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Letter to the editor, Nov. 19th, 2012

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EIC
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Dear editor,

I’m curious if anyone is interested in leading the official demand for a refund from the university? SFU sold its students an education, and is not providing the package sold. Our brothers and sisters are attempting to bargain in good faith. The members are not being paid, but their wages have been collected by the university. The university has already collected the fees for their services from us in advance. As such, we the students are owed a refund.

Here’s hoping the dispute is settled soon.

Sincerely,

Deborah Skerry,
SFU student.

Mental health issues aren’t a joke

By
EIC
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0

We should be working together to help the mentally ill, not bonding over our mutual dislike of them on transit

By Ljudmila Petrovic
Photos by Ben Buckley

I was riding the number 20 bus along Commercial Drive when a man came onto the bus and sat across from me. His hygiene was questionable, his nails were long and dirty, his clothes ragged, and he was incoherently muttering — all common sights on Vancouver’s public transit. Yet people began to raise their eyebrows and exchange looks; people that moments before had been strangers now shared the camaraderie of thinking this man was bat-shit crazy.

This individual’s situation is surely aggravated by other factors, mainly socio-economic ones, but mental illness affects people from every level of education, status, race, gender, and age. Yes, it can present itself as the man on the bus, but it also includes mood disorders, eating disorders, addiction, and a string of other, less apparent — but equally important — issues. According to the Canadian Mental Health Association, 20 per cent of Canadians will personally experience a mental illness in their lifetime, and the rest will probably deal with a loved one with mental illness. With a statistic so high, why are mental health issues still being stigmatized? It is not the man on the bus who needs to feel ashamed, it’s we who do not provide the acceptance and treatment necessary to help these individuals.

There has certainly been a recent rise in awareness surrounding mental health issues, such as Bell Canada’s 2010 “Let’s Talk” initiative, but the stigma surrounding these issues remains a burden on our society. According to the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, only 50 per cent of Canadians would be open about a family member having a mental illness; needless to say, the numbers are much higher for diseases such as cancer and diabetes. Furthermore, a whopping 46 per cent of Canadians think that the term “mental illness” is just used as an excuse for bad behavior. This means that almost half of Canadians think that people suffering from any mental illness ranging from psychosis — such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder in some cases — to depression, to eating disorders are not suffering at all; rather, they have chosen that path for themselves.

As if this wasn’t a ridiculous enough statistic, 27 per cent of Canadians are actually scared of being around people that they know suffer from serious mental illness. It’s all fine to just brush this off as being ignorance on the part of a percentage of the population, but it’s not at all insignificant and it has detrimental effects on treatment: 49 per cent of people that have experienced anxiety or depression have never gone to a doctor for it, and only one-third of Canadians who need mental health services actually receive them — quite possibly because they are afraid to seek them. [pullquote]This means that almost half of Canadians think that people suffering from any mental illness are not suffering at all; rather, they have chosen that path for themselves.[/pullquote]

As it stands, our society’s view of mental health is one that marginalizes those that are suffering from mental health issues, and places blame on those individuals for being “weak” or a “burden on the system.” When we look at the numbers, however, the burden lies with those trying to deal with their issues on their own: while mental illnesses make up more than 15 per cent of disease sin Canada, only 5.5 per cent of health care dollars are put aside for the treatment of this incredibly sensitive area of disorders. Having a mental health issue is no more shameful than having any other disorder, and it should not be treated as such. This country is in dire need of an increase in awareness and acceptance — not to mention treatment options — for those suffering from mental health issues.

Does TransLink deserve the hate for fare increases?

By
EIC
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With four years warning given for the rise in cost, fretting now is too little too late


By Rachel Braeuer
Photos by Mark Burnham

The “fuck translink” buttons left over after a non-paying passenger was kicked off of a SkyTrain for a “fuck yoga” pin last April might find a resurgence in popularity come Jan. 1, 2013 when TransLink’s fares are set to increase by an average of 10 per cent, with monthly passes increasing the most at 12.5 per cent. Fortunately for us, the U-Pass is not included in this price increase (or if it is, it has yet to be disclosed). Many seem agitated. I don’t particularly like it either, but after doing some homework, I’ve decided I’ll be wearing my own pin that says “get the fuck over it.”

