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Vehicle on fire at Maggie Benston Centre parkade

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Cause of the fire is still unknown, according to Ringrose. PHOTO: Amirul Anirban / The Peak

By: Yelin Gemma Lee, News Writer

On the afternoon of February 10, a vehicle fire was reported at the SFU Burnaby campus. The cause is unknown.  According to Andrea Ringrose, senior director of Campus Public Safety (CPS), a contractor saw the first signs of smoke coming from a vehicle in level 7000 of the West Mall Centre parkade and contacted CPS at 2:15 p.m.

This is the second car fire incident at SFU. The last incident in July 2021 involved three cars catching on fire at the West Mall parkade. 

The Peak spoke to Ringrose to learn more about the incident. “With Burnaby Fire Department en route following our 911 call, all available CPS units were immediately dispatched to assess hazard(s), confirm if there were people requiring immediate assistance, ensure the safe movement of community members from the area, and to initiate traffic control and escort Burnaby Fire units,” said Ringrose. 

Ringrose said the “coordinated response came together quickly,” with the first CPS responders and traffic and road manager on-site within two minutes of the report. The first Burnaby fire truck was directed to the hazard by CPS within 10 minutes of the 911 call. 

The Peak reached out to the Burnaby Fire Department for a comment, but didn’t receive a response before the publication deadline. 

The Burnaby Fire Department, CPS supervisors, traffic and road safety team, and security staff were all collectively involved in addressing the incident. Additionally, Ringrose said staff from meeting, event, and conference services, and parking enforcement helped with crowd control and redirecting people and vehicles to safety. She emphasized many community members were involved in addressing the situation and ensuring public safety including facilities, safety and risk services, contractors, and SFU marketing and communications department. 

When witnessing a potential hazard, Ringrose advised students and community members proceed in the following order: 

  1. Get yourself to safety, 
  2. Call 911 if the situation could require fire, police, or ambulatory services, and 
  3. Notify SFU CPS. 

At that point, students should not re-enter the hazardous area and should follow the directions of CPS and other emergency personnel. 

Ringrose highly recommends SFU community members save the SFU CPS urgent phone number in their phone, as well as download the SFU Snap app with notifications enabled. Emergency notifications and updates are posted on the SFU Snap app and the SFU Twitter account.

“Thanks to the SFU community for coming together to keep each other safe: The contractor who reported the first sign of smoke, the managers in the area that evacuated people as a precaution and the patience of staff, faculty and students who calmly cleared the area despite the disruption to their afternoon!” 

SFU Board of Governors declares climate emergency

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factories in the background with smoke
Over 100 staff and faculty wrote an open letter criticizing the school's inaction against pipeline extensions. PHOTO: Chris LeBoutillier / Unsplash

By: Luke Faulks, Staff Writer

After years of lobbying from climate advocacy group SFU350, the Board of Governors (BOG) formally declared a climate emergency on January 28. The Board’s vote approved most elements from the student group’s 2021 Climate Emergency Declaration (CED) open letter.

In a statement to The Peak, SFU350 said, “The declaration is really a concrete acknowledgment by the university of the climate crisis that we’re in and an understanding that the university does have a role to play.” 

SFU350 said while they are “optimistic” about the declaration, “the day-to-day changes will be minimal in the lives of students right now.”

The declaration by BoG brought the university in line with six of seven demands from the letter. The six demands approved included:

  • decarbonize university facilities in accordance with the IPCC’s recommendations, 
  • divest from carbon-intensive investments, 
  • create a “climate hub” to engage the student population on the crisis, 
  • create future climate policy with an eye to climate justice for disenfranchised communities, educate students about climate change and climate justice, and
  • set out a series of immediate policy actions to take in a report by April 2022. 

The BoG didn’t agree to the call to “raise awareness and amplify” concerns around the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion (TMX). According to SFU350, the BoG argued it was “‘inappropriate’ to take a position on issues that fall beyond its ‘institutional mandate.’” SFU350 does not agree with this explanation. 

“The decision to divest, their statements on anti-Black racism, support for scholars in Afghanistan, and SFU Athletics team name change [ . . . ] were political,” said the advocacy group. 

“The City of Burnaby and the fire department remain concerned about safety issues surrounding TMX, as do Indigenous land defenders and allies,” said SFU350. “We will continue to push for safety, environmental awareness, and stand with Host Nations to uphold Indigenous rights and sovereignty surrounding TMX both on and off-campus.”

