six meetings, ranging from Sept 24, 2014 to Feb 25, 2015, have no minutes for students to access in the Councillor’s Corner section of the USC website. USC president Matt Helfand explained the delay may be due to the transfer of the responsibility of updating the minutes from the USC vice-president communications to the USC governance officer this year. “The difficulty of transcribing these four hour-long meetings, posting them online and especially with the transition [of that responsibility] ‌ have not been lending themselves to the appropriate uploading,â€? Helfand said. Under USC By-law 1, section 5.10 it states “The secretary of Council shall take, or cause to be taken, minutes of all meetings and proceedings and shall keep proper books of meetings and accurate records of proceedings.â€? The by-law makes no mention of timely requirements for the minutes to be available to students. Helfand added that although the USC has been complying with its legal requirements, he’s looking into a staff investment for next term to better stay on top of transcribing the minutes. Helfand also said audio recordings of the council meetings are available to any students interested as well as YouTube videos of the meetings online. On that note, Helfand promised the transcriptions would be up as soon as possible. “As soon as we can we’re going to be looking at it,â€? he said. “Again, we’re complying legally — and that’s the baseline — but we know we can do better than that.â€?

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E’RE COMPLYING LEGALLY — AND THAT’S THE BASELINE — BUT WE KNOW WE CAN DO BETTER THAN THAT. MATT HELFAND

USC PRESIDENT

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thegazette • Tuesday, April 7, 2015

No make-up O-week concert Olivia Zollino NEWS EDITOR @OliviaAtGazette

First-year Western University students can finally stop wondering about that make-up O-week concert promised to them because it’s not going to happen. During Orientation Week last September, the Down With Webster concert was postponed and eventually cancelled due to unsafe weather conditions. At the time, first-year students were promised a make-up concert sometime during the school year, Sam Kilgour, University Students’ Council vice-president student events and orientation planning committee co-chair, verified that this will not be the case. “Realistically, we never should have made it an expectation that we were going to have a make-up concert,” Kilgour said. “I put a lot of time into it and a lot of USC staff put a lot of time into it — maybe more than we should have even because it became a priority throughout the year.” He cited acts, time and money as being the integral reasons why the concert never came to fruition.

“We didn’t want to throw anyone on stage and say that was the make-up concert. By that time, it was after Reading Week and it became unrealistic to pull off a true show.” Kilgour added he hopes students do not let the lack of a concert ruin their orientation experience. “I hope they still enjoyed their Orientation Week and I have a feeling based on our surveys and assessments that students did in fact really love this past Orientation Week,” Kilgour said. However, many first-year students remain disappointed by the decision. “During O-week, I expected to see Down with Webster. If I had known I wouldn’t get to see this concert, I wouldn’t have paid $90 for an O-week ticket,” Alex Pron, a first-year MIT student, said. “I had a fantastic O-week but I was disappointed that we never got the concert we were promised and paid for,” first-year business student Kelsey Panasdir said. Some students said they want to be reimbursed for not having a concert. “I feel the USC should reimburse

students for the fee that was meant for this concert,” Natasha Gasser, a first-year health science student, said. Kilgour said that a refund is not a realistic expectation and that the USC and Western collectively spent more than $90 per student on programming. “We spent their $90 on an Orientation Week with a lot of different programming, We had things like fireworks — which is the type of stuff that hasn’t happened in the past — so I would really encourage first-year students to hang on to what they had as a part of their Orientation Week,” Kilgour said. He also remains apologetic to first-year students who are disappointed. “It’s personally tough for me, because I made it such a priority and I care so much about the orientation program and I’m sorry that we don’t have a reasonable answer,” Kilgour said. “It was something that I was passionate about then and I remained passionate throughout the year and when the pieces didn’t fall together properly, it ended up not happening.”

