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SFU falls just short of first conference win in last-second heartbreaker

By
EIC
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Michael Provenzano (#20) had 21 points and four assists while playing a game high 37 minutes.

While every loss must sting, Thursday night’s must have been especially painful.

Having battled back from a seven point halftime deficit, SFU were up 73–70 with 7.8 seconds left, seemingly seconds away from their first conference win. Izaiah Sherman-Newsome just needed to move the ball from the baseline and out of harm’s way.

He did so with a pass to Kedar Wright, but a foul was called on the Concordia Cavaliers, and Sherman-Newsome had to repeat the process with just .9 seconds killed off the clock. Again, he passed it to Wright, who seemed to have an opening to clear it out of SFU’s zone.

However, this is where it went wrong. In a rather questionable call, Wright was called out of bounds as he caught the ball. (While the replay’s angle is far from conclusive, he definitely doesn’t look out of bounds).


Well, that was a turnover. Concordia got the ball, and guard Latrell Wilson sunk a three with 1.8 seconds left. Tie game.

But it didn’t end there. Hidde Vos was assessed an iffy foul, and the Concordia shooter was awarded a free throw. Wilson made the shot. 74–73.

“Hidde, he doesn’t want to move his feet there, gets as tight into a guy as he can, a guy who takes out his legs and is known for flopping a bit,” said head coach Steve Hanson. “You’ve got to give [Wilson] credit. He hit a tough shot and he hit the free throw.”

The building that was filled the sound of an excited crowd — probably the loudest all year — just seconds ago fell silent.

JJ Pankratz made one last attempt to save the game with a long shot from half court, but to no avail.

“It’s just tough; I feel for our guys,” said Hanson. “We played hungry tonight, we just didn’t play that last seven seconds perfect[ly].”

Nearly a year to the day since their last conference win (on February 11, 2016), against the same team, and with 18 consecutive losses beforehand both times, the circumstances seemed eerily similar to their first conference win. Instead, the losing streak now extends to 19, one more than last year’s streak.

It’s a tough result for a game that SFU played so well in, and really, probably should have won. But even if you believe the calls that cost SFU the game were wrong, SFU did leave a few points on the table.

The Clan opened the game by allowing eight consecutive points, and missing three attempts from the field. Wright broke the drought with a three-pointer just after the two-minute mark.

However, after dropping the initial eight points, SFU did keep the game fairly tight, trailing at most by 12 points, and ending the half down by only seven.

“The way we started was terrible,” explained Hanson. “[But] guys did some good things, we actually turned them over a lot after they hit their first five or six. We kind of dug in defensively. We forced 12 turnovers in the first half and that was good — we played tough.“

While in the first half the Clan had a hard time finding good spots to shoot — going 10-for-27 from the field (37.0%) — the second half turned that around.

Michael Provenzano and Wright led the comeback attempt, each draining shots, with Provenzano draining 13 points and Wright putting up 15 in the second half.

“When you get late in the game, both coaches are making adjustments, we’re doing different things defensively; they’re doing different things. It really comes down to players making shots,” said Hanson. “Kedar and Mike hit some shots.”

“We played hungry tonight, we just didn’t play that last seven seconds perfect.”

SFU took the lead when down by five points with 10 minutes left; they scored eight straight points. Wright started the sequence by sinking two free throws, then Tyrell Lewin and Provenzano scored layups, before Wright put in a final jumper.

Beside the last-second heartbreaker, SFU never trailed from this point on, and led by as much as five.

With two minutes remaining, Concordia — with a dunk and three consecutive free throws — tied up the game at 68–68.

Wright scored a three to regain the lead. Concordia answered back with a layup, and were down by one.

With 23 seconds left, Provenzano put up two more points, and SFU had a three-point lead. When Concordia missed a three-point attempt and Wright collected the defensive rebound, the game should’ve been over.

Unfortunately, that wasn’t to be.

Wright and Provenzano shared the points lead with 21, while Sherman-Newsome put up 15 and led the team in steals with four. Lewin led the team in rebounds with six — five of them defensive. While not registering a point, Gibran Sewani, who started for the fourth consecutive game, put up three blocks.

Provenzano played 37 minutes during the game, and had played a 40 minute game on the last road trip.

“It’s something we talk about as a staff a lot. We wanted to maybe get him out for one or two minutes, but we’re just not that trusting of the other young guys on the bench,” said Hanson. “He looked tired at times, but he was like, ‘Coach, I’m okay,’ and I kind of trust him. Right after I said that, he scored two quick hoops.

“In a perfect situation, he’s probably playing 33, 34 minutes a night, but that’s not where it’s at. His conditioning is outstanding; there’s not a better conditioned guy in our league.”

Other players spent much of their time on the bench. Andrew Williamson — who averages 15.3 minutes per game — and Othniel Spence — who averages 14 minutes per game — got two and five minutes of court time respectively. Along with Graham Miller, neither player got on the court in the second half. Bongani Moyo, Bowen Bakken, and Vinnie Safin did not receive any minutes.

