Sports

Kevin Campbell

Mitchell Good has a reserve of talent that he likes to use.

There are just certain moments that are more appropriate than others.

"When you get up 2-0 like that, you have a little bit of confidence in yourself to maybe do some of the plays that you wouldn't do against Western or maybe Lakehead," said the third-year Wellesley native.

Good had a goal and an assist in the Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks' latest 3-1 victory over the York Lions.

And with goals as hard to come by as they are for the Hawks this season, head coach Greg Puhalski likes nothing more than to see Good and his linemates of Mitch Lebar and Tyler Stothers use both their inherent skills as well as hard work.

"They played with real positive energy," said Puhalski. "They were all skating extremely hard and finishing checks and that's how they created chances for themselves ... It was because of their strong hustle and strong play along the walls."

With the second-least goals scored of any team with 63, ahead of only Royal Military College (RMC), Puhalksi rewarded offensive hard work with ice time.

And Good saw no shortage of that.

"He's a very well-conditioned athlete," said Puhalski of the right-winger, who played vital minutes on the top line and penalty kill. "That's probably his strongest asset. When he's able to combine his energy and his speed with good decision making, he's by far our best player."

Good could have had at least two more goals after breaking in past a York defender just onside and forcing York goaltender Andrew Perugini to make a terrific glove stop in the third period, as well as making another defender look foolish with a toe drag in the slot.

In the second frame, Good fed Stothers for the Hawks' third goal, while Lebar scored 57 seconds into the contest to give the Hawks the lead they would never relinquish.

"I just feel like we got off to a really good start," said Good. "My linemates made it real easy for me to play down low and play our game. We just got up 3-0 [in the third] and it was smooth sailing from there."

Although the ship may have hit a couple rocks along the way.

Laurier netminder Ryan Daniels gave up a powerplay goal by York's Jeremie Perron, with 2:25 left to play in the game. It was the Lions' only powerplay goal out of eight chances. The marker went off Hawks' captain Kyle Van De Bospoort's skate and slid behind Daniels to end the shutout bid.

"After we went up 2-0, we weren't playing as hungry as I would have liked," said Puhalski, preaching discipline. "Although we gave up one late, the penalty killers did an extremely good job and Ryan Daniels had a real solid game."

What else is new?

Daniels stopped 34 of 35 shots to come his way and currently leads the Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) with 778 saves. That's a lot of rubber for the former Ontario University Athletics (OUA) West goaltender of the year.

"No matter how many I have to stop, whether it's 50 or it's 10, I'm just trying to do my job," said Daniels.

Daniels awarded Good with the "golden hammer", the team's ceremonial award after every win, going to the most deserving Hawk.

Forward Thomas Middup has re-joined the team after appealing the school's decision to cut him based on his academic standing. Middup played Thursday.

Laurier sits in the eighth and last playoff spot in the OUA West, six points ahead of the University of Ontario Institute of Technology, and four behind the University of Guelph.

The Hawks visit those Guelph Gryphons on Saturday at the Gryphon Centre Arena at 7:30 p.m. to try and clinch a playoff spot. One point is all the team needs.

News

Justin Fauteux

Moments before Mike Onabolu was named Wilfrid Laurier University Students' Union president, the men and women charged with keeping him in check were elected to their positions.

15 students were elected to the 2012-13 WLUSU board of directors and most of them will be new faces. Jon Pryce and Scott Fleming are the only holdovers from the current BOD, with Seth Warren returning to the position after being a director in 2010-11.

"I feel like I've gained a lot from being away from the board and then coming back to it," said Warren. "It allowed me to get involved in a lot of different things and when you come into [the board] with a certain amount of knowledge, and you can get a bit stale if you don't do other things."

The other 12 directors, meanwhile, will all be rookies.

"I look at the new board as a new opportunity to start fresh and kind of look for new opportunities and look for new ways to grow together," said Pryce, who has already expressed interest in running for chair of the board.

"It all depends on preparation, making sure that the directors are confident about what they’re doing, that they understand all the policies, and they’re trained well enough."

"The majority of [new] people that got elected have been to meetings, so that's going to be a great starting ground," added Jordan Epstein, one of the first time directors. "It'll probably be Jon Pryce is chair and I know he and [current chair] Chris Walker will train us really well."

After having no students from the Brantford campus on the board this year, the 2012-13 BOD will have two. Alicia Appleby and Jennifer Tabarowski were both elected to director positions, finishing fifth and 10th in voting, respectively.

The other newly elected directors (in order of vote total) were: Deanna Sim, Hannah Lee, Epstein, Jazz Clement, Matt Casselman, Caleb Okwubo, Kate Stevenson, Jeff Vincent, Ryan Neufeld and Sebastian Dudek.

The number of female directors on the board for 2012-13 has also increased from this year, jumping from just one to five.

"I'm really excited for next year," said Stevenson. "I'm really just looking forward to seeing Laurier from a different perspective and trying to influence the school in a positive way."

The number of students running for the 15 director positions was also up from a year ago, from 18 to 21. The candidates that didn't get elected were Alex Balint, Dannel Cartwright-Jordan, Marek Chovin, Frank Cirinna, Dejan Eskic and Stephen Franchetto.

"The order of some of the candidates [in how they got elected] I’m going to question in terms of whether or not they were voted in by their merit or on whether or not it was because, 'I know that guy!'" said Cirinna.

"Some of it's questionable, but in all honestly, I’m a little upset. But I’m in senate and I’m going to run again next year and I’m still planning on running in 2015 for WLUSU president."

-With files from Katie Flood

News

Linda Givetash

After making the surprising decision to step down from the Wilfrid Laurier University Students’ Union presidential race, Zahra Sultani shed more light on her decision following the announcement of results.

“I — it came to a point that we weren’t really moving forward with our campaign,” she explained.

Asking to expand on what went wrong, Sultani responded, “There was a false equity complaint submitted against me and there were some rumours going around about I guess, about me making racial slurs and making racist comments about other groups of people.”

Unable to share such details on the issue until this evening, she continued, “I talked to the equity officer [at Laurier], we wanted to have a meeting with the person who submitted the complaint but apparently the person is refusing.”

Jesse Finn, chief returning officer overseeing the WLUSU election, was unable to comment on the incident because it is being overseen by the university.

Sultani expressed that the university, and specifically the diversity office, has been supportive throughout the process of trying to resolve the complaint.

“I think I’m submitting a file against that person for spreading that rumour and for submitting a false equity complaint,” she said, adding that she hopes to still sit down with the individual who filed the grievance against her and resolve the issue.

On stepping down from the election, Sultani maintained that it was the right decision. Upon announcing her withdrawal from the race, she had thrown her support behind Michael Onabolu.

“I’m not regretting my decision at all and I’m quite happy with what I did,” she reflected.

Despite the nature of the allegations against her, her attitude towards the election remains positive. “The whole process for me honestly was a fun process,” she said on working with her campaign team.

Satisfied that her former opponent Onabolu came out victorious, being elected the 2012-13 WLUSU president, Sultani concluded, “I want to congratulate all the students for their great voting turnout and I want to congratulate them for electing a great president for themselves.”

News

Marcie Foster

Michael Gagliano was beaming with excitement as he was announced as a new student governor on the Wilfrid Laurier University board of governors.

“I’m very excited, I’m very happy," said Gagliano, a third-year business student. "I was confident going in. I was up against two great candidates, Seth and Scott who are now both directors. I didn’t know which way it was going to but it is a big win.”

Gagliano was criticized during the open forum for being on co-op as his opponent Scott Fleming questioned whether he would have enough time for the position of student governor.

“My next job will be in Waterloo, as for being a co-op student it will not get in the way. I will manage both to the best of my ability,” said Gagliano.

Seth Warren, the third candidate for the student governor position, who had campaigned for board of directors as well as being acclaimed to Senate, graciously congratulated Gagliano on his victory.

“I think Mike's going to a great job, I have full confidence in him as a governor, I'll definitely be talking to him quite a bit over the next year," said Warren.

Gagliano has been preparing for his new position since he first began at Laurier, three years ago.

“I want to work with and make a stronger relationship with the new president of WLUSU; sit on two committees on the board of governors: the executive governors committee and finance and investments," he said. "I will try to bring a new perspective to the strategic plan, and it would also to be great to help work on the plan for the Milton campus, if we do decide to go through with it.”

Gagliano will serve a two-year term, joining the current student governor, Ted Brown.

-With files from Justin Fauteux

News

Marcie Foster

The Faculty of Science Students Association referendum question, which proposed a fee increase from a maximum of $15 to a maximum of $21.50, failed to pass as part of the Wilfrid Laurier University Students Union elections.

Sunny Chan, president of FOSSA and currently a director on the WLUSU board of directors, was disheartened at the results.

“We accept the results regardless, and we will not be proposing a new referendum question for the possibly next three years,” he said.

“Laurier’s faculty of science is a small faculty in comparison to other universities, for them to hinder our academic component of FOSSA, they’re not enriching that Laurier science program unfortunately.”

Chris Walker, chairman of the WLUSU board of directors, said it would be prudent for FOSSA to wait before proposing a new referendum.

“If FOSSA wants to bring back another question for referendum it has to be different criteria or a different amount.”

All other referenda passed, including an inflationary increase to the WLUSU health and dental plan as well as an important constitutional amendment that would require two board members per campus.

“I’m thrilled about the constitutional amendments passing because it shows students at Laurier are concerned about multi-campus governance.” said Walker.

As for the health and dental plan, it appears the increase may come as a ‘plan b’.

“What it means is that we don’t have to increase it, but we have the option to in case that crisis point should occur,” said Walker.

“It will be up the board of directors as to whether to endorse it or not, and it will be a recommendation coming from management as to whether we need the additional dollars to cover increasing costs.”

In total four referenda were passed.

News

Justin Smirlies

Tears were flowing and emotions were high at Wilf’s Thursday evening, as Mike Onabolu was named president of the Wilfrid Laurier University Students’ Union (WLUSU) for the 2012-13 year.

“It’s still like a dream, you know what I mean?” said an emotional Onabolu, still trying to digest all that has happened. “I wish I could call all my family at the exact same time, and all my best friends, and message them all at exact same time and hug them, all at the same time.”

Clearly overwhelmed with emotion, Onabolu took the time immediately after the results were announced to thank and hug all his supporters. When asked what his plans were for the night, Onabolu said, “When I can’t speak anymore and when thank you isn’t enough, I’m going to see what they [his supporters] want to do.”

“Sleep will be there eventually, for sure,” he laughed.

Second place in the presidential race was Jenny Solda, followed by Laurier Brantford’s Nolan Kreis.

“My campaign team worked extremely hard and we brought forward the campaign that we wanted to bring forward and I’m happy for Mike,” said Solda, moments after the results were announced. “I think it’s a personal growth experience, you learn a lot about yourself and you learn a lot about the people that you trust.”

Kreis, unfortunately, was not present in Waterloo when the results were announced at Wilf’s. After three weeks of extensive campaigning against Solda and Kreis, Onabolu had nothing but kind words to say about his opponents.

“I think they did a great job, I think they should hold their heads high,” he added. “I have so much love for both of them, I wouldn’t have wanted to run with anyone else.”

But it seemed that students had one candidate in mind.

“I think people liked what I was bringing in terms of platform, and they believed I could do this, and they trust me,” Onabolu continued. “And I don’t want to break their trust.”

At the open forum in Waterloo on Tuesday, Zahra Sultani, once a candidate in the presidential race, announced that she was stepping down. But at Wilf’s she explicitly appeared to be pleased with the outcome.

“I am very happy and I’m really glad that it went well and I’m really excited for next year and for Michael because obviously he’s a really good guy, very experienced,” explained Sultani.

However, she does not regret her decision to drop out. “I’m not regretting my decision at all and I’m quite happy with what I did,” she admitted.

Despite the fact that polling was primarily completed online, voter turnout only reached a figure of 31.7 per cent, down from 35 per cent last year. Chris Walker, the current chair and CGO of the WLUSU board, asserted that this is higher than most Ontario universities.

Jesse Finn, the chief returning officer during the election period, believed the election went fairly well, even though some demerits had to be issued.

“I think everyone did a very good job, and again to the students who came out and voted, that was great,” Finn said. He added that while the decrease in voter turnout was a bit discouraging, the difference from last was minimal.

For Onabolu though, his focus as president next year will to make sure that students are satisfied with what he has to bring to the position, ensuring that he’ll try his best.

“I can’t let them down.”

— With files from Linda Givetash

Life

Vanessa Tharen

Every university student knows that after a long week of “studying hard” you can hardly wait for one night where you can forget about the books and have some fun. But sometimes you just can’t wait those four or five days to have a break. After a long day of classes maybe you need a night of fun, but what we often don’t think about is how drinking during the week effects the next day of school work we might have.

This was definitely a question for Wilfrid Laurier University’s educational nurse Marilyn Nieboer, who believes it really isn’t a good idea to mix alcohol during the school week when you have classes to attend and assignment due dates. “If you spent the day studying and then went out and had a few drinks you could potentially negate all of the knowledge you have retained that day,” she explained.

And although this is just as likely to happen on a weekend, the long day you spent in class trying desperately to understand what the heck your professor is talking about is at risk of being forgotten.

If you have a heavy day of classes, Nieboer suggests this is definitely not something you should make a habit out of, because even one night of drinking effects your school performance the next day. But on the slightly brighter side if you chose to drink casually and slowly (instead of binge drinking like you're on Jersey Shore) you won’t feel these effects as greatly.

Nieboer explained how it’s all about how many drinks you chose. “It all depends on quantity; binge drinking is five drinks or more and is a really bad lifestyle for students, this type of drinking effects your sleep, it makes it harder to pay attention in class and concentrate,” she said.

Olivia Beirnes is a second year student who only goes out during the week on occasion. She described feeling tired and unmotivated the day following when she drinks about two drinks an hour for the night. “I don’t really feel like doing any work after a night out and I find it hard to pay attention in class.”

According to Nieboer this is not a surprise. “It takes about an hour and a half to digest one drink if you are drinking more than that in an hour, depending on how many drinks this is it can even effect you for longer than just the next day.”

When asking Beirnes if she was aware of these consequences she responded, “I know it’s not the smartest thing to do, but I only go out on a school night if I don’t have any assignments or midterms coming up.”

Matty Wright who is also a second year student at Laurier and drinks a little more than occasionally on school nights said, “I literally had no idea that drinking on a school night could make you forget stuff you learned that day.” And when asked how he personally feels in class the day after a night out he said, “I usually feel pretty bad, especially on edge and stressed out.”

Nieboer believes that students know the consequences of drinking the night before class but you can’t be too educated on the results alcohol does to your body.

Although most of this information is not exactly news, Nieboer believes it is still important to be aware and conscious of these effects. While most students are not going to give their drinking hats up for good (especially with reading week fast approaching), a balanced lifestyle, according to Nieboer, is the only way to succeed and stay healthy during university.

Corrections

In the Feb. 1, 2012 article "Fr!nge: 'The outskirts of the mainstream'," the narrator of the final play The Second Draft was incorrectly listed as Christina Ciuciura. Her first name in fact is Christine. The Cord apologizes to Miss Ciuciura for the error.

Corrections

In the Feb. 1, 2012 article "The new learning curve in business," it was unclear whether or not Jesse Fragale completed his degree at Wilfrid Laurier University. To clarify this, the following statement was added:

"An overload of responsibilities combined with an attractive job offer in Toronto lead to Fragale leaving Laurier after his third year, although he will still graduate this April."

It was also corrected that Mr. Fragale acquired three houses in three years, not three businesses in three years.

The Cord apologizes for the error.

Corrections

In the Feb. 1 issue of The Cord, the incorrect platform was published under Kate Stevenson's name for the Wilfrid Laurier University Students' Union platforms. Her platform should read:

My name is Kate Stevenson and I’m a second year business student running for WLUSU Board of Directors. Over my one and a half years at Laurier I have fallen in love with our school! Being involved with several student groups across campus has given me insight into many different perspectives, making me aware of issues that are important to students campus-wide. When making decisions, I believe the BOD should maintain constant communication and transparency. I care about Laurier and the people that make it the special place it is. Therefore, if elected I would consider every issue from the students’ point of view. I believe my passion for Laurier and my compassion towards my fellow students makes me a great candidate for the BOD.

