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GGFFFMonumentally MediocreEnsemble cast fails to impress in The Monuments Men

>> pg. 4

Tech glitches plague USC elections — againRichard Raycraft

NEWS EDITOR

In what is becoming an annual frustration, the University Students’ Council elections suffered through several technical glitches and cat-egorization errors yesterday, leaving several types of students unable to vote for their representatives.

While the exact nature of the issue was unclear, there are reports that upon signing in to vote, certain Science and Health Science students found that they did not have the option to vote for faculty councillors and senators, while several Western exchange students found that they could not vote at all.

Despite making a “guarantee” to The Gazette on Monday that “there will be no technical glitches this year,” Pat Whelan, USC president, confirmed the voting issues.

“We’re still looking into exactly what happened — we’ve heard that a few science students are having trouble voting,” he said yesterday.

“We want to make sure that all the candidates for councillors know that the elections will be fair,” he continued. “The elections commit-tee knows about the issue, and we’re still investigating what exactly hap-pened and what are the best steps forward, but I promise you that if there has been any interference with the ballot the elections will be fair with those candidates affected.”

Whelan did not comment specif-ically on what steps will be taken to rectify the issue in terms of fairness.

Liam Brown, a French and International Relations student currently on exchange at the Sciences-Po Grenoble in Grenoble, France, expressed his frustrations at

being unable to vote.“I find it incredibly frustrating

that the elections process hasn’t been perfected yet, both as a voter and a candidate. I’ve only partici-pated in three elections, but all of them have had problems,” he said in an e-mail. “I remember that the USC assured students that the vot-ing system was fixed and ready for the 2014 elections. It doesn’t appear that that was true.”

Brown logged in to vote, but received an error message and was unable to. He then contacted Geoffrey Pimlatt, senior manager of media and communications at the USC, who informed him that the registrar’s office had him docu-mented as not taking any courses, so he was not on the list of exchange students and therefore not able to vote. Brown says they added him manually to the list, and was there-after able to vote.

Brown said that he contacted other exchange students, who also had difficulties voting.

“It’s already difficult for exchange students to vote, given that we’re outside of the ‘Western Bubble,’ not exposed to as much of the cam-paigning and often have to deal with

a time difference,” he said.Whelan confirmed that the issues

surrounding exchange student votes had been resolved.

“We just received their lists and they are now able to vote online,” Whelan said yesterday.

The difficulties surround-ing Science student votes, which apparently arose out of student categorization, had a candidate in the elections calling for a re-ballot.

“The original problem with the ballot was that some students, in particular the upper year [bach-elor of medical sciences] students, didn’t have the option to vote for their Science senator or councillor,” Ahmed Elboraie, a third-year phar-macology student and candidate in the elections, said.

Elboraie said that he spoke with

other concerned candidates, speak-ing with the USC for some form of action to be taken.

The USC assured that there would be a form of re-ballot start-ing at 8 p.m. yesterday for those who didn’t have an opportunity to vote. Anyone who was unable to vote for faculty council before may now cast their vote.

He explained that the chief returning officer, Pashv Shah, said approximately 400 students were affected. According to Brown, Pimlatt said a similar number of exchange students were affected.

Despite the damage control, at least one student is annoyed.

“The same system can’t continue. The USC needs a new voting system that works flawlessly every time,” Brown said.

Bill Wang GAZETTE

I CAN’T GET NO VOTER ACTION. Technical glitches prevented Science students from voting in the University Students’ Council elections yesterday. This is the third year in a row that there have been problems with the USC online voting system.

I find it incredibly frustrating that the elections process hasn’t been perfected yet, both as a voter and a candidate. I’ve only participated in three elections, but all of them have had problems.

— Liam BrownAn exchange student affected by voting

problems

[W]e’re still investigating what exactly happened and what are the best steps forward, but I promise you that if there has been any interference with the ballot the elections will be fair with those candidates affected.

— Pat WhelanUSC president

Health Sci prez candidate un-disqualifiedAaron Zaltzman

ASSOCIATE EDITOR

The University Students’ Council elections started off with some excitement, as the elections commit-tee reversed their decision on Health Science presidential candidate Fazi Toor roughly half a day after decid-ing to disqualify him from running.

Toor was initially disqualified after a meeting of the elections committee late Monday night, on the grounds that he had with-held expenses that exceeded his campaign spending limit, a viola-tion that results in an automatic

disqualification.“This was brought to our atten-

tion over the weekend, so we had a meeting on Sunday with Fazi, and asked him to address rumors that he was overspending,” said Pashv Shah, the chief returning officer. “He opened up about some expense, and we discussed one that was not necessarily claimed in his expense sheet.”

“The following day we were pre-sented with evidence that he had overspent by a substantial amount,” Shah continued. “We called him in […] and what the committee felt was that he had left out an important

part, and took it in the worst possible light, that he was hiding expenses.”

However, Shah said the situation boiled down to “a misunderstand-ing of sections of the bylaw on behalf of the committee and the candidate himself.” Toor said the committee was mistaken about the nature of the expenses, which pertained to Facebook advertisements.

