thursday, september 18, 2014
DESCRIPTION
Volume 108, Issue 11TRANSCRIPT
thegazetteTHURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2014 WESTERN UNIVERSITY • CANADA’S ONLY DAILY STUDENT NEWSPAPER • FOUNDED 1906 VOLUME 108, ISSUE 11
Rubbing luscious earlobes since 1906
TODAYhigh17low7
TOMORROWhigh18low5
Moving nowhere fastNight Moves fails to impress>> pg. 5
Iain BoekhoffEDITOR-IN-CHIEF
@IainAtGazette
Unceremoniously kicked out of the Liberal caucus, and with the entire Senate suffering from a ser-ies of scandals, Liberals in Canada’s Senate are trying to change the cul-ture and perception of the chamber of “sober second thought.”
Among the initiatives under-taken by the opposition senators is “Your Question Period.” Anyone can submit a question online and it will be read out during the Senate’s Question Period by a senator from the submitter’s region.
Senator James Cowan, the leader of the Opposition, explained the initiative came from an increased freedom following federal Liberal leader Justin Trudeau’s decision to kick all senators out of the Liberal caucus in late January of this year. Cowan said this gave the senators an “opportunity to try to do things differently.”
Along with letting regular Canadians have a direct influence on Senate proceedings, the Liberals have opened up their weekly caucus meetings to the public.
“We’re not bound by party disci-pline, we’re not bound by caucus solidarity, so we can do things and it gives us the freedom to do things we wouldn’t have had when we were members of an organized caucus,”
Cowan said.With only a third of young voters
casting ballots — half the rate of a generation ago — and a public per-ception of the Senate as being out of touch, the new initiatives are aimed at getting people more involved in the parliamentary process.
Cowan said they try to ask one or two submitted questions every ses-sion. People who submit a question are contacted beforehand so they know which senator will be asking their question and after they are sent a link to the audio and a link to the text of the question and the govern-ment’s answer.
“The young man who sent in [the first question] was very excited,” Cowan said.
“I think it’s a little off-putting for the government because they know that this isn’t just me that’s asking the question, I’m asking your ques-tion, so [the government’s senator] might be prepared to take a shot at me and accuse me of being partisan or ill-informed but he’s really talking to you,” Cowan said.
Getting young people engaged in federal politics — especially the Senate — is a major issue and this is one way they can get involved directly with politics. They don’t have to write a letter or appear, they just have to go to the website, said Cowan.
Starting in October, students will be able to catch a flight between Western’s hometown and the city that never sleeps.
On October 26, London International Airport will make the inaugural flight Newark Liberty International Airport. As announced in the London air-port’s press release, Newark, New Jersey is only 30 minutes away from Manhattan and an attract-ive option for travellers with their eyes set on New York City.
Round trip flights will start as low as $349 and are offered by Express-Jets, a partner of United Express Airlines. The journey will take an hour and a half on a 50-seat regional jet aircraft.
Brad Rice, business develop-ment manager at London International Airport, said that the London airport is a smart option for students.
“I think it’s going to appeal to students but it’s also going to appeal to their families,” said Rice. “Many of [Western’s] international students will find it much easier to connect and it’s going to be done at a reasonable price.”
Rice said that the airport is launching a marketing campaign that will include print, radio and billboard ads. London’s Jack FM is signed on to give away a free round-trip ticket and NYC week-end package in early October.
Rice added that the London airport offers less security and a faster in-and-out time than lar-ger surrounding airports. Close to 50 flights depart and arrive in London daily, servicing nearly 500,000 people annually.
“We don’t want people travel-ling to Toronto and Detroit,” said Rice. “We want them to fly from home at a reasonable price.”
• Amy O’Kruk
Boarding now: London to NYC
>> FENCING
The Western fencing team put on a demonstration at Saugeen in hopes of drawing first-year recruits. Players from the team filled the residence with the sound of steel on steel, showing off the three varieties of different swords: foils, épées and sabres. > SEE PAGE 7 FOR MORE
Senators doing business in a new way“Your Question Period” an opportunity for all Canadians to ask questions of the government
Ryerson institutes female only gym times
•••InsideStudent competes in Geneva Challenge • P2
Colour run sprints to London • P4
Janet Werner exhibit at McIntosh Gallery • P5
Editorial: Women shouldn’t need separate space • P6
Opinion: Rec Centre isn’t so scary • P6
Sports: Lacrosse women’s big wins • P7-8
Olivia ZollinoNEWS EDITOR@uwogazette
With new women-only gym times, Ryerson University is attempting to combat feelings of insecurity from female students who shy away from their recreational centre.
In their two month pilot project, Ryerson is designating areas of their recreational centre as women-only spaces. Spaces include the pool twice a week for 90 minutes, the weight room for 90 minutes five days a week and a separate studio in-between fitness classes.
Anthony Seymour, manager of recreation at Ryerson, said after the Ryerson Students’ Union conducted a survey of female students last year, they found a large portion wanted women-only hours. Additionally, many didn’t use the gym because it was co-ed or overcrowded.
>> see GYM pg.3>> see SENATE pg.3
Brent Holmes and Kelly Samuel • GAZETTE
2 • thegazette • Thursday, September 18, 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.
