What’s it all matter?

Chris Sinal's reaction after finding out he has won the 2002 USC Presidential election. Sinal, currently serving on Western's Board of Governers, was one of the driving forces behind the USC's new policy Q&A with presdiential candidates.

You know, I was just joking when I said at least a half dozen people would show up to yesterday’s USC open forum on election procedures. It’s sort of the shtick in this space — poke fun at how few students care about the USC and its elections. Surely it may get under the skin of your typical nauseatingly optimistic USCer but that’s part of what makes it so much fun.

But seriously, one concerned student showed up yesterday. One.

Total attendance was ten, but 90% of that was people who kind of had to be there. In total, there were three Gazette editors, the USC president, two USC vice-presidents, two members of the elections committee, a former presidential candidate and the lone concerned student.

This is a problem, no?

Well, not for the USC who seem to be checking off points on their auditing checklist such as this public forum as they move closer to making the elections a USC-only party. Insular, contained, exclusive — call it what you want, they’re clearly moving towards a process designed to weed out any non-USCers who, until now, had a relatively easy path to the presidency.

It’s easy to understand the USC’s motives for the move — candidates should have a passable knowledge of the massive organization they’re vying to lead. Fielding just one serious candidate surrounded by an assortment of knobs, resume-boosters and idealists cheapens the process.

But one student turning up to a public forum is a problem. What’s the point of a democratic process that no one is interested in taking part in?

What’s the point of arguing over how much money presidential candidates should be allotted for their campaigns when it is widely known and often openly admitted that it’s easy for candidates to hide receipts and doctor their finances?

Why are we debating the merits of outdoor signs, rave cards, bag tags and the like when the current president describes the process as a popularity contest at a public forum?

What’s the point of this all when you can’t even get a single current councilor or senator to show up to a public forum on one of the USC’s most important documents at 5:30 on a Wednesday evening ?

The USC elections are likely the one time during the year when the USC is actually relevant to the student body and has the best opportunity to directly engage constituents. But as the process is made more and more insular and student apathy seems to cloak all but one student on campus, what does it really matter?

Inside job: USC looks to promote from within

If we can take anything away from the University Students’ Council’s “public” forum on election procedures Wednesday evening, it’s that the perception of absolute student apathy is a complete myth.

One lone Western student showed up and even shared a comment of two bringing the total attendance at the forum to ten, which included three members of the Gazette.

Of course one out of 26,500 is less than ideal, but hey — it’s a start. Maybe next time he brings a friend, and then his friend brings another two friends, and then… well, you know.

We’re just trying to look at things optimistically here as we stumble towards what could be the dullest USC election campaign in recent memory.

Of course, the low attendance is music to the ears of USC brass who are scrambling to change an election process which has, in the age of social media and populist campaigning, quickly grown counterintuitive to their agenda.

As it stands, there is nothing stopping an enterprising young man or woman with zero USC experience from finding the right balance of populism and intelligent campaigning to propel them into the highest seat on the USC executive council.

And there isn’t a better year than this for an eager nobody to pull it off with one serious candidate emerging in pre-election talk.

Emily Rowe won the presidency in 2009, riding a wave of populist ideas and a clever campaign which was the first to utilize a YouTube video. Sure, she had the support of the school’s largest faculty, but she still won with a commanding 3,957 votes.

Even without the social science bump, Rowe and her campaign manager Dan Moulton were onto something.

Last year, Marshall Goldfarb — a business major and the man behind the tarnished Student Magazine — went a similar route, using his popular three dollar meals platform point to propel him to fourth in the voting with more than a thousand votes, despite having no USC experience.

It was a wake up call for the USC and possibly a harbinger of things to come if someone can finally put all the pieces together and run the most populist, colourful, vote-winning campaign this campus has ever seen.

The biggest move toward making the process more exclusive and insular is a new question and answer forum, hosted by campus media and designed to grill the candidates on USC policy, issues and practices.

The idea came from on high — the USC’s full-time staff members and Western Board of Governors are behind it — and would ideally weed out anyone unfamiliar with the USC or force them to learn how the USC and its multi-million dollar budget operates.

But understanding the nuts and bolts of the USC is one thing — being president is another.

Current president Mike Tithecott  — who famously admitted during last year’s campaign period that he was unprepared for the job — will be the first to tell you there’s no way to be equipped for stepping in as the head of the USC.

