SFSS comes to resolution on Wings Wednesdays

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October 7, 2013

Following the debate between SFSS board members and Food and Beverage Services general manager, John Flipse, over whether or not the Highland Pub should charge cover on Wings Wednesday, the SFSS board of directors has come to a resolution.

The board has decided to allow event bookings with the stipulation that cover not be charged before 9:00 p.m. and that those who enter the pub before the cut off will not have to pay to stay. The pub had just recently starting booking events regularly on Wednesday nights, which allows clubs and DSUs to play host and charge cover at the door in exchange for paying half of the pub’s security fees for the night.

In order to allow this and still cover some of the security fees that clubs and DSUs pay when they book events, the SFSS will be offering a pub sponsorship package to clubs who demonstrate a need for financial assistance with throwing their event. The financing will come from an existing fund that has already been budgeted.

A stipulation with the sponsorship package requires clubs to attract a certain number of people to their event in order to gain funding.

The funds from the SFSS will cover half of the security costs for events, approximately $575, as well as $50 for advertising. The decision to contribute the funding to clubs hosting events comes after the SFSS Commercial Services Committee passed a motion recommending to Flipse to not charge cover before 9:00 p.m. on Wednesdays. Events on different nights will not be subject to the cut-off rule.

Formerly, when patrons wished to remain inside the pub on Wednesdays when clubs were hosting events, they were required to pay half of the cover being charged at the door. The SFSS subsidy will alleviate the need for this charge.

Moe Kopahi, SFSS member services officer, pointed to an event two weeks ago, hosted by the the fraternity Alpha Kappa Psi where the group fundraised $1,300 in four hours, as an example that student groups will still be able to fundraise large amounts under the system.

There is a stipulation with the sponsorship package that requires clubs and DSUs to attract a certain number of people to their event in order to gain funding from the SFSS, in order to incentivize them to promote heavily. Kopahi indicated that they are currently working on a table to account for different attendance possibilities.

Kopahi sees the arrangement as a good compromise between Flipse’s attempts to lessen the pub’s deficit, and the SFSS’s aim to meet student needs.

Ex-Grammar Nazi discovered living in Argentina

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EIC

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October 7, 2013

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BUENOS AIRES — Despite being believed by many to be long dead, a former “grammar nazi” has been found to be living in a remote town in Argentina and, according to the man who caught him, he “will be brought to justice for his annoyingness.”

Hal Lee, a 37 year-old man who graduated with an English degree from the University of Colorado, was once one of the most notorious correctors of minute grammatic details on his friends Facebook posts before disappearing almost four years ago.

In 2010, when the term “grammar nazi”found its way into the popular lexicon and had already effectively destroyed all people like Lee, he was nowhere to be found and since no one really bothered to inquire what happened to him, he was assumed to be dead.

But now, thanks to Grammar Nazi-Hunter, Dave Simpson, a man who has dedicated his weekends to tracking down grammar-nazis who didn’t pay their debt to society, Lee will finally be brought to justice.

According to reports, Lee didn’t seem all too remorseful when he was confronted by Simpson saying only that he “missed conversing with his friends online in America ever since he left to teach English to underprivileged children.”

While Lee has not participated in any grammar-nazi like behavior since he arrived in Argentina and has supposedly turned over a new leaf, Simpson has said he will still punish him severely and is busy working on a peeved e-mail to send him.

Cross-country teams shine under the sun

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EIC

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October 7, 2013

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It was a nice change of scenery for the SFU cross-country teams, getting out of the Vancouver rain and racing under the California sun. But for both the men’s and women’s sides, the results of their races at the Stanford Invitational were quite familiar.

Racing against some of the top competition in both the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s Division I and II programs, the Clan men finished seventh and the women second at the Invitational.

Lindsey Butterworth, a senior on the squad and the women’s captain, led the way for the Clan finishing 35th in the 5km race, with a time of 22:40. Kirsten Allen finished second for the Clan, with a time of 22:54, and teammate Kansas Mackenzie was right behind her, finishing 46th in 22:55.

Nanaimo native Rebecca Bassett, a freshman, and sophomore Emma Chadsey filled out the top five for the Clan women, finishing 61st and 74th respectively.

After three strong finishes to start the cross-country season, the Clan will get a week off from competition before heading to Bellingham, WA for the Western Washington Tune-up next week.