Caught on Camera
Spencer Fairweather • GAZETTE
IT’S A SIESTA! Students took advantage of the nice weather Wednesday afternoon, lounging underneath the trees on UC hill in between classes.
News Briefs
Western grad student Swiss contest finalist
Western graduate student Kevin Vuong and his team were one of the global finalists for the Geneva Challenge on Empowering Women for Development on September 15.
“We were very excited to be one of the top three global finalists and to place in third,” Vuong said.
The Geneva Challenge is for graduate students around the world to attempt to solve an issue in global development, with this year’s focus being on the third Millennium Development Goal to promote gender equality and empower women. The top three finalists get cash prizes of 10,000, 5,000 and 2,500 CHF, which were presented in Geneva.
Vuong’s team’s focus was particu-larly on addressing the issue of the poor treatment and exploitation of Indonesian women after they emi-grate to find work.
“Our proposal was to build a resource centre in Indonesia to educate the migrant women prior to departure, so when they do go abroad they don’t lose that con-nection they have with their home as well as the control that they have over the hard-earned money that they send back home as well,” Vuong said.
Vuong was particularly proud of how his project underlined the importance of all genders working towards empowerment.
“Everyone plays a role in women empowerment – myself included.
I don’t think it’s the responsibil-ity of just women to advocate for themselves. So I think for one this is a great way to learn more about it while also being able to go out there and express my views on the role that I play as a male in woman empowerment,” Vuong said.
Going forward, Vuong hopes to secure funding to make the resource centre a reality.
• Katie Lear
Western ranks in world university rankings
In the recently released 2014 QS World University Rankings, Western placed 191 in the world and 10 in Canada – behind the University of Toronto, McGill and Queen’s University.
Keith Marnoch, director of media relations at Western, said that the fact the university made the list is a positive thing.
“Rankings are valuable to us […] to sort of gauge our advances against the world’s top universities,” Marnoch said. “The fact that we are in the top 200 is a good thing. It’s a vehicle for us to promote ourselves internationally and that’s an import-ant thing for Western.”
The QS rankings are based on cri-teria such as academic reputation, employer reputation, faculty to stu-dent ratio, citations per faculty and international student and staff ratio.
Marnoch added that the rankings do not define the university and that Western is progressing positively in the areas QS ranks.
“Different rankings have differ-ent criteria,” he said. “We’re happy to be on any of those lists, but we don’t use them to guide us. We are trying to improve our areas that most of these rankings take into consideration.”
• Jonathan Hermina
Tuition going up — again
The average cost of tuition for Canadian full-time undergraduate and graduate students has increased for another year, according to a sur-vey conducted by Statistics Canada.
According to the survey, Canadian undergraduate students on average saw their tuition rise to $5,959 for the 2014-15 academic year, as compared to $5,767 for last year. This represents a 3.3 per cent increase in tuition from one year to the next. Canadian graduate students’ tuition also increased to $6,210 on average, up 2.8 per cent from last year. In comparison, infla-tion rose 2.1 per cent between July 2013 and July 2014.
International graduate and undergraduate students also saw their tuition rise — experiencing a 5.3 per cent increase compared to last year.
Ontario undergraduate and graduate students continue to pay the highest amount in tuition fees, compared to other provinces.
It is not clear however whether tuition will continue to rise because Statistics Canada does not forecast rises.
“You could have a tuition freeze one year, like in Newfoundland, or you can have increases another year,” said Nora McNichol, produc-tion manager at Statistics Canada.
“Every year, it could change,” McNichol said.
• Jason Silverberg
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thegazette • Thursday, September 18, 2014 • 3
Small changes on road to reform in Senate
Western offers only four hours for women
Courtesy of Senator James Cowan’s office
THE SENATOR WILL SEE YOU NOW. Nova Scotian Senator James Cowan, the leader of the Opposition in Canada’s Senate, is spearheading a campaign to give Canadians a voice in the Red Chamber.
“We’re trying to create an environment that allows women to come in and learn how to work out and get healthy,” Seymour said. He added that it was the athletic depart-ment’s mission to create a healthy campus.
And so far, it’s working. Seymour reports a seven times increase in women using the facilities.
Currently, the Western Student Recreation Centre offers a women-only space Monday through Thursday, for an hour in a studio.
Thérèse Quigley, director of sports and recreation services, said the Rec Centre offers a woman-only space to cater to cultural and reli-gious needs, as well as for comfort.
“We are looking to meet the needs and interests of a very multi-cultural community,” Quigley said.
However, Western’s women-only fitness pales in comparison to other Canadian universities.
The University of British Columbia and York University both dedicate swim times and fitness areas solely to women for numerous hours a week. University of Toronto goes further, offering drop-in hours at the strength and condi-tioning centre, in conjunction with swimming for different difficulty
levels five days a week and pick-up women-only sports.
Western students appeared in favour of women-only spaces for various reasons when asked.
Erica Jesurun, Social Science student said exclusively female spaces would ideally help women transition to being comfortable in co-ed spaces.
Religious reasons were also a concern for some students.
