MANITOBANTHE OFFICIAL UNIVERSITY OF MANITOBA STUDENTS’ NEWSPAPER

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What's tech got to do with it?Love in the age of technology

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Don't just stop the cutsMore at stake than money in budget cuts debate

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Index VOL. 101 NO. 51February 11, 20152

A “volunteer staff” member is defined as a person who has had three volunteer articles, photographs, or pieces of art of reasonable length and/or substance published in three different issues of the current publishing year of the Manitoban. Any individual who qualifies must be voted in by a majority vote at a Manitoban staff meeting. Elected representatives and non-students may be excluded from holding votes as volunteer staff members in accordance with the Manitoban Consti-tution.The Manitoban is the official student newspaper of the University of Manitoba. It is published monthly during the summer and each week of regular classes during the academic year by the Manitoban Newspa-per Publications Corporation.The Manitoban is an independent and democratic student organiza-tion, open to participation from all students. It exists to serve its readers as students and citizens.The newspaper’s primary mandate is to report fairly and objectively on issues and events of importance and interest to the students of the University of Manitoba, to provide an open forum for the free expres-sion and exchange of opinions and ideas, and to stimulate meaningful debate on issues that affect or would otherwise be of interest to the student body and/or society in general. The Manitoban serves as a training ground for students interested in any aspect of journalism.Students and other interested parties are invited to contribute to any section of the newspaper. Please contact the appropriate editor for sub-mission guidelines. The Manitoban reserves the right to edit all submis-sions and will not publish any material deemed by its editorial board to be discriminatory, racist, sexist, homophobic or libellous. Opinions ex-pressed in letters and articles are solely those of the authors. Editorials in the Manitoban are signed and represent the opinions of the writer(s), not necessarily those of the Manitoban staff, Editorial Board, or the publisher.All contents are ©2015 and may not be reprinted without the express written permission of the Editor-in-Chief.Yearly subscriptions to the Manitoban are available for $40.

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The future of Bison Football Manitoba recruits six for 2015 season

Clara Hughes Addressing the stigma of mental illness

Hey pricks! Anti-vaxxers deserve a needling

Coffee communityMAKE creates a crossroads of design and coffee culture

In the Feb. 4 issue of the Manitoban, in the article

“Centre for Oil and Gas Research geared with government grants,” the sentence “Park said that universities frequently partner with industry for research and development but that this practice contradicts Green Party principles,” should read:

“Park said that universities frequently partner with industry for research and development but he questioned whether the public should have to bear the financial burden of research for the oil and gas industry.”

SportS

NewS

ScieNceArtS & culture

correctioN

3 NewsSenior News Editor: Dana HatherlyNews Editor: Ethan CabelContact: news@themanitoban.com / 474.6770

Active Living Centre still active construction siteOpening date for new gym a ‘moving target,’ says facilities director

Ethan CabEl, staff

University of Manitoba students will have to wait even longer to

access the new Active Living Centre gym, which remains under construc-tion and may not open until next month.

“We are still targeting opening the Active Living Centre this month, but that date is a moving target currently and we’re still working toward final-izing that date but it will be very soon,” said Simon Wang, facilities director for the faculty of kinesiology and rec-reation management at the U of M.

Wang told the Manitoban that there have been “a number of fac-tors” related to construction that have contributed to pushing the opening date back further.

Wang added that, when the gym does eventually open, only the 300 and 400 levels of the four-storey com-plex will be accessible to students and the public. The rest of the building will remain an “active construction site,” according to Wang.

The 300 level of the Active Living Centre comprises the general group workout areas and the 400 level houses the elevated running track.

“Those are the areas that are most important for student use,” Wang said.

“Everyone is working very dili-gently to open this month, recog-nizing that students obviously have paid the fee, but also recognizing that students currently have access to all the facilities and we hope to add the Active Living Centre to that very shortly.”

The Active Living Centre is a $46 million project, paid for through a combination of government grants and university funding. The cost of the gym will be covered in part with a fee collected every term from U of M students.

Full-time students have been charged $56.25 and part-time stu-dents have been charged $42.20 for this winter term. In subsequent years, full-time students will have to pay $75 while part-time students will pay $56.25 per term. The fee in part pays for the Active Living Centre, but also gives students access to all campus gym facilities as well as Bison Sports games.

The fee for the 2015 winter term was prorated in order to account for the Active Living Centre’s February opening date. According to UMSU president Al Turnbull, the students’ union pressured the university’s administration for a prorated fee leading up the 2015 winter term.

However, they will not be fighting for any additional proration to the fee so long as the Active Living Centre

opens at some point in February. “We will survey the situation based

on the length of time [of a delay] and our efforts to advocate for students to get some kind of prorate rate done on the fee will really be dependent on how long this is going to be delayed,” Turnbull said.

“We really do need to look at the benefits that this thing is going to bring us [ . . . ] we shouldn’t be so quick to condemn.”

Laura Rempel, president of the University of Manitoba Graduate Students’ Association (UMGSA), also expressed concerns about delays in the opening.

“There are often delays in construc-tion processes, but it would be great if the Active Living Centre would be open as soon as possible so that students would be able to access the

services that they’re paying for,” she said.

Last month, Rempel expressed concerns about the process surround-ing the approval of the fee, which did not go to a referendum to U of M students. Instead, the University of Manitoba Board of Governors approved it in 2011, with student input coming from UMSU and UMGSA representation on the board.

Late last year, UMGSA Council voted against a motion to write a let-ter of support for a prorated winter fee to pay for the Active Living Centre.

Once it is officially open, the Active Living Centre will replace the “Gritty Grotto” gym in the Frank Kennedy Centre. The Grotto will be open at its regular hours up until that time.

“We are still targeting opening the Active Living Centre this month, but that date is a moving target currently and we’re still working toward finalizing that date but it will be very soon” − Simon Wang, facilities director for the faculty of kinesiology and recreation management

photo by Carolyne KroeKer

News Senior News Editor: Dana Hatherly News Editor: Ethan CabelContact: news@themanitoban.com / 474.67704

Two executive slates confirmed for UMSU General ElectionFourteen students currently seeking nomination for various UMSU positions

Emily ZaryChta, staff

Fourteen students have con-firmed that they are seeking

nomination as candidates for UMSU executive and community represen-tative positions for the 2015 UMSU General Election.

The nomination period for the 2015 UMSU General Election opened Feb. 2 at 9 a.m. and closes Feb. 13 at 5 p.m.

The students that are seeking nomination for the UMSU General Election have been around campus collecting signatures. One hundred signatures collected from U of M students are needed for nomination for the executive positions, and 15 student signatures for the commu-nity representative positions.

The current list of students seek-ing nomination is not final and is subject to change.

The candidate list will only be finalized after the nomination period has closed and the candidates have attended the All Candidates Meeting on Feb. 13. As a result, it is possible that students could join the race at the last minute, or that students could drop out.

However, the Manitoban has been able to confirm two different slates are currently seeking nomination for the executive candidate positions.

One slate includes current UMSU vice-president internal Jeremiah Kopp for president, current UMSU vice-president advocacy Rebecca Kunzman running for re-election in the same position, Jessica Morrison for vice-president student services,

Christopher Bélanger for vice-pres-ident internal, and Astitwa Thapa for vice-president external.

The other slate has Spencer Yasui running for president, Jesse Greenberg for vice-president advo-cacy, Bénédicte LeMaître for vice-president student services, Zach Leclerc for vice-president internal, and Reanna Blair for vice-president external.

The Manitoban has been able to identify four students currently seeking nomination for community representative positions.

Will Landon is seeking the nomi-nation for UMSU aboriginal students’ representative; Andrew Fenwick is seeking nomination for students liv-ing with disabilities representative; Charles Kimball is seeking nomina-tion for gay, lesbian, bisexual, trans-gendered, two-spirited* students’ representative; and Fariba Shakibani is seeking nomination for UMSU Women’s representative.

The Manitoban was unable to confirm whether anyone is currently seeking nomination for UMSU inter-national students’ representative.

In order to adhere to UMSU General Election regulations regard-ing pre-election marketing, candi-dates’ biographies will not be released before the nomination period has closed and the list of candidates has been finalized.

