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thegazetteTHURSDAY, MARCH 12, 2015 WESTERN UNIVERSITY • CANADA’S ONLY DAILY STUDENT NEWSPAPER • FOUNDED 1906 VOLUME 108, ISSUE 85

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Hit the road jackThe Gazette Editorial Board on the elections committee decision.>> Pg. 7

Professors resign in protest from Huron principal

reappointment committeeKevin Hurren

NEWS EDITOR-AT-LARGE@KevinAtGazette

Professors on the reappointment com-mittee at Huron University College have identified what they believe are troubling

factors in the process to appoint the Huron prin-cipal. Two have resigned from the reappoint-ment committee in protest, frustrated by a process they say is deeply flawed.

David Conter, a Huron philosophy professor who used to sit on the committee, said he was unable to address serious concerns about the current principal’s performance despite his best efforts.

“It seemed to me that I was never going to get the opportunity to raise the issues which I thought were relevant at the committee,” said Conter, referring to information he had concern-ing the principal’s performance.

The contract of the current Huron principal, Stephen McClatchie, who has been in the role since 2011, expires in early 2016.

The college’s executive board must make a decision whether to reappoint McClatchie or open the position to other applicants. They cre-ated a reappointment committee at the beginning of the school year to make a recom-mendation on what the best course of action would be.

The committee, comprised of 10 represent-atives from various campus groups, is tasked to meet throughout the year and review the options, ultimately making a recommendation to the executive board by the end of April.

According to the two Huron professors who left the committee, the process, however, has been compromised.

Conter and James Crimmins, a professor of political science, have both resigned as repre-sentatives for Huron’s faculty of arts and social science on the reappointment committee. As of November 2014, the faculty of arts and social science contains 43 of 50 full-time professors and 1,152 of 1,205 students at Huron.

Conter, who has worked at Huron for 31 years, felt the discussions taking place in committee

meetings were being restricted by the chair, Jeff Aarssen. He described Aarssen’s refusal to receive this information as “vigorous,” saying that he would “stuff” the agenda and only allow the committee to review specific documents or topics at the meetings.

“At the very first meeting there was an assumption at some parts of the table that [McClatchie] would just be reappointed without re-advertising. Aarssen plainly had a very clear direction of what the committee was going to do and what it was not going to do,” he said.

Aarsen responded that his job is to ensure the flow of information is appropriate and fair in order to make a sound recommendation to the executive board.

“My job is really just to chair the meetings – making sure the flow of information is appro-priate, managing discussions and making sure everything is done in a fair and objective man-ner,” said Aarssen.

Conter, however, believes that Aarssen is pur-posefully redirecting the reappointment com-mittee’s attention due to a personal relationship with McClatchie.

But Aarssen considers such an allegation to be “defamatory and slanderous.”

“My involvement with Stephen McClatchie is solely as a volunteer of Huron University College as an executive board member. My purpose as an executive board member and chair of the [reappointment] committee has always been to work in the best interest of Huron University College,” he said.

Crimmins, who also resigned from the com-mittee, did so for reasons regarding his ability to represent the arts and social science faculty.

According to Huron’s policy on academic administration, representatives on the com-mittee are expected to “informally” poll their constituents.

In line with this, both Conter and Crimmins – as representatives of their faculty – collected feedback from colleagues regarding experiences with the current principal.

>> see REAPPOINTMENT pg.3 Mike Laine • GAZETTE

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CROSSWORD By Eugene Sheffer

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Western’s bookstore facing decline in

textbook saleCampus booksellers across North America are facing drops in sales and exploring new retail strategies to combat competition from textbook sharing sites and online retailers like Amazon. Western’s campus textbook shop, the Bookstore, however, has no major plans to change up its shop and is sticking to tradition – for now.

Industry data has shown that campus bookstores are facing annual declining sales, on aver-age between three per cent and six per cent. To overcome this, many campus bookstores are expand-ing the range of products they sell

in order to compete with online competitions.

True to the trend, Western University’s bookstore is facing fall-ing revenue.

“We are seeing revenue from book sales decline each year, how-ever a sales decline doesn’t mean less sale,” said Steve Alb, director of Western’s bookstore. “We are experi-encing more sales on used books, which are 25 per cent cheaper, so even though we may be selling the same amount of books, our revenue has declined.”

Experiencing growing compe-tition from the digital world, Alb elaborated that Western’s bookstore embraces activities such as textbook exchange groups on social media sites like Facebook.

“The bookstore wants to help students find the best products in the best way possible. We are not fighting online competitions, but the publishers would like students to purchase brand new books,” Alb said.

A campus bookstore at the University of Toronto is address-ing declining sales by turning their bookstore into a “one-step store,” a place where students can purchase miscellaneous things.

Alb believes a similar transform-ation to the Bookstore is likely not in the cards because of its location in the University Community Centre and its proximity to other vendors.

“We do not want to compete with other stores in the UCC, it wouldn’t be the right thing to do,” Alb said.

• Jane Meng

Thought for foodA philosophy of food course at Western aims to make students more conscientious of their food choices.