“The majority of Muslim girls do not come to the gym because there is no special area for girls. In the religion, it’s forbidden to get mixed with men in these kinds of activities,” said Bilal Al Bataina, PhD student in chemical and biochem-ical engineering. “So I think having that option would allow for more of those ladies to come into the gym and work out,”
Bataina mentioned how he has difficultly persuading his wife to attend the gym because of religious restrictions.
Seymour advised universities not to get into a rut of offering the same things year after year.
“It’s important that you look at the diverse population of your uni-versity campus and look for oppor-tunities to give everyone a chance to get healthy,” Seymour said.
>> GYM continued from pg.1
Another possibility is bringing open caucus meetings to differ-ent places in the country, such as university campuses. Cowan noted their last meeting about prostitu-tion legislation included experts in the field with different views who debated and interacted with public participants.
They’ve had offers from some universities to partner with them and take open caucus meetings off Parliament Hill and to Canadians, maybe even to Western’s campus.
Cowan said the Senate should be more critical and independent to keep the government in check, noting recent instances of bills that have been passed but struck down by the Supreme Court for
contravening the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
With regards to Senate reform, the Supreme Court has determined the federal government can recom-mend changes to the Senate but they must consult and get consent from the provinces to amend the Constitution.
While larger reform has stalled for now, the “Your Question Period” initiative has changed the way Senate operates in one small way.
“It’s been good, it’s an experi-ment, we’re pleased with the prog-ress so far but we really need to broaden it, get more people to hear about it, the more people that par-ticipate, the better it will be.”
You can submit a question to the Senate at liberalsenateforum.ca/your-question-period/
>> SENATE continued from pg.1
Spencer Fairweather • GAZETTE
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4 • thegazette • Thursday, September 18, 2014
arts&life saywhat?Nothing so needs reforming as other people’s habits.
• Mark Twain
Painting people for a colour-filled race
Jennafer Freeman ARTS AND LIFE EDITOR
The Colour Run will be bursting into London once again this Sunday, right in time to burn off those cal-ories consumed on Homecoming.
Christian Dempster, the director of this year’s Colour Run, is no stran-ger to the race. He has put on Colour Runs all over the world, including in Korea, Amsterdam and Tokyo.
“It is a five kilometre race unlike any other five kilometre race,” says Dempster. “What they’ll do is start the course, run through the differ-ent colour zones, finish at our finish zone where we’ll have a finish fes-tival where we’ll have great music, a great emcee, we’ll throw out free items and as well do what we call a colour throw.”
Once they have completed the race each runner is give a package of coloured, powdered paint and asked to hold on to it until the very end. Coordinated colour throws then take place.
Nakita Ramjeawan is a fourth-year criminology and psychology student at Western who participated in the Colour Run last summer.
“My favourite part was obviously all the colours,” says Ramjeawan. “It was really fun, we got a group of friends together, got all dressed up and then went for the run.”
The Colour Run is described as being the happiest 5k run on the planet for many reasons. Not only is the run untimed to take off any pressure, participants are welcome to walk the entire way if that’s what they want to do.
“I really enjoy the fact that this race is unique,” says Dempster. “You know you’ve got a lot of runs — 5ks or 10ks — when you almost have to be a bit of an athlete to participate. But with this one being untimed and really interactive, I love the fact that a mother a daughter and a grand-mother can all do it together.”
Ramjeawan explains that when she participated in the Colour Run last year time seemed to fly by.
“It didn’t feel as long as you think it would, “ says Ramjeawan. “Probably because it was so fun with
the music and colour everywhere.”Although many runners like
Ramjeawan enjoyed the run last year, this year’s Colour Run will bring some new surprises.
“The Colour Run this year is implemented throughout Canada and the US as the Kaleidoscope tour,” explains Dempster. “So what we’ve done is just make really really large ones so people can take photos in and around them.”
In addition to these new attrac-tions, the Colour Run also partnered with Tara Boom Houston Children’s Foundation, which adds to the posi-tive nature of the run. The organiz-ers chose to keep the charity within the community, which adds another positive aspect.
“It’s just been a great partner-ship,” explains Dempster. “They are a very worthwhile cause and actually part of the relationship here is one of our team members — her sister had a relationship with that charity so it was a natural fit for the event.”
This Sunday is sure to be filled with lots of colour, music and fun, especially for Western students fighting a Homecoming hangover.
“I would definitely recommend the Colour Run to other students,” says Ramjeawan.
IT DIDN’T FEEL AS LONG AS YOU THINK IT WOULD.
PROBABLY BECAUSE IT WAS SO FUN WITH THE MUSIC AND COLOUR EVERYWHERE.
NAKITA RAMJEAWANFOURTH-YEAR CRIMINOLOGY
AND PSYCHOLOGY
Fashioning deeper beautyJanet Werner exhibit opens at McIntosh Gallery
Tabitha ChanGAZETTE STAFF
Janet Werner is a Canadian artist who uses an amalgamation of por-trait painting and fashion culture imagery to create a dynamic con-versation about what true beauty really is. Her paintings encourage viewers to reflect on the societal pressures placed on women regarding standards of beauty and physical appearance. These ideas are illustrated in her current exhib-ition titled Another Perfect Day at the McIntosh Gallery located on Western University’s campus.