All general election campaigning will begin at 9 a.m. on Feb. 23.

The UMSU election campaign com-mences on Monday, Feb. 23. The voting period will be held from Wednesday, March 4 to Friday, March 6 at various locations through-out the University of Manitoba. Visit the official UMSU General Elections website, operated by the Chief Returning Officer, at umsu.ca/elections for more information.

photo by Carolyne KroeKer

NewsVOL. 101 NO. 51February 11, 2015 5

Olympian Clara Hughes speaks at University of ManitobaHughes speaks out about the stigma of mental illness

Emily ZaryChta, staff

Six-time Canadian Olympic med-allist Clara Hughes spoke at the

University of Manitoba last week, detailing her experience as an athlete suffering with mental illness.

The Winnipeg-born Hughes was brought to campus through a joint effort by UMSU and the mental health awareness U of M student group Active Minds, to coincide with the group’s Self-Care Week from Feb. 2-6.

Hughes won medals in both the Summer and Winter Olympic Games for cycling and speed skating, and served as the flag bearer for Canada in the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Games. Hughes is only one of five people to have won medals in both the Summer and Winter Olympics, and is the only person in history to have won multiple medals in both contests. She is a sports broadcaster and philanthropist who was made a member of the Order of Canada in 2007.

Hughes has been active in the organization Right to Play, which is dedicated to educating disadvantaged children and providing a stable envi-ronment to facilitate athleticism. Last year, Hughes took part in a 110-day national bicycle tour through every province and territory as part of the Bell Let’s Talk mental health aware-ness campaign.

Having battled depression throughout her career, Hughes has become an advocate for mental health awareness. In conversation with the Manitoban she spoke about how stu-dents and young people can break the stigma surrounding mental illness.

The ManiToban: What can stu-dents do to help de-stigmatize mental illnesses like depression?

Clara hughes: I think it starts with education and just really under-standing that this is an illness and this affects one in five Canadians. If it’s not you, it’s going to be someone you love; it’s going to be someone in your life. You might as well start to know what it means, what it is, and realizing all the preconceived notions we are taught to have by soci-ety. It is that lack of education and understanding and therefore lack of compassion.

All those things like it’s someone’s fault, or they chose to be that way, or that they just need to get over it and feel better, or they should just think about puppies, all those things are bullshit. I think that once people are educated and understand the reality of these statistics, we would have a more compassionate society. So, edu-cate yourself on what’s out there to help, and what is not there, and then start demanding change, because there is not enough out there.

M: The Bell Let’s Talk campaign that you are involved with states that: talking is the first step to breaking the stigma. What do you think the second step is?

hughes: The second step is listening. For the person who is struggling, it is so hard to understand it yourself; I know [because I] went through this. I could not articulate what was going on for me, even when some-one spelled it out for me. So if some-

body finally does talk, realize that you could be in the role of listening because those two things go hand in hand. I honestly think we are at a point right now, with a shift in per-ception of mental illness, that now the next step is people need to start looking at what resources are avail-able and what access to care there is. Start listening to the stories of people who have been on waiting lists for a year, for sometimes 15 months. Lack of funding for youth mental health is a major issue.

There are really good programs, but the people who are working in the field are overworked, underfunded, understaffed, and usually burnt out. Great people doing great work to save lives burn out, because of that lack of funding. I honestly think there just needs to become this climate of realizing we are not doing enough as a society. We need to demand this change in our government, policies, and funding to shift more health care dollars to mental health, because right now, it’s not good enough.

M: How can students actively lobby for more mental health care?

hughes: Writing letters, calling in, organizing groups, like just really activating yourself. If you’re a uni-versity student, there are advocacy groups, youth programs, community programs, but I think more than any-thing, educating the people around you. Saying, did you know this, did you know that? Letting people know what you’ve learnt. I think the more

people who are saying that this is not good enough, the louder the roar. Eventually it’s going to be a platform point for provincial and federal elec-tions. We are far from that, but how do we get there? We need to not just talk, but to yell and scream. I mean, I had 160 elected officials sign our pledge for a stigma-free map on my Big Ride across Canada; the last signee was our Prime Minister Stephen Harper. OK, that’s nice, that looks really good, but now we need to act.

M: What advice would you give to a student who is suffering from mental illness?

hughes: Don’t try to do it alone. Don’t try to study through it because you can’t study your way out of this. Don’t try to drop classes and think it’s going to get better. I quit sport think-ing I was going to get better, because I thought that it was the sport doing it to me. You need help. You’re sick. It’s OK. If you can’t get help from your family or feel you don’t have anyone to talk to, that’s OK too. Because there are professionals out there who have the skills and know what to say and do, and know where to steer you. That’s been my experience and that’s been the lived experience of so many people, but so many people continue to suffer in silence. The reality is that two out of three people don’t get help.

M: You are involved in an organi-zation called Right to Play. Do you think that play should be considered a human right?

hughes: Absolutely, it is a basic human right. It is the right, not just for kids, for all of us. I have been all over the world with the program – to Africa, to the Middle East. I just recently did a mentorship training program with First Nations com-munities from northern Ontario. It is fundamentally important for the development of a human being to have opportunity and outlet to play. It goes back to mindfulness and joy. It breaks down barriers and it brings us together. It’s inclusiveness and it’s education. You can use these tools to really affect children in such a posi-tive way, and I’ve seen it with thou-sands of kids.

M: Given what you’ve spoken about today, how did it feel winning your first Olympic medal compared to winning your last Olympic medal?

hughes: Winning my first Olympic medal, I went in with the expectation that it was going to give me a sense of self, and that I would finally feel good about myself; and it didn’t. As incredible as it was, I had set myself up for such a letdown. [With] my last Olympic medal I knew who I was, and it was a form of self-expression. It was an outlet and it was a connect-edness, and it was a moment of bliss and rapture. So it was night and day; darkness and light. But each of them makes me who I am.

“All the preconceived notions we are taught to have by society [ . . . ] All those things like it’s someone’s fault, or they chose to be that way, or that they just need to get over it and feel better, or they should just think about puppies, all those things are bullshit” – Clara Hughes, Olympic athlete

photo by emily ZaryChta

News Senior News Editor: Dana Hatherly News Editor: Ethan CabelContact: news@themanitoban.com / 474.67706

Manitoba invests in higher learning in high schoolProvince aims to improve students’ performance after negative performance report

Dana hathErly, staff

The provincial government announced on Jan. 29 that it will

increase public school funding by $25 million on the heels of a report ranking Manitoba students last in the country for mathematics, science, and literacy.

“Strong investment will support academic achievement in math and literacy, skills training, and career development opportunities,” said Peter Bjornson, Manitoba’s minister of education and advanced learning, in a statement last week.

Bjornson noted that the provin-cial government seeks to give more students access to post-secondary credits in high school, and ensure greater accountability by collaborat-ing with school divisions to improve their tracking on student progress in essential skills.

Late last year, the results of the Pan-Canadian Assessment Program (PCAP) by the national Council of Ministers of Education showed underperformance among 14 per cent of Manitoba students, exhibiting the lowest results on the national scale in three measured disciplines. In reac-tion to the results of the national assessment, the province commit-ted to improving teacher education, school preparedness, and test-taking under the direction of the education minister at the time, James Allum.

However, Paul Olson, president of the Manitoba Teachers’ Society union, told the media in October that the worst teachers across the nation have not gathered in Manitoba, and that the province does not have an abundance of “dumb kids.” Olson argues that the results of the study reflect broader socioeconomic chal-lenges facing the province.

The larger issueOlson spoke with the Manitoban

about the province’s initiatives since the PCAP report was released in October.

He addressed some socioeconomic challenges unique to Manitoba, arguing that the province faces vast remote areas, food and water inse-curity, and lack of access to natural resources, in addition to overarch-ing inequity among school divisions across the province.

Olson remains critical of the PCAP report, pointing out that the scale of inter-provincial comparisons was problematic and that the sample may not have been representative of the very different situations faced by the provinces.

“The variations among provinces are so small that the only way to show any difference is to use a scale on that graph that is, frankly, laughable,” he said.

