In the past 50 years, only five women have been elected University Students’ Council president. It’s an alarming figure that often generates claims of sexism on campus—but is this the truth of the matter? News Editor Jesica Hurst investigates.

It’s the early afternoon on February 14, and tension is inevitably running high in the Mustang Lounge. After weeks of preparation, debating and endless amounts of campaign-ing, all three University Students’ Council presidential candidates find themselves at the end of their journey, anxiously anticipat-ing the election results.

However, one candidate in particular, fourth-year social science student Ashley McGuire, found herself wondering if these results would determine a bigger change—the chance for another female to claim the USC’s highest elected office.

But that was not the case.“I looked up at the screen and thought,

‘What happened? How did I only get 1,200 votes?,’” McGuire said, reminiscing about her confusion. The current senator-at-large explained she couldn’t help but think some-thing was missing after she put so much of herself into her campaign.

“I obviously don’t have an answer for what it was that contributed to those results, and I’d like to think it wasn’t because of my gen-der, but I do think that gender will always play a role in these elections. I mean, there’s obviously a reason why men are winning more than women.”

And she’s right—men certainly have dom-inated this specific role since the creation of the USC. Over the past 50 elections, only five female candidates have earned the title of president, meaning 90 per cent of all winners have been male.

But after taking a closer look at the data, the reason behind this inequality may not be what first comes to mind. Students at Western don’t necessarily prefer to vote for male candidates, they just aren’t given as much opportunity to vote for females.

In the past 50 elections*, only 30 women have run for USC president, making up a measly 12 per cent of the total number of past candidates. However, 16 per cent of the women who have ran in the past have won, which isn’t too different from the men’s results, considering only 20 per cent of men who have run in the past have won.

Perhaps the question that needs to be asked is not, ‘Why are men elected more than women?’ but instead, ‘Why are so few women running for this position?’

Cristine de Clercy, a political science professor at Western, explained the answer could, in some ways, be related to tradition.

“I think there’s still an understanding in wider society and wider culture that poli-tics, just as an area of interest or an activ-ity, is normally more open and attractive to males than females,” she said. “I think that this has diminished over time, but there still is a sort of residual bias from an earlier time that politics is not normally an area of activ-ity or interest for women.”

According to de Clercy, politics is part of what analysts call the public sphere—that’s life in the workplace, or life outside the home. For much of human history, men have been expected to be active in the public sphere, to be active in politics, but women, in contrast, were expected to concentrate mainly on the private sphere—the home.

“It was really only in the late 19th century and early 20th century when women began to demand the right to vote and to partici-pate in politics, and began to enter and participate in the public sphere,” she said. “The route of inequality is simple centuries of tradition whereby women were viewed as being more properly oriented toward the family. These traditions could still be con-tributing to the lack of females interested in politics of any level.”

But de Clercy also explained tradition might not be the only thing contributing to gender inequality in politics. In some cases, she believes women could face dif-ferent barriers than men do—for example, women routinely report they find it’s tougher to be viewed as being as competent as men.

“For whatever reason, there does tend to be some sort of residual suspicion that women in leadership roles are not as com-petent as their male counterparts.”

Even after earning the role of USC presi-dent for the 2009–10 academic term, Emily Rowe experienced these barriers first-hand, as she felt as though students and other faculty members doubted her ability solely based on her gender.

“I noticed it even more than I was expect-ing,” Rowe said. “It was quite upsetting how many people would pass judgment just because I was a blonde female.”

Things didn’t get easier when Rowe finally >> see Barriers pg.3

The boys’ club

Naira Ahmed & Caroline Wang Gazette

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2 • thegazette • Friday, March 1, 2013

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.

Caught on Camera

News Brief

Hands-free driving still dangerous

A new study has given increased scientific backing to the general consensus that distracted driving causes an increased level of traffic collisions.

The study cautions common workarounds, such as hands-free communication devices, may not do enough to mitigate this type of risk. This is because, according to research from St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto, brain activities and driv-ing ability closely interact with one another on a neurological level.

Researchers conducted an experiment involving 16 partici-pants between the ages of 20 and 30 years who have an average of 7.4 years of driving experience. They found when people are doing a left-hand turn while speaking on a hands-free device at a busy intersec-tion, more activation was detected in this condition than doing straight driving or making a right-hand turn. The explanation given to this result is that people tend to consider more things when turning left, such as oncoming traffic, pedestrians and traffic lights.

