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Taylor Lasota GAZETTE

DONATION DISAPPOINTMENT. The Social Science Students’ Council recently voted against using the Student Donation Fund to subsidize the salary of a worker in the career services department. Apparently, that practice had been going on for years, raising questions about the way student donations are spent in faculties across Western.

“The intent of that was to provide funding to departments they would otherwise be unable to get,” Timney said. “From the beginning this was a student-administered fund. Our role in this is accountability.”

This year is the first year the request for a salaried worker went before the full council. In the previ-ous four years that it was funded by the student donation fund, it only went to the levy committee.

It was unanimous among SSSC members that the salary for the career services worker that was paid for by the donation fund was

Mike Laine GAZETTE

Students raise questions about donation fund distributionFaculty councils are asking why student donations are paying for things that should already be covered by tuition

By Iain BoekhoffThe student donation fund has come under scrutiny by some students who have found it being used for classroom equipment, instructional materials, academic counselling and building upgrades — things they feel should be cov-ered under tuition.

The Social Science Students’ Council rejected a motion two weeks ago that requested $38,000 for continued funding of a part-time career practitioner’s salary — something which an overwhelming majority of council thought should be covered under ancillary fees already paid to the university for that very purpose. Students from every faculty pay an ancillary fee for career counselling which is pro-vided by the university through the Student Success Centre.

“[Career counselling] has been operating independently of the Western Student Services Centre Career Services for I think seven years now, and they’ve been requesting funding from us for at least the past four years, and obvi-ously that’s a little out of the scope of what we want that money to be going towards right now,” said Jack Litchfield, Social Science senator.

The student donation fund, which is a voluntary fee, is paid by most students for the purpose of improving the experience of students within each faculty, by providing funding for student-led academic activities and extracur-ricular activities. The fee is between $30 and $100 depending on the fac-ulty, and students have the oppor-tunity to opt out of it.

According to the Social Science dean’s website, the fund was started by the SSSC and its purpose “was to provide funds to the Faculty for the

support of undergraduate students that would otherwise be unavail-able to Social Science students.” However, there are concerns among student leaders that the fund is being used for things that are sup-posed to be funded by tuition — not student donation money.

Financial statements provided to The Gazette show that in the past four years, the SSSC donation fund has been used to pay for, among other things, classroom comput-ers and media projectors, DVDs for classroom use, an emergency phone, projector replacement light bulbs and building upgrades to Lawson Hall. Last year, a $100,000 donation was made to academic counselling.

“The student donation fund is a non-compulsory fee that is added onto your tuition that fac-ulty student councils ask for,” said Sam Krishnapillai, vice-president internal for the University Students’ Council. “So the money varies in the amount from faculty to faculty but the money is supposed to be used for student initiatives.”

Brian Timney, dean of Social Science, differed in the view of what the fund was intended for. He said the fund was created in 1996 follow-ing budget cuts from the Ontario government, and the money col-lected from students was used exclusively to fund necessary things the departments within social sci-ence needed, which included class-room equipment. He said there has been an evolution by the SSSC over the years towards using the fund, which totals just over $300,000 a year, for more student initiatives and events like club gatherings, student department publications, speakers and even music concerts.

inappropriate in principle, but they differed on what should be done to deal with it.

Council members, like Litchfield, thought that funding should stop or at the very least include a commitment from the dean to move the burden from students to the faculty.

“From the start this was not in the best interest of not just Social Science students, but students at large as well,” Litchfield said. “If we are setting a precedent of capitu-lating on these kind of requests — paying salaries, allocating ancillary fees to long-term projects without guarantees that we will be weaning off of them — that sets a terrible precedent.”

Council executives, like SSSC president Lisa Le Nguyen and vice-president finance Marchael Cunanan, thought that without the funding, students would lose out on an important service, and it would be against their mandate to cut off funding now after support-ing it for the past four years. Both Le Nguyen and Cunanan voted in favour of funding the salary.

“So how I see it, is why can’t we fund someone’s salary which brings so much value to students?” Le Nguyen said. “I would never vote for something or be for something if it wasn’t something that was in the best interest of my constituents.”

Timney said he has been focused on getting funding for career coun-selling because it is an issue that consistently comes up from the departments. He said every year the council is different and he is using his right to ask for it, even if one year council decides not to fund it.