“The Facebook advertising was definitely not funded by myself, and was not an expense from my pocket. It was rather a feature/ben-efit that was included within the wix.com website creation service, which I used to create my votefazi.

com website,” Toor explained. “In no way had I paid for Facebook adver-tising which resulted in me obviously not declaring the expense.”

The committee eventually saw it the same way, and upon Toor’s appeal Tuesday afternoon the deci-sion was reversed, although Toor did not escape scot-free.

“We had come to a mutual agree-ment that a misevaluated decision was made in disqualifying me from the elections,” Toor explained. “Assigning demerit points was seen as being more appropriate.”

“It was a violation, because he had overspent, but to a less serious

extent,” Shah explained. “It wasn’t done with the intent of gaining an unfair advantage.”

Toor was not the only candidate to run into trouble with the elections committee over the weekend. Social Science presidential candidate Lisa Le Nguyen was assessed four demerit points for campaigning in residence on Sunday. Additionally, presidential candidate Matt Helfand was assessed three demerit points for unauthorized use of USC mate-rials — in this case the council chambers — as well as an additional demerit points for having campaign material in an unauthorized area.

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2 • thegazette • Wednesday, February 12, 2014

CROSSWORD By Eugene Sheffer

The Cryptoquip is a substitution cipher in which one letter stands for another. If you think that X equals O, it will equal O throughout the puzzle. Single letters, short words and words using an apostrophe give you clues to locating vowels. Solution is by trial and error.© 2002 by Kings Features Syndicate, Inc.

Caught on Camera

News Briefs

Student gets NASA award

NASA has recognized a Western student for his contribution to the Curiosity rover on Mars.

Raymond Francis, a doctoral candidate in electrical and com-puter engineering, was awarded the NASA Group Achievement Award for his work with the rover.

“In this case, it’s awarded to indi-viduals who contributed in a sig-nificant way to this overall mission which aligns with NASA’s goals,” Francis explained.

“It was quite unexpected,” he continued, adding he was unaware of who nominated him for the award.

Francis got involved with the project when a call was put out for other scientists to participate on the rover. John Moores, a post-doc-toral researcher at Western, put in a proposal and required an engineer who could interpret software data. Francis answered the call, becom-ing a science team collaborator for the mission.

Francis provides software inter-pretation, and on some occasions takes charge in conducting experi-ments and making observations.

“One or two days a week I take the lead in planning out environ-mental and atmospheric science observations and experiments that we would do with the instru-ments on the rover on the surface of Mars. Those plans get rolled into the whole mission level plan and uploaded to the rover,” Francis said.

Despite the award, Francis said he was just grateful to be working for NASA. He also urged other stu-dents to actively engage in extra-curricular activities of interest to them.

“This is just an unparalleled opportunity, and I recognize that I am very fortunate to have a chance like this,” Francis said.

“Whether you’re in planetary field, or in space, or something else, look for opportunities to do things that enrich your degree during the degree,” he said.

—Olivia Zollino

Winnie Lu GAZETTE

NOT MUCH LEFT FOR THE OLYMPICS. As the mid-term period begins, only a few spectators remain in the Mustang Lounge to watch the rest of the Olympic games.

Do you have an idea for an activity or event that will strengthen and benefit the undergraduate student community at Western?

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thegazette • Wednesday, February 12, 2014 • 3

Publishing committee looking for membersDorothy KesslerGAZETTE STAFF

The Gazette Publishing Committee, created by the University Students’ Council board of directors to improve relations between the USC and The Gazette, is beginning to recruit members.

In order to resolve any issues between the USC and The Gazette, the arms-length Publishing Committee will be responsible for maintaining an objective perspec-tive on strategy, policy, finance and personnel matters.

“Pat Whelan and I worked with USC staff to develop the publishing committee over the summer, as a way to try to smooth out the rela-tionship between The Gazette and the USC,” said Julian Uzielli, editor-in-chief of The Gazette.

The committee is expected to be in place by the end of March and applications are currently being accepted.

“The Gazette and the USC has always had a unique relationship,” Pat Whelan, the president of the USC, said. “In the legal context The Gazette and the USC are a part of the same organization, the University Students’ Council, and we are the technical publishers of the newspa-per. What that means is that we have the legal responsibility if anything goes awry.”

Uzielli explained that allowing the president to have managerial authority over their loudest critics — The Gazette — was bad for both the USC and the staff at The Gazette. The USC cannot be effective man-agers for fear of negative press

coverage, and The Gazette cannot be critical of the USC for fear of admin-istrative consequences, he said. The Publishing Committee was created to put a buffer in the relationship.

“The politicians are also the peo-ple who are the publishers, and the journalists also run the newspaper,” Whelan said. “So if I’m a politician and I’m really mad at the newspa-per, I can take it out on them as their publisher; if the politician makes an honest good decision, but The Gazette doesn’t like it, they could just write a really negative article about the politicians.”

Having The Gazette run by the body it’s made to criticize has led to awkward tensions in the past. The Publishing Committee will be

composed of students with no cur-rent affiliation to either The Gazette or the USC, in order to maintain neutrality — as well as non-stu-dent community members such as industry experts, faculty, students and alumni.

In addition, the Publishing Committee will include members from the USC’s administrative side and members of the front office

from The Gazette as non-voting members.