“During distracted driving, brain activation shifted dramatically from the posterior, visual and spatial areas to the prefrontal cortex,” Tom Schweizer, director of neuroscience research at St. Michael’s Hospital, said. “A widely distributed brain network was identified, especially when making left turns at busy intersections, compared to more simple driving tasks.”

“As the brain has limited cogni-tive resources, this fundamental constraint limits the capacity dur-ing driving to carrying out any other cognitive operations such as lan-guage comprehension,” Schweizer added. That means talking on a cell phone, whether hands-free or not, while making a turn, especially on the left-hand side, presents a risk to drivers.

—Xiaoxuan Liu

Kelly Samuel Gazette

TREE COZIES. After knitting a multitude of colourful squares, Western students and members of the London community contributed their creations to a yarn bomb at McIntosh Gallery yesterday, wrapping the patches around trees. The cozies will be on display until April 6.

westerngazette.ca /news

ARIES – Mar 21/Apr 20 Finding time to get everything done can be challeng - ing. Fortunately, you have quite a few supporters in your corner who are willing to lend a helping hand.

LIBRA – Sept 23/Oct 23 Keep the lines of communication open with a loved one. There may be messages coming your way, and you should be ready to receive them.

TAURUS – Apr 21/May 21 Difficult decisions take time to mull over. Although you want to properly work through all the scenarios, this week you might not have all the time you need.

SCORPIO – Oct 24/Nov 22 You may need to break out of your routines this week. Even though you thrive when things are organized, you cannot expect everything to go according to plan.

GEMINI – May 22/Jun 21 Water rolls off of your back quite easily. However, something tugs at you this week and you may have to give it more thought than you’re accustomed to.

SAGITTARIUS – Nov 23/Dec 21 There are some happy moments in your immediate future. This will make any difficult days in your recent past seem well worth it.

CANCER – Jun 22/Jul 22 With such a hectic schedule, you may be feeling the pressure. It is not unreasonable to take some time for yourself and focus on your relationship with a spouse or significant other.

CAPRICORN – Dec 22/Jan 20 Now is a good time to get friends or family together for an informal dinner party. Focus your energy on socialization to get away from the daily grind.

LEO – Jul 23/Aug 23 Sometimes you have to make a few mistakes before you get things right. Don’t let this worry you because you’ll get back on the right path soon enough.

AQUARIUS – Jan 21/Feb 18 Others appreciate all that you do for them, but sometimes they have to do for themselves to learn valuable lessons. This week is a time to step aside.

VIRGO – Aug 24/Sept 22 It’s important to recognize your way is not always the right way. If you absorb what other people are saying, you might have an easier go of things.

PISCES – Feb 19/Mar 20 Things may seem like they are going to go one way this week, but at the last minute things turn in an entirely different direction.

This horoscope is intended for entertainment purposes only.

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thegazette • Friday, March 1, 2013 • 3

Arts grads prone to loan defaults

Cameron Wilson Gazette

Jeremiah RodriguezGAzeTTe STAFF

A new study has found gradu-ates from liberal arts programs are more likely to default on their student loans compared to their counterparts in applied and pro-fessional programs, like business and engineering. The study also found, compared to college grad-uates, university graduates were more likely to repay their student debts despite higher tuition.

It was expected the debt default would be due to lower earnings from liberal arts graduates and college graduates compared to graduates from professional and applied programs and university graduates. However, the pattern existed regardless of earnings.

Statistics Canada data looked at 40,000 responding graduates from all provinces and territo-ries who were two years out of graduation, working full-time, possessing similar amounts of debt, with equal starting salaries

and no post-graduate education.“The individual who gradu-

ated from a liberal arts program or with a college diploma is still more likely to default than the individual who graduated from an applied program or with a university degree,” Laura Wright, a co-author of the study and PhD student at Western, said.

“Part of it could be [because] business, health and engineering graduates have far better numer-acy skills. A lot of their skills, espe-cially in business programs, are finance-related. It would help explain why they would be better able to manage their finances, not just debt repayment but all issues relating to finance compared to liberal arts majors.”

The discrepancy between default rates of college and uni-versity graduates, according to David Walters, a sociology profes-sor at the University of Guelph and co-author of the study, stemmed from higher grade admission aver-ages which prepared high school

students to transfer managerial skills into future challenges, like debt management.