This isn’t to say that I agree with TransLink’s spending in general, nor do I think they’re a particularly intelligent bunch. In the 1980s, transit officials spent god-knows-how-much money travelling all over the world to see how other cities’ light rail transit (LRT) systems operated. After bearing witness to the effectiveness of fare gate systems, officials returned and decided we’d use the honour system. Now, in 2012, we’re all awaiting the 2013 unveiling of the $100 million dollar promised-to-be-unveiled-in-2010 faregate system, which, if appearances are to be judged, will be more chaotic than beneficial on a day-to-day basis. All other transit systems have directional faregates, meaning you come in one way, and you leave another. The systems in place in SkyTrain stations appears to be equally accessible from both sides. I can’t wait for the games of chicken I’ll be playing with other transit users trying to enter and leave train stations. Yipee.

Regardless, TransLink has had this most recent fare increase in the works since 2009, when they initially released their “10-year plan (funding stabilization)”, which got the OK in 2010. It outlined a fare increase in line with the legally allowable estimate of two per cent per year to offset the cost of inflation. In 2016 and 2019 fares will rise an additional six per cent each time. The 12.5 per cent increase noted for 2013 in indicative of the five-year gap in cash fare hikes and a rise in the consumer price index of roughly 12 per cent since 2008. Believe me, I want to be as mad at them as you do, but their math adds up. None of us can act surprised, since this was clearly outlined in a plan and approved from 2009–10. It’s not like they’re pulling the wool over our eyes, and yet we’re reporting on this like it’s a breaking piece of investigative journalism.

This isn’t to say that increased fares won’t hit some hard. The cost of transit probably weighs most on the working poor and young families, but the increased cost of transit still pales in comparison to the cost of vehicle ownership. I was spending $160/month on insurance alone for my car until I let the insurance run out in June. That doesn’t include the cost of oil changes or regular mechanical maintenance, nor tires, and especially not the cost of gas. My mom recently stopped driving the 18.7 km to work, but maintained the insurance on her car. Even with the increased cost of buying fare-saver booklets of tickets and an unforeseen repair to her car, she has been saving over $300 a month. I assume I’ve been saving about the same, but since I’m too impulsive and immature to budget, all I know is that I’m significantly less poor than I was in June.[pullquote]It’s not like they’re pulling the wool over our eyes, and yet we’re reporting on this like it’s a breaking piece of investigative journalism.[/pullquote]

Increasing costs suck, especially when we only had a few months of enjoying our increased minimum wage before someone else decided to charge us more for something we need. There are certainly issues with raising costs for a service that is questionably useful in specific areas (ever tried to bus out to the valley? Lolz!) but we had the past four years to do something about it, or to at least raise awareness, and we did nothing. Our cries of “foul” now might as well be over spilled milk. Instead, those with vested interests would do best to mobilize as much as they can now to effect as much beneficial change as possible before the next six per cent increase in 2016, considering the faregates should increase TransLink’s revenue by $18 million, or about five per cent per year.

My battle with the blinking cursor

By
EIC
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0

What to do (and not to do) when faced with writer’s block

By Kimberly Hartwig
Photos by Ben Buckley

SASKATOON (The Sheaf) — You pump yourself up, telling yourself you are going to crush this paper. This paper is going to be your bitch. You are confident, self-assured. You can do this! You are an intelligent university student, after all.

But when the time comes, when you sit down in front of your computer to make the magic happen — nothing. All that stares back at you is the depressing emptiness of the white page, not the groundbreaking, earth-shattering ideas that you expected. The page is calling out to be written upon; it longs for words, for keystrokes or ink stains.