Henrik Lagerlund, the profes-sor who co-teaches the philosophy of food course, explained that the initiative of the course is to chal-lenge students and make them slightly uncomfortable. By working on projects on the food system in the London community and through the use of a food journal, students take account of their present choices so they can reflect over their rela-tionship to food.

The philosophy course is about our individual relationship to food in all its aspects and how it branches out into a global matter.

“The course is organized around three concepts: food values, food choices and food systems. We try to broaden their [students] existing system of values and take the stu-dent out of their comfort zone,” said Lagerlund. “We introduce aspects like human rights violations, ani-mal rights violations, environmental concerns, sustainability, GMO etc. into the discussion of food.”

According to Lagerlund, the course is trying to put the issues in context and make students more aware of them.

“Taking charge of your food choices and expanding your values will mean that food will be more expensive and for some people that is not possible. Food security and poverty is a big problem in Canada … the issues around ethical food are very complicated and it is often not easy to know what to do,” he said.

• Sueda Cam

News Briefs

Winnie Lu • GAZETTE

TESTOSTERONE OVERLOAD. On a beautiful Wednesday afternoon, a crowd of over 200 (mostly male) students are united at the Spoke to watch the Chelsea vs. Paris St. Germain.

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thegazette • Thursday, March 12, 2015 • 3

Conter said all committee mem-bers received an email from Aarssen in November asking them to stop collecting information before they had a chance to present any findings.

Later, it was decided by the com-mittee that an external consulting firm would be hired to handle the surveying. Currently, the Berkeley Consulting Group, a Markham-based firm, is gathering ques-tionnaires from various campus community members.

Though Crimmins has declined to comment to The Gazette on these issues, in an email to the faculty of arts and social science he expressed his discontent.

“The committee’s decision to employ an external agency to develop and conduct a survey has raised concerns about my ability to provide faculty in FASS with the appropriate representation,” the letter reads.

Crimmins’ letter goes on to explain how the decision contra-dicts policies on internal polling and gives executive board mem-bers more influence in the overall process.

Crimmins is also critical of Aarssen’s influence on the committee.

“It was a bad decision, hastily arrived at, and it should be reversed. Unfortunately, Jeff Aarssen, the chair of the committee, seems deter-mined that the proposed survey should go ahead,” Crimmins wrote.

Crimmins concludes his com-mittee resignation letter asking the faculty not to participate in a sur-vey “that is not credible and lacks legitimacy.”

Aarssen said the decision to move to an external polling agency is not only allowed, but also came from a desire to make the process more credible.

“The policy on academic

administration does give us some latitude and direction in terms of how we go about gathering information in order to make our deliberations and assessments. We wanted to make sure … we wouldn’t inappropriately or unintentionally bias the collection of information that we were going to use to assess the principal’s performance,” he explained.

But not everyone on the commit-tee agrees with this polling decision.

With both Conter and Crimmins leaving the committee, the faculty of arts and social science currently has no representation on the reappoint-ment committee.

When given the option to rese-lect new representatives, the faculty voted against appointing any more members.

Another Huron professor closely involved with this process, but who has requested to remain anonym-ous, explained that this decision

stemmed from poor faith in the reappointment committee.

“According to how the commit-tee was structured and how it was being conducted, our representa-tives could not represent us. They were not able to bring our views forward or canvas the faculty,” the source said.

This faculty member also dis-closed frustration from staff with regards to the new survey. One point of contention is the loss of oversight, since the committee representatives can’t decide the phrasing of questions. Crimmins’ letter also addressed the over-reli-ance on numerical values, making it difficult for staff and students to surmise specific interactions with the principal with a single number.

Additionally, there is no distinc-tion in the new survey between arts and social science faculty members and staff in the faculty of theology, the only other faculty at Huron.

“There’s no control over how the results are going to be reported. The two faculties are not able to show differences in opinion and are going to be aggregated together so we’re not going to get representation through the survey either,” the fac-ulty member said.

Instead, some members of the faculty of arts and social science are writing anonymous letters to the reappointment committee in an attempt to present information and concerns in their own way.

Based on his own experience with the committee, Conter is skep-tical that Aarssen will allow these materials into the meetings.

“I think the executive board needs to be awakened to see that the information upon which they are making decisions is being fil-tered by the chair in inappropriate ways,” he said.

Aarssen explained the anonym-ous faculty letters will go to Berkeley like the rest of the surveys.

“Since it is difficult to deter-mine the authenticity of a letter from an anonymous source, these letters will be provided to the Berkeley Consulting Group who the reappointment committee are using to provide a fair and objective pro-cess in the collection of stakeholder input,” he said.

The student representative on the committee, Huron University College Students’ Council president Moustafa Ezz, declined to comment on his experience on the committee.

Regarding the committee resig-nations, Aarssen remained reticent.

“I don’t think it would be appro-priate for me to comment on the conduct or actions of any member of the committee,” he said.