The study was conducted in response to debt default figures being touted by the media, which suggested there were major prob-lems with student loan systems.

“The default levels of post sec-ondary students in general was really high, it was above 20 per cent—alarmingly high,” Walters reported.

However, the new study’s num-bers found when you only look at the default rates of students who actually graduate, the default rates are far lower and are closer to two to 10 per cent. The higher pervi-ous figures included students who don’t finish their degrees.

Walters concluded saying the key issue is whether students from any institution or program were “financially aware and astute that when they take on debt, they need to have the foresight of how to manage it.”

had the position either.“I guess what bothered me was

every president does things that people don’t agree with, but when I did something that someone didn’t agree with, it was more often than not unofficially traced back to my gender.”

McGuire also faced some of these challenges while campaigning.

“Now that I’ve been through that experience, I can say that it’s probably very different for a girl to go through the process than a guy, especially when it comes to the debates,” McGuire said. “It even just comes down to my voice—when I answered a ques-tion, it was different than say when Pat [Whelan] or Vivek [Prabhu] answered a question.”

“They can just say what they want to say and it comes across as confident—it won’t sound cocky. If I answered it in the same way, with the same amount of confidence, it would more likely be portrayed completely different.”

Facing barriers like these is something current USC President Adam Fearnall said the USC has tried to face, but he explained it could be difficult to pinpoint exactly where the problems lie.

“As I’ve come through the USC, I’ve realized how progressive of a bubble it really can be, and when

you sort of step outside and take a look at where the rest of the cam-pus is at, you think, ‘Okay, there’s still a lot of work to do here,’” he said.

However, he doesn’t believe the barriers always focus on gender specifically.

“I wouldn’t necessarily boil it down to gender, but there is often a certain expectation of who lead-ers are going to be, or what spe-cific mould they should fill,” he explained. “Whether or not that breaks down along gender lines, I’m not sure, but I think that it’s something that we, as a campus, as a society, don’t always take into consideration—that there’s differ-ent ways of leading.”

Even though students at Western may not have agreed with McGuire’s leadership style, she explained she wishes she could do it all over again because of the great experience it was. She hopes other female students will follow in her footsteps, and use the statistics as fuel for motivation.

“If you really, really want some-thing, and you’re willing to put your entire heart and soul into it, do it—don’t let the statistics intimidate you or hold you back,” she said. “If you are interested in running, and you are someone who wants to change Western for students, you shouldn’t let anyone stop you, regardless of if you’re male or female.”

Cultural barriers still in place>> continued from pg.1

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4 • thegazette • Friday, March 1, 2013

Arts&Life quoteoftheday“It is only in adventure that some people succeed in knowing themselves—in finding themselves.”

—Andre Gide, French author.

Alum’s adventure show knows no bounds

Kevin HurrenArTS & LIFe edITor

How can one face the most chal-lenging, adrenaline-charged adven-tures on the planet? For Western alumnus Simon Donato, the answer is boundless—literally.

Boundless is a documentary television series featuring Donato and friend Paul Trebilcock on their worldwide quest to test their limits and relationship by participating in a number of extreme events. For Donato, this thrill-seeking nature sparked at a young age.

“I started the Boler Mountain Bike Centre when I was 18, as I loved mountain biking on the trails in west London,” says Donato, who com-pleted his undergraduate degree at Western in anthropology and biol-ogy, followed by graduate studies at Western for earth sciences.

“As I got older, many of my

friends didn’t want to compete at a high level anymore, so I found it easier to participate in sports that didn’t rely on teams.”

This affinity toward outdoor competition led Donato to adven-ture racing, a sport that centres on expeditions that combine two or more endurance disciplines including orienteering, cross-country running, mountain biking and rock climbing. For Donato, this passion for adventure culminated in his participation of international competitions, such as the multi-day

adventure race Eco-Challenge.“I tended to enjoy the lon-

ger, tougher endurance races out there,” Donato says. It was through one of these orienteering races that Donato met Trebilcock, someone who would become his partner in a number of projects, including a 2010 documentary titled Go Death Racer. The film, like Boundless, followed Donato and Trebilcock through the Canadian Death Race, one of the world’s toughest adven-ture races.

“My buddy and [Western] alum

Josh Eady is a television direc-tor in Toronto, and he edited the documentary for me. He found the subject compelling and suggested that we create a television pitch for a show where Paul and I travel the world competing in tough races,” Donato says. After developing the show further, Boundless was picked up by the Travel + Escape Channel. Within a few months, the two began racing.