“Over the last five years, this was my own plan, if you like, was to aid with career services,” Timney said. “Career services belongs to the Student Services Centre, but there was always a huge demand for that and we decided that as a faculty we would provide some service.”

The divide between what the fund was originally intended for and what student representatives believe it should be used for is com-pounded by the fact that there are no clear guidelines from the univer-sity or the USC on how the faculty councils should administer and allocate the funds.

Krishnapillai said she has been working with faculty councils and Western’s vice-provost academic programs and students, John Doerksen, to try to get a clearer def-inition of what the student dona-tion fund should be used for and to try to create standard practices for all faculties to avoid situations where the money is going to where students don’t want it to go.

“I think that because there isn’t really any sort of guidelines to go along with the student fee, it’s a very difficult position for both students and the deans,” Krishnapillai said.

The way the money is admin-istered may have an important impact on how student councils receive applications for funding and choose which projects to fund.

The Arts and Humanities Students’ Council, for example, have explicit control of half of the money from their fund, with the other half going to the faculty for their needs. They then have full authority over receiving and han-dling requests, with an advisory

>> see SSSC pg.2

ARIES – Mar 21/Apr 20 Your tendency to say what you feel can come across as being impolite. Many, however, appreciate your honesty and unwillingness to mince words.

LIBRA – Sept 23/Oct 23 Enjoy some local culture this week. Take in a concert, an art show or a theater performance. Just enjoy any - thing that will educate and entertain at the same time.

TAURUS – Apr 21/May 21 A loved one needs some help. This week you will have to figure out a way to assist this person and still tend to your own pressing affairs.

SCORPIO – Oct 24/Nov 22 You may find that someone you thought was weak is much stronger than they appeared. This person may not need as much of your assistance as you initally thought.

GEMINI – May 22/Jun 21 Focus your energy on someone important. This may be a friend, family member or even a romantic part - ner. Brush up on your relationship skills in the meantime.

SAGITTARIUS – Nov 23/Dec 21 Analyze any problems you may have by breaking them down into smaller tasks. Then you can tackle one thing at a time and come to a happy resolution.

CANCER – Jun 22/Jul 22 You have a natural charm that immediately puts oth - ers at ease. If you are wooing a client, they will be putty in your hands. Just open your mouth, and you will win them over.

CAPRICORN – Dec 22/Jan 20 Your children or the youngsters in your life will be the center of your universe this week. Make the most of this time and enjoy kids’ carefree natures.

LEO – Jul 23/Aug 23 Your stubbornness comes into play this week, and it could cause a rift with friends or colleagues. Try to see their point of view, and put off any serious dis - putes for another time.

AQUARIUS – Jan 21/Feb 18 This week may be a little boring. Make the most of your down time, as you could use a few slow days to recharge your batteries and plan your next move.

VIRGO – Aug 24/Sept 22 Spend a little time this week plotting your next getaway. You tend to be happiest when you’re on the move and exploring. Everyone needs an escape now and then.

PISCES – Feb 19/Mar 20 You are bubbling with energy. Make the most of this energy by exercising, partying or taking a day trip.

This horoscope is intended for entertainment purposes only.

Your Weekly Horoscope The week of Jan 24 – 30

FAMOUS BIRTHDAYS JANUARY 26 – Anita Baker, Singer (56) JANUARY 27 – Mikhail Baryshnikov, Dancer (66) JANUARY 28 – Elijah Wood, Actor (33) JANUARY 29 – Oprah Winfrey, TV mogul (60) JANUARY 30 – Christian Bale, Actor (40)

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Campus Tour Guides September 2014- April 2015 Are you:

• Proud of your Faculty • Enthusiastic about Western • Involved in campus activities • Knowledgeable about your school • Articulate, pleasant and responsible

To apply: • Review the application posting details on the Career Central website www.westerncareercentral.ca

• Email your completed application information to liaison@uwo.ca

DEADLINE: Friday, January 24, 2014 at 4:00 pm

Please note that due to the number of applicants only those selected for an interview will be contacted.

2 • thegazette • Friday, January 24, 2014

CROSSWORD By Eugene Sheffer

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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News Briefs

Non high-school university

applications increase Recently published statistics from the Ontario Universities Application Centre indicate a steep upward trend in the number of uni-versity applications over the past nine years.

Applications from non-high school students to university have increased by 10.5 per cent from last year, according to the Council of Ontario Universities. This pool of applicants has increased by 35 per cent from 2004 to 2013. These include people in the workforce, mature students, and college trans-fer students.