It’s not long before your entire brain is frozen. You can almost hear the tumbleweeds rolling through your skull. It’s not long before you are spiralling head first into a never-ending pit of despair, pulling your hair out in frustration, verging on tears of anger.

You are not alone. More common than the common cold, more terrifying than the flesh-eating virus, more of a turn-off than an STI, the most dreaded plague that can hit a university student: writer’s block. It can strike at any time, anywhere and no one is immune from its mind-numbing wrath.

There are many strategies for how to beat the dreaded affliction, but like a bacteria, it only seems to multiply. And that’s what makes writer’s block so terrible: there is no over-the-counter cure.

You can’t pop a pill and be done with it, and you can’t sweat it out. You can try to wait it out, but when it will end one never knows. They say that necessity is the mother of invention, but the more that clock keeps ticking and the closer you come to that deadline, the more hopeless your situation becomes. The only thing that can be done is to confront it head on.

As a writer, I have had many bouts of writer’s block, and more often than not I come out of the ring battered and bruised. I cannot count the hours I spent banging my head against a wall, waiting for ideas to fall out — yet they never do.

My battle with writer’s block usually follows the same pattern.

Sit down in front of computer. Stare blankly at screen. Realize I need inspiration. Think about where I can get inspiration.

The obvious answer: the Internet, duh.

Go on the Internet and inevitably get distracted. Watch an entire ballet. Do I even like ballet? Dance around my house before realizing I can’t dance. Realize I just wasted three hours doing absolutely nothing. Also realize that I am hungry. Can’t think on an empty stomach. Make an entire three-course meal. Still nothing. Can’t think on a full stomach either. Stare out the window. Think I can get ideas by reading what other people have to say. Read things. Realize I suck at writing and can never be as good as these people.

But this is where the breakthrough comes. Of course I’m not as good a writer as some other people! I’m not getting paid to write; I’m paying to write.

Actually, I’m paying a lot to write. And that means I can write whatever I want. That means if I really want to, I can write a 10-page paper on drunken injuries and how they are best avoided or remedied — complete with pictures. Or I can write my life story, beginning with the day I realized my choice of major will most likely lead to a career at Starbucks.

Of course, I won’t do this. I’ll settle on a more mundane, expected topic that will hopefully lead to a grade that won’t garner looks of scorn from my bill-footing parents.

Throwback Review: You better go back and Check Your Head

By
EIC
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0

The Beastie Boy’s third album is some of their best, most eclectic music

By Colin O’Neil

If you still think the Beastie Boys were only about “You gotta fight for your right to party!” and “Brass monkey, that funky monkey,” you better go take another look, lest you get chewed out by someone like me at a party. Check Your Head, the Beasties’ third offering from way back in 1992, is most definitely their best. Sure, you may only recognize one song from the back of the album, but when you put that shit on, you’ll see.

It’s an album I struggle to genre-tize. It’s hip-hop, I guess, but that label gets challenged throughout. Both “Gratitude” and “Time For Livin’ ”  are heavy-distortion, power-strumming punk songs, while “Pow” and “In 3’s” are lyric-less fuck jams, a prelude to the Beasties’ 2007 instrumental album The Mix Up. In fact, the songs on Check Your Head are a mix-up themselves, a collection of the group’s classic verse-trading raps over heavy beats, creeping basslines, and perfectly tangled melodies. But this album is far from one dimensional.

The Beastie Boys are exceptional musicians, and although that may have gone unnoticed on their 1986 blow-up, License to Ill, it comes out full force on Check Your Head. The Beasties prove they can cross musical boundaries with ease on this album, showing a masterful balance  of musicianship with demo tracks and turntable scratchings. They find a place for everything: gospel backing vocals, organ lines, and even something that sounds like a slurpee straw moving up and down against a plastic lid.

