smujournal_2010-03-10

Photography: Hayley Inkpen | Cover Design: Kimberley Dares and Marlon Solis

Est. 1935 . Vol. 75 . No. 22 .March 10, 2010 The Student Newspaper of Saint Mary’s University . Halifax . NS

THE JOURNALVisit The Journal Online at:

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ujournal.caSaint Mary’s Team Named Regional Champion pg 11

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SMUSA PAGE The Journal .March 10, 20102

The Journal .March 10, 2010 PERSPECTIVES 3

Editor-in-chiefJeff Cusack

[email protected]

News EditorKim Dares

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Sports EditorJason MacDonald

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Science & Business EditorMonique Johnson

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Arts & Entertainment EditorNick Madore

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Features EditorAlex Clarke

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Art DirectorMarlon Solis

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Business Manager/Ad ManagerTafarrah Williams

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Distribution ManagerEliam Chikange

Website ManagerKevin Yu

Thanks to all contributors

THE JOURNAL IS THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF SAINT MARY’S UNI-VERSITY. THE PAPER IS PUBLISHED EACH WEDNESDAY BY THE JOUR-NAL PUBLISHING SOCIETY, AND

FUNDED IN PART BY THE STUDENT BODY.

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EDITOR MAY BE NO MORE THAN 400 WORDS. ALL SUBMISSIONS MAY

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IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO PROOF-READ, VISIT THE OFFICE ON

MONDAY MORNINGS. ALL PIECES ARE SUBJECT TO THE JOURNAL GUIDELINES FOR SUBMISSION, (AVAILABLE ON REQUEST). THE OPINIONS EXPRESSED IN THE JOURNAL ARE THOSE OF THE

AUTHORS AND NOT NECESSARILY OF THE JOURNAL OR SAINT MARY’S

UNIVERSITY.

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LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

How Getting Ahead Can Get You Left-Behind

Editor’s Note: I am a full-time stu-dent. Our school has a broad list of crite-ria which students must meet in order to maintain an entrance scholarship here. One must maintain a certain GPA, take a certain number of credits each year, and remain a full time stu-dent. In general, these requirements are in place to ensure that students re-ceiving entrance scholarships main-tain a high level of academic achie-vement, but the last criteria, that one must remain a full-time student, can actually unfairly impact students.Very simply: Our entrance scholar-ship system punishes those who do things ahead of time. Entrance scholarships work by giving out money on a by-semester basis, as long as the renewal criteria have been met. The problem with this system is that a student who has done work ahead of time may not need to take a full-time course load in a given semester. A student who has com-pleted 117 credit hours by the end of the first semester in their fourth year only needs to take a single course in order to graduate with their intended

degree. The student who takes only the one course they need isn’t entitled to their scholarship, whereas a student who still needs to take five courses is. This makes little sense. At Saint Mary’s University, student who takes enough summer courses that they end up needing and taking only one course is seen as less wort-hy of a scholarship than the student who needs to take a five-course load to graduate by the end of their fourth year. By doings things ahead of time, students show that they are high aca-demic achievers, and they may have taken courses in advance in order to leave more time to focus on an ho-nours thesis or to try and find a job for after graduation. Their new part time status is not a reflection of re-duced ambition but rather a reflection of their high ambitions and achieve-ments. And yet Saint Mary’s does not deem those students worthy of scho-larships. The current system which bases eligibility of students on the part-time/full-time distinction needs to be done away with in favour of one which bases students’ eligibility on their academic career as a whole. Students should be eligible as long as they’ve met certain milestones of achievement. If two students are

at the same point in their academic career (for example, the first semester of their third year), and the student with part-time status will finish their semester with the same number of to-tal credits hours as the student with full time status, there is no reason that the part-time student should not remain eligible for full time status.People should not be punished for doing things ahead of time.

Note from the editor: Re – The Os-cars I watched The Oscars last night, and as usual comedies did poorly. Up was nominated for best feature, but that’s only because the academy loves Pixar. The Invention of Lying, a comedy with Ricky Gervais and Jennifer Garner, should have received some acclaim. Although Avatar takes place on another planet, the world of Lying is far more alien than Pandora;, its people operate in a fundamentally different way from us due to the ab-sence of dishonesty. It’s a fantastic film with a fascinating message that I highly recommend.

Second note from the editor: Tra-vel and Bigotry During Reading Week the Saint Mary’s University Conflict Reso-lution Society traveled to Northern

Ireland and conducted seminars in elementary and secondary schools there. I was fortunate enough to be a part of this society. While the soci-ety went with the purpose of helping others, we received much more from the experience than they were able to give, and came away with a new ap-preciation for the complexity of the conflict. Since returning, many peo-ple have told me that they view the conflict as stupid and nothing more than a fight over who has the biggest invisible friend (Catholic vs. Protes-tant). Such an attitude marginalizes a conflict which encompasses the en-tire cultures of a city which was one of the friendliest I have ever been in. Throughout the city, there were numerous examples of murals and quotes which dealt with the conflict, including one wall bearing a quote by Mark Twain. This quote in particular moved me, as it explained the dan-gers of trying to judge another people without actually knowing their story: Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charita-ble views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one’s lifetime.

Jeff CusackEditor-In-Chief

NEWS The Journal .March 10, 20104

www.smujournal.ca

Kimberley DaresNews Editor

Kimberley DaresNews Editor

The Saint Mary’s University Environmen-tal Society (SMUES), Facilities Manage-ment, SMUSA, International Activities and Sustainability at SMU, along with many other groups and individuals at SMU will be hosting the 2nd annual Sustainability Week, March 15-19th. There are a variety of events planned on campus to get stu-dents, faculty and staff thinking green! The film “Dirt! The Movie!” will be screened for free Monday March 15th at 7:00pm in the Scotiabank Theatre with

snacks and refreshments being provided. The film is about the wonders of soil, and how much it is a part of our daily life on earth. The film’s website (www.dirtthemo-vie.org) describes it as “the story of Ea-rth’s most valuable and under appreciated source of fertility-from its miraculous be-ginning to its crippling degradation.” The film narrated by Jamie Lee Curtis has won multiple awards. Thursday March 18th there will be a photo scavenger hunt with prizes to be won! Teams don’t need to pre-register and the hunt can be done anytime between 9am and 4pm. It’s free to compete and if you don’t have a camera to use one can be bor-rowed from the registration booth!