“We’ve been very consistent through the first three races and it will be good to get a week off from racing and have a hard week of training,” said Butterworth. “We are excited to see what we can accomplish at our conference meet and regionals after that.”

The week off will be used as a chance for improvement.

“I know the women can be better,” said head coach Bit Townsend. “The women were only 10 points behind first-place Chico State. With a week off and a hard week of training, they will be motivated to get things
going.”

Meanwhile, it was a freshman leading the Clan men in their seventh-place finish. Chilliwack’s Oliver Jorgensen, finishing the 6km race in 26:28, placed 76th. Finishing only four seconds behind him was senior team captain James Young, who finished 87th with 26:32.

“Overall we ran well considering we have raced three weeks in a row,” said Young, as his men’s side prepares for their first 10km race of the season in Bellingham. “Moving forward we are excited to do a 10km and are hoping to close the gap between our top five runners.”

Austin Trapp, Cameron Proceviat, and Ephraim Tadesse rounded out that top-five.

“I’m very happy with how our men competed. This was a really tough race. We have had some sickness and nagging injuries that we hope will sort itself out with a week off,” said Townsend. “The Stanford Invitational is one of the top meets in the nation and by racing here, it makes us mentally tougher.”

That, with a week off to prepare for their next race, points to improvement on an already successful start to the 2013 season.

US government shutdown could mean global crisis

By

Peak Web

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October 7, 2013

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By the time this article is in your hands, I sincerely hope the impending US crisis will be over. It will have been almost a week since the Government of the United States shut down over Republican refusal to allow the implementation of “Obamacare” or the Affordable Care Act.

While this seems ridiculous — especially to Canadians who have had subsidized healthcare for decades — it isn’t actually unusual for a US governmental shutdown to occur. The US federal government has shut down on 18 occasions since 1976; during a shutdown, essential services continue to operate until the two parties can figure out what to do next. This time, however, the shutdown hides a potentially world changing threat.

On October 17, the United States government will breach its debt ceiling. In layman’s terms, this means that the Treasury Department will no longer be able to borrow money to make up the deficit between government spending and tax revenue. This, in turn, means that the American government will no longer be able pay its bills, which is clearly not a good thing.

This is not the first time the US government’s debt ceiling has made the news. In fact, it’s only been a couple of years since the last time the United States was going to breach its debt ceiling. In that instance, last minute maneuvering by Congress led to the debt ceiling being raised, and a crisis situation was averted. What makes this instance different is that Congress is not in session because of the shutdown, and, if they don’t get back together soon, a world of financial trouble will brew over.

All of a sudden, a ridiculous political debate filled with equally insane rhetoric — US Senator Ted Cruz compared the threat of Obamacare to Nazi Germany — becomes an issue that could have global ramifications. What are these ramifications, exactly? No one can truly know.

In the history of the nation, the United States has never breached its debt ceiling. Furthermore, it’s not even an event that has been planned for — unlike a shutdown, there is no contingency plan in place.

Many economists have started to speculate what it would look like if the American government were to breach its debt ceiling. The general consensus is that if the United States is unable to pay its bills, this would provoke a global financial crisis, as it would cause the safest asset in the financial system — US treasury bonds — to default. If this happens, it could very well lead to a global economic crisis due to the number of world economies reliant on America and the power of its economy.

For the sake of the world, I am begging America to come to some sort of an agreement. Republicans, we get that you don’t like Obamacare, but it was signed into law three years ago and is merely awaiting proper implementation. You lost, so get over it. And Democrats, figure out some way to compromise with the Republicans before you drag the entire world down around you.

Do the jobs you were elected to do, and figure out how to make the government run. The clock is ticking.

Pipe Major Terry Lee retires after 36 years

By

EIC

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October 7, 2013

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After 36 years, the SFU Pipe Band has a new leader.

Terry Lee, who was been the band’s pipe major since 1977, is retiring, leaving the position in the hands of piper Alan Bevan. Bevan, who along with his wife Bonnie has been involved with the band since 1995, was formerly the pipe major of a competing band, the Abbotsford Police Pipe Band, but always had his eye on the SFU band.

“It’s great. It’s something I’ve always wanted to do from when I first heard the band play when I was really young,” said Bevan. “I’d always aspired to play with the band. I finally got the opportunity and have never looked back.”