The real issue here is that it seems no one within the student union really wants this job. Several intelligent, enterprising senators and councillors are looking past the presidential race, setting their sights on a vice-presidential position which is seen as more of a prize.

Consider that for two years running, the USC vice-president university affairs has also served as the president of the Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance, a highly distinguished position among student union types.

Especially during Rowe’s tenure it became increasingly evident that Moulton, her VP-UA, was pulling all the strings behind the scenes. At one memorable council meeting, Rowe sidestepped a question about soda sales, quickly correcting herself when Moulton whispered the correct number in her ear.

The USC can make all the moves they want to make it tougher for your Goldfarbs or your White and Purple stars to win this thing. But when you can’t find at least two legitimate presidential candidates on council, the problem comes from within.

USC gearing up for February elections

With the University Students’ Council elections just around the corner, big changes are in store for the presidential debates.

In previous years, three debates were typically held. One debate was run by the speaker of council, another by the elections committee who asked questions on behalf of students, and a media debate covered by all on-campus media.

“Those debates have been pretty general and for that reason there’s been an overlap of questions,” Fassina said. “There’s never really been an opportunity to probe questions and have a more lively debate.”

This time, the presidential debate will occur all on one day and will centre on the six executive portfolios, split into four parts: finance and operations; advocacy and university affairs; events and communications; and accessibility and campus issues.

Chris Sinal, student representative on the Board of Governors and former USC president, was one of several people who proposed the changes.

“[The idea] has been percolating around [for a while] and it comes up again and again,” Sinal said.

“Audiences at debates tend to be primarily people from campaign teams, or just passer-bys if it’s in a big place,” he observed. “The same questions tend to get asked over and over again, which means you get answers which lack almost all substance, they tend to be very pithy, and it’s just not conducive to a substantive campaign.”

USC president Mike Tithecott participated in the old-style debates last year. He said they were effective at the time, but was disappointed candidates never had the chance to expand on their knowledge of USC operations, only on their platforms.

“Platform is really only five to ten per cent of our job,” Tithecott said.

He noted while “joke” questions failed to provide depth, they did work to lighten the mood and de-stress candidates.

“We’re students and we’re only 20 to 21 years old and we’re running for a full-time position as president — and it’s nice to have those breathers.”

Sinal had high hopes for the new format.

“If you can arrange an event where questions being asked are more geared towards eliciting knowledge from the candidates it’s going to require them to do research. It would be good for everyone know who has done the research, who has feasible ideas and who has depth,” Sinal said. “As opposed to, ‘I’m a good guy or girl and I have a trillion, billion Facebook followers.’”

Gazette Tested: Cottage Pie

Difficulty: Easy

Cooking time: 30 min prep and 40-45 min cooking

This recipe is essentially the same idea as shepherd’s pie, but uses sliced potatoes instead of mashed to save time and creates a different visual effect. The recipe serves six and can be kept for up to three days. To reheat, just stick the pan in the oven at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes.

Ingredients:

• 3 tbsp. unsalted butter, melted
• 1 large yellow onion, diced medium
• 2 large carrots, cut into 3/4 inch pieces
• Coarse salt and ground pepper
• 2 tbsp. tomato paste
• 1 pound ground beef or lamb
• 2 tsp. fresh thyme leaves
• 1 cup dark (porter) beer — you can use wine if you don’t have beer
• 2 tbsp. all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup frozen peas
• 1 large potato (3/4 pound), very thinly sliced

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a large skillet, heat 1 tbsp. butter over medium-high.

2. Add onion and carrots and cook, stirring often, until onion is soft (about five minutes).

3. Season with salt and pepper and stir in tomato paste.

4. Add meat and cook, breaking up with a wooden spoon, until almost cooked through (about three minutes).

5. Add thyme and beer and bring to a boil.

6. Cook, stirring frequently, until slightly reduced (about two min).

7. Sprinkle flour over mixture and stir to combine.

8. Add one cup of water and cook until mixture thickens (about two minutes). Stir in peas and season with salt and pepper.

9. Transfer mixture to a two-quart baking dish. Top with potatoes, overlapping slices. Season potatoes with salt and pepper and drizzle with 2 tbsp. of butter.

10. Bake until potatoes are browned around edges and tender when pierced with a knife, 40 to 45 minutes. Let it cool 10 minutes before serving.