COU president and CEO Bonnie M. Patterson said that the increased appeal of a university education stems from benefits that the uni-versity experience can provide.

“Personal growth, broadened horizons, critical thinking skills, complex problem solving skills, communication and presentation skills,” were some of the benefits Patterson listed.

“Adults are turning to university to upgrade their skills and creden-tials to compete for jobs in this slowly recovering labour market,” Patterson said. “This group [of non-high school students] also includes people coming out of college who are pursuing degree completion pathways and want to round out [their] education with a university degree to secure a job.”

OUAC is continuing to receive applications and will report the new data in the months to follow.

—Usamah Memon

role played by the dean.The SSSC, where student dona-

tion fees total just over $300,000 every year, does not have control over the application or allocation processes. Instead, all requests for funding must be made to the dean’s office by department heads, who work with student representatives on what requests they will make. The dean can also make requests on behalf of the faculty if a request is broader than a single depart-ment. The dean then goes to SSSC executives to review the requests. The requests are then examined by the levy committee, who then move the granted requests to council for approval.

“All of the funds for allocation are determined by the students so the students make the decisions and we administer them,” Timney said. “We don’t direct the funds. We discuss where the funds may go, but this is entirely under the direction of SSSC.”

However, student councillors felt the dean played a much more active role and council felt pres-sured to approve funding for fear of losing essential things required for their academic experience.

“The way the fund works is

students rubber stamp it and that’s how it’s always worked. We get the requests, we look at the requests, occasionally we like to think we have authority and turn them down, but otherwise yes we pass them on and it gets passed,” said Kyle DeCaluwe, Social Science councillor. “It comes from us from the dean’s office and it’s mediated by the dean’s office.”

Clearer terms of reference for the donation fund, like those for the AHSC, are being worked on not only by SSSC but the USC as well. At the same meeting when the career services practitioner’s salary was rejected, the SSSC passed a motion to create a student dona-tion fund commissioner to serve on and advise the levy committee.

What is unanimously agreed upon by students, like Le Nguyen, Litchfield and Krishnapillai, is that the student donation fund is used for classroom materials and other tuition related costs because there simply isn’t funding from the uni-versity, and the student council feels it has to fund them in order to maintain the academic experi-ence of the university.

When presented with this viewpoint, Timney said, “I’d argue exactly the opposite. I think that the intent of this is to enhance the

student academic experience and it has always been that way all the way through.”

“It’s not something I’m all for, in the sense that I want [the salary] to be funded by the student dona-tion fund every year — no, not at all,” Le Nguyen said. “It should be funded by the university, it should be funded by our fees that we’re already paying through ancillary. [But] if it’s a current need, and something we just need to fund now, just so we’re not decreasing the services for students, I saw the benefit in that. And that’s why I was completely for it.”

However, Timney did echo stu-dent sentiments that in an ideal sit-uation, the university would pay for capital investments, like the work booths on the third floor of the Social Science Building. However, because funding was only approved for academic counselling renova-tions, students would not have the facilities they do now without the student donation fund.

“It’s something that ideally the university would pay for, but stu-dents would still be sitting on the floor with their laptops plugged into a plug rather than having a booth with a laptop station,” he said.

SSSC, dean clash over funds

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>> SSSC continued from pg.1

Solution to puzzle on page 8

thegazette • Friday, January 24, 2014 • 3

Moustafa Ezz ascends to Huron PrezKatie Lear

GAZETTE STAFF

The poll results are in, and Moustafa Ezz has won the elec-tion to serve as president of Huron University College Students’ Council for 2014-15.

“I’d just like to say thank you very much to all Huron students. I’m glad we shared the same pas-sion and vision towards what we want to do for our school and com-munity,” Ezz said.

“I really think there’s a very good opportunity to do real, strong, impactful changes for the short term and the long term next year and I will work very hard to make sure they happen.”

The president-elect ran on a campaign vision that promised “to develop a student government that is accessible, supportive and inclusive to each and every student in order to serve as a strong insti-tution for advocacy to the admin-istration and to make important investments in our campus infra-structure,” as detailed on his

campaign website.When asked on what he was

most excited for, Ezz commented “I can’t narrow it down to one — I’m very excited about what we can do equally with our campus infrastructure-wise and also what we can do with the HUCSC institu-tion of student government.”