In his years with the band, Bevan has been involved with the tuning team, whose job it is to ensure that all the sets of bagpipes are in tune and moving at the same rate.

The changing of the guard comes on the heels of the band placing fourth in the World Pipe Band Championships in Glasgow this past August, a result that Lee described at the time as, “Not what we came for, but we’re in the prizes.” The SFU pipe band has six championship wins under their belt, but were overcome by bad weather on the day of this year’s competition.

Bevan described his reaction to the results as “kind of mixed feelings.”

Lee is not leaving the band entirely, but will remain involved with tuning, music construction, and band administration.

“We had a very strong season locally, and we’re always working on improving and I think we made some gains in a number of areas,” he continued. Bevan pointed specifically to a new medley that the band worked on for the past year that actually beat the current world champions on the day of the qualifier round.

“We felt really good, we had a strong performance,” said Bevan. “It’s always a bit of a risk when you take a new competition set out, because you don’t know how it’s going to go over with the Scottish judges, and we only get one crack at them.”

Bevan has already taken over the pipe major position, though the band is currently on a break. They’ll resume practising later this month.

Lee is not leaving the band entirely, but will remain involved with tuning, music construction, and band administration, something that Bevan described as an “unusual transition.”

“Usually when a pipe major steps down he actually leaves the band or he just doesn’t have anything more to do with leadership,” Bevan explained; “In our case Terry is going to be very involved. I find that quite comforting that I’m going to have access to all that experience.”

Once band practices resume, Bevan plans to make some music changes, but to mainly keep the band on the same trajectory that they are presently on.

“I forsee it being a very smooth transition,” said Bevan, “not a lot of bumps. Hopefully. I really don’t think there [would be a reason for that]; the band’s not really rebuilding. It’s not broken and I’m certainly not going to try to fix it.”

LGBTQ to expand to twelve letters by 2016

By

EIC

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October 7, 2013

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NEW YORK — LGBTQ, the initialism which currently encompasses those who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning, is set to increase its letters more than two-fold by the year 2016, so say some prominent queer-activists.

Originally founded in the 1980s as “LGB,” the initials eventually added “T” in the early nineties and the increasingly popular “Q” in the last decade. Now, many believe that serious letter expansions are on the way.

“The original three worked well for us in the old days but, at that time, we were really just trying to avoid being called other three-letter words” explained Carol Krantz, a Brooklyn queer-rights activist. “Now that we’re getting more accepted, though, we’ve got a chance to really complicate this term.”

Although it’s unclear what the letters will represent, possible expansions that have been floated around include “I,” “W,” “R,” “P,” another “Q,” a third “Q,” and “H.”

“Of course we’d love to get a “Z” or an “X” involved but those are probably more long-term projects,” Krantz said as she searched for more colours to add to her rainbow flag. “Ideally, I’d like to see it eventually be a 30 or 32 letter-word that includes all people but getting to 12 is a good step, it shows that we mean business.”

With their sights on 2016, Krantz and the few other people who are with her on her quest to make LGBTQIWRPQQH a reality, have serious hopes that someday they will have a term that truly incorporates all people, hopefully without ever having to resort to just calling them “people.”

Hatman and Falcon: Introducing Atlas

By

EIC

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October 7, 2013

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Game Over

By

EIC

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October 7, 2013

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The record-breaking release of Grand Theft Auto V has sent ripples of controversy through the media. Its explicit content has shocked and appalled many, but entertained thousands more.

Mainstream media has pinpointed problematic elements of the game such as prostitution, torture, and racial profiling. It seems that people like it: selling over $1 billion worth in the first week of sales, GTA V is breaking entertainment records worldwide.

Unlike mature gamers, the younger demographic will likely take the game’s graphic content at face value.

Anyone who has dabbled in products developed by Rockstar Games shouldn’t be surprised by these features; explicit content has been a mainstay in many of their ongoing series, often portrayed in a satirical manner that is as rude as it is intelligent.

It’s these cultural nuances, ones that an adult audience will pick up on, that can soar over the heads of the younger demographic of gamers.

Unlike mature gamers, who can form informed opinions on the game’s subject matter, the younger demographic will likely take the graphic content at face value. A pre-teen brain just cannot compute the cynical messages being presented to them underneath the flurry of violence and profanity. All that’s left is the message that cruelty is funny, and an acceptable form of humour.

