Friday, October 25, 2013

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We are the champions!

The Mustangs softball team won the provincial championships for the fourth year in a row. >> pg. 7

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FRIDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2013

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VOLUME 107, ISSUE 29

Beginning of the end for Project LEARN?

Canvassing, zero-tolerance ends, warnings to be given instead Richard Raycraft NEWS EDITOR London Police Chief Brad Duncan announced that the London Police Service will be taking a different approach to Project LEARN at a press conference Thursday afternoon.

The controversial LPS initiative, short for Liquor Enforcement and Reduction of Noise, aims for strict enforcement of bylaws related to parties, noise, public urination and other offences. The annual crackdown started on August 27 of this year and ran through September 28, with heavy police presence in student neighbourhoods.

The press conference came amidst backlash against the LPS, arising from questionable charges such as tickets for cheerleading in public and police collecting students’ personal information, including parents’ phone numbers.

Duncan said the police strategy of strict enforcement needs to be assessed and reviewed, while asserting his duty as police chief.

“The question must be addressed — is this approach working? Is it sustainable?” he asked. “It was important to place the police intervention strategies in light of the overall neighborhood experiences.

It must never be forgotten that I have the statutory obligation to provide the citizens of London with a safe and secure environment, and I cannot and will not abdicate that responsibility.”

Duncan also announced that the

personal information collected from police canvassing will be removed from their databases.

“I have directed that our first response, in an effort to refocus our collective community efforts, is to immediately cease the practice of the requesting personal information during canvasses in student occupied neighborhoods, as it has been received as an invasion of privacy,” he continued. “All personal information during our canvassing strategies will be purged from our records and that is ongoing as we speak.”

The LPS will also reign in their zero-tolerance strategy when issuing tickets and charges to students, Duncan said. They will now look to issue warnings prior to issuing tickets for such things as noise violations — a source of tension between students and the police in the past few years.

For Amir Eftekarpour, vicepresident external of the University Students’ Council, the news was very encouraging.

“We’ve heard some really, really positive things today,” he said.

Eftekarpour and other members of the USC had previously met with Duncan and members of city council to discuss alternative approaches to police enforcement against students.

“The stopping of the canvassing is positive of course, and I think we heard the police chief comment that going forward [the police] will be issuing warnings instead of a zerotolerance approach, which was one of our firmest recommendations,”

Bill Wang GAZETTE

POLICE LEARN-ING NO MORE. London Police chief Brad Duncan said the police will be scaling back Project LEARN at a press conference Thursday. The police said they will stop canvassing student neighbourhoods immediately, purge all data gained from canvassing, and end their zero-tolerance policy on student rowdiness.

he said.

Eftekarpour ran alongside president Pat Whelan in the 2013 USC election — campaigning on a promise to fight Project LEARN. They have engaged in a number of strategies to that end, including launching a “Good Neighbour” campaign and taking part in the city’s Town and Gown committee.

“Really there has been an

increased dialogue in the USC and on the Western campus about the need to engage as partners in the community, and so what we’re really looking forward to is a community engagement process,” Eftekarpour said.

According to Eftekarpour, concerned students have contacted the USC about police tactics. With the announcement of reform from the

police, he said it was time for the rest of the community to do their part.

“The ball is in the students’ court, but it’s also in the court of the police, the community, city hall — it really is a community process,” he said.

“So now going forward if we have a community-oriented approach […] to really discuss a community response — that is when we’ll see the best results.”

USC surplus becomes innovation fund $59k budget surplus to be spent on large-scale projects Jeremiah Rodriguez NEWS EDITOR A motion passed during Wednesday’s University Students’ Council meeting fueled the most contentious debate of the night over what to do with an unexpected cash inflow uncovered by this year’s council from surpluses from the Spoke and Wave.

The newly created Executive Innovation Fund allows USC executives to put forth ways to use a windfall fund of $59,000 by the end of this fiscal year, which ends May 31, 2014.

The innovation fund won’t exist

in next year’s budget and unused funds would go to the service stabilization fund, which is a pool of money that will supplement any possible financial shortcomings made during the year. That fund wasn’t enough to cover deficits in last year’s budget and resulted in this year’s student fees being raised by $2.

The unforeseen money came from places like the new tenants in the University Community Centre basement, cuts to the elections committee — which was running at a surplus — and food services like the Spoke and Wave raking in more

I don’t understand why we couldn’t work it into the budget so there would be no chance that we would have to raise student fees at the end of the year.

—Emily Soti

King’s University College Students’ Council representative

cash than anyone anticipated.

“We found these efficiencies and this passed motion allows these proposals to spend resources for new resources,” said Spencer Brown, vice-president finance for the USC. “We’re open to feedback. We’re proposing that council listen to proposals that if money is not spent it would go to the stabilization fund.”

Any ideas that would use innovation funds would have to be passed by council, letting them veto any idea that doesn’t sit right with them.

Several councillors and senators strongly argued against using the surplus this way, and expressed how

uncomfortable they were spending money they might need later in the year as well as the fact there weren’t any solid plans for the money.

“If the money is spent and we find ourselves over budget, we need to find money when we’d be running at a deficit. Then we’re going to again make tough choices as to where we’re going to find that money,” said Jordan Pearson, faculty of information and media studies students’ council president.

Emily Soti, councillor for King’s University College, echoed the >> see USC pg.3

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thegazette • Friday, October 25, 2013

Caught on Camera

CROSSWORD By Eugene Sheffer Logan Ly GAZETTE

CHANGE FOR CANCER. The brothers of Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity camped outside overnight for 36 hours on Concrete Beach this week, raising money towards breast cancer research.