In total, 502 Huron students voted in the election, about 33 per cent of the student population, increased from last year’s figure of 20 per cent.

“The total effective count was 311 votes for Moustafa and 132 for Sarah Ritchie. The actual votes received were higher of course, but we did have penalties deducted,” Tom Venner, chief returning offi-cer for the Huron elections, said. Unlike in the University Students’ Council elections, which use a sys-tem of demerits and fines, Huron candidates have votes deducted from their totals for breaking cam-paign rules.

The Gazette asked Ezz what his first task would be when reaching office in September 2014.

“The upcoming period will be where we’ll have to focus a lot on the facilities and dining hall review,” he said. “I think those will be the two to focus on immediately because they’re coming now and they won’t be open for a long time, so there’s a very small window to do good things in that period of time.”

The current HUCSC president, Emily Addison, is excited for Ezz’s incoming platform.

“I think that Moustafa had two huge assets in this campaign that really allowed him to connect with students,” she commented.

“First was the breadth of his platform as well as his past expe-riences with the HUCSC and lead-ership in general,” she continued. “If you look at his platform, he has something that appeals to almost every student, which is huge when you are speaking to the diverse stu-dent body that can exist at a liberal arts school. Also coming from the vice-president finance role, he has proven executive experience which I think spoke to a lot of people.” Megan Devlin GAZETTE

Follow us on Twitter!

@uwogazetteRichard Raycraft

NEWS EDITOR

With the nomination deadline for positions on the University Students’ Council fast approaching, the number of prospective coun-cillors and senators has become a concern. The number of student nominees to council appears to have fallen off in the past few years, with differing perspectives on why this might be happening, as well as how to address it.

Nomination forms were due yesterday for senatorial candidates, and are due on Monday for council positions, according to Pashv Shah, the chief returning officer.

Jasmine Irwin, vice-president communications at the USC, elabo-rated on this issue.

“Last year there were several major councillor positions that were acclaimed,” she explained.

“I’m hesitant to say [it’s waning interest] as opposed to people feel that it is an inaccessible position,” Irwin continued. “A student might think because [they] haven’t been involved or because [they’re] not a club president or whatever that they’re not worthy of running for a councillor position, and I think that’s a really problematic culture.”

In a letter to the editor pub-lished in The Gazette last week, USC presidential candidate and former Social Science Students’ Council president Matt Helfand expressed a similar worry. Helfand expressed his belief that the disappointing number of candidates stems largely from a lack of promotion and com-munication to students.

“I propose a relatively basic solution. I challenge the USC to set up a booth in the UCC atrium for a couple of days, and promote the

crap out of the dozens of elected positions available. Print out as many nomination forms as nec-essary. Make it as easy as possible for students to register,” Helfand wrote.

According to Irwin, the results of increased communication efforts are hard to measure, despite new promotion initiatives such as the USC Involvement Day.

The efforts may have paid off, as Shah told The Gazette that the number of senatorial and faculty president candidates so far this year is promising, and he hopes this will also translate to council-lor positions as well.

“Every senator position is going to have an election, which is great to see because last year we had a couple of positions that were acclaimed,” he said. “There are more senator applications which is great, which means there’s more involvement of students in the elec-tion process, which means there’s going to be more applicants for other council positions as well.”

Enough candidates for USC elections?

A student might think because [they] haven’t been involved or because [they’re] not a club president or whatever that they’re not worthy of running for a councillor position, and I think that’s a really problematic culture.

— Jas IrwinUSC vice-president communications

Tell us your dirty secrets.Do The Gazette’s annual Sex Survey at

surveymonkey.com/s/gazettesex

4 • thegazette • Friday, January 24, 2014

Arts&Life badwritingEdward grimaced, and I knew it was in objection to the word okay. He probably would have used something more like wonderful or perfect or glorious.