The Cord apologizes for the error.

Life

Michael Porfirio

Recently, the most popular method of communication, especially for young adults, has been courtesy of Research in Motion, otherwise known as RIM, the maker of that BlackBerry you refuse to put down.

Some see RIM as the powerful company that put Waterloo on the map, others see a business that is on an uncontrollable downward spiral towards bankruptcy. I simply see BlackBerries as the children of Apple; sure there are lots of them out there, but they’re still learning how to do what daddy does.

The big news recently surrounding RIM was the departure of former CEOs Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis. They stepped down from their controlling positions and handed the job to Thorsten Heins, a 54-year-old German physicist. Heins denied rumours of selling the company and according to the Globe and Mail claimed, “We are going to do this ourselves.”

I think we can all appreciate the ambition of Mr. Heins, but he has a lot of work ahead of him while Lazaridis and Balsillie are busy FaceTiming each other.

I’m no tech expert, nor do I have any insight into the troubled company, but from the surface I can name a few visible BlackBerry problems (and I won’t even touch the Playbook).

The oh-so-popular BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) is the key to the success of the smart phone’s franchise. The quick-paced texting and the personalized addition of display pictures, emoticons and status updates was the major factor giving BlackBerry the upper-hand over the iPhone.

Unfortunately, “my BBM’s aren’t sending” was the most popular phrase of 2011. Even when the BlackBerry Network dropped for just five minutes, it stirred a panic amongst students; there was screaming, there was crying and relationships suffered. Now try an entire day without BBM...

“OKAY!” they said.

On Oct. 10, 2011, BlackBerry users had to go 24 hours without communicating through their messenger - a day also known as hell.

No, they do not want to have to resort to texting. No, they do not want to have to resort to e-mail. A phone call? What is that? Clearly you’re not understanding how severe this was. In fact, immediately after there was a drastic movement of BlackBerry users switching over to iPhones as a surge in preorders were made for the product. That could be the result of Apple releasing the new iPhone 4S, or it could be related to the lack of success BlackBerry was having in the stock market. Regardless, customers were lost, and once you go iPhone, you never go back.

“Let me get this straight. I can play games that DON’T consist of me breaking bricks with a 2D paddle?” exclaim new iPhone users.

It is apparent that the BlackBerry app world is a big fail in comparison to the iPhone app store. On top of that, the utilities, web browsing, camera, built in MP3 system and overall smoothness of the BlackBerry are a few steps behind Mr. Jobs and the innovative Apple team.

So what is keeping RIM alive? The answer is BBM; therefore BlackBerry can’t afford to have their number one go-to application down every second week.

Yes, there are certainly some areas where BlackBerry can step-up their game, and I’m sure once you roll up the RIM there are a few more flaws deep within their core. However, this should not be a sign to jump off the bandwagon as soon as possible. Keep in mind this is not only a Canadian company, but a Waterloo production as well. If we simply standby and watch the S.S. BlackBerry sink, the entire economy of Waterloo will suffer. More importantly, Waterloo Region will go back to being known as that place with the butterfly conservatory.

Until then, the least we can do is cross our fingers and hope Mr. Heins has some new ideas to bring to the table. Perhaps he knows how to save a company. Come to think of it, I think Apple has an app for that.

Also, I’d just like to mention that I had no bias when writing this.

— Sent from an iPhone 4

Life

Brieanne Berry

Outfit 1: Neutrals with a pop.

Take your favourite fall shades and transform them into a cozy winter look.

Outfit 2: Monochrome winter.

Whoever said black and gray was boring hadn't seen this outfit.

Outfit 3: No pants? No problem.

News

Justin Fauteux

One candidate had withdrawn, but for the other three, it was game on.

After the shock of candidate Zahra Sultani’s last minute resignation wore off, the remaining three candidates in Wilfrid Laurier University Students’ Union presidential election had to get back to the initial reason they gathered in the Concourse Tuesday afternoon. For Nolan Kreis, Michael Onabolu and Jenny Solda, it was time to make their last impression on the voters before they hit the polls.

The presidential candidates took questions from current and former WLUSU execs and directors and the general student population as the largest crowd of the day gathered for the final event of the WLUSU open forum.

After opening statements, current WLUSU president and CEO Nick Gibson went to the mic with a specific question for each presidential hopeful. Kreis, Onabolu and Solda went on to address the often-contentious issue of communication with union members outside the so-called ‘WLUSU clique.’

“Obviously we do have that issue, it’s been outlined in the majority of our platforms if not all,” said Kreis. “Working with the marketing department we have here at Laurier and in the Students’ Union would be a great asset.”

Solda and Onabolu expressed similar sentiments, with Solda focusing on potential partnerships with WLUSU’s marketing department, as well as various areas around the university. Onabolu discussed the possibilities of getting students informed about WLUSU before they even arrive at Laurier.

Later the candidates were confronted with the issue of mental health at WLU, something that has been a topic of debate since a proposal to add school days to orientation week in favour of instituting a fall reading break didn’t make it to a vote at the Laurier Senate. All the candidates acknowledged that the two were separate issues.

“They’re two different things,” said Onabolu. “There’s a lot more issues that surround a fall reading break other than just how it affects orientation week.”

“I am the biggest lover of orientation week, but as much as I love it, there are some serious changes that need to happen with it,” added Solda.

A student then raised the issue of study space on campus, which each candidate discussed in their platforms.

“It’s a pressing issue,” said Solda, who the question was specifically aimed at. “I chose to [propose using the Turret] because we have direct control over that space. I wanted to take advantage of the space we have.”

Onabolu, meanwhile, focused on making existing study space such as the library and the Science Building Atrium more efficient by adding lighting and extending hours.

“No matter what we do, there’s not going to be enough study space for everyone on campus, it’s just a size issue,” he said.

“But what we can do is improve the study space that we already have.”

Kreis discussed the study space issues facing Laurier Brantford, explaining how the campus shares a library with the city and only has a few designated quiet areas for studying.

Towards the end of the forum, Ted Brown, who currently sits on the university’s board of governors, asked them to identify their standing representative on the board and outline how they intended on working with that person.

Onabolu was the first to point out that Brown was the standing rep and outlined how the two had already met to discuss how they would work together. Kreis then acknowledged that Brown was the board rep, however the two had not yet spoken.

In Depth

Mike Lakusiak

The Questions: 1. Why did you want to meet here of all places? 2. Aside from wanting to represent students, why are you running for this position? 3. What sets you apart from the other candidates? 4. What is something that students may not know about you? 5. Candidate-specific questions

Nolan Kreis (interviewed in the BRAC West Building, Brantford)

1. To be completely honest, this is what I’d say is my ‘home riding.’ I’m from the Brantford campus and I don’t think the Brantford campus gets a whole lot of exposure. Obviously the majority of the student population is in Waterloo and that’s completely understandable that a lot of events and stuff happen there, but it’s always nice to be in your home setting.

2. I came in here in my first year right from O-Week, I saw how WLUSU was and really wanted to be a part of it and the whole experience for me has been phenomenal. In my second year I became an icebreaker and learned more about what WLUSU was like. In my third and fourth I became a general volunteer and was on different committees and this past year I was a coordinator for promotions. I kept taking the next step and the next step and then I thought to myself that there’s never been a Brantford president before, so I thought to myself kind of half-heartedly that I’d run for president. After I’d put that thought in my head I kind of ran with it and did a lot of the research into it and what the position entailed. Starting right from September, I put in a lot of research, talked to a lot of people from both campuses. The more I found out about the position, the more I found out about the electoral process, the more I wanted to get involved and I’m really glad I took that next step.

3. I definitely think what separates me is that I just have more knowledge on one campus over the other and the same thing goes for them too. Obviously they might know a little bit more about Waterloo than I do, but I definitely know more about Brantford than they do. That’s not taking a stab at them, that’s simply stating that I’ve spent my entire five years on the Laurier Brantford campus, I know the ins and outs of it. Obviously I try to understand Waterloo by meeting with all the people down there I possibly can but my points for Brantford are very sound.

4. Something voters might not know about me is – I know I don’t look it – but I’m extremely involved in sports, I played fastball all throughout when I was younger. I’ve been going to provincial tournaments since I was 14 and to two national championships. I played rep hockey for a while. I’m the extramural captain for our dodgeball team here in Brantford.

5. How would you bring Brantford more into the fold if elected?

Especially with the new structure that they have in place here, it’s a multi-campus governance structure so the idea is to equally represent both campuses. What I’d like to do personally would be to be down in Brantford a lot more.

I’d definitely want to get a lot of the VPs down here too, a lot of the VPs will be hired out of Waterloo, I understand that, but I’d really like to see them come down here a little bit more and see what this whole campus is about. If you asked the average student from Waterloo, ‘What do you know about Brantford?’ They might go, ‘There’s a Brantford campus?’ I’ve gotten that response before.

Are you concerned that being the ‘Brantford candidate’ will eclipse other things you have to say to voters?

I’m definitely fighting an uphill battle I think because people automatically see that you’re from Brantford, ‘why should we vote for you when we have three candidates from Waterloo?’ I’m trying to get my voice out there as much as possible.

I try to keep in regular contact with some people in Waterloo, so I’m definitely trying to make sure the fact that I’m from Brantford doesn’t eclipse what I’m trying to do. Obviously it would be cool to be the first president from Brantford but that’s not the only reason I’m running. There are things I bring to the table that I think I could do the best job possible and if I didn’t feel that then there’s no reason to be running for president. I really do hope people look at my platform, people can see what I’m trying to do and all in all if they think my platform is the one that they agree with most, I hope that they vote for me.

Michael Onabolu (interviewed in the SBE Building)

1. I love being on campus because you get to see your friends and people around and what’s happening but I find it difficult at times to be able to work in the Concourse or in the atrium or wherever, but this spot is perfect because it has everything you need, it’s functional and the ability to be able to see out and see everyone on campus – I still felt connected to campus, I still felt engaged in the Laurier community but I was doing my own thing, taking care of my own business.

2. My first day at Laurier, I remember going into the Athletic Complex, seeing 2,000 students going crazy and the energy in the room. Colin Lefevre came up to the podium and I remember thinking, ‘This guy is the president, what is the road to become something like that?’ It just seemed so far off but was always something that was in the back of my mind. [In] third year I was set to be a don which I thought was exciting because I’ve done all these different areas and I’ve always had in the back of my mind that it would be cool to be president. Donning happened and because of all the things I’d committed to and some personal things that came up it proved to be too much for me and I ended up taking a term off, I had to drop out of donning and drop out of my courses. That was a really difficult time for me but people still kept reaching out to me to ask how I was doing and if I was okay. I was going through a state of depression and the fact that people were still trying to reach out to me and see if I was okay and just cared, it made me really examine my own life and I had to dig deep to find my own care for myself.

Thinking about all my experiences and the growth I’ve had at Laurier, I wanted to ensure other students got that opportunity to excel academically and in social interaction opportunities that we have on campus.

This is that role I can actually do something powerful with. I wanted to try that, to test my own limits and see if I’m able to do this. It’s a challenge for me, which I like because it allows me to grow more.

1. Some things that are unique to me are that I’ve been involved in this kind of a role from a very young age. I’ve always been working with different groups like school boards. Having that innovative mindset as well as that mindset of ‘how can I advocate on behalf of students or on behalf of people who aren’t really having a voice,’ I’ve always kind of been in that role. A lot of my experiences really complement the role I’d be stepping into.

I love telling my own story and hearing everybody else’s stories. I make a lot of time for my friends or make a lot of time to talk to someone because it’s just the best part of life for me, interaction. This is an opportunity for me to just live that. I feel like this role is just something I live in my day-to-day life. I’m going to be paid to focus on supporting students? Why wouldn’t I want to do that?

1. I really like science fiction, I like comic books and anime and things like that. I really like world affairs so my perspective on a lot of world issues and my perspective on life in general are kind of formulated by what I take in from the media and also what I see in literature. I always see a message in anything that I read, so even in science fiction I have that whole dreamer kind of mindset.

2. What do you think you bring to the table that can have the most tangible outcome for students?

I think mental health and awareness and support, tangibly speaking I can do a lot with that. All the candidates realize that this is a big issue and something we should work towards fixing and I’m sure everyone has dealt with some kind of mental health issue in some form or some way but I guess for me uniquely I really battled with it, it was something very real and very scary.

Secondly campus safety […] I know how important that is. I’ve had friends that have been jumped or attacked or many worse things and I hate that I couldn’t do something there then to be there for them. This is my opportunity to establish something where structurally we are working for the betterment of students. Those two things are big and near and dear to my heart, not that other things on my platform aren’t as important […] but in terms of how those issues have touched me, it’s something I want to really push for.

Jenny Solda (interviewed in the Dining Hall)

1. There are a couple of reasons, my platform is about communication and I have found especially through campaigning that the dining hall is the easiest place to openly have a conversation with students because most aren’t studying, they’re eating so they’re willing to have a conversation and you’re not disrupting peoples’ studies. Another reason is part of my platform is outreach to first-year students and given my experience with orientation week, I’m very passionate about the first-year experience. I wanted to come somewhere where – this is where first years spend most of their time – and bring a focus on first-year students and the importance of mental health and different programming opportunities available for first-year students.

2. The reason I decided to run for president was over the past four years I’ve been involved in a lot of different capacities whether directly within WLUSU or through campus clubs and after all those experiences – especially through board – it gave me an insight into what the president does and how the WLUSU offices operate. I really wanted to take the work I’ve done and translate it into this position. I started to think about leaving after four years and I just realized I wasn’t done yet, I wanted to give Laurier back so much of what it’s given to me. It’s enabled me to develop into a strong student leader and also given me the best student experience I could ever ask for.

3. I think what I bring a little bit different is first my experience, I have been involved in a lot of different capacities across the university for the past four years.

I just have a fairly heavy experience in different areas within the school so I have a very good understanding of what the students’ union is because I’ve been part of most of it, which is a little bit different than most of the candidates. Candidates don’t have so much experience across the table – it’s usually concentrated. I think my other thing is my passion and drive for student experience and student leadership opportunities. I always tell people that I want to stay at Laurier for the rest of my life, I love this school more than anyone could ever know, I am so passionate about it and I just want to take that passion and put it into the position.

1. I’m fairly well known because I’ve been a head ice and if you know me or have seen me around, students know that I’m very high-energy, I love cheering, I love being wild and fun and a very high energy student, but something students may not know is that I am a business student, I have worked in that atmosphere a fair amount so I can be professional when need be. That’s something a lot of students don’t know about me, yes I’m a lot of fun and can be the fun, relatable student, but at the same time because of my experience through different work opportunities and my actual schooling, I can be extremely professional and have serious conversations and ask those hard questions and hold the university accountable but also work with our own vice-presidents and employees to make sure I’m accountable to the role. I will be a professional manager to them. A lot of students view me as this fun, go-lucky person but actually have a dual personality in that sense.

2. How would you respond to criticism that some of the platform contents of this year’s candidates may not be attainable within the role of WLUSU president?

The thing I was very careful about in my platform was that I wanted to make sure everything I put in my platform was attainable. Anything I don’t have direct control of is in the advocacy and representation section. I was very, very clear to identify that I am advocating on behalf of students for these things that may not be attainable – for example food services, increasing study space, Internet, everything of that sort.

It might not happen in a year, as we see with the Internet, each year it slowly improves but I will work towards that. Everything else in my platform that isn’t under the advocacy section is 100 per cent achievable. I wouldn’t be able to get up in front of students and promise them something I can’t give them.

Dear Life

Dear Life, Please inform my two roommates that when they kiss, we can hear them. Anywhere in the house. They kiss excessively loud. Let them know that when we cough awkwardly, it’s because we can hear them and it’s making us uncomfortable. Like, hearing your parents have sex UNCOMFORTABLE. These incessant slurping noises disturb us, and haunt the halls of this majestic home. I’m afraid of the 2nd floor of my house, for fear of hearing them.