Tonight: SFU will face off in a rematch against the Western Oregon Wolves, who made it to the NCAA Division II Final Four last year.

In their last matchup on the road, SFU came out to an early lead, going on an 11–2 run to take a 19–11 lead. However, the Wolves answered back with 21 straight points of their own, and were up by nine at the end of the half. SFU never recovered and fell 80–65.

Western Oregon currently sits at third in the conference with a 10–5 conference record. They are a strong defensive team, allowing the second-last amount of points-per-game with 72.1.

“We’ve just got to keep focusing on ourselves, there’s nothing that better teams can do that dictate what we need to do,” said Hanson after Thursday’s game. “We’ve got to have a good practice tomorrow.”

Tip-off is at 7 p.m. in the West Gym.

The Canada 150 and colonial legacies: views from the university

By
EIC
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0

As Canada prepares to celebrate its sesquicentennial year, it seems that the fervor of national pride has also reached the university. Simon Fraser University has put forth a number of specially curated courses and invited the community to experience Canada 150 from its campuses.

We are often told that Canada has much to celebrate. A century and a half after confederation, the draw of freedom and respect for differences makes this ‘nation’ unique in the world. Yet we need not look far to see the hypocrisy of the Canadian identity.

There are very fundamental problems that undermine the Canadian state, ones built on colonialism and, in the case of a large portion of the country, its continued existence on unceded Indigenous territory. Moreover, there are a myriad of instances that undermine those values of cultural diversity and acceptance that we are told underpin the nation.

With this in mind, I spoke to some members of the SFU community who shared their insights on the 150th anniversary and its significance at the university.

Neglecting history

Maddi* is a First Nation student majoring in gender, sexuality, and women’s studies (GSWS). This semester, she was part of a team that gathered perspectives of Indigenous students on the Canada 150 for the publication of this month’s Indigenous Alternative Media zine. She said that most of the students whom she interviewed felt strongly that the anniversary celebration “was neglecting the history of First Nation people and it was capsulating Canada into 150 years.”

For these reasons, Maddi explained, she felt that there were problems with the university — and the country — marking an occasion which comes on the heels of 150 years of colonialism.

“This is a brand-new wound and we are still healing,” Maddi noted. She also expressed that the university had a long way to go to make her, and other Indigenous students, feel comfortable. It’s the little things such as following protocol during territorial acknowledgements at events — seeking a proper welcome to the land — that make a difference, she said.

This sentiment was echoed by another member of the zine team, Matt*, a First Nation student in communications. The university in many ways still carries the baggage of the country’s colonial past. Its namesake, after a prominent explorer and settler on the local territory, Simon Fraser, and scenes portrayed in the large mural  overhanging the AQ north concourse are in many ways tied to the anniversary that the Canada is celebrating.  

“I think that’s what is missing – is people don’t understand what they’re celebrating,” Matt said. “They’re willing to celebrate colonialism.

“It has never been easy for an Indigenous person to strive in this society [and] I’m not going to be celebrating anything about that.”

Both of the students identified themselves as First Nation, not Canadian.

Mixed feelings

The perspectives held by the community at SFU seem to be understandably mixed, according to William Lindsay, director of the SFU Office for Aboriginal Peoples.

“We’re celebrating Canada’s 150th year as a country and I would say that for most of those 150 years, the Aboriginal peoples of this country have faced colonialism, colonization, discrimination, [and] racism,” he said.  

“Especially since 1867, there has been a tremendous amount of colonization happening in this country and it has just been turning around this last short while. When it started is debatable, but it has been a constant effort on the part of Aboriginal peoples to change their situation for the better in this country.

“There are a lot of things that people need to become aware of in mainstream Canada,” he noted. The legacy of colonialism is still very much present today, from the enduring Indian Act, first established in 1876, to the reserve system, residential schools, and the denial of Indigenous rights and titles. These, said Lindsay, are only some of the concerns on Indigenous peoples’ minds.

It was only last year that Canada fully adopted the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Eight years earlier, the Conservative government objected to the clause requiring that officials obtain the consent of Indigenous peoples wherever matters concerned them.

Lindsay noted that if he was asked to share his thoughts on the 150th anniversary as a whole, he would mention those things pertinent to Indigenous peoples before he would mention any of the celebratory things for Canada.

“If I was asked as a representative of this university to attend a public event, invited by the government of Canada to come and celebrate Canada’s 150 years, I’d have to give some thought if I’d do it. Others might [attend], but some of us wouldn’t,” he said.

The multiculturalism myth

        At least on the exterior, Canada’s official stance of multiculturalism presumes that the country has accepted cultural difference into its mainstream narrative and entered a new era. However, the history of discrimination against various immigrant and Indigenous peoples continues to erode Canada’s claim to a multicultural identity.