There are also many free workshops being held on vari-ous topics throughout the week. One of those workshops will be DriveWiser run by Clean Nova Scotia. DriveWiser is a motor vehicle fuel efficiency program and at the workshop students will have the opportunity to learn how to use less fuel, dri-ving tips and maintenance tips to help cut down on fuel usage and save money! The Drive-Wiser Workshop will be held Tuesday March 16th at 1:00 in Loyola 296. The Ecology Action Centre will also be holding a workshop Tuesday at 10am in Loyola 298. The interactive workshop will focus on food and the benefits of buying local. Some of the questions being addressed in-clude “How much of our food was grown here? How much is being imported? What green-house gases are associated with food transportation?” SMUES Recycling Police will be patrolling the halls of Saint Mary’s until March 19th searching for people sorting their waste properly and impro-perly. The goal of the campaign is to reduce contamination in recycling and compost bins on

campus. Students caught sorting their trash correctly will instantly win an environmen-tally friendly prize and be entered to win a grand prize. If you are caught incorrectly disposing of your waste you won’t be car-ted off to SMU jail but will get a friendly reminder about recycling on campus. Thursday Night James Taylor will speak in the Atrium Theatre at 7:30pm about Tidal Power and the Nova Scotia Power transition to more sustainable forms of energy. Friday afternoon from 2:00-4:00pm students can join SMUES in the Student Centre and go on a walk to Point Pleasant Park. Sustainability Week will wrap up Fri-day night (March 19th) with a presentation from the Discovery Channel’s Jay Ingram. The TV personality hosts the Daily Planet as well as the podcast Jay Ingram’s The-atre of Mind. Ingram will be speaking about his recent book, “The Daily Planet Book of Cool Ideas” and providing stu-dents with insight into recent environmen-tal breakthroughs and efforts in the scien-tific world. Books will be sold starting at 6:30pm and the talk will begin at 7pm in the McNally Main TAUD. The event is free for all Saint Mary’s students and $10 for SMU Alumni. Sustainability Week offers the opportu-nity to get involved and learn about envi-ronmental initiatives taking place at Saint Mary’s. For a full list of events and activi-ties check out www.smu.ca/sustainability/ and look for posters around campus!

O’Canada Lyrics to Remain Unchanged

In last week’s Speech from the Throne Canada’s Gover-nor General Michelle Jean announced the Federal Go-vernment would be asked to review the anthems lyrics. The proposed changes were from the lines “True patriot love in all thy sons command” to the more gender neu-

tral “True patriot of thou dost in us command” Across the country Canadians spoke out against the change and a representative of Parliament made a state-ment Friday that due to public response there would be no further inquiry into changes to the anthem at this

time.

Canadian Bills Go Plastic

Sustainability Week at Saint Mary’s

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redit: ww

w.canada.com

The Bank of Canada announced it will be introducing polymer material bills in 2011 to replace the current paper-cotton bills cur-rently in circulation. The plastic bills will reduce counterfeiting as they are harder to fake and will be more resistant to tearing. Si-milar material bankno-tes have been in use in Australia for over a

decade.

Image C

redit: ww

w.craigm

arlatt.comIm

age Credit: Essam

-Al-sudani / A

FP - Getty Im

ages

Voting Despite Danger in Iraq

Over the weekend many citizens of Iraq braved long lines and the threat of violence to cast their vote for a 325-member parliament. Militants staged over sixty security incidents throughout the country on Sunday in an attempt to disrupt or discourage people from voting. Despite these attacks voter turnout is believed to have reached 55%. Preliminary election results are expected

to be announced Wednesday March 10th.

Geldof Defends Aid Campaigns

Musician Bob Geldof orga-nized the fundraising cam-paigns Band Aid and Live Aid in the 1980’s to raise money for famine relief in Ethiopia. Recently the BBC released a report stating that 95% of the $100 million dollars given to Ethiopia for relief in 1985 was actually used by rebels to buy weapons. Geldof has spoken out against the report

saying that “Not a single penny went to armaments.” The BBC stands by its findings.

Students give many reasons for not apply-ing for financial aid including concerns about GPA requirements or the amount of money a students parents may earn as well as a lack of non-school activities but it is really a disservice to yourself if you rule out applying before checking out the requirements. Many scholarships have lo-wer GPA or volunteer expectations than students expect, others are based solely on academics or involvement and do not con-sider how much money the students family can contribute. If this is not your last year at Saint Mary’s there are still many opportunities to apply for scholarships and bursaries for the upcoming school year. One opportuni-ty to take advantage of is the Saint Mary’s University Named Undergraduate Scholar-ships and Bursaries as their are over 100 available. The awards are based on acade-mics as well as student involvement and conditions set by the award donors. Some

criteria for different awards include the students field of study, age, ability, leader-ship activities, social involvement and year of study. Other awards are open to all Saint Mary’s students provided they meet GPA requirements. Varsity athletes are also eli-gible for awards recognizing achievement academically and athletically. Applications for the 2010-2011 acade-mic year are due May 1st and can be pic-ked up in the Financial Aid and Awards Office (4th Floor Student Centre) or found online. Successful applicants will be con-tacted early in the Fall Semester. Students must get a recommendation from Faculty (Varsity Athletes must also provide a re-commendation from their Coach). Saint Mary’s also offers financial need based bursaries awarded to students each semester through the office of Financial Aid and Awards. The applications typically come out in September and January and are due about mid-term. To be considered stu-dents must have a GPA of 1.70 and demon-strate financial need. Decisions are usually made toward the end of the semester. There are also many external awards

available to students. The Financial Aid Re-source Centre posts many external awards outside their 4th Floor Office as well as on-line at www.smu.ca that students can apply for. Deadlines and criteria vary greatly ma-king it worth checking frequently. It is also worth looking into family and employment connections as often employee unions have scholarships or bursaries for the children or family of employees. Asking your boss is also worthwhile as several organizations have scholarship programs for student em-ployees that you may not be aware of it if you don’t ask. There are also many websites that list external scholarships. Some external scho-larships require a brief essay or personal statement from candidates. If you have strong writing skills it is a great way to be rewarded for them. Often scholarship and bursary money goes unclaimed because not enough stu-dents apply. If you meet the criteria take an hour or two and fill out the application if you get the award you would have made well over minimum wage for a few hours of work.