Sincerely, We Can Hear The Sexual Sounds of Your Bodies — And It Has Destroyed Our Innocence!

Dear Life, It’s called an interactive slogan.

Sincerely, A fourth-year student

Dear Life, Once a year, The Cord destroys my degree.

Sincerely, Apparently I’m not a performer

Dear Life, I use to know how to walk through automatic doors .... And then I came to Laurier.

Sincerely, Tired of feeling shoved as I walk into the Terrace

Dear Life, I worry about some people’s kids. Do they honestly believe I’ll vote for them because they’re singing in the Terrace?

Give me a little more respect, I’m not so easily swayed. And furthermore, give yourself a little more self respect; show some confidence that your platform doesn’t need high school styled advertising.

Sincerely, Trying to study and/or socialize, and can’t

Dear Life, The faculty of music at Wilfrid Laurier University would like to argue that Laurier Musical Theatre is not “the last frontier for musical performance at Laurier.”

Signed, Hello, we exist

Dear Life, Those girls in that computer lab are RACIST. And they accuse the rest of the world of discrimination? Look in the mirror. If you WANT to be exclusive, then don’t expect to be included. Last year, I heard a girl talk about how ‘western women are pieces of meat’, and ‘have no respect’. I listened to her nationalist rant for over an hour in complete silence. Not at any point did I tear apart her values on what it means to be a modern woman in the western world.

This is CANADA. So if you don’t like our values of equality, feminism and the society that holds in high regard the goals of eliminating racism and gender inequality... you should go back to that home country that I hear you talk about so often.

Sincerely, I’m Glad I’m Not The Only Person Offended By This

Dear Life, Well, specifically the fantastic proctor who was in room 1C18 on Friday proctoring the EC 260 midterm.

Literally as you said “you may begin” I realized that in my rush to get to the exam early I had forgotten my calculator at home! Thankfully you had a calculator with you that you let me use. I would have been screwed without it. I honestly cannot thank you enough!

Sincerely, Never leaving home without a calculator again

Dear Life, Go register at Loveatschool.com! It’s a site created by two students from Laurier and UofT, it’s free, and easy to use too! It’s really unique because it’s focused on Canadian university students, most of the members being from Waterloo and Wilfrid Laurier!

Sincerely, Valentine’s Day is coming up, and I’m single, get @ me

Dear Life Shouting “FLASH MOB” before performing a flash mob isn’t an effective marketing technique, especially when you use music none of us have ever heard before.

Sincerely, someone who was disturbed during dinner

Dear Life, If you looked at her website or checked her out on youtube, you’d understand her platform. I want someone in office who understands what the students want, and is prepared to act on their behalf. She is. You’re obviously spending far too much time being critical of others, knowing that you will never get anywhere yourself.

Sincerely, Opt out of WLUSU and head back to kindergarten

National

Ravi Balakrishnan

Sunday afternoon candidates for the NDP leadership race gathered in Halifax, N.S. for their second official debate of the year.

This all-candidate debate was an opportunity for NDP leadership hopefuls to separate themselves from the pack by outlining where they stand on relevant Canadian issues.

One of the many themes of the debate was the almost unanimous anti-Stephen Harper attacks that most of the candidates missed no opportunity to voice throughout the webcast.

“Stephen Harper’s vision of families is more like the sitcom ‘Leave it to Beaver.’ Do you ever think about that?” said Peggy Nash, one of the candidates. NDP candidates also sought to capitalize on the recent controversy regarding Stephan Harper’s proposed changes to the Canadian pension system.

“On Friday, Stephen Harper launched an attack on one of the great Canadian institutions, our pension system,” Thomas Mulclair said in his opening statements.

“The prime minister’s office leaked plans to cut old age security by raising the retirement age to 67.”

On top of the Canadian pension, a national childcare plan, taxation on high-income earners, affordable housing, reducing tuition fees and a national pharmacare program were all important issues of the debate.

Tensions rose as Mulcair, who is considered to be a frontrunner in the race, was subject to a fair share of scrutiny during the portion of the debate when candidates had the opportunity to question one another.

Paul Dewar, another popular candidate, continued to press Mulcair on the issue of Canada’s abundant fresh water resources, “We actually passed a resolution this past spring in Vancouver that would ban the export of bulk water. “So it is a very simple question, are you in favour of that position, yes or no?” asked Dewar.

“Paul, I answered that question,” replied Mulcair. “I told you I am in favour of protecting our water resources and I’m opposed to bulk water exports. “That is the party’s position, but you know that it is my position. This is an attack that was used against me in 2008 by the Liberals, and it failed. You know why it failed? Because it wasn’t true.”

Dewar also came under some scrutiny as he faced personal attacks of his own, though Nathan Cullen’s attack appeared to hold very little weight or rational relevance.

“You announced a proposal to bring more women into politics. You immediately followed that up by named your deputy leader as another man,” began Cullen. “Is it not a bit contradictory to say on the one hand this is important, but then on the other hand not to act upon it?”

“There’s no one better than Charlie Angus to go out and do grass-root politics. “I should note that my mother, who is a strong feminist, told me about how to share power. That’s, for me, what it is all about, sharing power. It is not about one person controlling power.”

Some of the less publicized candidates include Martin Singh, a Nova Scotian pharmacist and businessman, who had various goals including a national pharmacare program that could potentially save up to 5.4 million dollars. He argued that the savings would be a result of improving coverage that Canadians have and, “Reinvesting that money into other aspects of the healthcare system.”

There were certainly a lot of Quebec-friendly sentiments voiced Sunday afternoon as the NDP leadership hopefuls are looking to capitalize on their recent gains in the province.

“It has worked because Quebec made families a priority. Quebec spends $10 billion a year making life easier for families. That costs a lot,” said Mulcair.

His comments were shortly followed up by Niki Ashton, who added, “Let’s make sure we have a federal government, an NDP government, that works in respect of the provinces and understands Quebec’s place as well.”

National

Amanda Steiner

Though the sentiment that ‘the world is full of amazing opportunities if only you’re willing to grab them’ is cliché, it is also very true. The Otehsa project, created by Jocelyn Land-Murphy and Jessica Lax is one of those very opportunities.

That is, if you like cycling around 1,000 km over Canada.

The Otesha Project started ten years ago on Feb.16. The two founders were in Kenya, on a field learning course abroad and noticed some of the stark differences of the lifestyles of the people of the community they were visiting.

The two founders Land-Murphy and Lax noticed that the way that people live in Canada, as well as other privileged countries, has an impact on the way people live in other areas of the world. “They came back to Canada with that message,” said Kira Burger, outreach and communications co-ordinator for the Otesha Project.

“Then they thought, what would be the best way to spread this message of what we’ve learned,” she continued. “And they [thought] why don’t we organize a cross country bicycle trip, and we’ll do theatre presentations to engage Canadians on this issue of how every choice that we make in our daily life has an impact. And how can we be conscientious about the impact that it has.”

At each designated stop along the trip, the volunteers of the Otesha Project perform an interactive 45-minute play at schools or community centres to help engage people of all ages on pressing global issues.

“Although I’d hope my 1,000 km journey inspired and made people aware of the issue,” said Lyndia Stacey, fourth-year engineering student at the University of Guelph, “It’s up to every individual to bring about global change.”

A lot of cycling participants in the project are university or college students on their summer breaks, though the ages do range from the cut off points of age 18 to 30 — though the 30 mark is flexible. “On the tour that I just did,” Burger said, “the the youngest participant actually graduated high school early in order to come on the trip with us. Our oldest participant was 28, I think, so it does span everywhere in between.”

The trips for the cyclists range every year from being in Ontario to the east and west coast and on similar but not identical routes.

“On a trip there’s about 16 people,” Burger explained. “[And] the way that it works is there’s a fundraising contribution for participating on the tours and that fundraising contribution covers the cost of food and accommodations and costs incurred while on tour.”

However, tour members are responsible for ensuring they have their own gear such as bike bags and other cycling products.

The Otesha Project also allows a wide variety of biking abilities.

“In fact,” Burger said, “On the last tour I did, we had someone who hadn’t ridden their bicycle since they were in elementary school to someone who had done multiple bike trips internationally. Our tours are designed in such a way that it starts off at a slower pace and moderate distances and builds up to the longer days.”

“I think it’s a really cool idea,” said Blake Jones, a fifth-year student at Huron Heights secondary school in Kitchener.

“I would want to be in a group of people that all do it together, but yeah that sounds sick.”

Applications to join The Otesha Project are found online at www.otesha.ca and the cut-off time for applicants is March 1. The ride will take place from May 1 to June 21.

News

Justin Smirlies

The candidates for Wilfrid Laurier University Students’ Union board of directors were in the hot seat on Tuesday afternoon.

On the day before polls officially opened, the 21 director hopefuls answered questions in the Concourse at the Waterloo open forum about their experience, promises and aspirations if they were to be elected.

Students filtered their way through the Concourse on their way to and from class catching glimpses of potential directors answering questions, but a small base of students, including many of the candidates’ campaign members, were consistent throughout.

Kory Preston, an ex-presidential candidate for the 2010-11 year, moderated the open forum, allowing the candidates to answer pre-submitted questions as well as some from the floor.

“Be mindful of each other and respectful of one another, and have a clean, dirty open forum,” said Preston just before the candidates gave their opening statements.

Among the popular topics of discussion of the directors were communication, transparency, mental health and Brantford – especially since three of the candidates were from the Brantford campus.

“One of the main concerns I had was interaction with students, especially with Brantford,” said Dannel Cartwright-Jordan at the forum. “Most of my time talking to students, they had no idea what the board was.”

Besides Scott Fleming, Jon Pryce and Seth Warren, the majority of candidates have never sat on the board before. However, Jon Collaton, a current director on the board, asked each director to stand up if they have been to more than two board meetings.

Though most had been to at least one – except for Hannah Lee, Jennifer Taborowski, Frank Cirinna, Marek Choven, Kate Stevenson, Dejan Eskic – only a handful have been to multiple meetings.

“Even though I’m young and relatively inexperienced, I’m looking to bring a lot of passion and charisma to the board,” said Eskic, a first-year student. The main theme, however, that was expressed by each director was communication and transparency. “I want to raise awareness and communication between students with the board. A Twitter account isn’t necessarily going to do that. I think we’re going to need have people out there, on all campuses and in all the faculties and meeting students face-to-face,” said candidate Ryan Neufeld.

A student asked the candidates specifically about their plans in terms of communication with the student body, ensuring that WLUSU’s plans and actions are clearly conveyed.

Alex Balint stated that the board should be doing meetings at the Brantford campus which, as he said, would include buses from Brantford to Waterloo. Sunny Chan, a current director and a long-time member of WLUSU, asked which directors were planning on running for chair and vice-chair of the board. Pryce, a two-time director, is planning on running for chair and chief governance officer.

“I have a lot of stuff planned for that already,” said Pryce, particularly addressing training for the elected directors. “I think that the chair needs to provide a well-rounded organization for the directors so they feel confident.”

Out of the 21 candidates, only 15 will be chosen to be on the board, which could see a stronger presence of Brantford and female members. Three candidates came forward from the Laurier Brantford campus, compared to none last year.

Meanwhile seven females are up for the BOD, compared to only one a year ago. Results will be announced on Thursday along with the presidential results.

Local

Lindsay Purchase

Most students in second year have enough to keep themselves occupied with simply trying to maintain a reasonable GPA, while others engage themselves with minor extracurriculars in order to fill the time.

Jesse Fragale, in the midst of balancing academics, playing on the school football team and part-time employment, decided to start a company.

“I think it was just before my twentieth birthday … I contacted a local real estate agent and then we started looking for housing,” Fragale recalled. Fragale closed the deal on the purchase of his first home in February 2009. Genesis Management Corp., of which he is the owner, has since expanded to control four properties.

Fragale attributes some of his success to timing. “I’m lucky that I started after the ‘08 recession, so home prices were at a pretty good bargain,” he explained. In combination with the Region’s expansion and need for student housing, this created favourable conditions.

However, by the time three school years had passed, and Fragale had acquired a third house, his combination of commitments had become overwhelming. “It just wasn’t manageable to do part-time work, football, school and run this company,” he reflected.

An overload of responsibilities combined with an attractive job offer in Toronto lead to Fragale leaving Laurier after his third year, although he will still graduate this April.

Despite experiencing great success with his properties, even gaining national attention through two articles in Canadian Real Estate Magazine, Fragale did encounter many challenges entering the business world as a student.

In spite of being enrolled in business courses at Laurier as an honours philosophy and business administration student, Fragale found “there wasn’t really a large amount of information you could get from the school.”

“It would have been great if you had those type of courses at the undergraduate level,” he acknowledged.

“You prepare your best, but it’s not until you have twenty some odd tenants that you really start learning, because you’re dealing with everything as it happens.”

Editor's note: This story has been updated since its original publishing date.

Local

Amanda Steiner

Students and residents who frequent the corner of King Street and University Avenue, will be pleased to hear that in the first half of 2012, that hole beside Starbucks will finally be filled and in its place a new commercial building will be erected.

Election and Park Real Estate Capital Inc Property and Management Services purchased the space in September 2010 and are currently the acting agents for the property. “So we’ve really owned it for a year and a bit,” said George Georgiatis, principle with Election and Park Real Estate Capital Inc. “And in that time we’ve just been doing our own diligence to determine what we’d erect on that site. We’ve decided to move forward with a commercial building.”

The new space will is expected host a variety of proposed stores, restaurants and other commercial businesses. “We’re trying to make the corner or king a University a destination place for dining and other student services,” Georgiatis said. “We wanted to ensure that we were offering a building that would cater to a student community, and to the city at large. [We] thought providing a building for commercial [use]— largely restaurants and some other ancillaries, would be the most ideal thing for that area.”

The lot space on King Street has been empty for about two to three years, becoming nothing but a large swimming pool for ducks and geese during most of that time. Before the hole became a common aspect of everyday life on King Street, there was a building in its place, which was eventually demolished by Tandem Development.

“Really [the building] was taken down because there was a proposed development that was going to go up there,” explained Mike Weber, vice president of Tandem Development.

“Basically, working through the whole process we had decided against proceeding with [our own] development.” Tandem Development had planned to create a 25-story mixed use commercial, retail and residential building.

The decision to abstain from going forward, according to Weber, was due to a number of reasons, including cost, time and unsuitable economy.

The rumour that no developer could proceed with construction due to the fact that the Starbucks on King and University refused to relocate during reconstruction, was found to be false.

Mike Weber explained, “When we bought the plaza, we bought the plaza where Starbucks is as well. The day we bought it, we assured the existing tenancies there that we weren’t demolishing anything, that we’re keeping everything there and that we’ll be reinvesting in the area and the building.”

“I’ve kind of heard the same thing you’ve heard,” added John Zurbrigg manager of Starbucks on University Ave.

“I don’t know if it has anything to do with what’s beside us rather than the plaza development.

“It’s nothing that I could really speak of specifically. But I think the whole thing was up in arms because they didn’t necessarily have buyers for this plaza originally. I feel like everything was kind of up in the air but obviously this plaza’s all revamped now and they’ve found owners for it everything’s good to go and now that’s why it’s released.”

Construction on the 10-12 thousand square foot lot is estimated to begin during the first half of 2012.

Local

Mike Radivoi

Last Thursday night, Starlight Lounge in Uptown Waterloo hosted ‘Get Grounded’, a charitable musical event featuring performances by Amanda Kaye, Rob Szabo, Lyndon John X and Jason Moir. All proceeds went towards the Grand River branch of the Canadian Mental Health Association.

Get Grounded saw its inception a couple years ago and was inspired by the tragic loss of Amanda Kaye’s brother Dan, who took his own life. In a podcast for the event, Kaye highlighted this motivation:

“Get Grounded was born out of a desire to celebrate Dan’s life, and to celebrate my family,” said Kaye. “A mutual love for music is what inspired the content for this event. Dan was a brilliant musician.”