In a statement to The Peak, SFU writes it will not “take public positions on fossil fuel projects more generally or on other such issues” but “fosters open debate and supports the rights of its faculty members and students to engage in these issues.” 

On March 31, various faculty sent an open letter to the administration asking the school to “fully and swiftly engage with all the issues raised in SFU350’s CED.

“Declaring a climate emergency is important for emphasizing the urgency with which we need to act,” states the letter. “We call on SFU to raise awareness about the TMX pipeline in the SFU community and create opportunities for learning.”
 

The open letter from faculty criticized SFU’s decision to not speak on the TMX expansion. “If senior administration and the BoG chose to not speak out more directly against TMX, we ask that our academic freedom not be used to justify that decision. The notion that the university cannot take a stand on a political issue is not the leadership required from an engaged public institution in a climate emergency.” The letter was signed by over 100 staff.

The Board also voted to convert the 2014 Responsible Investment Committee into the “Climate Action and Sustainability Committee.”

SFU350 are “pleased to see that BoG agrees and made this change.”  

According to SFU’s statement, later this year, SFU Sustainability is set to work with the Sustainability Advisory Council “to develop the next iteration of the university’s sustainability plan,” which includes the school’s “climate action commitments.”

SFU350 was not dismayed by a lack of immediate policy action on their letter. Outside of getting the school to agree with the notion of a climate crisis, SFU350 said the move will help students and climate advocates pressure the university to keep its work. 

“This is a mechanism to hold SFU accountable for what they say they’re going to do to help mitigate and adapt to the climate emergency.”

Comics

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Need to Know, Need to Go: Feb 28–Mar 13

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Illustration of a blue calendar, with "Need to Know, Need to Go" written on top
Arts & Culture events to catch around the city. Image courtesy of Brianna Quan

By: Gurleen Aujla, Peak Associate

SFU ArtsLIVE: Banana Bread and Shawn Bullshields | March 1, 12:30 p.m.–1:30 p.m. | FREE | Convocation Mall

Presented by SFU Woodward’s Cultural Programs and the Student Experience Initiative, ArtsLIVE hosts live pop-ups and performances. This event features Banana Bread, “a 3-piece ukulele-based acoustic band composed of first-generation Japanese musicians.” They will be performing in English and Japanese. Also performing is Shawn Bullshields, a Blackfoot singer and guitarist focusing on pop, blues, country, and folk genres. SFU ArtsLIVE encourages attendees to engage with the performances as they feel comfortable; watch for a few minutes or bring your lunch and enjoy a break from your day. No pre-registration is required. 

 

Kímmapiiyipitssini: The Meaning of Empathy | March 2, 6:00 p.m.–7:00 p.m. | FREE | Online

The SFU Vancity Office of Community Engagement is hosting a screening and discussion of Kímmapiiyipitssini: The Meaning of Empathy. Following filmmaker Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers, it highlights the impact of the drug poisoning epidemic as a condition of settler colonial trauma on the Kainai Nation. The film shows community-led initiatives to deal with the impacts of the substance abuse crisis while striving for harm reduction practices. Kímmapiiyipitssini was a2021 winner of the Rogers Audience Award for Best Canadian Documentary. Tailfeathers also received the award for Emerging Canadian Filmmaker that same year. Registrants will be able to view the film one week before the discussion event. Register on Eventbrite.

 

One Book One SFU: Hiromi Goto’s Shadow Life | March 9, 7:00 p.m. | FREE | Online

Join SFU Library for a conversation with Hiromi Goto, a Japanese emigrant and author of Shadow Life. Goto will be joined by Sarah Leavitt, author and UBC professor, and Erica Hiroka Isomura, a Chinese Canadian and fourth generation Japanese multi-disciplinary artist. Shadow Life is a graphic novel about a 76-year-old widow who, after being placed in an assisted living home by her daughters, secretly finds a bachelor apartment to live in. Shadow Life is the 2022 Asian/Pacific American Literature Award Winner for Adult Fiction. Copies of the book are available at all three campus libraries. Pre-registration for this event is required through Eventbrite.

 

YWIB International Women’s Day Conference | March 12, 4:00 p.m.–6:30 p.m. | $6.32–8.45 | Online

The SFU Young Women in Business (YWIB) club is hosting its annual conference celebrating International Women’s Day. This year’s theme is “Own Who You Are,” to reflect on individuals’ characteristics in order to break predetermined expectations and “how they’re able to positively impact the world.” The event will feature a panel discussion, keynote speaker, and networking sessions between professionals and students. A portion of ticket sales will be donated to the Downtown Eastside Women’s Centre. To purchase a ticket, register on Eventbrite; early bird pricing ends on February 28.