The Beastie Boys have come back into conversation lately after the death of Adam Yauch, a.k.a. MCA. For us fans, this unfortunate event means the end of new material, as the Beasties are not a group to pick up and carry on. They have a vast musical library to their name, although to many, they are still only known for the gems of their first album. They’ve got more than that, as Check Your Head proves — much more. It’s an album of groovy beats, catchy rhymes, funky samples, sunglasses, oversized t-shirts, and a little 1990s Brooklyn philosophy. Check it.

WGSN makes bold trend predictions

By
EIC
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New movements in style involve technology, animals and modernism

By Caroline Brown
Illustration by Eleanor Qu

What are the trends in fashion, art, and architecture? What is trending in social media? Our world has become obsessed with the term “trendy.”  Trends are a forecast of progress and of what will come to cultural fruition in the near future.

During the seminaries at Eco-Fashion Week in late October, the marketing director from Worth Global Style Network (WGSN), Carly Stojsic, presented WGSN’s three macro-trends for autumn/winter 2014: “hack-tivate”, 21st Century Romance, and anthropomorphism. WGSN is a world-renowned trend forecasting company that was established in 1998. Its philosophy is to provide businesses with inspiration, change, and a forward-thinking mentality.Their clients are businesses from all types of sectors — including Apple, H&M and Nickelodeon — because WGSN provides trends that encompass society as a whole.

The hack-tivate macro-trend is derived from the necessary precedence of reclaiming products back to their organic state, and then repurposing and repairing them using technology. It is a socio-movement with positive emotions of energy, fun and enthusiasm. The movement focuses on the skeleton of a product. It exposes its insides, then creatively rebuilds it to have multi-functions using Google sourcing or apps. The attitude behind this movement is that if we can’t access or open  what we own, then it does not belong to us.

Upcycling, reimagining, and sustainability are other important characteristics. The movement obtained a lot of momentum with the Fab Lab phenomenon, which originated at MIT with the name “Center of Bits and Atoms.” The Fab Lab has spread across the world to places like Norway, India and South Africa. A Fab Lab is a digital fabrication workshop with invention and social fabrication imbedded into its mission. They take apart technology to its core, and rebuild it for a more functional use.

[pullquote]The movement focuses on the skeleton of a product. It exposes its insides, then creatively rebuilds it to have multi-functions using Google sourcing or apps. The attitude behind this movement is that if we can’t access or open  what we own, then it does not belong to us.[/pullquote]

The second trend that Stojsic spoke about was 21st Century Romance. This trend comes from the literary term “magic realism” and the cultural term meta-modernism. The former aspect plays with the concept of adding a touch of magic to everyday products, while the latter oscillates between contradictions. The difference between 21st Century Romance and the previous Romantic Period is the evolution of technology and how it has become deeply integrated into our lives. This techno-romantic period plays on this antithesis of nature versus technology to create a strong emotional reaction. A great example of this macro-trend is Erdem’s spring/summer 2013 collection. With the help of technology, he uses textile techniques like lucid layers of transparency organza or floral embroidery with a 3D effect to elevate his clothes into another dimension that creates a hypercraft.

The third macro-trend is anthropomorphism, products that take on human emotions and personalities, or animal characteristics. This trend focuses on a cross-fertilization of creature and comfort with an emphasis on touch. The revitalization of fur (e.g. fur iPhone cases) gives evidence to our need to humanize our products, but this trend evolves past that. It stresses a hybrid of technology, humans, and animals to signify honest and fun emotions.  Mixing and matching high and low fashion will evolve into dressing to convey one singular emotion. The resurgence of animated graphic clothes, reflective of pop art mania, is an example of using an eclectic wardrobe to express a modern theme.

The trends presented at this seminar all had a unifying message: technology is not something that separates us, but something that has become a part of us. Whether it is through magic, contradictions, personification, or repurposing from an original organic state, one thing is clear: technology is no longer an accessory, but an extension of humanity.