With files from Amy O’Kruk

Reappointment process clouded in controversy>> REAPPOINTMENT continued from pg.1

MY INVOLVEMENT WITH STEPHEN MCCLATCHIE

IS SOLELY AS A VOLUNTEER OF HURON UNIVERSITY COLLEGE AS AN EXECUTIVE BOARD MEMBER. MY PURPOSE AS AN EXECUTIVE BOARD MEMBER AND CHAIR OF THE [REAPPOINTMENT] COMMITTEE HAS ALWAYS BEEN TO WORK IN THE BEST INTEREST OF HURON UNIVERSITY COLLEGE.

JEFF AARSSENCHAIR OF THE

REAPPOINTMENT COMMITTEE

AT THE VERY FIRST MEETING THERE WAS

AN ASSUMPTION AT SOME PARTS OF THE TABLE THAT [MCCLATCHIE] WOULD JUST BE REAPPOINTED WITHOUT RE-ADVERTISING. AARSSEN PLAINLY HAD A VERY CLEAR DIRECTION OF WHAT THE COMMITTEE WAS GOING TO DO AND WHAT IT WAS NOT GOING TO DO.

DAVID CONTERHURON PHILOSOPHY PROFESSOR

Baby found outside is safe

Olivia ZollinoNEWS EDITOR

@OliviaAtGazette

Charges have been laid against a London woman after she left her eight-week-old infant outside on her driveway early Tuesday morning.

The baby was found at 5:40 a.m. by neighbour Anthony Franze as he left for work. He said he initially heard a noise that resembled a cat in distress and thought nothing of it until he saw a car seat.

“I saw a car seat at the end of my neighbour’s driveway and I said to myself that there is no way this could be a baby,” Franze said. “I ran over there and sure enough, it’s a crying baby.”

According to Franze, the infant was dressed in pajamas and had a think blanket covering him, with the car seat covered in frost.

He took the infant inside and his fiancé called the police. Meanwhile, Franze held the baby close to him to warm up the infant until paramedics arrived.

“The baby was really cold. You

could feel the coldness in the baby.”

Megan Spoul, 31, has been charged with failure to provide the necessities of life and abandoning a child.

According to a media release by the London Police Service, Sproul was arrested at 1:48 a.m. for “operating a motor vehicle while impaired by drug.”

The baby’s father, Craig Lush, also 31, was found inside the home and charged with two counts of breach of probation.

“He was bound by a probation order to not attend the address and had been drinking alcohol, another violation of that order,” the press release reads.

Franze said Spoul had moved in about a month and half ago and generally kept to herself.

“I never actually talked to her, I saw her once and that was it … we didn’t know anything about them,” Franze said.

The child was cleared medically and is currently in the care of the Children’s Aid Society.

With files from Katie Lear

FILE PHOTO

4 • thegazette • Thursday, March 12, 2015

arts&life songmeaningsArcade Fire’s song Neighbourhoods #2 (Laika) is about the first dog in space. Laika was the first animal to orbit the Earth and was launched by the Soviets into space in 1957.

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you had the fashion game figured out, here

comes spring and suddenly it’s a different ballgame. Don’t sweat it. Fourth-year political sci-ence, sociology and MIT student Eardly Judah Jr. exemplifies how to layer with maximum swagger for the changing climate.

Judah threw a denim jacket over his sweater for just the per-fect warm buffer for the out-doors. When he’s chilling at the UCC he can toss off the jacket and the creamy sweater will have enough personality to stand on its own with its thick-knit texture. Paired together, the two tops complement each other effortlessly for a look that

is equally rugged and finesse.The brown derby shoes keep

the rusty vibes rambling along. The rolled up pants cuffs help them pop that extra little bit.

“These are just really inter-changeable in the sense that I can wear these dressed up, I can wear them dressed down,” says Judah. “What I’m wearing right now is more casual but in the same sense it’s kind of dressed because of the sweater so it kind of really dresses up any outfit you have, which is really nice.”

Ever since he went thrifting a couple years ago on the ad-vice of one of his stylish friends, Judah likes to get his clothes from thrift stores. Local options like Talize and Value Village offer

excellent value in addition to an endless variety of swag.

“I’m more of a guy that’s bang for your buck in the sense that you don’t have to go to all the big box stores all the time to get the nicest clothing. Thrift stores have some really nice pieces that you would never find at any normal store cause they’re vin-tage in a sense but they’re like dirt cheap and if you want to trick people into thinking you spend a lot on your clothing, you can do that too.”

To stay fresh as a daisy this spring, heed Judah’s words of wisdom:

“Thrifting all the way! Thrift nation!”

• Conrad Floryan

Kelly Samuel • GAZETTE

Kelly Samuel • GAZETTE

The theory of love

Samah AliGAZETTE STAFF

@uwogazette

GGGGHThe Theory of EverythingDirector: James MarshStarring: Eddie Redmayne, Felicity Jones, Harry Lloyd, Dennis Thewlis

Since acquiring his PhD, Stephen Hawking has written books, proven and disproven theories and fought against ALS to find one equation to solve all questions about the uni-verse — in other words, a theory for everything.

Eddie Redmayne has the privilege of playing Hawking in The Theory of Everything, which recounts the events of Jane Hawking’s novel Travelling to Infinity: My Life with Stephen. Focusing on their love story, the movie spans from the early days of Jane and Stephen’s relationship to their present bond. Felicity Jones takes on the role of Jane Hawking, completing the power dynamic to tell the triumphant, beautiful and encouraging story of the Hawkings.