The title of this exhibition is a clichéd phrase, which speaks to how people often present them-selves in ways that are stereotypical and meaningless. James Patten, the director and chief curator of the gal-lery, says that Werner is interested in these clichéd phrases because it emphasizes how fashion images themselves seem perfect but are somehow empty as well.
“She collects images and phrases from popular culture, fashion maga-zines and women’s magazines. Her whole studio is filled with photo-graphs she’s ripped out from Vogue and stuff. She’s working with clichés about happiness and acuteness but there’s a critique built in there. It’s an ironic use of that kind of language,” Patten says.
The paintings in this exhibition are a selection of works from a larger series. All of Werner’s works are able to hold a consistency as she uses the same process to create each one. Her paintings are bizarre collages of various elements from fashion magazines, which she uses to make a composition and then paints from that as source material.
“Her works are composites. She’s taking the head from one and she’s taking the dress from another – she mixes up the sources. This could be a bunny head from a children’s toy and this could be a fashion model and she moves them together like that,” says Patten.
Werner’s artwork shows view-ers how easily seductive beautiful images can be and how much power they hold over the viewer without them even being fully aware of it. At first glance, the viewer simply sees an image of an attractive model wearing chic clothing.
Upon looking closely, the viewer begins to notice the exaggerations of the model in her physical body, the use of masks as confinement and the use of colour to emphasize a zombie-like complexion in their faces. In all her works, the parts of women that carry authority like hands, feet and voice are often removed or blocked. The artist is saying that people have been con-ditioned to accept these distortions as beautiful and normal.
“Our immediate reaction is to read them as these beautiful images but then there’s these troubling things going on. There’s an element of what I would call grotesque in her work,” Patten says.
“They’re beautiful, but they look like monsters. She negotiates between those two. She wants to
engage you in that kind of reading of these images to make you think the next time you see one.”
In the piece titled “Ghostyhat,” the model is positioned in a fashion-ori-ented pose as she is looking over her shoulder into the distance. She has large brown eyes but the yellow bags beneath them make her look weary. The real focus of this paint-ing is actually the pile of ghosts that makes up her headpiece. The model has almost disappeared into the realm of fashion.
“Her hat has taken on this whole life of its own. The hat acts as a mask of beauty in front of all these other issues that are going on – the scary things, the complexities, the threats
that aren’t apparent in the conven-tional representation of women,” says Patten.
Her paintings capture the com-plex tension that exists between both the desires and uneasiness associated with the ideals of the fashion industry. Through Werner’s work, the viewer is able to hold the two truths of wanting to look like the models in the magazines while knowing that it is a false construc-tion at the same time.
“We’re all attracted to the seduc-tion of a Vogue magazine photo but we also know that there’s problems in that image in terms of representa-tions of women and that it’s not real-ity — that they’re airbrushed, that they’re constructed, almost like pas-tries. It’s very attractive and it tastes good but it’s also kind of empty and bad for you at the same time,” Patten says.
Werner’s works present to viewers an intricate critique of the fashion industry, the male gaze and the role of women in how they impose on themselves these impossible stan-dards of beauty. She brings these issues to the viewer but allows them to make their own interpretations.
Patten says, “That’s where art is really successful. It’s not a polemic telling you what is right or wrong but getting you to consider the issues and to think about your own life in relationship to them.”
Courtesy of the McIntosh Gallery
A HAUNTING PORTRAIT. Janet Werner’s paintings are on display at The McIntosh Gallery. Featured above: her 2009, oil on canvas painting, “Ghostyhat.”
THERE’S AN ELEMENT OF WHAT I WOULD
CALL GROTESQUE IN HER WORK. THEY’RE BEAUTIFUL, BUT THEY LOOK LIKE MONSTERS.
JAMES PATTEN, DIRECTOR AND CHIEF CURATOR OF
MCINTOSH GALLERY
Courtesy of IMG
thegazette • Thursday, September 18, 2014 • 5
Your body is a Shirley Temple
Christina CarfagniniCONTRIBUTOR
With Homecoming this weekend, health conscious students will strug-gle between the desire to party and the need to maintain a healthy life-style. An alcohol filled night has the potential to wreak havoc on a diet.
Alcohol has a lot of empty and non-nutritive calories. Depending on the amount of standard drinks consumed, calories can add up quickly.
Kristy Hodgins, Registered Dietitian at Western Dietitian Services outlines strategies to enjoy a night out drinking without racking up the calorie count.
Hodgins points out that alcoholic beverages are high in the calorie count with 12 oz of beer containing 140 calories, 5 oz of wine has 110 calories and 1.5 oz of hard liquor carrying 98 calories.
“Increased calories in the sugary mixed drinks are going to be run-ning us 300 calories plus,” Hodgins warns.
“For women it is recommended to have 0–2 standard drinks a day with a weekly max of 10, but not sav-ing them Monday to Friday and then
binge drinking on the weekend,” Hodgins explains. “For Men they recommend 0–3 standard drinks a day with a weekly maximum of 15. If you have 4–5 beers you’re adding over 500 extra calories to your nor-mal intake.”
Hodgins recommends lighter percentage beers. She also recom-mends regular wines over dessert or fruit wines due to the higher sugar content of sweeter wines. Mixing drinks with diet sodas or juices with no added sugar can also help mini-mize the calorie count.