— Tested by Nicole Gibillini

Speech-to-text messaging still dangerous, say cops

(Corey Stanford/Gazette)

Hands-free texting? There’s an app for that. But, police aren’t so sure it’s better than texting the old fashioned way.

New applications on smartphones offer voice-activated technology allowing you to speak into your phone and have words converted into a text message. While technically legal, Tom O’Brien, sergeant in charge of the traffic management unit for London Police Services, noted using your phone in any capacity while driving could still be dangerous.

“I would suggest that hands-free is probably significantly less distracting than using your thumb and texting on your cell phone or Blackberry, but the distraction level of either of those two is a concern of police to the safety of the road,” O’Brien explained.

Vince Manzerolle, a professor in the faculty of information and media studies, said people often put too much stake in how an application will affect or improve their lives.

“It’s part of the same kind of idea that new technologies will somehow fix problems,” Manzerolle noted. “The problem of distracted driving, whether it’s cell phones or anything else, somehow there’s an app for that and all of a sudden now you’re the most focused driver ever.”

He explained rather than blaming or seeking out new technology, people should focus on fixing the real problem — in this case distracted driving as a whole. He said our society’s ever-evolving focus on technology can sometimes draw our attention away from the real issue.

“What does it mean to live in a society in which constant connectivity is the norm?” he asked.

“It’s going to be much more about somehow negotiating the demands of a society based on speed-up, whether it’s cars or whatever, and this kind of technological connectivity.”

O’Brien noted there are lots of activities people engage in while driving that distract them from the road, from eating to changing the radio station. While banning the use of handheld devices has proven to be effective, he explained it was unlikely hands-free devices would ever be banned altogether.

“I don’t see it. I can see where people might think it. Maybe, in years to come, with lots of pressure are we going to see that,” he said.

Manzerolle believed banning such devices wouldn’t be necessary, as technology is quickly evolving to become completely hands-free and synced within vehicles.

“Biometric technologies in which you get into your car and it’s already synced in with your telecommunications network. It’s not that far off where you won’t even need the actual device,” he said. “It’s part of the vehicle and it’s activated by your presence, so whether you’re wearing the technology, whether it’s a separate device or whether it’s imbedded in your car.”

Selina Wamsley, a second-year international relations student, felt this kind of technology was the safest option when driving.

“It’s very easy to get distracted. I know people who have almost crashed their cars from texting,” she noted. “Even with speakerphone, you have to pick up the phone, you have to select speaker, you have to put it down.”

Jason Duyck, a second-year criminology student, felt even the hands-free applications for texting wouldn’t solve the problem of distracted driving.

“I’d probably find it too distracting. I’d rather just pull over and call someone,” he said. “I can’t concentrate on my phone and driving at the same time, so generally I just leave the phone off.”

Win streak snapped

All good things eventually come to an end.

That’s exactly what happened this past Saturday when the Mustangs men’s volleyball team lost to McMaster 3-1.

“In our league it is so difficult to go undefeated,” Mustangs head coach Jim Sage said. “The run we had was awesome and it couldn’t have happened at a better time, but we need to get back to the business of what we do well.”

The loss was tough for the first place Mustangs team, who came out strong by winning the first set 25–20. However, as the game progressed, McMaster made the necessary adjustments, stopping the Mustangs from gaining an advantage.

“They started by rotating their middles,” Sage said. “They started to dig and block and it sort of frustrated our offence. We just weren’t able to maintain the intensity and the ball control that we needed to have to play the next three sets.”

Following the changes, the second place McMaster squad controlled the next three sets winning each of them 25–18. The win put the Marauders in second place, just four points back of the Mustangs in the Ontario University Athletics standings.

Mustang’s right side hitter Mathieu Poulin, a prime candidate for OUA player of the year, delivered another strong performance, leading the team with 13 points, nine kills and one ace. He also contributed on the defensive side with one solo block and four block assists. McMaster relied on Tyler Santoni who had a game high 14 points on eight kills with three solo blocks and six block assists.

Although seeing the winning streak end was tough, Sage was still satisfied that his team performed well during a pair of tough weekend road games against Guelph and McMaster, but felt his team could have brought forth more intensity within their matches.

“We played well enough in Guelph which was a big road win,” Sage said. “To match that intensity a second night was going to be tough and we weren’t able to do it.”