The Theory of Everything arrives in theatres just as aware-ness for amyotrophic lateral scler-osis has reached an all-time high. With the Ice Bucket Challenge and #StopDropSelfie movements becoming viral sensations, the movie endorses the awareness of the illness and encourages people to donate towards foundations fund-ing research and recovery centres. No longer faceless, ALS is a term everyone is aware of and the movie is a tipping point for ALS awareness.

Although it’s difficult to witness Hawking’s struggle with debilitat-ing disease, the film wisely avoids exploiting the ordeal for melo-drama. The moments of connec-tion between the Hawkings are real

tearjerkers.The chemistry between Jones

and Redmayne is incredible and they could easily be confused as the real couple. Jones carries the weight as the primary caregiver and com-municator for their growing family as Redmayne captures Hawking’s wit and charm with minimalistic facial expressions and emotions. Reflecting each other’s talents, Jones and Redmayne radiate love and compassion through the screen and enrapture the viewer from begin-ning to end.

After months of interacting with ALS patients and meeting the man himself, Redmayne does Hawking justice by reiterating his intelligence with convincing arguments of phys-ics, cosmology and time. He depicts how Hawking is able to deduce remarkable breakthroughs from simple daily observations, such as when staring at a fire triggers an impressive insight into the com-bustion of stars and black holes — concepts the average person would never even consider possible at the time. Proving that passion, drive and brilliance overshadow appear-ance and ability, Hawking can be recognized as one of the geniuses of the century.

After carefully building up dramatic tension throughout the movie, the finale leaves viewers on an upbeat note despite Hawking’s tribulations. After all, ALS may have taken a toll on his life but it did not stop his ambitions to search for a greater meaning in the universe. The Theory of Everything paints a sophisticated portrait of a fascin-ating life. It’s a must-see film and an extraordinary tale that needed to be told.

The Theory of Everything is play-ing at the Hyland Cinema this week. Showtimes are available at www.hylandcinema.com.

>> IN THEATRES > THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING

THURSDAY

Courtesy of Focus Features

indigenousweek.uwo.ca

INDIGENOUSAWARENESS WEEK

March 16 – 21, 2015

thegazette • Thursday, March 12, 2015 • 5

I ain’t no fortunate son

Erik BajzertGAZETTE STAFF

@uwogazette

When asked about what to expect from their show in London this Thursday night, Andrew James O’Brien of the Fortunate Ones responds: “Lots of pyrotechnics … we’re at the London Music Club, so 10 foot flames and it’s going to be crazy!”

While O’Brien was clearly tell-ing a joke about the massive flam-ing columns, one important thing about his statement remains true: it’s certainly going to be crazy.

Fortunate Ones are a Canadiana-influenced folk-pop band con-sisting of Newfoundlanders Andrew O’Brien and Catherine Allan. The two have been playing music together for quite some time but started working exclusively as a duo in 2012.

“We originally met through my older brother[s],” says Allan. “[Both] were immersed in the music scene in Cornerbrook, my hometown, for many years. Andrew of course went to university in Cornerbrook and met up with my brothers there and they introduced us.”

The duo’s unique, yet undeniably classic, folk sound comes from a combination of old school acous-tic tradition and a wave of techno-logical innovation, thanks to the band’s producer Daniel Ledwell.

“Dan just kind of helped us stretch our legs musically to try

some new things that we haven’t done up to that point and try to incorporate a bunch of those ideas into the live show to reflect what we did on the record,” O’Brien says.

Their debut album has amassed a wave of positive fan support. The title track The Bliss has gotten over 100,000 views on Youtube. O’Brien described the response as “unbelievable.”

It took Fortunate Ones a long

time to put together this record. “We made this album a year

ago and we were actually finished it last spring, so since then we’ve just been laying the groundwork for the release … It was like waiting for Christmas day for like a year so, to finally be able to connect with people … gratifying is definitely the word,” Allan says.

The song The Bliss in particular has been quite special for the band. It deals with the emotions of sad-ness sweeping into one’s soul, and allowing the happiness to have more meaning.

“[It’s about] living in [sadness], being okay with it and moving through it,” O’Brien explains.

This is not the band’s first time in London. The Fortunate Ones have been fortunate before — they played in London two years prior and are looking forward to coming back.

“It’s going to be honest. It’s going to be a good time and we’re really looking forward to playing in London,” O’Brien says.

When asked about their future plans, Allan was quick to point out that happiness was the ultimate goal for this band.

“I think for me the most import-ant thing is happiness … If we can find a sustainable career in the industry … if we’re happy then that’s the best we can ask for.”

Fortunate Ones are playing at the London Music Club on Thursday, March 12. Their first album The Bliss is now available to own.

Conrad FloryanARTS AND LIFE EDITOR 

@uwogazette

According to the Canadian Mental Health Association, schizophrenia affects one per cent of the popu-lation. It strikes most commonly between the ages of 16–30.