Hodgins also encourages cut-ting down on more calories by hav-ing non-alohocolic beverages in between beers. Keeping up water consumption will help maintain hydration and prevent hangovers.
For any addition inquires about nutrition, Dietitians can be found on the main campus Wednesdays and Fridays. For student appointments contact: [email protected]
Samah AliCONTRIBUTOR
GFFFFNight MovesDirector: Kelly ReichardtStarring: Jesse Eisenberg, Dakota Fanning, Peter Sarsgaard
Be prepared for one hour and 52 minutes of anxiety. After being wooed by the small but talented cast and the various film festival selec-tions, one would expect a promising psychological thriller. Instead, Night Moves is a dry, mental breakdown that perpetuates anxiety through-out the entire movie. Giving very few details of their plan and motivation, three indi-viduals come up with a brilliant idea: bombing a dam. Apparently, demolishing one of the various dam walls of a major lake will convey a critique about excessive energy consumption — a weak idea that unsurprisingly backfires as their small community turns against them.
To top it off, their target wall releases gallons of water on a camp-site during high season. Clearly they formulated a well thought-out plan
with minimal risk to fellow towns-men and families.
The less-than-satisfactory plot attempts to show the consequences of the characters’ actions, however it lacks substance and direction as the film moves past the catastrophe. The characters dwindle off and exchange no information about how their scheme could potentially benefit environmental awareness. Rather, their lives fall apart as they struggle to stay quiet about their actions. Evidently, the term “psychological thriller” needs to be explained to the director.
Besides the flawed storyline and terrible execution, the movie is essentially a platform for Eisenberg’s mediocre acting. Trying to escape his awkward-university-student-in-flip-flops persona, he challen-ges himself with this character. Scruffy and crazed, he slowly looses his mind as anxiety takes over his actions and emotions. He begins to go through a snooze-worthy men-tal breakdown and reaches all limits to prevent from being exposed. It’s difficult to determine what’s more dreadful — the script or his acting.
Even though an illogical script stymies Eisenberg, a more talented
actor could have elevated the material. Good acting manages to shed a performer’s image and make the audience believe that he has transformed into his character. Although he puts on a valiant effort, Eisenberg never embodies his role. He does require some kudos for pushing himself out of his comfort zone but his failed character por-trayal reflects on his lacking acting skills.
When the hour and 52minutes end with an unreasonable, unreal-istic ending viewers can thank the director for providing a boring, uneventful, time-wasting film going experience. Dissatisfaction and disappointment sets in upon real-ization that the intended suspense devolved into anxiety reflected off Eisenberg’s character and anger for attending the pointless movie.
Even though the movie seemed promising, watching the film is a colossal waste of time. An even-ing watching cat videos on Youtube would produce more entertain-ment, suspense and psychological stimulation. To truly see Jesse Eisenberg act, just re-watch The Social Network.
If you caught any NFL games this past week, you may have noticed one thing missing from the sidelines — players rifling through binders of black-and-white photos. Why? Because, as part of a $400 million, five-year deal with Microsoft, NFL teams are using stripped-down ver-sions of Surface Pro 2 tablets on the sidelines and in the coaches’ booths upstairs.
The tablets instantly deliver color photos of on-field action that can be zoomed, edited and bookmarked for viewing later. The coaches and play-ers use these photos during games to review plays that just occurred. This new system is meant to improve the
old method of snapping, printing, binding and flipping through pages upon pages of colorless shots on the sidelines.
The tablets are distributed to coaches prior to kickoff and are locked in climate-controlled carts after the game. For coaches who aren’t ready for this technology, the old colourless photos are still available.
Microsoft’s deal with the NFL should give some high-profile exposure to the Surface, which so far has lost money for the computer company.
• Shachar Dahan
Night Moves Nothing
Taylor Lasota • GAZETTE
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thegazetteVolume 108, Issue 11www.westerngazette.ca
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• Please recycle this newspaper •
Pumped up on accommodationNearly three weeks ago, Ryerson University commenced women-only programming at their gym. This includes use of the pool for an hour and a half, twice a week; use of the weight room for an hour and a half, five days a week; and a studio room, when otherwise unoccupied.
The issue at hand involves feelings of intimidation and sexualization when at the gym, propagated mainly by other men. The concerns involve ogling and pestering, and these private spaces allow women to improve their fitness without having to fear the actions of leering men.
While intimidation is a common phenomenon when participating in gym activities, an unfortunate component of modern day culture is the objectification of women by men. Whether concerning workout attire or physical ability, the sad truth is that some men believe it to be acceptable to belittle women through commentary, judgment and excessive closeness.
While this sounds like a fair idea to provide a safer space for women, the flaws in the system are numerous. To begin, every student is required to pay the same fees which are allocated toward the gym: if special programming is set into place, then that “group of need” should be inclined to pay for it.
Furthermore, scheduling proves to be a giant issue. If these women-only hours, albeit not many, conflict with one’s other commitments, the ability to use this service is moot. Someone with many class hours, a job, and some extra-curriculars may only find the time in the early morning or evening – but will these women-only hours be during peak hours? This would conversely inconvenience the men during what many consider to be a prime gym time.
