SFU is only a month into its fall semester, but already the administration is facing a massive overhaul as Philip Steenkamp, VP External Relations, and Jon Driver, VP Academic, will both be leaving their posts by the end of the academic year.

The university now has to fill three of its six vice president positions: VP Academic, VP External Relations, and VP Finance, following the passing of the former VP Finance Pat Hibbitts on June 2. Vice president positions are the highest level of university administration under the president.

Hibbits passed away suddenly this June after serving as a senior executive member at SFU for 14 years. In her position as VP Finance, Hibbits supervised more than 350 staff members in seven departments.

“She was the lynchpin for all operational issues,” said Terry Waterhouse, SFU’s chief safety officer, in a statement from University Communications. “Her clarity was always a guiding force. She was brilliant, intuitive and could make the right decisions every time.”

In an internal communication circulated on Sept. 29, President Andrew Petter informed the SFU community that Steenkamp will be leaving his post as of November 30.

“I will be striking a Search Committee to recruit a new VP, External Relations with the goal of filling this important position as soon as possible,” Petter explained in the email. If the search committee does not fill the position by the time of Steenkamp’s departure, associate VP external relations Joanne Curry will assume the role temporarily.

The university currently has search committees for the VP Academic and VP Finance and Administration positions. The search committee for VP academic is comprised of 21 individuals, including SFU students, faculty, staff, and administration, as well as one external corporate representative of VanCity.

Driver is moving on after eight years in the role of VP Academic, after serving one term of five years and being renewed for another. Driver is leaving the position with two years left in his term, having decided that he has accomplished what he wished to in the role, and plans to go back to teaching in his original department: archaeology.

Said Driver, “I’m quite keen on getting back to teaching and doing more research, which is what I came to the university for in the first place.”

Steenkamp’s more hasty departure is due to his acceptance of the position of VP External at UBC. Said Petter of the loss, “When you have someone of that ability and you have other institutions that have needs, there’s always the possibility that good people have you will be recruited and enticed away by those institutions that would like to hire them.”

Looking back on his time in the position, Driver said his biggest difficulty was the university’s first attempt to establish learning outcomes. This initiative was met with resistance by many faculty members and led to a healthy debate around the ethics and feasibility of enforcing and measuring those outcomes.

In terms of successes, Driver singled out the feat of keeping the university running during tough economic times, and beginning to change the culture of teaching as his two proudest accomplishments.

“We have a much more diverse student body than we would have say, 25 or 30 years ago. That diversity means that people learn in different ways,” said Driver.

“It’s really about getting the whole university, and particularly on the academic side, thinking more critically about how we teach, why we teach, and to focus more on the learner and less on the teacher.”

Both Petter and Driver emphasized the fact that SFU administration has been very stable for the last five or so years, with not much turnover in personnel.

Said Petter, “I don’t think there’s any cause for people to be alarmed or concerned by the fact that this kind of turnover takes place.”

He continued, “It does create opportunities for change [. . .] When new people come in it brings in new ideas, it brings in new energy. Hopefully they build on the legacy that’s been left to them by their predecessors.”

A new study published by SFU researchers suggests that women who are living with HIV may be more likely to develop cancer.

Published in HIV Medicine, the study shows that compared to the general population, women who have contracted HIV are more at risk to develop certain cancers. This is despite the introduction of modern highly-active antiretroviral therapy that reduces the risk of many AIDS-related cancers.

Kate Salters, a sessional instructor in the Faculty of Health Sciences, works at the BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS. Salters is a PhD student and her supervisor, Bob Hogg, is the lead author of the paper.

According to her, the heightened risk of cancer among women living with HIV could be due to the increased risk of other viral infections.

Said Salters, “This is one of the first studies to focus exclusively on females living with HIV and cancer. We know that sex and gender directly and indirectly influence health and disease.

“We were particularly interested in women-specific cancer risk, especially considering the incidence of female-specific cancers such as cervical cancer.”

The study stresses the importance for these women to have ongoing support — such as HIV care and cancer screening processes — that is tailored to women in particular.

Currently, HIV positive women with cancer have close to a 50 per cent mortality rate; that number drops to less than 20 per cent for those without cancer.

“The reality of living with HIV is changing and people are living longer, healthier lives than ever before with sustained treatment options,” Salters explained.

She continued, “How we treat, engage, and work with individuals living with HIV, especially women in this context, needs to reflect that reality. Looking at the complete picture of women’s health is essential to this — and that often extends beyond just the biology of HIV.”

Going forward, Salters suggested they would be looking at effect of the immune system being suppressed long-term (a symptom of HIV/AIDS) on cancer risk among women living with HIV, with the aim of determining what clinical interventions can help with that.