USC hikes demerit fines Julian Uzielli EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Candidates planning to break the rules in the next University Students’ Council elections are going to have to dig a little deeper into their pockets.

At a meeting Wednesday night, council passed a motion that will see the demerit point fine for presidential and vice-presidential candidates rise from $6 to $10.

The fines were raised to discourage candidates from breaking the rules as part of their campaign strategy, according to Pashv Shah, chief returning officer for the USC elections, who helped draft the new rules.

“The reason behind the increase was $6 was more of a slap on the wrist. There was no immediate value to it — $10 is not that much higher, but it’s significant enough that if they were to max out on the demerit points, their bond would be removed,” he said. “So if you make enough mistakes, you have to realize that your deposit that you made to the USC would be removed because of repetitive demerit points.”

During the annual election campaign, candidates receive demerit points for breaking campaign rules.

The number of demerits depends on the severity of the infraction — for example, displaying campaign materials in an unauthorized area dings candidates one point, but abuse of position or status would net them 15. If a presidential or vice-presidential candidate receives 30 demerit points during the twoweek campaign period, they are disqualified.

The new rule was part of a series of updates to bylaw 2, which governs elections procedures. Other notable changes include moving the start of the voting period from midnight to 8 a.m. and defining the “fair market value” of a mobile app as onefifteenth of the spending limit for a campaign.

It’s an open secret in USC circles that rule-breaking is used as a campaign tactic during elections.

Though improper campaigning may incur fines, candidates often decide it’s worth the potential votes.

“Over the past few years there’s been a lot of discourse […] that sometimes it’s worth it to violate the rules and take the demerit points and fines if it means securing more votes,” Andrew Lalka, chair of the USC’s governance and agenda committee, said in an e-mail.

Though nearly all councillors at

Wednesday’s meeting seemed to agree that the new rules were a step in the right direction, some thought they didn’t go far enough.

According to USC president Pat Whelan, bylaw 2 as it stands is too restrictive — even old-fashioned — in its approach to governing elections.

“I think these were great additions to the way we currently do things, [but] I think we need to think about a new way of doing things,” he said.

“I’ll give you an example. During my election, I was very much fundamentally trying to create tools for supporters to join on. Our current bylaw states that anyone who happens to use your name essentially is an arm’s length party, and therefore you’re responsible for their actions.

So really our bylaws don’t support a grassroots campaign, they support a top-down, very structured, rigid campaign team. That requires a re-thinking.”

Whelan acknowledged, however, that the practice of intentional rulebreaking needed to be addressed — though he said that wasn’t a tactic he used last year. His slate received two demerit points last year, the lowest total of the three candidates.

News Briefs

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USC votes to add time limits to meetings The University Students’ Council passed new time limits on all motions before council Wednesday night. Council business must be done by midnight unless time sensitive, debate on motions will be limited to one hour and amendments may have an extra thirty minutes.

Council may still vote to extend debate once, by a set limit.

“I believe it’s important to put some time limits into policy to ensure the well being of councillors and to ensure that decisions are being made in the best environment possible, especially the important ones,” said Emily Soti, King’s University College Students’ Council representative.

“The advantages of this system is that we will have to think critically about what direction our debate has

taken and how much more time we need through an extension,” she said. Despite the deadline, council still retains the power to continue the meeting.

In the event that a meeting has to be cut off at midnight, the USC has a few choices, Soti explained.

“There are two options: The speaker can adjourn the meeting and reschedule to continue the debate, or the council can challenge the chair and extend the meeting by a two-thirds vote,” she said. So far, policy for scheduling a later meeting is unwritten, but the USC is flexible.

“Additionally, if we find this policy isn’t working for us, we can review it at a later date. At this point, I am happy it passed and am looking forward to even more efficient and effective meetings with continuous healthy debate in the future.”

—Katie Lear

The Cryptoquip is a substitution cipher in which one letter stands for another. If you think that X equals O, it will equal O throughout the puzzle. Single letters, short words and words using an apostrophe give you clues to locating vowels. Solution is by trial and error. © 2002 by Kings Features Syndicate, Inc.

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thegazette • Friday, October 25, 2013

Budget town hall welcomes student input Aaron Zaltzman ASSOCIATE EDITOR On Wednesday evening, the University Students’ Council hosted a town hall meeting to outline priorities for the 2014/2015 budget. The meeting came a few weeks after the USC released a survey asking students about their knowledge of the budget and what they want to see in it.

“There were concerns from councillors last year who felt that they had a lack of information and their hands were tied when they were making decisions on the budget. We can’t move the budget timelines at all, but what we can do is get student feedback on the front end,” said Spencer Brown, vice-president finance for the USC. “The survey and town hall were two approaches we were trying to take to get that student feedback, so that when we present the budget it’s already things they wanted rather than something totally out of the blue.”

Brown presented the results of the survey to those in attendance — mostly USC councillors — before opening up the meeting to questions and discussion from the audience.

He said he thought the feedback from the audience was helpful.

“There were no real surprises but it was good to hear what students thought. Students ranked ‘support’ and ‘education’ as two of the top priorities according to students, and they said ‘advocacy’ should receive less,” Brown said. “I think we can do a better job of letting students know what advocacy is, and that advocacy can address support and education.

I think it’s indicative of a need for us to outreach better.”