Financial Aid: Get Paid for Going to School Kimberley DaresNews Editor

Image C

redit: vivathe80s.blogspot.com

Image Credit: www.thediscoverychannel.ca

The Journal .March 10, 2010 NEWS 5

[email protected]

Thursday March 11th is bottle water free day in the Halifax Regional Municipality (HRM).To celebrate, the I “Heart” HRM Tap Water cam-

paign volunteers will be giving out free Clean Nova Scotia water bottles at Parade Square on Barrington Street between noon and 1pm. To re-

ceive a bottle you will be asked to sign a pledge not to buy bottled water when tap water is readily available. Why pay money for something you can get for free? On-campus there are many water fountains as well as the newly installed water bottle re-fill station in the Atrium. Bringing

your own bottle (or getting one for free on Thursday!) can help you save money and reduce your impact on the environment!

49 dedicated students, 70 hour bus-ride, five days of building, three new homes, spring-break 2010 - an awesome, rewarding, experience! On Friday, Feb. 19, a coach from Trius Tours Inc. pulled into the Tower Parking lot and was greeted by 49 en-thusiastic students set to embark on their three day journey to Bay Saint Louis, Mississippi, an area ravaged by Hurricane Katrina, five years ago. Bay Saint Louis is a quaint, sea-side town on the Gulf Coast of Missis-sippi, and is located an hour outside of New Orleans. “Many houses that lined the roads as we approached New Orleans were seriously damaged. Some homes were still missing walls and roofs”, says Laura Fitzpatrick, a second-year Science student at Saint Mary’s who is co-founder and co-president of the Saint Mary’s University Habitat for Humanity Campus Chapter. “And it only got worse as we entered the city”, she continues. “It was devasta-ting to see the state of the homes in the Ninth Ward. People were sitting on their front porches with only half of the house standing. On the front of the homes that had been evacua-ted there were circles that stated the name of the first rescue team to ar-rive, as well as the number of people that were found living, injured, or dead inside the homes. It was start-ling”. Kristen Gouchie, also co-founder and co-president of SMU Habitat who graduated from Saint Mary’s with her BA in 2009, was also ama-zed that there was still so much left to be done. “There were vacant lots everywhere - and I can’t even ima-gine what it would have been like to evacuate and come back to find that you no longer had a home.” Accor-ding to their tour guide, even though some people’s homes were still stan-ding, they could not return because

the government required that they provide proof of home ownership, which many families in this low-in-come area did not have. “There were water lines along the top of the houses which clearly de-picted the extent of the flood - I can’t even imagine that entire homes were completely submerged by water”, adds Lauren Hunter, SMU Habitat Treasurer. The situation was no different in Bay Saint Louis. There were still empty lots where homes once stood. However, next to these lots, there were small new homes that resem-bled “coastal cottages.” These were the homes that Habitat for Humanity Bay Waveland Area Inc., the local Habitat affiliate had built at some point over the past 5 years. “It was ex-citing to see the progress that volun-teers from the community and abroad had made,” says Hayley Inkpen, the group’s secretary. “To date, over 115 homes have been built by Habitat in this area, and we are extremely exci-ted to add to this number.” After a long journey, the students were ready to start building. “As the bus approached the build site at 8:30 AM on Day 1, the enthusiasm was overwhelming. Students practically ran off of the bus!” Laura stated. For the first two days, the students worked on a home that was parti-ally completed the previous week by students from two other Canadian Universities. After the students were given instructions from the construc-tion site supervisors, they set off to go hammer that first nail, cut the molding, paint the interior, build the shutters, install the sub-flooring, and build a fence around the house. Part of the group also worked to refurbish the Habitat for Humanity Warehouse nearby. “By the end of the day you could really see the progress that we had made,” said Matt Bordian, ano-ther member of the team. “In two days, we finished both the house and the warehouse.” On Wednesday, Day 3 of building, the group started a new home. “When

we arrived at the site, all that existed was a large slab of concrete,” says Kristen, “and by the end of the day, we had framed the entire house.” Many of the members agree that one of the most exhilarating parts of the building was raising the four major walls of the house. “Picture 49 stu-dents, as well as other volunteers, lif-ting and stabilizing each wall,” Kris-ten reflects. The students worked on this home and a half-completed home next door for the remainder of the week. They built the frames for the walls and roof, attached the particle board, constructed and attached the gables, and built a shed at the back of the house. “We got a lot done in only 5 days because everyone worked extremely hard,” Laura says. “It was an incre-dible experience. Many of us didn’t know each other before the trip, so it was great to meet other Saint Mary’s students. I know that a lot of people will stay in touch with the friends that they made on this trip.” The group would like to thank Trius Tours Inc. and their great drivers for getting them to and from Mississippi safely, as well as SMUSA, the trip’s corporate sponsors, and Habitat for Humanity HRM for providing them with this opportunity. What’s next for the SMU Habi-tat Campus Chapter? The group is planning a banquet which is set to take place in the Spring in which students will reflect on the build and share their pictures. At this event, the students will also donate a por-tion of the money they fundraised to the local affiliate. Laura adds, “And of course, we will be starting preparations for next year’s interna-tional build, as everyone is eager to go back and help rebuild the homes along the gulf coast.” If you are interested becoming a member of the Saint Mary’s Uni-versity Habitat for Humanity Soci-ety, you can contact [email protected] for more information about upcoming builds and events.

Saint Mary’s University Students Help Build Three Habitat HomesLaura FitzpatrickContributor

This Week at SMU Wednesday March 10th

The Saint Mary’s Univer-sity Film Society (SMUFS) holds free film screenings every Wednesday night at 7pm. The screening March 10th will be “Amistad” in Loyola 170.

Friday March 12th

The CRA Community Vo-lunteer Tax Program will be on campus offering students the opportunity to get taxes done for free from Noon-3-:00pm in Loyola 175. The SMU Accounting Society will be holding a second workshop on March 26th.

Last Friday’s SMUSA Board of Directors meeting was cancelled but rescheduled for this Friday March 12th at 4:30pm in the SMUSA Of-fice Boardroom. The agen-da will be posted online at

www.smusa.ca prior to the meeting.