By not having the politicians as publishers of The Gazette, it will allow the USC and The Gazette to have an honest relationship as stu-dent politicians and student jour-nalists, Uzielli said.

“The Gazette will still retain the editorial autonomy it has always had — only now that autonomy is

being reinforced with a more neu-tral oversight body,” Uzielli said. “We’re looking forward to having the committee in place, and we hope it will allow both The Gazette and the USC to do their jobs more effectively in the future.”

For more information or to apply for the publishing committee, visit westerngazette.ca/publishing.

Bill Wang GAZETTE

PIG STY OR JOURNALIST NEST? The University Students’ Council is seeking applications for the newly established Gazette Publishing Committee. Members will be responsible for the long-term sustainability of The Gazette, settling any disputes between the USC and The Gazette and, hopefully, cleaning The Gazette office.

The Gazette will still retain the editorial autonomy it has always had — only now that autonomy is being reinforced with a more neutral oversight body. We’re looking forward to having the committee in place, and we hope it will allow both The Gazette and the USC to do their jobs more effectively in the future.

— Julian UzielliGazette editor-in-chief

News Briefs

Western to host industry networking

event over Reading WeekWestern is hosting the second annual Industry Problem Solving Week during Reading Week, from February 18 to 21.

Industry Problem Solving Week is a student-led initiative with fac-ulty support and is affiliated with Western.

Participants will work in teams to develop solutions to industry prob-lems. Faculty mentors with special expertise will be assigned to each team within three workshops.

Applications for the three dif-ferent workshops — data analytics, environmental and sustainability, and materials — are open to both graduate and undergraduate stu-dents from all faculties.

“It’s an opportunity for students to get together with a group of stu-dents from other faculties and to work together to solve real-world problems, which will be presented by industry partners from London that are participating,” said Siena McLachlan, promotions executive for the event.

“The benefit is gaining experi-ence in real-world situations and networking with potential employ-ers and with people from different faculties who you usually won’t meet,” she said.

This year, Labatt Brewing Company, the City of London and London Hydro will be presenting problems they are having within their businesses. Successful stu-dents will be presented with awards for providing innovative solutions to the real-world problems.

For more information or to apply, visit ipsw.uwo.ca.

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4 • thegazette • Wednesday, February 12, 2014

Arts&Life wednesdaywordFacileAdjective. Appearing neat and comprehensive only by ignoring the true complexities of an issue; superficial.

Monumental cast can’t rescue snooze festConrad FloryanGAZETTE STAFF

GGFFFThe Monuments MenDirector: George ClooneyStarring: Matt Damon, George Clooney, Cate Blanchett, Bill Murray, John Goodman

Acclaimed superstar director George Clooney has assembled an impres-sive cast, including Matt Damon, Bill Murray and Cate Blanchett. It tells the riveting real-life story of The Monuments, Fine Arts, And Archives Program, which retrieved over 5 mil-lion pieces of pilfered artwork and cultural items from the Nazis during the second world war. Sounds like a great movie doesn’t it? So where did it go wrong?

The remarkable cast is squan-dered, and their chief contribution is lending their established appeal to a film that fails to earn applause on its own merits. The titular Monuments Men are a band of dry academics — personalities that don’t make for compelling cinema — especially when they’re about as fleshed out as a weary Allied soldier.

The source material is rich and lends itself to innumerable cin-ematic avenues; it is in fact this

burden of riches that ultimately thwarts the movie. The filmmak-ers cannot decide what movie they want to make and the result is a sprawling identity crisis, but not an entertaining crisis like on reality television. Often times movies fail because they suffocate by sticking too close to a clichéd conceit. The Monuments Men fails by aspiring for a more organic approach that feels

disjointed. The men are separated into pairs, and as the film awkwardly intercuts between them and Cate Blanchett’s superfluous art curator Claire Simon, it fails to establish a sense of camaraderie it so desper-ately needs.

The movie would have worked better as a documentary. The histor-ical story is interesting, but a narra-tive film needs a compelling human

element to sustain the audience’s attention for more than half an hour. Since the film is tonally a light com-edy, the dramatic moments never really strike a chord. Central char-acters die and you don’t care. Trivial capers are punctured by moments of tragedy that feel out of place. The movie ends up a stiff comedy and limp drama.

At its core, the film asserts that

artistic ancestry is essential to soci-ety by expressing that preserving significant artwork is worth the price of human life. Although the movie tells and shows us this conviction, it never really hits home.

Major Donald Jeffries (Hugh Bonneville) is gunned down while attempting to rescue Michelangelo’s “Madonna and Child” statue. While this turn ostensibly gives the Men and the audience an emotional motivation for retrieving the statute, it feels contrived. We know that the statue has great significance and it’s unnecessary to have someone gunned down to tell us such, but how else would you express this elusive artistic value in a narrative film without explaining it in explicit academic terms? It’s a tough propo-sition, and George Clooney certainly earned some R&R at Lake Como once the picture wrapped.

The Monuments Men aims for greatness and fails admirably. Alexandre Desplat does provide a superbly nostalgic score that sounds almost as good as the pitch for the movie. However, sometimes when you try to bite off too much at once, you choke. Please be careful to avoid choking on your popcorn while doz-ing off to this elaborate snooze fest.

