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NEXUS ISSUE 19-11 Feb. 4/09
Nexus Issue 19-11 Feb. 4/09
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Issue 7 (08-09)
Issue seven of the College Voice during the 2008-2009 academic year.
From College Voice
Vote . . . aGain
Municipal elections usually get thelowest voter turnouts, but this electionaffects us the most.
war moVie insiGht
History doesn’t have to be boring!Take a look at an overview of some
xc w fis.
Volume 19 Issue 6November 12, 2008
news—3arts—10
Camosun’s Student VoiceSince 1990
hoLe in seVen
Team Nexus explores the newly
h pcfic g Cs s fi .
sports—12
November 12, 2008
2
Cafeteria services better this year, says college
I have received some questions
and comments from students following an articlethat appeared in Nexus [
Aramark underwhelms
students,
Oct. 15 issue].
I would like to share excerpts of my responses,
to broaden the understanding of the college’srelationship with Aramark.
Prices: Food prices in the last six months have
been affected by rising fuel costs, grain costs in
Asia, and general food cost increases. The pricesfor food in our Lansdowne Caf and at the Urban
Diner at Interurban are pretty competitive, andwith lots of choices at different price-points.
Lineups: Aramark is aware of the congestionand lineup issue and is trying different strategies
to address it. Wages: The staff is paid a wage above the
industry standard. Aramark has attracted a chef
from the Fireside Grill (at Urban Diner) sincethe conditions are so good here (decent hours,decent wages, and benets)!Contract and length: Camosun undertooka formal, competitive Request for Proposalsprocess last spring to be in a position to selectthe best food service provider for our needs.Camosun’s expectations for a food service pro-
vider included, among other important food ser-vice requirements, a sizeable capital investment,
so the college could direct its limited resourcesto educational needs of our students. For thefood service provider to be able to justify thatcapital investment, they needed to be assuredthey would be able to recoup that investmentover a reasonable period of time. Eight yearswas that term.Overall, the variety and food offered in our
Campus Caf and Urban Diner has increased this
year. We see this not only on the “shelves,” but
through increased sales. Aramark is committedto continual improvement on the service, quality,
and variety.
Donna Burger, Aramark’s Food Service Dir-ector for Camosun, would be pleased to addressspecic comments or concerns (250–370–3650,or in person in the Campus Caf). The college will
undertake a survey of the food services early inthe new year.
Kathryn Le Gros
Director, AncillAry ServiceScAmoSun college
No easy solution forhomeless
In response to Christopher Gillespie’s column
[
Students should speak up about homelessness,
Oct. 29 issue], homelessness has been a city issue
for what seems like forever.Having lived here all of my life, “can youspare some change” rhetorically embedded inmy head for so many years,I have discovered there’s no simple solutionfor homelessness. You do what you can to temporarily allevi-ate the problem, whether it’s opening shelters,housing for the homeless, or serving a meal tothose who want it.
I’ve been involved in all three for many, many
years and it creates the nemesis of burnout,because I thought I could “x” the problem . . .
it didn’t happen, because along with the popula-
tion of the city growing, so too did the existingproblem.People arrive here because of the west coast
climate, they end up staying, thus creating a big-ger “homelessness” population. There are some
who make their best effort to move forward in
life, creating positive change for themselves and
the world around them.Then there are those who are among thedisadvantaged, possibly because of their own
upbringing, and escape to the island fearful. One
does not choose to be disadvantaged; it resultsfrom many forms of abuse.In the end, many valuable lessons can be
learned, and hopefully a harmonious community
can be created within the city. To shatter the old“us versus them” adage, any one of “us” couldbe “them.”The most valuable lesson we can all takefrom this is to treat everyone with the dignity and respect they deserve.
nicoLe BorthwicK
cAmoSun StuDent
L e t t e r s
Next publication date: Nov. 26, 2008Deadline: noon Nov. 19, 2008
Address:3100FoulBayRd.,Victoria,BC,V8P5J2Location:LansdowneRichmondHouse201Phone:250-370-3591Email:nexus@nexusnewspaper.comWebsite:www.nexusnewspaper.comPublisher:NexusPublishingSociety
NEXUS PUBLISHING SOCIEY
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ourtneyBroughton
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The views and opinions expressed herein are those of the authors,not of the Nexus Publishing Society. One copy of Nexusis available per issue, per person. Nexus is printed ona mixture of 100 and 40 percent recycled paper. Pleaserecycle your copy. Thanks!
Editorial meetings
Come out to our weekly Nexus editorial meetings, whereall Camosun students can get involved in their studentnewspaper. Meetings take place every Tuesday at 11:30am in the Nexus ofce, Richmond House 201, Lansdowne.Call 370-3591 or e-mail nexus@nexusnewspaper.com formore information.