        Am Johal, the director of SFU’s Vancity Office of Community Engagement, felt that Canadian multiculturalism was a kind of “nationalist stereotype” that needs to be looked at critically in terms of day-to-day lived experiences.

        “When we are talking about it in the context of the 150th anniversary of Canada, I think that national narratives have historically left out certain views and perspectives and experiences of what being Canadian is, from Indigenous perspectives to the experiences of Chinese railroad workers,” Johal explained. “We need to look in a much more complicated way at multiculturalism because it tends to paint a rosy picture between and amongst immigrant communities, minority communities, [and] the dominant culture.”

        Subtler in its contradiction to the multiculturalism narrative is the profound view of colonial values as the default, while all others are viewed as part of the cultural mosaic of an accepting nation.

        Maisaloon Al-Ashkar is a third-year student in First Nations studies and GSWS who is part of the Racialized Resistance and Healing Action Group on campus. She also shared her perspective on what multiculturalism means in Canada’s 150th year.

        “I see the colonial state of Canada using the ‘multiculturalism’ myth to portray itself as a welcoming white savior,” she said. “It employs tokenistic ‘diversity’ to Other immigrant bodies,” she said.

        “As a Muslim woman and displaced Palestinian, my identities are systematically attacked by the state,” she continued. “This also intersects with the reality that I am a racialized settler complicit in the ongoing dispossession of Indigenous peoples and lands.”

A way forward?

In light of the problems in Canada’s national narrative, the question remains as to what the university and the country should do during a year marking a (supposedly) large milestone. The inclusion of Indigenous peoples in any events on campus is the least that should be done, Matt noted. However, the changes must be much more expansive than that.

“I think having more indigenous voices brought forward in general is necessary, as an organizing voice, not a tokenized voice,” said Maddi. “[To] stop stigmatizing Indigenous people and just bring some into organizing [and] allow people to be informed.”

Johal explained: “I think the colonial context of Canada has had a profound amnesia over its past.

“More work needs to be done particularly around having a historical narrative of Canada that places Indigenous peoples at the center of it.”

Nationally, Lindsay viewed the country as having made progress in some areas compared to the past. Yet the consultation of Indigenous peoples remains largely unfulfilled on a governmental level. As for the university, Lindsay wished that the progress he sees here continues.  

“I hope that those who are going to put on the 150th anniversary celebrations here, I hope there is an acknowledgement of the Aboriginal peoples of this country as a part of it,” he said. “I don’t expect them to go into the dark history, but an acknowledgement that the First Peoples are an important part of this country, they always have been and always will be.”

Thus far, the faculty of arts and social sciences at SFU has rolled out a semesterly line-up of public talks and courses to mark the ‘national’ 150th  in the university setting. More initiatives are expected to be announced as the year progresses.

*Full names were not published at the request of the interviewee

Simon Fraser defeats Saint Martin’s 57–41

By
Peak Web
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0

After a stunning defeat in the overtime battle against Central Washington on Saturday, Simon Fraser travelled to Washington on Thursday to take on the Saint Martin’s University Saints. They took care of business, playing arguably their best defense of the season, and holding the opponents to only 41 points.

Things did not start ideally for the Clan, however, as they struggled in the first quarter. They were unable to separate themselves from Saint Martin’s, who is dead last in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference (GNAC) with a conference record of 1–14. A layup by Hannah Reynolds to end the quarter had the Saints up 14–13 heading into the second.

Simon Fraser did not start the second quarter convincingly. Their first field goal didn’t come until 5:38, as a Sophie Swant three made the score 18–17 for the home team. Swant also scored the last basket of the half, tying the score at 25 heading into the break after a fastbreak layup. At this point, Ozi Nwabuko was leading the team with six points, as the Clan had one of their lower scoring halves of the season. They shot a measly 31.3% from the field, and only went to the free throw line three times, evidence that their offence was off.

The game was beginning to look a lot like their loss to Central Washington, where an inefficient offence cost them the game. Except this time, they came to play in the second half.

The Clan began the second half on a 12–3 run in which four players scored. They extended the lead to as much as 12 behind a Rachel Fradgley layup, before finishing the quarter with a 42–35 lead. They had three threes in the frame, matching the amount they had in the first half.

In the fourth quarter, Simon Fraser played probably their best defensive quarter of the season. They gave up only three field goals in the entire frame, holding the Saints to only six points in the quarter, and scoreless in the final 3:24. They would eventually go on to win 57–41.  

Point guard Ellen Kett’s passing was on full display, as she assisted four baskets in the final quarter. She finished the game with 12 assists and five steals, which were both game-highs after having 30 points a couple of games before. Kett’s 12th career double-digit assist game set a GNAC conference record in the process. Meg Wilson had a game-high 17 points in the game, including three three-pointers and three steals. Rachel Fradgley played a key role on the inside throughout the game, finishing with 11 points, 10 rebounds, and three blocks.