Courtesy of Columbia Pictures / 20th Century Fox

Student plays grace WaveJennafer Freeman

GAZETTE STAFF

This week Purple Shorts will be putting on six student-written, directed and performed plays at the Wave. The shows will be taking place on Wednesday and Thursday night beginning at 10 p.m. and will showcase the best student plays Western has to offer.

Monika Thiede is the Purple Shorts rep for Theatre Western. She is co-producing with Patrick Callegaro, the Theatre Western coordinator.

“We have selected six plays in total that are all student-written and directed,” Thiede says. “We choose whatever scripts we like best that are submitted to us and we put them onstage.”

Writers have the option to direct their show or have someone else direct. Any writers who choose not to direct have the ability to decide how involved they would like to be.

“Sometimes the writers want to direct because they know what they want and they want to have their hand at directing,” Thiede says. “If they choose not to direct then we give them the option of finding their own director, some-body that they know that they want to direct or sometimes they will have us find someone to direct.”

Kaushik Shampur chose not to direct his play. Instead, he is hav-ing Jessica Pereira direct the play he has written, titled Anti-Citizen. The show will be performed this Thursday night and is the only Purple Shorts play this year that is not written and directed by the

same person.Jonas Trottier is the writer and

director for What Ado About Meta. He explains that the play is about male-female relationships, in the broadest sense.

Trottier chose to direct the play he wrote.

“It’s sort of a tradition,” Trottier says. “Most writers direct their shows for Purple Shorts. It allows me to have more creative control over what I’ve written and how it gets realized.”

Liana Timbol and Erica Alligood are a pair who co-wrote and co-directed The Sweet Escape. The duo chose to direct the play in order to make sure their vision came through.

“When you’re writing you often have a specific image of what you think the scene is going to look like,” says Timbol. “Erica and I had the same vision, it was only fitting that we directed it together.”

A group casting takes place with all of the directors and coordina-tors. The directors make notes about who they liked, and then deliberate in order to decide which actors will play which roles.

Alligood and Timbol are both first-year MIT students, who have known each other since high school. Timbol commented that the auditions process was her favourite part of being involved with Purple Shorts.

“I liked the fact that we got to sit in on auditions and see all the talent the school has,” Timbol says. “We have become so close with our cast, we spend half our practices talking before realizing we really

need to get to work.”The girls commented that they

are hoping to have a cast dinner after Reading Week, in order to celebrate the performance.

“During the audition process I was more drawn to the first-years,” Alligood admits. “I wanted them to have the opportunity to be involved and not feel that just because they are in first year, that doesn’t mean they can’t go out and do anything.”

Trottier explains that he him-self had been interested in Purple Shorts since first year when he first heard about it. Although he did end up auditioning and act-ing in a play during his first year, he never got around to writing or directing one.

“This summer I took some courses through the university at Stratford,” Trottier says. “I met some really nice people, one of whom was a student at Guelph and he writes plays. I sparked a friendship there and just reading his stuff made me excited about writing again and I decided this year would be the year.”

With the shows coming up quickly, everyone involved seems to be very excited. Not only are the writers and directors looking for-ward to seeing the finished prod-ucts, so are the coordinators.

“I’ve read all the scripts, both Patrick and I chose these scripts because we love them,” says Thiede. “We thought that they could do so well on stage. So I’m excited to finally see them come together and see the final product of everything.”

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Killer homemade Valentines Kit-Kats

Remember in elementary school when we all decorated paper bags to cel-ebrate Valentines Days, taped it to the front of our desks and collected treats? If you had this recipe to use back when you were in third grade, you would have been the coolest kid for sure. This easy-homemade Kit Kat recipe will make everyone want to be your Valentine this year.

HOMEMADE KIT KATSIngredients:• Vanilla cream wafers• White chocolate pellets (you can also substitute for chocolate chips, cookies and cream bars or what-ever your favourite chocolate is)

Directions1. Melt chocolate over stove on low heat. 2. Place wafers on tray, an coat evenly in melted chocolate. 3. Place in oven to cool overnight. 4. Enjoy!

Dutch art new to Western

Tabitha ChanGAZETTE STAFF

Western University’s McIntosh Gallery is partnering with the National Gallery of Canada for the first time in 35 years to present an exciting exhibition titled “Storms and Bright Skies: Three Centuries of Dutch Landscapes.” The show explores how landscapes shaped Dutch culture and lifestyle between the 17th and 19th centuries. It fea-tures many Dutch artists, including the renowned Rembrandt van Rijn.

James Patten, the director and chief curator of the gallery, says that landscapes are an integral piece to the development of Dutch art because for the Dutch, land sym-bolized a pride for their country and for the advent of new technology. Windmills, canals and boats are common motifs found in the art-work of this exhibition.

“From our way of looking, [wind-mills, canals and boats] sometimes look really quaint and old-fash-ioned, but at the time, that was cutting edge technology. The canals were the super highways of the day and the windmills were the power force where energy came from,” Patten says.

The show gives viewers an insight to what European society was like 400 years ago. According to Patten, the Dutch had a very interactive relationship with the land and used it to advance society.

“The Dutch were a very demo-cratic society with a strong middle class. A lot of people owned their own land, worked on it and used technology to develop it,” Patten says. All those things make the land-scape more important in Holland than in other countries at the time.”