McMaster and Western have split their season series and with both teams a lock to make the playoff, the probability of a third meeting is high.

“You always have that in the back of your mind thinking about match-ups, but we won’t worry about that right now,” Sage added. “We’ll worry about who we play against in the playoffs and focus on that opponent first.”

Although they have no preference on which team they meet in the playoffs, the Mustangs know they have a target on their back with several rivals looking to pull off the major upset.

“We don’t have a preference – it’s a great rivalry [with McMaster],” Sage said. “We also have great rivalries with the other schools as well, so we’ll see what happens the rest of the season.”

The Mustangs will have the opportunity to begin a new winning streak this weekend when they host the winless Royal Military College Paladins and the third-place Queen’s Gaels.

“We’ll work hard in practice this week and do some game plans for both teams,” Sage said. “RMC’s playing a lot better and Queen’s is a big one this Saturday. We’re really excited about both games.”

The 10-year climb continues

Just as complaints about midterms and essays begin, a news release from the Council of Ontario Universities reported Ontario secondary school applications for the year have increased. With 86,542 applicants, the Ontario Universities’ Application Centre received 2.7 per cent more applications than in 2010.

George Granger, executive director at OUAC, said the increasing trend, which began in 2000, has been steady.

“The increase this year is not just a blip and it’s not even just a year or two year trend. This is year 10 or 11, depending on what base year you point to, that there’s been an increase,” he explained.

Bonnie Patterson, president and CEO of the COU, speculated on reasons driving the trend. “I think there’s probably several reasons involved, but the university degree stands out as a significant credential that is desired in the broad population,” she said.

Western has been keeping up with the trend, also receiving more applications this year.

“We’ve seen approximately a 2.2 per cent increase in applications for main campus and that’s in line with overall system increase,” Lori Gribbon, director of undergraduate recruitment and admissions at Western, commented.

Gribbon said increasing numbers of applicants is an important part of generating enrollment at Western. “We know that not all students who apply take up our offer, but we do need a good number of students to apply to us,” she said, citing pre-admission counselling, March Break open house and campus tours as strategies to entice accepted applicants to come to Western.

Meanwhile, the Ontario government has been pushing for enrollment increases, aiming for a 70 per cent participation rate in post-secondary education.

Patterson said how well institutions will be able to handle the increased numbers remains to be seen. “How quickly the funding emerges in response to the growth and how quickly infrastructure funding flows to universities to make sure they have the space for students are really critical factors,” she said.

For any university, increasing numbers means a potential strain on resources. Western is no exception, said Meaghan Coker, vice-president university affairs for the University Students’ Council. “There’s a lot of concern around increasing enrollment and how it’s going to affect the experience of the student,” she said.

Western is aware of this concern and Gribbon said the university is making every effort to ensure any increases in applications and subsequent enrollments don’t compromise the student experience.

“We’re evaluating what kind of a university we want to be and what kind of an experience we want to deliver. The best student experience is very near and dear to our hearts.”

All-Star week: the least wonderful time of the year

The beginning of February is just around the corner. Is there anything better than that exciting time of the year in sports?

I’m not talking about the Super Bowl or the lead-up to March Madness. I’m talking about the NHL and NBA All-Star games.

You’re excited, right? No? But the stars of each league are excited to be there and plan on going out there and putting on a great show for all the fans, right? They don’t?

Then what the hell is the point of this? The same thing applies to the NFL Pro Bowl and the MLB All-Star game. Players don’t care, and the majority of fans don’t care. Frankly, it isn’t much of a spectacle anymore.

The NBA just announced who would be competing in their weekend’s best showcase — the slam dunk competition. Rookie Los Angeles Clipper Blake Griffin is the big name in the event and he is expected to impress.

But then you have the other guys: Brandon Jennings, Serge Ibaka, and JaVale McGee. Not very surprisingly, that announcement was met with a resounding “Who?”

At least the NHL is trying something new with their all-star format. Two of the all-stars — Carolina and Detroit captains Eric Staal and Nicklas Lidstrom — will get to choose their respective teams schoolyard style.

But let’s be honest, as soon as they make that last pick — my money is on Patrik Elias or Phil Kessel — it’s going to be the same game and same events at the skills competition. And everyone will continue not to care.

The only way to actually make it exciting is if the players legitimately cared. To do that, they would need some sort of incentive to care — kind of like awarding home field advantage in the World Series to the winning league.