With this win, Simon Fraser improves to 12–3 in the GNAC (good for third place), and 21–4 overall. This win will hopefully put them back to their winning ways, after a disappointing loss to Central Washington last week ended their previous winning streak.

Next Game: Simon Fraser will make the short trip to Seattle Pacific University, where they will visit the Falcons on Saturday night. This is a big game for the Clan, as they will look to extend their lead over their fourth place opponents, who have a conference record of 9–6.

Discriminatory bans turn American dream into nightmare

By
EIC
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0

Any good newspaper is invested in the people behind the events they report on. The Peak is currently looking for sources who have been affected or know people who have been affected by the US travel ban. Please contact us to help us fulfill our responsibility to give SFU students the space to tell their story. This article will be updated as people step forward. Contact [email protected] if you’d like to share your story.

The American election last year was an event so unprecedented and unpredictable that it stumped pollsters and the mainstream media across the globe. Donald Trump rose to power, seemingly irrespective of what he said or did, blasting aside his opponents in the polls and on Twitter, or both. He was a bull elephant in a china shop.

On November 8, 2016, Donald Trump, despite losing the popular vote by 3 million ballots, won more electoral votes than Hillary Clinton, and on January 20, 2017, became the 45th president of the United States of America.

During his campaign, it seemed virtually impossible that such an irreverent person could win the presidency. There was a constant media storm surrounding Trump, including a video leak of him apparently bragging about sexual assault and him accusing journalists of asking him unfair questions.

But through all of the noise, he repeatedly made campaign promises that ranged from decidedly partisan to completely absurd. He bragged that he would build a wall along the Mexican border, and that Mexico would pay for it, and that he would repeal the Affordable Care Act and replace it with something “much better,” without giving any specifics. Possibly his most controversial promise? A ban on Muslims entering the United States.

Last month, the newly-inaugurated Trump wasted no time and signed 18 executive orders within his first 12 days in the Oval Office and shocked the world by following through on his divisive rhetoric.

Trump and the bad beginnings

On Friday, January 27, Trump signed an executive order that restricted travel from seven predominantly Muslim countries to the United States. Refugees, immigrants, and asylum seekers from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen were labeled by the Trump administration as threats to national security, and were barred from entry to the United States — even if they were already permanent residents or had visas.

Trump’s executive order prevents the entry of those from those seven countries from entering the United States for 90 days and places a cap on the number of refugees allowed entry; 50,000, down from previously 110,000. Perhaps to invoke maximum irony, the ban was signed on Holocaust Memorial Day.

At its height, the ban affected 90,000 people, and resulted in chaos at borders and airports as travelers and security were unsure how to handle the situation. 109 people were detained at airports in the United States, although the number of those prevented from entering is likely much higher. Initially, the ban also targeted those with dual citizenship with one of the banned countries, prompting the Canadian government to get clarification that those who were traveling on a Canadian passport would not be affected.

Even so, about 200 people have also reportedly lost their Nexus card access to the United States, and several have since been barred from entering because of their religious or political views, some even with Canadian passports.

According to a statement by SFU president Andrew Petter, the ban affects 450 students, staff, and faculty members.

Since being introduced, there has been international outcry, and people across the globe asking the question: is this even legal? A question, shared by the federal appeals court in the USA. On February 9th, the court ruled unanimously to uphold a temporary pause on the ban, while its validity is investigated. Outraged, Trump took to Twitter to express his unhappiness. Many though, are feeling some relief know family members can travel home.

A response from the North

Response to the ban has been rapid and fierce from citizens and politicians alike, prompting protests all over the world. Many critics reference the fact that the ban is ostensibly about preventing terrorism, and yet no acts of terrorism have been committed from travelers from the those countries. Others point to the fact that terrorism causes less than 60 deaths a year in the United States, while gun violence kills over 30,000.

Canada has weighed in, with Prime Minister Trudeau tweeting a message of support soon after the ban was enacted, extending a Canadian welcome to refugees regardless of their faith.

The Great White North has also seemingly walked the walk. While Canada’s foreign policy isn’t perfect, it has certainly tried to keep up with the international refugee crisis. To date, almost 40,000 Syrians have been resettled here, with those taken in during 2016 almost tripling the Syrian refugees admitted to the United States. However, some have criticized Trudeau for not publicly denouncing the travel ban and President Trump.

With all of this Canadian goodwill and politeness on the world stage, social media has become something of a rallying point for smug Canucks. It doesn’t take much scrolling through Facebook comments to see that there are Canadians who think that nothing like this could ever happen here, but the nation’s 150-year history isn’t all sunshine and maple syrup.

Canada is not immune from hate

At the risk of invoking Godwin’s law, it’s worthwhile to remember that Canada was hostile to Jewish refugees during World War II. Infamously, a vessel carrying 907 Jewish refugees was turned away from Canadian ports in 1939, leading to it eventually returning to Europe. Almost a third of the refugees died in concentration camps. Other similar refugee ships, like the Komagata Maru in 1914, the MS Sun Sea in 2009, and the Ocean Lady in 2010, all received welcomes of which many Canadians today would be ashamed.