Although Rembrandt is well known for his paintings, this exhi-bition specifically features draw-ings and prints from a variety of Dutch artists. Printmaking was a crucial means of communication for society.

“Printmaking itself was a new technology, akin to the Internet of its day that allowed people to com-municate over distance. Prints were the only way of communicating multiple images,” Patten says.

One of the featured prints in this show is Rembrandt’s “The Windmill,” created in 1641. This original etching is characteristic of the artist’s incredible attention to detail and light. “The Windmill” is one of four etchings created

by Rembrandt displayed in this exhibition.

“The one of the windmill is fas-cinating because he has pushed it all the way to one side so that you get to see the land behind it. This windmill is equivalent to a power station to us today,” Patten says. “It’s all in detail and looks very beautiful, but he’s really showing something industrial and powerful.”

This particular exhibition is definitely not one to be missed. There will be more opportunities in March for students to learn about the exhibit including three artist-led tours and a lecture from Sonia Del Re, the assistant curator of the show from the National Gallery of Canada.

“We’re really lucky to have this show here because the quality of each individual work is very high. They’re all from the National Gallery’s permanent collection. It’s certainly one of the most presti-gious exhibitions we’ve had in many years,” Patten says.

“Storms and Bright Skies: Three Centuries of Dutch Landscapes” will be at the McIntosh Gallery from February 13 to April 5. The opening reception of the show is open to the-public on February 13 at 7:30 p.m.

Courtesy of McIntosh Gallery

Kanye West, College Dropout (2004)

Ten years ago Kanye West, the self-proclaimed “Number one rock star on the planet” dropped his debut LP The College Dropout. Pop culture has never been the same.

It’s easy to take for granted now that before The College Dropout, hip-hop music was defined by 50 Cent and similar gangster-rap apos-tles. Since hip-hop was at the time the predominant music the cool kids listened to (Avicii was still just a boy named Tim Bergling) young people everywhere were caught up in the monotonous “Bitches and Hoes” culture. Insert Kanye, wholeheartedly rapping about self-consciousness, family, religion, and basically the everyday ups and downs of being a human just like you. In case people had forgotten, it was now officially cool to be your-self again.

The heartfelt rapping was emphasized by the soulful pro-duction Kanye trademarked along with fellow super-producer Just Blaze that took mostly old soul music samples and sped them up. Classic tracks like “Jesus Walks” and “Through the Wire” lit up the charts for much of 2004.

The album provided Kanye a pulpit to influence another cultural facet: Fashion. Seemingly overnight, high school kids ditched their Exco

tracksuits in favor of polos and slim jeans. Over the last decade men have become increasingly fashion-con-scious in adapting more cosmopoli-tan attire. While this trend extends beyond Kanye, The College Dropout was certainly a watershed moment in fashion.

Kanye laid the foundation for introspective rappers like Drake and Kid Cudi. There was always a vast underground “conscious-rap” scene, but Kanye had the cocky cha-risma, witty lines and creative vision to revolutionize what rap sounded like on the radio. Armed with infec-tious passion fueled by perpetual rejection from label executives who thought he was too unconventional to ever make it as a “real artist,” Kanye stormed from Chi-Town to the front pages. For better or worse, Mr. West enthralls popular culture to this day.

— Conrad Floryan

6 • thegazette • Wednesday, February 12, 2014

Opinions

thegazetteVolume 107, Issue 70www.westerngazette.ca

Contact:www.westerngazette.caUniversity Community Centre Rm. 263The University of Western OntarioLondon, ON, CANADAN6A 3K7Editorial Offices: (519) 661-3580Advertising Dept.: (519) 661-3579

Julian UzielliEditor-In-Chief

Cameron M. SmithDeputy Editor

Jason SinukoffManaging Editor

The Gazette is owned and published by the University Students’ Council.

Editorials are decided by a majority of the editorial board and are written by a member of the editorial board but are not necessarily the expressed opinion of each editorial board member. All other opinions are strictly those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the USC, The Gazette, its editors or staff.

To submit a letter, go to westerngazette.ca and click on “Contact.”

All articles, letters, photographs, graphics, illustrations and cartoons published in The Gazette, both in the newspaper and online versions, are the property of The Gazette. By submitting any such material to The Gazette for publication, you grant to The Gazette a non-exclusive, world-wide, royalty-free, irrevocable license to publish such material in perpetuity in any media, including but not limited to, The Gazette‘s hard copy and online archives.