Steven Wright, councillor for the faculty of information and media

The survey and town hall were two approaches we were trying to take to get that student feedback, so that when we present the budget it’s already things they wanted rather than something totally out of the blue.

— Spencer Brown

vice-president finance of the University Students’ Council

Bill Wang GAZETTE

studies students’ council, said he went to the meeting to learn more about the lengthy budget process.

He was also one of the audience members who contributed to the discussion.

“I spoke specifically about the service stabilization fund and how in our current circumstances we’re unsustainable in the long run,” Wright said. “One of the main points I brought up was that any kind of new initiative the USC decides to put resources towards should also take that broader circumstance into consideration.”

Indeed, one of the main issues of contention in last year’s budget

SOMETHING FUNNY ABOUT MONEY. Students gathered in the Mustang Lounge on Wednesday evening to hear Spencer Brown, vice-president finance for the USC, discuss student feedback on priorities in the budget process.

was the USC stabilization fund, a $2 fee increase meant to make up a budget discrepancy. Another dominant issue at the meeting was the commercial presence on campus, something Wright felt is an important point of discussion.

“While there are definitely some benefits to the USC in terms of revenue and making things more financially feasible, there needs to be more discussion on the extent to which the USC and Western students are willing and comfortable with having increased corporate

presence on campus,” Wright said.

The survey indicated that most students seem to feel comfortable with the level of commercialization, and would even be open to increasing the corporate presence if it meant more money off of student fees.

“Personally I have my own issues with any kind of commercial interest on campus, but those are my own views,” Wright said. “If the wider community would be open to it, obviously as a councillor I have a duty to represent those interests.”

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USC surplus earmarked for executive projects >> continued from pg.1

statements made by those opposing the fund itself.

“I don’t understand why we couldn’t work it into the budget so there would be no chance that we would have to raise student fees at the end of the year,” Soti argued. “I see it more as an extension of the executives’ budget’s line.”

Pearson drew a heavy connection to last year in which the stabilization fund wasn’t enough to cover a $60,000 deficit in the budget.

“I just think this is the same type

of logic that got us into the problem we ran into last year when we had to raise student fees by $2,” he said.

But Jack Litchfield, chairman of the USC’s long-term planning and budgeting committee, said a lot of the clamor against the fund came from an unclear understanding and reiterated that any proposal would have to gain council approval.

“This motion sets in place a policy for us to spend that money if ideas arise. It doesn’t dictate how that money will be spent. If we don’t do that, the money goes straight into the stabilization fund,” Litchfield

said.

“That money is tied directly or indirectly to subsidies to this year’s student fees so it would be unethical to send it straight into our capital reserves without presenting [Western] the opportunity for the benefit of students who already paid for it.”

Litchfield went on to say how substantial the stabilization fund actually was $225,000.

“The stabilization fund is much larger than $60,000 we were arguing about.”

The USC executive can now

develop their projects to spend portions of the money in the fund, and those ideas can also be developed with councillors from input from their constituents. Proposed projects would have to be larger than $5,000 to be able to access the fund.

However, Pearson had words of caution for council over the spending of the innovation fund.

“Council will have to be very careful moving forward in terms of being involved for these proposals and council has to be very, very critical when approving or denying them.”

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thegazette • Friday, October 25, 2013

Arts&Life

badwriting And from a very tiny, underused part of my brain — probably located at the base of my medulla oblongata near where my subconscious dwells — comes the thought: He’s here to see you.

E.L. James, 50 Shades of Grey

Solid performance can’t plug film’s leaks

WHERE

to

get it SUNGLASSES: RAYBAN CLUBMASTERS While Connie Yu is rocking off brand versions, Rayban is the go-to for the original retro styled sun glasses RED POLKA-DOT SHIRT: TOPSHOP Not a fan of red? No problem!

Topshop has a huge variety of feminine polka-dotted collared shirts to choose from.

FLARED SKIRT: FOREVER 21 This simple, black flared skirt can be found at most women’s clothing outfitters, but Yu got hers at Forever 21.

BROWN BOOTS: ZAPPOS.COM

S

ometimes stepping out of your fashion comfort zone yields fantastic results. For Western student Connie Yu, she shirked her day-to-day style for an interview.

“I had an interview today, and I was running late so I just grabbed this outfit out of my closet” she laughs, acknowledging she has a well-stocked closet from which to choose. “ “I like grungy things normally, so this is the opposite of that.”

With a red, polka-dotted collared shirt and a short flared skirt, Yu is the picture of classic femininity. She pairs

Zappos provides an incredibly wide array of footwear, including many varieties of strappy, heeled boots similar to the ones that Yu can be seen wearing.

Logan Ly GAZETTE

these simple, compatible pieces with strappy brown ankle-boots and a pair of retro off–brand sunglasses to give just a hint of edge to her outfit.

Yu noted that she can most often be found rocking a leather jacket, and that most of her favourite clothing was found in thrift stores. In fact, in spite of her affinity for grunge, it’s the shirt she’s wearing which she thrifted that’s her favourite outfit item.

“My favourite piece is the shirt. It reminds me of Minnie Mouse,” she says.

While the warm days of fall have all but wrapped up, you can still channel Yu’s style by adding a pair of

leggings and a denim jacket. Also, a light pea-coat in this fall’s hot colour, mustard yellow, would look fantastic with the red and polka-dotted shirt.