“Each race was challenging in different ways,” explains Donato, who, along with Trebilcock, travelled

to countries like Iceland, Hawaii and Kenya to compete in local adrena-line races for the show. “From our first race to the last we had only 18 weeks to race nearly 1,100 kilome-tres. That’s a ton of racing with very little recovery. Our bodies started to break down and each race just ham-mered us more and more.”

Because the show is shot in doc-umentary style, the physical strain on both Donato and Trebilcock became evident.

“If we got injured and had to drop out, then that’s what the epi-sode became,” says Donato, who admits to facing difficulties in carry-ing the show during times like this. “We were fatigued and needed rest, but we still had to complete daily interviews, both during the race and afterwards.”

Though filming pushed their physical limits, Donato found that it tested his relationship withTrebil-cock even more.

“Paul and I faced each other as competitors, but when we needed to support each other, we always did, which made for a richer expe-rience for me.”

The first season of Boundless, containing 10 episodes, premiered on the Travel + Escape Channel on Sunday, February 17.

Courtesy of Melissa rae Stewart, Blue Ant Media

Mike Laine Gazette

Ross HamiltonGAzeTTe STAFF

Film festival season is well underway in London, with a host of movies and their maker, from across Canada and beyond descending on the city over the coming weeks.

Foremost among these events is the Domestic Arrivals Festival of Canadian Film, hosted by Museum London, which on Friday evening will play host to Alberta-born direc-tor Simon Ennis, and his sharp, entertaining new documentary Lunarcy!

The film is Ennis’ first feature-length documentary, and chronicles the lives of a number of eccentric characters, all of whom share a sin-gular fascination with the moon—though each expresses it in a unique fashion. It’s a peculiar but captivat-ing subject, and moreover, the man-ner in which Lunarcy! came about is an interesting story in and of itself.

Ennis relates that while research-ing topics for his documentary, he happened to come across several articles in the space of a week that dealt with various aspects of the moon. While some focussed on sober, but intriguing subjects such as the potential mining of the moon for Helium-3, it was a considerably more light-hearted piece on a man named Dennis Hope that sparked Ennis’ interest and helped shape Lunarcy! into what it is today.

The film in its final form is mark-edly different from the project that the director had initially envisioned. Where originally, he had considered

making a more straightforward doc-umentary about the moon and its relationship with culture, folklore and science throughout history, his meetings with a number of individu-als who had devoted their lives to it in one way or another helped trans-form Lunarcy!

“[The film] is less about the moon itself, and more and more about these people,” Ennis explains.

Among these extraordinary characters is the aforementioned Hope, who became the legal owner of the moon after exploiting a UN loophole forbidding nations from owning extraterrestrial bodies, but not individuals. He has since gone on to make millions selling lunar real estate.

Ennis also interviewed former astronaut Alan Bean, who in 1969 became the fourth man to walk on the moon, and now dedicates him-self to painting a landscape only a handful of people have ever seen.

“Bean is the only artist who has been to another world,” Ennis says.

The figure at the heart of Lunarcy!, however, is a young Texan named Christopher Carson—a man Ennis describes as determined to be “the first person to leave the planet Earth with no intention of coming back.” The director goes on to explain their meeting at a space conference in Phoenix was a stroke of luck.

“I had no right to be there really, and neither did he,” he notes. However, the two quickly became

friends, and Carson’s astonishing quest to be the first person to live on the moon proved the perfect story to tie Ennis’ narrative together.

Much of the research involved in making Lunarcy! will also be used for Ennis’ next film—a black comedy on the subject of astronauts, and a proj-ect that will mark his return to fiction filmmaking following the success of his debut feature You Might As Well Live in 2009. However, for the time being, he remains focussed on promoting Lunarcy! and its cast of incredible people, and on sharing the bizarre, funny and moving sto-ries the film has managed to capture.

You can see Lunarcy! tonight at Museum London at 8 p.m. Tickets are $10.

FILe phoTo

Lunarcy! set to play at Museum London film festival

Documentary shoots for the moon

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Mike Laine Gazette

The Hangover: college student editionAleks Dalek

ConTrIBuTor

GGGHF21 and Over

Director: Jon Lucas, Scott MooreStarring: Justin Chon, Miles Teller, Skylar Astin, Sarah Wright

In recent years, it seems frat boy antics in Hollywood comedies have been committed by anyone but—from grown men in The Hangover to teenagers in Project X. However, no other age group seems more appro-priate to star in such shenanigans than the college-aged kids every-one’s trying to mimic.