News Richard Raycraft Megan Devlin Iain Boekhoff Jeremiah Rodriguez

Arts & Life Brent Holmes Mary Ann Ciosk Bradley Metlin

Sports Daniel Weryha Nusaiba Al-Azem Caitlin Martin Newnham

Opinions Kevin Hurren

Associate Kaitlyn McGrath Aaron Zaltzman

Photography Bill Wang Kelly Samuel Taylor Lasota

Graphics Naira Ahmed

Illustrations Christopher Miszczak John Prata

Online Jesica Hurst

Graphics/Video Mike Laine

Gazette Composing & Gazette Advertising

Gazette Staff 2013-2014Christine Bonk, Tabitha Chan, Jonathan Dunn, Spencer Fairweather, Conrad Floryan, Sam Frankel, Janice Fung, Stephanie Grella, Dorothy Kessler, Kevin Heslop, Jenny Jay, Nathan Kanter, Katie Lear, Emory Liu, Cheryl Madliger, Sara Mai Chitty, Soheil Milani, Mackenzie Morrison, Vidhant Pal, Lily Robinson, Alex Seger, Tiffany Shepherd, Hamza Tariq, Josh Teixera, Anne Wozney, Tristan Wu

Ian Greaves, ManagerRobert Armstrong

Diana Watson

• Please recycle this newspaper •

RE: “Gazette endorses Team Helfand,” Tuesday, February 11, 2014To the Editor:I believe that throughout the course of the 2014 USC presi-dential election, The Gazette has been exceptionally infor-mative and thorough in providing important and relevant information during the weeks prior to the election. However, for a student-run publication that has the editorial policy of content that is “researched, written, confirmed, edited and approved for publication in accordance with profes-sional journalistic standards,” the article “Gazette endorses Team Helfand” is unnecessary, and violates the “professional journalistic standards” that our student publication sup-posedly follows.

A professional journalist must be precise and relevant to the news it is producing. However, it is most important that it is presented in a non-biased fashion. It can be argued that the article was placed within the Opinions section of the paper so it is supposed to be biased, but the issue still lies that it was not one writer stating the opinion to follow Team Helfand, but it was “The Gazette Editorial Board” — a board that consists of three head editors, along with four other members from their respective sections of The Gazette.

Furthermore, this distinction can be compared to the work of a national news corporation such as CBC. There is a difference between a single opinion piece from a satirical program such as The Rick Mercer Report where he may state preference regarding an election, compared to an official news program (such as The National with Peter Mansbridge) that is always intended to reflect the views of the CBC, and is therefore NOT an opinion.

Anytime there is a response in the paper from “The Gazette Editorial Board,” it should be published in com-plete confidence and with professional journalism ethics in mind. However, I find that for such an important and impartial endorsement regarding the upcoming USC execu-tive slate, The Gazette needs to maintain professionalism. I also find it challenging that all of the seven members of The Gazette editorial board agreed unanimously to endorse one executive slate, as for such an influential endorsement should require complete confidence by all seven members of the board — which I am sure is unlikely.

Finally, I hope to see The Gazette rectify the situation, as the views of a select few within the editorial board should not influence the literate student body, in particular those in the years who will be effected by the upcoming election.

— Liam DoreyFIMS I

Endorsement no good for election

Kaitlyn McGrathASSOCIATE EDITOR

At times, tragedy, unfortunately, affects us all in its own uniquely terrible way; this is life, and we deal. But the death of someone, particularly when it is the death of a beloved individual, tran-scends reason or meaning. We are, for the most part, rendered speechless, and only a chilling silence that we wish to be filled with that individual’s voice remains.

It is with great sadness that we learned this week of Flappy Bird’s death. A soul gone certainly too soon, yet in its brief time on earth Flappy Bird had a profound effect on our all lives.

In a horrific twist of cruel fate, the person who brought Flappy Bird into our lives has now stripped the world of its joyful jumps. Its designer has said his creation ruined his life. Now, with his decision to euthanize the tiny green bird, our lives, too, are ruined.

Like a swift, yet gentle wind Flappy

Bird flew into all our lives with an almost unrecognizable force — its influence almost startling yet at the same time calming. Like a friend we all knew we were meant to have, but just hadn’t met yet.

With his untimely passing, it is easy to dwell on feelings of sadness or regret — wondering if you could have done more to prevent it. But the truth is, none of us could. Flappy Bird lived a simple life without regret and, I suspect, Flappy Bird wouldn’t want us to pine over its tragic fate.

Rather, we remember its life and what it brought to all of ours.

This young, impressionable bird had turned to all of us to help it learn to fly. And fly it would, spending its hours — sometimes what seemed like days — blissfully flying to an unknown destination. Always persuading us to get back up when a pipe-shaped obstacle got in our way.

And like a generous guru, Flappy Bird not only provided us with hours of entertainment, but also gave us valuable life lessons. That life includes lows and sometimes highs, but finding steady middle ground is usually the route to take.

Were all the memories good? Of course not. Life, much like Flappy Bird,

has its ups and downs.At times, we loved you, sometimes we

hated you, but always you were there, waiting with your delicate wings for another fateful flight, perhaps this one reaching further than ever before.

But you also remained somewhat of an enigma; you were a bird not completely understood. Just when we thought we had you figured out, you’d shut us out, making it nearly impossi-ble to get anywhere with you. But then again, at times, don’t we all just feel like fragile, misunderstood birds just looking to fly, yet continuing to fall?

Although it’s true that in many ways Flappy Bird lives on — obviously in our hearts, but more tangibly on our phones. But with time, its status will fade from ubiquitous to endangered. Children, too young to have known it themselves, will only know of the myth that is Flappy Bird — the feathered friend that was both tor-tuous and amusing all at once.

And let’s be honest, most of us, in a fit of unfair anger, will rid you from our phones — forgetting there will be no turning back.

Thank you for the memories, Flappy Bird — you taught us all the importance of perseverance, patience and, most of all, controlling our rage.