Taylor Lasota • GAZETTE

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Cut university enrolment: report Brittany Hambleton GAZETTE STAFF @uwogazette

A recent report commissioned by the Canadian Council for Chief Executives found Canada could improve the quality of university education by cutting enrolment as much as 25 to 30 per cent, and should expand colleges and polytechnic institutions. The report, titled, “Career ready: Towards a national strategy for the mobilization of Canadian potential,” was written by Ken Coates, a professor at the school of public policy at the University of Saskatchewan. It addressed some key problems with the Canadian education system and concluded that the current system is not benefitting students or the economy. According to Coates, provincial governments are continuing to attempt to boost university enrolment, more to placate parents than as a logical response to workforce needs. He described how parents and teachers push students to get good grades in order to get into a university — rarely a college or polytechnic institute. “There is a perception that a university degree is the key to success,” Coates said in the report. “The development of the Canadian workforce through post-secondary education has evolved in a manner that is not sensitive to the job market.” The report continued to explain that the current system focuses on providing Canadians with the services they want — in this case education and training — instead of the preparation and training they and the country need. In order to move the Canadian workforce forward, the report outlined five elements that should be implemented: improved career information and advice for students that includes more timely information on the job market, re-prioritization of applied learning including more apprenticeships and co-op programs, the promotion

of enrolment in career-ready and high-demand programs, the establishment of competency frameworks for a range of sectors and occupations, and a greater encouragement of entrepreneurship. The report explained that the current “bums in chairs” approach to funding has led to an increase in class sizes while decreasing the quality of education. A cut in enrolment, however, would not leave students out to dry. The report argued in most cases it would affect the students who were most likely going to drop out anyways. “This selective approach would likely produce more graduates, or at least no fewer, who are better prepared for the world of work,” Coates said. Jeff Watson, employer relations manager with the student success centre at Western, disagrees. “We’re talking about decreasing opportunities for students to get a university education as being a solution,” Watson said. “And I don’t think that’s a sound strategy.” According to Watson, 86 per cent of students who graduate from Western are working in a field related to their area of study within six months of graduation, and that number increases to 93.9 per cent within two years. Watson sees there being an opportunity for universities to create pathways for employers to recruit students, and for students to add value to small, medium and large businesses, and to the economy as a whole. He emphasized, though, that it is up to the students to market themselves. “There’s a lot of ability in that [university] degree,” Watson explained. “And it’s paramount that anyone who receives that degree … is able to speak to the marketable skills that they earned from that and open doors for themselves and really describe … how they’re going to solve problems for their employers and really add value when they join their team.”

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HE DEVELOPMENT OF THE CANADIAN WORKFORCE THROUGH POST-SECONDARY EDUCATION HAS EVOLVED IN A MANNER THAT IS NOT SENSITIVE TO THE JOB MARKET. KEN COATES

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thegazette • Tuesday, April 7, 2015

arts&life

funwithpuns What can you say about a well-reviewed car mechanic?

• He comes highly wreck-a-mended.

Rick Mercer shows no mercy Megan Devlin ASSOCIATE EDITOR @MegAtGazette

The Mustang Lounge was packed with nearly 700 students and their parents Wednesday night to hear Rick Mercer, acclaimed Canadian television journalist, speak at Western. Mercer was brought to Western to speak by Huron’s, King’s and Brescia’s students’ councils for the first “HBK Talk.” Mercer said his show endeavours to smash Canadian cultural myths. He touched on our Paralympic athletes, brutal winters, managed politicians and the myth of the disengaged youth voter. He delivered a fast-paced talk that sent the audience into frequent fits of laughter. He drove each point home by way of funny anecdotes from filming his show and video clips of highlights. Mercer is perplexed why today’s youth are so engaged with their communities yet so disengaged with Canadian politics. “It’s like they’re practicing abstinence with politics,” he joked. But last federal election, he noted, there were exceptions in the form of “vote mobs” across Canadian university campuses. “Nobody knows how [youth are] going to vote and that’s terrifying for the powers that be,” he said. Mercer says he’s sick of politicians, and stopped bringing them on the show five or six years ago. “The politicians in Ottawa now?

Taylor Lasota • GAZETTE

I can’t make them look normal,” he said. “It’s a camera and a microphone, not a magic wand.” He told one particularly ridiculous story of the time he visited 24 Sussex drive but couldn’t get the prime minister or his chief of staff, Ray Novak, to admit Stephen Harper played the piano that sat in his living room. “The piano is an elite and feminine instrument,” Mercer recounts Novak telling him. “The prime minister of Canada does not play the piano.” Harper has since come out of the piano-playing closet, Mercer says. He also recounted being on the

prime minister’s campaign plane and Harper would only stop to talk to old people — he said Harper never once went near a place with anyone under 50. “No one in Quebec thinks they’re going to get elected by ignoring students,” Mercer said. “Young people don’t vote in English Canada. That’s your own fault, admittedly.” Mercer has given up on bringing politicians on the show, but he’s opened up space for Paralympic athletes. He opened his talk by telling a funny tale of the time he went bungee jumping with wheelchair athlete Rick Hansen for the show.