Send a letter
Nexus prints letters that are 250 words or less in responseto previous stories. Nexus reserves the right to refusepublication of letters. Letters must include full name andstudent number (not printed). Nexus accepts all lettersby e-mail to nexus@nexusnewspaper.com
VIEWS
Open Space accepts submissions from Camosun students. Submissions to Open Space should be400 words or less. Responses to previous articles in Nexus should be 250 words or less.E-mail submissions to nexus@nexusnewspaper.com and include your name and student number.
Open Space
DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS
In Oct. 15’s editorial, Forget to opt out? Too bad!, theamount of vision coverage for the student health anddental plan was listed at $80 every two years when, infact, it’s $100. Also, students don’t need to bring theirbenets card to access coverage at a pharmacy or den-tal ofce, as long as they know their policy number.
N e x u s E d i t o r i a l
The 2010 Olympic evictions
adrian BinaKaj
Contributing Writer
For the past couple monthsI’ve been looking for a suitableplace to live.
My primary source has become
UVic’s off-campus housing page,
advertising by far the cheapest and
most locally available suites forUVic and Camosun students.Usually, the rental listings I
lter through would be places with
ridiculously high rent. But every once in a while, I’d stumble overan ad that looked perfect.But then I’d get to the end of the ad, where a final note would
say “female only.” I’d think, “Okay,
maybe the room available is pink,”which has happened to me before.Maybe, at worst, the landlord wassimply sexist. I didn’t dwell on itand kept looking.More and more, I came acrossthis “female only” requirement,with more info added to it, like“mature female cat lover only.” It
became harder and harder to ignore.
Eventually, after counting howmany females-only ads there were,I decided to investigate.The Residential Tenancy Act
states landlords can’t discriminateagainst the tenant’s gender, unless
“the owner of the accommodationwill share a bathroom or kitchenwith the tenant.”
Having heard stories about maletenants and their kitchens from hell,
I was inclined to agree with thestereotype, but, on the other hand,the grossest bathrooms I’ve everseen denitely belong to girls.But it is understandable why some people would be hesitant torent to men. And the fact remains,it’s very hard to nd a place if youare a guy.I have found success at one
place, however. A Craigslist search
found no mentions of male or fe-male preference anywhere in ads
involving rentals. This is where I’ve
found accommodation in the past.
So, to my fellow male students look-
ing to rent and nding doors are
shut on your gender, don’t get a sex
change just yet—search Craigslistfor a welcome, affordable home.
Victoria’s gender-biased rental options
Maybe, at worst, thelandlord was simplysexist.
tessa coGman
Staff Writer
Into conspiracy
theories? Well, here’s
a local conspiracy theory for you.Many people have been leftcurious as to why, after years of debating, there’s been a ruling on
a tenting bylaw so close to the 2010
Olympic games.This judgment, which allowspeople to camp in public places in Victoria, demonstrates how many homeless people there are after
years of cuts to social programming
and housing programs.But why now?
More than 800 people have lost
their homes in the downtown east-side of Vancouver since the 2010Olympics were announced. TheOlympic forced evictions include
cheap hotels closing down to makeway for overpriced condos that even
a full-time worker can’t afford.The Vancouver homeless have
nowhere to go, and many are giving
Victoria a try because of the newtenting bylaw.Seems quite convenient that
Victoria is being so accommodating
to the homeless right around the
Olympics, doesn’t it? It’s almost as
if the homeless are schools of shbeing attracted by Victoria bait.There are 10,000 homelesspeople in BC, 2,000 in Vancouver,and 1,500 in Victoria. In 2005, Vic-toria only had 700 without homes.Three years later, it has doubled. When 2010 hits, the entireworld should know our govern-
ment has chosen the Olympics over
helping the homeless.
The $4.5 billion used to host the
Olympics could have made almost2,800 housing units for the poor.The government keeps tellingeveryone they don’t have the nan-
cing to get rid of the homeless crisis,but a new Skytrain line is being built
to the Vancouver International Air-port, the Squamish Highway is in
the works, and condos are shooting
up everywhere.
Although the government might
not be doing a whole lot to help thehomeless, there’s some hope forthe future.The Victoria Cool Aid Society,with funding from the province’sBC Housing and land suppliedby the City of Victoria, is propos-ing to construct a new emergency
shelter with transitional housing in
Burnside/Gorge.The new facility will betterhouse and support clients thatcurrently stay at the much smallerStreetlink shelter, plus create the
region’s rst shelter units for home-
less families.The scary thing is if at least50 percent of your income goestowards rent, you have a very highchance of being without a homeyourself.The Olympics should bring ex-citement to our province, but untilmore shelters are built, prepare to
see anti-Olympic groups rallying on
the streets, a large amount of tents
in public parks around Victoria, and
Olympic ticket holders pretendingto see none of it.