Delhi 2 Dublin merges Ireland and East-Asia

By
EIC
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0

The ultimate mish-mash of musical mosaics

By Kate Black, The Gateway (CUP)

Edmonton (CUP) — On the road from Quebec City to Peterborough, Ontario, Delhi 2 Dublin’s Tarun Nayar is working on a mixtape of everyone the band has toured with in the last year. He may not realize it, but his activity draws a perfect metaphor for the band.

Like a mixtape, Delhi 2 Dublin draws inspiration from a mosaic of shared experiences, blending sounds from different cultures into a creation that’s energetic and fresh, reminiscent of travel stories and late-night anecdotes.

Founded after a one-off performance in Vancouver, the band emerged as a unique hybrid of Celtic and East-Asian sound with an electronic party vibe. With most of the band growing up on the West Coast, excepting himself and one other band member, Nayar explains there are few places this musical mish-mash could work.

“There’s something very special about Vancouver after growing up in Montreal,” he says. “Even going back to the East Coast now, they don’t really get us. Whereas in Vancouver, people got us literally from the very start, from the first moment we started playing. People understood.”

“And that mentality also carries through all the way down the West Coast to Northern California for sure. We get on stage there, and people have never seen us before, and they just go apeshit.”

[pullquote] “Even going back to the East Coast now, they don’t really get us. Whereas in Vancouver, people got us literally from the very start, from the first moment we started playing. People understood.”[/pullquote]

Confirming that the lifestyle and energy manifested in California was a major influence on their latest album Turn Up the Stereo, Nayar explains that Delhi 2 Dublin pulls inspiration from their tours by amping up their songwriting and the electronic aspect of their music. Most recently, the band returned from an international tour that landed them in Bali, where a lot of “fine tuning and tweaking” of the album took place. He adds that the final song, “Bali High”, features samples from the trip, inspired by nights of partying in Asia.

Despite their wealth of touring experience and the obvious blending of cultural sounds in their music, Delhi 2 Dublin hasn’t been labeled as world music by the college charts for the first time in their career. Nayar explains that they’re focusing more on creating a party atmosphere than conforming to a particular genre.

“I don’t know what god figure decides what’s electronic and what’s world, but for us, it’s kind of all the same,” Nayar says. “I kind of think it’s a dated term, but I don’t get angry if people call us world music. It’s like, whatever, if that’s what they want to call us, that’s what it is, but we don’t really think of ourselves as making any kind of traditional music. We just kind of make party music that we like, and it just so happens that some of the instruments are different.”

Delhi 2 Dublin identifies as a group that reaches out to other cultures to create something distinctly their own. After recently posting an open call on their blog for “freaks and weirdos” for their new music video, Nayar jokes that eccentrics — even the weirdos — are key to keeping things original.

“Because we all are [weirdos], really,” he laughs. “Maybe you a little bit more than me, but definitely everyone is.”

It’s the drink that did it

By
EIC
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0

Caffeine can intoxicate you as much as alcohol or drugs

By Kristina Charania
Photos by Simon le Nippon

As November fades into December, we will officially be entering the final stretch of our semester-long university derby. Sleep Deprivation is already sneaking up along the left-hand track and approaching our frontrunners: No Social Life, Get Good Grades, and crowd favourite Where The Hell Is My Beer-Battered Christmas Chicken.

For SFU insomniacs, caffeine is integral to surviving the last furlong of exam month — students chug Monster energy drinks and five-hour shots Monday through Friday as if possessed by a particularly cruel demon. So naturally, caffeine addiction is a silly fear within the world of academics, because seriously, no caffeine? How adorably naive! Caffeine intoxication sounds like a foreign concept out of a dusty textbook.