21 and Over, directed by the writ-ers of The Hangover, stars an ideal ensemble of three longtime friends from high school, reuniting once again in college. When Jeff (Justin Chon) turns 21, Miller (Miles Teller) and Casey (Skylar Astin) decide to pay him a surprise visit and take him out drinking for the night. To their dismay, Jeff’s father is present

when the duo arrives, and is quick to inform them of his son’s medi-cal school interview in the morning. Upon leaving, Jeff tells his friends he can’t go out. After a clichéd, predict-able, but nonetheless effective and enjoyable monologue delivered by Miller, Jeff soon agrees to go out for the evening, but insists on having no more than one beer.

Later on, the trio of friends is shown drinking, partying and bar-hopping. Hours later, they’ve wan-dered off so far that they believe they’re lost. At this point, Jeff has blacked out and his friends have no idea how to get him home. Panicked that his father will be picking him up at 7 a.m. for his interview, Miller and Casey embark on a hectic jour-ney to deliver their friend home.

21 and Over is an action-packed adult comedy, filled with car chases, bar fights, fist fights, breaking into sorority houses, crashing college parties, hilarious pranks, running from the police, getting arrested, drugs, sex and alcohol. The film is hilarious with its racy jokes and

references. It should be noted, how-ever, that if one is easily offended, this might not be the best movie for a night out—some would definitely consider it inappropriate and even borderline offensive due to all the racist and sexist jokes.

21 and Over doesn’t come with-out its fair share of flaws. The film suffers from similar criticisms as many others in the genre. Focusing heavily on the comedic aspect of the film, it’s difficult to insert any form

of realism or seriousness with which the audience can relate. In the third quarter, when weaker comedies usually begin showing signs of a struggle with balancing the funny and the serious, 21 and Over avoids most issues by focusing primar-ily on the plot. While deeper and more serious issues, such as mental health, depression, suicide, family troubles and addiction are brought forward, they are soon after swept under the rug as the film throws

more jokes and action scenes at the audience to ensure a light tone.

21 and Over is not going to win any major awards. It was never an ambitious project—essentially, it’s a college-aged version of The Hangover, with elements from mov-ies like American Pie and Project X. It definitely doesn’t bite off more than it can chew, and with that being said, for what it tries to accomplish, 21 and Over is successful.

FILe phoTo

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thegazetteVolume 106, Issue 77www.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

Gloria DickieEditor-In-Chief

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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.

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News Alex CarmonaJesica HurstCam SmithAaron ZaltzmanArts & Life Sumedha AryaBrent HolmesKevin HurrenSports Richard RaycraftJason SinukoffRyan SternOpinions Ryan HurlbutAssociate Kaitlyn McGrath

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6 • thegazette • Friday, March 1, 2013

Opinions

Naira AhmedGrAphICS edITor

In today’s post-9/11 world, where Arabs and Muslims are targeted as barbaric and violent, it is crucial topics concerning racial profiling and even subtle dehu-manization of the “other” be identified.

On February 20, Emad Burnat—a talented, Oscar-nominated film director of 5 Broken Cameras—was detained in a holding pen at Los Angeles International Airport for almost two hours. Burnat had arrived in America to attend the Oscars, with his family. However, he wasn’t treated like other Oscar-nominated film directors. Refusing to believe he had been nominated, the security

officers threatened to send him back to Palestine—even after Burnat had clearly proves he was nominated. What I thought was interesting as I heard about this incident was that a simple Google search would have sufficed. Matters were only settled once Michael Moore was called by Burnat—it was only after Moore called the Academy and lawyers that Burnat and his family were free to go.

5 Broken Cameras is a film that high-lights life in Palestine from the eyes of Burnat, a Palestinian filmmaker and humble olive farmer—in collaboration with Guy Davidi, an Israeli filmmaker. The film highlights Burnat’s nonviolent resistance to the occupation as he uses his five broken cameras to highlight his life—as an average person in an occu-pied village—to provide the world with an insight into how he and his family live. His son, Gibreel, was also documented on film since the day he was born. The clips of his son in the film show an unin-formed audience how the conflict can

psychologically affect children growing up—as they are surrounded by war, vio-lence and death.