If the homeless had an Olympic
category, maybe someone wouldnotice.
More than 800 peoplehave lost their homesin the downtowneastside of Vancouversince the 2010Olympics wereannounced.
nexus@nexusnewspaper.com
NEWS
By Keltie Larter
cory christiansen
Scary. I was a littlepanicked.
tayLor southin
Hilarious; everythinglooked like I’d drawn it.Kind o like the movie
AScanner Darkly.
Kris matheson
I went to math class andcouldn’t stop laughing atthe chalkboard. I thoughtit was the unniest thingever.
FernandoFernandes
I ran around in circles or15 minutes.
marK VerhuLst
It was on Halloween whenI was a youngin’—I ate allmy candy!
What was it like the rst time you smoked pot?
NEWS BRIEFS
By Kait caVers
My Camosun winners
A-ChannelhostedanawardsceremonyortheMyCamosunvideocontestwinnersonNov.6.Tejudgeshadahardtimecomingupwiththewinners,sotheycreatedaourthandthplace,alongwith10honorablementions.FithplacewasAppliedCommunicationsProgram(ACP)studentKylaFernswithadancingrenditionoCamosun;ourthplacewasACP’sAlexanderJones’homageoTeDarkKnight;thirdwasPatrickVaughnO’Keee’sviewoCamosunasa40-year-oldstudent;secondwastheaction-packedlmbystudentMatteusClement;andrstplacewastheveryemotionalpiecebystudentAndriaYoung.TewinninglmshowedimagesoYoung’sinternshipinUganda.Shewonthegrandprizeo$750.ACPtookhomesevenouto10honorablementions.AlsorecognizedwasacharmingmusicvideobyHomeSupportstudentWenlingaboutherdailycollegeroutinethatwonNexus’hearts.oviewthelms,gotowww.youtube.comandsearch“MyCamosun.”
We’ve said it once;we’ll say it again
ransittoandromschoolsucks,andsodoesthecostostudenthousing.Howmuchdoweneedtobitchbeorewe’reheard?WithBC’smunicipalElectionDaycomingup,theCanadianFederationoStudents(CFS)is jackingupitsvolumeinhopesthatstudentconcernsaboutthelackoaordablehousingandthedeteri-oratingqualityopublictransitwillbeheardloudandclear.TeCFShaslaunchedawebsiteandsentoutquestionnairestoover500municipalcandidates,demand-ingtoknowtheircommitmenttosolvingkeystudentissues.Checkoutwww.StudentsVote.catoseehowthecandidatesair,andthenmakeaneducatedvotewhenthedaycomes.
Tear ’em a new one
Or,letthemknowwhatakick-assjobthey’redoing.Tebookstoreneedsstudenteedbackinordertoimprovetheirstyle.Tebestwaytodothisiswithaseem-inglyredundantend-o-semestersurvey.Tisisyourchancetoquithufngunderyourbreath,andnallygetyourvoiceheard.Teormsarebrieandanonymous;sodon’tbearaidtotellitlikeitis.Findouthowbycalling250–370–3081,orpickupasurveyatthebookstore.
Continued on page 4
cLare Lannan and meGan oLiVer
Claire:
I was terrifed my parents would fnd out so Ireused to leave my room and made my brother staywith me all night.
Megan:
I looked high, acted high, but didn’t eel high;so the frst time was a bust. The second time, however .. . hoo boy!
Plan includes raising parking prices again
Liz mcarthur
Staff Writer
So many elections, so little time.
Canadians already voted in our
federal election, and our American
cousins recently voted in their new
president. And BC has its provincial
election in May.
But next up for Victorians is the
Nov. 15 municipal election. Typ-ically the elections with the lowestvoter turnout, municipal elections
may be the one with the most direct
impact on people’s lives.Students make up a big part of Victoria’s population, but it can bedifcult to sift through the candi-dates to nd something of value.
With a whopping 35 candidatesrunning for a seat on Victoria coun-
cil, not to mention people runningfor mayor, what are the importantissues in Victoria, Saanich, andOak Bay, the three municipalitiesencompassing Victoria’s majoreducational institutions? Affordable housing is at thetop of municipal candidate andCamosun political science studentChristopher Gillespie’s list of thebig issues for Victoria.“City hall has been spending an
overly large amount of time working
on rezoning, instead of workingwith community associations onneighbourhood planning,” says
Gillespie. “There has been no vision,
no plan, just reactive measures.”The way city hall is run is oneof the reasons he decided to throw
his name into the election. Gillespie
says more homelessness, a shrink-
ing economy, and lower budgets are
in store for Victoria in the face of the economic turbulence affectingthe world.