SFU’s financial aid falls short of helping international students

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A student is in a booth, running their hand over their forehead. A laptop is open in front of them, decorated with stickers. They look stressed about broad circumstance, which is not helped by whatever they’re seeing on-screen.
Financial aid is nice, but really doesn’t measure up to the problem of academic fees. PHOTO: Tim Gouw / Unsplash

By: Tamanna T., Staff Writer

University is very freaking expensive. As an international fourth-year Arts and Social Sciences student, I pay between $12,000 to $13,000 every semester. That’s a large sum of money. The stress of every tuition deadline starts wreaking havoc in most middle-class homes once enrollment dates are out. Amidst all the tension, bursary applications open up, and the students are reminded of the financial restraints of university life. Despite reverently applying for bursaries and grants, do they help much? As an international student, not really. 

Bursary applications are due in the last month of every semester, right when exams are about to begin, so it’s hard enough to remember to apply in the first place. Even if you do manage to apply on time, students don’t hear back until the middle of the next semester — right in the thick of midterm season. This bursary system clearly doesn’t consider students’ mental health, because the timings of these deadlines are atrocious. 

The amount offered by bursaries, grants, and scholarships is not enough to ease the financial burden on students. Most of the international students I know have taken additional student loans — sponsored by their home country — to financially sustain themselves in Canada. Still, some of these students remain ineligible for financial aid.

In my experience, I have usually used the amount given by these awards to pay for bills and maybe groceries, but it has never really helped much in regards to tuition. While financial aid is much appreciated, the majority of awards are under $1,000 — barely enough to cover a month’s rent, let alone university costs. 

Bursaries and awards are described as “a supplemental source of funding” that is intended to help students financially. If you ask me, they fail to do that in an impactful way, even for domestic students whose tuition generally caps out around $4,000 a semester. SFU bursaries and awards fall short in de-stressing students facing financial issues. 

A different, more efficient, system is needed to assist students experiencing financial strain. A great start would be to start offering bursaries earlier in the semester, rather than in the middle of midterm season. This would help students manage their finances and costs in a better headspace, and avoid existing in precarity until week seven, wondering if they’re going to get financial aid at all. 

Currently, international students engage with the same financial aid system as domestic students. There really needs to be a separate process for international students, which assesses financial needs according to the amount of tuition they pay.  

This could require more proof of financial distress, and in many cases this should be feasible. While this offloads some work onto students, a more robust financial aid system might allow a student to survive off only two jobs, as opposed to three or more. Though this is still a lot of work, it would be an improvement over the current conditions for international students.

With SFU’s continued operating surpluses, students could be getting better and more consistent funding to help them remain enrolled and study with a bit more ease. It is high time that better assessment is done with each application to evaluate individual needs, as well as addressing what SFU can provide as financial awards to the student. If there is a tuition hike every consecutive year, why doesn’t the amount of awards and bursaries provided also increase?

Councillors vote to re-open the Student Union Building

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SFU stadium with red seats
Krystal Chan / The Peak

By: Karissa Ketter, News Writer

Vote on re-opening of the Student Union Building (SUB)

On January 20, the SFSS announced they were closing the SUB due to COVID-19 safety. They had tentatively scheduled the SUB to re-open on February 18, 2022. 

At the February 16 Council meeting, a motion was made to re-open the SUB on February 22, 2022. The decision to extend the opening came from the re-opening colliding with a weekend and a statutory holiday, as February 21 was Family Day. The motion proposed the SUB re-open at reduced capacity to limit the potential for COVID-19 transmission within the space. 

Vice-president events and student affairs Jess Dela Cruz noted the executive committee has been planning the reduced capacity model alongside SUB building staff for about a month. She reported some seats in the common study areas have been removed to encourage social distancing. 

This allows students the option to sit in single-occupancy areas or gather in groups within the SUB.

“The SFSS is obviously taking a safer approach than SFU and the government to reduce the transmission of COVID-19 within our spaces,” said Dela Cruz. 

Matthew Provost, vice-president external and community affairs, added the SFSS is planning to open bookable rooms to immunocompromised students and students who live with immunocompromised household members through SFU’s Disability and Neurodivergent Alliance. The details of bookings have not yet been finalized.

Health science student representative Jocelle Refol asked whether there would be a timeline for the reduced capacity model. 

Provost noted the executive committee is currently planning to slowly transition and reach full capacity for the Fall 2022 semester. However, the incoming SFSS executives will make the final decision. 