— Stephanie Meyer, Breaking Dawn

Sarah BotelhoCONTRIBUTOR

Does the chilly London weather have you cooped up inside all day? Have you been reduced to a couch potato, continually allowing

Netflix to play on? Need a little pick me up? Well, look no further! This deliciously decadent recipe combines the essence of your childhood with the brilliance of chocolate: We give you, the Mars Bar Rice Krispie

Prep Time: 10 minutesIngredients• 4 regular sized Mars Bars• ½ cup butter• 2 cups Rice Krispie Cereal• 1 cup milk chocolate chips• Chopped nuts (optional)

Directions

1. Melt butter and Mars Bars in a saucepan over medium

heat until smooth2. Remove from heat. Stir in Rice Krispie Cereal.3. Press into a greased 8 inch by 8 inch pan.4. Melt chocolate chips until smooth and melt evenly overtop of mixture5. Top with nuts, if using6. Store in fridge7. Cut into squares and serve

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Gazette Tested > Mars Bar Rice Krispie Squares

WHERE to get it

Scarf— Nai’yera Scarves EtceteraThis online scarf dealer offers a wide range of colourful scarves with excel-lent patterns suitable for any outfit.

Shirt— Forever 21While a long sleeve beige shirt can be purchased just about anywhere, Fahmy swears by Forever 21, the place she bought her shirt.

Watch— Michael KorsThe hip watches can be purchased at any major department stores, just make sure to bring a full wallet!

Skirt— MangoMango offers a wide variety of fit-ted full-length skirts that will com-pliment any tasteful, modest outfit.

Bill Wang GAZETTE

Bill Wang GAZETTE

Even a simple outfit that works in har-

mony can look outstanding. For Sherine Fahmy, fourth-year health science student, it was the careful coordination of her accessories and main pieces that made her stand out.

The rich colour and subtle pat-tern of her scarf complimented her skirt perfectly, blending a theme over the simple beige of her shirt. It was, however, the watch Fahmy wore that really drew attention: Even the pur-ple face of her Michael Kors watch matched her colour theme.

“I want to make sure it reflects

my personality, but at the same time keep it modest and hip,” Fahmy says of her style. “I try to make something that I’m comfortable wearing, but at the same time looks nice.”

Fahmy’s outfit works because of its simplicity. The colours are paired well and maintain interest, but there’s no loud pattern or action screaming for attention. The composition speaks for itself. On top of that, Fahmy says comfort is her primary concern.

“Wear something you’re comfort-able being in all day because if you’re like me you’re on campus all day,” she explains.

— Cam “Smoth” Smith

Shoot fashion photography?Volunteer for us!

UCC Rm. 263

thegazette • Friday, January 24, 2014 • 5

Sharing the sound of Canadian music

Mary Ann CioskARTS & LIFE EDITOR

Diverse Canadian music will soon be sharing the stage at Share the Land.

Share the Land is a charity concert celebrating Canadian music. The event is produced and performed entirely by Fanshawe’s Music Industry Arts students for their final-year project, and all proceeds are donated to the Heart and Stroke Foundation.

Since the annual concert began three years ago, it was called “Share the Man” in hon-our of Jack Richardson — a for-mer teacher at Fanshawe and producer for several notable Canadian bands including The Guess Who and Alice Cooper.

“This year we decided to go for a brand change and do ‘Share the Land.’ We used to only play songs that Jack produced but now we’re doing all Canadian music — we’re honouring Canadian music from coast to coast,” says Andreas Rizek, marketing and promotions director for the event.

All MIA students sign up for their desired positions on the team, and together they are responsible for orchestrating the event.

“We do everything from the sound, to the promotions, to getting sponsorship, setting up the venue for the concert, we run everything. Our teacher just oversees it,” Rizek says. “All the bands in our program — some created for the concert — play all the songs. It’s really good, the last two years we sold it out.”

Nikar Kim, performer as well as producer for several acts in the show, believes that Share the Land is a vital contribution to the Music Industry Arts experience.

“Last year, I had the oppor-tunity to watch several talented musicians who performed and showcased not only their skills, but the ability to merge together as one to create one fantastic show,” Kim says. “It was awesome to listen to several throwbacks that were great songs, presented even better by a modern selec-tion of artists. The show allows

the students of the program to work together to entertain a broad audience and raise money for charity.”

With a total of 14 acts per-forming in Share the Land, Rizek explains that many of the bands were formed specifically for Share the Land. In addition, several performers will be col-laborating to do mash-ups of songs they will be performing in the show.

Kim will be playing the piano and saxophone as well as per-forming vocals for his band in the show. He explains that Share the Land allowed him to pursue his musical inclinations and gave him a venue in which to do so.

“I’ve always wanted to create a band for my artistry, and it just so happened that this opportunity came up, which provided more reason to get a band together,” Kim says. “My band and I will be performing an R&B mash up of ‘Life is a Highway/Hold On, We’re Going Home’ from original art-ists, Tom Cochrane and Drake.”