The grunge look — or any other style you’re comfortable with — is great for daily wear. But sometimes, particularly for occasions like a job interview, it’s effective to get creative with your apparel while still remaining true to your style. If your closet is as well stocked as Yu’s, reach in and get creative. The results can be fantastic, as Yu proved with her ultra-feminine, Minnie Mouse-inspired outfit.

— Cam Smith

Logan Ly GAZETTE

Courtesy of Disney

Conrad Floryan CONTRIBUTOR GGFFF The Fifth Estate Starring: Benedict Cumberbatch, Daniel Bruhl Directed by: Bill Condon Benedict Cumberbatch is spellbinding as WikiLeaks founder and international muckraker Julian Assange in The Fifth Estate. He does his best to carry the movie, but it’s just too heavy for one actor to bear. The film cannot sustain its 128-minute runtime. Sustain is the operative word; here is a largely by-the-numbers Oscar-film doing just enough to be acceptable, but it’s too all over the place to be exceptional.

The film recounts how Assange created the website WikiLeaks, which leaks confidential, and often times reprehensible, information about governments and corporations. Along with his partner Daniel Domscheit-Berg (Daniel Bruhl), he builds the site into an international force to be reckoned with.

Cumberbatch portrays Assange as a detached, ruthless genius.

Assange is presented as a deity of the new information age, a singular force making his own rules. Such canonization gives the film great allure because the thought that one man could be brilliant enough to almost singularly bring down “the system” is captivating. The fact that this actually happened in real life adds to the intrigue. That’s the strength of movies that depict important real life figures; these people are like superheroes or gods, but real. Unfortunately, these movies have been made a million times so you need to bring something new to the formula.

The film feels more like a collage of spare parts from various different types of movies than an independent, breathing work of art. It’s a prestige picture about a serious real life figure, it’s replete with Bourne-style globetrotting,

and it’s a techno-thriller. Even the soundtrack feels garden-variety, employing cues with a muddled mixture of propulsive electronic ambiance and pensive acoustic guitar. While it is entirely possible to make a successful movie that combines various styles into a cohesive vision, this one hasn’t combined the ingredients in any new or exciting way. It has a lot in common with The Social Network, except this film isn’t a masterpiece.

Director Bill Condon employs a kinetic visual style, cutting fast and senselessly and shaking the camera.

It feels like a clear attempt to inject the tech-heavy film with vigor and maintain interest from audience members who may not be familiar with the real-life story of WikiLeaks.

At one point, what Assange types on his keyboard scrolls luminously across his face. Why? Despite the fascinating source material, it seems the filmmakers lacked confidence in Josh Singer’s screenplay and felt it necessary to spice it up with hackneyed filmmaking techniques.

As far as saving graces go, the audience is successfully transported to an interesting techy sub-culture.

The audience inhabits the modern coffee shops and throbbing European nightclubs where the cyber geniuses go about their cyber genius business. The European setting works well with the sophisticated and continental Assange.

Cumberbatch’s performance and the location work harmoniously to paint a poignant artistic stroke. At one point there is an outdoor shot of an office building housing the main characters with its windows lit up in fluorescent hues. It’s a striking image and it’s too bad more of the movie isn’t as artistic.

While WikiLeaks and Julian Assange are fascinating source material, The Fifth Estate is tepid.

Benedict Cumberbatch may garner some Oscar voters’ attention, but the rest of the movie is only just good enough — just good enough for two stars.

•5

thegazette • Friday, October 25, 2013

A pleasant sounding Belle The sound experience of The Belle Game Cheryl Madliger GAZETTE STAFF

Courtesy of The Bradford

Kevin Heslop GAZETTE STAFF Ritual Tradition Habit is an album which reflects the journey of its creators, The Belle Game, who have chosen in favor of the newness of adventure for the growth of themselves.

“Some people choose to stay with what they know, whether or not it’s good for them,” front woman Andrea Lo says. “It could be something great for them; it could be like having a smoothie every morning, or it could be something self-destructive — but in that there’s always a sense of comfort, there’s a sense of routine.”

To their credit, the dynamic group collectively broke from routine in June of last year as one tenth of a smorgasbord of blooming talent for the CBC and VIA Rail sponsored “Tracks on Tracks” competition.

Traveling from Vancouver to Toronto by rail, the 10 carefully selected bands played a total of seven times in as many cities: Kamloops, Edmonton and Winnipeg among them.

Poetry

“It was really interesting,” Lo says. “We had to play in situations where we were more stripped down than usual, and we’d been kind of learning how to do that. It kind of put us in a situation where we had to.”

The band found creative momentum for the trip when they spent two weeks at the Banff Centre for the Arts, which Lo describes as “a huge creative haven.”

“There are rivers of rose quartz that run under Banff. I don’t know if that has to do with the energy that goes on around there but that kind of lit a fire under us,” Lo says.

With an undercurrent more like a river of amethyst than rose quartz, the album is a viscous and darkly enraptured collage of sound, derived from the band’s wide range of influences including such groups as Deer Hunter and Local Natives to Drake, and everything in between.

The tracks “Wait Up For You/ Wasted Light” were released on a 7” record through Bella Union in Europe following the release of the group’s first full-length album, Ritual Tradition Habit by Boompa

Records in April 2013.

“There’s a certain nostalgia [to vinyl], even if we didn’t necessarily grow up with it,” Lo explains. “It’s the matter of having something tangible in your hands, and something about that needle and the way it brings out the music. There’s something special about it versus just downloading something on iTunes and listening to it on your computer.”