Hansen is one of 60 Paralympians Mercer has brought on the show. He maintains the country’s toughest athletes are those in wheelchairs. For Andrea Carter, vice-president student issues with the King’s University College Students’ Council, the Hansen bungee jumping story was her favourite. “I’ve always been a big Rick fan and one of my goals as incoming vice-president student issues was to bring an athlete and a comedian to come and speak,” she said. Mercer also called attention to Canada’s treatment of its veterans during the Q&A after the show. Paul Franklin, who lost both legs in

combat, has to prove to the government every year that his legs have not grown back in order to keep receiving support to finance his wheelchair. After Mercer brought Franklin’s case onto his show, people in the government agreed it was ridiculous. They changed the requirement from every year to every three years. “Baby steps,” Mercer chuckled. “I went thought a cynic phase,” he admitted in an interview after the show. “But I’m just, by nature, an optimist I guess. I have to think that when there’s problems they can be fixed.”

>> IN THEATRES > FURIOUS 7

Furious romp swer Conrad Floryan ARTS AND LIFE EDITOR @ConradAtGazette

GGGFF Furious 7 Director: James Wan Starring: Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Dwayne Johnson, Michelle Rodriguez

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Crash! Zoosh! Bang! By the sounds of it, summer blockbuster season has touched down and left a mark. Furious 7 delivers high-octane action and just enough of a story to keep most of the audience awake until the end credits. The latest instalment in the Fast & Furious film franchise continues the trend of each movie becoming progressively louder and wilder. The car chase set pieces are astonishing. Although computer-generated imagery was employed to render some of the more spectacular fender benders, old school car movie fans can’t criticize the digital assistance because there is no way to do some of those stunts in real life. It’s just like how there’s no way Dwayne Johnson would have been as jacked as he is in this film without a little help from steroids. There isn’t much interesting to talk about besides the students or human growth hormones. The

acting is serviceable. The witty one-liners are disappointing but generally sufficiently cheesy. The storyline is part passable, part ridiculous, but story isn’t the point of the film anyway. It’s a showcase for action — amazing cars doing amazing things and ripped gymrats-cum-actors doing backflips and running around. It’s not just a movie, it’s more like an extended Super Bowl halftime show with a $250-million budget. In one scene there are models painted in gold dancing around in a swanky penthouse party, and things only get wilder from there. The problem is a halftime show gets boring after 10 minutes. Like many big-budget set piecebased films such as Transformers, Furious 7 is initially intriguing but gradually evaporates. The set pieces become numbing after a while and a viewer can easily go take a snack break, return to their seat and be right in the thick of things like they never left. Nevertheless the film made $143-million domestic this Easter weekend so why do audiences eat this stuff up? People love cars, especially guys. People who love cars also love movies about cars and the Fast & Furious franchise is recognized as the best bunch of car movies in the business. The franchise has

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thegazette • Tuesday, April 7, 2015

Emotional eating leaves bitter taste Conrad Floryan GAZETTE STAFF @ConradAtGazette

As students prep for exams, their eating habits often devolve into disarray. Increased stress sets the stage for emotional eating — consuming food for psychological comfort instead of nutrition. “I think most of us do it to one degree or another, whether it’s just picking up a chocolate bar even though we’re not hungry because we know it’s going to make us feel good,” says Dr. Lynne Hamilton, psychotherapist with Eating Disorders London. Paula Ng, registered dietitian at the WaterStone Clinic, explains stress is the major cause of emotional eating. Occasionally using food for comfort or reward is acceptable. When eating becomes an individual’s primary emotional coping mechanism, however, they get stuck in an unhealthy cycle where the real psychological issues aren’t being properly addressed. Food culture is another culprit, according to Hamilton. “Ever since we’re first born, we cry, we get fed and we’re comforted,” says Hamilton. She adds that when people are unable to express certain emotions and they have a hard time identifying their feelings, they tend to push their feelings away by drowning them out with the pleasure that comes from eating. Emotional eaters can become trapped in an unhealthy cycle of restriction and binging. If some people undereat throughout the day, an emotional trigger could tip them off and by the end of the day they might lapse into a binge. “When we start using food to function for us psychologically and meet emotional needs, then we’re taking it right out of context,” says Hamilton. “We’re taking in