“One cluster of symptoms that we see in schizophrenia are what we call psychotic symptoms or psychosis,” explains Dr. Hooman Ganjavi, adult inpatient psychiatrist at the Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry. “Examples of these can be hallu-cinations such as seeing or hearing things that aren’t there, delusional thinking — which is false beliefs about something — and bizarre and disorganized behaviour.”

Further symptoms include dis-organized speech and thinking. Social isolation is common due to paranoia and difficulty in emotional perception.

“In addition to that we see emo-tional disturbances with schizo-phrenia,” says Ganjavi. “We can see apathy and a lack of motivation, and we can see a dulling of thinking.”

While the causes of the disorder are uncertain, according to schizo-phrenia.com, children’s and teens’ brains are significantly more sensi-tive to stress than adults’. Young minds damaged by excessive stress are at a pronounced risk of devel-oping schizophrenia in later years.

“I don’t know what the cause is — it’s currently unknown, but it’s thought to be a combination of biological factors including pos-sibly genetic factors in addition to environmental or psychological factors as well,” says Ganjavi.

The course and impact of schizophrenia is unique for each person, according to the CMHA. Some people will experience only one episode in their lifetime while others may experience many epi-sodes. Others will experience per-iods of wellness between episodes or experience episodes that last a long time. Some experience a psy-chotic episode without warning while others experience many early warning signs. No matter how some-one experiences schizophrenia, researchers agree that early treat-ment can help reduce the impact of episodes in the future.

“Schizophrenia is one of the dis-orders in psychiatry where medica-tion plays a key role,” says Ganjavi. “Psychosis is a difficult cluster

of symptoms to treat otherwise. Medication is really the corner-stone of treatment and it’s a family of medications known as antipsychotic medications that can get some of those psychotic symptoms under control.”

According to the CMHA, antipsy-chotics may help reduce the severity of symptoms like hallucinations and delusions and may eliminate these symptoms altogether for many people. Continuing medication after sufferers feel well again may help reduce the risk of relapse. There are many different kinds of antipsychot-ics, so it may take time and patience to find the one that works best.

“Medication or treatment doesn’t cure schizophrenia — there’s no cure for it but it can keep the symp-toms under control and hopefully improve functionality and quality of life,” says Ganjavi. “In addition to that there’s rehabilitation, psycho-therapy, and vocational training. These are all things that can be done once the key symptoms are under control.”

According to the National Institute of Mental Health, people with schizophrenia are not usually violent even though the disease has been stigmatized with a link to violence.

“Violence is a very rare occur-rence in people with schizophrenia. About one per cent of the popula-tion has schizophrenia, so that’s about 300,000 people in the country, and the vast majority do not have violent tendencies,” says Ganjavi. “It is however true that if you have schizophrenia you have a higher risk of aggression or violent behaviour than the general population.”

Some symptoms of schizophre-nia are associated with violence, such as delusions of persecution. Substance abuse, more common among people with schizophrenia, may also increase the chance a per-son will become violent.

Dr. Ganjavi believes schizophre-nia is one of the more debilitating mental illnesses. With a combin-ation of medication and psycho-social interventions people with the illness can have some normalcy in their lives.

Western’s on-campus resources for mental health concerns such as schizophrenia include the Student Development Centre (WSS Rm. 4100), Student Health Services (UCC Rm. 11) and www.health.uwo.ca.

WE MADE THIS ALBUM A YEAR AGO

AND WE WERE ACTUALLY FINISHED IT LAST SPRING, SO SINCE THEN WE’VE JUST BEEN LAYING THE GROUNDWORK FOR THE RELEASE … IT WAS LIKE WAITING FOR CHRISTMAS DAY FOR LIKE A YEAR SO, TO FINALLY BE ABLE TO CONNECT WITH PEOPLE … GRATIFYING IS DEFINITELY THE WORD.”

CATHERINE ALLAN

Courtesy of Fortunate Ones

Fortunate Ones prepare to play London

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6 • thegazette • Thursday, March 12, 2015

Brent HolmesDEPUTY EDITOR@BrentAtGazette

If one thing is clear from Apple’s most recent reveals it’s that all sense of innovation died with Steve Jobs.

In his book, The Future and Why We Should Avoid It, Macleans col-umnist Scott Feschuk described the future of technology as being based around the notion that if you can synch your phone to your micro-wave, they must be connected — a perfect description of the iWatch, which will be released next month.

The watch will allegedly have an 18-hour battery life, a series of new apps designed for it, be able to receive iMessages and SMS texts and will be able to keep an eye on your health.

While some of that may sound cool, watches are essentially an analog technology — ask a random stranger what time it is and they are likely to reach into their pocket and grab their phone. So what is the function of having a watch that can do only some of the things your phone can?

In a world where each successive Samsung and Apple cell phone is getting bigger, why would consum-ers want a cell phone watch that has a smaller screen? Right now, the only major perk of the iWatch seems to be that it may prevent the panic attacks when you can’t find your phone since it will be attached to your wrist.

The iWatch will come in several different models: a sports watch that costs approximately $349–399 based on size, a stainless steal model that costs between $549–1,000 and a model that costs over $10,000.