Even if your sibling or child understands the difference between reality and video games, they will still relay the lessons they have learned from pop-media among friends — and behind adults backs. Kids don’t have the ability to read between the lines of the game’s satire, and its humour will be lost on younger players.

Given its popularity, I find myself wondering how many parents have purchased their little elementary school prodigies GTA V. Maybe they’ve done so because a friend has it, or because they believe their kids know the difference between right and wrong. But parents might think twice if the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) helped inform them on a deeper level.

Games are typically given ratings by at least three trained “raters.” These are adults with prior experience with children, such as teachers or parents. Testing games is part of their job, but full playthroughs are not required; heck, even playing the title at hand isn’t required.

While assessing games, the professionals analyze the most extreme content the game has to offer, taking into consideration themes such as violence, coarse language, sexuality, and drug reference or use.

WEB-GTA5-3

Beyond these things, the raters will also look at the game as a whole, taking into account the frequency of the more explicit content. Given the nature of video games, they will also review the interactivity, rewards systems, and the degree of control that the player is given.

Unfortunately, today’s rating system isn’t properly addressing the spectrum of content that is present in the modern game space. The ESRB has six official ratings for released games: Early Childhood, Everyone, Everyone 10+, Teen, Mature, and Adults Only. Anything that displays violence with blood exists in the Teen to Adults Only range.

With all the content being analyzed, it’s amazing that the more extreme themes are usually found in one of two categories: Teen and Mature. The most extreme rating a title can acquire is the AO rating. At the moment, a game with this rating is denied sale at large retailers, such as Walmart or Future Shop.

This results in most violent games being lumped into the M rating. The spectrum of content represented in the M rating is huge, from the light-hearted sword fighting of Fable to the crushing-skulls-in-with-scissor-adorned-sticks combat of The Last of Us. But it’s not just the violence and language that needs to be taken into consideration, it’s the themes that drive these titles.

The Last of Us is an incredibly adult experience, as it tackles themes of humanity, parenting, rape, and constantly questions what actions are justifiable when it comes down to survival. It’s inconceivable that a title such as this is lumped into the same category as Fable, a game about saving a fairytale land from an evil wizard.

AO needs to truly embody its title, and redefine what it means to be an Adult Only game.

Sure, Fable has its share of violence. But its content and themes can be easily comprehended by adolescents, as they are presented in a stylized and cartoonish fashion. How can two extremes coexist within one rating?

It’s because of examples like these that ESRB needs to rethink the AO rating — not only as a way of communicating to parents the graphic content being represented, but also the more complex themes at hand. If it were easier for parents to distinguish between games with violence and games for adults, they might think twice about buying little Johnny the latest FPS bloodbath.

The AO rating shouldn’t be reserved for explicit sexual content, and should include games that are truly made for an adult audience that is hungry for advanced themes in this entertainment medium.

AO needs to truly embody its title, and redefine what it means to be an Adult Only game. Lift the ban on these AO titles, allow them to be sold in larger stores, and let these titles have a rating that truly represents the content inside their boxes.

Clan play to first loss of the season

By

EIC

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October 7, 2013

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Alan Koch, head coach of SFU’s men’s soccer team, will be the first to tell you how little rankings and pre-game hype mean to any given game. His Clan worked hard to climb the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) rankings, from the third spot entering last season to first place late last week. But, after a dominant 8–0 start to the season, including a pair of victories at home last week over two South Dakota-based schools, the Clan finally suffered their first defeat.

Things were going fantastically for the Clan — they hadn’t just been winning games, but trouncing their opponents. In their conference home opener, SFU trumped the South Dakota School of Mines, a school in their first year of Great Northwest Athletic Conference (GNAC) play, 5–0 a score that, given the balance of play, could’ve been even more lopsided.

“The chemistry is really coming along,” said midfielder Adam Staschuk post-game, as five different players found the back of the net for the Clan. “Everyone is starting to buy into the system. We are all getting more comfortable with it and it showed tonight.”

That comfort showed in their second game of the week: SFU shut out the University of Mary Marauders 6–0 in the Clan’s second home game of the week.

“A lot of guys got to play tonight and it really showed our depth,” said Alexander Kleefeldt, a transfer from Germany in his first season with the Clan, after the match. He also tallied the second and sixth goals of the game for the Clan.

“In the first half we should have kept possession a little bit more. The result is good but I still think we can play better, keep possession more and keep our opposition down.

