Home Blog Page 1372

BoG nominees announced

By
EIC
-
0

By David Dyck

Board of governors election turns up four nominees

Last week, nominations were announced for students running for this year’s student member position. The elected candidate will serve in the upcoming year on SFU’s highest decision-making body, the board of governors. Of the four candidates, Jeff McCann, Angie Hall, and John Koo responded to The Peak’s request for an interview. Koo, however, was not able to speak with The Peak due to a scheduling conflict.

McCann is previous SFSS president and current university relations officer. “As president of the student society I became very acquainted with some of the policies and procedures of the university as a whole, and I think that in order to be more effective in advocating for students’ interests as URO as well as a student on campus,” said McCann.

McCann is running on a platform of engaging students, invoking the university’s new slogan. “It’s great to have a vision that’s lofty, advertised on buses and posters, but let’s talk about what really matters. Let’s talk about library hours, let’s talk about things like study space, and washrooms, and continuing to push on developing how we really engage students.”

Hall is a graduate student, but also did her undergraduate degree at SFU. During that time, she worked in Rez Life as a community advisor, worked in student central, went on field schools, and was on the varsity soccer team. Currently, Hall is a graduate student in international development and recently won a seat on senate. “I think for me it’s that — this sounds really nerdy, I know — I love SFU. It’s so much a part of who I am,” Hall told The Peak.

Hall sees two important issues that could be addressed: a lack of a standardized grading system, and a review of the scholarship system. She stated that in her experience some professors refuse to give A+ grades in their classes. “When you look at the way our GPA is converted in schools like UBC, basically we end up with a massive disadvantage because there’s an assumption that the top whatever per cent of every class is receiving an A+.” She also hopes to shift some funding from scholarships to hiring students as research assistants for professors, particularly in the arts.

Marc Fontaine, the outgoing board of governors representative who was also the university relations officer, endorsed McCann. He explained to The Peak that the two positions — URO and student representative on the board of governors — compliment each other. “Having both roles puts you in front of the right people so much more frequently that you end up doing a lot more for students,” said Fontaine. “You can achieve a lot more on a daily basis through the student society but the overall direction of the university falls to the board of governors, and in that way you reach the most powerful people in the university.” Fontaine had his last board of governors meeting last week, where outgoing chair Robert Elton thanked him for his service to the board in the past year, particularly for his “nuanced ability to express both his own perspective as a student, and the overall perspective.”

The election will take place online this week, from June 4 to 6.

Climate change response in animals varies according to species: study

By
EIC
-
0

By Graham Cook

End result on land will be animals that have never lived together before coming into close contact with each other

New information about how land and sea animals react to climate change has come to light, thanks to a joint effort by researchers at Simon Fraser University and the University of Tasmania. Their study, which was started two to three years ago, has shown not only that animals are moving about the globe, but why they are doing so.

The lead author of this study, Jennifer Sunday, discussed the team’s findings with The Peak. She said that the work began with looking at “data from . . . studies where they looked at heat and cold tolerance of [a variety of animals].” This, she said, was especially arduous, as there are many years worth of information on this topic. That data set was published in 2010, and now the task is to find the specific latitudinal limits of different animals.

She explained that this research was started because “it’s really important to know where animals are going to be distributed.” According to Sunday, the most popular approach is to take climate models and all the animal distributions and predict where they are going to be. However, she feels that there is “a long history of the study of ecology that needs to be used when trying to make predictions about the future.” She stated, “Because animals are not chemicals, you cannot [predict their actions] that easily just based on temperature.” Her position is that researchers need to take into account how the organisms interact with their environment and each other. The results of the study show that some ecological factors are essential to take into account when looking at matters such as this.

The main conclusion of this study is that animals are moving and that in the ocean the shifts are “more cohesive,” with whole ecosystems moving, whereas on land there will be more reshuffling. Sunday said that the end result on land will be animals that have never lived together before coming into close contact with each other. She called these phenomena “ecological surprises.”

Sunday concluded by sharing that Charles Darwin had predicted what they found on land. While terrestrial animals are limited to the north by the cold, their southern limitations are defined by competition and other ecological factors rather than heat. Similar results were not found in the ocean.

Winnipeg Alphabestiary comes to roost at SFU Gallery

By
EIC
-
0

By Ashley McLellan

Six years after its creation, this collection of human-animal chimeras has been revived 

The Winnipeg Alphabestiary exhibition offers a creature collection that considers the similarities and differences between us and them. Originally commissioned for the 25th anniversary issue of Border Crossings in 2006, The Winnipeg Alphabestiary was created by 26 artists who have invigorated the Winnipeg art community.