You read that right — Apple is releasing a $10,000–17,000 gold-plated watch to appeal to the high-end consumer. Let’s be honest, nothing says, “I’m rich” quite like buying a gold-plated watch that will be out-dated in a year when Apple inevitably comes out with the iWatch 2.

If the iWatch seemed silly, Apple’s new Macbook starts to push the ludicrous nature of what they’ve been putting out.

The revamped MacBook is thin at only 13.1 mm in measurement and weighs only two pounds. Continuing the gold fetish, the new MacBook can come in a slate gray and gold.

But as the Financial Post pointed out, the sleek design does not equate to a better qual-ity laptop. The new MacBook will have a slower CPU, with a 1.1 GHz dual-core Intel Core M Processor, which is more common in tablets or cross-tablet/laptop devices. The camera has also been downgraded from 720p to 480p.

Apple goes for the easy cash grab with the new laptop too. Instead of having USB ports, the new MacBook will have a USB Type-C plug. This means that users will have to be prepared to sink another $100 or more into buying another cable to connect VGA, HDMI or USB 2.0 or 3.0 into the computer.

The new MacBook will cost around $1,549–1,899, which at this point would be a rip-off. Windows has more powerful laptops that come at a cheaper cost. Hopefully, the new editions of the MacBook Air or MacBook Pro do not follow this MacBook’s suit.

Photos courtesy of Apple

7 • thegazette • Thursday, March 12, 2015

opinions

thegazetteVolume 108, Issue 85www.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

Iain BoekhoffEditor-In-Chief

Brent HolmesDeputy Editor

Richard RaycraftManaging Editor

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

Editorials are decided by a majority of the editorial board and are written by a member of the editorial board but are not necessarily the expressed opinion of each editorial board member. All other opinions are strictly those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the USC, The Gazette, its editors or staff.

To submit a letter, go to westerngazette.ca and click on “Contact.”

All articles, letters, photographs, graphics, illustrations and cartoons published in The Gazette, both in the newspaper and online versions, are the property of The Gazette. By submitting any such material to The Gazette for publication, you grant to The Gazette a non-exclusive, world-wide, royalty-free, irrevocable license to publish such material in perpetuity in any media, including but not limited to, The Gazette‘s hard copy and online archives.

News Amy O’Kruk Hamza Tariq Katie Lear Olivia Zollino

News-at-large Kevin HurrenOpinions Nusaiba Al-AzemArts & Life Conrad Floryan Jennafer Freeman Jenny JaySports Bradley Metlin Nathan Kanter Robert Nanni Jr.

Associate Megan Devlin

Photography Kelly Samuel Taylor Lasota Winnie Lu

Graphics Jennifer Feldman

Illustrations Christopher Miszczak Kirstyn Culbert-Kviring

Graphics/Video Mike Laine

Marketing and Recruitment Coordinator Vivian Liu

Gazette Composing & Gazette Advertising

Gazette Staff 2014-2015

Ian Greaves, ManagerМаја Анјоли-Билић

Robert Armstrong Diana Watson

• Please recycle this newspaper •

Mohammad Abrar Abdul Hanan, Suhaib Al-Azem, Eric

Bajzert, Sarah Botelho, Damon Burtt, Sam Frankel, Devin

Golets, Kevin Heslop, Richard Joseph, Drishti Kataria,

Sara Mai Chitty, Soheil Milani, Mackenzie Morrison, Amy

O’Shea, Kyle Porter, Tristan Wu, Tom Ruess, Samah Ali,

Claire Christopher, Rita Rahmah, Julie Hambleton, Brittany

Hambleton

“Reducing a group to a slur or stereotype reduces us all.”

• DaShanne Stokes

Team Litchfield should have been

disqualifiedThe winning candidates in this year’s USC slate presi-dential elections, and members of their campaign team, disrespected the spirit and letter of the USC’s elections policies — and, incredulously, have gotten away with it.

In yet another unacceptable and bewilder-ing judgement, the University Students’ Council elections committee ruled on Tuesday that the post-campaigning activities of Team Litchfield were an “extraordinary” violation because of the “amount of potential voters” who were exposed to their posts on social media, particularly Facebook.

This is in addition to other significant violations, including distributing campaign materials without consent in apartment buildings off-campus.

The decisions are also in the context of one sen-ator-elect being disqualified for also distributing campaign materials without consent and another candidate slapped with five demerits for a poster in one residence that can only be seen by a handful of people.

This is a precedent setting decision that shows it doesn’t matter how you win because as long as you do, the worst that can happen is you’ll lose a few hundred dollars.

Candidates who followed the rules this year will feel hard done by. Candidates in future years will go into the voting period thinking — maybe even knowing — they can get away with aggressively post-campaigning on social media because the people running the organization did it themselves.

So what can be done?First, the USC must revisit post-campaigning rules

and decide if they even make sense. To us, consid-ering the various reports we have seen over the years of questionable tactics on social media and variable enforcement from the elections committee, they do not.

Second, the USC must make the black hole that is the elections committee far more transparent, independent and public. It operates in mysterious and very often questionable ways with seemingly no one held accountable — not the committee members themselves, the governance office or the USC execu-tives. It’s imperative the committee be independent without any involvement of incumbent USC execu-tives or politicians who can unduly influence them, even unintentionally.