foods that we don’t really need, we put on weight, we feel lousy about ourselves, we blame ourselves, we try to diet and restrict our eating and it starts a whole cycle.” In addition to the psychological toll, emotional eating is detrimental to physical health. Ng says it can alter metabolism, result in obesity and throw off blood glucose and insulin levels, which contributes to cardiovascular disease and high blood pressure. “What you’d typically rather have is a stable blood glucose level with some dips and rises so that your body has the proper nutrients that it needs throughout the day,” says Ng. “When you have a larger amount of food from over eating at any one particular time, then your body has to suddenly deal with a lot more from that.” Hamilton doesn’t think there is much people can do to avoid emotional eating since even healthy eaters eat emotionally from time to time. The issue is monitoring the degree to which one becomes emotionally dependent on food. When unhealthy eating patterns escalate, they can result in eating disorders such as bulimia and anorexia. Ng comments that maintaining a balanced diet throughout the day is key to limiting emotional eating. “Having three meals and three snacks throughout the day with foods from the four major food groups at regularly spaced intervals with carbohydrates and proteins will help some of those dips and rises in blood sugar and the overeating urges,” says Ng. Emotional regulation is also essential. Instead of resorting to gorging in response to unpleasant emotions, Ng says it’s important to have proper ways to deal with stress, such as physical activity, talking with friends or whatever

Kelly Samuel • GAZETTE

works for each individual. “If it becomes more serious, definitely seek the proper treatment and know that although there is a lot of stigma around this idea of eating disorders, everybody has troubles and it’s okay to ask for help,” says Ng. Ng believes emotional eating is quite common among young people due to the stress of school and social pressure. “There is so much pressure on young people to look, act and be a certain way that eating inevitably becomes affected by it,” says Ng. Hamilton adds that the issue extends to all age groups. “I work with emotional eaters as part of their eating disorders and I work with women and some men from age 16 to early 70s,” explains Hamilton. The sooner a person makes the effort to establish healthy dietary habits, the easier they are to maintain throughout adulthood. Mustangs hungry for a HäagenDazs breakfast after some late night studying could just grab an apple or take a nap. Your body will thank you, and so will your report card.

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incredible mass appeal bolstered by a multi-racial cast rarely seen in a movie on this scale that extends its draw to broader demographics. The seventh film of the bunch stands out and made even bigger headlines for an unfortunate twist of fate, the tragic death of one of the series’ longest stars, Paul Walker. The movie crew went to extensive efforts to ensure that Walker’s character Brian O’Connor be withdrawn from the franchise as lovingly as possible. Instead of killing him off, they delayed the theatrical release an entire year

in order to carefully employ CGI and a series of lookalikes to end O’Connor’s storyline with heartfelt touch. Herein lies another key to the series’ success. The cast is like a family and that camaraderie extends to viewers who have grown up with these guys since the first film dropped 15 years ago. The franchise provides a way for bonding over cars with no fuss. If they could only capture that spirit in a more sophisticated film, then there would really be something interesting to talk about.

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thegazette • Tuesday, April 7, 2015