Disregarding the history of tragedy, some politicians at home have attempted to use the same kind of rhetoric behind the US travel ban to win favour with voters. During the 2015 federal election, the Conservative Party of Canada took a firm stance against a woman’s right to wear the Muslim face veil, and went as far as to propose an anonymous tip line that citizens could use to report what the party was calling “barbaric cultural practices.” This line of politicking has apparently persisted, with Conservative leadership hopeful Kelly Leitch insisting that immigrants be tested for “Canadian Values” before being allowed entry.

With this kind of political environment at home and abroad, some thought that it was only a matter of time before the xenophobia manifested in an act of violence.

On January 29, it was perhaps not surprising, but no less tragic and senseless, when a lone terrorist shot and killed six Muslims in their Quebec City mosque while they were praying. Prime Minister Trudeau condemned the act of terrorism and vigils were held around the country. Funeral services in Quebec City and Montreal drew thousands of mourners.

Soon after the attack, the suspected shooter, Alexandre Bissonnette, was taken into custody. The Quebec City native was reportedly enamoured with far-right politicians Donald Trump and Marine Le Pen.

A campus community coming together  

Despite being on top of a mountain in a different country, SFU has felt the effects of the US travel ban. About one in eight SFU undergrads are international students, a number that is expected to grow as the US closes its borders to many.

In wake of Trump’s ban, many universities — SFU included — have released statements condemning the executive order. On January 29, SFU president Andrew Petter shared his thoughts in a message that was sent to every SFU student.

“[The ban] has generated fear and anxiety on the part of many members of our community, and has implications that are real and disturbing,” the statement reads. “Simon Fraser University is proud to be a globally engaged university and to welcome students, faculty, staff, and visitors from around the world. These international members of our SFU community bring a wonderful diversity of knowledge, experiences and perspectives, and make our university a better place for learning and living.”

The statement, however, made no mention of Donald Trump or his administration, and steered far from making any kind of political commentary.

Petter’s message was paired with an event that took place on the Burnaby campus on February 2. Around 1,000 students gathered in Freedom Square to participate in the “We Are All SFU” event. The gathering aimed to make students feel welcomed at SFU, no matter their faith or ethnicity. The afternoon festivities included free food, speeches, and activities for students to voice supportive words, as well as a moment of silence for those who lost their lives in the terrorist attack on the Quebec City mosque.

#Respect #SFU #weareallsfu

A photo posted by Chiara (@chiarakreutz) on

Later that week, law and public policy students from UBC and SFU rolled up their sleeves and participated in Research4Refugees. The event was a tangible show of support for those affected by the travel ban and had students help in the “drafting of legal opinions in response to questions posed by the Canadian Council for Refugees (CCR).”

SFU needs to heal the divide

On Burnaby Mountain, SFU seems to be protected from world events because university students are in a strange purgatory before ‘real’ adulthood. But for the first time, perhaps since 9/11, something in the United States has demanded our attention.

This university is, and will hopefully always be, incredibly diverse. It is a place where we rub shoulders with people who have never seen snow, or who have never tried sushi. We also learn that it can be weird to enjoy watching curling, or to only know one language. While we’re here, we’re also exposed to the breadth of opinions which exist on things like public health are and women’s rights. We meet our friends, but we also meet people we don’t like. We’re a community of humans.

The bad news is that humans have this natural tendency to repeatedly treat each other like complete garbage. All along human history, races, nationalities, and religious beliefs have all been good enough reasons for people to be marginalized, enslaved, or killed.

The good news is that humans also have a history of rising up in the face of incredible adversity and permanently changing the world for the better. The suffrage movement, civil rights movement, and the women’s rights movement were all fought in communities that valued some people less than others.

So on this mountain, we need to decide how we will respond. We’re not immune to isolating ourselves from those who are different, and we’re certainly not immune to hate. In this place, only barely separate from our rowdy neighbour to the south, we have to really think about the community we want, and how that community will respond to the travel ban and the fear behind it.

It will take real work. Lawyers around the world are volunteering their time to help people affected. Tech companies, scientists, and Canadian universities are adding their voices to the opposition. Petter’s statement and the events held on campus were a start, but speeches and photographs are short-lived.

We can’t share a tweet with a #NoBanNoWall and expect it to change anything. Although the ban has been temporarily blocked by a Federal Court judge in Seattle and the White House lost the appeal, they could still ask the Supreme Court to overturn the ruling.

The future of those affected by the ban, as well as their friends and families, is uncertain, and it’s not clear how much what we do here matters on the global scale. But not doing or changing anything at all definitely won’t help.

Petter said it himself: we are all SFU. We are affected by this. In this community at least, we decide what happens next.