“Wait Up For You” is an indelicately, but not hastily made sundae with all the trimmings; the washy mix of bright and dark guitar tones atop a smart, pop-punk skeleton of percussion is swathed with Lo’s chillingly buttery voice.

“Wasted Light,” the fifth track off the new album, contains undertones like dark, gnarled roots beneath blooming contrapuntal trumpet sounds away offshore.

From the holy to the human, the unlimited to the bodily caged, The Belle Game promises to evolve interestingly.

The Belle Game will be playing Call the Office (216 York St.) at 9 p.m. on October 28 with Bear Mountain.

Tickets will be at $8 at the door.

In high school, gym class was a boys only or girls only affair. But now that we’re at university, there are no rules (beyond the changeroom) to separate the boys from the girls when it comes to working out.

Still, I’m amazed at how often I’ve taken down stats after teaching a fitness class with 40 girls and zero boys or the number of times I’ve found myself the only girl in the weight room. When I look up the cardio mezzanine and see what some people call “booty mile” — not a term I particularly like — it’s clear that Western girls aren’t lazy when it comes to working out, they’re just not big on lifting weights. On the other side of the coin, it seems like guys have an aversion to cardio.

While I know there are exceptions — girls who love to lift weights and boys who love sprinting on the treadmill or stretching in yoga classes, I applaud you — we’d be a fitter campus if more of us gave up the gender stereotypes when it comes to working out.

For ladies, adding strength training can be revolutionary. Beyond building strong muscle that will help you function better in your daily activities, lifting weights with the intention of getting stronger is empowering. Lifting weights gives you numbers to focus beyond calories burnt or pounds to lose and the

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GGGFF Julia With Blue Jeans On Moonface Moonface’s new album is well written, atmospheric, and features some good piano work, but lacks any particularly characteristic or remarkable qualities. The indie album is structured as a ballad for “Julia” the mysterious love of Canadian singer-songwriter Spencer Krug.

Each song features only piano and vocals, which helps to make the album flow well, but also limits its diversity. Almost every song has a similar melancholic feel, which bleeds into each progressive song, and leaves you in a rather gloomy state by the end of the album.

Rather than the traditional cascade of emotional pleas to the “beloved”, we get a much more detached reflection on Krug’s

feelings of achievement that come along with milestones like your first pull up or deadlifting your body weight are hard to match.

Contrary to what some women still fear, lifting weights will not make you bulky. It takes years of hard work and a lot of food combined in specific training and nutrition to look anything like a bodybuilder. For the average woman, strength training will only benefit your body composition and your health.

For guys, taking a page from the girls at the gym can mean broader fitness. Whether it’s signing up for a yoga class or adding a session or two on the treadmill now and again, consciously incorporating elements like flexibility and endurance can only be beneficial.

For all of us, it’s easy to get stuck in a routine when it comes to working out. Whether you avoid the weight room or shirk at the idea of a spin class, your body will benefit from mixing it up every once in a while.

If you’re nervous about switching things up, asking for advice, going to a class, or hiring a trainer can make the process easier. Knowing that you’ll be fitter and healthier for it, keep in mind that stepping outside of your comfort zone is part of what getting fitter is all about. For boys and girls alike, pushing yourself can be scary, but when it comes to fitness, it’s absolutely necessary to keep making progress.

Your Weekly Horoscope

personal need for love. This is a more interesting take on the ballad, as it rejects the often-superfluous habits of modern clichéd love songs. It does, however, create a slightly bleak and apathetic experience, which is definitely not for everybody. Despite this fact, many of the songs feel overly personal, like we’re being let in on some of Krug’s more introspective diary entries.

The songs are written without choruses, making them more unique, but at the same time forgettable. The transitions between songs are often imperceptible, which makes for a smoother album, but doesn’t allow for any real stand-out songs.

A general mark of a great song is its ability to appeal to both the universal and the personal. There are no songs on the album which quite reach this standard, however there are definitely some highlights.

“Dreamy Summer” almost perfectly fuses the soothing, dream-like piano with the lyrical content of the song; “Love the House You’re In” is a philosophical and introspective yet relatable song; the album’s final song “Your Chariot Awaits” features some great piano work and takes a small step past the brooding tone of the rest of the album and adds some brushstrokes of hope to the album’s rather despondent self-portrait.

— David Witmer

The week of Oct. 27 – Nov. 2 This horoscope is intended for entertainment purposes only.

ARIES - Mar 21/Apr 20 Aries, shake things up a bit to inspire some muchneeded change. Be a tourist in your own city if you cannot afford a trip or immerse yourself in new cultures.

LIBRA – Sept 23/Oct 23 Libra, you feel a strong need to communicate with others this week. Share some truths with your loved ones, but try not to come across as if you have an agenda.

TAURUS – Apr 21/May 21 It is not a good week to begin new projects, Taurus. In fact, cosmic signs point to finishing up anything you have outstanding. Try to focus on financial matters as well.

SCORPIO – Oct 24/Nov 22 Scorpio, you may have a desire to travel and seek adventure, but right now finances won’t allow it. If you can keep expenses down, you may have the opportunity soon.

GEMINI – May 22/Jun 21 Cooperate with others this week, Gemini. This works best when you embrace compromise. Listen to what others have to say and always keep an open mind.

SAGITTARIUS – Nov 23/Dec 21 Expect to have luck on your side this week, Sagittarius.

As a natural born risk-taker, all you need is a little incentive to get out and take a chance.