Starlight’s usual dance floor was filled with tables and seating for the event, allowing attendees the opportunity to enjoy the night’s performances in a more relaxed, intimate fashion.

Away from the stage, a bulletin board was signed with words of encouragement for those affected by suicide all gravitating around the message “Help Prevent Suicide in the Waterloo Region.”

Also in attendance was Kitchener-Conestoga MP Harold Albrecht. In 2009, Albrecht championed Bill M-388, which was designed to clarify the criminal code to bring it up to date with modern social technologies — especially concerning suicide. Continuing this effort, Albrecht now seeks to pass Bill C-300.

“The primary objectives are to provide up to date statistics collating the best practices of various jurisdictions, and to provide those resources in a central location,” explained Albrecht, “I think it’s a no-brainer and there’s a good level of support across the various arms of government, so I’m pretty optimistic.”

Allan Strong — team lead for Skills For Safer Living (SFSL) — was also present. SFSL is a support group designed to assist those experiencing recurring suicide attempts. SFSL has support groups scheduled for Kitchener, Guelph, and Cambridge in the coming year.

When asked if suicide is stigmatized in the community, Kaye agreed. But she believes that this only makes it more important to discuss the issue.

“The big thing is: let’s keep the conversation going. Let’s not be shy of it, even if it’s a bit uncomfortable at first,” said Kaye. “As with anything in life the more you try something the easier it becomes. Let’s talk; let’s discuss; let’s give people the help they deserve.”

There is a multitude of resources available to anyone needing to talk about depression and suicide in the Waterloo Region.

Anyone experiencing depression or entertaining thoughts of suicide is encouraged to use them.

Local

Amanda Steiner

Ryan Smolkin was meant to be in business the minute he graduated Wilfrid Laurier University. Although his first step into the business world was as a landlord, his true calling lay in a profession with a much richer flavour. His creation of Smoke’s Poutinerie, an 80s style Canadiana fast food chain has spread like wildfire throughout the country.

“We’re up to 23 locations in the past two years; it’s been an explosion,” said Smolkin. “We created poutinerie. We’re the founders of poutinerie. It didn’t exist before. Now, we’ve got some knockoffs happening — we’ve got some copy cats but it’s a nice compliment.”

The first Smoke’s was opened in November 2008 and the second opened in Dundas in October 2009. “In my initial business plan, I was thinking ‘oh this could work, if I can get 20 across the country I’ll be happy.’ But now we’re going to have 20 in the GTA alone and now my goal is 100 across the country.” And Smoke’s service isn’t just limited to walk in or take out. They also offer a catering option for weddings, business events or other occasions.

“In Toronto, we were doing about 12 events a week, about five or six events in one weekend. Huge, huge numbers,” said Smolkin. “We’ll do corporate events, lunches, golf tournaments, every single festival you could think of; Beerfest, ribfest Oktoberfest, whatever it is.”

One of their most profitable events however, is the annual Freedom Festival marijuana march. “[That] is a fun one,” laughed Smolkin. “We’ve done it in the past few years. We’d say [it’s] about 20,000 of our direct target with the munchies. We set up between noon and 7 p.m. in Queen’s Park and serve over 1,000 poutines.”

Smoke’s Poutinerie also hosts a world poutine eating championship which started two summers ago.

During this event, professional eaters come from all around the world to eat the most poutine they possibly can. Last year it was hosted at the Rogers Centre and there was an undercard event for amatuers, as well as the professional contest.

A variety of cities such as London, Kingston and Hamilton participated to represent their city. “We’ll do that for sure in Waterloo as well,” said Smolkin. “We’ll have the undercard armatuer [event], there’s prizes and cash prizes, a trophy, the whole bit.”

This original poutine-eating experience still does not have a specific open date for the Waterloo Region but Smolkin hopes it to be in the near future.

“It all depends on the space,” he said. “I’ve honestly been looking there for two years. Not a lot of vacancies. I’m really specific, and really strategic.” The goal is to open somewhere in or near the university core.

Local

Amanda Steiner

BlackBerrys, MyLearningSpace and OpenText are not the only technological advances to be seen improving Waterloo. Visitors and residents of the area may have noticed charging stations for electric vehicles at either Conestoga Mall or at Schlueter Chevrolet on Weber Street.

In a rapidly developing technological community such as this, these charging stations seem like a natural next step for the community. However, though there are stations, there has yet to be an electric car.

“I think Waterloo is underserviced in that we’re a technology hub,” said Terry Knarr, a representative of Schlueter Chevrolet parts department. “We’ve gone from making car parts and sausages to RIM, and OpenText — high tech companies. [The electric car] would be perfect up here.”

The Chevrolet Volt is the world’s first electric vehicle with extended range, meaning it can drive between 40 and 80 kilometres on electric power alone — and then keep going, thanks to the 1.4 L gasoline-powered generator.

To car aficionados these facts may sound fantastic, but for the everyday person who just wants to spend less money on gas and help the environment, the Volt could be the answer to their problems. “I’m not necessarily getting onto it because of the environment per se,” said Knarr. “But I look at it and I say, ok I’m not going to be spending x number of dollars on gas. And the money I’m not spending on gas can be allocated toward ... paying for the car,” he laughed.

“And then after that, it’s all gravy right?” he continued. “You’re not paying for fuel. Now there is a gas tank on board so if you want to put gas in it [okay] but it depends on how you drive.”

But with only two known charging stations in the Waterloo area, the concern arises that there aren’t enough places to re-boost an electric car.

“People’s biggest concern about electric cars is range anxiety,” Knarr explained. “What’s going to happen with the battery dies? With the Volt you can go up to 80 km on pure electric under ideal circumstances and at that point, the range extender kicks in and you can go another 350 km on gas assist.”

General Motors recently completed a study to see how far U.S. citizens typically take their cars on an average day. For the standard person, their cars are used to travel under 80 km a week. Therefore, in essence, a person could drive an entire week to work and back without using gas. If they choose to charge their car at night (since the car can be plugged into a 110 charge cord that can plug into a house), they might never have to use gas again if they keep their trips to under 80 km.

“Once we get the product out there, it’s really going to sell, I think,” said Knarr. “Just to get a scope of what the car does; the software developers wrote over ten million lines of computer code for that car. That’s more than a jet fighter.”

One of the downsides of this environmentally-friendly vehicle is the fact that it’s strictly a four-seater car. As well, due to the high cost of these new vehicles (approximately $41,545) they are more suited to a specific niche market. explicitly people who are better off financially.

“A lot of people from any of the new technology companies in town, I think this’ll be right up their alley.” Knarr said. “It’s strictly for someone whose in that business; it fits right in with them. For the average person, I don’t think so.”

Rick Rezeplinski, sales manager at Schlueter Chevrolet did however mention that there is an $823 rebate given by the government if someone purchases a Volt, which is set to enter Canada June or July 2012.

Arts

Nick Lachance

Tony McGuinness and Jono Grant of the superstar DJ group Above & Beyond spun a powerful and engaging set to a sold out crowd at Beta Nightclub on Sunday, Jan. 29.

The UK-based duo are the founders of the Anjunabeats music label and the creative minds behind Above & Beyond, alongside the Finnish-born Paavo Siljamäki, who was notably absent on Sunday.

One of A&B’s greatest additions to the world of electronic music has been through their projects with other prominent DJs. Sunday’s set was part of Above & Beyond’s Group Therapy tour, which shares the name of their most recent album. The show featured songs by Mat Zo, Richard Bedford and Above & Beyond themselves. The set received strong responses from the crowd.

A high point of the night was the venue wide sing-along to Above & Beyond’s hit track, “Sun & Moon,” featuring Richard Bedford. Beta has undergone several changes in recent weeks, which have functioned to improve the club’s overall operation and atmosphere. By removing several pedestal platforms, Beta’s dance floor has become more open.

The coat check system also received an upgrade and is now more efficient and capable of housing a larger number of garments. However, the most impressive improvement by far is to the sound system. Several speakers have been added to the club’s rear area, which simultaneously improves the venue’s sound quality and contributes to an immersive experience on the dance floor.

The single high quality screen brought by Above & Beyond as part of their Group Therapy tour allowed the artists to showcase strong visuals linked to their set instead of relying on Beta’s dazzling array of lights.

The most effective use of the screen was through the groups communication with the crowd. Typing messages throughout the show, the group kept fans up to date with artists on deck, while also sending personal messages to the crowd.

Surprisingly the crowd did not respond as enthusiastically as expected, milling about in a generally lacklustre manner. Though there was a strong storm of dancing happening in the immediate front of the venue, the middle of the crowd and further back seemed content to bob to the music, packing together, making it difficult for those who wanted to move.

Above & Beyond ranks among one of the top acts to visit Beta since its recent opening and played one of the most impressive sets to date.

Providing over two and a half hours of quality hard pumping trance, it’s no small wonder the trio are currently ranked number five on DJ Magazine’s top 100 list, squeezing between Canadian sensation Deadmau5 and Swedish house heavyweight Avicii.

Local

Justin Fauteux

Minus-four and snowing; not exactly ideal conditions for a swim.

But on Saturday morning, about 20 participants braved the cold and hopped into a pool at the Waterloo Public Square as part of the first K-W Polar Plunge. The event raised approximately $1,000 for Waterloo’s Kidsability Centre for Child Development.

Saturday’s Polar Plunge was organized by Greg Lehman, a local employee of mobile marketing company Spike Mobiles and Ashley Csanady, a reporter at the Waterloo Region Record, and was conceived, of all places, on Twitter.

After seeing Csanady speak at a social media breakfast event, Lehman found her on Twitter and the two got in a race to 500 followers.

The Plunge was initially meant to be a punishment for the loser of the race, but when both reached 500 followers in the same week, both Lehman and Csanady were ready to jump in the frigid water.

“We looked around for an event locally and didn’t really see anything, so we said, ‘let’s make our own,’” said Lehman, who hopes the Polar Plunge will become an annual event.

“We’re just hoping to raise some money for Kidsability and we’re just doing our best to raise some awareness about them and the great things that they do.” For Lehman, the temperature of the water in the inflatable pool, supplied by Waterloo Fire Rescue, set up for the plunge wasn’t the biggest concern.

“We learned today that firefighters don’t use clean water to put fires out. Which makes sense. But yeah, the water’s thick as mud,” he said.

But the participants braved the cold, murky water, with some, such as John Casciato who jumped in the water in a pirate costume, taking the opportunity to get theatrical.

“What’s better than jumping into some cold water in the middle of winter, dressed as a pirate?” said Casciato. “It’s a great event, lots of fun and a great opportunity to support a great cause.”

And while all the participants were shivering after their plunge, none had any regrets.

“Ice cold. Just ice, ice cold,” said Sarina Bruni a third-year Wilfrid Laurier University, who hopped in the pool with a group of her co-workers. “But I would do it again in a heartbeat. For a good cause like this, any day.”

While the atmosphere of the day was light-hearted, for Kidsability, which provides services to children with developmental disabilities, the money raised is crucial.

“Kidsability is funded 90 per cent through the government, but the other 10 per cent is raised here locally and that’s well over a million dollars that we need to raise in order to provide services,” said Dayna Girogio, donor relations and communications officer for Kidsability.

“Without donations like this, more children would be waiting for services.” Those donations go to help children like Graydon Large, ten, who was on hand Saturday as a Kidsability ambassador. Graydon has been going to Kidsability since he was 18 months old.

“Graydon’s almost 11 now and when he started out, he wasn’t able to walk and he’s been in a wheelchair, a walker and now he’s walking a lot on his own,” said Graydon’s mother Deirdre. “[Kidsability] has really helped us out.”

Donations are still being accepted at kwpolar.com/donate.

Arts

Obama bumps up Al

After singing a few bars of the song “Let’s Stay Together” at the Apollo Theatre last month, President Obama sparked a sales surge for the song’s original singer, soul legend Al Green. Apparently Green’s record sales have gone up 500 per cent since the president belted it out. Since then, fellow 70s soul fixtures such as Earth, Wind and Fire and The Commodores have been pestering the White House for them to be next on Obama’s karaoke list.

Sand-y Land (Ha!)

Happy Madison Productions and Columbia Pictures have apparently picked up the option to the once-dead version of Candyland. In picking up the presumed-canned movie, the studio has also attached former funny man Adam Sandler to star in the film. As bad as this sounds, we can at least take comfort in knowing that Rob Schneider will probably show up at some point in the film as well.

I forget how that’s a good thing.

Being Charlie Kaufman For his sophomore film, writer/director/crazy-talented person Charlie Kaufman landed quite the cast. It was already announced that Steve Carell and Jack Black would play the title characters in the film, Frank or Francis, with Nicolas Cage and Kevin Kline providing support. Recently, it was announced that Kate Winslet and Catherine Keener would add another of the filmmaker’s scripts to their resumés, and Paul Reubens and Elizabeth Banks will break their Kaufman cherries. Long story short, we’re going to get to see a movie with a lot of famous people that will take days for us to understand.

Arts

Ashley Newton

On Thursday, Jan. 19, an email was sent out to the English and film students at Laurier, announcing a competition to be held by Alliance Films — the winner of which would be given the chance to interview Daniel Radcliffe at the Toronto premiere of his first post-Potter film,

The Woman in Black. Being one of the competitions three finalists, I was able to attend the Jan. 26 premiere at the Scotiabank Theatre in downtown Toronto of a film that won’t hit theatres for another week.

Prior to the screening, film critic Richard Crouse introduced Radcliffe to the audience, who welcomed him with applause. Radcliffe thanked the audience for attending and the film immediately began to roll as the actor sat down to enjoy some popcorn of his own.

In a question and answer period following the screening Radcliffe discussed topics such as his Saturday Night Live hosting appearance earlier this month and the importance of moving on from Harry Potter.

Based on Susan Hill’s 1983 novel of the same name, The Woman in Black follows Arthur Kipps (Radcliffe), a young widower father and lawyer who is sent to Eel Marsh House in a secluded village in England to organize the legal papers of a recently deceased woman.

As he goes through the seemingly boring task, he soon realizes that the ghost of an angry and ruthless woman — the woman in black — has been terrorizing the town. It is said among the townsfolk that whenever the woman in black is seen, a child dies.

After several encounters, Arthur quickly realizes that he must put the woman in black to rest with the hope that the town will salvage their children (and their sanity) and does so with the help of a man named Mr. Daily (Ciaran Hinds) who plays a much larger role in the film than in the novel.

Hinds delivers a surprisingly strong performance as the one man who manages to stretch the limits of the town’s anger in order to assist Arthur in settling the matters of the woman in black.

His character’s willingness to let go of the past serves as a powerful commentary on the importance of doing the right thing regardless of what others think.

Despite its relation to the 1983 novel and other stage and film adaptations, this film might take some audiences by surprise. In the original novel,

Arthur reflects as an old man on his past experience with the woman in black. Similarly to the novel, the audience chronologically follows Arthur’s journey to Eel Marsh House and witnesses the events with him, but the ending was significantly different from the novel and slightly disappointing. However, the film did offer a powerful conclusion to the emotionally draining film.

With The Woman in Black, director James Watkins delivers a terrifying film about the shadows that invade our lives and forces his audience to feel just as suffocated and haunted as Arthur.

Watkins does not fail to reveal to his audience what hides behind locked doors and the power behind Arthur’s own curiosity convinces the audience that they should feel curious, too.

With a powerful performance from Radcliffe, it is clear the actor intends to break away from the Potter persona he has been associated with for the last ten years. His portrayal of Arthur Kipps marks the first step in forging his way as a versatile actor.

The film offers little dialogue for its viewers to follow and the silence itself is enough to drive you mad with fear. The musical score acts as its own character since it provides each scene with a feeling of apprehension, mystery and tension.

Carefully paced, The Woman in Black offers a horrifying depiction of the strength beneath revenge, equally matching its horror with Radcliffe’s emotional disconnect from the surrounding world. The Woman in Black opens in theatres on Feb. 3.