Taking its cue from medieval bestiaries that served as guidebooks to animal kingdoms both observed and mythological, The Winnipeg Alphabestiary presents a playful approach to the representation of a wide variety of creatures and issues. By combining animal representation with text, the traditional alphabestiary served as an educational tool for children that taught both language and behaviour. Animals such as cats personified positive traits like poise and sophistication. However, this collection instead reveals personal responses to the parameters of the alphabestiary.

The animals depicted in historical bestiaries always remained hierarchically below humans, though they offered counsel on controlling the wild side of human nature. Contemporary bestiaries, such as the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art’s 2005 exhibition Becoming Animal, seem to reflect a more reciprocal relationship between human and beast, offering an insight into the impacts that animals might have on our subjectivities. SFU Gallery director Bill Jeffries says, “Many museums and many artists have turned to the animal not only as a warning device regarding the impending [environmental] calamity, but also as an emblem of human traits.” What, then, can contemporary hybrid and mythological creatures tell us?

In The Winnipeg Alphabestiary, the lines between human and animal are blurred. Janet Werner’s Goat Girl combines the body of a goat with the head of a girl. This creature draws on Greek mythology, which identified half-men, half-goats as satyrs. These creatures were known for being lustful and fond of dancing and drink. However, the furrowed brow on Goat Girl reveals concern rather than merriment.

In Adrian Williams’s Tiger, the animal’s tail and bottom peek in from the edge of the work, and a man holding a wooden sword grasps the tail.  The man bears the physical markings of having already been in a scuffle, for which he does not seem to have been adequately prepared. Playful in composition, the relationship between human and wild beast is a point of both concern and of intrigue. Will they become friends and face the environmental calamity together, or continue to fight it, and each other, on their own?

While The Winnipeg Alphabestiary addresses more serious issues, it maintains a playful and upbeat manner. “It demonstrates how much fun it is to have fun,” says Jeffries, particularly since the Vancouver art community is known for favouring less playful, more serious and conceptual art.

The Winnipeg Alphabestiary does not represent beasts in order to preach moral teachings to its viewers, but instead reflects a more personal and thoughtful relationship with creatures of all shapes and sizes.  From Wanda Koop’s Ape to Shaun Morin’s Zebra, the Alphabestiary invites the viewer into a party, Winnipeg style. Although humans may dominate the animal kingdom, animals will no doubt have the last word. If we were as smart as we think we are, we’d embrace the beasts around and within us.

Build SFU attempts to build student involvement

By
EIC
-
0

By Sheliza Thobani

A number of issues discussed, including corporate sponsorship, outreach, and student input.

Fourteen students spoke on behalf of almost 30,000 at a town hall meeting held last week regarding Build SFU. The main issue discussed was a lack of awareness among the student population. After passing a referendum allowing for the Student Union Building (SUB) project to commence, why are students still unaware of the five-year plan? The group sought to answer that question and explore possible ways to get more students involved and raise awareness for the project.

There is a website (buildsfu.ca), Facebook group, and Twitter account, but one of the students present asked, “Is there a Facebook group? Because I haven’t found it.” It was suggested that updates concerning Build SFU should be more easily accessible through SFU social media groups.

“What will make students care?” asked URO Jeff McCann, who led the meeting. Several solutions were proposed. One was to make clear that students will be paying for it out of their fees. Starting in the fall of 2014, SFU undergraduates will pay $10 a semester for the building to cover the $65 million price tag. That fee will rise by $10 every year until it caps at $90 in 2022.

Another solution is to emphasize the possible opportunities. One student said, “Potentially, it could even make people’s careers if they contribute as students. The first thing we need to do is make people realize that this is something that is not just good for the school, but good for them and the future generations.”

It was proposed that students be allowed input on design and marketing plans. This could gear towards co-op students, who may be looking to meet graduation requirements. It was expressed that incentives, such as money and grades, might be the only way to get students truly motivated.

There was an alternative to increasing tuition costs: corporate sponsorship. “So if [a corporation] walks in the door and says, ‘here’s $30 million for your student union building,’ is that something students are interested in, or not?” McCann asked. One person responded, “I personally think that students won’t really care. They would be more concerned with saving three hundred dollars.” However, the room was torn on this, arguing the morality of corporate naming rights. The controversy of Goldcorp renaming the Woodward’s building remains a sore subject for many, so a conclusion has yet to be made.