Students at SFU Burnaby had the chance to see the candidates in their riding confront each other during the Burnaby North-Seymour All Candidates Debate, hosted by the Simon Fraser Student Society in the Saywell Atrium on Thursday, Oct. 1.

Carol Baird Ellan of the New Democratic Party, Terry Beech of the Liberal Party of Canada, Brian Sproule of the Marxist-Leninist Party of Canada, and Lynne Quarmby of the Green Party of Canada met to debate against each other and potentially win the support of voters in their riding.

The candidates were asked to comment on Aboriginal issues, gender equality, electoral reform, education, and the environment. Mike Little, candidate for The Conservative Party of Canada, declined to participate in the debate.

The event was held in order to engage young voters, who make up a demographic with traditionally low voter turnout. In the 2011 federal election, Elections Canada reported that just 39 per cent of Canadians between the ages of 18 and 24 voted — the lowest of any age group.

Although they disagreed on a wide variety of things, the candidates present all expressed their distaste for the current Conservative government, citing bill C-51 and the growing power of the Prime Minister’s Office. Quarmby went as far as to say, “Prime Minister Harper is essentially an elected dictator.”

However, the politics of how to defeat the Conservative party were contested. In response to Canada’s “first past the post” electoral system, strategically voting has come up in recent discussions of the upcoming election.

“Prime Minister Harper is essentially an elected dictator.”

– Lynn Quarmby,
Green Party candidate

Quarmby pushed against the idea of people voting for more popular alternatives to the current government than the Green Party. She expressed, “You’re going to hear that I should come back in four years when we have proportional representation. No. I’m here now, the climate can’t wait. We need change now.”

Ellan referenced the issue multiple times, at one point saying, “We’re stuck with [first past the post]. It means that if the vote is split, the conservatives win the riding.”

A short time after the debate, when the crowds had dissipated and the audience had time to meet with the candidates, The Peak caught up with moderator and SFU student Aleksandra Panić to get her perspective on the proceedings.

When discussing overall themes of the debate, Panić said that the candidates had to “respond to the idea of funding big plans.” Beech spoke to the merits of the Liberal’s platform and experts who support it, asking the audience to google “What do economists think about the Liberal Party plan?”, while Ellan accused the Liberal Party of having a track record for breaking promises.

Panić also offered that while some might perceive the push for strategic voting as a form of “fear mongering,” she pointed out that no candidate had dismissed it as an illegitimate strategy.

At multiple points throughout the debate, each candidate urged the audience to vote on October 19, stressing that this election is pivotal.

Ellan said, “This could be the most important election in the history of this country.” with Quarmby in agreement. Sproule also encouraged young people to become active in the election: “Democracy will come into being when the people empower themselves.”

As with any student publication, current events are the bread and butter of The Peak. These pages have always been a lightning rod for hot takes from students who are eager to flap their fledgling ideological wings, certain that they’re unearthing hidden gems of insight into what’s happening in the world. Here’s a look at some headlines past students probably “unpacked” since the first issue was printed.

1965 — U.S. troops arrive in Vietnam

Though the conflict had been escalating over the course of several years prior, in 1965 the U.S. stepped up armed conflict. The move came in response to flailing South Vietnamese troops in the face of an aggressive Viet Cong. By the end of the year, there would be nearly 200,000 American troops in Vietnam. It would be a decade before the war ended.

1975 — Beaver becomes official symbol of Canada

Associated with the fur trade since even before Canada’s first European settlers, the beaver finally got its due in 1975. On March 24, 1975, an act to “provide for the recognition of the beaver (castor canadensis) as a symbol of the sovereignty of Canada” received royal assent.

1985 — Gorbachev becomes leader of Soviet Union

The eighth and last leader of the Soviet Union took the de facto leadership position on March 11 of this year. His reform policies of glasnost and perestroika (openness and restructuring, respectively) would play a large part in bringing an end to the Cold War. In November of 1985, he met with U.S. President Ronald Reagan. The two agreed to engage in arms control talks with a goal towards nuclear disarmament.

1995 — The first Americans are welcomed aboard the Russian space station Mir

On March 16, Dr. Norman Thagard of NASA was “greeted with a kiss on the cheek and bear hugs” by Russian counterparts, The New York Times reported. The interstellar scientists would spend the following three months together, conducting experiments aboard the space station.

2005 — Islamic terrorists hit London

In what is considered the worst attack the city had sustained since World War II, London became the target of Islamic terrorists. Reportedly, 52 were killed and about 700 injured in the July 7 bombing of the public transportation system, including three in the underground subway and one on a city bus.

2015 — Syrian migrant problem turns to crisis

The release of a photograph of a dead toddler in September served to incite a media frenzy into what has been described one of the worst refugee crises since World War II. A brutal ISIS regime encroaching on their homeland is now prompting many Syrians to relocate to the West. Many lives have been lost in a desperate attempt to cross the Mediterranean Sea.