Specifically with spaces of which the gym has only one, e.g. the pool, designating a women-only usage period would prove quite problematic for many busy individuals. A sig-nificant amount of time is already allocated to different groups of swimmers: to usurp more members’ free reign on these facilities would be quite unjust in the grand scheme of things.
While it is undeniably a service positively endorsed by many individuals, the focus should perhaps be on eradicat-ing the root of the issue, not covering it up through segre-gation of the sexes. If the goal is for women to feel safe with men in a public space, separating them from their offenders will not do them any good in the long run.
Western also offers female programming at the Recreation Centre; however, it is solely an hour per day, Monday through Thursday. Whereas Ryerson may perhaps be offering a bit too much, Western seems to not be offering enough.
It would appear that both universities could learn a thing or two from each other and find a happy medium between the two extremes, designating a fitness area that all women are comfortable andl able to use.
• Gazette Editorial Board
The resistance that you fight physically in the gym and the resistance that you fight in life can only build a strong character.
• Arnold Schwarzenegger
Kevin HurrenNEWS EDITOR-AT-LARGE
@KevinAtGazette
There are few things in this world I’ve avoided more than physical exercise.
Sports, and athleticism in general, seemed to combine everything bad: sweating, burning lungs and — in the case of high school gym class — public humiliation.
As others in my mandatory gym class practiced their aim and toned their mus-cles, I practiced my camouflage skills and toned my ability to stand behind various nets and trees without being noticed.
It should be no surprise, then, that when it came to Western’s Recreation Centre, I kept away from the place like it was the gate to hell. Even when cutting through the lobby on my way to Western Road, I had traumatic flashbacks to a time spent crouched under bleachers calcu-lating how many push-ups I’d need to do before the coach stopped yelling at me.
But recently, I came to a realiza-tion — who was this actually helping? Preventing myself from getting in shape wasn’t going to erase memories of cruel boys and smelly shoes. Avoiding the Rec Centre wasn’t a survival strategy — it was a self-imposed barrier.
As such, during the past three months I’ve made sure to carve out time for the campus gym — and I’d be lying if I didn’t say I felt physically, mentally and some-how emotionally better.
So as the school year begins, I implore you to use the gym membership you have already paid into. It can be incredibly intimidating, so as a motivating tool here are three basic tips for getting over social anxiety at the gym.Start with group classes As they say, there’s safety in numbers.
Though you can’t necessarily bring an entourage around the weight rooms, organized group fitness classes can be a great way to become more familiar with the facilities. Not only will you not have to plan your own workout, going to regular classes can provide a sense of routine, familiarity and community.Find out what workout is right for youOnce you’re comfortable enough to wan-der away from the herd, resist the urge to compare yourself to others. It can be tough to block out creeping insecurities. For me, I had to remind myself that these other students have been in athletic environments for years. Comparing myself to a varsity athlete would be like scolding an elementary school graduate for failing a university exam. I reminded myself I was not a worse person for lifting less or running slower.Rotate and collaborate with others“Reserved” is not usually how I would be described, but at the gym I was basically a sweaty mute. This resulted in me awk-wardly waiting until machines I wanted to use freed up. What saves time is just asking your fellow Mustang if he or she would like to rotate sets, since most will need about a 60 second rest before start-ing the workout again. This works even better when the other person is using a weight amount that is the same, or close to, what you need, allowing for a quick back-and-forth rotation. This can also help you get a better understanding of how that machine or weight should be used, as some instructions are faded or ripped. As well, the Western Rec staff is always around to answer questions.
There’s so much more I could tell you, but I’ll leave you with one message. That message is not “don’t give up,” because regardless of what people say it can be difficult to feel comfortable in these spaces. Rather, do what makes you proud of yourself. It might be going to the gym once; it might be going every day for a week. By accomplishing your own goals, you’ve already become a healthier person.
Don’t be afraid of the Rec Centre
Seven Minutes in Kevin
>> LETTER TO THE EDITOR
To The Editor: After a week of living on four hours of sleep and granola bars, I’m looking to undo the damage of sophing. I’m looking for The O-week after pill.
It’s been a week and I somehow found the pill. Someone must have slipped it into one of my drinks.
Unfortunately, it was a bit too strong and it undid more than just minor degradation of my body. All that O-week bliss is gone.
I’ve forgotten the names of most of my first-year students. School spirit took a tumble and pulled a hammy that I sus-pect will take a little less than a year to heal.
All the older people on campus are wearing expressions of gloom, made all the more striking in comparison to the children’s TV show personalities they were during O-week.
The end-of-summer camp at Western known as O-week has officially ended. The secret is out: sophs are real, imperfect people with their own lives. The normal balance of work/play has recovered from its 0/100 O-week special to the regular 80/20 ratio.
For all students, the reality of univer-sity is setting in. For first-year students, the cleverly designed — thanks O-staff — alternate reality of university life has vanished. Everyone is now drunk — from the poison known as work.
Some of us are so belligerent, we hide out from everyone in our rooms out of fear that the world will discover our closet full of “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy” books.
I experienced life too fully during O-week to let it slip away.
But having fun at university isn’t a test. You can’t cram it all into a week of 18-hour days. It’s a marathon, not a sprint.
And if you do the math, there’s plenty of time for fun year round.