“My style is more urban like R&B, hip hop and rap like Drake, so I decided to take a song in a different genre and interpret it in a creative way to make it unique,” he adds.

Although the concert has been very popular in previous years, with the re-branding of the show, Rizek states that he’d also like to target a new audience.

“This year we wanted to really branch out to students. It’s a really good show, and there are very talented up-and-coming musicians in our program play, so it’s really fun,” Rizek comments.

Kim believes that the festival will act as a means for students to escape the hum-drum of their day to day music and experience different genres. For him, Share the Land is not only a means of raising money, but of sharing an experience.

Students can buy tickets for $10 online at wanttickets.com/sharetheland2014. MIA students also play a half hour acoustic lunch at noon every Friday until the end of April on 106.9 XFM radio.

Courtesy of Andreas Rizek

Mike Laine GAZETTE

6 • thegazette • Friday, January 24, 2014

Opinions

thegazetteVolume 107, Issue 60www.westerngazette.ca

Contact:www.westerngazette.caUniversity Community Centre Rm. 263The University of Western OntarioLondon, ON, CANADAN6A 3K7Editorial Offices: (519) 661-3580Advertising Dept.: (519) 661-3579

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

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.

Gazette Composing & Gazette Advertising

Gazette Staff 2013-2014

Ian Greaves, ManagerRobert Armstrong

Diana Watson

• Please recycle this newspaper •

Dear Life

If students didn’t have enough reason to question where the enormous fees they pay every year go, they sort of do now.

The Social Science Students’ Council recently voted against a motion to pay for the salary of a career counsellor from the Student Donation Fund — a questionable act that it turns out has been going on for several years.

The Student Donation Fund, which exists across multiple faculties, is comprised of a fee collected from students with their tuition — it differs between faculties, but is in the neighbourhood of $50–$100. It’s possible to opt out of paying, but few students do. Though the rules governing the funds aren’t clear, faculty councillors agree the money is should fund student initiatives that wouldn’t otherwise happen, like conferences or speaker events. But many faculties at Western have been using money from the fund to acquire school supplies — such as chalk, microscopes, or even the career counsel or whose salary had been coming completely from these fees — a use that is debatably outside of the fund’s mandate.

The recent decision raises questions about the nature of the use of student money. While school supplies should come from tuition and the faculties’ budgets, faculty councils have been allowing faculty administrations to use the money to prop up their budgets for years. While the money is still ostensibly used to help students, this doesn’t seem to align with the spirit of the donation fund.

While the SSSC has finally said “no” to such a use of this fund, the question remains, how should this money be used? While classroom supplies and career counsellors may serve students better than a concert or a public talk that only a few may attend, it should be the faculties’ job to provide the equipment and services for student education, and this should be paid via tuition.

More important than that, funding a person’s entire salary on an unreliable donation fund seems massively irresponsible. With their job depending on the whim of a faculty council, that academic counsellor’s job security was worse than the average student’s probability of finding a job after graduating.

So what should be done? We find it hard to get angry over this, because either way the money is still benefiting students somehow. But at the end of the day, this still comes down to questionable use of students’ donations.

— The Gazette Editorial Board

We’re not mad, just

disappointed

Christine Bonk, Tabitha Chan, Jonathan Dunn,

Spencer Fairweather, Conrad Floryan, Sam Frankel,

Janice Fung, Stephanie Grella, Dorothy Kessler,

Kevin Heslop, Jenny Jay, Nathan Kanter, Taylor

Lasota, Katie Lear, Emory Liu, Cheryl Madliger,

Sara Mai Chitty, Soheil Milani, Vidhant Pal, Lily

Robinson, Alex Seger, Tiffany Shepherd, Hamza

Tariq, Josh Teixera, Anne Wozney, Tristan Wu

Julian UzielliEditor-In-Chief

Cameron M. SmithWeiner Editor

Jason SinukoffManaging Editor

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

Associate Kaitlyn McGrath Aaron Zaltzman

Photography Bill Wang Kelly Samuel Taylor Lasota

Graphics Naira Ahmed

Illustrations Christopher Miszczak John Prata

Online Jesica Hurst

Graphics/Video Mike “Wrong Size” Laine

Sticks and stones may break my bones

Kevin HurrenOPINIONS EDITOR

When it comes to style, I don’t have many definite requirements. Jeans should be tight, but not uncomfortable. Sweaters should be warm, but not too scratchy. Oh yeah, and my shirts shouldn’t trivialize mental health.