RIP Flappy Bird.

RIP our flappy friend

A free press can, of course, be good or bad, but, most certainly without freedom, the press will never be anything but bad.

— Albert Camus

Wrath of McGrath

Letters to the Editor

RE: “Gazette endorses Team Helfand,” Tuesday, February 11, 2014To the Editor:The recent outrage over The Gazette’s publishing of an editorial endorsement is a ridiculous characterization of what journalism is. Every major newspaper in the world endorses political candidates (seriously, every single one, I would chal-lenge anyone to find me one that hasn’t).

Furthermore, it is common for news-papers to have opinion sections where the editorial boards, journalists, and the general public write opinion pieces.

Many have accused The Gazette of not focusing on platform points, which ignores the entire Elections Issue — an entire paper devoted to just that. Nor do most read any of their election cover-age at all, which I found quite objective. Those against such an endorsement are concerned that The Gazette is not letting students make up their own minds. An integral part of post-secondary educa-tion, however, is being able to wade through the merits and shortcomings of opinions. I have enough faith in the intelligence of students to read an edito-rial and remain capable of independent thought.

The Gazette has every professional

right to publish such views. That’s how we formulate our views, by listening to others’ opinions on issues and for-mulating our own views. People who research issues in depth, and are pre-sumably smart, will naturally develop opinions. It’s not called bias, it’s called thinking — and when published, it’s called journalism.

— Eric deRoosPolitical Science IV

Papers endorse, Gazette should be no exception

RE: “USC asked to divest from oil,” Wednesday, February 5, 2014To the Editor:As a biology student, I understand the need to invest in more renewable energy sources to lessen our impact on the environment. Western, an institution of higher learning, has a moral obliga-tion to practice sustainable business. However, it costs to be ethical.

In my opinion, this is something Ruffolo is indirectly imploring us to look past. Western prides itself on offering the

“Best Student Experience,” but consid-ering the potential economic losses associated with divestment, this may prove to be less true. Compromising, for example, Western’s ability to offer financial aid and scholarships.

Western, while required to maintain funding, needs to derive a balanced plan to mitigate the short-term losses and lessen its overall carbon footprint. I would go as far as to say that the sen-timents of our USC presidential can-didates reflect closely the overall air of indifference found in Canadian parlia-ment with respect to environmental issues. Ruffolo suggests we “spend the next five years winding down existing fossil fuel holdings.”

While I agree that divestment needs to occur in the near future, I firmly believe that Western should remain an academic institution tasked with provid-ing the best research and education. In service to this interest, I feel that divest-ment should be spread over a longer period of time than the aforementioned five years in an effort to offset potential funding deficits. Western would not be the first Canadian University to com-mit to such a roll out plan, but here’s to hoping it won’t prove to be the most reluctant institution to do so.

— Peter HillBiology IV

Divestment plan should be slow and prolongedEditor’s Response: First of all, The Gazette’s editorial

board consists of 24 editors, not seven, and our endorse-ment represented the collective opinion of that group as decided by an hour-long discussion and vote on Monday afternoon. As for journalistic ethics, all newspapers contain opinions sections, and many endorse political candidates. Considering that our editors follow the elec-tion campaign more closely than most students, we are naturally going to develop our own opinions about the candidates. It’s standard practice for newspapers in any democracy, no matter how small, to print their opinions on political candidates. We are one voice in a larger dis-cussion, and we are confident that students are smart enough to make up their own minds.

— Julian Uzielli

Write more letters!westerngazette.ca/contact

thegazette • Wednesday, February 12, 2014 • 7

SportsRundown >> The Western Mustangs women’s basketball team played against the Waterloo Warriors on Saturday > In a season series sweep, the ‘Stangs beat the Warriors 77–55.

saywhat?“It’s a good feeling, now, to come back and play in a home Olympics in front of your fans. It’s an unbelievable feeling.”

>> Detroit Red Wings star centre Pavel Datsyuk on declaring himself fit to start for Russia after an injury that has kept him from playing for Detroit for a month.

Mustangs defeat York and LakeheadWestern clinches first in West with two straight wins

Nathan KanterGAZETTE STAFF

The Western Mustangs men’s hockey team defeated the Lakehead Thunderwolves in a tight game Friday night, as they came away with a 4–3 victory at Thompson Arena. The win was the 10th for Western in their last 12 games.

Western and Lakehead came into the game first and second in the standings, respectively, and though it was a back-and-forth affair, ultimately Western came away with the marginal victory. The win increased their division lead to four points over Lakehead, and was also the second time they beat them this season in as many games.

“It’s a big win,” Mustangs assis-tant coach David Kontzie said. “[Lakehead is] a great team — very well coached. We stuck to the game plan […] and [even though] we let off a little bit, at the end of the day we had a good 60-minute effort.”

The lead changed multiple times during the game and the pace was fast right from the get-go. Lakehead got on the board first on a power play, thanks to a great cross-ice saucer pass from forward Mike Hammond to teammate Mike Quesnele whose shot created a perfect rebound for forward Jake Carrick to bat in.

Responding was a Western power play of its own, as defence-man David Corrente blasted one from the top of the circle.

