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Western pulls out University ends agreement with Access Copyright >> pg. 3
thegazette We’re sorry Stu since 1906
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 8, 2014
TODAY high -10 low -17
TOMORROW high -6 low -9
PUBLICATION NOTICE This paper was produced on Monday and distribution delayed until Wednesday due to class cancellations caused by inclement weather.
CANADA’S ONLY DAILY STUDENT NEWSPAPER • FOUNDED 1906
VOLUME 107, ISSUE 50
Classes cancelled due to cold Two more running Record cold and winds slow London to a crawl for USC president Iain Boekhoff NEWS EDITOR
Taylor Lasota GAZETTE
SO I HEAR IT’S WARM IN AUSTRALIA. A deep freeze and a couple dozen centimeters of snow forced Western to cancel classes Monday night and all day Tuesday. Disappointed students took to Twitter to vent their frustration saying such things as “I can’t describe how happy I feel right now.”
Dorothy Kessler GAZETTE STAFF After record-breaking low temperatures and high winds, Western cancelled classes on Monday night and Tuesday, urging students to stay home. “Due to unprecedented and dangerous wind chill temperatures and blowing snow are forecast, Western University is cancelling classes for Monday evening and Tuesday,” a release from the university said. “The University will remain open and continue to provide services on campus.” Environment Canada issued a wind chill warning for London on Monday that continued through yesterday. Winds of 40km/h that can reach up to 70km/h were expected over the next few days. A severe wind chill of between –35 and –40 was predicted for Monday night and Tuesday morning. In conditions like that, exposed skin can freeze in under five minutes. Before the serious cold set in, Western students were welcomed
to the new term by snow banks and icy roads. Fifteen centimeters of snow fell in London over the weekend. James Voogt, a professor of urban climatology at Western’s department of geography, explained that the weekend’s storm was a mid-latitude cyclone in meteorological terms. This type of low-pressure system is associated with fronts and broad areas of precipitation, and is a typical occurrence this time of year. “[The storm has] moved into Quebec, but we’re seeing a little bit of snow here from what’s called lake-effect. The cold air that comes down from the north over the open Great Lakes will pick up enough moisture and form precipitation in the areas down-wind of the great lakes. If the wind direction is right we’ll get some in London,” Voogt added. “I think what’s a little bit unusual is how cold the air is behind [the snow event],” Voogt said. “It’s certainly going to be unusually cold for the next day or so after that, but even when we revert back to
normal it will feel warmer.” With hazardous conditions on the roads for commuters, the City of London has been kept busy clearing snow. “We’ve been at the storm since it started Sunday afternoon with our combination units, which are salt trucks that have a plow on them,” said John Parsons, division manager of the city’s transportation and roadside operations. The sidewalk-plows go in after the road-plows to gather all the snow that was blown onto the sidewalk, and the bus routes can be cleared after that. “The bus stops are clear once the sidewalks have been cleared,” Parsons said Monday afternoon. “There’s 2,100 bus stops, and we don’t expect them to be completed for another 48 hours.” London is still experiencing heavy winds and drifting areas that the plows will be clearing throughout the day, and because it was still snowing, the entire fleet was out at 11:00 again last night.
The race for the next University Students’ Council president is heating up with two more names added to the ballot. Sam Kilgour and Brian Belman have both officially declared their candidacy for president. Pashv Shah, the chief returning officer for the USC, confirmed that the two had submitted their declaration forms in the race for USC president. Their declaration follows that of graduate student Matt Helfand, who announced his intention to run for president in early December. Kilgour, a member of this year’s orientation staff, is a fourth-year social science student at Huron, and Belman is a fourth-year main campus social science student. “I got on orientation staff this past year and a lot of the research I did to get into that position lead me to realize a lot of the issues I identified as issues and wanted to
tackle,” Kilgour said. “I wanted to make Western students have the best student experience possible.” Kilgour has also been a soph and a member of Huron’s student council in the past. Belman has been involved with the USC since his first year. He is currently the associate vicepresident external for the USC. Previously he was a Social Science councillor, a provincial affairs commissioner and government issues management intern. “I’ve been involved with the USC for a really long time,” Belman said. “I’ve had a big range of experience with the USC, it’s something that I’ve put a lot of my personal time and effort into and for me I feel like I’m ready to take the next step to lead the organization.” Kilgour said his USC experience has been very limited, but he has been on a fierce learning curve in order to prepare for his presidential run. >> see CANDIDATES pg.2
Facebook/Logan Ly and Naira Ahmed
READY TO BATTLE. Sam Kilgour, left, and Brian Belman, right, have officially declared their candidacy for University Students’ Council president. There are now three candidates vying for undergraduate students’ votes.
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