opinions USC doing a disservice to candidates, students Cool Story Broekhoff

Get out of my Laine

@IainAtGazette

@MikeAtGazette

We’ve entered week two of the timeframe available to the University Students’ Council’s appeals board to deliberate and release their decision regarding the outcome of the 2015 slate elections. That’s right, we have just two more days of classes left and we still don’t know exactly which slate will be leading us next year, nor do we know who two other vice-presidents will be. The only confirmed executive next year is the vice-president of student events. The lengthy time it took for the elections committee to decide how many demerit points to dole out to the slates has been compounded by the weeks it took to file an appeal and have the appeal heard, and now the weeks it will take for the appeals board to come to a final decision. What some may see as democracy and due process in action I think is far from it. I’ll preface my concerns with one very good thing about this whole process: this year, the USC implemented a relatively independent appeals board to hear any appeals. If this was last year, it would be the executives who would effectively be deciding who the next executives would be — which is a pretty shocking proposition to think about. So good on the USC for finally implementing a process that on the face of it is pretty transparent and relatively free of the politicking we could expect from the executives themselves making these decisions. But the process is far from perfect and may not serve candidates or students any better in the end. Sure, having the executives decide their successors is cronyism at its finest and there would undoubtedly be immediate outrage at their decision. But at least there would be a decision and it’s not like people would be all that shocked at the USC doing something so obviously rife with problems and devoid of common sense. The length of time it has taken both the elections committee and the appeals board to conduct investigations, hold hearings and make their decisions public is a disservice to everyone. The slate members cannot safely make plans and transition for their term. Former candidates have a sliver of hope right until the very end of classes and maybe well into exams. And candidates for the two vice-president positions that are now hired are in even more limbo — the people who are going to hire them may eventually not even be their colleagues, throwing the whole system into doubt. The entire thing is, quite frankly, ridiculous. To have a committee of 14 students-at-large — some of whom are first-years and would have no previous experience with the USC — chosen by some mechanism and for some reason that barely anyone knows about to decide on what constitutes a demerit or not is suspect at best. To then have an appeals board composed of law students interrogate said committee publicly is even more astonishing. Shouldn’t the law students be on the first committee to avoid this whole mess? That’s not even getting into the philosophy behind students policing other students — and rather arbitrarily at that. I agree that there needs to be some due process in handling elections violations, but it’s clear in this case that there’s been very little reliable process and even less progress. This is not Bush v. Gore circa 2000. This is a relatively inconsequential student council election that few people care about and even fewer will remember. It’s well past time we know the outcome.

Where has the time gone? I mean seriously — it feels like just yesterday when I walked into The Gazette as a little firstyear asking where I could sign up to be an editor for the following year. That was back in Volume 105, and now here we are, moving on to Volume 109 next year. The office may have changed, the people around me may have come and gone, but to me, it’ll always be the same old Gazette, the one I remember working at in my second year. Starting out as a graphics editor and continuing on as both a graphics and video editor for another two years, my time here has felt like a short-lived

thegazette

Volume 108, Issue 98 www.westerngazette.ca

Iain Boekhoff Editor-In-Chief Brent Holmes Deputy Editor Richard Raycraft Managing Editor

Contact: www.westerngazette.ca University Community Centre Rm. 263 The University of Western Ontario London, ON, CANADA N6A 3K7 Editorial Offices: (519) 661-3580 Advertising Dept.: (519) 661-3579

The Gazette is owned and published by the University Students’ Council.

• William Shakespeare

Laine ends ahead Mike Laine GRAPHICS EDITOR

Iain Boekhoff EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Better three hours too soon, than one minute too late.

eternity, but it’s crazy to think it has really only been three years. I can, without a doubt, say that I learned more about design, about video and about myself as a person here at The Gazette than I have anywhere else in the world. Every year, there are always so many amazing people who come into this office with that gleam in their eye and then leave thinking, “Wow. I didn’t realize a student newspaper was so ... real.” Our resources here have been great, from our software, to our computers, to our photo equipment and everything else that has helped me do my job a little bit better. But I would have to say that our greatest resource is the people who come in every day to put a paper on the stands and put content online. Thank you to all the volunteers, all the staff and all the readers that I’ve met over the years who make this paper possible. Being on the creative side of things, I usually don’t have my name in lights here at The Gazette, which suits me just fine. I’ve written some opinion columns over the years, but I’ve had the

most fun doing what I do best: graphics and videos that give light to stories that otherwise may not have gotten as strong a voice. So with my final thoughts, I’d just like to say this: Next year, ask for more. Ask for more out of your student council, ask for more out of your university and ask for more out of your newspaper. Seeing it become a student newspaper that is focusing more online comes with some risk, and the best way to help them through it is with feedback and an active readership. It’ll be a tough road ahead but I’m confident that we’ll have a great paper next year and in years beyond. So please, keep reading, and if you see something you don’t like, let the new editors know — we all love to hear what you think. Though I’ll be leaving The Gazette, I won’t be going far. I’ll still be around in London, working as a designer and hopefully I’ll get a chance to read up on what’s going on in the Western bubble. Thanks for the memories. This is Mike “Mole” Laine, signing out.