Author Alistar MacLeod will perform a reading of his short story “The Closing Down of Summer” at 7:30pm in the McNally Main TAUD. Ma-cLeod’s short story was writ-ten in 1976 and this is the first time he will read the full text to the public. After the reading he will discuss the story with Dr. Ken MacKin-non. Music will be provided by award-winning violinist Gillian Boucher and admis-sion is free.

Monday March 15th

AboutImage will be on cam-pus March 15th and 16th in the Loyola Private Dinning Room taking grad photos for the yearbook. Students can call AboutImage at 429-1977 for an appointment.

The Saint Mary’s Accoun-ting Society is holding its annual Etiquette Dinner Monday from 6:30-8:30pm in the Loyola Conference Hall. The event is open to students from all disciplines; tickets must be purchased in advance from the Accoun-ting Society Office in the BMO Lounge for the cost of $20. Karen Mallet, President of the International Institute of Civility will speak to stu-dents about dining and busi-ness etiquette.

Sustainability Week kicks off with a free screening of Dirt! The Movie! at 7:00pm in the Scotiabank Theatre. Snacks and refreshments will be pro-vided.

Wednesday March 17th

SMUFS will be screening GoodFellas in Sobey Buil-ding 255 starting at 7pm.

Photo Credit: H

ayley Inkpen

The Journal .March 10, 2010ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT6

Dawn Davis Contributor

www.smujournal.ca

I guess it’s a typical thing these days that girl gamers are into Japanese RPGs. The odds are that if your gir-lfriend plays games seriously, she’ll be looking at the Final Fantasy XIII release out on Tuesday, March 9th. That isn’t to say, of course, that it’s only girls who are looking forward

to Final Fantasy XIII, but odds are there may be a few ladies that you won’t see for a few weeks. We all have our own stories about how we even got into video games in the first place, especially Final Fantasy. Personally, I’m one of those infuriating people who brags about how I remember my surrogate father playing the original Final Fantasy for Nintendo when I must have been about four or so. He would name the game’s party members after

the members of our little family, in those four-character name spaces. My sister got the White Mage while I always insisted on being the Red Mage. Those two looked like girls. It would be some time before I realized that they were all sort of intended to be male, and the FEMINIST RAGE would set in. I was quite a bit older when Final Fantasy II (known by those in Japan, and some of us who have picked up the lingo, as IV) was released. I

loved Rydia - I was generally a big fan of the magic users. Plus, she was a child and so was I! We had so much in common! In my memories I strongly recall enjoying the visit to the village of mages with twins Pa-lom and Porom where a dancing girl would turn you into a pig. And who can forget the city of warriors where everyone jumped around shouting “ACHOO!” Something that was la-ter revised into being something far less silly, and ruining the fun of the

whole thing. “Hiyaa,” or something. When my family finally laid our hands on Final Fantasy III (or VI) it was an exciting moment for me. I got all the way to level 9 on my own, but couldn’t figure out that there were stairs that actually looked like stairs, and I couldn’t go to the lower levels of Figaro Castle until my sur-rogate father did. It was very insul-ting. I envy whoever plays through

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continued on page 7

Nick MadoreArts & Entertainment

Maybe not as Final as was Originally Assumed - A Memoir of Final Fantasy

The Journal .March 10, 2010 ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT 7

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that game for the first time; what an experience it must be to see all of those fantastic scenes! The Resur-rection of Rachel, Dylan’s Epitaph, Celes’ leap of faith, the end of the world, the Opera House scene, and Terra with the Espers. Each experi-ence pulled me in like no book, no movie ever could. When Terra, our powerful amnesiac, turned into an Esper and flew away, screaming, I knew that I was meant to be a wri-ter to give others that experience of wonder. I wasn’t wealthy growing up, so we rented games rather than buying them. It took me until my teenage years to have the oppor-tunity to actually complete Final Fantasies IV and VI. It was quite a feeling. When promotional material for Final Fantasy VII was being re-leased, I snapped up whatever I could. I borrowed heaps of maga-zines from the library and photo-copied bits of information to read over and over, and roll around in my mouth like candy. For several years I begged for a Playstation for Christmas, and went without one for several. When I finally opened one, I cried a bit. Finally, finally, my life could continue because I could play Final Fantasy VII! And the wait was worth it. Cloud’s existential crisis, the death of Ae-rith, the calamity from the skies... I can’t help but be snobby about the extended universe they crea-ted with Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children. It is this work of art that I remember. Final Fantasy VIII was a very different experience. It took me some time to finally lay my hands on that creature, which I devoured in a week over the summer. That one’s a love story at its finest and I was sixteen and fell hard for it. These days I pick on it like some-one bickers with the one they love the most. The plot didn’t make a whole lot of sense, but I didn’t care. I loved it anyway. I had a strange relationship with Final Fantasy IX. After having in-troverted, brooding characters in

VII and VIII, I looked upon prota-gonist Zidane with a bit of... tole-rance, I suppose. I played the game at first largely for Vivi, the little black mage that is an icon of the whole series. As I grew up, howe-ver, IX whittled a hole in my heart where only it can be. The writing is solid and the characters are all interesting, the world is fleshed out and the whole thing is a beautiful piece of art. IX has the most solid soundtrack next to VI, and Zidane has become one of my favourite characters in any fictional setting because he knows just what to say. Final Fantasy X was also a fan-tastic experience on the Playstation 2, flexing the muscles of what the new technology was capable of and impressing us with its shiny things and wonderful hair. The world was wonderfully built and the plot was strong. Some of the characters could have been stronger, but it was hard not to love them anyway. And a bunch of them didn’t really exist! What a twist that was! The fascinating plot between Tidus and his Father Jecht was one that I found enticing. Who was this man? The kind and strong individual this world claims he was or the horrible neglectful ass that Tidus remembe-red? I didn’t develop a relationship with XI, the online installment of the series. I almost wish I did since I’m such a big Final Fantasy nerd, but I actually have very little desire to pick it up. Final Fantasy XII was fantastic for some, but not for me. Since Hironobu Sakaguchi stepped down after X, I have had a hard time getting into the Final Fantasy series - core games and otherwise. With Tetsuya Nomura at the helm after having created such works of art as The World Ends With You and Kingdom Hearts, will you absorb me, Final Fantasy XIII? Will you wrap me up in your plot? Will your characters move me? Will I get nostalgic years from now for the first time I ran through the tutorial with Lighting talking me through? I, and many others, sure hope so. At least it’ll be pretty!