Discussed building features have included a larger selection of food in the SUB and stadium. As Build SFU hopes to establish a larger sense of community, they are currently finalizing a roadmap to make this five-year plan more digestible. They are in the process of creating another “Think Tank”, which will allow for active consultation over the next five years. A project manager will be hired for fall 2012, and in a year they hope to have the location set. After two years, they hope for sustainability to be addressed.The floor plan will be negotiated after four years.

Sound bites

By
EIC
-
0

Vancouver launches Arts and Culture Policy Council

As of May 23, the City of Vancouver officially has a new arts committee comprised of both artists and directors of non-profits arts organizations.

In February, Mayor Gregor Robertson approved the creation of the Arts and Culture Policy Council (ACPC) to support and strengthen the arts community, and the idea was well-received by the  community due to a need for a direct channel to the City Council. The ACPC will identify local issues, provide advice on civic arts programs and services, gather public feedback, and engage in public outreach.

The ACPC is composed of 15 voting members serving for specific lengths of time. Members selected represent a broad spectrum of performing, visual, and literary arts. One of the committee members is SFU’s Katherine McManus, director of the Writing and Publishing Program.

The council will be supplemented with non-voting liaisons from City Council, the Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation, the Vancouver Board of Education, and City staff. An existing council for public art will be absorbed as a subcommittee, and one of the first issues to be discussed is restructuring public art funding to better serve specific neighbourhoods.

– Monica Miller

SFU grad-directed doc wins several awards

What began as a Ph.D project turned into an award-winning documentary. People of a Feather, directed by Joel Heath, who completed his doctorate at SFU in 2007, captures the intimate relationship between eider ducks and the Sanikiluaq community in the Arctic.

While installing underwater cameras around the Belcher Islands to document the eider ducks, Heath discovered that populations were declining due to habitat destruction caused by the construction of hydroelectric dams by Hudson Bay. Footage was collected over seven winters, including underwater recordings, and the documentary premiered at Hot Docs 2011.

People of a Feather has since been warmly received at film festivals the world over. It has won several awards, including a Leo for Best Documentary and Best Screenwriting, Best Feature Film in New Zealand, and the Jury Award in Seoul’s Green Film Festival.

The contemplative documentary shows that both the effects of climate change and the path to reversing it are wrought with complexity.  Heath contrasts modern technology and Inuit knowledge of different generations in a way that expands the story’s accessibility beyond the eco-conscious.

– Esther Tung

Album review: Vows — Kimbra

By
EIC
-
0

By Kristina Charania

Bold vocals and fearless genre exploration load up Vows with punchy, ambitious charm

Kimbra Johnson is a rare jack-of-all-genres, and nearly their master, too. Her debut album Vows exudes brassy confidence, and as a showcase of her musical flexibility it has earned its place in the spotlight. Sampling multiple sounds ranging from ‘90s R&B to retro and jazz, Vows is an experiment gone right, where every genre of the last 40 years is packed into a multi-coloured pixie stick and devoured in one go.

Unheard of in North America until recently, Kimbra has already become a household name in New Zealand and Australia, where Vows has gone platinum since its initial release in 2011. The 22-year-old attained overseas stardom after she was featured in Gotye’s hit, “Somebody That I Used to Know”.

Along with Foster the People’s lead singer Marc Foster and Montreal-born DJ A-Trak, Kimbra lends her vocal prowess to the recent single “Warrior”. The music video — posted on the Converse Youtube channel and added to the album’s U.S. release  —  features the trio sporting the famous shoe in a to-the-death wrestling match.

“Settle Down” is one of Vows’ sassiest and most powerful tracks. Kimbra shows a full range of jazzy vocals in a dance-and-shout breakout as she sings about her cookie-cutter plans to become a prim and proper ‘50s housewife. Her dominant decision-making (“We’ll call her Nebraska, Nebraska Jones / she’ll have your nose, just so you know”) and insistence on possessing Mr. Right is disturbing and unnerving. If you require a dominatrix crash course, this is the song for you.

Another highlight is the bonus track “Call Me”, a sexy Broadway-sized jazz-gospel hybrid that will have you dancing and yowling into your umbrella-turned-microphone (rather embarrassingly) down drab elevators and scuzzy alleyways.

The mellow track on Vows is “The Build Up”, which features tinkling, breathy Bjork-esque vocals. The song is beautiful in its frailty, imagery, and stream of consciousness. This is one of the few moments Kimbra retracts her claws to reveal a soft heart that’s otherwise disguised by the album’s boldness.

A mishmash of genres boosts the mass appeal of Vows, and the new lineup of tracks on the U.S. version makes it more cohesive than its original release in New Zealand and Australia, which had a couple of forgettable, aimless tracks that dulled the recording. Vows, revisited, is a fresh, tasteful, and intelligent production that not only keeps you on your toes but promises, with the right tweaking, a stellar sophomore album.