Furthermore, Olson said that the results did not show intra-provincial variation, failing to provide a critical examination of students’ performance across divisions.

“So, yes, Manitoba is performing last in terms of the data as reported.”

Olson added that other provin-cial departments—namely, family services and health—should be con-fronting the root causes of Manitoba students’ performance, doing so more directly and tangibly than the educa-tion system.

“Look, we don’t need money; we need to go after the socioeconomic determinants of learning rather than thinking the school system can answer it,” Olson said.

To address the remaining issues, the education system requires improved pathways, information, and supports to be offered to students, he said.

Olson conceded that kindergarten to grade 12 teachers are accustomed to accommodation and changing meth-odologies so that students have the

best chance of educational success.“What is happening is students,

who, 20 years ago, wouldn’t have dreamed of going to university are now making it to university, and that is a good thing, that is a democratiz-ing thing, and that is an equity thing,” he said.

Furthermore, Olson suggested that there is an influx of students entering university with different styles of learning. At the post-sec-ondary level, he said these types of challenges are being met with vari-able teaching methods in order to better meet students’ learning needs, in addition to improved flexibility and transferability of coursework.

Dual-credit systemsThe government’s recent invest-

ment amounts to $1.27 billion. According to the province’s press

release on Jan. 29, targeted funding allocations include: $13.1 million to improve outcomes in math and literacy and provide enriched pro-gramming; $9.8 million to support culturally relevant programming for indigenous students and to support indigenous student achievement in math and literacy; and a 50 per cent increase to a 2014 skills equip-ment fund to further support school divisions to upgrade or acquire new skills training equipment and pro-mote accreditation of apprenticeship programs, as well as $2 million for a career development fund to help students connect with employers and career exploration opportunities.

Plans include the First-Year Now initiative, giving more students the opportunity to take university or college-level courses in high school, earning dual credits that count towards their degree program.

Modelled after the Seven Oaks School Division, the dual credit sys-tem refers to coursework completed in the secondary school setting, which counts as the equivalent of both high school credit and university or college credit, giving students the opportu-nity to plan for and commence higher learning in high school.

Some Manitoba high schools presently provide dual credit courses since the pilot program was initiated by the Seven Oaks School Division, including Garden City Collegiate and Vincent Massey Collegiate.

Dual credit programs have been delivered by Seven Oaks School Division in partnership with the University of Winnipeg and Université de Saint-Boniface. A new partnership with the division has been offered through Red River College.

Leaders from post-secondary institutions from across the prov-ince have shown support for the dual credit initiative, including University of Manitoba president David Barnard.

“Offering students the opportunity to take university courses while in high school not only gives them a head start on their university stud-ies, but also exposes them early on to expectations at the post-secondary

level,” Barnard said in a statement.“When these students arrive here,

they will be prepared to make the most of the opportunity. We look for-ward to working with the province of Manitoba to make this program suc-cessful for students across Manitoba.”

Bjornson said it is important to have strong primary education, from kindergarten to grade 12, using high school as the launch pad towards post-secondary education.

Questions for the ministerBjornson recently addressed the

state of post-secondary education in front of an audience at the University of Winnipeg. The address was fol-lowed by a question and answer period featuring some students’ spe-cific queries about the parameters of the dual credit system.

Students questioned the minister about the program’s applicability and accessibility; whether plans would be targeted and succeed in making post-secondary education more attainable for more youth.

One U of W student asked if there were any ideas for the government to expand dual credit courses to high schools with higher aboriginal populations or any other sustainable solutions to boost aboriginal enrol-ment. The former Vincent Massey Collegiate student mentioned that the school had implemented a similar credit system with some success.

“We have seen tremendous success with these programs,” Bjornson said in response to the question.

Bjornson argued that, with stu-dents having a reduced number of courses required to fulfil post-second-ary education after high school, they will have more money and flexibility in their schedules to work and address

family needs.“We do hope to continue along that

path to extend those dual credits and ensure that all students have access to those programs, including our First Nations,” Bjornson said.

Jonathan Northam, a U of W political science student, asked about what skills are needed to suc-ceed in university and if there was any thought about implementing these programs in rural communities, or synchronizing courses to meet other academic criteria, such as for English or writing requirements, or “to teach students things like how to write a paper and how to do research or cite sources.”

Bjornson responded that he feels that Manitoba high schools are pre-paring students for university life.

“I don’t believe that our high schools aren’t preparing our students for university; and that our univer-sities and colleges aren’t preparing our students for the labour market,” he said.

Bjornson added that the advanced education advisory committee is looking at how to further ease the transition from high school to post-secondary education, with mentor-ship programs and remedial courses offered by post-secondary institutions for those students who continue to face difficulties.

In an interview with the Manitoban, Olson stressed that both secondary and post-secondary leaders consistently need to be active partici-pants at the various discussion tables to overcome some of the barriers to a smooth transition and larger issues faced by the public school system.

“Look, we don’t need money; we need to go after the socioeconomic determinants of learning rather than thinking the school system can answer it” – Paul Olson, Manitoba Teachers’ Society president

photo by Dana hatherly

Manitoban Art CompetitionSubmit your graphics and photos to me@themanitoban.com by March 16 to be featured in the Manitoban Art Competition, scheduled for the March 25 issue.The Manitoban design team will judge the competition and award prizes based on three criteria: concept, originality, and technical skill.

Submit files as 300 dpi jpegs. Images must be a minimum of 3000 x 3000 pixels.

Manitoban Art Competition

Prizes to be announced. Sponsored by Cre8ive Supplies & Services

8EditorialEditor-In-Chief: Fraser NelundContact: Editor@themanitoban.com / 474.6770

The education shell gameMore at stake than money in budget cuts debate

tom ingram, staff

The University of Manitoba is preparing for annual budget

cuts of three to four per cent over the next two academic years. While the administration claims that these cuts are necessary due to financial constraints on the university, such as unpredictable government funding and a cap on tuition hikes, a broad coalition of on-campus unions and student organizations have ques-tioned this necessity.

“Our contention has always been that based on the evidence that we have available, the university’s finan-cial problems could be addressed by changing the way it allocates the money that it does have,” said Thomas Kucera, president of the University of Manitoba Faculty Association.

“Every year, the university makes significant transfers from the operat-ing budget to the capital budget, and we feel that at the moment that’s the source of any immediate problems the university may have,” Kucera said. “Simply put, they’re making the wrong decisions about how they allocate money.”

This echoes the opinion of many others involved in the Stop the Cuts coalition. Mitchell van Ineveld, deputy chairperson of the Canadian Federation of Students-Manitoba, criticized the administration’s focus on capital projects such as new build-ings at the expense of core academics.

Jennifer Black, vice president for Unit 1 of CUPE local 3909, which represents student academic workers, said much the same thing.

If the U of M administration announced tomorrow that they had seen the light and there would be no

budget cuts, but the university other-wise stayed exactly the same, it would not be a win for anyone concerned about education or the economic position of young people today.

We would still be taking dumbed-down classes from apathetic and busy professors. We’d still have a for-profit international college operating on campus. We would still be going out into the world with fearsome debt and limited employment prospects.

The Stop the Cuts protesters are keenly aware that more is at stake here than money. This is fundamen-tally a matter of how higher educa-tion is defined, and by whom. As class sizes climb and teaching staff become more overworked, the uni-versity becomes less about teaching and learning and more about pushing cattle through the abattoir.

Mechanical educationScantron tests, iClickers, atten-

dance policies, video courses, GPA boosters – these are all methods the higher education system uses to process students in volume without addressing them as individuals. And when you don’t address students as individuals, you cannot effect mean-ingful change in their character or habits of thought.

Less able students will come out of their education with the illusion of knowledge, an official document cer-tifying their knowledge in a certain field, and none of the fundamental change they need.

Meanwhile, smart students will come out no smarter than before, or develop their knowledge on their own time while coasting through a mean-ingless but expensive degree. Thank God for libraries, or nobody would learn anything on our campuses.