SFU students break down ‘invisible walls’ to climate action

By
EIC
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0
SFU student Rhiannon Wallace performing a monologue at the event.

Although many people are aware of climate change issues, some may feel that they are unable to take action to change the situation. These often invisible barriers are what inspired a group of interdisciplinary SFU students to take on this event.  

The Invisible Wall team collected stories about students’ struggles with action in the face of climate change and turned them into a series of monologues showcased at the Café Deux Soleil on February 5.

The event drew a large crowd of students and community members to examine their own inaction and ways to overcome it.

“Our vision was to explore the invisible walls — invisible because we don’t often talk about them — the walls to action whether that be climate action or another form of action,” explained Jessie Russell, a student in environmental sciences and organizer of The Invisible Wall.

The students hope that the audience took away a better understanding of the reasons people are not involved in action or came to identify with the stories told by the performers, Russell said.

Initially, the organizers compiled anecdotes before reaching out to contributors to perform their stories and reconstructed anonymous submissions into monologues. “A lot of the pieces that were written as amalgamations of many voices touched on the fear of being alone in action, the fear of being overwhelmed in taking action,” Russell explained. “And then some of the pieces that were shared by those who wrote them touched on a variety of issues including more external [societal] barriers.”

The whole idea was originally just spontaneous and between friends, but grew into a five-month extracurricular project to engage the public around these issues.

“One of our core organizers [. . .] she’s aware of a lot of the issues and feels incredibly overwhelmed by the issues, but there is not necessarily any outlet to talk about the barriers to why we might not take action on climate change,” Russell said.

“We aren’t a club. We’re just a bunch of students who were interested in organizing an event so that we could talk about issues that are not talked about enough.”

The team consisted of international studies students Prodpran Wangcherdchuwong, Nicolas Tellez-España, and Scott Takenaka; Jessie Russell and Tessa Ramburn who are in environmental sciences; Ted Hinkle in communication; and recent SFU alum Leena Hasan. Ever since they started the project, Russell said the response has been huge and people seemed really taken by the idea of discussing a topic which is often overlooked.

“I think one of my favourite things about this particular project is that we didn’t have an agenda, and so what I really loved about it was the opportunity for the monologues to speak for themselves, to contradict each other, to maybe come from such a different reality,” Russell noted.  

SFU softball season preview

By
EIC
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0
Last season SFU finished with 12–16 conference record, good enough for sixth overall.

After narrowly missing the playoffs last year, SFU softball begins their 2017 campaign as they travel to Hawaii this weekend for four pre-season double-headers. Reflecting on last season, head coach Mike Renney believes his team was just a few steps away from a playoff berth.

“I think that last season, if anything, we probably missed peaking by about two weeks and that probably made the difference. We were coming off a marginal season the year before and probably took a bit longer than we’d like to get the belief we needed.

“There was also a bit of us running out of gas at the end – we had a few rainouts which meant we had to play back-to-back-to-back right after the exam period, so our athletes were both physically and mentally exhausted.

With six seniors having departed the softball program at the end of last season, all eyes will be on experienced players such as Tori Belton, Kendra Goodman, and Robyn Mogavero to lead the team into the new campaign. Renney’s team has also been boosted with a promising freshman class, with new faces like Jada Yeo and Courtney De Adder coming into the program for 2017.

“Typically, we rely on the athletes we have in house that have been waiting for their chance off the bench, so it’s not too common for a freshman to see a lot of playing time. Having said that, we also have some spots that are wide open. Invariably, we’ll have some opportunities to see freshmen in those positions,” Renney said.

“I think we’ve got some very good young talent, but you can’t teach experience — you have to live it. We don’t want to throw [the young players] into the deep end too soon; we want to get them transitioned to university demands and the style of play. High school to university is also a big jump academically, so there’s always a transition period.”

Like a number of their Clan contemporaries, the team’s preparations for the new season have been affected by the record-breaking snowfall seen in the past few months. Renney admitted the winter has posed a unique set of challenges as he looks to ready his team for their opening matches.

“I can’t remember a worse winter [in his time at SFU],” said Renney.

“I think we’ve got some very good young talent, but you can’t teach experience — you have to live it.”

“Our preparation at this time of year means we’ve [been] outside for a good eight to 10 practices at this time of year. Because of the snow, we’ve been relying on the gymnasiums in the early hours of the morning, because that’s the only time we can get the facilities. Our typical day right now starts at 6 a.m., and the players are in classes by 9 or 10 a.m.

“Our infielders are seeing hardwood bounces and they’re about to play on dirt in a few days. Our outfielders are seeing fly balls no higher than the roof of the gym, and I can assure you they’re going to see balls that’ll travel significantly higher. The Christmas snow also caused our batting cage to collapse, so it’s literally been a perfect storm for us.”

However, Renney insisted his side will be fully prepared for their upcoming conference schedule, beginning the season with a trip to Hawaii this weekend.