Arts

Liz Smith

“We had enough songs to make a full length record, but we wanted to release an EP first, to introduce the band,” explained Jake Palahnuk. Palahnuk, Toronto based musician and one third of indie-up-and-comers Young Empires, caught up with The Cord prior to the band’s Jan. 25 show at Starlight Lounge, to talk about the upcoming release of the band’s inaugural EP.

Young Empires is a three-piece band based out of Toronto who have been enjoying a steady increase of commercial and critical acclaim in recent months, following their inception in Oct. 2009.

“We started as a band just over two years ago,” said Palahnuk of band mates Matthew Vlahovich and Robert Aaron Ellingson. “We came off the backs of other bands and projects we were working on, so we got off to a quick start — we had a show three weeks after we formed, which we weren’t really ready for.”

The band has since revealed their penchant for defying typical genre boundaries. Vocally, Young Empires recall the styles of other Canadian indie’s such as Arcade Fire. However, the combination of punk, dance and synth styles in the band’s repertoire allows them to continually evade genre classification.

“Any time you start a band you have a lot to learn about each other; your personalities and character. I’m really happy with what we’ve done together,” expressed Palahnuk.

The upcoming EP, Wake All My Youth, boasts seven tracks, including the bands first single “Enter Through The Sun.” Wake All My Youth is scheduled for a Jan. 31 release. One of the EP’s tracks, “Against the Wall,” was recently featured on a viral fashion video for Nylon TV.

In anticipation of their upcoming releases, the band has spent the past years touring and growing a fan base on either side of the Atlantic.

“We’ve been to Europe three times, the U.S. a few, South America,” said Palahnuk of the exciting schedule. “We’ve never actually been on a Canadian tour so this will be our first time playing outside Toronto or Montreal.”

In 2010, the band had the opportunity to play Nem-Cotacoa, a multi-stage fall music festival in Botaga, Colombia, alongside Green Day, Jamiroquai and Cobra Starship.

“It was insane,” said Palahnuk of the festival. “There were 15,000 people through the gates there — we’d definitely never experienced anything like that.”

“We love to travel, that’s the best part about being in a band.”

Young Empires have also spent time honing their lesser known talents — such as a collaboration with Toronto based Handsome Clothing on their merchandise apparel. “We wanted to partner with a local fashion designer because it’s nice to work with friends. We’ve built a little community here in Toronto.” The collaboration produced several t-shirts and a hoodie, featuring the bands logo and other images.

Further, the trio have been recognized for their production skills and been commissioned to remix major label singles for both Geffen and Kitsune Records.

“The future’s always hard to predict,” but, according to Palahnuk, fans of the band can expect the release of their full length album “no later than summer of 2013.”

Arts

Gayle Ryan

Ann Roberts, a slight, tentative woman, addressed numerous fans at the Knox Presbyterian Church on Sunday afternoon, to launch the show Ann Roberts.... With both fear and intrepid enthusiasm at the Waterloo Clay and Glass gallery.

Roberts is an accomplished ceramics artist, who has twice been nominated for the Governor General’s award.

Robert’s work has been featured in numerous books and journal articles and in over 150 exhibitions.

The Ann Roberts.... With both fear and intrepid enthusiasm exhibit features pieces spanning Roberts’ entire 50-year career, and shows how her work has progressed from the functional pieces typical of the 1960s, into the theoretically and artistically complex sculptures that she produces today.

Roberts told the crowd on Sunday that while she began her career by throwing forms on a wheel and creating teapots and other functional objects that were typical of ceramics at the time, she soon discovered that she preferred “one of a kind items.”

It was after this point that Roberts began to experiment with various forms, glazes and myths in her work.

Roberts discussed one piece, in particular, that was considered “not saleable” at the time she created it.  

The tall, mug-like figure had uneven, textured glaze with chips in the bottom. There are also small holes near the top, where Roberts poked her fingers through the clay.

This piece showcases Roberts’ transition into the less functional, less polished pieces for which she eventually became known.

The piece represents to Roberts how ceramic art has progressed, what was once considered “unsaleable” is now considered interesting.

Roberts’ later work includes various themes; however much of her work focuses around the female form, fish and dogs. She plays with classical myths in her work, reforming them into narratives that challenge the original themes and caricatures.

She has also visited China many times, and some of her pieces both evoke and defy traditional Chinese sculpture. One Roberts’ later pieces is a thoughtful and humorous appropriation of Manet’s Olympia.

Roberts formed the female figure lying on the bed into a dog, however, the dog is staring the viewer straight in the eye which, as Roberts explained, is impolite in dog language.

This piece exemplifies how Roberts’ style evolved from traditional to confrontational.

The works in the exhibit showcase the stages in Roberts’ career; how her interests varied over the years, but also the way in which her work was continuous and steady.

Roberts was born in South Africa, and moved to Canada in 1960. She began working at the University of Waterloo in 1977 and has been an active member of the Waterloo Region art scene ever since.

Ann Roberts...With both fear and intrepid enthusiasm runs until Apr. 8, 2012.

Arts

Justin Fauteux and Liz Smith

Festival performances: In review

Property Stars Canada Written & Directed by: Keegan Chambers

Written and directed by Keegan Chambers, Property Stars Canada was a look at a day in the life of a door-to-door salesman pedalling driveway repairs. Chambers, who also starred in the play, delivered a solid performance while directing quips at the invisible John, her trainee for the day.

In the evening’s opening act, Chamber’s delivers a sales pitch to several hillbillies, a mime, a shirtless teenager left with free reign of the house for the weekend and a group of burglars — to name a few.

While delivering some laughs, ultimately, Chambers was unable to carry the play. The revolving door of characters who answered the door provided a mixed reaction, with some garnering a strong audience response and others falling flat.

Acid Love Story Written & Directed by: Ron Butler

Acid Love Story — a film which followed three friends as they tripped on acid, had moments of humour deriven from the stoned-antics of actors Kevin Hatch, Reid Cowper and Shawn Trask.

However, the effectiveness of the film was hindered by the final moments, in which Hatch’s character has an epiphany about human nature and the disconnectedness of individuals.

Given the content of the previous ten minutes, this sentiment was unexpected and ineffective in its delivery. The film was solid, but lacked a final punch.

The Holiday Season Written by: Taryn Parrish Directed by: Luke Dotto

Among the strongest efforts of the evening, Dotto’s The Holiday Season employed sordid humour to parody the premise of political correctness in the workplace.

The Holiday Season saw two shopping mall officials and their plans for revamping internal structure to rid it of Christmas, Chanukuh and the like.

The pairing of Kevin Hatch and Luke Dotto hit the mark comedically. With the aid of Lauren Vastano-Beltrano, the short play garnered numerous laughs. A Michael J. Fox joke may have struck some audience members as being in bad taste but otherwise the writing of The Holiday Season was right on point.

Abjection Written & Directed by: Dave Rodgers

The strongest film of the festival, Abjection had artistic merit while managing to avoid pretentiousness.

Although the dialogue was at times confusingly out of context, the film was well executed and the actors were ultimately convincing. The opening scenes provided stylish intrigue as they introduced the character played by Sarah Hall, who delivered a subtle yet skilled performance in the film.

Purgatory Quirks Written & Directed by: Kevin Hatch

Purgatory Quirks, written and directed by Kevin Hatch, saw several quirky characters as they navigated purgatory; masquerading as a bar. Paula Schneider was especially hilarious in her portrayal of “Connery” — a dellusional woman whose script consisted entirely of Sean Connery lines and movie references.

Wade Thompson provided a “straightman” to the rest of the cast that added to the humour of the play, while Travis Herron was hilarious in his portrayal of the “sticky” Raymond.

Demon Bitch Written, Directed & edited by: Mike McMurren

Demon Bitch offered up lighthearted humour in its portrayal of girlfriend-turned-zombie-killer Molly (Keegan Chambers) and her boyfriend (Geoff Almond)’s consequent reaction.

Refreshingly, the film didn’t attempt to achieve more than the easy humour it inspired, and was ultimately pleasurable to watch.

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner Written & Directed by: Ted Steiner

The mood of the show took a decided turn with The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, which was an effort lost on audiences. The film, which was a jarring departure from the other efforts presented in the festival, seemed aimless.

Although it lasted for only fifteen minutes, the film seemed to drag on, while images of watercolour paintings were splashed across the screen for seven “acts,” with only a sound-track as stimuli.

The sound editing itself was strong and complimented the images on screen — unfortunately, it was difficult to not immediately lose interest in the “plot” (for those who were able to follow to begin with). The film was based on the artwork of Samuel Taylor Coleridge.

The Second Draft Written & Directed by: Wade Thompson

A hilariously written and seamlessly executed play written and directed by Wade Thompson, The Second Draft most clearly exemplified the talents of the Fr!nge performers.

The play, which follows the plight of Frank (Kevin Hatch) as he attempts to overcome a case of writer’s block. In a hilarious twist, Frank’s narrator (Christine Ciuciura) inverts the roles of the relationship and begins to narrate the events of Kevin’s life.

Wrought with unexpected turns and cleverly written side-line characters, The Second Draft undoubtedly garnered the most laughs of the night and was hilarious from start to finish.

Editor's note: This article has been updated since its original publishing date.

Sports

Kevin Campbell

Laurier swimming coach Russ Franklin is about to see just how much his team’s year of hard work has gotten them.

From Feb. 9-11, Franklin and his aquatic squad will head to Laurentian University in Sudbury and face some of Ontario’s toughest competition in the Ontario University Athletics’ (OU) championships.

They got a glimpse of it on Sunday when Laurier hosted their invitational at the Athletic Complex, but Franklin knows it’s but a taste of what’s to come.

“When you go to a meet like this, you don’t know if the other team is tired from training, you don’t know if they have all their guns, but when you go to OUs, that’s it,” said the coach. “You’re there and you’re going to see where you stack up, so I’m going to get a pretty good indication of where the team is after the February meet.”

On Sunday, the swimmers welcomed the University of Guelph, McMaster University and York University to their open invitational and the squad swam away with a good showing, including three gold medal finishes.

Renee Dijk finished in top spot in the Female Open 200 Backstroke Short Course Finals, as well as the 100 Backstroke, and Veronica Davis-Freeman placed first in the Female Open 100 Breaststroke Short Course Finals.

Other top competitors included Kassandra Dizon with two fifth-place finishes, Davis-Freeman had another silver medal and a fourth-place finish. First-year Luke Summerhayes completing two fourth-place finishes and Andrew Warr had a silver and a bronze to cap his impressive rookie season.

Franklin is hoping to vault his top competitors into the national championships with the February meet.

“We have a couple of kids on the cusp of qualifying for nationals, so that’s a priority .... Competing, scoring and seeing where we rank is really important but there are the individual swimmers who have bigger and better things to come so we’re hoping they’ll be successful.”

Those swimmers include Davis-Freeman, Carlos Riobo, and Luke Summerhayes. Dijk has already qualified.

The training period for the athletes is year-round, often with a grueling training schedule.

“Here at Laurier, we have a minimum of five workouts we attend,” said Franklin, who also coaches the Region of Waterloo swim team (ROW). “Some of them are coming seven or eight times, and that includes the dry-land and weight training .... so it’s about 12-15 hours per week.”

“When it comes to OUs, we taper down and reduce the number of practices we have,” said the 35-year coaching veteran.

Being in his first year coaching at the school, and only moving to the Waterloo region after living in Québec with his family, Franklin wanted to start the program off on the right foot under his direction.

“No expectations at the start,” he said when prompted as to what he thought the team would look like in September. “It was more coming in and seeing what the program had and where we were at, and I’m happy with how it’s gone but there will be a few changes next year.”

Among those changes will likely mean athletes may get cut for the first time after keeping the team open this year.

“We have a 34-member team. We elected not to cut anybody this year because we were looking to build that spirit … Next year we may be a little more choosey.”

Sports

Shelby Blackley

Anyone can say that the Wilfrid Laurier University women’s hockey team has no trouble scoring goals. They could even say that when they were declared the top team in the country that it came as no surprise.

But despite their ongoing success, and an impressive 21-0-1 record, head coach Rick Osborne still looks to improve every aspect of this dominant team.

“We have been looking at [having a] fourth person join the rush,” he said. “We started midway through last season with that type of philosophy on our offensive and it’s carrying on. We do a lot of drills at practice that encourage the secondary wave of the attack.”

So when the cross-town rivals Waterloo Warriors visited the Golden Hawks Friday night, Osborne found exactly what he was looking for in this style of play.

Defender Maureen Mommersteeg scored a goal while point-men Alicia Martin and Fiona Lester added helpers in the 6-0 win in the battle of Waterloo.

“[Haley] Baxter is getting good at [being the fourth man],” Osborne said.

“[Martin] has always been good at it. Lester played a few shifts at centre tonight as well as defence and she’s really strong. She’s smart and she finds the holes and makes really good decisions with the puck.”

Laurier’s defence helps add depth to an already diverse team, where nightly there are more than half of the players on the score sheet.

In their win against Waterloo, the Hawks had ten players record a point or more.

The following night, when Laurier defeated the York Lions 5-3, eleven players were on the score sheet.

Among those players is Laura Brooker, who is tied for third in the Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) for most goals with 17.

Coming off a slow start to the year, Brooker has picked up the pace and has been unstoppable in the second half of the season, recording 26 points in 22 games.

“I think in the first half of the season, she was, after the year she came off of last year, maybe putting too much pressure on herself,” Osborne said of the sharp forward.

“She is just really starting to hit her stride right now and I think that’s really good news for us.”

“I wanted to do better than last year,” Brooker reflected. “You always want to improve on the year before, so I wanted to keep maintaining the goals and just keep playing it and be a great team player and keep improving as the year goes.”

With only four games left in the regular season, the Hawks now look toward maintaining their offense while preserving their strong defence.

With the added help of rookie goaltender Erika Thunder, the team has let in only 36 goals against, which places them fourth in all of Canada.

Their wins over the weekend against Waterloo and the York Lions solidify their place at first overall in the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) standings.

Laurier will hit the road to face the University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT) on Thursday night and then travel to Kingston to face Queen’s University on Friday, with both start times at 7:30 p.m.

Sports

Shelby Blackley

Again. And again. And again. And again.

It seems almost like déjà vu for the Wilfrid Laurier University men’s hockey team (7-16-1), as their games seem to start and end the same way.

And Saturday was no exception, as the Hawks returned home after a tough 4-2 loss to the University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT) Ridgebacks the night before.

Looking for redemption, Laurier welcomed the Windsor Lancers (11-12-1), but couldn’t capitalize, as they lost 3-1.

Starting out strong, Laurier created good scoring opportunities and matched the Lancers with physical play, but was brutally outshot 23-12 in the first two periods.

The third would be the deciding factor, as Windsor ran away with the game. With less than eight minutes left, the Lancers scored two goals to widen the gap and seal the Hawks’ fate.

“We just had a few mental lapses,” Hawks captain Kyle Van De Bospoort said. “I mean, we could string a couple good shifts together and then we would just fall apart. That’s the game of hockey.”

The first period showed strong puck control for Laurier, where the Hawks developed multiple good scoring opportunities against Lancers netminder Parker Van Buskirk.

However, the period quickly turned into a contest of goalies. Both Van Buskirk and Laurier’s Ryan Daniels displayed stellar performances to keep their teams in the game early on.

But the first goal of the game came from Windsor on the first shot of the second period to put them ahead 1-0.

Laurier would get an equalizer soon after when Van De Bospoort found the back of the net to tie it up.

This would be the Golden Hawks’ only goal of the game, as the Lancers ran away with two more in the third period to solidify their win.

Laurier was outshot 36-20 and seemed to be scrambling for much of the game. After being pulled Friday against the Ridgebacks, Daniels made an evident statement about his position.

“[Daniels] has been our MVP all year,” Van De Bospoort said. “I honestly believe that without him playing the way he is that we don’t have a chance. He’s got to play well and when he does, he gives us a chance to win every night.”

However despite Daniels’ strong presence, it seems like the Hawks cannot develop a good balance with their style of play.

“I think a few of us gotta’ look inside and be smarter with our shift lengths and be smarter with the puck and it’ll all work out,” Van De Bospoort said.