Provost also noted that despite the extreme amount of student backlash they faced for their decision to close the SUB, the SFSS says they had the community’s health interest in mind.

Hilary Tsui, a student in attendance, shared their experience with finding a study space with Council. Tsui is in favour of re-opening the SUB, and highlighted the lack of study space for small groups elsewhere on campus and how their study time is regularly interrupted by crowds. 

The motion to open the SUB on February 22 at a reduced capacity model passed unanimously. 

The Council purchases FN95 masks and personal protective equipment for students

The executive committee brought forth a motion for Council to allocate $30,000 to the purchase of FN95 masks and various personal protective equipment (PPE) for students across campus. 

Provost noted with the opening of the SUB, the executive committee felt it was important to provide PPE for students in that space. The masks will be available to students for free.

According to the SFSS, the FN95 masks are medical grade PPE with similarities to KN95 face masks. They are being sourced from local Vancouver businesses and are made in Canada. 

Sustainable energy engineering student society representative Mohammed Al-Sheboul raised the question around allocating some of that fund to making rapid-testing available on campus. 

Provost reported he contacted the BCCDC in December 2021 to apply for SFU to have rapid testing available. They have not yet received confirmation of their application. 

At the time of writing, SFU has rapid antigen test kits available for in-person students at all three campuses.

The Council passed this motion unanimously. 

Seating and space restrictions at the SUB are separated by floor levels. For more information, students can consult the SFSS’s website

Top Ten Vancouver Cafés

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Coffee beans
Hand roasted beans from local café Farmer’s Table. PHOTO: Louis Hansel / Unsplash

By: Sara Brinkac, Humour Editor

1. Black Coffee

An easy Top Ten contender, this café provides Vancouver coffee lovers the simplicity they’re sometimes looking for. By stripping down all the parts of the business, including their menu, Black Coffee tells the customer exactly what they’re getting and how they’re getting it. 

Cost of a 12 oz. cup: $5.75

 

2. The Hot Spot

Both a Hot Spot for coffee lovers and a literal hot spot due to its being located in an infrared yoga studio, this establishment is Vancouver’s favourite multi-activity café. The Hot Spot’s one of a kind studio allows customers to sip a cup of rainwater brewed tea from the inner peace of their yoga mat, and it’s delightful. Once you come you’ll want to nama-stay forever. 

Cost of a 12 oz. cup: $10.75

 

3. Farmer’s Table

While all Vancouver cafés care about ethically sourced ingredients, only Farmer’s Table is committed to a completely locally sourced venture. With each bean strenuously grown in BC’s coffee resistant climate and each table handcrafted by confused farmers, Farmer’s Table is handcrafted through and through. As soon as you walk into this café you know it was built with the bare, amateur hands of Vancouverites committed to the cause of “local.” 

Cost of a 12 oz. cup: $15.00

 

4. The Temperate Forest Café

If there’s one thing Vancouver loves in it’s cafés, it’s plants. And lots of them. Literally taking from BC’s own temperate rainforest, this café is adorned with the most rare and beautiful plants nature has to offer. Grab your friends head down to Mount Pleasant and try our personal favourite roast “bold growth forests.”

Cost for a 12 oz. cup: $8.50

 

5. gęñtrįfÿ 

Taking a page out of Black Coffee’s playbook, this café makes its business model clear in its name. Opening sterile, modern locations in all of Vancouver’s character communities, gęñtrįfÿ has caught the attention of coffee trend followers everywhere. With a European look and baristas that clear citizens from the premises, this café is the perfect place to go when you want to drink up the future of our city. 

Cost for a 12 oz. cup: $13.50

 

6. Unparalleled Roasters
“We keep seeing businesses using 49th parallel in their names for some reason,” says café owner T. Kups. “We didn’t want to confine ourselves to 49/100, we wanted to go above and beyond a cup of coffee.” And beyond a cup of coffee they have gone. With a beverage menu of over 300 different drinks, Unparalleled Roasters quench Vancouver’s unbridled thirst for large quantities of options.

Cost for a 12 oz. cup: $6.50

 

7. The Miner’s Pan 

While The Miner’s Pan has extremely mediocre food and coffee, we believe it’s their exquisitely Vancouver atmosphere that makes them an undeniable Top Ten pick. With raw wood, exposed light bulbs and a ceiling full of painted pipes, The Miner’s Pan reminds Vancouver of a nostalgic time we are constantly trying to revive. Personal favourites of the café atmosphere are the tin cups and literal miner’s pans they serve all their drinks and dishes in. 