It seems that Urban Outfitters isn’t interested in my taste in clothes since in the past few weeks the retailer began selling crop tops stamped with the word “Depression.” After a number of complaints from customers, the store recently tweeted an apology and said they would stop offering the shirt.

As heartfelt as a 140 character Twitter apology can be, it’s hard for me to believe Urban Outfitters’ remorse. After all, this is the same store that once sold shirts with the slogan “Eat Less” scrawled on top.

When Urban Outfitters uses this kind of rhetoric to develop their brand, natu-rally the store receives a fair bit of flak. Clothing items plastered with statements like “Depression” and “Eat Less” are bla-tantly ignoring the real life struggles of the store’s main demographic — teenag-ers. Young people are constantly dealing with mental illness and eating disorders, and Urban Outfitters exploiting these struggles in their clothing is both insult-ing and making light of issues that can — in extreme situations — lead to death. As such, socially conscious shoppers gather and, justifiably, speak out against these

shirts.However, the problem I see in such

Urban Outfitters clothes goes beyond the simple use of these phrases. Rather, it is the intent behind the word imple-mentation that I find troubling. As a student of semiotics, I understand how fluid a word’s associations can be. Yes, for some the word “depression” is an offen-sive trigger — but the word itself is not evil or dirty. In fact, that word and any other word can be re-appropriated and reclaimed by those who feel themselves affected by it.

For example, I remember hearing about a high school student who, in response to constant homophobic teas-ing from his peers, began to wear a shirt that read “Faggot” to class. It became a statement, a way of telling others that he was no longer scared of that word. The bullies could not hurt him with the slur if he embraced it himself.

Words, in this way, are incredibly elas-tic. Words can be used to harm, cripple, and discourage others. At the same time, they can be used to heal, empower, and motivate.

So I wasn’t offended simply because Urban Outfitters used the word “depressed” on their new shirts. I was offended because Urban Outfitters wasn’t trying to reclaim the word. The retailer wasn’t trying to remove the stigma around mental illness, nor was it taking steps towards fostering a com-munity of support. Urban Outfitters was simply trying to profit off some kind of “edgy” appeal, attempting to tap into a flawed hipster irony and that, to me, is not okay.

And in regards to Urban Outfitters’ apology — let’s just say their shirt isn’t the only thing I’m not buying.

“Depression can seem worse than terminal cancer, because most cancer patients feel loved and they have hope and self-esteem.”

— David D. Burns, psychaiatrist

Your anonymous letters to life

Dear Life,Do the comics in The Gazette represent the intelligence of the student body?

Dear Life,Who is John Galt?

Dear Life,Should I study, or play retro-DOC games? Which will more greatly serve humanity?

Dear Life,Why do people believe that the word “multifaceted” has any meaning?

Dear Life,Is higher education the road to a better life? How has that been working out?

Dear Life,The Gazette sex survey makes me want to reevaluate my life choices...

Dear Life,Brr, it’s cold in here. There must be some Toros in the atmosphere.

Dear Life,Why is it so hard to organize 10 people for the Charity Ball ticket sale?

Dear Life,I wonder what the cover of this year’s Sex Issue for The Gazette will be? Maybe sexy professor? A student getting some after class help?

Dear Life,That awkward moment when I can’t think of another Dear Life.

wgaz.ca/dearlife

Seven Minutes in Kevin

weeklypollQuestion: Do you think the university needs to provide more mental health resources/support on campus?

79%, 71 votes

Yes — the current resources/support do not meet the demand

Vote on next weeks’s poll at westerngazette.ca

No — the current resources/support are adequate

10%, 9 votes

I’m not familiar with the mental health resources/support on campus

11%, 10 votes

Total votes: 90

thegazette • Friday, January 24, 2014 • 7

SportsRundown >> The three-time national championship winning Western Mustangs women’s softball team partnered up with the London Knights to help sponsor youth from three local clubs > Due to the sponsorship, a select few will have the chance to attend a London Knights home game at no cost and have the opportunity to tour their dressing room.

gamedayThe Western Mustangs women’s hockey team will take on the Windsor Lancers on Saturday at Thompson Arena. The Mustangs sit just one spot ahead of the sixth-place Lancers in the Ontario University Athletics West division.