These watered-down educational methods may indeed be necessary to handle students in the large quantities that modern universities have to be prepared for. The alterna-tive would be to hire an unreason-able number of faculty members

– faculty salaries are a major finan-cial constraint on the university. But that is precisely the problem: uni-versities should never have grown to be as big as they presently are. We don’t need nearly as many BAs and BSs as we produce, and certainly not as many MAs or PhDs. It is here that I must take issue with the protesters’ invocation of a right to education.

a right, not a privilege?The idea of a right to primary and

secondary education may have some substance – though we should keep in

mind that this is a historically unique feature of our civilization; it was not always thus and may not always be thus. However, I don’t see how you can possibly make a case for an intrin-sic right to post-secondary education.

Public school serves as an artifi-cial floor on how ignorant we allow people to be. This accounts for the mediocre quality of public school education: its purpose is to ensure that certain things are learned by everyone, even and perhaps especially those who have difficulty learning or are disinclined to do so.

Post-secondary education goes beyond this, or ought to. It is not compulsory, and most post-secondary students are adults who are at least nominally intelligent and autono-mous. In theory, then, it should be concerned with helping students to learn something, rather than merely preventing them from failing to learn it.

Primary and some secondary edu-cation is coerced. Students who pur-sue post-secondary education, though, do so by choice, presumably because they hope to get something from it. This something need not be money—many people take their degrees out of love for the pursuit of knowledge, or a penchant for bacchanalia—but the point is that post-secondary educa-tion is an investment, which means it should involve a cost-benefit analysis.

Is bacchanalia worth four years of your life and tens of thousands of dollars of your post-tax income? Knowledge is lovely, but if the knowl-edge is not going to give you any eco-nomic reward, isn’t it cheaper to get a library card?

When you’re faced with the pos-sibility of crushing debt at no real benefit to your employability, it may be time to consider the virtues of autodidacticism.

A widespread diseaseThe budget cuts that are slated for

the next two years are indeed alarm-ing. The whisperings I have heard about possible changes in my faculty are ominous. We should do every-thing we can to prevent these cuts from taking place, or to minimize the damage to the quality of education at the University of Manitoba in the event that the cuts do happen.

But the cuts are only one symptom of a widespread and much-progressed disease in higher education. Slowly but surely, the signifier is replacing the signified. Degrees are becoming the sole object of going to university, while learning is becoming an incon-venient obstacle to be expedited and circumvented as much as possible.

This is the system that is in need of reform, and I don’t know if it can be saved. What we have now is very nearly a gigantic scam, and if things continue on their present course it will one day be necessary for intel-ligent people to stop going to univer-sity. It may, in the long run, even be necessary for the system to die and be replaced by something better.

In the meantime, we all have to make do as best we can. So by all means stop the cuts. Just don’t stop there.

As class sizes climb and teaching staff become more overworked, the university becomes less about teaching and learning and more about pushing cattle through the abattoir

photo by Carolyne KroeKer

9 CommentComment Editor: Tom IngramContact: comment@themanitoban.com / 474.6529

On Jan. 6, the Manitoban reported that the UMSU

executive is withholding $640,000 in fees owed to the Canadian Federation of Students (CFS), the national student union of which UMSU is a local.

One of the major items at issue had to do with claims of inappro-priate CFS control over the UMSU website. Early reports of this dis-pute were somewhat unhelpful in their technical vagueness. There are many parts of what we collo-quially call a website, and it is not clear what it means when you say, as UMSU president Al Turnbull did, that “UMSU should own umsu.ca.”

When you visit a website, your browser downloads files from a remote server and renders them in a graphical form that is easy for a human to understand. Because running a server can be a fairly demanding task, most websites are on servers administered by web hosting companies rather than the actual owners of the site.

Another aspect of a website is the domain name. The real address of the server you wish to download files from is a complicated and not very memorable string of numbers. And there may for technical reasons be more than one server or other complicated back-end arrange-ments that the user doesn’t need to know about.

For this reason, we assign web-sites a human-readable, memorable name called a domain name. The domain name for UMSU’s web-site is umsu.ca. Although domain names have a fairly simple function, the connection between domains and branding makes certain domains extremely valuable, and domain ownership disputes are common.

CFS-Services (CFS-S), a branch of CFS, includes domain registration and web hosting

among the services it offers. The University of Manitoba Students’ Union’s website is currently hosted by CFS-S, though according to CFS spokesperson Anna Dubinski, CFS-S does not otherwise have any control over the website – they could not add, modify, or delete pages, for example.

The only website-related matter that is in dispute is the ownership of the domain name. On this, UMSU and CFS at least agree on all the relevant facts, which is fortunate because these are a matter of public record. The domain name is reg-istered to UMSU. However, the technical and administrative con-tacts are both given as Ben Lewis of CFS.

This gives CFS a fair amount of control over the domain. In theory, they could set up their own site on a different server and redirect umsu.ca there. Or they could allow the registration to lapse, or even sell the domain to another organization.

Dubinski stressed that CFS would never do any of these things without proper authorization. But this does not preclude CFS keep-ing things in their current state—which is suboptimal but workable for UMSU—and essentially hold-ing the domain hostage as leverage in other disputes, while preventing UMSU from seeking out other ser-vice providers and further weak-ening the bond between the two organizations.

Which is, according to a state-ment from Turnbull, exactly what CFS is doing.

Incidentally, this is not the first time that CFS has been involved in inter-organizational domain name disputes. In 2007, the Varsity (the University of Toronto student newspaper) reported that CFS had owned casa-acae.ca, a domain cor-responding to the bilingual acro-nym of CFS’s rival the Canadian

Alliance of Student Associations (CASA), which has been criticized for being insufficiently bilingual.

According to the Varsity, CFS transferred ownership of the domain to Pablo Vivanco, a former CFS-Ontario executive member, in order to set up the website for an organization called the Central American Students Association, whose English-Spanish acronym was also ACAE.

Currently CASA’s website is accessible from casa-acae.com, while casa-acae.ca is inactive. A WHOIS search does not reveal the present owner of this domain.

Knowing this history, and knowing UMSU’s ambivalent rela-tionship with CFS in recent years, it’s not surprising that UMSU began looking for a new web ser-vices provider.

“In 2013, UMSU determined to explore alternative web-based ser-vice providers and requested the return of administrative control of its domain from CFS-S,” Turnbull said in his statement. “CFS-S then demanded the settling of other dis-putes with UMSU before acting to return full administrative control of the domain.”

It is possible to file a com-plaint with the Canadian Internet Registration Authority, which UMSU would likely win. In a state-ment, Turnbull said, “Although UMSU would prefer that admin-istrative control of its domain is simply transferred to its rightful owner, UMSU is prepared to pur-sue any and all available avenues to regain control of this critical asset.”

The domain name may not seem like the most pressing matter on UMSU’s plate at the moment. And, of course, there are other issues in dispute between CFS and UMSU. But I think this is a matter of at least symbolic importance. It has major implications for the status and independence of members of a federal organization like CFS.

The current state of affairs, where UMSU owns their domain in name only and lacks the abil-ity to do anything with it, would only be appropriate if our union were simply the local CFS office. However, this is neither organiza-tionally nor historically true. The Canadian Federation of Students having control over the domain is a symbolic indignity that has a very real political effect for University of Manitoba students.

It doesn’t matter whether the current state of affairs is the result of malice or bureaucratic inertia. It doesn’t matter whether you agree with the UMSU executive’s poli-cies in general. In this case, they’re right. The Canadian Federation of Students has a duty to hand the domain over.

Masters of their domainExplaining UMSU’s website troubles

tom ingram, staff

The left wing’s science blind spotA pro-science agenda must include support for GMOs

alEx PassEy, volunteer staff

Many people on the left con-sider themselves to be the sci-

ence-friendly side of politics and for the most part, I would say they are correct. It is generally right-wingers who advocate anti-secular public policies like teaching creationism alongside evolution in schools as if they are equally valid explanations of the our world’s biological origins and development.