continued From Page 6

Maybe not as Final as was Origi-nally Assumed - A Memoir of Final Fantasy

The Journal .February 3, 20108 FEATURES

www.smujournal.ca

A Good Place at Which to Learn

To what should students of a univer-sity be entitled just by virtue of their being students of a university? That is, what rights should students pos-sess given both what university is all about and the place of students within the university community? Well, different universities can be all about different things. Trinity Western University, for instance, is about creating good Christians; the University of British Columbia isn’t. (Saint Mary’s is deeply confused on this particular matter.) What rights a student should have depends to a large extent on what his or her parti-cular university is all about. Central among what I would like Saint Mary’s to be all about are re-search, teaching and learning, and intellectual community. So, if it were up to me, students at Saint Mary’s would be entitled to that which is ne-cessary or useful: 1) for acquiring the skills and understandings of an intel-lectual, including, of course, the skills and understandings of a researcher in their disciplines of choice; and 2) for living as an (aspiring) intellectual within a community of intellectuals. My list of rights for students at Saint Mary’s, then, would include the following:

• the right to study in any programme in which the student is qualified on academic grounds alone to study

• the right to have competent teachers and to have her work evaluated on academic grounds alone

• the right to hear from her teacher why he criticized or evaluated her work as he did

• the right to use the library and any other campus facility necessary or useful to her studies, to have adequa-te and comfortable study space, and to have adequate and comfortable classrooms

• the right to express herself freely, both inside and outside the classroom (this includes the right to speak ill of her university, her teachers, her class-mates, and the right to say what of-fends or hurts others)

• the right to associate with whom she wishes, including the right to invite visiting speakers to campus

• the right to attend classes and cam-pus events free from disruption

The last three items on this list, those concerning freedom of expres-sion and association and freedom from disruption, are the ones we see most often abridged or violated at Saint Mary’s. Now any two of these rights might conflict with each other in some par-ticular context. One student’s right to speak his mind might compromise another student’s right to attend a class free of disruption. Despite this possibility, conflicts among these entitlements are actually quite rare. When someone disrupts a class or other event, the disruption typically involves the volume, manner, or length of time that that person has chosen to use to express himself, not the content of his expression. One or another of these rights might, though, often conflict with the customs or expectations people bring onto campus from other areas of their lives. Customs or rights that serve to smooth social interactions in the workplace, for instance, can prevent intellectuals from going about their business. I mean nothing grand when I call these items “rights,” nothing beyond that they should be respected and pro-tected. That is, if the items I’ve listed are indeed necessary or useful to the proper functioning of Saint Mary’s as an institution of learning and a com-munity of intellectuals, then Saint Mary’s should have in place mecha-nisms to protect them and to repair things should one be violated. Stu-dents who believe one of their rights has been violated or is under threat should be able to launch a complaint and have that complaint evaluated quickly and properly. Yet the best safeguard these rights could know is the university’s own informal, day-to-day institutional cul-ture. When administrators and pro-fessors are keen to respect students’ rights simply out of their dedication to educating students and to crea-ting and maintaining a community of intellectuals, then students’ rights are not at risk at all. When concerns other than creating and maintaining a community of intellectuals moti-vate administrators and professors, though, students’ rights—and, there-by, the ability of students to learn and to participate in intellectual culture—can easily come to grief, no matter what fine sentences the university’s Calendar or other official documents might contain.

Alex ClarkeFeatures Editor

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Know Your Prof. – Professor Bill Fletcher

Saint Mary’s University is an organi-zation that is known to excel in the Business department. This university has some of the most qualified pro-fessors in the entire Atlantic Canada with the Sobey’s School of Business being the top choice for business prospects. This week the Journal has decided to take a look at a business faculty member who happens to have a great presence in the financial department and in Saint Mary’s University. Prof. H. William Fletcher has been a full time professor here at Saint Mary’s University for almost 15 years. His responsibility here at Saint Mary’s is lecturing and evaluating student per-formance in undergraduate finance courses. He was named Part-Time Professor of the Year in 2000 and as one of the favourite professors at the university in the Maclean’s Magazine review on Canadian universities for 2004 and 2006. Teaching finance is a time-con-suming enterprise! This is evident if you looked at Fletcher’s schedule. He is constantly working, being at school from 9am every day so that students who really need his assistance can easily locate him. Not only is he a professor at Saint Mary’s University but he also is a part time professor at

Mount Saint Vincent University and a self-employed tutor for high-school students. In his words Fletcher is glad to be a finance teacher because it al-lows him to prepare interested stu-dents with the building blocks that they will need to start their future. Fletcher says that he has always been interested in finance. You can agree if you have ever taken any of his challenging exams. ‘Time flies when you’re having fun!’ Fletcher helped me to realize that there are so many applications of finance in eve-ryday life and it helps to be aware of our financial position. There is a lot more behind Bill Fletcher besides being an excellent professor. Before starting his 15 years of teaching at SMU, Fletcher spent over 10 years as a senior accountant for TransCanada Pipelines in Toronto. This was a very important transitional time in his career because it provided the real life experience that he uses to help students understand the finan-cial world. He was able to take part in multimillion dollar projects and eva-luate many senior management cash flow decisions. Not only does he have a huge wealth of experience behind him but he is also a Saint Mary’s University alumni receiving a bachelor’s degree from the Sobey’s School of Busi-ness in Accounting and Finance in Commerce in 1992 and a Master of Business Administration in Finance.

Not only is Fletcher very interested in finance, but he is a devoted coach in a number of extracurricular activi-ties. His strong teaching skills helped carry the women’s curling team to the 2007 Canada Games in Whitehorse. His attitude can be summed up in his teaching philosophy, which can be boiled down into having fun but challenging the students. On average four to five hundred business students pass through his lectures each year, so Fletcher says he runs into one of his past students almost every day. Bill Fletcher really believes if you expect great things from the stu-dents, they will deliver. However, his methods may not be liked by eve-ryone. He aggressively asserts that he adopts an old school style of tea-ching. Because of his quick manner of delivery, students must develop the ability to take notes and grasp the extensive amount of information of-fered to them. Fletcher told me that the best way to achieve a knowledge and understanding of finance is not to simply come to the classes. It calls for real devotion. “For every hour you spend in class, you should spend two hours studying.” A novice uni-versity student will most likely have trouble keeping up in his lectures, however Fletcher understands that finance may not be for everyone and molds his teachings so that it allows students to develop interest.