In contrast to the other films at the Oscars, 5 Broken Cameras was the anom-aly. It provided an insight into a shattered life in Palestine, from the viewpoint of the very people who are demonized in other films like Zero Dark Thirty. It showed a very real conflict different than the lavishness of the Oscars. I, for one, was pleasantly surprised about its appearance.

Political conflicts can weave tangled webs—webs that make it hard for the average, uninformed citizen to trace back to origins and truths. However, I feel though this incident was disappoint-ing, the response it received from people worldwide through social media was groundbreaking. And while all the atten-tion it received was positive, the reality is that not everyone is lucky enough to have Michael Moore on speed dial.

Profiling still apparent in society

For a campus whose female population comprises more than half of its student body, it is a problematic statistic only 10 per cent of the University Students’ Council presidents have been women. Though there are no formal barriers preventing women from becoming president, it leads one to wonder what, if any, effect gender has on the USC elections.

It is possible gender can be a factor in how we vote—much like any other factor, it can have a positive or negative effect. However, the statistics suggest gender doesn’t seem to impact voting. The female 10 per cent of USC presidents does not differ significantly from the female 12 per cent of all candidates. Nor does the success rate differ between male and female presidents—20 per cent of male candidates went on to win versus 16 per cent of female candidates. It would seem the biggest issue that needs to be studied is why there is a lack of women who run for the position.

This phenomenon is not confined to the USC. In most political institutions across the world, including those such as Canada that have formal gender equality, there seems to be a disproportionate percentage of males. This could be due to several factors, but many of them come down to the status quo. Many people may simply feel that, based on the status quo in the world of gender and politics, this is the way things are supposed to be. The norm is a comfort for people, and many women may find it difficult to keep focus on political issues when so much attention is paid to gender and “shaking things up.”

Perceived norms can also affect individual candidates. Many of the qualities that make a successful politician—decisiveness, assertiveness and aggression—are ones typically thought of as “male” qualities. Women are therefore at a disadvantage in politics. If they embody these qualities it creates discomfort for the transgression of societal norms, but if they try to remain “feminine” politicians, they encounter limited success.

There is no easy answer for how to solve gender disparity in politics. It’s not as simple as more women candidates—women should be running because they are the right people for the job, not to increase female numbers in the USC. While there are no formal barriers for women entering politics, it is clear a deep systemic change needs to take place before women can feel comfortably equal to men in the political realm.

—The Gazette Editorial Board

Solving USC gender gap

not that simple

If you want something said, ask a man; if you want something done, ask a woman.

—Margaret Thatcher, former prime minister of the united Kingdom

The Chronicles of Naira

Letters to the Editor

To the Editor:Re: Oscar the Grouch strikes again, February, 27, 2013

I find it difficult to believe, not to mention a tad ridiculous, that the recent Academy Award-winning film Argo so blatantly ignored the efforts of Ken Taylor and that of the Canadian government that Canadians should be shamed for “just [sitting] there when a move that butchers one of [Taylor’s] greatest accomplishments is paraded about as a ‘great film.’”

Where exactly does the movie butcher Taylor’s accomplishments? Sure, it gives more weight to the roles played by Tony Mendez and the CIA, but that is natu-rally to be expected given the movie is produced and written by Americans, and based on Mendez’ book The Master

of Disguise. Of course, Argo should be allowed to take some dramatic licenses given that it was filmed to be an inter-esting, partly educational Hollywood thriller—not a factually correct docu-mentary. In fact, Taylor asserts he under-stands Argo is just “a movie, and you have to keep the audience on the edge of their seats.”

The Oscar for Best Picture recognizes the film that achieved the year’s great-est mix of direction, acting, screenwrit-ing, editing, and music, not necessarily the most accurate—hence the separate award for Best Documentary Feature. So if Ken Taylor—who may have remained unknown to many Canadians without the film—is satisfied, then I have no com-plaints. Neither should I, nor any other Canadian, feel unpatriotic or ashamed for enjoying the movie.

—Vivek RamaswamiIvey IV

Argo not awful

To the Editor:Re: Mutilation Merits Mention, February 27, 2013

I find it very surprising that the writer missed the point of Kevin Hurren’s “Head 2 Head” article in the sex issue.

The article goes into detail to describe the pros and cons of circumcised and uncircumcised penises. Seeing as this was in the Sex Issue, I would certainly hope the article focused on sex.