With only four games left in the season, it’s unknown whether the Hawks will be able to pull together to keep them out of the bottom of the West in the OUA standings. They sit four points ahead of UOIT in the eighth and final playoff spot.

The Hawks will battle the York Lions Thursday at 7:30 at the Waterloo Memorial Recreational Complex.

Sports

Eric Thompson

For the New England Patriots, revenge is a dish best served four years later.

After seeing their dreams of a perfect season crash and burn at the uncoordinated hands of a young Eli Manning, the Patriots are ready to get revenge for what transpired in Super Bowl 42.

Only eight players remain from the 18-1 nightmare that was the 2007 team. But if you don’t think that the wounds are still fresh, listen to ex-Patriots’ Jarvis Green’s claim that Super Bowl 42 still gives him nightmares.

The players taking the field won’t just be playing for themselves; they will be playing to redeem the members of the 2007 team. The Patriots will be all-in for this game.

When analyzing this year’s squad, we start at the pivotal point behind centre where the Patriots have arguably the best quarterback of our generation.

Tom Brady had another incredible season even by his standards. Brady threw for 5,235 yards, good enough for second all-time in a single season.

He commanded an offence that finished second in yards-per-game and third in points-per-game. With Brady at the helm, the Patriots can and will score on anyone. Numbers aside though, the real reason to buy into the Patriots this year is how much Brady wants to win this game.

He already has three rings, but the future Hall-of-Famer still has something left to prove, and on Feb. 5, he is going to do just that.

Brady alone cannot be credited for the Patriots’ offensive greatness. His receivers must also be praised. Wes Welker had another Pro-Bowl season leading the league in receptions, Deion Branch chipped in with a solid 700-yard campaign and Chad Ochocinco had some funny tweets.

The dominant story of this offence however, was the play of the tight ends Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez. “Gronk” set a record for yards by a tight end in a season and the duo combined for 24 touchdowns.

The combination of the two creates easily exploitable mismatches. They can’t be covered by linebackers because of their athleticism and they can’t be covered by safeties because of their size. The Giants really can “only hope to contain them” as too much focus on Gronkowski and Hernandez will allow the Patriots’ receivers and running backs to easily beat them.

The Pats have not been without their faults, though, as this season defensively, they finished near last in almost every category. However, the unit we have seen throughout the playoffs has been much improved.

Led by hefty nose tackle Vince Wilfork, the Patriots are getting pressure, forcing mistakes and not allowing touchdowns in the red zone. This secondary will have their hands full with the Giants receivers, but don’t be shocked if they get a few interceptions against Eli.

The Patriots have been to five of the last 11 Super Bowls and the reason for that wears a cut-off-sleeved hoodie.

Bill Belichick is simply the best coach of our generation. The seemingly emotionless mastermind once again has his team poised for greatness. Belichick is a student of the game and knows how to guide his team to victory.

He can make the key adjustments and will find a way to keep this fierce New York pass rush off-balance.

Belichick rarely loses to the same team twice, so even though the Giants won the last two meetings, I find it awfully hard to see them winning three in a row.

Neither team has ever won at Lucas Oil Stadium, so the site doesn’t really play in anyone’s favour. But with this game being played indoors, it is primed to turn into a shootout. And the Patriots wouldn’t want it any other way.

There’s a lot of ways you can bet on the Patriots in this game but at the end of the day you really only need to mention Brady and Belichick.

Yes, Eli may be “Elite”, but Brady and Belichick are legendary. And after they capture their fourth Super Bowl win, many people (myself included) will be ready to call them the greatest coach and greatest quarterback of all time.

Sports

Cassandra Brush

In one of the most anticipated sports games in North America, on Sunday Feb. 5, the New York Giants will face off against the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLVI.

This will be a déjà vu of the 2007 Super Bowl where the Giants and Patriots faced off with the Giants prevailing against Tom Brady’s Patriots. What will this Super Bowl’s outcome be? The same as last time.

Not only did the Giants beat out the New England Patriots in 2007, but they did so with Eli Manning in his Super Bowl debut against Tom Brady, a veteran of the game at the peak of his career.

Four years ago, the Patriots had a regular season record of 16-0. However this year, that perfect record took a small blow and is now 13-3.

The Patriots also had an undefeated season and were on their way to having the perfect season until a now more mature Manning and his Giants upset that dream.

Now that Manning has a few more years of experience under his belt, he has proven himself to be an elite player who is quick in the pocket and smart under pressure. If he could beat Brady four years ago, he can surely do it again on Sunday.

It is common knowledge that the Giants made it through to the playoffs because they were just barely selected as the wild card team.

Capitalizing on this second chance, the Giants have fought their way to this final by beating out the defending Super Bowl champions
Green Bay Packers, who had a 16-1 record in the regular season, and the San Francisco 49ers, who were a force to be reckoned with, due to their top-notch defensive line.

The percentage of an NFL team making it to the Super Bowl final game based on a wild card entry is definitely not a large one.

But compared to the Patriots, the Giants have one of the most dynamic defensive lines in the league.

Realistically speaking, the Giants’ linebackers Jason Tuck and Jason Pierre-Paul provide powerful protection that are no match for any offender.

On the flip side, their offence includes running backs such as Ahmad Bradshaw and Brandon Jacobs, who are at the top of their game and are among some of the best in the NFL.

Receivers like Victor Cruz and Hakeem Nicks use their explosive capabilities and have big play capacity. With a lineup like this, it will take more than just a few good players to compete with them.

It will be a good match-up on Sunday, but the key will be putting pressure on the plateauing Tom Brady, using the Giants’ dynamic defensive lineups, explosive offence and Eli Manning’s new experience and maturity.

If that happens, the Giants will be just as hard a team to steal the Super Bowl from than they were four years ago.

Sports

Chris Mander

On Saturday afternoon at the Wilfrid Laurier Athletic Complex, the men’s basketball Golden Hawks took on the scrappy Western Mustangs in what should have been another routine win for the first-place Hawks.

But once the game began, it was clear the Mustangs were a proud unit and were not going to just let the Hawks dominate them as once expected.

Laurier’s starting five were able to contribute offensively in a big way, with every starter finishing in double digits highlighted by Max Allin’s team-high 23 points.

Will Coulthard put up 14 points and Kale Harrison notched 13 points while Matt Buckley had ten and Kyle Enright had an uncharacteristic night where his shots weren’t dropping.

However, it was the toughness and early contributions of second-year starter Pat Donnelly that propelled the Hawks to victory.

Donnelly finished the game with 21 points, but his 14 in the first quarter gave the Hawks an early lead that they would never surrender, despite a valiant effort by Western.

The game was highlighted by its roughness and physical nature, with three Hawks fouling out.

Most noticeably team all-star Harrison fouled out with five minutes remaining and was quickly followed by fellow fifth-year Matt Buckley who was forced to join him on the bench.

As head coach Peter Campbell sees it, the relentless effort of the Mustangs contributed to the Hawks foul trouble.

“Western kept playing and coming after us and we tightened up a little bit,” said Campbell. “Things weren’t going our way and we got caught up in that, and stopped playing our game.”

Factoring into keeping the game close, Ryan Barbeau scored a game-high 28 for the Western Mustangs, contributing to the Mustangs outscoring the Hawks 27-18 in the fourth quarter, but still falling short by a score of 89-73.

The Laurier bench had difficulties contributing all afternoon, which not only allowed the Mustangs to claw back but also forces the Golden Hawk starters to play more than planned, especially considering the big game coming up Wednesday against the Windsor Lancers. The Lancers sit with a record of 11-5.

“The success we have had all year is because we have guys coming off the bench and doing good things, and you don’t typically see this unit struggle,” said Campbell.

“Hopefully come Wednesday in Windsor the bench is firing because we are going to need everyone.”

The story of the game was that the Hawks won in an adverse situation, despite how unattractive the victory may have been.

It was one of the few instances in this fantastic season where the Hawks truly had to face adversity, and they handled the situation well.

“Bottom line is when it was on the line, we pulled it out. We didn’t fold, which is big,” said Campbell.

The Hawks are now 14-2 and are tied with the Lakehead Thunderwolves for first in the West division.

The Hawks face the Windsor Lancers Wednesday night in Windsor, followed by a home game against McMaster Saturday afternoon at 3 p.m. at the Athletic Complex.

Opinion

Amelia Calbry-Muzyka

This past week, Prime Minister Stephen Harper, cabinet ministers, bureaucrats and over 400 aboriginal chiefs met in Ottawa at the Crown-First Nations Gathering.

Since the general public was made aware of living conditions in Attawapiskat nearly two months ago, the Canadians watched eagerly as the summit unfolded.

By the end of the day, an agreement on a five-point plan had been reached. This plan includes five “pledges” ranging from education reform to steps to encourage improved governance, accountability and financial self-sufficiency.

While the summit and the five-point plan presented an important symbolic gesture between the two sides, I am hesitant to believe that this summit will bring about any tangible changes in the relationship between aboriginal people and the Canadian government.

This skepticism was echoed by a number of chiefs, including Nishnawbe Aski Nation Grand Chief Stan Beardy, who was quoted by Postmedia News stating, “A lot of beautiful words were spoken, but in terms of addressing the immediate needs of my people, there was nothing.”

The most significant proposal for addressing issues of substance on native lands was the Kelowna Accord — an agreement negotiated in 2005 between the Paul Martin’s Liberal government and indigenous leaders that would have allotted $5.1 billion to improve the living conditions on reserves over the span of ten years.

Yet as Paul Martin was replaced by Stephen Harper in 2006, the Kelowna Accord as unilaterally cancelled with no explanation or apology.

Since the Gathering, Harper has stated that his government’s approach will be to “replace elements of the Indian Act with more modern legislation and procedures, in partnership with the provinces and the First Nations.”

However, Harper also noted that his government has no plans to repeal or re-write the Act, leaving many questions as to exactly how his government intends to re-vamp the Act. A point that was raised by Shawn Atleo, national chief of the Assembly of First Nations, was that the Act is a “painful obstacle to re-establishing any form of meaningful relationship.”

The Indian Act, first passed in all of its discriminatory glory in 1876, is a fossil of a document that prevents legitimate reconciliation between the Canadian government and the First Nations.

The fact that a discussion on the significant reform and/or gradual elimination of the Indian Act remained off the agenda yet again speaks to a lack of legitimate interest in recognizing the culture, history and diverse needs of each nation.

Through this omission, Harper missed a valuable opportunity to speak to chiefs themselves and simply ask them about their needs and their perspectives in relation to the Indian Act.

While I applaud the fact that the five-point plan was developed as a result of collaboration between the two sides, without concrete strategies and solutions, it is nothing more than a platitude.

To say that the relationship between the Canadian government and the First Nations has been riddled with problems is, without a doubt, an understatement.

Last week’s Gathering was called “an important first step” in renewing the relationship between the First Nations and their leaders with the Canadian government.

This is despite the fact that the Indian Act was implemented over a hundred years ago — seemingly plenty of time for the Canadian government to take these first steps.

According to Statistics Canada, aboriginal adults accounted for 22 per cent of the prison population in 2006 while only representing three per cent of the total Canadian population.

The high rates of domestic violence, and sometimes abhorrent living conditions should serve as enough of an indication that action is necessary, rather than vague rhetoric.

Speaking as a non-aboriginal, I cannot pretend to know what the needs of First Nations people are. But surely it is time to engage in a real dialogue and listen to the voices of aboriginal people in order to cultivate a relationship of respect and trust on both sides.

Thank you to Melissa Ireland at the Office of Aboriginal Initiatives for her feedback and kind advice on this piece.

Opinion

James Popkie

Re: Legacy of media distorting Soviet Union January 25

It is true that Russophobia is a legitimate problem, judging by the abhorrent depiction of Russians as callous villains in western media (the Modern Warfare games being the worst offenders by far). It is also true that the United States did many bad things during the Cold War (McCarthyist witch hunts, Vietnam).

America also deserves flak for abandoning Russia when the Soviet Union collapsed, allowing Russia to become overtaken by corruption and lawlessness, and denying them the financial aid and restructuring that America gave to Germany and Japan post-WW2.

What is not true however is that the Soviet Union’s crimes against humanity are in any way exaggerated or embellished by western media.

Around 20 million people were killed in the genocides committed under Stalin.

Even at the highest estimates of 2.5 million civilians being killed in Vietnam, including those not directly killed by America, that is still a small fraction of those murdered under Soviet rule. Thus, calling America and the Soviet Union equivalent, or claiming the Soviet Union is falsely demonised, are distorted assertions.

The Soviet Union, if anything, gets off easy, when considering how much more the name “Hitler” is invoked, whenever people make a comparison to label someone as synonymous with pure evil, as opposed to the far less invoked name of “Stalin.”

Opinion

Glen Carruthers

Re: LMT impresses with theatrical talents

Last year the The Cord reviewed the annual Laurier Musical Theatre production and made the absurd observation that “LMT is the last frontier for musical performers at Laurier.” A music student leader wrote to The Cord, pointed out the inaccuracy, a retraction of sorts was printed, and life goes on.

This year The Cord again reviewed the LMT production and repeated the same absurdity as last year. Do you simply cut and paste from one year to the next? Do you quote press releases verbatim? Doesn’t factual accuracy matter?

The faculty of music welcomes students from across campus to audition for its ensembles and music students perform regularly on campus.

There are more than 350 music students who have been slapped in the face two years in a row by having their accomplishments negated by the Cord’s inaccurate nonsense.

There were 80+ student performances sponsored by the faculty of music last year. You must have your own reasons for not representing music students’ interests in your paper.

It’s a student paper and it’s up to you what you print. But I can’t let a dumb observation about the lack of musical outlets on campus go unchallenged.

When you review the LMT production next year, please leave out the glib tag line about LMT being “the last frontier.” It’s offensive to a significant portion of the student body and causes casual readers like me to doubt the veracity of everything else you print.

–Glen Carruthers, Dean, Faculty of Music

Opinion

With strong research, a feasible platform and an approachable demeanor, Michael Onabolu has emerged the most suitable choice for next year’s Wilfrid Laurier University Students’ Union president and CEO.

Onabolu has tangible targets in his platform and doesn’t over emphasize his experience with WLUSU and other campus activities – acting rather humble and authentic instead.

While not explicit about it, with Onabolu’s one-year term on the board, his experience as a breaker as well as being a founding member of the ACCESS charity, Onabolu certainly has the necessary credentials for the position.

The pillars of his platform were focused and he rarely responded vaguely when confronted about an issue. In particular, Onabolu’s emphasis on student mental health demonstrates his ability to bring uncomfortable issues to light and find innovative ways to tackle them.

Furthermore, his thorough knowledge about WLUSU’s ends and operations demonstrate that he is extremely qualified for the job.

From the beginning of the election, two presidential candidates seemed to divide the students at WLU: Onabolu and Solda.

Though Solda has put forth a strong campaign and has a noticeable presence on campus, she falls short in terms of her platform. By being a two-time director and head-ice breaker, Solda is no stranger to WLUSU; but her platform lacks the ideas to ensure concrete change is attainable over the course of a one-year position. In debates and discussion, she tackled difficult topics affecting students such as the potential of altering orientation week to accommodate a fall reading break.

However, Solda failed to take a strong stance on the issue, which may have risked her popularity, but overall would have exhibited the strength to make an informed decision as a leader.

Nolan Kreis deserves credit just for the fact he decided to run for president as a Brantford student. While he wasn’t excessively pushy about WLUSU’s representation in Brantford, he did bring light to an on going and contentious topic. Kreis also made an attempt, by attending numerous WLUSU board meetings, to understand the operations at the Waterloo campus.

However, as even he acknowledged, the fact that Kreis is from the Brantford campus did hurt him on Waterloo-based issues, for example, lack of study space.

As a student from Brantford, Kreis was only able to give the perspective of that campus, losing the connection with the Waterloo voters which make up the vast majority of the electorate.

In running for president, Kreis may help bring an end to a sense of divide between the two campuses and has opened up the potential for future Brantford candidates and elected representatives.

Onabolu, with his “Help Me Help You” campaign, wasn’t excessive in its gimmicks or presence on campus – inviting students to get involved rather than pushing promises into their faces.

