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BoG splits student rep positions

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By David Dyck

Grads and undergrads will now each have one designated seat on the board of governors

Last week’s board of governors meeting saw a motion passed that takes two student positions on the board and designates one for an undergraduate student, and one to a graduate student. Previously, the two student representatives were elected regardless of whether or not they were graduates or undergraduates.

Outgoing student representative Marc Fontaine spoke to the motion, raising concerns that there are approximately five times more undergraduate students than graduate students at SFU. Ultimately, however, Fontaine supported the motion, stating that “It’ll guarantee there is a graduate student on the board here, which historically — and I’ve looked at the election data — isn’t the case.” According to election data, only two graduate students have served on the board since 2007.

Fontaine saw a bigger problem in the lack of awareness about the board of governors in general and specifically the yearly elections. “Students have no idea. They don’t know what the board is and they don’t understand if they do. It’s not clear and it’s not advertised unless you know where to look, unless you know someone who has run.”

“It would be ironic to miss this opportunity for engagement,” said one board member.

“The history of the student representation on the board of governors has been really two undergraduate students filling those two spots,” said alumni order-in-council Bill Cunningham in response to Fontaine’s comments. “Effectively what we’d be doing is cutting their representation on the university’s governing board in half, and they represent quite a significantly larger constituency than the graduate students.” Cunningham cautioned that it may seem to undergraduates that their representation on the board is being diminished. “Having a background in student politics, this is something that I as an undergraduate activist would be very concerned about,” said Cunningham.

“We’re here not to represent our constituency, but to represent what we think is best for the university,” responded President Andrew Petter. “I would argue that the implications of this change are that we will ensure that there is a grad student perspective brought to bear on that collegial discussion, and that’s a positive. But to ensure that what Bill [Cunningham] fears or says others might fear doesn’t occur, it means we have that added responsibility to ensure that the student voice and perspective is listened to all the more carefully from the undergraduate perspective.”

“If you can properly promote the election and get a variety of students [to run, then] . . . hopefully the students will take the time to vote for the person who can best promote themselves, which reflects on how they will promote students,” concluded Fontaine.

Elections for the board of governors will occur online this week. There are three undergraduates and one graduate student in the running.

SFU researchers develop a treatment for malaria

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By Alison Roach

SFU’s Brinkman Laboratory collaborates with international team

An international team of researchers including SFU scientists has developed a new therapy that treats the critically damaging effects of malaria. Though antimalarial drugs designed to prevent and treat the infectious disease do already exist, in reality they only solve part of the problem. Given on their own, antimalarial drugs fail in about one of every four cases of severe malaria, mainly because patients were already suffering from advanced stages of the sickness by the time they were brought to a hospital for treatment.  The research, led by Australia’s Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, is also partially attributed to The Brinkman Laboratory at SFU.

“With severe malaria, and many other types of infections, it is actually the body’s response to the infection going too overblown that can cause the severe disease and death; the body literally starts severely damaging itself as it tries to attack the disease-causing microbe,” said Dr. Fiona Brinkman, an SFU professor in the Department of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry and the head of The Brinkman Laboratory.

Specifically, the new therapy developed is a peptide that acts as an immune-modulator, lessening the damaging inflammation in the body. The treatment could mean significantly improving chances of survival for people struck with the most devastating cases of malaria. In these advanced cases, the disease causes inflammation in the patient which can damage organs. The new drug treatment has been through successful initial testing, but still needs to go through several phases of clinical trials before it’s ready to be made available publically.

One major innovation of the drug was how it was developed. The researchers at The Brinkman Laboratory concentrate on the emerging field of Pathogenomics in their work. The lab uses this new approach in the study pathogens, which involves combining genomics — the study of the genomes of an organism — and bioinformatics — the application of computer science and information technology to biology and medicine. Using this new approach of algorithms, databases, and information systems applied to biological and medicinal science, the research team developed a database and analysis platform, called InnateDB. As Brinkman explained, the program was “used to provide unique insights into the data not possible through more basic analysis approaches.”

Brinkman believes that the combination of an antibiotic and an immune-modulator “may reflect a fundamental shift toward different approaches to infectious disease control. Rather than just providing an antibiotic/anti-malarial that kills the microbe, this kind of approach allows treatment to more effectively target the real problem. . . . This kind of approach could be potentially developed in the future to much more effectively treat a whole range of infectious diseases.”

This discovery is an instance of targeting both the underlying problem as well as the serious symptoms caused by it. This new method of approaching infectious disease also comes at a critical point in time.

“Antibiotic resistance is increasingly alarming, leading to more treatment failures and higher costs for more expensive drug regimes. As described by the World Health Organization and others, we are in a ‘race against time to develop new antibiotics’. This kind of approach of using an immune modulator is really promising as it may be less subject to antimicrobial resistance since it isn’t actually killing the microbe, but rather it targets the real source of the problem—ourselves and our immune system,” stated Brinkman.

SFU commemorates deceased grad student

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By Graham Cook

Plaque installed to remember Andrew Wade, a visual analytics student who was killed in a plane crash last year

A plaque commemorating the memory of Andrew T. Wade, an SFU graduate student who died last September, has been mounted outside of the interactive arts and technology labs on the surrey campus. The plaque, which depicts Wade in front of the Taj Mahal, is fixed on a wall just steps away from the lab that Wade himself worked in. He was the first person to graduate from the Master’s Degree Program in Visual Analytics.