“The first thing we’re going to do when we get to Hawaii is get outside and get our infielders on the dirt and our outfielders on the grass to get them familiarised with the environment. Having said that, we’re behind the eight-ball from the start. We always want to have success, but our success won’t necessarily be measured in wins or losses; it’ll be measured in growth and development.”

The conference kicks off with a home doubleheader against Northwest Nazarene University at Beedie Field on March 3, and Renney believes his team is more than capable of being better than last year.

“It’s challenging. I know every one of our rivals is outside right now on the grass, and we’re not. It’s one of the challenges of living on a mountain, but it’s nothing we haven’t overcome before, and it’s an obstacle we have to adapt to.

“One of the things we always want to shoot for is a playoff berth. You battle to get in the playoffs, then you let the cards fall as they may. With our athletes, I fully expect we’ll be competitive. If we’re able to get up to speed quick enough, then we’ll be OK.”

SFU track and field finish with encouraging performance in Hillsdale Classic

By
Peak Web
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Addy Townsend (right) won the 800-metre with a personal best time of 2:10.27 seconds.

The SFU track and field team travelled to the Hillsdale Classic for the first time this past weekend, bringing 12 athletes that had made provisional standard. “It was a last-minute decision for us to go there,” said coach Brit Townsend, citing the track conversions on the smaller track as a reason for going (all times in this article will factor the track conversions). The decision certainly seemed to be a good one, as Simon Fraser performed admirably.

Daniel Kelloway had a standout performance, as he ended up winning the 400-metre and had a meet record with a time of 47.95 seconds. It was the senior’s fastest time of the season, as he fell just short of qualifying for nationals. Joel Webster improved his time in the 400-metre as well.   

In the women’s sprints, freshman Katherine Lucas continued to impress. She improved her times in both the 60-metre and 200-metre sprints, finishing with a personal best in the 200-metre with a time of 24.78 seconds.

Addy Townsend was spectacular, as she won the 800-metre with a personal best time of 2:10.27 seconds. She is ranked eighth in the nation and is now qualified to compete in nationals.

Also placing first was the men’s 4×400-metre relay team, finishing with a provisional-mark-shattering time of 3:16.88. The team consisted of Nathan Mah, Joel Webster, Daniel Kelloway, and Vladislav Tsygankov.

Tsygankov also competed in the long jump, finishing with a season-best jump of 7.07 metres. A very impressive performance, especially when considering the training conditions for Tsygankov and the rest of the Simon Fraser track and field team.  

Due to the snow, Simon Fraser’s training has been everything but traditional. When coach Townsend was asked how these conditions have affected the team, she responded with, “It’s frustrating for sure, a couple weeks ago we spent hours and hours shoveling the track.”

With the snow coming again recently, the team has trained by “treadmills, parking lots, bikes, ellipticals, everything that we can do,” said Townsend. Jumpers like Tsygankov have been unable to jump into a pit for months. “We thought that was gone, now we’re going into the most important part of the season and the snow is back.”

Even in these less-than-ideal conditions, coach Townsend motivates her team. “My message to them is to believe in their strength, to be positive, and to learn to adapt to adversity because it will make them stronger.”

All things considered, this event must be seen as encouraging for the Clan. After competing in this event for the first time, it is now “something that we’ll definitely consider for next year,” said coach Townsend.

The Clan will next travel to Washington to compete in the Husky Classic meet on Friday, before the conference meet next Wednesday. Coach Townsend is very excited about the women’s team saying, “We could place higher than we’ve ever placed at the conference.”

Living wireless: the last day in a week from hell

By
EIC
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This is the seventh and final post in a week-long web series that documents Preethi’s day-to-day experiences while forgoing a relationship with her cellphone.

On my last day of my challenge, I learnt that birds observe us as much as we observe them. This isn’t as random as you think and has been the best part of my seven-day challenge. As I stood outside my house, waiting for a friend, I was looking around and snacked on a KitKat. I observed that a bird flew to a nearby tree, and I ate some more of my KitKat.

However, I glanced back at the bird and felt as if it had been observing me the entire time. I looked away and back at the bird — the bird looked away. Four or five times, I repeated to look away and had a gut feeling that the bird was very conscious of my activities. My point? If I had my phone, I would have noticed none of this.

I reached and activated my phone well before midnight and felt an adrenaline rush through my body as I had texts and notifications to go through. As I cleared all of them, a wave of emptiness rushed as well. I fathomed the temporary satisfaction my device gave me, and calmly put it away as I fell asleep reading a book.

I viewed the seven-day challenge as an opportunity to prove that I wasn’t addicted to my phone.

But the number of times I thought about my phone was pathetic and I stand corrected. The seven days threw at me realizations on a spectrum, and my records tell all of it. The superficiality that we embody on social media, the addictive traits of using phones, and the reasons why we keep going back for more every 10 minutes — these lessons will probably be hard to keep in mind once I go back to my routine.