People on the left are more likely to trust in a doctor’s knowl-edge of medical science and sup-port mandatory vaccination of children. And when it comes to climate change, there is a much broader acknowledgement on the left than there is on the right that not only is our climate changing, but that humans are at least par-tially culpable for the phenomenon. But as much as liberals love to pat themselves on the back for their rational and scientific world view, they are not without their blind spots. I would argue that the most glaring example of this is that there is a large contingent on the left which vehemently opposes the practice of genetic modifica-tion in agriculture, more commonly known as the use of or genetically modified organisms (GMOs), in our food.

The anti-GMO movement has been compared to climate change denialism for the left, and I think this is an apt comparison. Generally when speaking with someone who identifies as a left-winger on the issue of climate change, they will agree with the majority scientific consensus that climate change is real and that human activity is a factor.

It stands to reason then that most scientists must have largely agreed on this conclusion despite influence from big oil and gas companies, who would seek to downplay that their products are a cause of climate change for obvious economic reasons.

In the case of climate change, scientists are viewed as noble intel-

lectuals championing scientific rea-son over corporate influence. The majority of scientists approach the pursuit of knowledge objectively, and this would include determining the safety of GMOs.

Yet amongst liberals, this rea-soning often does not hold, though there is a similar scientific consen-sus. There is a wealth of informa-tion, much of it stemming from verifiably independent studies, which suggests that GMOs are not inherently harmful to human or animal consumption, are not inher-ently harmful to the environment, and could potentially have massive benefits to the agricultural indus-try in a world where farming will become more and more difficult as time passes.

However, when it comes to GMOs, many liberals feel that the scientific consensus can’t be trusted. Many will suggest that the majority of scientists are in the pocket of big agriculture corpora-tions, ignoring the fact that even the much-maligned Monsanto is far less lucrative and influential than big oil companies.

This is a dichotomy I personally don’t understand, unless there is some disposition among scientists that I am unaware of which sug-gests those who study agriculture and biology have less integrity than those who study climatology.

I don’t mean to suggest that the anti-GMO movement is strictly a left-wing problem. There is nearly as much distrust of the technology on the right as there is on the left, which shouldn’t be all that surpris-ing given the multitude of other scientific misconceptions on the right. But when it comes to poli-tics, it is absolutely imperative that there be an ideological stronghold for scientific literacy.

I can’t help but feel that perhaps we have become so encumbered with talking points and political branding that there is no ideologi-cal umbrella under which science can truly take shelter.

graphiC by evan tremblay

photo by Carolyne KroeKer

11 FeaturesManaging Editor: Craig AdolpheContact: me@themanitoban.com / 474.6520

Valentine’s Day is fast approach-ing. Every year on Feb. 14 many

couples mark the occasion with romantic displays of affection and gifts; meanwhile, many single people mark the occasion by being depressed they aren’t a part of one of the afore-mentioned couples.

Love is something that impacts everyone’s lives and Valentine’s Day is heavily ingrained in our culture. That being said, it’s probably best not to take the “holiday” too seriously. Like most traditions, it’s riddled with clichés and manufactured emotions. However, it’s those phenomena that are most deserving of a scrutinous eye.

The occasion marks an oppor-tunity to spark a discussion about modern conventions in romantic relationships. We could have looked at love from a number of different angles, but “love in the age of tech-nology” seemed like an approach that hadn’t been tackled very thoroughly by mainstream media, and one that was increasingly relevant to the lives of students.

Love is a complex phenomenon, one that is hard to define—although we will try to do so—and the dynam-ics of it are constantly mediated by the technological capacity of the era we live in. Like light through a prism, it’s a singular phenomenon that can take on a number of appearances.

A comprehensive look at how romantic relationships are influenced

by modern technology would include historical analysis, review of theory related to human interaction with technology, exploring the cultural significance of love and its neuro-biological foundations, and drawing upon a nearly endless supply of case studies.

As usual, our topic could take over this entire issue of the Manitoban if we had the time and space to fully explore it. Unfortunately, our dis-cussion is confined to four pages, in which we will try to draw out the most pertinent ideas.

The feature will include articles that attempt to define love, question the term “age of technology,” and look at some of the specific apps, websites, and other technologies used to find romance, as well as a debate about the impact of new technology on romantic relationships.

I hope that the contributions to this feature can offer you further insight into how technology might impact your own relationships. If you spend time with a significant other over the weekend this might serve as an interesting conversation piece; if you spend time alone it should pro-vide just as much entertainment as a topic for personal reflection. Either way, I hope you enjoy it.

Introduction to the love in the age of technology featureA look at how modern technology impacts romantic relationships Craig adolphe, staff

What is love?Navigating the complex meaning of the four-letter wordMike Still, staff

As we approach Valentine’s Day for yet another year, multitudes

of couples will flock to various retail outlets in an attempt to express their undying “love” for their part-ner. While romantic relationships continue to be the major thought that comes to mind when discussing love, there are plenty of other forms, which don’t involve roses, candles, or chocolate.

Look no further than the actual history of Valentine’s Day for other examples of love. In the third cen-tury CE, Emperor Claudius II banned marriage among young people, believing that if a soldier was unmarried, he would fight more effectively. Cue Valentine, and his role in what is now known as Valentine’s Day.

The priest began officiating mar-riages in secret, but was eventually caught, imprisoned, and killed. At the end of the fifth century, Pope

Gelasius I made the decision to have Feb. 14 devoted to Saint Valentine, because he gave up his own life to perform the sacrament of marriage.

As you can see, Valentine’s Day was not always about romantic love. It began as unconditional love. Saint Valentine believed that there should

be no barriers to marriage. While Valentine performed mar-

riages for couples, embracing the idea of romantic love, there are other forms of unconditional love.

For example, according to The Bible, God performed the greatest act of unconditional love, when he sent his own son to die on the cross.

For those unfamiliar with the Christian faith, this act was critical, because it forgave the world’s sins and enabled every individual to essentially have a “clean slate.” In this act, God chose not to punish those who sinned and committed wrongdoings; instead he forgave them, and sacrificed his own son.

These are just two examples of love. It is easy to find other varieties. In his book Colours of Love for example, author J. A. Lee defines six different types of relationships that could be considered love.

Eros is the kind of love most

people think of, especially in modern times. It is described as romantic and passionate love. There are, however, two other types of love which don’t base their description on the standard

“norms.” Storge is a slow-developing,

friendship-based love. Most people have probably experienced storge love, by simply having a close friend who is there for them through their ups and the downs, and as an ear to listen to.

Agape (my personal favourite) is a caring, brotherly love. Again, this can occur between friends, but also between siblings who share a familial bond.

Despite all of the positive exam-ples listed above, love can also mani-fest in a negative way.

Ludus is a “game playing,” or uncommitted love, such as someone who may fake their feelings just to get into bed with an individual.

Pragma is a mutually beneficial

type of love. This type of love doesn’t commonly involve emotional feelings, and often times results in one of the parties getting hurt in some way.

Mania, the final type, is a posses-sive love. Someone demonstrating this type of love may go out of their way to keep their significant other around. Unfortunately, this may be done in an extreme and inappropri-ate way.

There are many different ways to look at love, and it can be represented in both a positive and negative way.

The most important thing I can emphasize is that love cannot be easily defined. It means so much, in many different ways, to many differ-ent people. That’s the beautiful part about it, and also why it is, and will continue to be, a hotly debated topic.

The most important thing I can emphasize is that love cannot be defined. It means so much, in many different ways, to many different people

graphiC by evan tremblay

Features Managing Editor: Craig AdolpheContact: me@themanitoban.com / 474.652012

Love flourishes in the age of technologyA pro-technology perspective on love in the age of technology

We are living in the informa-tion age, a period in human

history brought to fruition by the digital revolution. As time proceeds, more and more of our daily lives are becoming computerized. Technology has changed how we share news and information, the way we socialize and make friends, and even the way we date and fall in love. With the ubiquity of smartphones, tablets, laptop computers, and wearable smart devices, meeting someone new is as easy as a swipe to the right. Finding and building relationships has become easier than ever in the

Chantelle duboiS, staff

information age. The Internet, the foundation of

all digital communication today, first began as a military network for the exchange of information. This network was called the advanced research projects agency network, and was developed in the 1960s. By the 1980s, this technology began to be used for commercial and civilian pur-poses, and as of 2014 over 40 per cent of the world’s population is online. That number is expected to grow as Internet access becomes available to countries around the world.

