Block Party It’s overpriced but that doesn’t stop the party >> pg. 6
thegazette
TODAY high 23 low 16
Down with Nothing since 1906
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 2014
TOMORROW high 24 low 17
WESTERN UNIVERSITY • CANADA’S ONLY DAILY STUDENT NEWSPAPER • FOUNDED 1906
VOLUME 108, ISSUE 5
O-Wet: Orientation Week Recap
One Love one more time Kevin Hurren NEWS EDITOR-AT-LARGE @KevinAtGazette
Taylor Lasota • GAZETTE
Kevin Hurren NEWS EDITOR-AT-LARGE @KevinAtGazette
Orientation week may have been dry when it came to drinking, but everything else was most certainly wet. After a series of unwavering storms, a number of orientation events had to be pushed back or, in the case of Friday night’s concert, completely cancelled. Though the rain was unexpected, orientation leadership tried its best to keep the week’s events on schedule. “Our protocol is always to delay rather than cancel,” orientation
coordinator Sophie Helpard said. While Helpard and her orientation staff were successfully able to reschedule most large events, not everything could be salvaged. “Our contracts with performers have built in certain lines – which is fairly standard when you’re working with this level of performers,” Helpard explained. “With our ceremonies and things that didn’t involve the external performers we were able to ship those around, […] but at times the weather does not cooperate, we are sometimes forced to cancel which is what we had to do Friday.” By purchasing the orientation pass, students had already paid for
the cancelled concert with headliner Down With Webster. University Students’ Council vice-president student events Sam Kilgour assures first-year students that there will eventually be a replacement. “We’re working on something,” Kilgour said. “Obviously with various artists they all have different availabilities, going on tour different times, so we don’t know when or what but we know it’s going to be something.” A large obstacle this O-week was not only dealing with the weather, but communicating the changing schedule to first-year students. “The weather presented us with
SUMMER OF LOV E P I Z ZA
some unique challenges,” Emerson Tithecott, USC vice-president communications, said. “However, our volunteers were able to keep Western’s first-year students informed.” Beyond the traditional soph-tofrosh communication stream, this year’s orientation staff had an additional tool at their disposal. “The orientation program developed its own app we used for events, information and resources all throughout the week but additionally we were able to send push notifications,” Helpard said. When a change in the schedule
The One Love rally had its fourth revival on Saturday night as a closing to this year’s orientation week activities. The program, conceived at Western’s 2011 O-week, preaches a message of acceptance and inclusivity to first-year students. The evening included segments from returning host and television personality Jessi Cruickshank, celebrated poet Shane Koyczan, comedian and producer Trevor Boris, as well as former Barenaked Ladies front man Steven Page. Fresh off production from her newest show Canada’s Smartest Person, Cruickshank returned as host of the One Love rally for the fourth time. Though she’s done the show before, Cruickshank said that hosting an event like this is always a unique opportunity. “Every year you guys are doing different things to contribute to the community and the world,” she said. “I love to bring those achievements out.” In addition to presenting the other guests, Cruickshank spoke on her own experiences with >> see ONE LOVE pg.3
Inside New department chair • P3 O-week in pictures • P4-5 Block Party review • P6 Not impressed with One Love • P7 Women tackling football • P8
>> see O-WEEK pg.3
The True Canadia n Pizza!
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