Assuming we actually get eight hours of sleep a day, attend classes, and do the homework, as university students, we have roughly 82 hours a week to play with. Factoring in meals, hygiene and transportation, we’re left with 47 hours. That’s actually a lot.
A lack of time is no excuse to have anything less than the best year of your life so far.
During O-week, the days would be filled with fun activities and free time, while the nights would be spent partying. Why can’t the year be filled with classes and homework centred around a topic you’re genuinely interested in followed by partying at night? We can have a balanced approach to fun.
The school year has the potential to be way better than O-week. Dare I say it? Let’s make this an O-year.
• Sam GrayPhilosophy II
Confessions of a sophoholic
thegazette • Thursday, September 18, 2014 • 7
sportsRundown >> Canadian Interuniversity Sport names three Mustang teams in their top 10 lists > Football places third, women’s soccer fourth and women’s rugby tenth.
today’stweetNFL is started to look like Americans most wanted. With all these players arrested.
• @DaAnsahonSports
Three up, three down for women’s lacrosseEric Green
CONTRIBUTOR@uwogazette
The Mustang women’s lacrosse team began the 2014 season in dominat-ing fashion, pulling off three straight victories at home this Sunday as they work towards a fourth straight Ontario University Athletics cham-pionship season.
Scoring a total of 50 points throughout the day, the Mustangs combined aggressive offence coordinated passing and excellent on field communication to secure three victories over McMaster, Guelph and Toronto.
The three consecutive wins to kick off the season bring the ‘Stangs to a record of 3–0 in the season. The Toronto Varsity Blues were 1–1 on the weekend while McMaster dropped both their games. The Guelph Gryphons also lost both games.
“The girls did a lot of good
things today,” Mustangs head coach Dave Hastings said fol-lowing the second game against Guelph. “Communication is the key to this game both offensively and defensively.”
Hastings, who is entering his seventh season as head coach, said
that his team — which has not lost since 2010, has the added advantage of having lost only one senior since last season while bringing in some great new talent.
He said all that is left to do is refine the team’s playing and they will be all set for the season.
Western midfielder, #15 Tenyka Snider echoed these sentiments.
“We’re still trying to mesh with one another,” Snider said. “There are a lot of new girls but the new talent looks really good.”
The Mustangs overwhelming offensive play marked the first game
against the McMaster Marauders. The Mustangs came out strong and put up two points before the five-minute mark. Despite a strong rush by McMaster roughly 10 minutes into the half, the Mustangs defence held strong and ended the half up by ten.
The second half saw the same hard work offensively, while Mustangs’ goalie Claire Palmer made a number of key saves. While Western continued an impressive level of play, the Marauders were able to get one goal through during the half, robbing us of a shutout.
The game ended as an 18–1 vic-tory for the Mustangs. Western’s #24 Tawnie Johnson led team in scoring with four goals.
The second game, an exhib-ition match against the Guelph Gryphons, was played immediately following the first and saw much of the same Western dominance.
Students see storm of swords at SaugeenWestern fencing puts on demonstration to recruit first-year students
IF YOU EVER WERE A KID AND HELD A STICK AND STARTED
FIGHTING, THIS IS KIND OF THAT WITH MORE PRACTICE AND FENCING EQUIPMENT — IT’S VERY FUN.
ALI ALNAKEEBSOCIAL SCIENCE AND BMOS I.
Brent HolmesDEPUTY EDITOR@BrentAtGazette
Last Sunday night, Saugeen was filled with a storm of swords when Western’s fencing team held a demonstration to recruit first-year students.
“Very few people come to Western or any of the Ontario universities with experience [in fencing],” Carol Christie, head coach of the Western fencing team, explained. “What we need to do is find people who are keen on fen-cing, willing to train hard, who love competition and who want to join the team.”
This year, the fencing team was particularly focused on drawing in female fencers, as they have very few on the team. However, the team welcomes all newcomers despite the range of experience they may have.
“We get a weird variety of ranges [of experience]. We have some people who have never fenced before or heard of the sport before or we have people because they have been fencing previously want to then join the team. Sometimes we have a lot of experience, sometimes we have no experience — it’s very rare that we have in-between, kind of moderate [newcomers],” Andrew Kennel, cap-tain of the men’s sabre team, said.
Ali Alnakeeb, a first-year social science and BMOS student, who has been fencing for nine years, specifically sought out the chance to fence for the Mustangs.
“If you ever were a kid and held a stick and started fighting, this is kind of that with more practice and fencing equipment — it’s very fun,” Alnakeeb said.
The Western fencing team prac-tises three times a week in Thames
Hall. The practices, however, do not involve a significant amount of blade work.
“It’s a lot of cardio and a lot of footwork,” Kennel explained. “The blade work, which is mostly what you see, everybody can kind of do but footwork really determines who is going to be the best.”
The team fences with three kinds of blades — foil, épée, and sabre. Each weapon involves a different set of rules as well as techniques. The demonstration featured all three kinds of blades.
“I mostly fence sabre. I started with foil, which is the most difficult one everyone thinks of,” Kennel explained.
“The foil is the shortest weapon and it’s point only so you can only stab with it. Sabre, you can use the whole blade, you can slash with it [or] poke with it. Epee looks like a foil, but it’s a lot bigger [and] heavier.”