Only problem is that could be the most unfair method to determining who gets the crucial home field advantage in the World Series.

Frankly, the athletes don’t care because they are tired and probably nursing some sort of injury. They just want some time off. Look how many of them drop out of the game every year due to some sort of mysterious injury.

Ideally, each league would just get rid of the showcase, because most fans don’t care. But let’s be honest, these games are for the kids and we can’t take that away from them.

So perhaps the leagues should keep that time period open and move the All-Star game. The players will get that break they so desperately deserve, especially right before the crucial playoff drive.

So why not nominate all-stars for their entire season performance and then have them play an exhibition game before the preseason?

Let’s be honest, superstars like Crosby and Ovechkin can spare a few days of their training camp to put on an all-star game. And it’s not like they have to be in prime shape to play in the game. There is no strenuous activity or hitting. Plus it’ll help to whet the appetite of fans for the upcoming season.

It may not be a great plan, but it sure couldn’t be worse than what we are stuck with now.

London hospitals overcrowded with influx of sick

Hospital officials in London warn they have reached capacity and are at risk of becoming overcrowded.

Neil Johnson, integrated vice-president of medicine services at the London Health Sciences Centre, stated they have noticed bed shortages and increasing wait times for patients in the emergency room.

“We have been noticing a surge of patients suffering from varying ailments in the last three to four weeks and we do not have sufficient capacity to deal with this influx,” Johnson said.

Johnson noted although overcrowded hospitals have been a problem in past years, this year the patient surge seems to be worse.

“We are doing everything we can to try and deal with the patient overload now and mitigate this problem in the future. We have increased staff and opened 14 permanent new beds and eight temporary ones thus far. We also have a new building project underway.”

First impressions have a lifelong impact

Screw up a first date and want redemption?  You might be out of luck. Studies at Western have shown first impressions might really last a lifetime.

Psychology professor Bertram Gawronski is conducting research that could prove first impressions are lasting.

“We basically have found that when you meet someone, your first impression remains something like a default. Any new experiences are stored like an exception to the rule,” Gawronski said.

He pointed out that someone’s first impression could be altered only if new experiences are consistently different and take place in a multitude of settings.

“What’s really important is that the data shows you can overcome negative first impression if new experiences are made in multiple contexts. But if the new experiences are made in a limited context, then your first impression will be the default.”

Gawronski used the treatment of phobias as an example.

“If you think about negative first impressions like a phobia, you can give someone treatment, but it’s successful if it happens only in a specific context. If not, the person can go home and have the same problem.”

A weak plot isn’t the only problem in The Dilemma

The Dilemma

Director: Ron Howard
Starring: Vince Vaughn, Kevin James, Winona Ryder, and Jennifer Connelly

If you found out your best friend was being cheated on, would you let them know?

Vince Vaughn stars as Ronny Valentine in the new dramatic comedy The Dilemma, where his best friend and co-worker Nick Brannen (Kevin James) is completely unaware his wife is being unfaithful.

After Ronny and Nick are given the business deal of a lifetime, Ronny is put in an awkward situation when forced to choose whether or not to tell Nick about the affair after seeing his wife Geneva (Winona Ryder) kissing another man. Because Ronny doesn’t know how to deal with the situation, he begins to spy on Geneva, which leads him to much bigger problems and distracts him from his work.

Since Vaughn’s character is so preoccupied with documenting what his best friend’s wife is doing, his own relationship with Beth (Jennifer Connelly) begins to fall apart and his life turns into a downward spiral.

Although the idea for The Dilemma may seem like a great set-up for a hilarious comedy, Ron Howard, director of The Da Vinci Code, Cinderella Man and A Beautiful Mind, took the film in a direction where the audience is unsure of whether to laugh or cry in most scenes.

There are definitely a few funny moments sure to give viewers a good chuckle, but the somewhat dramatic parts of the film are not well executed. The script is incredibly boring and the acting seems disingenuous.

The only aspect of The Dilemma that doesn’t seem phony is the relationship between Vaughn and James. They play their characters well and their friendship seems completely natural. It is unfortunate that they didn’t work together on something more amusing.

If the storyline was presented more clearly and scenes didn’t drag on, this could have been a hilarious film. That being said, it is really just a mediocre comedy dealing with relationships.

Price reflects on changing landscapes