We get letters!

Chakma controversy brings down Western’s rep Re: “President Amit Chakma voluntarily refunds $440k in salary,” Wednesday, April 01, 2015 To the editor: We’re writing to decline the invitation to celebrate our recent Faculty Scholars award at president Amit Chakma’s Western residence on April 14. We believe the recent revelations about the president’s compensation have done serious damage to the University’s reputation, among other things contributing to a misunderstanding of the nature and objectives of academic leaves. This undermines public trust in all of us — the hundreds of Western faculty and staff who are dedicated to advancing the university’s core teaching and research mission. The president’s poor judgment in negotiating and accepting double pay in the first place also makes a mockery of the sacrifices made by thousands of students to attend Western. The damage caused by the president’s and board of governors’ actions will not be easily repaired and does not leave us in a festive mood. Alison Conway English & Writing Studies Professor Kim Clark Anthropology Professor To the editor: With President Amit Chakma returning the $440,000 he was given last year, it may seem that the hatchet is buried. I’m writing to remind students that this far from over. That’s your money. The University

Editorials are decided by a majority of the editorial board and are written by a member of the editorial board but are not necessarily the expressed opinion of each editorial board member. All other opinions are strictly those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the USC, The Gazette, its editors or staff. To submit a letter, go to westerngazette.ca and click on “Contact.” All articles, letters, photographs, graphics, illustrations and cartoons published in The Gazette, both in the newspaper and online versions, are the property of The Gazette. By submitting any such material to The Gazette for publication, you grant to The Gazette a non-exclusive, world-wide, royalty-free, irrevocable license to publish such material in perpetuity in any media, including but not limited to, The Gazette‘s hard copy and online archives.

promised you two things upon entrance: an education and Canada’s best student experience. By doubling President Chakma’s salary and being blatantly unapologetic about it, the University has categorically failed at delivering both. The “best student experience” should come with properly funded departments, world-class researchers and exemplary instructors and teaching assistants. During a time of austerity, amid budget cuts and larger class sizes, Western is cutting out the heart of the university to save face. Do not bury the hatchet just yet. Ensure the University delivers on its promise. Remember it is easier to beg forgiveness than to ask permission. Demetri Pananos 2014 Alumnus To the editor: I, for one, am not surprised that Chakma gave back his ill-gotten gains. The public outcry was swift and almost completely universal. The response was classic public relations damage control. First, you release a statement that does not admit guilt or wrongdoing but alludes to a mistake or misunderstanding. Then, you make a token gesture of restitution in order to pacify the public’s anger. In this case, Chakma gave back money he was legally entitled to keep, so he comes off looking like a generous public servant whose only loyalty is to the institution he serves. You then call for an independent inquiry in order to appear as though you have nothing to hide. Finally, you hope

Gazette Composing & Gazette Advertising Ian Greaves, Manager Маја Анјоли-Билић

Robert Armstrong Diana Watson

Gazette Staff 2014-2015 Mohammad Abrar Abdul Hanan, Suhaib Al-Azem, Eric Bajzert, Sarah Botelho, Damon Burtt, Sam Frankel, Devin Golets, Kevin Heslop, Richard Joseph, Drishti Kataria, Sara Mai Chitty, Soheil Milani, Mackenzie Morrison, Amy O’Shea, Kyle Porter, Tristan Wu, Tom Ruess, Samah Ali, Claire Christopher, Rita Rahmati, Julie Hambleton, Brittany Hambleton

News Amy O’Kruk Hamza Tariq Katie Lear Olivia Zollino News-at-large Kevin Hurren Opinions Nusaiba Al-Azem Arts & Life Conrad Floryan Jennafer Freeman Jenny Jay Sports Bradley Metlin Nathan Kanter Robert Nanni Jr.