This is serious business, though. According to a recent CBC News article, 25-year-old Jyong Chul Lee threatened his residence advisor in September while eating at a school cafeteria. He was consequentially charged with mischief and criminal harassment, removed from Cape Breton University in Nova Scotia, and deported back to Korea. Interestingly, Lee’s behaviour was not attributed to the depression or anxiety normally associated with university studies. His lawyer instead suggested that Lee acted out of character due to the caffeine stupor created by consuming several energy drinks. Even graver cases exist: Woody Will Smith in Kentucky murdered his own wife by strangling her with an extension cord after getting hopped up on coffee, energy drinks and caffeine pills.[pullquote]guarana is an additional source of caffeine that may add a potential 20 to 30 milligrams to an energy drink without being included on the label’s caffeine count.[/pullquote]

If you’d prefer to make it past Dec. 16 with you and your loved ones alive and well, soak up the following advice like a sponge.

The current edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders — psychology peeps will recognize this as the DSM-IV-TR — states that caffeine intoxication is a valid disorder with side effects including restlessness, insomnia, muscle twitching, rambling speech, and disrupted heartbeat. Individuals with a family history of heart conditions or disorders that weaken the blood vessels should refrain from caffeine consumption entirely, because the stimulants could present further bodily consequence to the user, including unexpected death.

Normally, the ingestion of a sum of caffeine equivalent to 80 to 100 cups of coffee will result in an adult’s death, and 500 milligrams of caffeine in the body will qualify you as caffeine intoxicated. While an energy drink won’t exactly kill your regular student, these beverages are technically dietary supplements that aren’t regulated by the FDA like a food product would be — they can contain much more caffeine than listed on their packaging and still be sold to the public. For example, guarana is an additional source of caffeine that may add a potential 20 to 30 milligrams to an energy drink without being included on the label’s caffeine count. Surprise!

Because of this ambiguity, it’s best for study die-hards to stick to one or two coffees or a single energy drink a day in order to stay below the 500 milligram intoxication threshold. Popping back an extra Rockstar or caffeine pill is quick and seems harmless until side-effects like long-term caffeine addiction become detrimental to your mental processes. Lee and our Kentucky killer could tell you as much.

If you are now wondering how the hell you’re supposed to stay awake through the misery of final papers, as you begin to doze off reading this last sentence, the answer is really simple: go the fuck to sleep.

Smashed and sincere

By
EIC
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0

Film about alcoholism breaks the addict film mould

By Sofia Gay, The Concordian

Montreal — From the story of doomed lovers with a penchant for heroin, (think Heath Ledger and Abbie Cornish in Candy) to biopics of individuals who succumb to their addictions (Gia, Factory Girl), substance abuse is the subject that keeps on giving.

Depicted through countless filmmakers’ lenses, these films have a tendency to glamorize addiction by linking it to specific locations, or by making relationships seem more intense and passionate as a result of the use of drugs and alcohol.

This is why we’re lucky to have films like James Ponsoldt’s Smashed. The film removes the hazy lens of romanticism, and instead favours a clear, hard look at the struggle of alcoholism and sobriety.

Elementary school teacher Kate (played brilliantly by Mary Elizabeth Winstead) is madly in love with her husband Charlie (portrayed by Aaron Paul, best known as Walter White’s sidekick on Breaking Bad). As much as they love each other, there is a third partner in their relationship: alcohol.

While Charlie is able to drink as much as he wants and still end up sleeping in his own bed, Kate winds up finding herself in different situations, each one more depressing and dangerous than the next. She boozes in her car, steals alcohol when the store clerk won’t sell it to her, and unceremoniously throws up in front of her class one morning. But it’s after smoking crack with a homeless prostitute after leaving the bar one night that she decides to get sober.

[pullquote]The strongest vein of Smashed is Winstead’s performance, which carries the entire film. While the other actors are equally entrenched in their characters, the script doesn’t fleshed them out as fully as Kate.[/pullquote]

Enter her colleague Dave, played by Parks and Recreation’s Nick Offerman, who takes her to an AA meeting. There she meets Jenny (Octavia Spencer, who is criminally underused in this film), and seems to be on her way to recovery. Yet Kate faces a roadblock in Charlie, who despises recovery programs. Their relationship begins to disintegrate as he stubbornly keeps drinking while she sulks at home, alone and sober. The turmoil eventually reaches a peak as Kate and Charlie have a tempestuous fight, and it’s both the most memorable and hair-raising moment in the film.