CANCER – Jun 22/Jul 22 CAPRICORN – Dec 22/Jan 20 Cancer, a desire to get organized has been on your Keep your intentions hidden from others until you are mind for quite some time. Now is the ideal time to do ready for the big reveal, Capricorn. This will help make something about it. Start by clearing out clutter and go the surprise even more exciting for all those involved. from there.

LEO – Jul 23/Aug 23 Enjoy a short vacation, Leo. It may be a jaunt to a weekend hideaway or something off the beaten path, but make the most of this well-deserved escape from the daily grind.

AQUARIUS – Jan 21/Feb 18 Aquarius, discussions reach a point where you want to make permanent changes to your plans. Mull things over before making any final decisions, but enjoy this exciting time.

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thegazette • Friday, October 25, 2013

Opinions

I am continually fascinated at the difficulty intelligent people have in distinguishing what is controversial from what is merely offensive.

— Nora Ephron

HAVE YOUR SAY

The Gazette asked students what they thought about the “safer space” signs placed around the University Community Centre by the University Students’ Council.

Seven Minutes in Kevin

Verbal Azalt Chanel Mitchell

Biology III “They’re unnecessary. There should be another initiative; a poster isn’t going to do so much. It helps raise awareness but it definitely doesn’t add anything to make a space necessarily safe.”

Paolo Campisi

History IV “I think they’re a good initiative but they don’t go far enough. There’s very little awareness outside of the poster. When we walk around campus we have our phones in our hands – and there’s no major social media aspect to it or anything that actually engages students so it’s kind of a half-ass attempt at it.”

Stephanie Aigbe

Biology/Cell biology III “We shouldn’t just designate a space for safe space, it should be more of a campus-wide initiative. It makes me wonder if I’m outside of the space if it’s still a safe space — so I think that’s what the USC should consider when putting up these posters in certain areas.”

Aaron Zaltzman ASSOCIATE EDITOR

Kevin Hurren OPINIONS EDITOR

If the University Students’ Council wants to advertise that employees in certain areas on campus have undergone ally training, that’s fine. But while the safer space signs may not be harmful, I really question their usefulness.

The signs say that students can feel safe with any identities, including gender, background, race, class, age, sexual orientation, ethnicity, nationality and ability. I suppose this serves two purposes: Letting students know they won’t face discrimination based on any of those criteria, and that they can feel safe to express those identities.

The problem with the first purpose is this — what about spaces that don’t have these signs? The rules of safer spaces are the same as every place on campus, as well the city, province and country. It is illegal to discriminate against someone on any of those grounds, so I’m really not sure what advertising that fact in a particular space does.

The second problem is that this would be different if the USC were generally putting out the message that students could feel free to bring up issues of feeling uncomfortable due to their identity, but they’re not. They’re guaranteeing that students can feel safe to express the identities in these spaces.

This raises a serious question: Safe from what, exactly?

Obviously students won’t be discriminated against, because that’s illegal. But are these spaces safe from comments or actions that might offend these identities? You may feel like that answer is an obvious “yes,” but think about that for a second.

Does that mean it’s a space safe from ethnic or religious slurs?

We all know those aren’t the only things that can offend people. People differ both in terms of sensitivity to offence and what they take offence to. Offence is not something that we can just eliminate with tolerance — it’s a natural outcome between almost any two people.

People have different sensitivities around those they know versus those they don’t — if my friend made a Jewish joke around me, for example, it would be a lot less offensive than if a stranger did it.

Our sensitivity also tends to change around people who have certain identities themselves — we all feel a little more comfortable when it’s Chris Rock making jokes about black people.

The point is that there’s no way to predict what people will take offence to, because the possibilities are endless. Even an offhand joke about spiders could be offensive to someone with arachnophobia.

If the signs guarantee that nobody will be offended in these spaces, then that is simply not possible — not unless a rule of the safer space is that nobody is allowed to speak. So I ask, what exactly do these signs do?

Do I think members of marginalized communities risk a lot by going into public spaces on campus? Not particularly. Does that mean, however, that “safer space” signs should be taken down? Not in the slightest.

These signs — explicitly stating the University Students’ Council’s and Western’s commitment to ensuring that no one will be persecuted or discriminated against because of gender, race, sexual orientation, religion, class, age, or ability — are usually placed in high traffic areas. No, these signs don’t emit a mystical force field of acceptance, but that doesn’t mean they’re useless. I’ve always seen their purpose as mostly symbolic.

First, the signs allude to times when universities and other educational institutions were not safe places for others. Female students were mocked, coloured students excluded, and LGBT students harassed. The safer space signs stand as a testament to how far our community has come, and a reminder of how far we have to go.

This leads me to my second point. Yes, our campus isn’t, overall, a place where oppression and hatred is rampant.

Ignorance, however, is still prevalent. Offhand comments made in line at the Spoke can really offend — and although it may not have been directed in a hateful way, such remarks can still have crippling effects on nearby listeners. The safe space signs also act as a reminder that the USC is on your side if you chose to address the comment. The signs let people know that regardless of whom they’re standing with in that moment, they are not alone.

In many ways, Canada is experiencing an illusory state of equality. We spend so much time imagining this country as a welcoming home to all that we’re often quick to overlook the inconsistencies. We have large communities of immigrants, but does that mean there is no racism? We have prominent female politicians, but does that mean we have no sexism? Gay marriage is legal, but can we say homophobia no longer exists?

As a country, we’ve taken a number of great steps but that doesn’t mean we’re done the marathon. When it comes to issues of equality, a lot of people talk about “privilege.” For me, the best way to define privilege is when someone thinks something is not a problem because it doesn’t affect them personally.