Lancers end Mustangs winning streakWestern loses first game of the new year to Windsor

Max StoneCONTRIBUTOR

In their first game back at Alumni Hall following an undefeated six-game road swing, the Western Mustangs men’s basketball team suffered their first loss of the new year, falling 67–50 to the second-place Windsor Lancers.

“I was worried,” Lancers’ head coach Chris Oliver said. “Clearly with the quality of basketball that they’ve been playing lately — mov-ing the ball, executing, obviously playing both ends of the floor really well — we knew it was going to be a challenge.”

Defensively, the Mustangs held Windsor’s third-ranked offence in check, giving up only 67 points to the Lancers, who are averag-ing 84.6 points per game this sea-son. However, Western’s struggles continued on the offensive end where Windsor’s full court press and aggressive defence caused problems for the Mustangs, who shot just 30 per cent from the field, including 12.5 per cent from three-point range. Mustangs’ guard Quinn Henderson led the team in scoring with 14 points.

“We played good team defence I’d say, holding them to 67 [points],” Mustangs’ forward Peter Scholtes said. “But if you [only] score 50 points, you can’t win a basketball game.”

The smaller Mustangs squad had difficulty containing the Lancers’ size and length, as they were out-rebounded 49–28 in the con-test, including 13 from Windsor’s Lien Phillip, the 2012–13 Ontario University Athletics West Player of

the Year.“We know we are one of the

smaller teams and we do some things to combat some size,” Brad Campbell, Western Mustangs’ head coach, said. “But primarily we need to take advantage of it at the offen-sive end, and we really didn’t do that today.”

Emotions began to run wild as the Lancers began to pull away on the scoreboard, as offsetting tech-nical fouls were called on Quinn Henderson and Windsor’s Enrico Diloreto following an aggres-sive play in which Henderson hit the floor hard after being fouled by Diloreto under the basket. Western forward Anthony Spiridis also received a technical foul as the Mustangs’ frustrations began to set in.

Before the opening tip-off, Peter Scholtes was honoured for scoring his 1,000th point in a Mustangs uniform on Saturday night versus Lakehead. Campbell presented Scholtes, the fourth-year forward from London, with a picture from Saturday’s game commemorating the milestone.

“[Scholtes is] one of our better players, and one of our leaders,” Campbell said. “His 1,000-point milestone is an outstanding accom-plishment, and we are happy for Pete.

With the loss, the Mustangs fall to 6–9 on the season, and are still four points ahead of Guelph and Lakehead for fourth place in the OUA West. The team will return to action on Saturday when they travel to Hamilton to take on the 12–3 McMaster Marauders, the first-place team in the OUA West.

Conrad Floryan GAZETTE

MISSED IT BY THAT MUCH. Mustangs’ guard George Johnson evades a Lancers’ defender for a shot. The Windsor Lancers halted the Mustangs’ winning streak on Wednesday night, utilizing their height to walk away with a 67–50 victory. The Mustangs will get their shot at starting a new streak on Saturday afternoon when they travel to Hamilton to take on McMaster.

Conrad Floryan GAZETTE

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8 • thegazette • Friday, January 24, 2014

This week’s Purple Pipe comes as no surprise — on Saturday night, Mustangs’ men’s basketball for-ward Peter Scholtes achieved what his coach described to The Gazette earlier this week as a “tremendous milestone.” Scholtes, who put up 17 points in the game, scored his 1,000th career point as a Western Mustang.

This week has been one of major scoring for Scholtes. Starting last Friday in a game against Lakehead, he led his team by earning 19 points during the

game. The following night, he made his 1,000th career point. Though the Mustangs lost their next game against Windsor, Scholtes was a high-scorer once again with 11 points. He was honoured at centre court for the 1,000th point feat prior to the game.

The London native, who plays on average 27.9 minutes in a game, is currently ranked 20th in individual scoring across the Ontario University Athletics leader statistics. Additionally,

he is ranked 16th in rebounding overall, and 10th in double-dou-bles for the Western division. In the Mustangs’ individual ranking, Scholtes sits at second overall.

The Mustangs are currently third in the OUA standings, and Scholtes’ impressive showings have contributed. He is arguably playing his best basketball of the season this week, and in light of the impressive milestone, there’s no doubt that he deserves the Purple Pipe Award.

— Nusaiba Al-AzemMike Laine GAZETTE