“It was good to score two goals but I think I could have done a better job on the defensive end. The next road trip is going to be difficult so we need to step it up and work hard to be prepared,” he finished.

Until the start of that road trip, the Clan had faced little adversity, save for a pair of come-from-behind victories on the road earlier in the season. But there was no doubt that the Clan were in for their biggest test of the season on the road against Seattle Pacific University — arguably SFU’s biggest rival since entering the GNAC.

Seattle Pacific opened the scoring early, before junior midfielder Chris Bargholz tied the game at one apiece in the 23rd minute. The score would stay the same until late in the second half when the Falcons would scrape ahead 2–1 in the 79th minute — a deficit the Clan could not overcome; the game would finish with a 2–1 score for SPU.

Call it an upset if you want, but Koch will tell you his squad beat themselves.

“Tonight we didn’t score on the chances that we created and this allowed SPU to grow more and more confident as the match progressed,” he said after the Thursday night game.

“Big games are won and lost by little things. We made some unnecessary mistakes tonight that really hurt us.”

Despite the loss, the Clan are still set up well to compete for a GNAC title. The loss drops the Clan’s record to 8–1, still very much good enough for first in the conference, while second-place SPU improves to 6–1–1. And the Clan still lead the conference in goals by a shockingly wide margin: 33 for SFU compared to 14 for Western Washington, second in that category. The Clan have all the tools to get back on track.

“We need to regroup and increase our collective focus ahead of our next match against Saint Martin’s,” said Koch. “This conference championship is going to be a dogfight to the end.”

Experts and educators should be valued equally

By

Peak Web

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October 7, 2013

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At SFU, it’s difficult to register for courses that fit one’s schedule and align with one’s degree path, let alone one’s own interests. What’s more, many students are made to feel that their efforts are for naught, upon realizing their professor seems more interested in returning to their lab than actually teaching their class. If you’re unable to switch schedules, these weekly lectures become four months of frustration at having a teacher whose expertise does not translate into the ability to communicate the material.

Of course, professors all have their own strengths: some are happier to discuss with a small group than a full lecture hall, while others are better able to communicate material orally than through email or syllabi. In the end, however, some professors are simply better researchers than they are teachers.

At an institution responsible for both pursuing research and educating students, the two functions need to be valued equally. Yes, students should recognize the benefits of learning in close proximity with experts in their fields, and yes, SFU is a research university, but that label is twofold.

This is not to say research isn’t a crucial component of a university — the fact that it employs active researchers and scholars is one of its distinguishing features. SFU turns out innovative studies every week, from diagnosing skin cancer, to unlocking the key to evolution, to analysing how stereotypes affect one’s housing options. This research puts SFU on the academic map, the benefits of which can be seen in the millions of dollars the university is given towards future projects.

No one wants to be taught by someone who does not want to be there.

The issue arises when a professor’s research skills are valued more than his or her teaching abilities. In some departments at SFU, professors are reviewed every two years regarding their research. If they aren’t making a certain amount of progress, they can lose merits, which sometimes results in them being given more classes to teach.

The problem with this formula is that increased teaching responsibilities are framed as a punishment to these professors. Moreover, by giving classes to researchers who are struggling or who would prefer to be behind a desk, animosity and tension is created, which is, in turn, felt by students — no one wants to be taught by someone who does not want to be there.

SFU reviews a professor’s teaching skills through course evaluations at the end of a semester and by vetting professors when they are first hired and when they apply for tenure. Yet, many students are still made to endure disinterested lecturers and incompetent instructors. Even if a professor is engaging and expresses excitement about their topic, poor communication skills can leave students with more questions than answers.

One of the most difficult problems to address is the evaluation of an individual’s teaching skills. Course evaluations can be made irrelevant by students who argue that a lot of readings and tough marking equates to bad teaching. Since this is not the case, this process of evaluation clearly isn’t entirely reliable, meaning SFU needs to develop a better way of assessing its teaching staff.

All things considered, many researchers possess expertise that is thought to be invaluable to a university, and one could not expect the university to turn away the next Einstein because he has trouble lecturing in large lecture halls. That said, 300 students should not be subjected to his lectures.

The balance between being an educator and being an expert is vital to the university as a haven for innovation, as well as an institution fostering future experts. If SFU truly values these points equally, perhaps the students, as well as the professors, will see their efforts in the classroom better recognised.