the whole thing blows over and maintain a complete media blackout, granting no interviews or comment. Let me explain why it will not work. Paying a lawyer to tell us what we already know is not going to solve anything. People have consistently said the contract’s legality is actually proof of the senior administration’s complete lack of judgment on the real issues facing this campus: high tuition fees, increasing class sizes, institutional precarity for staff, lack of funding for non-STEM faculties and skyrocketing executive pay. Chakma’s pay is a symptom of a larger problem that cannot be solved by token gestures or legal reviews. We know it’s legal — that’s the problem. Using more of our money to pay a lawyer to tell us that Chakma’s contract was technically legal is just another colossal waste of our resources. Chakma and the board of governors seem to think that the occasional public relations scandal is part of doing business as usual, and once this blows over, they can get back to fleecing us all. This has never been about the money so giving it back is a hollow, pointless gesture. It’s time to bring in leadership we can trust — leadership whose vision for the future of Western is congruent with our own. Chakma and the chair of the board of governors have damaged the reputation of this institution, perhaps irreparably, and they should step down for the good of our school. Eric Lohman FIMS PhD candidate

Associate Megan Devlin Photography Kelly Samuel Taylor Lasota Winnie Lu Graphics Jennifer Feldman Illustrations Christopher Miszczak Kirstyn Culbert-Kviring Graphics/Video Mike Laine Marketing and Recruitment Coordinator Vivian Liu

• Please recycle this newspaper •

•7

thegazette • Tuesday, April 7, 2015

sports

factattack Former mayor of Toronto Rob Ford, most famous for his drunken stupors and crack smoking, was appointed to the Canadian Hockey Hall of Fame’s board of directors appointed by the City of Toronto.

Steven Takahashi: The Son also rises Richard Raycraft MANAGING EDITOR @RichAtGazette

The mentor-student relationship is a staple of many success stories. The tale of a young, eager student who is taken under the wing of a wise sage in an effort to achieve mastery is familiar to moving-goers and the well read. Western has its own version of this narrative, and it takes place both on the wrestling mat and the dinner table. Steven Takahashi isn’t a big guy. His humble and quiet demeanor doesn’t align with the traditional image of an athletic jock. It all masks the fact that the fifth-year kinesiology student, graduating this year, is arguably Western’s most accomplished athlete. Steven has never tasted defeat on the provincial or national mats as a Mustang, having won the championships at both levels every year he’s competed. As if that wasn’t impressive enough, the list of his other accolades is about as long as your arm. All this, and he didn’t even start his athletic career in the sport. “I never thought I was going to be a wrestler,” he recalls. Starting out as a gymnastics and soccer star, Steven initially resisted the path of his father, Western wrestling coach and Olympian Ray Takahashi. Representing Canada on the wrestling mat, Ray placed fourth in the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles — just short of a medal. This gave Steven a dream early on in life. “I always had aspirations to go to the Olympics, having my dad as my idol, wanting to one-up him and get a medal,” he explains. “I thought I was going to do it in gymnastics or a different sport.” But it wasn’t long before Steven would find himself on the mat, executing throws and pinning opponents. Like father, like son. “He was always around wrestling. Even as a kid I would take him to the wrestling room and he would watch or we would roll around a bit, so he had an advantage there and more exposure just because I coach,” Ray says. “Father-sons, they kind of play wrestle in the kitchen, so it’s just kind of a natural progression.” Did Ray win those kitchen throwdowns? You bet. But who would win today? “When he was a little kid maybe [I would win], but not now,” Ray says with a laugh. In those intervening years Steven, under no pressure from his father, switched to wrestling. He found a passion for the sport and wrestled in high school where Mustangs assistant coach Scott Proctor was one of his first instructors. “It was funny because my dad never pushed me into wrestling and I think it was a good strategy on his part because I fell in love with the sport on my own,” Steven recalls. After high school Steven chose to follow in the footsteps of both his parents and attend Western. Both Ray and Janet, Steven’s mother, were varsity athletes for the purple and white, and Steven was eager to carry on the tradition to the next generation. “It’s such an honour to compete

