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CANADA’S ONLY DAILY STUDENT NEWSPAPER • FOUNDED 1906
VOLUME 107, ISSUE 90
UWOFA takes a look at Western’s finances MLHU warns Kevin Hurren OPINIONS EDITOR In anticipation of last Friday’s senate budget meeting, Western’s Faculty Association, UWOFA, released a report gauging the financial strength of the university. The report, titled “Every budget is a choice — a look inside Western’s financial decisions and resulting priorities,” was inspired by a desire to understand the motivation behind budget cuts that specific faculties will be facing in the following years. “We need to know why these decisions are being made by the higher administration, so we wanted to analyze what the economic situation of the university actually is,” said Alison Hearn, UWOFA president. According to the report, Western’s financial situation is better than the university claims and it is shaping up to be one of the healthiest universities in Ontario. “It has become clear that two tales are being told here at Western,” reads the press release that accompanied the report. What this means, said Hearn, is that although Western boasts great financial stability, various faculties such as Social Science and Arts and Humanities are being asked to cut their budgets by 20 per cent. Keith Marnoch, Western’s director of media relations, said that the ramifications of the new university budget will not be as severe as some may suggest, calling into question the 20 per cent reductions that the report presents. “[The report] is basically an interpretation of a financial statement,” Marnoch said. “So I’d say
after new measles case
that the university doesn’t agree with the interpretation of the association and that will be talked more about come negotiation time.” Marnoch said that the administration will be discussing the budget and its implications with faculty as contract negotiations are on the horizon this year. “Moving into a contract period, there’s going to be a fair bit of back and forth on these things,” said Marnoch. “It’s part of a process that is leading to a negotiation that will take place between the university and the association representing those faculties.” A main problem for those backing the report is the $202-million surplus that has amassed in Western’s budget since 2009. Much of these funds have gone into capital projects, but a large portion, said Hearn, is being funneled into restricted funds which the UWOFA does not have access to review. In terms of this surplus, Marnoch assured that Western has handled its additional funds responsibly. “We’ve managed to handle finances in a sound way in the past, and as a publicly funded institution, we need to continue handling those budgets in a similar manner,” he said. Hearn hopes that as the report circulates, more people will be inspired to ask questions about what the university is putting its money behind. “The release of the report […] was to encourage some accountability from higher administration about where all of this surplus is going,” she said. — With files from Richard Raycraft
Morgann Sampson GAZETTE STAFF
Naira Ahmed GAZETTE
Youth advisory council elections underway Amy O’Kruk GAZETTE STAFF University Students’ Council elections may be over, but there are still Western students that are looking for your vote. A group of Western students are running for positions on the London Youth Advisory Council. LYAC is a youth government that exists to ensure that young people’s voices are integrated into local public policy decisions. The council is presently composed of 13 councillors, but starting in 201415 will be composed of 14 ward councillors. These councillors are aged 15–25 and will be elected this Friday by the citizens of London.
There are currently 40 people running for the 14 spots available on council, 15 of whom are Western students or graduates. Adam Fearnall, the council director of LYAC, said the purpose of the council is to pave the way for youth involvement in the community and political activism. “There is a tremendous amount of energy within the youth population to make an impact on the decisions that are being made within the city,” Fearnall said. “I think that for us our main goal is to create pathways into the political process for people who maybe otherwise wouldn’t engage with the system.” Two Western students who
hope to contribute to this ideal are Nathanial Sukhdeo and Melissa Zuleta Jiménez. Jiménez, who is running for ward 7, has included better public transportation for students as part of her platform. “I’ve received a lot of support […] even if I don’t get elected I am making a change because I’m serving as an example to [other youth] that I’m using my voice in order to pursue things that I think are important,” Jiménez said. Sukhdeo, who is running for ward 9, added that his studies in political science at Western have influenced him to get involved. “My plans for council are continuing to advocate on behalf of youth involvement,” Sukdeo said.
“LYAC gives youth a chance to have an influence on what the city does which often isn’t heard of in other cities.” Fearnell summed up the LYAC’s purpose as familiarizing politics with as broad an audience as possible. “I think that a lot of people don’t feel comfortable engaging with the political system and so if we can contribute to a city where young people feel like their representatives are working for them and feel like engaging with their system then we’ve done our job,” Fearnell said. Voting is currently open and votes can be cast up until Friday at lyac.ca.
The Middlesex London Health Unit is reaching out to the public to take precautionary measures after a measles outbreak. An anonymous man returning from Thailand was diagnosed with measles about a week ago, which prompted a warning from the MLHU. A second case, however, has prompted the organization to release an additional warning to the public. While the second person inflicted by the illness is believed to be close to the original source, they still visited several places throughout London, including the on-campus hospital. According to MLHU, from Saturday March 15 to Wednesday March 19, there were a series of locations, mostly scattered throughout the south end of the city, in which exposure to measles was possible. The vast majority of the public will be protected from this highly communicable disease because they are vaccinated, however the MLHU is warning the public out of an abundance of caution. Up until the age of 18, children require two doses of a measles containing vaccine to be in school or their parents have to complete an exemption form. Ninety-seven per cent of schools in London and Middlesex County have had the measles vaccine. “There’s no legislation governing the immunization of university students,” said Marlene Price, manager for the vaccine preventable diseases program at MLHU. “[But] a lot of the Western students, unless they are mature students, would have been in elementary and high school when the two doses of measles vaccine were required.” Price recommended that anyone experiencing fever, cough, runny nose, itchy red eyes, discoloured spots inside their mouth or a rash should call their health care provider. Cynthia Gibney, director of Health Services at Western, said they are following the lead of the MLHU and are taking the same precautionary measures to spread awareness to the public as well as encourage vaccination. “I don’t think it’s a time for panicking about measles,” Price said. “There have been pockets of measles in Canada in the past few years but they have all been travel related.”