Cost for a 12 oz. cup: $11.00

 

8. Pet and Stay

This café was opened with four cats, a dozen dogs, 32 hamsters, and a dream. To be the snuggliest, calmest, most hair-balled café in Vancouver. And they’ve achieved just that. Not only do frequenters of the café lovingly pet, they also insist on staying indefinitely because they “just can’t say goodbye” to the adorable, unadoptable animals. 

Cost for a 12 oz. cup: $10.25

 

9. jacques

Totally French, totally cool, totally jacques. With monotone music by French bands you’ve never heard of and blurry photographs of naked bodies in various positions hung on the walls, this café has the most undeniably cool atmosphere in town. You can’t help but just want to be a part of the jaques crowd, whatever the cost. 

Cost for a 12 oz. cup: $16.00 

 

10. Light Room

Finally the café everyone in Vancouver has been waiting for — a place completely dedicated to perfect lighting. With warm overhead tones and complimentary ring lights per table, it’s impossible to take an unflattering picture in Light Room. So grab your friend, order a cup of their famously complex latte art and start posing today. 

Cost for a 12 oz. cup: $18.50

Vancouver Black Library aims to foster connections that have been historically lost

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Collage of book covers, primarily featuring the colours red, orange, and yellow.
Support this student-led initiative. PHOTO: Gudrun Wai-Gunnarsson / The Peak

By: Gurleen Aujla, Peak Associate

Maya Preshyon is at the forefront of an exciting and much-needed initiative to create the Vancouver Black Library (VBL). “I wanted for a long time to make a space that can fulfill community advocacy needs,” said Preshyon. She hopes VBL will “address the lack of community for Black people, specifically in Vancouver.” 

Preshyon, who is Zimbabwean and Indigenous, came up with the idea for VBL while pursuing a double major in social work and Indigenous studies. 

“I never thought that I would be at the forefront of an organization that’s pursuing change,” they said. However, finding it difficult to make substantial change in the local arts scene, they felt compelled to take action. “I started it not because I felt called to, but because I was so frustrated with not seeing the kind of changes I wanted to see,” Preshyon said.

The VBL will prioritize the needs of the Black community. Run by Black organizers, the library will serve as a safe space for Black and BIPOC community members to connect with each other and borrow books. It aims to become a launchpad for initiatives such as group therapy, poetry readings, and more. As for VBL’s first event, Preshyon intends to draw on her work organizing music festivals and her interest in DJing to host a soft launch karaoke party. 

Preshyon hopes the library will operate from the Hogan’s Alley area in Strathcona. This would pay homage to the Black community that took root there. Efforts are being made to revitalize the neighbourhood after its dismantling in 1970 with the construction of the Georgia and Dunsmuir Viaducts. However, Preshyon believes Vancouver is behind in terms of creating the infrastructure and localization of meaningful community support. “The effects of that are noticeable by every Black person,” she said. 

Speaking about VBL as part of a larger movement, Preshyon said marginalized groups need to continue mobilizing within themselves to form and share knowledge and infrastructure. They discussed how, since 2020, they’ve seen “clusters of people coming together, not just because of shared struggles but [also] celebrating shared joys. 

“It’s important to bring people together who cross paths but never really connect; that connectivity is a resource, and the more people are connected to it, the stronger the resource is.” 

VBL is currently accepting monetary and book donations. After surpassing their initial GoFundMe goal of $6,000, VBL is aiming for $35,000. At the time of publication, VBL has raised over $28,000. 

Funding will be put towards “paying rent for an accessible space that is large enough to house all the books that the community has requested and large enough to be a communal space.” Funds will also be used to compensate people for their operational support and for running workshops and programming, while keeping these offerings free to the public. 

Book donations can be dropped off (more information online) or accepted through their partnership with Massy Books. Massy Books will take used books or allow supporters to purchase books off of VBL’s wishlist at a discounted price. VBL has launched a toolkit to assist any group, including student clubs, organizations, and businesses interested in hosting their own book drive for VBL. 

Currently, their online database, featuring a PDF collection of books, is available to any member of the public for free. 

To stay updated on VBL’s activities and learn how you can get involved, follow them on Instagram, @vanblacklibrary, or visit their website.