Third, the appeals process for this year must find the elections committee decision inconsistent and insufficient. They decided the posts violated post-campaigning rules, they acknowledged the widespread nature of the violation and its potential reach, yet did not disqualify Team Litchfield — which they could have easily done. It’s not too late. We are still within the mandated timeframe of the USC’s bylaws for deciding demerits. But they must follow through quickly because the USC is voting on a new vice-president student events this weekend.

Our view is not a personal one. In fact, a large portion of The Gazette staff favoured Team Litchfield during the campaign. Their conduct during the vot-ing period, however, was not appropriate and the elections committee agrees. It was unbecoming of our future top executives to act as they did and they should be embarrassed of the tactics they used to win.

Team Litchfield should have been disqualified for their post-campaigning on social media. The USC has to address the air of controversy swirling around the decision not to.

• Gazette Editorial Board

Nusaiba Al-AzemOPINIONS EDITOR

@NusAtGazette

Yesterday, The Gazette unknowingly published a racial slur.

In the “Dear Life” section of the opin-ions page, the word “jipped” was used to reference International Women’s Day being swindled out of an hour by the occurrence of Daylight Saving Time. But the most problematic part of this story is that, though the page went through various eyes before being sent to the presses, not one person realized that “jipped” is actually a common mis-spelling for a derogatory and racist term “gypped.” Indeed, if I had to bet, I would say that most readers holding this page are unaware of the origins of that word.

To clarify its etymology, “gypped” is a reference to the politically incorrect designation “gypsy” of the Romani people. It connotes a negative experi-ence of being swindled, conned or

robbed — and by associating that experience with an entire population, it becomes easier to realize how offensive that exonym truly is.

After its origins came to our atten-tion, the entire Gazette office was aghast. Why, we had grown up with people say-ing that word all the time and never once were we told it was racist or discouraged from using it.

As such, I resolved to see just how common this term was. For the duration of that morning, I asked everyone I saw about their relationship to the word. As suspected, most people did not even realize that what was just an everyday word in their vocabulary was actually an insult.

To put it in perspective, I imagine everybody would understand the offence had we published the same sentence with the word “jewed” or “welshed” instead of “gypped.” But for some reason, the words were seemingly unequal in weight. In fact, its publica-tion didn’t elicit any reaction from our readership despite a history of challen-ging problematic content.

This disparity was reconciled when one person explained with apparent ease, “Well, I guess in the hierarchy of racial slurs, this one isn’t that bad.”

The problems our society has in our understanding of race relations can be succinctly summarized in that sentence.

That people think there exists a hierarchy wherein slurs against cer-tain populations are inherently better or worse than slurs against any other population reveals an underlying and implicit relationship we have about those peoples’ worth. And to be crystal clear, no human is inherently worth any more or less than any other human.

So, on my own behalf, I apologize sincerely for submitting that derogatory and unacceptable exonym onward to be considered for publication. On behalf of the entire editorial board of the Gazette, I apologize sincerely for our publishing of the term. Needless to say, we intend never to see that word in this publication again. But what’s greater, on behalf of the society in which I was raised and to which I belong, I apologize for the permeating notion that certain words are less harmful than others — a notion cloaked in racism, privilege and prejudice.

This has been a profound lesson for us at the Gazette and for me as a person. I can only hope that it has been eye-open-ing for our readers as well.

The implications of ignoranceAbracadabraAl-Azem

HAVE YOUR SAY

Hanadi IbrahimSocial science I

Yes, so when kind of like – ripped off would be the best description I can think of right now. The people I hang out with don’t really use it that often but I have heard it used a

couple of times before. I feel like a lot of words – like me, I didn’t really know the meaning of it – a lot of people don’t know where the words come from and so they use it without

really knowing the influence it has, the effect it has, the meaning it has.

Anita OuSocial Science I

Yes, I’ve heard it but I haven’t used it because my friends don’t really use it. No [I didn’t know about the racial connotations]. I think they use it as an easier way

to communicate probably.”

Haley RudolphMIT IV

I think I kind of have heard it, yeah, but I don’t really use it. To my understanding, jipped is if you’ve been cheated in some way or something’s been taken from you unfairly. I didn’t know [it had racial connotations]. People probably just don’t know those racial

connotations but it’s interesting to find out something like that because language always seems to have an underlying meaning, so it’s interesting to find that out and I think more

people should know about that to change the language.

Julie BoonHistory III

I have [heard of it]. It’s used for people to say ripping off someone or stealing it, and it derives from the word “gypsy,” correct? So it’s pretty racist. Honestly I think it’s just that a lot of people don’t know what the word means – people use it one day and then they

heard it and they’re not really seeking the origins of the word; they’re just usually it unthinkingly. I mean, it’s not out of malice a lot of the time; they’re just using it.

Have you ever heard of or used the term “jipped”? Do you know what it means? Why do you think people use it despite its connotations?