At the Waterloo open forum, Onabolu – ending off with an incredibly catchy and rhyming closing statement – performed exceptionally. Though he had many sentimental statements, Onabolu never came off as artificial.

Confident, hopeful and optimistic, Onabolu, in both his platform and his public appearances, is the strongest candidate for WLUSU president. The job, contrary to popular belief, isn’t the most glamorous and can be unpredictable.

But, from what he has exhibited throughout his campaign, Onabolu, if he is to be elected, should have a successful 2012-13 year.

The unsigned endorsements are based on a discussion following the WLUSU election campaign. It was agreed upon by the majority (13 in favour, one abstention) of The Cord’s editorial board. The arguments made may reference any facts that have been made available through interviews, documents or other sources. The views presented do not necessarily reflect those of The Cord’s volunteers, staff or WLUSP.

Opinion

Unlike last year, the turnover over for the WLUSU board of directors will be substantial even if the returning directors are elected. While many candidates are enthusiastic and ambitious for the position, a lot of them lack a valid understanding of board, procedure and what the role actually entails.

It’s fairly easy for candidates to say inspiring things about Laurier, but being critical and professional is what a director should be. Also, conducting sufficient research, as well as attending more than one board meeting is a necessity. WLUSU’s job is far more policy orientated, with financial statements and monitoring reports taking most of board discussion.

Advocacy is an essential aspect, but without demonstrating a thorough understanding of the role, WLUSU and even the university’s policies, then it will be difficult to be an effective director.

Chair: Jon Pryce

Despite being the only candidate to declare interest in the position as of now, Pryce would be an adequate choice for chair and chief governance officer of WLUSU. With two years of board experience under his belt and being actively involved in numerous committees – most notably the ownership lineage committee – Pryce has demonstrated the necessary skills for the position.

As mentioned throughout the open forum, Pryce has been preparing and has achieved an unmistakable understanding of the role through his policy and advocacy background. As the chair of the board, training new directors would be one of the main jobs and with his clearly outlined platform, Pryce will have no issue making elected directors feel comfortable.

-Disclaimer: Jon Pryce is a director on the WLUSP board

New director: Deanna Sim

By attending multiple meetings and having an extensive background in various campus activities, Sim has potential to be an effective and engaged director. She’ll obviously need training, but with her background in house council and LOCUS, she shouldn’t have too much difficulty transitioning into the role. At the Waterloo open forum, Sim gave reasonable answers to many of the questions and exhibited understanding of how WLUSU works. She should be elected because she has a good sense of the position, has relevant experience and seems intent on learning more about the board of directors.

Director and Student Governor: Seth Warren

Even though he wasn’t on the board last year Warren, with his thorough knowledge of WLUSU and university procedure, should have no problem doing an adequate job in both roles.

Having gained board knowledge and experience in his 2010-11 term, Warren understands the pressing issues that are currently affecting the university and the union. He’s level-headed and professional, which is something the next year’s board of directors and governors would benefit from.

Vice-Chair: Stephen Franchetto

Franchetto should be elected as vice-chair of the board because of his strong financial background, commitments to the internal affairs committee and Fix My Laurier as well as his thorough understanding of advocacy and representawtion. At the open forum Franchetto was one of the most impressive candidates and with some training, plus a bit more exposure to board conduct, he should have no problem being vice-chair of the board. His ability to understand financial statements and procedure will be a strong asset to the board.

The unsigned endorsements are based on a discussion following the WLUSU election campaign. It was agreed upon by the majority (13 in favour, one abstention) of The Cord’s editorial board. The arguments made may reference any facts that have been made available through interviews, documents or other sources. The views presented do not necessarily reflect those of The Cord’s volunteers, staff or WLUSP.

News

Colleen Connolly

On Thursday night, students supporting Wilfrid Laurier University Student Publications (WLUSP) were brought together at the organization’s annual general meeting (AGM) to vote in a new president and four board members for the upcoming year, with 87 registered members in attendance along with 112 proxy votes.

This was the second largest turnout since its separation from Wilfrid Laurier University Students’ Union seven years ago.

“The atmosphere was great,” said Bryn Ossington, executive director of WLUSP. “It was really nice to have a very cordial race, a good number of candidates, a race for both president and board that had no controversy and had qualified candidates.”

This year’s WLUSP AGM also featured more drama than years past as last year all positions were acclaimed and the year before that Ossington was acclaimed as president.

“I think that’s a big reason why for the first time in a few years we haven’t had to be pulling in votes at the last minute,” said Ossington. “It’s great to see that people have a vested interest in WLUSP.”

The evening supplied drinks and appetizers along with a keynote from 570 News radio personality, Gary Doyle. Doyle’s entertaining and informative share of stories and journalistic wisdom served as an intermission between voting and the declaration of results to bring the meeting to its close.

Running for president were Mike Lakusiak and Emily Frost. Lakusiak, who is currently the In Depth Editor of The Cord, started with WLUSP three years ago and has maintained a consistent dedication to the paper in particular. Frost, as well, began her involvement with WLUSP three years prior, working predominantly with Radio Laurier as host of the A and E show, events manager and serving on the executive committee.

The four positions available for WLUSP’s board were treasurer, vice chair and two directors. Running for election, students Justin Smirlies, Kayla Darrach, Joseph McNinch-Pazzano, Tom Paddock and Jon Pryce delivered their speeches following those of the running presidents.

Each candidate was then subject to questions from the crowd and asked to present a closing statement.

In conclusion, the four students who will be taking their place on WLUSP’s board next year will be Darrach, McNinch-Pazzano, Haddock and Pryce. Frost was voted in to be the future president of the organization.

“My main goals are to keep doing what we’re doing and continue producing amazing publications and to really bring this organization together,” Frost told The Cord.

“I’m extremely volunteer oriented, my whole basis has been about volunteer experience and making things better so that volunteers come out of this getting what they wanted … volunteers are the reason that we’re here.”

News

Marcie Foster

Wilfrid Laurier University students in residence under the mandatory meal plan will no longer have the luxury of using flex food dollars at the International News store on campus.

According to Dan Dawson, director of student services at WLU, due to an unacknowledged error in the system students could use flex food dollars at International News since it gained OneCard service in Oct. 2011.

“Inadvertently, at the International News location both the flex food and the convenience dollars [accounts] were checked off or activated when they came on live in October.”

Dawson clarified that the original operating agreements between the university and International News only allowed students to use their convenience dollars.

“We didn’t realize until the end of the fall semester when we were running a summary of programs that students had been actually able to use some of their flex food dollars in that location.”

At this point it is unclear how much revenue was produced exclusively from the flex food accounts.

“The flex food account is a part of the mandatory meal plans. International News is not considered a food location therefore they should not have access to the flex food account.” Dawson said.

International News is the new on-campus convenience store franchise that replaced the Centre Spot last fall.

Despite the changes, International News remains busy with a steady flow of students.

The manager and owners of the franchise have been notified of the issue and the correction has taken immediate effect.

“It’s unfortunate that students had that opportunity to do something and now that has to be corrected, I guess in hindsight they had an extra benefit for a few months above and beyond what they should have had,” said Dawson.

An interview request sent to the OneCard office was declined.

News

Justin Fauteux and Linda Givetash

For a brief moment, Zahra Sultani left the Concourse speechless.

Rather than providing an opening statement at the Wilfrid Laurier University Students’ Union open forum on Tuesday afternoon, Sultani, one of the four presidential candidates, announced her resignation from the race. Sultani then proceeded to throw her support behind former opponent Michael Onabolu, before being cut off by forum moderator Kory Preston.

“I’m rather sold on a candidate who has greater experience than I,” Sultani told the crowded upper Concourse. “I’m sold on Mike Onabolu.”

During her speech, Sultani noted that there were difficulties in her campaign, telling the audience that “besides the challenges of putting a campaign together I had to face the challenges of people attacking my character.”

According to Sultani, nearing the end of last week, accusations were made against her. When asked to clarify this in an interview following her announcement, Sultani said that she was unable to provide details about the matter as of yet because the matter is still under investigation. “I will let you know as soon as I get more details because it is something I would like people to know about,” she said.

Sultani added that though she hadn’t considered stepping down until the events that transpired late last week, she had admired and respected Onabolu from early in the campaign.

“When I first met Mike at the beginning of campaigning, I said to myself ‘if I wasn’t running for this position, I would be in this guy’s campaign,’” she told The Cord. “So after facing a lot of challenges, I decided to step down as a candidate just to endorse Mike because I don’t want this election to become a popularity contest. I want people to make an informed decision.”

While Sultani’s resignation shocked most of the crowd, Onabolu had a bit of warning.

“I did get a chance to talk to [Sultani] before hand and she did let me know that she was potentially thinking about endorsing me,” he said.

“But I didn’t know she was actually going to drop out of the race. I was really shocked at her resignation, but going forward I think she was very humble in saying she feels like she has the capacity to keep running and the capabilities to run.”

WLUSU’s chief returning officer Jesse Finn also had some indication that Sultani’s announcement was coming.

“Yesterday [Monday] we spoke to Zahra, she was expressing some interest in ending her candidacy and we simply filled her in on the process to do so,” he said.

For the other two presidential candidates, Nolan Kreis and Jenny Solda, Sultani’s resignation was a complete blindside. Particularly for Solda, whose opening statement followed Sultani’s announcement.

“It was pretty shocking, that’s never really happened before, but she made her choice and I respect her for it,” said Solda. “I’ll admit, it was a little hard to follow, but I tried my best.”

Kreis, meanwhile, expressed similar sentiments.

“To actually come out and resign at an open forum, that takes a lot of courage. I can respect that,” he said. “Obviously, she put a lot of thought into it.”

As far as the issues that came about late last week that drove Sultani’s resignation, the other candidates all said they didn’t have any knowledge on the matter, while Finn stated he could not comment on it.

Down a candidate, the election will continue as planned. According to Finn, WLUSU has already begun the process of altering the ballots to remove Sultani’s name.

Sultani thanked her campaign team and all those that supported her and told The Cord that this resignation does not mean she’s finished with WLUSU, expressing potential interest in a position at WLUSU or elsewhere at the university.

“Even if I was thinking of taking a break from the WLUSU body, I think I would there are other things I can do in Laurier,” she said.

-With files from Mike Lakusiak and Justin Smirlies

News

Marissa Evans

Negotiations between Wilfrid Laurier University and the WLU Faculty Association (WLUFA) have reached a climax. After conciliation on Jan. 24 and 26, both parties decided to forego the scheduled negotiations that were to take place on Jan. 27. As negotiations have progressed to more complex issues such as the pension plan and ties between teaching and research, both felt it necessary to gather more information before proceeding.

“We’ve been really serious since day one on getting a deal that’s fair and responsible for the institution as a whole,” explained director of communication and public affairs, Kevin Crowley.

Judy Bates, WLUFA president, expressed the same optimism, “Hopefully with the assistance of the labour board appointed conciliator we’ll be able to move towards a settlement that is reasonable for both sides,” she said.

Crowley says working with a conciliator is a typical part of the process.

With the incitement of conciliation, WLUFA published an online newsletter providing an update of the negotiations. This prompted a response from the university who, Crowley said, felt it was being mischaracterised.

“What WLUFA is saying in the newsletter is not what we’re saying at the bargaining table. Those aren’t our proposals,” Crowley stated. “We really wanted to correct the record and hold WLUFA accountable for what it was saying.”

A letter was subsequently sent from the Wilfrid Laurier University Students’ Union (WLUSU) to WLUFA and the university. In the letter, WLUSU president Nick Gibson, deems a work stoppage of any length “unacceptable” and urges the university and the faculty association to reach common ground for the sake of the students.

“It’s [WLUSU’s] belief that the recently disclosed status of labour negotiations between WLU and WLUFA challenges the strong reputation of our institution,” Gibson wrote in the letter. “We must remind all parties that the University is an institution that serves, and ultimately must provide for the needs of the students.”

Gibson addressed the letter to both Bates and WLU president and vice chancellor Max Blouw.

“As soon as we saw the back and forth going between the two we felt it was appropriate for us to assert the student voice to make sure the parties are not losing sight of what their ultimate objective is—which is to serve students on both sides,” Gibson told The Cord, explaining that he wanted to keep them focused.

“It’s not just them two in a room,” he continued. “We’re watching what’s going on very intently.”

Bates responded to the letter, reaffirming that WLUFA retains its “[commitment]… to a negotiated settlement in this current round of bargaining.”

“We’re always encouraged when the student body is taking an active concern in these kinds of affairs,” said Crowley. “But the real work is getting done at the bargaining table.”

Though both parties are optimistic that an agreement can be made, under the Ontario Labour Relations Act, WLUFA reserves the right to take strike action.

Bates reflected, “It’s not a happy state of affairs... for anybody. That’s not our goal.”

Gibson responds to this possibility: “Ultimately we just don’t want a labour disruption and we want the deal to be in the best interest of students, which is a deal that is mutually beneficial for both parties.”

WLUFA and the university will convene again Feb. 1 to exchange information before proceeding with conciliation next week.

“Just stay tuned,” Gibson advised. “The Students’ Union is very much on top of this.”

News

Linda Givetash

Three candidates made their bid for the sole vacant position on the Wilfrid Laurier University board of governors. Leveraging their diverse backgrounds and experience, Scott Fleming, Michael Gagliano and Seth Warren made the argument for who was the most qualified to have a say in the university’s governance, revenue and property for the next two years.

Addressing a question about potential committee involvement if elected as a student governor, both Gagliano and Warren revealed their interests in finance. While Gagliano stated he would join the finance and investment committee to “make sure this university is fiscally responsible,” Warren stated he would utilize his practical experience in auditing through his co-op placement to work with the auditing and compliance committee.

Taking a different approach to the idea of potential committee work, Fleming responded, “I would sit on the outreach committee - I don’ t even know if that’s a committee right now but it should be.”

Fleming discussed his commitment to the role of student governor, explaining, “I’d only be on the board of directors [for the Wilfrid Laurier University Students’ Union] and this position where some of the other candidates will have three full time positions and co-op and the course load which I think could be a heavy time burden.”

The statement caught the interest of students in the audience, and was later followed by a question about how time commitment and co-op placements affect the suitability of a candidate.

In answering the question, Fleming said, “I will be a full time student on campus for the entire academic year and I’ll probably be around for the summer,” regarding his accessibility to students and campus issues.

Warren and Gagliano – both co-op students in the business faculty – also addressed the concern.

“That’s legitimately the only reason why I didn’t run for the board again [last] year, because I’m on co-op right now and I wasn’t sure I’d be able to handle the time commitment,” admitted Warren. “But now I am, and that’s why I’m back here in front of all of you.”

Sharing a similar sentiment, explaining he ensured that his current employers would allow him to make the time to be on campus, Gagliano said, “I’m running strictly for board of governors. I want to focus 100 per cent of my effort on this position.”

News

Scott Fleming

I believe student government needs to be accountable and transparent; particularly when dealing with political and financial issues. I also believe that the status quo should be questioned when necessary. With the dissolution of the BCC I plan on focusing on Board outreach to the Brantford campus. Every Student is an owner of WLUSU and I intend in promoting that knowledge.

–Scott Fleming asked to use the same platform for Board of Directors and Board of Governors.

Michael Gagliano

I am a third year Honours Business co-op student and I believe Laurier can become Canada’s most forward-thinking university. I am confident that I am the right person to represent students on the Board of Governors to help achieve this goal. Elect me to ensure the voices of students are represented by a strong, accessible leader with a passion forinnovation and proven success.

In 2011 I co-founded the Laurier Innovation and Technology Club, which has already helped transition WLU into a more entrepreneurial university. I have also been heavily involved within WLUSU as Public Affairs Co-ordinator, as well a volunteer with WLUSP.

I believe in our future as a top-tier university and I’m asking you to believe in me as your Student Governor. www.michaelgagliano.ca.

Seth Warren

As a candidate for WLU Board of Governors and Academic Senate and a returning WLUSU Director, I offer an informed, experienced and unified approach.