While individuals have occasion-

ally connected on chat sites, special interest forums, or online gaming, the first mainstream dating site didn’t open until 1995. Match.com, founded by Gary Kremen, is currently one of the most successful and longest running websites dedicated to bring-ing potential couples together. In a 1995 interview with Wired magazine, Kremen said, “I thought it would be really interesting to use the Internet for relationships, and to do it right.”

Since then, thousands of online dating sites have launched. A study by researchers from the Amsterdam School of Communications

Research estimates that 37 per cent of single Americans have used online dating. While some individuals may believe that online dat-ing attracts individuals with a predisposition to dating anxiety and other similar social influences, the study found there was no cor-relation between dating anxiety, loneliness, and introversion. Income and education were also not related to who turns to online dating.

So, how is online dating helping us find love in the age of tech-nology? Online dating enables users to con-veniently meet others with similar interests, lifestyles, philosophies, and dating intent (“Looking for a Long-Term Relationship,”

“Looking for Marriage,” etc.). Many dating sites include questionnaires to help match users with similar values using algorithms.

Additionally, the time and resource commitment is much lower compared to tra-ditional dating. Instead of relying on friends to introduce you to other singles, or having to spend time trying to get exposure to other singles by going out to nightclubs, volunteer-ing, or social events, online dating is an independent activity.

The study also found that people who met online were more likely to disclose more about themselves in online communication, fostering relationship formation.

The University of Chicago reported that between 2005 and 2012, one-third of marriages in the U.S. began with online dating.

More convenient than dating sites are dating apps, which have seen a rise in popularity within the last year. One of the most successful examples is Tinder, an app which matches users based on proximity. The app allows the user to swipe left (not interested) or right (interested) after showing the photo and brief description of a potential match. The app eliminates the anxiety of having to express or receive rejection, since users are never aware of what a response is unless both users respond positively. Once users have been matched based on their response, they get a chance to interact through a messaging system.

Tinder is available on iOS and Android platforms. While Apple does not reveal how many times an app has been downloaded, Android’s Google Play reports over 10 million downloads.

Technology is also beneficial to already existing relationships. In many long-distance relationships today, technology shortens that dis-tance by enabling easy communica-tion and shared interaction. Some of the most popular applications used by long-distance couples include Skype, WhatsApp, Viber, Facebook, iMessage, FaceTime, or just texting, allowing couples to continuously stay in touch.

Some readers of the Manitoban shared how technology has had a pos-itive influence on their long-distance relationships.

Rebecca van Ginkel, an under-graduate student in the faculty of science, explained that her three-and-a-half-year relationship, which has been long-distance for two and a half years, would not have been possible without digital technology.

“Skype is invaluable. I don’t know if I can explain just how important it has been. But being able to see each other’s face and watch each other’s expressions while you share jokes

and talk about your day makes for a pretty normal conversation in a not-so-normal relationship.”

Alison Muller, a University of Manitoba alumna, told the Manitoban that the Internet has also been fundamental to the success of her long-distance relationship. Using the video game client Steam, she and her boyfriend have been able to bond through online gaming and commu-nicate through Google chat while working.

“We Skype regularly, of course, but we also play video games together online via Steam, mostly Borderlands 2 [a birthday gift that was sent digi-tally and without shipping delays], and Torchlight 2. [Steam] also allows us to chit-chat when we are playing different games as well.”

Such applications of technol-ogy also help overcome barriers other than distance in relationships, enabling couples to remain close.

Carolyne K roeker, the Manitoban’s photo editor and an undergrad student in the faculty of fine arts, uses technology to com-municate with her partner who has hearing loss. “Texting is super crucial to how we communicate day-to-day. Facetime [and] Skype [are] also really helpful since they allow him to lip-read me when I talk. Honestly, tech-nology has been very helpful to our relationship.”

Kroeker and her partner are both artists, so technology has helped them share more than just conver-sation. “While working on art, if we are not together at the time, we can send each other progress shots and get each other’s opinions and suggestions.”

Modern love is saturated by technology, and for good reason. Technology has changed the way we connect, helps us find love, and enables us to maintain it.

graphiC by SCott ForD

graphiC by bram KeaSt

FeaturesVOL. 101 NO. 51February 11, 2015 13

Swipe right for “love” Unlimited interconnectedness is making us less connected

Technology no doubt has its benefits – the invention of the

printing press enabled mass media and brought about the accessibility of popular art; the Internet makes the world available at your fingertips; and cell phones allow you to com-municate with whomever you like, whenever you like. The world has never been more connected.

However, this virtually limitless interconnectedness comes with a price.

Infidelity has become easier, face-to-face conversation is diminishing, attention spans are decreasing, and people are forgetting how to relate to other members of society without the barrier of a screen to separate them. While the toll of technology’s imped-iment is clear in almost all aspects of human interaction, it is perhaps most glaringly so in intimate relationships.

According to a recent study pub-lished by the American Psychological Association—in which 143 women in marital or cohabiting relationships completed an online questionnaire on technology use within the rela-tionship—the more technology per-meated the relationship, the more likely the couple was to report rela-tionship dissatisfaction, higher levels of depressive symptoms, and lower life satisfaction.

The findings of this study make sense: when technology interrupts time spent with a significant other, the individual using the technology is sending implicit—albeit most likely unintentional—messages about what they value most. While this may seem excessive or over-reactive, think of the last time you had a date night interrupted by your boyfriend play-ing Clash of Clans, using your head as a hand rest while you cuddle; or your girlfriend perusing Instagram over dinner.

The ridiculous part is, while it bothers each and every one of us, we

all still do it. We go out to dinner, take our phones out of our pockets, and put them on the table. This act inherently divides your attention; while you may be paying attention to the conversation you are having, you also have one eye on your phone. You are present, but not really present.

Psychologists have described this paradoxical situation as an engaging/disengaging process, wherein mobile phones provide a means by which to disengage from face-to-face conversa-tions in favour of engaging with text messages, emails, and social media.

This thirst to connect with others is a vital component of human nature. This basic human need describes our compulsion to form lasting relation-ships. We seek to create meaningful relationships in order to feel a sense of safety and belonging, and are will-ing to settle for superficial ones in an effort to meet that need.

The irony is, we sit across the table from the person we love most, shooting off a string of texts or com-pulsively checking our work emails (guilty), and then when we are apart,

lauren Siddall, staff

The irony is, we sit across the table from the person we love most, shooting off a string of texts or compulsively checking our work emails (guilty), and then when we are apart, we are constantly communicating

we are constantly communicating. There are couples that send text mes-sages back and forth all day, respond-ing each time within five minutes, who then see their partner in person and have nothing to say because they have been talking all day. They go out on a date, and end up pulling out their phones because they have already exhausted the conversation, engaging a cyclical mechanism of disengagement.

Spending every waking hour of every single day with someone is not healthy for a relationship; there is a reason “absence makes the heart grow fonder” is a well-known cliché. Having individual, autono-mous experiences pro-vide you with stories to share and things to talk about. I may love you to death, but I do not want to be texting you for the entire day. Let’s go out for coffee, or dinner, and talk in person. Seeing your significant other’s face light up while telling you a funny story is a million times better than imagining their voice as you read a text message.

Part of the issue is that we have been trained to think of engaging with our signif icant other over social media platforms or via text messages as romantic. Sending a “good morning :)” text is not the most thoughtful thing in the world, and we need to stop treating it as such. Sure, it’s nice that your boy-friend thought of you this morning long enough to shoot you a text, but this min-iscule gesture should not even register on the grand scheme of things.

In the same respect, it is not the end of the world if your boyfriend favou-rites another girl ’s tweet, and having your boyfriend dedi-cate his “woman crush Wednesday” post to you should not be the highlight of your day. Your partner’s engage-ment on social media should not make or break your relation-ship – if it does, you have much bigger problems.

I asked my boy-friend, a U of M

student, what impact he thought technology had on relationships.