Instead, the writer took issue with Hurren’s lack of discussing genital muti-lation. “Are you serious?” was the first thought that popped into my head. The Sex Issue is not the place to get into an ethical discussion about circumcision.

A 2009 study found circumcision can reduce the infection rate of HIV by 38 to 66 per cent. The World Health Organization also calls for circumcision to be investigated as part of the plan to curb the epidemic of HIV/AIDS in Africa. Science has proven there are surely some benefits to circumcision.

Moreover, the “babies have no say” argument is flat out silly. Do babies choose to baptized? Do young children realistically choose what schools they go to? These decisions can affect chil-dren much more seriously than being circumcised.

Finally, the writer characterized crookedness and lack of sensitivity among their main concerns. When those with “cut” penises complain about sex being lousy, then we might have an argu-ment. For some reason I doubt we’ll see a lot of complaints.

—Bradley MetlinSocial Science I

Cutting not that bad

weeklypoll

does the gender of candidates affect the outcome of uSC elections?

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no – 48%

Vote on next week’s poll at westerngazette.ca

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thegazette • Friday, March 1, 2013 • 7

Western hosts CIS Championship with hopes of gold rush

Nation’s best battle for top spot in London

Jason SinukoffSporTS edITor

It has been said the toughest opponent is the one that is rela-tively unknown. That is what the Mustangs wrestling team will have to deal with this week-end when they compete in the Canadian Interuniversity Sport Championships.

Seventeen teams from across Canada will be competing in this tournament—including power-houses Brock and the ever-dan-gerous Alberta, which boasts the number-one ranked men’s and women’s teams in Canada.

“They have a good lineup and we haven’t met them at all. But we have seen Brock, and they have a really strong team too,” Ray Takahashi, head coach of the Mustangs, said.

In order to succeed, the Mustangs have to hope for a collective team

effort. The way the tournament works is that each wrestler has an individual tournament, and then their scores are tabulated so a final team score can be calculated.

Luckily for the Mustangs, they are entering the tournament with a slew of momentum coming into this weekend’s festivities, boasting the top-ranked men’s team and the second-ranked women’s team in Ontario. However, this weekend they will have a little something extra up their sleeves. This week-end, the championships will be held on the Mustangs’ home turf, and Takahashi hopes this will give his team the extra drive they need.

“Travel obviously [factors into it]. The other thing is knowing you have some support. Also, everything is familiar,” Takahashi said. “When you wrestle in your own backyard and you have some familiar faces there, certainly I think it can mean

a lot. It certainly will help in the overall perspective.”

Hosting the championships also means a lot to Western—giving the school a chance to show off their athletics department.

“Athletics is really doing a great job of hosting this event. I am really happy that we are hosting probably the best championship—at least in my memory. This gives us the chance to show off what we can do as an institution. It is a reflection on our university,” Takahashi said.

Fo l l ow i n g t h e C I S Championships, a select few from the purple and white will be head-ing to New Brunswick to compete in the National Senior Open over the March 22 weekend. This event is of the utmost importance for the Mustangs, because it is essen-tial for qualifying for FISU—the University World Championships held in Russia.

Cameron Wilson Gazette

Men’s volleyballThe Mustangs men’s volleyball team fell three sets to one to the McMaster Marauders in the Ontario University Athletics final last Saturday. Set scores were 25–27, 26–24, 32–30 and 25–20.

The contest was an exciting back and forth affair between two of the nation’s best.

McMaster’s Jori Mantha put on a stellar performance, scoring 28 points with 22 kills. Garrett May stood out for the Mustangs with 18 points, all of which were on kills.

The Mustangs and the Marauders will now head to the Canadian Interuniversity Sport champion-ships. The championships will take place on March 1–3 in Quebec City, hosted by Université Laval.

Women’s curlingThe women’s curling team captured the OUA women’s curling cham-pionship in Guelph this month, defeating the McMaster Marauders by a score of 7–2 in seven ends.

Western’s victory was the first for the women’s team since 2009. The women’s team has won eight titles in total.

Led by skipper Caitlin Romain, Western advanced to the final against McMaster after defeat-ing the Carleton Ravens and the Waterloo Warriors previously in the tournament.

The Mustangs now look forward to the CIS championships, which will be hosted by Thompson Rivers University in late March.