Alex Clarke Features Editor

The Journal .March 10, 2010 FEATURES 9

[email protected]

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Women’s Reproductive Rights: An Update

I read this week (on the awesome blog feministing.com) that Utah is thinking of making miscarriage a crime. Miscarriage. Something that approximately 10 to 25 percent of women experience. The bill would have allowed up to life in prison for a woman whose fetus died from her “intentional or reckless behaviour.” Thankfully, the bill was withdrawn by its sponsor this past Thursday. Ho-wever, language will remain that ma-kes a woman’s “intentional” actions, if resulting in the death of her fetus in an illegal abortion, a felony. Earlier this year, in Atlanta, Ge-orgia, anti-choice groups put up billboards in predominantly African American neighborhoods comparing abortion to genocide, declaring that black children are an endangered species, and that black women should stop having abortions because their race is dying out. These anti-choice groups use the rhetoric of saving wo-men from a supposed genocidal plot

to justify taking away their reproduc-tive rights. These anti-choice groups also note that many sexual health clinics are located in African Ameri-can neighborhoods. The truth is that reproductive health care providers open clinics to provide access to the full range of reproductive health care services in communities that despera-tely need safe and affordable health care. In Canada, we’re not doing much better. The Harper Government has allowed the introduction of several regressive private members’ bills that have sought to undermine choice and women’s rights in general. Here in the Maritimes, and in many rural and northern regions, access to abortion is severely limited, violating the tenets of the Canada Health Act and jeopar-dizing women’s health and safety. On campuses across Canada, ex-ternal and student groups continue to fund aggressive campaigns to spread misinformation about choice and work to limit women’s rights. Groups such as the Genocide Awareness Pro-ject and the Canadian Centre for Bio-Ethical Reform use materials deemed offensive by Canadian courts that

compare abortion to racist lynching and the Holocaust, and employ con-frontational tactics that create unsafe space on campuses. As a feminist, I think: “Didn’t we solve these problems back in the 70s and 80s?” Obviously, there is a lot of work that needs to be done. If you are interested in Reproductive Justice is-sues, you can check out the Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada (www.arcc-cdac.ca). The Halifax group Fe-minists for Reproductive Education and Equity (FREE) has a page on Fa-cebook. For insight into the situation in the United States, watch the do-cumentary Lake of Fire directed by Tony Kaye, who also directed Ame-rican History X. If you have a philo-sophical bent, you may be interested in Marilyn Frye’s essay “On Sepa-ratism and Power” in her book The Politics of Reality. If you care about your bodily autonomy and would like to hold onto your reproductive rights, the first step is to learn not only the current status of those rights, but also where the anti-choice groups stand. Only with that knowledge can we act in the name of reproductive justice.

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The Journal .February 3, 2010BUSINESS & SCIENCE10

www.smujournal.ca

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Canadian Fashion Icon Linda Lundström Announces New Career PathFrom designing to inspiring – Linda launches consulting company, Linda Lundström Works

Fashion pioneer Linda Lundström introduces her new company, Linda Lundström Works (lindalundstrom-works.com). In June of 2009, Linda officially resigned from Eleventh Floor Apparel – the company that ac-quired the Lundström brand in 2008. “Fall 2009 marked the last collec-tion I was fully responsible for under the Lundström brand,” recalls Ms. Lundström. “Although I contributed to the Spring 2010 collection, and a portion of Fall 2010 that is now sho-wing – I haven’t seen the complete collection that will be hitting the run-way this season.” With over thirty years of desig-ning and manufacturing beautiful Canadian-made clothing, Linda has created more than 100 sought-after collections. Today, Linda offers her Fashion expertise in product development, fabric sourcing and interpreting color and fabric trends. With a strong belief that “Made In Canada” is still possible for the Ap-parel Industry, Lundström now of-fers Lean manufacturing consulting services. Clients have attended her Lean workshops from the fashion world to the nuts-and-bolts of the manufacturing sector, as well as a diverse range of industries. Lundström will continue to teach the Apparel Manufacturing course to Fashion Management students at George Brown College. She hopes that, “these bright young people will be prepared to forge the new frontier of the Canadian Fashion Industry by understanding Lean manufacturing and supporting the incredible design talent in Canada.” The recipient of more than thirty awards recognizing her entrepreneu-rial drive, corporate and commu-nity leadership, as well as innovative business management and communi-cations strategies. Linda Lundström Works serves clients needing to kick-start their strategic game plans. Lundström calls upon her network of professionals to assist in the design and delivery of dynamic interactive workshops and the creation of action plans to deliver results. Her public speaking engagements will continue to inspire audiences with tales from fashion’s front lines and business and life lessons learned along the way. Honoraria will contri-bute to the work of the Kiishik Fund, established by Lundström in 1989 to

create awareness and respect for First Nations culture in the communities around Red Lake, Ontario. Ms. Lundström founded the Lund-ström label in 1974, and the brand gained international fame and a mas-sive fan base of ‘Lundström Loya-lists’ through her signature outerwear and her famous LAPARKA. Colla-borations with Native artists eleva-ted the LAPARKA into the realm of wearable art. A savvy business entre-preneur for more than three decades, Lundström built her profitable brand to include 3 flagship boutiques and over 400 retailers carrying her line across Canada and the United States. What does the future hold? Ms. Lundström will focus solely on new

independent ventures. “Leading a profitable company for nearly 3 de-cades, navigating recessions and pe-riods of rapid growth and business set-backs – with up to 150 employees – I have gained a tremendous amount of knowledge,” she explains. “After making this difficult decision to leave the Lundström brand and the commu-nity of people who helped me build the company, I look to the future and am eager to share all that I’ve learned along the way.“ About Linda: An artist, a pioneer, a fashion industry leader and a Ca-nadian icon…Linda Lundström has many stories, which both inform and inspire. Recipient of three honorary doctorates, The Order of Ontario, and a multitude of awards ranging from entrepreneurship to business innova-tion – Lundström’s accomplishments can also be found in the Canadian En-cyclopedia. She was born and raised in Co-chenour, a remote gold mining town of 300 near Red Lake, in Northwes-tern Ontario. This may seem an un-