The strongest vein of Smashed is Winstead’s performance, which carries the entire film. While the other actors are equally entrenched in their characters, the script doesn’t fleshed them out as fully as Kate.

Visually, it’s stunning. Shots where Kate wakes up in parks and under bridges are, despite their starkness, beautiful. Ponsoldt gives a lot of camera time to faces, especially close-ups of Winstead, as if he were trying to use the camera as an x-ray machine to show us exactly what they are thinking.

There’s a reason why Smashed has turned heads (and picked up a Special Jury Prize at Sundance this year): there is a tangible sense of reality that permeates the film. Smashed excels at honestly portraying the stigma of alcoholism, and showing how resisting the urge to drink is only the first of the complications that being sober brings.

While an excellent film, its harshness leaves a bitter taste in your mouth, not unlike that of the whiskey Kate favours. But sometimes doing something that feels difficult can be a good thing.

Personal information of nearly 300 Wilfrid Laurier students found online

By
EIC
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WLU graduate finds info about 297 former students and their families

By Elizabeth Dicesare
Photos by Nick Lachance

WATERLOO (CUP) — While preparing to apply to Canada’s police forces, Bob Baumgartner, a Wilfrid Laurier University (WLU) graduate, decided to do a Google search of himself, and found more than he expected.
After typing in his old e-mail address, Baumgartner found a list of 297 former WLU students that included their personal contact information, such as phone numbers, email addresses and home addresses for not only the students, but their parents as well.
“It was the only thing in the search that came up,” explained Baumgartner.
“I was a little concerned because not only did it have my information, but it had my parents’ information.”
“Both of my parents are Laurier alumni, they went there back in the day, and I told them that their contact information was being posted on the internet by Laurier and they weren’t too happy,” he added.
While Baumgartner shared this with his parents, he has yet to contact either the school or anyone else on the list that the Google search brought up.
However, he expressed his distress regarding the situation and emphasized the need for Laurier to take action.
“For me it was a bit concerning, because in today’s privacy age, to have [that information], it makes it easy to become victims of fraud,” he said.
“It’s a very serious privacy breach, so just having people’s information that easily accessible is something that concerns me, especially when our school claims to place our privacy in high regards.”
After racking his brain, Baumgartner still cannot recall any reason his name would be on that the list.
He told The Cord that he doesn’t remember joining any specific groups or taking part in any surveys conducted by Laurier that may have collected such extensive personal information.
“The school is all about privacy and our rights, so it’s just unfortunate that they made this mistake, and it impacts the 250-odd people that are on that list because it’s their information and their family’s information,” he said.
“It just points out how disappointing good old Laurier is being.”
When The Cord contacted Laurier’s Information Technology Services (ITS), Carl Langford, manager of identity management, e-mail and projects, said that he was not aware of the file being made public online.
He assured The Cord that the situation was being taken very seriously, as it is a problem not only for the school, but also for those students and their families involved.
Langford also stated that it was being looked into right away, and that the file was to be immediately removed when found.
In an e-mail to The Cord, Shereen Rowe, WLU’s privacy officer and university secretary, stated, “The university takes this incident very seriously and is working hard to understand how it happened and to ensure that it doesn’t happen again.”
As of press time, both the ITS department and WLU’s privacy office were looking into the situation.
These actions are how Baumgartner wanted Laurier to respond once they realized the issue at hand.
“I’m hoping they would apologize for that breach of trust and remove the information from the website right away, that would be a first step,” he said.

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Simon Fraser University’s independent student newspaper since 1965.

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© The Peak Publications Society 1965-2024

Simon Fraser University’s independent student newspaper since 1965.

Contact us:
[email protected]

© The Peak Publications Society 1965-2024