I find myself thinking of privilege when it comes to discussions about these safe space signs. Just because you personally haven’t felt unwelcome or marginalized on campus, that doesn’t mean our campus is a progressive utopia. To some, the signs may be useless plaques — but to others, they are beacons of hope and solidarity.

Dear Life

Chris Williamson

Criminology/English III “I think it’s great. Advocating safe space for students on campus is really important — I was an RA last year and a soph this year and I think it’s hugely important that students, especially firstyear students, feel safe and comfortable no matter who they are.”

thegazette

Volume 107, Issue 29 www.westerngazette.ca

Julian Uzielli Editor-In-Chief Cameron M. Smith Deputy Editor Jason Sinukoff 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.

Dear Life, Why do I procrastinate, especially knowing how much I will hate myself for it later?

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.

Dear Life, Knock Knock, Who’s there?

To.To who?

It’s actually “to whom” you illiterate.

Gazette Composing & Gazette Advertising Ian Greaves, Manager Maja Anjoli-Bilic

Diana Watson

Gazette Staff 2012-2013

Danielle Bozinoff, Jaclyn Carbone, Jonathan Dunn, Andrew Evans, Chelsey Gauthier, Ross Hamilton, Danny Huang, Amanda Law, Jared MacAdam, Sarah Mai Chitty, Sarah Manning, Kaitlyn Oh, Sarah Prince, Chen Rao, Herb Richardson, Nathan Robbins-Kanter, Lily Robinson, Katie Roseman, Jasleen Sembhi, Nathan TeBokkel, Jacqueline Ting, Caroline Wang, Kate Wilkinson, Zoe Woods, Usman Zahid, Mason Zimmer

News Richard Raycraft Megan Devlin Iain Boekhoff Jeremiah Rodriguez Arts & Life Brent Holmes Mary Ann Ciosk Bradley Metlin Sports Daniel Weryha Nusaiba Al-Azem Caitlin Martin Newnham Opinions Kevin Hurren

Dear Life, I wish I could bake a cake filled with rainbows and smiles and everyone would eat and be happy...

Associate Kaitlyn McGrath Aaron Zaltzman Photography Logan Ly Bill Wang Kelly Samuel Graphics Naira Ahmed Illustrations Christopher Miszczak John Prata Online Jesica Hurst Graphics/Video Mike Laine

• Please recycle this newspaper •

•7

thegazette • Friday, October 25, 2013

Sports

gameday Both the women’s and men’s Western Mustangs volleyball teams will take on the Waterloo Warriors tonight at 6 p.m. and 8 p.m., respectively > the women are currently 0–1 on the season.

Rundown >> At the Head of the Charles Regatta, Lindsay Sferrazza and Erin Snelgrove of the Mustangs rowing team placed third and fourth, respectively, in the lightweight women’s singles > This Regatta is an international and prestigious rowing competition.

Mustangs win Ontario championship Western softball team defeats Gee-Gees in rematch Nusaiba Al-Azem SPORTS EDITOR For the fourth year in a row, the Western softball team brought the Ontario Championship title back home to London.

The Mustangs defeated the Ottawa Gee-Gees on Sunday by a score of 5–3. This win follows the Canadian Collegiate Softball Association National Championship game in Thanksgiving, in which the Mustangs overcame the Gee-Gees 8–3.

The victory comes as a form of redemption for the Mustangs.

Though they played exceptionally well this season, the team was defeated in September by the Gee-Gees when Ottawa broke the Mustangs’ winning streak, which had dated back to 2008.

“The last couple times we’ve played [the Gee-Gees], including last year in the finals, has created a large rival[ry] between our schools,” Mustangs outfield/infielder Tricia MacKay said.

“Playing the Gee-Gees after they broke our winning streak showed that we truly belong on top, after beating them three of the four times we played them this year.”

MacKay had a phenomenal game on Sunday. She improved her batting average to 0.846, making her the top hitter of the tournament.

The team faced some obstacles, with Mustangs pitcher Stacie Cox playing despite a stress fracture on her tibia. She recorded a walk and two hits in three appearances at the plate.

“I love hitting in front of Shannon Davidson,” Cox said of how she managed playing while injured. “We are for sure a good tag team. I get on

Jonathan Dunn GAZETTE

base, she hits dingers over the fence, which means I don’t have to sprint.

As for pitching, I warmed up and just made sure I was ready if anything happened and I was needed in the circle.”

Mustangs co-captain Kara Stirling, who graduates this year, reflected on what the four-year winning streak means to the team.

“Honestly, [it is] the best feeling in the world,” Stirling said. “Nothing will top not only winning, but being able to pitch the final game in my senior year and prove to everyone

Naira Ahmed GAZETTE

[that] yes we can do it four years in a row. It will be a memory myself, and I’m sure my teammates will carry with us for the rest of our lives.”

Mustangs head coach Pete Lemon explained four factors he attributed to the team’s success.

“First, we recruit quality individuals who are also good athletes, who want to improve and who are willing to work hard,” he said. “Second, we prepare for all likely situations so when they happen we are ready to execute at a high level. Third, we have great pride in representing

Western, which provides strong motivation to succeed. Fourth, our returning student-athletes and coaches provide a very welcoming environment for recruits so that many good prospects want to come here to play.”

However, moving forward into future seasons may pose a hiccup in the softball programs’ success. Many of the team’s strongest players will be graduating this year, including both co-captains. Though Lemon acknowledges that difficulty, he is confident that the softball program

can recruit top talent to continue breading success.