SFU Fairtrade launches cashew campaign to encourage safer manufacturing practices

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a clear glass jar with cashews inside
Cashews have a dangerous chemical in their shells that can burn skin during harvest. PHOTO: Krystal Chan / The Peak

By: Karissa Ketter, News Writer

Content warning: mentions of violence and forced labour

SFU Fairtrade has launched a campaign to encourage local BC businesses to make the switch to Fairtrade cashews. The Fairtrade program offers farmers protection against market fluctuations, supports sustainable practices, and ensures workers are paid a livable income.

Canada continues to be a major consumer of cashews, often sourced from India and Brazil. Alongside these two countries, Vietnam is among the biggest exporters of cashews. As more companies emerge to supply cashew-made products such as cashew milk, cashew ice cream, and cashew cheese, the demand for these nuts grows. 

Cashews are dangerous to harvest because their shells contain anacardic acid — an extremely toxic chemical. SFU Fairtrade reports workers are often asked to shell the cashews with their bare hands, exposing them to the anacardic acid. 

The Peak spoke with program coordinator Daphne Chan to find out more about the campaign. “We want to educate the public to change their consumer behaviours,” said Chan. “When they do grocery shopping, we want them to think about [two things] — will this product be benefiting farmers? Or is it going to support child labour and other [labour] problems in the Global South?”

There are multiple reports from Vietnam of forced labour centres where workers undergo brutal conditions as part of a drug treatment program. In Vietnam, people who use drugs are arrested and placed in labour centres as a form of therapy. According to the reports, detainees work for up to seven hours a day under threat of abuse. 

One worker, Que Phong, reported to Human Rights Watch that the resin from the chemicals on the cashews burnt his hands. He was forced to continue working and was threatened to be slapped by the staff if he refused. 

Their work is severely underpaid or unpaid entirely. Phong was paid less than $3 USD a month for his labour. The drug treatment programs are often advertised as one year, but are often extended for two or three. Phong worked for five years.

In an attempt to aid these labour issues, SFU Fairtrade said they have sent three emails to local BC cashew companies to encourage stocking Fairtrade nuts. Through their research, they discovered the popular cashew nut brands in BC, and they focused on those businesses. 

SFU Fairtrade is currently waiting for responses. They hope to communicate with the businesses to discover their interests and concerns about the Fairtrade program to see what is stopping them from participating. 

Chan reported SFU Fairtrade is planning a documentary screening in March to educate students on the manufacturing and sourcing processes of cashews. 

To find updates on the documentary screening or the campaign progress, visit their Instagram, @sfufairtrade.

SFU majors take on society’s minors

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Various people in different majors arguing
The most opinionated minds are on the case. ILLUSTRATION: Jiamin Bai / The Peak

By: Maya Beninteso, Peak Associate

Recently, while a cup of tea was being brewed at The Peak offices, an innocent question was asked: “Is water wet?” While benign in nature, this query sparked an extremely aggressive debate in the office. As no liquid could be consumed until this debate was resolved, The Peak consulted the bright minds, and various majors, at SFU to see their take on this timely, and poignant question. 

Chemistry I:

This shouldn’t be a debate — water is irrefutably wet. When water touches something, such as a shirt, the shirt gets wet. If it touches your hair, it gets wet. If water from your eyes falls onto your homework paper for the fifth time this semester — your homework paper is wet.  Water is simply a collection of individual water molecules (H₂O) that are all touching each other. When water touches something else, that thing becomes wet. By this ironclad logic, water is most definitely wet. There is no counter-argument. 

 

English:

To be or not to be . . . wet? That is the question. 

 

Psychology: 

I have no clue. I know that the failure to drink water can cause impaired cognition. I know that our brain needs water in order to survive. But the truth is, I’m only here to analyse hundreds of dollars worth of textbooks because I thought this would be cheaper than actually attending therapy. I was wrong. Honestly, all I know is the real question should be: what makes you think my answer to “is water wet” would be correct? pulls out a legal pad clicks pen And how does that make you feel?

 

History with a Certificate in Writing and Rhetoric:

Ah, an interesting question, indeed. You see, historically the root of this query may be traced back to an educational episode of Wizards of Waverly Place. But I believe humans have been pondering this question for centuries. So, let us now follow our pensive ancestors footsteps and entertain the ramifications of both possibilities . . . If water is wet, then is a body of water, such as an ocean, wet? Do we consider seaweed, that is fully submerged in water, truly wet? Diametrically opposing the aforementioned option, we take that water is — in fact — not wet. Does that make water, by proxy, dry? Is it then logical to assert water merely makes things wet but is not itself wet?

 

Dance:

Water is a fluid and my movements — like a babbling glacier stream in the spring — should also be fluid, seemingly effortless.