8 • thegazette • Thursday, March 12, 2015

sports thursdaytweet#Scout150 OL @JeanDelance74 was clearly disturbed by the racist frat video from #OU last night, no longer committed to #Sooners

• @BPrzybylo on Oklahoma football prospect Jean Delance revoking his com-mitment from the school after Sigma Alpha Epsilon’s racist chant went viral.

Western golf prepares for championshipsShane RobertsCONTRIBUTER

@uwogazette

As the winter season ends, the Western Mustangs women’s golf team has commenced training for the upcoming national champion-ship golf tournament on the week-end of May 26–29.

After finishing their season back in October, the Mustangs are cur-rently preparing to head to Guelph where the Gryphons will host the Canadian University/College Championship Tournament at the Cutten Fields Golf Course.

Competing for the women’s team will be Jessie Mercer, Lauren Wardrope, Velda Wong and Sara Holland, all of whom also competed during the regular season. Mercer walked away from the Ontario University Athletics Championship, hosted by the University of Ontario Institute of Technology Ridgebacks, as the women’s first team all-star.

Holland also performed well at the tournament — she was named one of the women’s second team all-stars. Both Mercer and Holland hope to guide the team through this upcoming Guelph championship.

The tournament will be held from May 26–29 in Guelph, Ontario at the Cutten Fields Golf Course. The women qualified after finish-ing third at the OUA championship in October at the Oshawa Golf and Country Club.

The team, captained by Mercer, is currently ranked eighth in the country going into the nationals. In the past two seasons they have finished in seventh at the nationals.

“The team goal for the nationals is to improve on the past two years and finish in the top six,” Mercer said.

Mercer believes the team can achieve their goal because they all have experience competing at the national championship. For Mercer it will be her fifth time competing at nationals and for the rest of the team it will be their second time competing.

Western also has an advantage over the out-of-province teams because they played at Cutten Fields earlier in the season at the Guelph Invitational, having finished second overall there in the past season.

“The greens are well pro-tected, so we will be working on

consistency with our short irons for our approach shots into greens, as well as our short games, particu-larly putting on their fast greens,” Mercer said.

The Mustangs confidence head-ing into the national championship may be just enough to achieve their goal of a top six performance. Their efficiency will depend entirely on how they work individually, as well as how they each contribute to the team.

“[Golf ] is not like other team sports where you can lean on other players if you aren’t playing well,” Mercer explained. “We must rely on our own individual practice, and encourage and push each other to reach our potential.” Courtesy of Mustangs Women’s Golf

Intramural football: girls TDs > boys TDsBradley MetlinSPORTS EDITOR@BradAtGazette

While watching the Super Bowl last month, viewers will recall that the Seattle Seahawks were yards away from scoring a touchdown — a crucial six points away from the win. At Western, in the co-ed intra-mural snow flag football league, if a woman had scored a touchdown in that case, they would have been awarded nine points. If this sounds perplexing, you are not alone.

Fourth-year BMOS Emily Unger who has played for several years has found this rule to be frustrating.

“I enjoy the sport and playing with the guys but definitely the point system is a major problem because it really changes strategy with the

game,” Unger said.She cited instances in which

male players have had clear access to score a touchdown, yet instead of running the ball to the end zone they drop to one knee at the one-yard line. This then allows the team opportunities for an extra three points by giving a woman on the team the responsibility of moving the ball one yard forward.

Conversions are also affected under the intramural rules; women score an extra point from what a man would.

“You can definitely lose games by a ‘girl conversion’ which is really silly,” Unger said.

To those who believe this is a result of sexist attitudes, program coordinator for intramurals and informal recreation Guy Schultz

disagrees, noting past observance.“Quite the opposite really — we

changed the co-ed rules over the years to address the problem of sexism on the field of play. We often heard and saw how women were too often treated as token players and were not given opportunities to score,” Schultz said.

These rules might not have to be in place long-term and Schultz hopes the scoring system helps breaks down barriers for women in the league.

“One day, hopefully soon, we won’t need to encourage this kind of respect, but we’ll keep the rule until then,” Schultz explained.

In addition, there are also rules that specify every one in three plays must go to a woman. The hope is this will encourage equal play on the

field but in reality, it might highlight sexism even more.

“They’ll be yelling, ‘girl play!’ when there’s that one in three plays. Teams will triple-team on a girl because at that point, the ball has to go to a girl,” Unger said.

While this could draw attention to women on the field, not all people find this a bad thing. Fourth-year science student Jillian Macklin thinks it’s a positive rule.

“At first, this caught me off guard and I did not think this was necessary. But, having played a few sea-sons in the co-ed league, I have learned to love this rule. It allows females to be more involved in the play and have more confidence

that their quarter-back is looking for them for the pass,” Macklin said.

Fourth-year French and German student Alana Stevenson is blunt about her thoughts. “I think it’s over-compensation,” she opined. “Why can’t it just be the same? Girls who plays sports want to be on the same playing field as guys.”

THE TEAM GOAL FOR THE NATIONALS IS TO

IMPROVE ON THE PAST TWO YEARS AND FINISH IN THE TOP SIX.”

JESSIE MERCERMUSTANGS GOLF CAPTAIN