The teams exchanged second-period goals and entered the third all knotted up at three. It was ulti-mately the goaltending of Josh Unice that gave Western the upper hand, as he stopped all 16 third-period shots he faced.

“Josh is one of the higher-end goaltenders in our league and he

proved it again tonight,” Kontzie said.

Unice made 37 total saves on the night and registered his ninth straight victory. His last lost came way back on November 29, 2013.

“To be honest with you I think the team has really stepped up,” Unice said when asked about his stellar play as of late. “Since we’ve come back the second half we’ve really barred down in the D zone [and] made the right decisions at the right time. My numbers have been good but at the same time it’s a team sport and all that really mat-ters at the end of the day is the win.”

T h e t h i r d - p e r i o d

game-winning-goal for the Mustangs came courtesy of centre Adam McKee, who was given an empty cage to shoot at, thanks to the incredible vision of linemate Daniel Erlich. Erlich had three assists on the night, increasing his season total to an astound-ing 36 in just 25 games. The three points also gave him sole posses-sion of not only first place atop the Ontario University Athletics scor-ing race, but the entire Canadian Interuniversity Sport race as well.

However, as Unice alluded to, personal accolades always make way for team accomplishments, and the following night Western

made good on its goal of locking up first place as they defeated the York Lions 3–1.

“Any time you have a chance to clinch first place and get that behind you — the sooner you can do that the better,” Kontzie said.

The back-to-back wins mean this week’s games will have no implications on the standings. Western will travel to Toronto to face York Thursday night and then travel back home to wrap up their season against the Brock Badgers. York currently sits in seventh place in the standings, and if they fall to eighth they would face Western in the first round of the playoffs.

Courtesy of Grace Chung

ON A STRING! Western Mustangs’ left winger Zach Harnden carries the puck up the ice past a Lakehead Thunderwolves defender. Harnden finished the regular season with 17 goals and 22 assists for a total of 39 points. With his season total, Harden ranks fifth in scoring in the Ontario University Athletics and just a single point out of fourth.

To be honest with you I think the team has really stepped up. Since we’ve come back the second half we’ve really barred down in the D zone and made the right decisions at the right time.

— Josh UniceMustangs’ goaltender

Jonathan Dunn GAZETTE

CHANGE IT UP! The Western Mustangs clinched the top spot in the Ontario University Athletics West division with their win over the York Lions. The team is 19–6–1, giving them four more wins than the second-placed Lakehead Thunderwolves. After their Sirius XM Winter Classic win over the Windsor Lancers to close out 2013, the Mustangs went 9–1–1 in the new year and rushed past the rest of their division to take first place. Naira Ahmed GAZETTE

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classifiedsthegazette

8 • thegazette • Wednesday, February 12, 2014

CheerleadingWestern’s all-girl cheerleading team took the top prize at a U.S. national competition this weekend, defeat-ing powerhouse American colleges in the process.

The Western squad finished in the top spot in the Elite Division 1 All-Girl Collegiate Cheer category at the Coastal Cheer Battle at the Capitol National Championships in National Harbor, Maryland, beating Virginia Tech, an elite U.S. cheer-leading program.

With this being the first time this squad travelled across the border to compete, Western entered the contest as a relatively unknown challenger. But after a stellar first

performance, the team took an early lead and established them-selves as a serious contender among top American schools, according to Kurt Ford, the team’s head coach.

“We’re just able to stay in our own bubble and maintain our own focus and keep our own heads in the game,” Ford said. “When we stepped out on the floor, we exe-cuted quite well and that’s what set us apart from the other squads.”

Western led after the first day of competition and finished with 87.72 points, while Virginia Tech followed with 86.96 points and Morgan State University rounded out the top three with 84.10 points.

“Because it was so close, it felt like we had earned it a lot more, so we worked harder for it […] I think it just gave it more meaning,” Ford said after his team’s impressive victory.

The self-funded, all-girls team, which operates as a sister team to Western’s co-ed cheerlead-ing squad, also placed second at the Canadian Championships in November.

— Kaitlyn McGrath

Women’s HockeyWestern’s women’s hockey team faced Laurier and Waterloo in a double header this past weekend. Although they lost 1–2 against

Laurier on Saturday, they redeemed themselves with a strong 4–0 win against Waterloo on Sunday.

The Mustangs now hold a 14–10 regular season record as they head into the Ontario University Athletics quarter-finals in Toronto today.

Saturday’s game against Laurier was hard-fought, but fruitless. The women scored early against the Golden Hawks, but were unable to overcome Laurier’s second-period goal.

On Sunday, Western dominated the Waterloo Warriors in their Seniors Day home game. However, the win was not the most emotional aspect of the game. Fourth-year

Mustangs’ goaltender, Olivia Ross, returned to the ice in this game after battling a season-long injury.

Ross, along with her fellow senior Mustangs — Carly Rolph, Tara Cation, Sydney Kid, Ally Galloway and Michelle Saunders — were honoured at centre ice with flowers, jerseys and memora-bilia books to commemorate their achievements with Western.

Four out of the five senior Mustangs scored goals leading to the 4–0 win against Waterloo after the ceremony.

Western will enter the OUA quarter-finals with a sixth-place provincial ranking.

— Caitlin Martin Newnham