Ask Mystic Gary: Relationship Woes

By
EIC
-
0

Dear Mystic Gary,

My boyfriend and I have been in a steady, committed relationship for just over three years now. We even moved in together last October, and now share an apartment. But even though we now live together, it feels like we hardly see each other with our busy schedules, and now I’m afraid we’re drifting apart. Please help.

— Lost in Lougheed

 

Dear Lost,

While your plight pains me so like crane that has swallowed fish bone, I must interject, don’t you people ever write in just to say hello? By taking the mystic’s oath I am sworn to help all who seek my sage counsel. But you could still come by for mahjong, or tea, or something not so stereotypical.

Anyways as for your problem, matters of love are as as fickle as political dissident who will not reveal meeting location of compatriots. But I have seen enough of your western romantic comedies starring Matthew McConaughey to understand that most of these situations can be remedied by a grand gesture of love.

But these grand gestures can often be time-consuming and economically unsound. So rather than single gesture to show your partner how much he or she means to you, instead try several hundred inadequate, hastily assembled measures.

Rather than whisking her off her feet with a romantic getaway in the city, or surprising him with tickets to the playoffs “just because,” why not try lobbing several handfuls of those chalky candy hearts at them everyday for a month.

If you doubt me, just take a stroll through you rlocal Hallmark store and see how many items you find with “Made in China,” compared to, say, “Made in anywhere else.” Cheap economic love manufactured under cruel conditions is most superior every time!

 

May your relationship have the strength of 10,000 li

 

—Mystic Gary

 

By Gary Lim

SFU installs new silent fire alarms

By
EIC
-
0

By Brad McLeod

BURNABY— In what will certainly be described as alarming (No. —Ed) news, Simon Fraser University made history this week with the installation of a bold new technological development, the world’s first totally silent fire alarms.

The new alarms will look and function just as the old ones did, with the only difference being that they will now be completely imperceptible to the human ear.

The initiative has reportedly come as a direct result of student pressure, with many students describing the occasional ringing of alarms in the AQ as “kind of annoying.” Some students have even admitted to having to stop and look around for up to 10 seconds before resuming their normal activity.

This mild inconvenience was too much for the University to sit idly by, and after pouring through the countless disgruntled Facebook and Twitter posts they secretly monitor, they decided to take action.

“We pride ourselves on the quality of our professors too much to let them be interrupted by some warning of nearby fire,” said a representative for the school. “I’m sure most of our students would agree that they would rather die in a fiery blaze than miss a minute of one of their top-notch lectures.”

With a student poll notwithstanding, these remarks are assumed to be totally accurate, but they still only highlight a few of the benefits the new fire alarms will provide. Despite removing the only safety aspect of the device, the new alarms have actually been described as safer by the company who developed it.

“Recent studies have suggested that ordinary fire alarms can cause many ear related injuries including temporary loss of hearing and a ringing sensation. In fact, in most cases, more ear trauma is caused by fire alarms than fire itself,” commented John Stevens, the inventor of the Silent Fire Alarm.

Although the new alarms have had a mostly positive reception, there are still those who are unpleased with the change.

“I just don’t get how we’re going to know if there’s a fire. Has everyone forgotten what fire alarms even mean?” commented the one student who actually evacuates in the event of a fire alarm.

According to the University this will not be a problem. Instead of listening for alarms, students are now being asked to follow @FireSFU on Twitter for instant updates on whether or not the school is burning at any given time.

“Everyone seemed so bored with the old bell ringing,” said the SFU representative. “Now the alarms send out dispatches to social media outlets and make fire safety fun again.”

Despite not having many followers yet, the account has generated considerable interest from students who eagerly await their chance to follow and ignore its warnings.

SFU has maintained that although no more audible fire alarms will take place, that does not necessarily mean the end to all alarms. The school’s “terrorism alert” alarms, which sound identical to that of the old fire alarms, will remain active.

If students hear these alarms, that is an indication that the school is in serious danger. Everyone is advised to clear the building immediately or their lives will be in jeopardy, and it won’t be just some bullshit fire.

Pizza Hands: June 4th

By
EIC
-
0

By April Alayon and Gary Lim

Petter Watch: June 4th

By
EIC
-
0

Petter spotted in parking garage trying to teach himself how to ride a bike.

1...1,3711,3721,373...1,418Page 1,372 of 1,418

Simon Fraser University’s independent student newspaper since 1965.

Contact us: [email protected]

© 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