Wade, who came to SFU from Denver, Colorado and is described on the plaque as “a pioneer in the field of Visual Analytics,” perished in a plane crash in Nepal that also claimed the lives of 18 others, including the pilot. The memorial states that Wade was working with SFU’s BC-India Mobility Initiative, using his skills in Visual Analytics to solve data set problems in software.

Despite being just 26 years old at the time of his death, Wade had already worked with Boeing to find ways to protect planes from bird strikes. His plaque states that his work led to “changes in five Boeing aircraft and their pilot safety manual,” as well as a full-time position with Boeing that would have begun in November 2011.

The family of Andrew Wade accepted his master’s degree on his behalf during convocation last October. In addition, The Andrew Wade Memorial Scholarship in Visual Analytics will be awarded every year to a student of the Master’s Degree in Visual Analytics at SFU.

Where is our Olympic cultural legacy?

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EIC
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By Esther Tung

SFU study finds few lasting benefits for the arts and culture sector two years after the Olympics

Before I can approach Duncan Low for our interview, a woman steps in to chat with him for several minutes about the research he had just presented on. I learn later that she is Edna dos Santos-Duisenberg, the chief of the Creative Economy Programme with the United Nation’s Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), who mentioned to him that she had never heard about the cultural component of Vancouver’s Winter Olympics.

“If she didn’t know about our Cultural Olympiad, then maybe it’s not such a crazy idea why the [international] press didn’t turn up for it either,” says Low, who had been invited to speak at the BCreative Conference May 12 on his study of the “cultural legacy” left behind by the Winter Olympics.

Putting in a bid to host the Olympics requires an outline of what will be done to prepare the city for the event, grouped into three main pillars: sports, culture, and environment. While Vancouver did well on the sports front, and at least appeared to fulfill its promises of sustainability, many arts organizations felt as though the $20 million set aside for arts and culture programming were poorly used in creating lasting benefits for the sector. Low’s study confirms some of those suspicions.

Much of his study’s conclusion came from comparing international press coverage of Cultural Olympiads. Vancouver’s coverage was small not only compared to previous hosts, but even upcoming Olympics. Between January 2008 and April 2010, 54 articles in American and international newspapers mentioned the Cultural Olympiad, and over half were categorized as “passing references.”

“For the amount of money we spent, we could have taken Canadian artists around the world and gotten more coverage,” says Low. The study was Low’s master’s thesis under SFU’s urban studies program, which he entered after leaving his role as executive director at the Vancouver East Cultural Centre. “Or we could have taken that $20 million, popped it into a bank account, and at a five per cent interest rate, generate $1 million a year that we could call our cultural legacy for the rest of our lives.”

A legacy, cultural or not, isn’t just about worldwide recognition, says Low, it can also be about creating visible and meaningful change within the boundaries of the city as well. Whistler accommodation, built for athletes during the Olympics, was converted into price-controlled housing for people who worked and lived in Whistler as an easy, permanent solution to a social problem. Quebec City celebrated their 400th anniversary by building the world’s largest architectural projection, The Image Mill. Four years later, Quebec Harbour continues to bustle with activity every summer as residents and tourists congregate to watch the nightly free shows.

In Vancouver, $10 million was spent on laying down the tracks for the beloved Olympic streetcars, borrowed from Brussels for the two weeks of celebrations, and security costs ballooned to five times the original $175 million estimate.

“Culture always starts out big, but as things progress, it ended up on the periphery of the Olympic boom,” says Low, alluding to the coincidental timing of large cuts to arts funding and changes in grant eligibilities in the months leading up to the celebrations.

But Low is careful to mention that the Olympics had positive effects. Some productions commissioned with Cultural Olympiad funding have gone on to stages elsewhere. Public art has a greater presence than before, three civic theatres have been renovated, and there is the Canada Line, which isperhaps the only benefit still visible in the city today. But Low is quick to remind that the debate over the construction of the Evergreen Line has been going on since the ‘90s.

Low’s study is not a comprehensive assessment of the Olympics’ effects on professional arts and culture in Vancouver, but it does provide a starting point for understanding them. Harnessing the critical mass that comes with mega-events to implement meaningful, lasting change can be done. “Mega-events have this rolling effect that knocks all sorts of barriers down,” he says.

SFU’s Pipe Band plays New York City

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By Graham Cook

Concert was recorded for upcoming CD release

SFU’s world-renowned pipe band played in New York City for the second time in its 30-year history in early May. The performance, held at the Lincoln Centre for the Performing Arts, commemorated the pipe band’s 30th anniversary. In addition to the concert, the organization held piping, drumming, and highland dancing classes for locals during their time in the city.

Under the direction of pipe major Terry Lee, the band consists of more than 20 pipers, as well as a bass section and snare drummers. They have been able to capture six world championships and have released 10 CDs to date, including a previous recording at New York City’s Carnegie Hall. The Lincoln Centre performance will be released as their 11th  CD.

A member of the band, piper Myles Stewart, spoke with The Peak about the recent concert. He stated that in the buildup to the performance, that they had to revamp nearly their entire repertoire, learning a multitude of new music. Before the trip, the pipe band held a practice concert at the Vogue Theatre in order to “get the nerves out” and ensure that everything ran smoothly on the night of the recording.

As far as the trip itself, Stewart spoke very highly of the experience. “It was awesome, I’ve never been to New York City before.” The group arrived on May 2 and spent the first two days as tourists. Then came the concert on the fourth. According to Stewart, it managed to fill up approximately 75 per cent of the Lincoln Centre, which he considered to be “pretty good for a pipe band in Manhattan.” The instructional classes were held over the following weekend, and the trip expedition concluded on Monday with one more day to take in the city that never sleeps.

BoG nominees announced

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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