While in the past Western fencers would learn all three weapons, play-ers generally specialize in one of the
three different kinds of blades. “Back in the day, fencers would
fence all three weapons because it was a lot of fun but now people have a tendency to specialize just because we don’t have a whole lot of time,” Christie said. “With fencing, you get drawn to a weapon. There’s a weapon that sings to you.”
Over the year, Western’s fencing team participates in two kinds of tournaments — Just For Fun tour-naments allow the team to perfect their moves and open competitions are points gathering tournaments. They go to between four to eight
tournaments per year, with the big-gest one being the OUA tournament in January.
“This year, we are going to be hosting an inaugural Western open tournament, which is a points gath-ering tournament. That means we will have lots of high level fencers coming to the Western campus,” Christie said. “Our fencers will be able to fence right here on home turf which will be really thrilling.”
The Western open tournament will be held on Saturday, November 22.
This year, fencing team will also have an endowment fund to help
them support their student athletes. “We’re going to be starting an
endowment fund for the fencing team so that we would be able to get financial support that will help us to run the team so that it doesn’t cost so much for the Varsity team,” Christie said.
“The varsity team fee is $575 — $175 of that goes to Athletics, $400 goes toward registration, transpor-tation and accommodation at four of the major tournaments,” Christie said.
Kelly Samuel • GAZETTE
EN GARDE MUSTANGS! The Western Mustangs put on a fencing demonstration at Saugeen on Sunday. The team is looking to recruit new members for the upcoming year.
Eric Green • GAZETTE
>> see LACROSSE pg.8
8 • thegazette • Thursday, September 18, 2014
Although the Mustangs didn’t score their first goal until nearly six minutes into the game, once they did they maintained steady aggres-sive pressure and kept the points coming.
Like the first game, impressive passing and unrelenting pressure in the Gryphons’ end was the key to victory and the Mustangs finished the match up 17–2. This time it was #18, Michelle Farrugia who led the Mustangs scoring with six goals.
The final match was played against the Toronto Varsity Blues, and gave the Mustangs their biggest challenge of the day and the season thus far. The characteristic offensive pressure and well-executed passing were present in the Mustangs’ play, but the Blues were able to penetrate their defenses with more ease than the previous teams.
The first half was the most even of any played this Sunday, and saw the Blues nearly tie the game several times. The Mustangs held on, how-ever, and came out in the second half to pull ahead and maintain their lead for the remainder of the game.
A few sloppy plays in the defen-sive end could have cost some additional points, but some excel-lent saves by Western’s goalie held the Blues at bay. This, in addition to several saves by the post showed that while Western was wearing their away jerseys, they still had the home field advantage. The game came to a close with a final score of 15–10 for the Mustangs.
The Mustangs will travel to Peterborough to defend their undefeated record against Laurier and York next Wednesday, September 24.
The Good: NHL is not for sale...yetThe inevitable was put on hold for another year in the world of professional sports as the NHL declined to sell space on team jerseys to sponsors. By choosing to not entirely sell themselves out, the NHL has stepped up its reputation among fans (albeit slightly) by not looking like money-hungry corporate animals – much like its European counterparts. Though many believe that ads on jerseys are an inevitable future step for all four major North American professional sports, the integrity of the jersey is a sacred cloth to many. Selling that to big businesses would completely outrage an already ad-saturated sports world.
Though the NHL does love their money, no commissioner (Gary Bettman included) wants to be the one to open the floodgates and tear down the barriers between entertainment and sport. As long as the jersey remains untouched, the NHL will continue to uphold their reputation – for now.
The Bad: Peterson in or out?Classic Minnesota Vikings right here: The Vikings, nearly a week after child abuse accusations were laid on Adrian Peterson, decided that they would start the six-time pro-bowler on Sunday against the Saints. Yesterday, the Vikings’ management reversed the decision and benched the star running back for Sunday’s game. Perhaps a smart move on their behalf, as Peterson definitely has enough on his plate amidst all this drama.
The “bad” here is not necessarily the accusations against Peterson, but the poor way the Vikings have handled the entire situation. Whereas the NFL handled the Ray Rice situation in a similarly laissez-faire manner, the Vikings seem to have their wires crossed concerning who is legitimately in charge here. Nevertheless, Peterson not playing this Sunday and potentially sitting out more games down the road will be a huge issue to Minnesota’s playoff hopes.
The Ugly: John Gibbons & AAThis week, the Blue Jays were finally eliminated from the MLB after being competitive in September for the first time in nearly five years. This sounds like a reason to be optimistic for next year, as well as in years beyond. However, don’t expect anything from the Jays next year if both John Gibbons and Alex Anthopolous are still captaining the ship. Though baseball is a team sport, it is also an exercise in micro-management, something with which both Gibbons and A.A. have little to no experience.
Though the blame does not fall entirely on any one person in specific, players – as well as management – have let this team down, such as Colby Rasmus and Sergio Santos, to name a few. Gibbons is no manager of the year and never will be. After a terrific start and a horrible August, the Jays will have to pick up the pieces and hopefully get rid of a few bad apples before the year starts.
Lacrosse squad starts season right>> continued from pg.7
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