with Western and keep this tradition alive ... it was an exciting time, I was really glad that I picked Western.” That’s when Ray became his father and his coach officially. “I think he’s very formal and he’s a really good coach — he wouldn’t favour certain people and he’s very conscious of that in the room,” Steven explains. “He treats me just like any other athlete.” “I’ve been really happy because it’s been great,” Ray says. “Certainly at the dinner table we can talk wrestling and certain things — I think that’s one of his advantages in a way because he gets more contact time and influence.” “We’re pretty lucky to have a pretty good relationship, coach-athlete and certainly as a parent and a son,” he continues. Ask Steven about their relationship and he’ll say almost exactly the same thing. “Really I just can’t see myself having a different coach, it just seems so naturally for my dad to be my coach,” Steven says. “We have a good relationship and we carry it off the mat and on.” While the paternal love is obviously beneficial, their chemistry as coach and athlete has been just as important. Steven explains that his dad’s positive, quiet and patient style, which contrasts sharply with many wrestling coaches, has helped him in his career. “I think my dad’s a little bit more positive and when he does say something you know it’s meaningful,” he explains. Ray thinks he can size up his son’s approach to the sport just as accurately. “He wants to do well, so obviously he tries to perfect things, but the other thing is he’s got a pretty good analytical mind to technique,” Ray says. “Not only does he want to know how to do things, he wants to know why you do things, so I think that helps his technical abilities.” That mentality is useful in practice, where repetition of techniques is the key to success. But Steven isn’t just technical — he’s also conditioned himself to endure the grueling, muscle-on-muscle strain of the sport. Practice and conditioning all have to fit in Steven’s schedule on top of school. For Steven, balancing academics and athletics is all part of being a student athlete. “I’m training really hard for a meet and it overlaps into studying harder and being more focused in the classroom,” he says. “Working hard in one helped me work hard in the other.” It’s clearly a successful approach, and now this intensity might just lift him to the Olympics. Though he will leave Western this year, Steven may bring purple pride to the 2016 Rio games. He’s going through the Olympic trials, currently placed in second. If he makes it, he’ll be one step closer to his goal of reaching the podium his father fell just short of. “He’s always said that from when he was a little kid,” Ray says proudly. “First of all I don’t feel bad about it, I hope that he achieves greater success than me, and [that applies to]

any of our team members.” “I think it’s something that maybe gives him a goal to reach — I don’t think he’s trying to prove anything, that he’s better than me, but I think it’s great that he always had that, stuck with it, and that’s still his goal.” Steven couldn’t have made it this far without his father, mentor and coach who helped make his years at Western the best of his life. “My time at Western, being a student-athlete and representing Western, have been the best years of my life,” he said. “I’m very grateful to be a Mustang and it was such a great experience and it’s almost a hard reality to see it come to an end, but it was very successful and I’m happy to be a part of it.”

Courtesy of Ray Takahashi

To place your classifed ad, please contact us at 519-661-3579 or adoffice@uwo.ca

HOUSING

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UPCOMING EVENTS TEAMS OF FOUR needed to participate in Boys and Girls Club of London’s Capital One Race for Kids event on 6 June 2015. For more information or to get involved, visit our website at: www.raceforkids.ca

ANNOUNCEMENTS INTERESTED IN PHOTOGRAPHY, video, or music production? 121 Studios (an initiative of unlondon.ca , a local non-profit organization) is equipped with portrait photography and audio recording facilities, video editing resources, shared desk space & more. 121studios.ca. Student discounts available. SOARING CLUB BEING ratified at Western, will be the only student run soaring club in North America, learn to fly and work towards your license, for more info email westernsoaring@gmail.com

VOLUNTEERS WANTED THE LOVE LAB is recruiting same-sex couples over the age of 18 for a study of reactions to couples in public spaces. Participants will complete a set of questionnaires in the Social Science Center at UWO. In addition, participants will be asked to walk through a public space on campus while holding hands, wearing a hidden camera. This should take no more than 60 minutes, and participants will receive monetary compensation in appreciation for their time. If interested, email couplesuwo@gmail.com. VOLUNTEERS NEEDED FOR Boys and Girls Club of London’s Capital One Race for Kids event on 6 June 2015. If you are interested in volunteering at this event, please complete the volunteer form at: www.raceforkids.ca LONDON SENIOR SEEKING a volunteer helper to assist with completion of woodworking projects. On Wonderland 10 bus route. Also looking to rent space for woodworking projects in Westmount Shopping Centre area one evening a week. A garage or workshop space would be ideal. Contact Alan 519-660-1442.

SERVICES EDITOR/PROOFREADER AVAILABLE. Have your papers or thesis reviewed. Extensive experience in Communications and Journalism, just retired. BA English, MA Journalism, UWO. Contact maryalderson77@gmail.com

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8 •

thegazette • Tuesday, April 7, 2015

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