“Our alumni stay connected and help significantly in the recruitment process by recommending Western and, of course, Western is a very good school with many top notch academic programs so it is not difficult to recruit strong prospects here.”

The softball team ended off on a strong note and only time will tell if they can keep the record alive next year.

Jonathan Dunn GAZETTE

8•

thegazette • Friday, October 25, 2013

Mustangs host Panthers in exhibition Men take one loss and one win before OUA semifinals Sam Frankel GAZETTE STAFF On Saturday, the Mustangs men’s rugby team played host to the Davenport Panthers for the first of two exhibition games over the weekend. The Panthers are a division III NCAA team and came into the weekend with two wins and one loss on their season. Meanwhile, the Mustangs’ regular season officially ended and they entered the contest with six wins and one loss for the season.

The weekend started with a Saturday night clash, which proved to be a decisive win for Davenport.

The Panthers came out aggressive and scored their first try only three minutes into the game. A well-rested Davenport squad proved to be too much for a Mustangs team that was coming off its second game in two days. Davenport would go on to win the contest 36–7.

The teams were right back at it almost 12 hours later on Sunday morning. This time the Mustangs came out as the better team from the start. Western struck first when firstyear winger Glen Thomson-Bullock took a pass and tapped it down in the corner of the try zone. Western’s

Mark Denton converted the kick and put Western up by seven early.

Davenport would battle back with a try late in the first half.

Davenport’s fly half did not covert the kick and Western headed into halftime up 7–5.

The Mustangs started the second half aggressively, due in large part to their forwards placing the Davenport backline under significant pressure. The purple and white were playing with an extremely short bench, with only three substitutes.

These three substitutions were used early into the second half.

Shortly after halftime, Western’s 8-man Mitchell Rothman was able to take the ball off a stolen scrum and run it into the try zone to increase Western’s lead to seven.

Western continued to dominate the flow of play and was able to put the game away with a couple minutes remaining. Mark Denton was able to convert a penalty goal, which gave Western a 15–5 win.

Western’s coach Stephen Thomas was excited about his team’s performance following the game and was quick to praise many individual efforts on his team. “[It was a] good win,” Coach Thomas said. “Garen Keleshian,

Jonathan Dunn GAZETTE

Leonard Ivey and Cole Sopik were exceptional in the forwards.”

After the game, second-year fly half Mark Denton was delighted with how the team’s regular season ended.

“After the loss last night, we were really hoping to come back with a big win. They were super stiff

competition, but the guys and I have had our backs up against the wall before, and I’m thrilled with how we came out today. We’re an extremely tight-knit group and we are really having fun out there,” Denton said.

The Mustangs dominated the Ontario University Athletics last year, climbing the standings and

making it to the OUA finals before losing to Queen’s. Make sure to follow the Mustangs when they once again try to win it all this year. Western is back in action on the October 26 for the OUA semi finals, when they take on the winner of Guelph versus Royal Military College.

To place your classifed ad, please contact us at adoffice@uwo.ca

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thegazette This week the purple pipe goes to the Western Mustangs football team’s kicker/punter, Lirim Hajrullahu.

In Saturday’s final regular season game, Hajrullahu went fivefor-five in field goals, and tacked on five extra points to complete his 20-point effort.

Late in the second quarter on a Western Mustangs drive that was stopped just short of a first down, Hajrullahu was called out to kick a 26-yard field goal. By hitting his mark, Hajrullahu made history. His four first-half field goals and two extra points sent him soaring past the Canadian Interuniversity Sport all-time scoring record previously held by former Ottawa Gee Gees’ kicker Neil Lumsden, and helped him cement his name into the CIS record books.

Hajrullahu, the senior from St. Catharines, Ontario, is on the tail end of his fifth and final year of CIS football eligibility. In his five-year career as a Mustang, Hajrullahu has scored 165 extra points, 26 singles, he has broken the CIS all-time scoring record, he has set the Ontario

University Athletics career field goal record at 77, tied the OUA single season field goal record of 22 and currently leads the CIS with 130 points this season.

Averaging just over 16 pointsper-game, Hajrullahu has been an integral part of the Mustangs offence. As a punter, Hajrullahu has consistently provided the Mustangs with great field position after stalled drives, and has helped the team escape from tight situations when backed up in their own end.

In his two years as Western’s fulltime punter, Hajrullahu averaged 40.68 yards per punt and has punted for a career total of 3,885 yards. But the season is now over and at 8–0 the Western Mustangs are the team to beat.

At six feet and 190 pounds, Hajrullahu is a reliable option for the long field goal. He has proven himself all season, and if it comes down to the wire, expect that Greg Marshall will have no problem sending in his veteran kicker for a gamewinning field goal attempt.

—Daniel Weryha

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LONDON’S 53RD ANNUAL Hadassah Bazaar Sunday Nov. 3, 2013 10a.m.—3p.m London Jewish Community Centre, 536 Huron St (at Adelaide) Plenty of free parking Admission: $2.00. Featuring: new and gently used clothing, shoes, books, toys, linens, housewares, jewelry, treasures, delicious baked goods, onsite cafeteria. Something for Everyone!

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HOUSING RESIDENCE ACCOMMODATION AVAILABLE Vacancies now available for first-year and upper-year students in main campus residences. Visit our website at www.residenceatwestern.ca and login to myResidence to complete the application and provide contact information.

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