Women’s volleyballThe Mustangs women’s volleyball team fell just short of their season goal of the final four in losing to the Ottawa Gee-Gees in the quar-ter-finals. In a tough battle, the Mustangs fell to the seventh-ranked Gee-Gees by a final score of 13 –25, 25–22, 12–25 and 18–25.

In their last game donning the purple and white, Rebecca Oxland and Danielle Marshall each had eight kills and nine points, but that was not enough to overcome the powerful Gee-Gees offence. A strong second set gave the Mustangs some energy to work with, but it was not enough in the losing effort.

Gee-Gees star Karina Krueger led the way with 15 kills and 17 points en route to the semifinals.

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SportsRundown >> ontario university Athletics named their men’s hockey all-star teams, and the Mustangs were represented by six players > Matt Clarke was named to the first team, while zack harnden, Steve reese and Josh unice were featured on the second team > daniel erlich and davi Corrente were named to the all-rookie team > Along with his all-star nod, Steve reese grabbed the Most Sportsmanlike player award.

tweet of the weekonly thing more special would’ve been the win! But God is good. #dubnation

Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry (@StephenCurry30) said after a 54-point output in a losing effort

Strong goaltending keeps Mustangs off the scoreboard

Shut down defence gives Gaels edge in finals

Andrew EvansGAzeTTe STAFF

It wasn’t what the Mustangs wom-en’s hockey team was hoping for in game one of the Ontario University Athletics Judy McCaw Memorial Cup finals Wednesday night.

While the Mustangs were coming off a semifinal victory over the top-ranked Laurier Golden Hawks, the momentum of the win clearly didn’t carry over to the championship series opener at Thompson Arena.

This season’s final features a Mustangs squad still chasing its first women’s hockey title in school history, up against a Queen’s Gaels team looking to capture their sec-ond title in three years and fifth overall.

Although heavily outmatched on paper, the Mustangs had man-aged to defeat the much more experienced Queen’s Gaels twice during the regular season, losing only once during the season series. Meanwhile, the Mustangs have no senior players on their roster, and it showed in Wednesday’s opener.

The Mustangs were heavily out-shot in the opening 20 minutes as the Gaels were able to put eight shots on net before the Mustangs finally got their legs under them.

While the teams would trade power play opportunities through-out the period, Taryn Pilon of the Gaels would knock home a loose rebound inside the four-minute mark of the first to give the visitors a 1–0 lead heading back to the room.

The middle frame would not be any better for the Mustangs as the elder Gaels once again controlled

the period. Danielle Girard would double the Queen’s lead just short of the five-minute mark into the period on the power play to make it 2–0, and the Gaels would not let off the gas pedal for the rest of the period.

Luckily, the lone bright spot for the Mustangs in the period was the play of St. Thomas, Ontario native Kelly Campbell between the pipes, who managed to weather the storm to keep the deficit to just two goals heading to the final period.

Unfortunately for the Mustangs, the Gaels would put the game away for good early in the third period. Pilon would put home her second goal of the game less than two minutes into the frame. The Gaels cruised from that point on and veteran Morgan McHaffie iced the contest with an empty netter late in regulation.

Western head coach Chris Higgins didn’t sugarcoat things after the game when asked for his

thoughts.“They played a very good game,

[…] they are a veteran team. They’ve been to the OUA final before. They’ve won. They have seven play-ers who are graduating this year,” Higgins said.

The Mustangs will not have much time to search for answers as game two of the best of three series goes Friday evening in Kingston.

“We’re going to play a great game,” Higgins said. “These kids have not lost two games in a row all year. We’re going to come out fighting.”

Luckily for the Mustangs, it was just last weekend when they faced a must-win game on the road, as they were able to prevail in game three of the semifinals at Laurier Sunday night.

Katelyn Gosling believes she and her teammates are once again up to the task.

“Whenever we lose we’re good at regrouping—I don’t think we’ve lost more than one in a row. We’ll play our hardest and hope for the best.”

But Gosling also knows it will not be easy to win the series as it shifts to Queen’s University for the final remaining two games ahead of next week’s CIS championships in Toronto.

“They are a good team. They are always consistent. You can tell they have a lot of older girls on their team. They are fighting because it’s their last year, so we have to fight just as hard if we want it just as much.”

Game two of the series goes Friday evening, with a possible deciding game three scheduled for Sunday.

Piotr Angiel Gazette

They played a very good game, […] they are a veteran team. They’ve been to the ouA final before. They’ve won.

—Chris higginsMustangs coach

Mike Laine Gazette