Informed: Through involvement in WLUSU, Campus Clubs, Laurier Athletics, the Co-op program, Greek and Residence Life, I have a broad base in campus-wide issues.

Experienced: By knowing the system, I can get your issue resolved.

Unified: By sitting on BOD, BOG and Senate, I will provide one voice - comprehensive representation and thorough understanding. I will bridge these bodies, fostering communication, and furthering their effectiveness.

My Focus - Cutting Campus Congestion:Waterloo campus is busting at the seams and Brantford isn’t much better. We lack study space and access to faculty. See my full platform online for a Comprehensive Action Plan!

News

Alicia Appleby

As a candidate for Board of Directors I feel that I have many creative and innovative contributions to offer. My main goal is to create a more collaborative multi campus university, working off each other’s strengths. Laurier campuses have much to offer their students and I have learned that there is no singular approach to how we provide student services. I believe I will be able to bring fresh ideas and a unique perspective to ensure that everyone feels included. I will bring my transferrable skills from my previous positions within WLUSU and student affairs. I hope to offer open communication between our campuses and bring my skills to Board of Directors to help ensure our student’s voices are heard.

Alex Balint

I am a big advocate for Ownership Linkage at Laurier, maintaining a strong connection between students and WLUSU. Staying directly in touch with students every day is important to ensure WLUSU is always meeting the expectations and demands of the students. Providing a safe and empowering environment is essential through the various services our school has to offer. To build on these I will promote increased attention to the awareness and support of mental health for students. I will make certain that our school’s resources are sufficiently and suitably being applied to the four ends to keep life at Laurier everything a student wants it to be, and always moving forward.

Matt Casselman

I am a BBA student who is involved on campus as a member of various clubs including the Debate Society, Farmers Market, and Best Buddies. As a Director on the Board, I will focus on four themes of increasing student voice, improving campus experience, increasing fiscal responsibility, and improving information distribution. Please allow me to defend the interests of a community I care so much about.

If elected I will work to address each point in my full platform and champion student interests as a strong advocate in and out of the board room. Your concerns about frivolous spending, accountability, campus clubs, service and facility hours, and more, will have a stronger voice than ever before. For more information please visit www.facebook.com/CasselmanForWLUSU or email cass9720@mylaurier.ca

Marek Chovin

Greetings fellow students here at Laurier, my name is Marek Chovanec, but most know me as Drigg. I am a third year Honours Psychology: Research Specialist Student and this is my first time running for the WLUSU Board of Directors position. I believe in justice, learning, responsibility and improvement. If I get the honour of being elected, I want to enforce the above at Laurier through acting as a liaison between the WLUSU and the Faculty of Science as well as ALL of the faculties by committing myself to addressing the issues that students may have: accessible study space, reliable internet all over, 24 hour accessibility and more. Making student life a positive experience towards a better future is my goal; the future is friendly.

Jazz Clement

Passionate about making a difference here at Laurier, and being involved within the community, I see the changes that need to be addressed. If elected as board of director, I will ensure that I understand and am knowledgeable about important elements of WLUSU such as, the ends policy, executive limitations, committee work, and holding the president accountable.

Furthermore, I believe in communication, connection, and change. Through communication, I want to tie the missing link between the students and the union. Through connection, I want to ensure that all students are connected and feel part of the union.

Most importantly I want change, a change in us… a change in our student union and change in how you view yourselves as the student union.

Frank Cirinna

As a first year student, the most common thing I see and hear about WLUSU is complaints. Whether its food, programming, or something completely different altogether, the student population has concerns, but most don’t know how to go about having these concerns voiced. What is your Laurier Story? My story has led me to become a much stronger and better person, and I have had opportunities and experiences that would not have been possible anywhere else. During O-Week we were told that we get out what we put in.

It goes beyond that. At Wilfrid Laurier, we get back 10 times what we put in, so I find that it’s time for me to start giving back to all of you.

What’s your story?

Sebastian Dudek

Falling GPA’s, growing class sizes, lack of study space … what do these issues all have in common? They all affect the students at Laurier. My name is Sebastian Dudek and if elected for the Board of Directors I pledge to advocate for the issues that affect every student who attends Laurier As the owners and shareholders of WLUSU, it is up to us to set our expectations for the union and up to the board to ensure they are met. If elected I will actively work with management to ensure that every goal we set is met and exceeded. So on February 1st vote for Sebastian Dudek, on February 1st vote for accountability.

Jordan Epstein

My name is Jordan Epstein and I’m a third year Kinesiology student. I have been involved in the Students’ Union in the Campus Clubs, Programming, and Services departments. I will use the experiences gained through the diversity of my activities within WLUSU to better represent students in the boardroom.

My main goal as a potential director is to increase accessibility, communication, and transparency of what occurs in the boardroom. I feel I have already started working towards this goal by live-tweeting about what happens during meetings as a guest.

Having missed only one Board of Directors meeting since I started attending them in September, students on both campuses can count on me to consistently represent them and ensure that their voices are heard.

Dejan Eskic

If elected to the board, I wish to take on the role of a trustee for the benefit of the student body. WLUSU exists to benefit students and as a director I will vote on issues and contribute to discussions that affect everyone’s experience at Laurier. I will cooperate with the board in coming up with a strategic direction; giving the president the goals we want him to accomplish and allowing him to determine how.

The main goal I have for WLUSU and of course the president and board is: To provide a safe and empowering environment – I wish to provide a liaison between organizations like Bacchus and Foot Patrol to produce a more efficient student safety initiative. I want students to feel at home because, frankly, it is for most of the year. Communication between students and governance is key in finding issues and establishing ways of fixing them.

Scott Fleming

I believe student government needs to be accountable and transparent; particularly when dealing with political and financial issues. I also believe that the status quo should be questioned when necessary. With the dissolution of the BCC I plan on focusing on Board outreach to the Brantford campus. Every Student is an owner of WLUSU and I intend in promoting that knowledge.

Stephen Franchetto

My platform is based on accessibility, advocacy, accountability, and fiscal responsibility. The following is what each means to me: Accessibility means being available through mediums that enable prompt responses to your concerns or feedback and through ownership linkage events. Advocacy means working on behalf of students to continuously improve the student experience at Laurier, being knowledgeable of the issues students face, and accounting for all students (not just a select group) when making decisions. Accountability, I will be results oriented, and work with the Board and Management Group to ensure we follow through on campaign promises. Fiscal Responsibility, I will ensure that every dollar of your money is spent purposefully and responsibly. It’s your WLUSU, on February 1st, it’s your choice. Vote Franchetto.

Dannel Cartwright-Jordan

I am Dannel Cartwright Jordan, a Laurier Brantford student running for the board. With the recent eradication of the Brantford Campus Council and the possibility of structure changes it has become more important then ever that Brantford has a voice in the Board of Directors. I will represent the needs of the students as a member of the board with particular attention to quiet study space and safety, but intend to remain open to all students from both campuses for input. My goal is to bridge the gap between the two

Hannah Lee

My goal is to focus on Communication and Accessibility (of information) to enhance WLU experience.

Management: Provide further tools for training and development at the management level in WLUSU establishments to improve the level of efficiency for both customer and employee satisfaction. Health Services/Counseling Services Encourage students (particularly in first year) to seek out help and advice from these institutions that are so readily available to us.

Engage Student Population in Extra Curricular Activities: Create a complete online calendar with events submitted from every WLUSU club. Thus allowing for currently idle students to access the information required in hopes to avoid potential time-conflicts between classes and events.

Green Initiatives: Build upon BYOB (Bring Your Own Bottle) to further Laurier’s Green Initiative

Ryan Neufeld

As a third year psychology student I have volunteered as an icebreaker, Laurier International ambassador and active member of campus clubs. As a dedicated member of the faculty of science, I believe Laurier’s diversity should be represented on the BOD. I will bring a triple AAA focus to the board by enhancing ADVOCACY, APPROACHABILITY and ACCOUNTABILITY. I will encourage advocacy surrounding limiting class sizes, technology infrastructure and study space for student success.While WLUSU provides many services, an enhancement of approachability would increase awareness for students. Board members need to take ownership of communicating with students and create conversations through on campus engagement and social media. Through accountability I will ensure that students receive full value for their financial and volunteer commitments to the union.

Caleb Okwubo

As a third year psychology student I have volunteered as an icebreaker, Laurier International ambassador and active member of campus clubs. As a dedicated member of the faculty of science, I believe Laurier’s diversity should be represented on the BOD. I will bring a triple AAA focus to the board by enhancing ADVOCACY, APPROACHABILITY and ACCOUNTABILITY. I will encourage advocacy surrounding limiting class sizes, technology infrastructure and study space for student success.While WLUSU provides many services, an enhancement of approachability would increase awareness for students. Board members need to take ownership of communicating with students and create conversations through on campus engagement and social media. Through accountability I will ensure that students receive full value for their financial and volunteer commitments to the union.

Jon Pryce

As a returning Director, I will use my experience and acquired skills to provide the incoming Directors with guidance and advice. Through intensive training and goal prioritization, the Board of Directors will exhibit the highest quality of professionalism and shrewdness; I aim to lead this initiative. I will highlight and coordinate the strengths of each incoming Director to ensure that Students’ Union values and Ends are properly advocated and communicated to all students. I will also guarantee that each campus is holistically represented and fairly governed at all times. And finally, I will emphasize the need for the Board of Directors to exercise its high-level, strategic planning capacity to safeguard the integrity of the Students Union.

–Disclaimer: Jon Pryce is on the board of directors for Wilfrid Laurier Student Publications

Deanna Sim

My name is Deanna Sim. Being first and foremost a student, I will represent the needs and desires of students through a student-minded approach to topics such as spending. If elected, I will work towards a more convenient campus including advocating for improved food services during exam time and considering the needs of students who commute. I will also work to strengthen the unique communities clubs provide. Through my involvements as a LOCUS Off-Campus Advisor and executive, Food Bank executive, House Council VP, Model UN delegate, and the founder and President of the Agents of Awesome club, I have gained a broad prospective and many experiences which will greatly benefit the Board of Directors and the student community as a whole.

Kate Stevenson

My name is Kate Stevenson and I’m a second year business student running for WLUSU Board of Directors. Over my one and a half years at Laurier I have fallen in love with our school! Being involved with several student groups across campus has given me insight into many different perspectives, making me aware of issues that are important to students campus-wide. When making decisions, I believe the BOD should maintain constant communication and transparency. I care about Laurier and the people that make it the special place it is. Therefore, if elected I would consider every issue from the students’ point of view. I believe my passion for Laurier and my compassion towards my fellow students makes me a great candidate for the BOD.

Jennifer Taborowski

My goal as candidate for the Board of Directors is to bring my passion for involvement, leadership, and the greater Laurier community, to the Board. During my position I would represent the Laurier Brantford Campus while bringing a new fresh perspective to the Waterloo Campus. As a student who has been involved within Residence, WLUSU, and Student Affairs, I know how important student services and leadership opportunities as an essential part of the university experience. Long -term planning and goals lead to successful and meaningful years for current and future students. A Board of Directors with representatives from both campuses will strengthen multi-campus governance where both campuses are included and working together to build a stronger, and more diverse representation of two beautifully unique campuses.

Jeff Vincent

As a new director of the board, I will evaluate the Ends policies of the Students’ Union and use my new perspective in the boardroom to ensure the stakeholders of the Students’ Union (the students) can have a positive academic experience. I will engage students and make sure that their feedback is understood and taken into consideration. I will use my organizational and leadership skills to represent all members of the Students’ Union. Also, it is important that students at both the Waterloo and Brantford campuses and across all faculties, from business to science, have their voices heard. It is important to have a safe and empowering academic environment that fits the needs of all students.

Seth Warren

During my last election, I campaigned on accessibility, action, and accountability - principles that I maintain. Accessibility to me, prompt Action on Issues, and Accountability to Students.

Now, as a returning WLUSU Director and candidate for WLU Board of Governors and Academic Senate, I offer an informed, experienced and unified approach.

By sitting on BOD, BOG and Senate, I will provide one voice - comprehensive representation and thorough understanding. I will act as a bridge between these bodies, fostering communication, and furthering their effectiveness.

My Focus - Cutting Campus Congestion:

Waterloo campus is busting at the seams and Brantford isn’t much better. We lack study space and access to faculty. See my full platform online for a Comprehensive Action Plan!

Editor's note: This article has been updated since its original publishing date.

News

Nolan Kreis

I will be upholding the virtues to which WLUSU stands for. By meeting the 4 ends, by supporting the committees, clubs and groups that make up our students union, by placing the values and needs of students above all else, and by continuing my dedication to campus safety and working with the University and Student Affairs to enhance and improve on student wants and needs, will make me a strong candidate for President of WLUSU.

I will be supporting the needs of Waterloo and Brantford, both on a multi-campus level, and on an individual level. Both campus’s needs are equally important to WLUSU, and will be represented equally by myself if elected. Decisions regarding both campus’s will be made by those affected, not just a select few. With the new structure being introduced I know this may seem difficult, but with concerns that deal with Brantford specific I will be working with the Campus Experience Vice President (Brantford) and those directly affected by decisions that would be made in an open discussion available for all to attend.

The same would go for the Campus Experience Vice President (Waterloo) and those directly affected. Campus safety has always been a major concern and while I have been working consistently to make sure campus safety is always up to par from being a Don for two years and being on Foot Patrol for a year, I will continue to strive for safety excellence with the position of President.

Michael Onabolu

My name is Michael Onabolu. I’m a 4th year BBA Co-op major, Political Science minor.

I want to orient students on how to effectively use the Emergency Poles on campus and provide social opportunities that allow for students to express themselves in an inclusive environment.

I want to advocate that University Administration hold our available study space to a quality standard. Having more plugs in the science atrium, and improving the quality of the chairs and table in the DAWB study rooms, are ways I plan to help students more effectively utilize the study space on campus.

I want to work towards eradicating the stigmas surrounding mental illness, and educate students on ways they can take care of their own mental health. I also want to advocate that the University make mental wellbeing a priority and a consideration in academic planning (i.e. academic calendar, budget planning, etc).

I want to have a Financial Advisor for students to provide financial literature on how to budget and plan for the future. I want to ensure reimbursement for campus clubs remains a 4 day turnaround in actuality.

I want to hold Town Halls for representatives from the different University student services offices (ex. Counseling Services, Athletics, etc.) can come to discuss the current state of affairs, and students can ask questions and learn more about these services.

All of these wants, I want for the future students of the Laurier. If you want this as well, then please… Help Me, Help You.

Jenny Solda

My vision is to make the Students’ Union valuable for every student by focusing on communication, approachability, and transparency.

Advocating for and representing students…

Food Services: Improve overall quality, diverse options, and experience for students.

Class Sizes: Ensure the student to professor ratio is maintained.

Representation: Emphasize continuous outreach of student opinion to ensure the student voice is accurately represented.

Creating a safe and empowering environment…

Mental Health: Incorporate various initiatives that will address current student needs, promote mental wellness and awareness, along with creating permanent infrastructure to support the increasing demand.

Focus on leadership development: Focus on developing student leaders through training and transparency in volunteer positions.

Create a sustainable WLUSU: Work with EcoHawks to establish operational policies focused around making WLUSU more sustainable.

Hiring Process Re-evaluation: Re-evaluate and improve the hiring process of STARR ensuring a fair and equitable process.

Increase of Temporary Study Space: Turn the Turret and Hawk’s Nest into temporary study space during the day.

Increasing opportunities for diverse social interaction…

Diverse Programming: Create cross campus events and better utilize WLUSU spaces including Wilf’s and the Turret in order to provide students with a wider array of programming options.

Orientation Week: Re-evaluate and improve aspects of Orientation Week in order to provide the best experience for first year students. Improving transparency and communication with the student body…

Transparency: Provide students with continuous updates about WLUSU’s activities with monthly publications and clearer communication patterns.

Life

Katie Flood and Ian Spence

In light of the upcoming election The Cord asks students, "If you were WLUSU president for a day, what would you do?", revealing what is and isn't possible with the sought after position.