“[Technology] keeps the focus off other people, the ones who really matter,” he said. “With Twitter and Instagram, we’re so obsessed with getting favourites, retweets, and likes that we lose track of real-life accomplishments.”

“Your phone is an escape from real life, and a way to ‘be’ with other people who aren’t there.”

It is easy to see where this poses a problem. You begin to pay increas-ingly more attention to your phone and less attention to your significant

other, allowing the relationship to deteriorate. While it is unreasonable, not to mention unrealistic, to attempt to completely remove technology from relationships, it is important to limit it.

Try going out for dinner and leav-ing your phone at home, restrain yourself from constantly checking your emails on date night, and focus on what is in front of you. Your rela-tionship with your partner is more important than your relationship with your phone.

graphiC by Samantha SeCter

graphiC by bram KeaSt

Features Managing Editor: Craig AdolpheContact: me@themanitoban.com / 474.652014

graphiC by Caroline norman

Is “age of technology” an appropri-ate term to use in this discussion?It might seem like a silly idea—it’s

certainly a digression—to end the “love in the age of technology” feature by questioning whether age of tech-nology is a misnomer. But my hope is that by exploring the significance of the term “age of technology” we might learn more about the impact of technology on love and romantic relationships in our society.

Age of technology brings to mind computers, phones, and the Internet. Love in the age of technology evokes

images of people using dating apps and websites and maintaining long distance relationships through video chatting – all of which are phenom-ena exclusive to the modern age.

Those are generally the images we are referring to in the scope of the feature—images of love in the information age—but the term “age of technology” can have a much broader meaning than what is often associated with it.

Technology is a much more nebu-lous concept than the way we gener-ally conceive of it. It’s not exclusively

computerized or mechanical.In a journal article titled

“Technology and State Government,” published in 1937, American sociolo-gist Read Bain writes that technology includes “all tools, machines, uten-sils, weapons, instruments, hous-ing, clothing, communicating and transporting devices and the skills by which we produce and use them.”

The use of controlled fire; bow and arrows; simple tools, such as hammers; canoes; igloos; carrier pigeons; nuclear arms; all of them are examples of technology according

to Bain’s definition. It’s no wonder we tend to limit our imagination to modern electronics when referring to “technology.” Bain’s definition is very abstract; it’s almost harder to list things that aren’t technology when even the “skills by which we produce and use various [technologies]” are themselves considered technologies.

Bain goes on to argue that “social institutions, [ . . . ] values, morals, manners, wishes, hopes, fears and attitudes are directly and indirectly dependent upon technology and are mediated by it.”

“A technological device cannot be dichotomized into material and non-material culture traits,” he argues.

The potential range of our culture is bound by the technological capacity of our society.

By Bain’s definition of technol-ogy, all of human history could be defined as an “age of technology.” In the same way that the Renaissance is often thought of as a period of

“culture” while culture is simulta-neously a foundational part of any society – from small tribal communi-ties in Papua New Guinea to North America in the Internet era.

This might come across as some-what obtuse, but it should serve as a reminder that the current influence technology has on how we love is not categorically different to what it was decades, centuries, or even millennia ago – our love and romantic relation-ships have always been mediated by technology. The difference is one of scale.

We’ve never had greater techno-logical capacity as widely available as it is right now. It has been increasing and becoming more widely available at an impressive rate and that trend is likely to continue.

According to Moore’s Law, a com-puting term coined in the ’70s, the number of transistors in an affordable computer will double every two years. The more common form of this is to say that processing power will con-tinue to double every two years. Some people, including Gordon Moore, the inventor of Moore’s Law, suggest that this “law” will not hold steady in the long run and that it may be approach-ing a ceiling but for now the trend remains, at least in principle.

Access to the Internet and modern technologies will continue to become more widely available globally. The majority of the next billion Internet users will be coming from countries identified as “developing countries.” These new Internet users will be gaining access to the Web through low-end cell phones as that technol-ogy becomes increasingly available globally.

Our technological capacity pro-vides us with greater opportunities to connect with one another. It’s best that we remember that, acknowledge these technological changes will have an impact on us and our relationships, and adjust our lives and the broader culture in response.

Questioning the ‘age of technology’Addressing the misnomer in our feature titleCraig adolphe, staff

Technology is a much more nebulous concept than the way we generally conceive of it. It’s not exclusively computerized or mechanical

15 Science & technologyScience & Technology Editor: Chantelle DuboisContact: science@themanitoban.com / 474.6529

An outbreak of misinformationA science student’s perspective on the vaccination controversy

JErEmiah yarmiE, staff

We live in a world where we don’t have to worry about catching

smallpox. Smallpox was eradicated in 1979 due to the efforts of vaccina-tion. Its Wikipedia page begins with

“Smallpox was an infectious disease…” It is fitting that the story of vac-

cination crudely begins with smallpox about 1,000 years ago. Individuals in China would immunize themselves by grinding up smallpox scabs and snorting them. Individuals from other regions took to scraping small-pox scabs into cuts on their skin, a process called variolation.

The first proper vaccine for small-pox was developed by a physician named Edward Jenner in the infancy of the 19th century. He was able to protect individuals from smallpox by exposing them to its weaker cousin, cowpox. Vaccinia is Latin for cowpox.

Vaccinations act as practice drills for the immune system, the part of the body responsible for preventing and fighting disease. The contents of a vaccine trigger the immune sys-tem to respond like it would to real infection. Part of this response is the formation of antibodies which hunt down distinguishable patterns on the disease-causing bugs called antigens.

The body develops a memory in response to vaccination that allows it to act quicker and more effec-tively when encountering the actual disease-causing agent. This reaction does not always hold, and some vac-cinations require more than one dose or booster doses.

The flu vaccineThis year’s flu season is a particu-

larly nasty one. This is, in part, due to the flu vaccine not being a perfect match for the predominant strain of this season, H3N2. H3N2 seasons are known for their severity and higher death tolls.

Every year, experts have to guess which strains will be problematic for the upcoming flu season. This is because the flu vaccine only lasts for about a year as the viruses keep changing and changing.

This year’s vaccine covers a strain of H3N2 influenza that is dissimi-lar from the circulating virus. This is because the circulating virus has shifted its antigens just enough to not look like the ones in the vaccine.

Despite not being a good match, it is still beneficial to get the flu vaccine. The antibodies produced in response to the vaccine may be able to protect you to some extent from H3N2 that is floating around.

Furthermore, the flu vaccine typi-cally protects you from three or four different strains. Vaccinated individ-uals will still have some protection that they otherwise wouldn’t, even if it isn’t directly against this year’s biggest culprit.

science fiction: Vaccines cause autism

In 1998 a disgraced British phy-sician named Andrew Wakefield published a discredited paper in the

Lancet linking the combined measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine to autism. He altered the results of the study.

Nobody was able to replicate his results, and he never showed interest in doing so himself. Several stud-ies have not been able to find a link between the MMR vaccine and autism. Wakefield, however, still stands by his study.

A journalist from the Sunday Times, Brian Deer, discovered that a lawyer constructing a case against MMR manufacturers personally paid Wakefield. This lawyer also recruited some of the children for the study from anti-MMR families. Deer also showed that Wakefield had patented a measles vaccine shortly after the publication of his study.

In 2010 the Lancet retracted his publication and Wakefield was dis-honourably removed from the United Kingdom medical community. The real kicker about Wakefield’s study is that it has taken valuable resources away from studying the actual cause of autism.

This can all be preventedToday we are seeing an unprec-

edented resurgence of preventable diseases in North America. This may be due to complacency. Some parents believe that these preventable dis-eases are not that serious. It’s hard to know what these diseases are like when you rarely see them.

The first whooping cough vac-cine was created in the 1930s by Pearl Kendrick and Grace Eldering. The duo had to work on the vaccine in the evening, as they were responsible for water and milk analyses during the day. The two traversed Grand Rapids, Michigan, collecting samples from kids sick with whooping cough. To ensure the vaccines were safe for children, the two women would per-sonally test them out first. Their vac-cine saved many lives and virtually eliminated the disease

Now whooping cough is making a return. The U.S. is experiencing levels that haven’t been seen since the 1950s.