likely beginning to the story of a fa-shion designer, who in her career has reached the pinnacle of success for her innovative approach to creating clothing for Authentic Women – with real lives, real bodies and real beauty. “I believe a woman’s size and shape have nothing to do with her value as a human being.” Building a state-of-the-art manu-facturing facility in Toronto, she was a leader in embracing CAD/CAM technologies and Lean Manufactu-ring processes necessary to compete internationally. The Toronto facility she designed to produce her designs is a model for innovative business concepts. “This factory was as much a pro-

duct of my creativity as my clothing designs. It worked like a machine, an interactive sculpture and a piece of art. Fabric came in the loading docks from all over the world and talented people worked together to make it into beautiful garments for stores all over North America,” explains the woman behind the brand. “It excited me to explore ways to create styles which fully utilized the fabric, unique shapes that flowed through the pro-duction process and then graced the curves of a woman’s body. My pas-sion as a designer was and still is, to make women feel beautiful.” Linda is excited to see where her journey takes her in the coming months. “The time is right to seize these exciting opportunities, to give back to an industry near and dear to my heart and help the next genera-tion overcome obstacles that can get in their way as they step up onto the world stage of the fashion industry.”

Michelle CalvertLucid Communications

The Journal .March 10, 2010 BUSINESS & SCIENCE 11

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Saint Mary’s University“Students In Free Enterprise” or SIFE team has been named the 2010 TD SIFE Entrepreneurship Challenge Regional Champion by the national charitable organization Advancing Canadian Entrepreneurship (ACE) and proud program supporter TD. All Atlantic based SIFE teams were judged by live panels of business pro-fessionals and regional champions were announced on Friday February 26th in Halifax at the 2010 ACE At-lantic Regional Exposition, proudly supported by the Atlantic Canada Op-portunities Agency (ACOA). The SIFE team from Saint Mary’s University stood out to the judges because of their dedication to buil-ding an entrepreneurial spirit among young people, aspiring entrepreneurs and current business owners. Their notable accomplishments include the annual “TRUMPED” competition in-spired by the hit TV series “The Ap-prentice”, which involves university and college teams who create and implement fundraisers and marketing campaigns. This past year 67 teams of over 200 students raised $83,000 in just 21 days.

“Being recognized as the TD En-trepreneurship Champion is an ho-nor, especially considering the level of competition,” explains SIFE SMU President, Nick Tingley. “We are very proud of the impact we’ve had in our school and community and winning this award is a nice bonus.” The end goal of this annual chal-lenge is for SIFE teams to provide guidance and mentorship to aspiring entrepreneurs as well as work directly with local businesses to help improve their operations, profitability, and job creation. Teams were provided the necessary tools and training from ACE and TD to develop and imple-ment their extensive projects to help others. The Saint Mary’s SIFE team will now move on to the national level of competition taking place in Calgary on May 11th. “TD has been instrumental in lea-ding this national initiative and we thank them for their continued sup-port”, explains ACE President, Amy Harder. “I would also like to thank ACOA for their support in Atlantic Canada; with their assistance we con-tinue to provide a platform for young people to explore entrepreneurship as a viable career option.”

About ACEFounded in the mid-1980s, Advan-cing Canadian Entrepreneurship

(ACE) is a national, charitable or-ganization that is teaching and ig-niting young Canadians to create brighter futures for themselves and their communities. ACE delivers a team-based program called Students In Free Enterprise (SIFE) and an in-dividual-based program, the Student Entrepreneur National Competition. These programs provide university and college students access to real world experience, through the imple-mentation of outreach projects and business ventures that complement in-class studies. Students involved in ACE make a meaningful contribu-tion to their communities today, and discover their potential to achieve an even greater impact as the leaders of tomorrow. Last year, ACE students created 600 jobs, logged 260,000 volunteer hours, impacted 63,000 people, and generated over $40 mil-lion in economic activity. ACE is currently established on over 50 post-secondary campuses across Canada.

Jaime SzegvaryCommunications Consultant, [email protected]

Nick TingleySIFE SMU [email protected]

Saint Mary’s Team Named Regional Champion

Jaime Szegvary & Nick TingleySIFE Society

March Break Camps: Successful, If Strange, Business Proposals

As March Break approaches, parents search for something to occupy their little ones. The market for day camps during March Break is as varied as student interest, and Halifax holds a variety of camps. The staples, like sports can be found at various places across the city, such as the SportsPlex and Cole Harbour place, but in additi-on there are many nichxes to cater to a dynamic population. However, even students without child-ren can take something from them. These are examples of viable ventures that tap into real needs. Here at SMU, where a good business pro-posal can turn into a $500 scholarship, taking a look at new ideas can jog the imagi-nation. While parents know it is likely far too late to register for this year, here are some less-than-typical itineraries to highlight local businesses, as well as to display the change from when we were twelve.

Atlantic Cirque Running away to join the circus, are you? Children learn to use stilts, make human pyramids, and use the trampoline, among other things. It’s hardly surprising that Atlantic Cirque would offer this, seeing as how they are a school for circus arts.

Artech Camps You play video games, so why don’t you spend the week MAKING a video game? A week-long class on creating your own Report Program Generator (RPG) is available, you

could pick up Flash animation, or go back to the basics and do some stop motion. Artech incorporates the logic building and mathematical practice into their lessons.

Pier 21: Global Warming For the parent not afraid to tell their children the inconvenient truths in life, Pier 21 is offering an educati-onal foray into the effects of climate change. Through crafts and activities, students explore the changes facing the planet.