The changing face of Victoria’sdowntown also poses some challen-ges to city hall. “Developers should
be held accountable to their com-munities and be forced to createaffordable housing spaces withintheir residential and commercialdevelopments,” says Gillespie. What about Saanich? With no
downtown core posing major issueslike in-your-face homelessness andurban growth problems, municipalcouncil hopeful Dean Murdock says
the most common issue Saanichfaces is transportation.
“That includes a light rail transit
system, better sidewalks and bikelanes, and expanded trails and
greenways,” says Murdock, a UVicpoli-sci graduate who spent his rst
year in post-secondary educationat Camosun.He says working with the com-munity and listening to their ideaswill help council come up with thebest policies.“Another big issue I hear aboutfrom residents is affordable hous-
ing. Parents are concerned that theirchildren cannot afford to live in the
community and will have to moveup island to nd affordably pricedhousing,” says Murdock. “That is
not how you sustain an economy or
community.” An aging population tops thelist of challenges for the Oak Bay municipality, according to Corey Burger, a Camosun geography stu-dent running for a spot on council.
Replacing aging infrastructure andcombating climate change are other
priorities, he says.“Oak Bay has an aging popu-lation and aging infrastructure,meaning more money has to bespent while keeping taxes low so
as not to hurt xed-income seniors,”
says Burger.In preparation for the election,municipal websites have postedlists of all the candidates runningfor mayor and council. And many of the candidates have blogs, Fa-cebook proles, or websites just aGoogle away.
To vote in the election you must
be 18 years or older and a residentof your municipality for at least sixmonths leading up to election day.
Elections a chance for students to affect local municipalities
“There has been novision, no plan, justreactive measures.”
christopherGiLLespie
CamoSun Student
Guy aLaimo
Staff Writer
Camosun College is implement-
ing a planning process they hopewill solve transportation issueslinked to the college.Problem is, some students andfaculty don’t agree with the plan,which outlines significantly rais-ing parking prices as one of itsstrategies.The Camosun College Trans-
portation and Parking Management(TPM) Plan is a 26-page document
put together by the Victoria Trans-port Policy Institute.The plan outlines some of the
problems and challenges Camosun
perceives it will encounter overthe next few years with regards to
transportation issues such as trafccongestion, limited parking spaces
and greenhouse gas emissions.Camosun Transportation and
Parking Planner Shannon Craig hasbeen involved with the parking plan
for the past ve weeks, and helped
facilitate a series of workshops held
by the college in October with the
purpose of addressing any concerns
people may have with transporta-tion issues around the school.
“The response at the workshopswas generally really positive,” says
Craig. “Overall the turnout was
very small, but it was a very diverse
group with neighbors addressingtheir concerns about traffic andstudents parking on residentialstreets. Some faculty members
were there, as well as some external
stakeholders.”Craig estimates only 40–45
people attended the six workshops;
a very low number that may havebeen a result of underexposure.But only a handful of studentsattended.“We didn’t know about theworkshops,” says Michel Turcotte,CCSS director of operations. “If we had known, we would havesent some representatives to themeetings.”Not knowing about the work-shops isn’t the only thing Turcotteis upset about.
“It kind of hurt us when we were
not formally asked to be involvedwith the development of the TPM. All in all, we think this proposal isall about getting students to pay more.”Perhaps up to 10 percent more,according to page 19 of the TPM,which also suggests scaling the
cost of parking so people who parkcloser to the school pay more, while
parking on the edge of the campuswould cost less.Central lot fees could increaseto $5 per day while outer parkinglots could stay at $4.The plan also outlines two pos-sible options for faculty and staff.One is paying for parking out of their pocket instead of receivinga subsidized parking pass, andthe other is having the option tocash in their parking passes for abus pass.Both are efforts to reducethe amount of staff that drives toschool.
“The teachers and faculty won’t
agree with having to pay to park,”says Turcotte. “[The subsidizedparking passes] are in their collect-ive agreement with the college.”Camosun says the reason forincreasing parking prices in theplan is to encourage people to usealternative modes of transporta-tion, such as public transit andcarpooling.They say by convincing people
to use alternative methods, they willreduce trafc and lower greenhouse
gas emissions, a goal outlined inthe TPM.
photo: Courtney broughton
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