The most important lesson, however, was to be aware of myself while using a phone. It isn’t true that I have no control over the “storm” within me. I’ve decided that no passivity is going to help you or me navigate the digital world. But there is a life beyond the cell phone, and we need to find a way to live that life.

If I were asked to sum up my experience of the past seven days in a sentence, I would say, “Been to hell and back, but I’ve come back even better.”

I have already admitted to missing my phone the past few days and I’ll even admit that I posted three pictures to my Instagram as soon as I had access to my phone. However, now I know that I can live without my phone, and that it’s just a habit that I never questioned. I’ve come out on the better end of this challenge because an angst has been rekindled within me — and it has everything to do with hating on the digital.

Take that selfie and post it; tweet what comes to your mind. It is only important that you aren’t doing this out of habit. You should be doing it out of choice.

Snowfall at SFU: Admin do their best to make everything the absolute worst

By
Peak Web
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For the thirty-ninth time this year, competent meteorologists proved SFU incompetent. Amidst the blizzards of the past week, thousands of students were left stranded at school, on buses, and academically by the university’s inability to come to a quick and clear decision on, well, anything.

The SFSS elected a speaker to comment on the recent snow escapades, but he was found to be ineligible come press time.

When pressed for comment about the university’s actions, SFU president and vice-chancellor Andrew Petter replied, “Are you really surprised at this point? It’s not like we’ve been on top of things to date. Running things badly is SFU practice.”

The Peak managed to acquire a copy of the institution’s snow day protocol. Some of the prime excerpts include:

“If there are enough 95B-Line buses at the base of the hill to block off Hastings entirely, inform students that travel may be difficult and safe alternate routes should be explored.”

“If Scenario 31b (bus service is halted) occurs, begin assessing the viability of class cancellations.”

“Only proceed with class in Scenario 31b if fewer than 10% of the class is present. If more than 10% of the class is present or already on their way, cancel five minutes into the session.”

“If all else fails, increase tuition.”

Third-year chemistry student Arya Kiddin was part of a task force assembled by SFU in December to try and find an efficient solution to excess snow. “We have tried for the last month or two to harness the saltiness of students in melting powdered frozen crystalline H2O compounds. . . but to date, all that can be squeezed from them is faith in the system. And money. Always money.”

“Be safe!” was Petter’s final irrelevant advice for students before he slithered back to his lair atop the mountain.

In better news for the school, the SFU football team had their game snowed out — their best result of the year. . . and eleventh no-show.


Claims of 160 SFU cafeteria workers being fired misleading

By
EIC
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Michael Clarke, (centre) a Compass employee and union leader, presents the SFU administration the names of the students who have signed their support for the SFU food services staff.

While Simon Fraser University (SFU) is still determining who will be their next food supplier, an unfortunate hyperbolization is the latest twist in the plight of the employees worried about their jobs.  

Just past midnight on February 7, an email went out from graduate student Monica Petek to a portion of SFU students titled “URGENT: 160 SFU cafeteria workers have received termination notices.” This was sent to students who had signed a petition supporting the aforementioned workers, who have already protested twice over this issue.

This isn’t necessarily the whole truth, and is further complicated by Petek’s Facebook post claiming the employees were fired: “they won’t have their jobs after the end of April.” The post goes on to say that “the admin has opted to simply fire them instead,” which isn’t true at all.

As The Peak previously reported, there are tense feelings for SFU’s food services staff as SFU tenders offers for a new food supplier. Their contract with Chartwells expires soon. While SFU may choose to make a new contract with them, it’s a large enough purchase for the university that the Board needs to weigh in and due process (including fielding all best offers) must be followed.

However, the university said last week that it will be required that “the awarded Contractor [offer] employment to all existing dining services hourly staff in positions equivalent to their current jobs and at current or better wages and grade rates.” This is not a stance that has changed since then.

Following up with Martin Pochurko, the vice-president of finance and administration for SFU said this was just standard practice.

“I understand that Chartwells, as part of the contract with their union, are required to give their employees advance notice in the event they are not the successful proponent in the [request for proposal] process,” he said via email correspondence.

He then confirmed again that the contractor (Chartwells or whomever it may be) must offer employment to all existing dining services hourly staff, saying that there were no changes to their approach or perspective from last week.

Unfortunately, that didn’t stop over 100 shares of Petek’s post on Facebook, which advertises emergency meetings to support the cafeteria workers on February 10. In a regular contractual process between SFU and their next food supply company, it is the cafeteria workers themselves who are being affected most, and misinformation doesn’t necessarily help them.

Should they come to find though that come May 1st they do not have a job, only then will the claim they have been fired might have some merit to it.

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Simon Fraser University’s independent student newspaper since 1965.

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© The Peak Publications Society

Simon Fraser University’s independent student newspaper since 1965.

For advertising inquiries: [email protected]
For promotional inquiries: [email protected]

© The Peak Publications Society