Adam Faber [email protected]

Was Canada’s 2010 budget a good one?Todd HirschTroy Media Corporation

Federal Finance Minister Jim Fla-herty’s 2010 budget, released yester-day, announced the largest deficit on record ($53.8 billion) for this fiscal year, with five more years of deficit spending to come – and that’s only if everything in the economy rebounds as the government hopes. Yet, despite this really gloomy news, investors yawned, the Cana-dian dollar edged a bit closer to pa-rity with the US greenback, and no one, other than the opposition leaders (who are required to be outraged by any government budget) seemed too upset. On balance, reaction was actu-ally quite good. How can this be? Was it in fact a “good” budget? Budgets are political documents, not economic ones. The budget is a chance for the government of the day to set out its course for managing taxes and spending over the coming years. They present it to the electo-rate, put their spin on how great it is, and hope that the opposition parties will swallow it (especially in a mino-rity government like we have now). In this respect, as a political document, the budget was perfectly acceptable.Market reaction muted While no one is pleased with the $53 billion deficit we are currently facing, the number surprised no one, and that is probably why market re-action was so muted. These days, governments are much more forthco-ming about budget information prior to their release than they were in pre-vious eras. In the weeks and months leading up to the March 4th budget, the federal government has gradually released “trial balloons” to the mar-kets to gauge reaction. So by the time the budget is released, nothing comes as a surprise. That is probably for the best. But markets also had no (or per-haps slightly favourable) reaction to the budget because Canada remains the global example of fiscal manage-ment. The $53 billion deficit isn’t great, but it amounts to only 3.5 per cent of our national GDP. Our debt-to-GDP ratio – which is really the best and most appropriate way to gauge if the debt is sustainable – is expected to peak at 35.4 percent in the coming year, and fall to 31.9 per cent by 2014 – ‘15. That is only slightly more than the low of 28 per-cent or so that it touched in 2008. And it’s far lower than Canada’s debt-to-GDP ratio of 70 percent in the early 1990s. Comparisons to international neighbours are even more telling. The US deficit, this year alone, is expec-ted to be close to 11 percent of that country’s GDP, and the total debt-to-GDP ratio will be cresting close to 100 per cent within a few years. Ditto the United Kingdom. Greece’s ratio is already 120 per cent, and Japan’s is close to 200 per cent. Even with the $53 billion deficit this year, Canada remains well below the average ratio of debt-to-GDP among the G8 nati-ons.

Fulfilling its commitments The budget was also commenda-ble in that it fulfills the commitments made last year around stimulus spen-ding – and also made it clear when that spending would end. Another $19 billion will be shelled out in in-frastructure spending, jobs training, and support to industries in Year 2 of what the government calls “Canada’s Economic Action Plan.” Reasonable people could argue whether there was merits in such stimulus spending in

the first place, but the fact is the go-vernment announced it last year, com-mitted to it, and is following through exactly as planned. No surprises here, and that is good. The budget also outlined $2.5 billi-on in cuts to the military (which pro-bably would have happened anyway given the 2011 timeline to exit Af-ghanistan), as well as salary freezes to MPs and federal public employees (always a politically popular move). Other than this, though, we are left wondering where more cuts may come from over the next five years if economic growth and rising revenues alone do not erase the deficit. Overall, to ask if it was a “good” budget is perhaps the wrong way to phrase it. No one likes a $53 billion deficit and five more years of red ink – least of all Prime Minister Stephen Harper. But given the fragile econo-my and the reality of how Canadians have come to depend on government services, it was acceptable.

And HEY . . . at least we’re not Greece, or the US, or the UK, or Ja-pan . . .

The Journal .March 10, 2010SPORTS12

www.smujournal.ca

Jason MacDonaldSports Editor

CIS Women’s Volley-ball Nationals: T-Birds Sweep Huskies to Open Quarter-Final Round

The number-one ranked, and undefea-ted UBC Thunderbirds tipped off the 2010 women’s volleyball nationals this afternoon in style, easily hand-ling the number-eight ranked Saint Mary’s Huskies to earn a straight-sets victory (25–17, 25–17, 25–13). For the two-time defending natio-nal champion T-Birds, the key was to come out aggressive, as they looked to kick off their title defence on the right foot. While the Huskies natio-nals dream ended almost before they had started, the AUS champions put up a fight, forcing UBC to execute throughout the match. “I think in some ways it was good for us to think ‘Hey, this is close,’ maybe except for the third set, so we couldn’t take things for granted and we had to keep playing,” UBC head coach Doug Reimer explained. “They served pretty tough, so that

the same things that we will see to-morrow, they were bringing as well, so that’s positive for us. The ‘W’ is most important, but setting the tone for the play, having to work hard was beneficial I think.” While the T-Birds did pick up the win, they still allowed Saint Mary’s to generate points off than a less-than-stellar power game, something the T-Birds will have to polish up if they hope to become the first team to win three straight nationals since the 1999/00 season when Alberta captu-red their sixth consecutive title.“In the first two sets, they got 17 points, but in the match they only had 23 kills. In the first set, they had 17 points on seven kills ― that’s too many given the offence, so that’s the part that I think we need to be better at,” Reimer said. With the win, UBC now moves on to the championship semifinals, where they’ll face either the winner of the second quarter-final between Laval and Regina. Saint Mary’s, me-anwhile, will play the loser of the La-val/Regina match in the consolation semis.

Evan DaumSportsEditorUniversity of Alberta Gateway

CIS Women’s Volley-ball Nationals: Saint Mary’s Easily Eliminated by Cougars in Consolation Semi

Something had to give this afternoon as the number-eight ranked Saint Mary’s Huskies and number-four ranked Regina Cougars met up in the first consolation semifinal of the day at women’s volleyball nationals, both looking for their first win of the tour-nament. In another straight-set game, the Cougars earned the convincing three-set win (25–18, 25–15, 25–9), securing their first national tourna-ment win since 1990. Both squads came into the game after suffering convincing straight-set losses a day earlier in their res-pective quarter-final match-ups, with the young Cougars getting the better of the AUS Champions from Saint Mary’s. “Being here means a lot to the team. I think they probably put a lit-tle too much pressure on themselves yesterday, so we aren’t good when we’re in that space ― nobody is re-ally,” Regina head coach Melanie Sanford explained. “It meant a lot for us to come back today, and make sure that we played well and did the things that we know, and I think that’s the best response that we could have in this situation, so I’m very proud of the team.” Regina overwhelmed Saint Mary’s with a strong kill game that the Hus-kies simply couldn’t counter with any power of their own, mustering only 15 kills over the three sets. Leading the way for the Queen City

Six was Second Team All-Canadian Beth Clark who had 17 kills. Another strong performance for Regina came from Meagan Onstad, who had 14 kills to go along with six digs. “She had 14 kills and did a better job today for sure than yesterday, and I think that was important to her to make sure her performance got back up there,” Sanford said of Onstad. For Saint Mary’s, their national tournament is now over after only six sets of volleyball, while the Cougars move onto tomorrow’s fifth-place match where they’ll face the winner of the Toronto/Laval match that’s cur-rently underway at the Main Gym.

Evan DaumSportsEditorUniversity of Alberta Gateway

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