Despite being eradicated in the U.S. in 2000, measles outbreaks have been popping up all over North America. A recent one to make headlines happened at Disneyland in California.

Measles is more than just the development of a rash before getting

better; children can die from it, and they do all the time. Measles cases in North America typically occur when someone brings it back from a foreign country.

OutbreaksMeasles is one of the most conta-

gious diseases known, and is easily transmissible in densely populated areas, including Disneyland.

Tourists from all over the world travel to Disneyland, and one likely brought the virus with them. Unfortunately, many of the individu-als infected at Disneyland had not received the MMR vaccine. Over 100 cases in at least 14 states have so far been linked to the “happiest place on Earth.”

Multiple cases of measles also occurred in Toronto earlier this month. All four cases were unrelated, which is concerning because it indi-cates that the virus was contracted by the individuals within the city. Measles cases have also been show-ing up from time to time in Manitoba.

There is a growing trend of parents choosing not to vaccinate their chil-dren. Many of these parents believe in the results of Wakefield’s discred-ited study, and believe that vaccines are dangerous. These individuals have good intentions; they love their children and want to make sure their children are safe and healthy.

Not surprisingly, these families often cluster together, magnifying

the negative effects of this decision.This results in “hot spots” where vac-cine protection is nonexistent. Herd immunity occurs when a signifi-cant proportion of the population is immunized against a contagious dis-ease. If a high percentage of individu-als in a community are vaccinated against a disease, then they are less likely to pass it around. If vaccination levels drop below 95 per cent, the herd immunity is not strong enough to contain the disease.

Herd immunity is important for individuals who are unable to be vac-cinated. For example, children receiv-ing chemotherapy treatment and infants cannot be vaccinated. Many Make-A-Wish Foundation children ask to go to Disneyland. They depend on herd immunity to avoid illness.

Unfortunately, not all individuals who receive a vaccine will develop a strong enough immune response, and are still susceptible. These people also rely on herd immunity.

Immunization rates in young chil-dren have been dropping in Manitoba over the past decade.There is a need to communicate to the public that vaccines are safe and beneficial. Most importantly, vaccines need to be accessible.

Vaccines don’t just protect you and your children, they benefit everyone.

Vaccinations act as practice drills for the immune system, the part of the body responsible for preventing and fighting disease

graphiC by alDo rioS

Science & Technology Science & Technology Editor: Chantelle DuboisContact: science@themanitoban.com / 474.652916

State of NASA addressNASA administrator Charles Bolden discusses the future of the space agency

ChantEllE Dubois, staff

On Feb. 2 Charles Bolden, the administrator of the

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), gave the first State of NASA address. Following the same format of the State of the Union address deliv-ered annually by the president of the United States, Bolden informed the public on the condition of the agency, recent achievements, and future plans.

Held in the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at the Kennedy Space Centre, Bolden’s podium was situated in front of three space vehicles: the Boeing CST 100, the Orion spacecraft crew mod-ule, and the SpaceX Dragon cargo module.

Bolden discussed new government support of NASA through increased funding, the historical achievements of the agency, economic benefits of space projects to the U.S., recent achievements, and planned future endeavours to take humanity even further into space.

In 2014 President Barack Obama proposed new legislation to increase NASA’s budget for the second year in a row. A budget of US $18.01 bil-lion was approved for NASA for 2015. Obama’s proposal for 2016 supports another increase of US $500 million for the space agency. Bolden said such funding will help the U.S. remain leaders in space exploration.

To underscore the importance of the American space program, Bolden discussed the historical achievements of the administration.

Among NASA achievements mentioned is the 50-year anniver-sary of the first American astronaut to leave their capsule and perform a spacewalk. Ed White remained outside of the Gemini 4 capsule for 23 minutes on June 3, 1965.

Bolden highlighted that the U.S. is the first, and so far only, country to successfully land a vehicle on the surface of Mars and complete its mis-sion. Viking 1 landed on Mars on July 20, 1976, and remained operational

for 2,307 days.Bolden also mentioned the

Hubble Space Telescope, Compton Gamma Ray Observatory, and the Chandra X-ray Observatory.

The economic benefits of major space projects were central points in Bolden’s address, with reference to the private space ventures that are contributing to developing vehicles for space exploration.

NASA has contracts with two private companies to provide resup-ply missions to the International Space Station. These two compa-nies are SpaceX and Orbital Sciences Corporation. The SpaceX Dragon cargo module is the first of its kind to deliver cargo to the International Space Station, dock with it, and return back to Earth.

The Boeing CST-100 is another commercial space vehicle designed to carry crew and cargo to low Earth orbit. Unlike the Soyuz, which has a capacity for a crew of three, the Boeing CST-100 will carry seven.

Bolden stated that in the past 12 months, NASA has engaged in five Earth science missions. The most recent is the launch of the Soil Moisture Active Passive satellite on Jan. 29. The satellite will monitor soil moisture to enable scientists to learn more about the Earth’s climate.

Missions in progress include: the Dawn mission to the dwarf planet Ceres, the New Horizon mission to Pluto, and the Juno mission to Jupiter.

NASA also has a wide array of future projects that are either planned or currently being developed.

The Space Launch System is a heavy-lift propulsion system classed for exploration. It will be the largest launch vehicle to be developed since the Saturn V rocket, which launched astronauts to the Moon. The Space Launch System is being designed for use with the Orion capsules, with the intent of enabling the exploration of Mars and beyond.

The Orion capsule was first test launched in 2014. Bolden said NASA

scientists and engineers are currently analyzing the test results. The Orion capsule is designed to enable safe exploration of deep space.

Mission plans for the future indi-cate that deep-space exploration has become one of NASA’s central goals. Bolden announced future plans to explore and analyze Jupiter’s moon Europa for life-sustaining conditions, land a crew on an asteroid for scien-tific research and resource mining, and launch the James Webb Space Telescope to see even further beyond our solar system.

“So, as I stand before you today in front of these very, very tangible examples of our progress and our future, I can unequivocally say that the state of NASA is strong,” said Bolden.

NASA appears to have an exciting future ahead, with a history of suc-cess, increased funding, several active missions, and many others which are being planned or developed.

17 Arts & CultureArts & Culture Editor: Lauren SiddallContact: arts@themanitoban.com / 474.6529

Cootie ClubA night of music you’ll want to catch

bram KEast, staff

The third Cootie Club showcase featuring women-identified and

non-binary performers is back this month with an incredible group of musicians, poets, and improv artists. The showcase aims to promote per-formers and create a safe environment to address sexual assault and barriers in the music scene while having a blast.

Having their first show in October of 2014, Cootie Club represents what Kara Passey, one of the orga-nizers and mem-bers of the band Ghost Hole, describes as the first baby steps to challenging

“the boys’ club of Winnipeg’s music scene.” Speaking about their previous experience promoting women performers, Passey said they were involved with the now-defunct collectively-run venue NGTVSPC (Negative Space) that implemented a policy of including at least one female-identified performer at every show.

“It was a very small step towards addressing the issue [. . . ] and didn’t do anything to address the inclu-sion of non-binary, queer, or people of colour,” they said. “But it was big enough to ruffle feathers.” However, after NGTVSPC closed in 2013,

Passey said the interest in actively including women in shows disap-peared. Cootie Club facilitated these conversations again.

Wanda Wilson, another organizer, and member of the Help Wanteds, said Cootie Club is a community movement and support group for people looking to make a positive change. She described it as “a safe

place that can cre-ate a bridge to teach youth, friends, and families, and even communities of [ . . . ] people and to be able to embrace and accept that is important.”

One visible way Cootie Club works to create a welcom-

ing environment is with a group called the Pink Bandanas – identi-fied by the pink bandanas they wear. Passey said their job is “to be present and actively ensuring that the space is safe and accountable,” and added,

“any attendee at the event should feel comfortable voicing any concerns to the people wearing pink bandanas.” The venue also has a ramp and wash-rooms that fit wheelchairs, which Wilson believes to help bring together

“good people, great local performances, and music.”

In addition to music and artis-

tic performances, Cootie Club also serves as a platform for community discussion on issues faced by women-identified and non-binary perform-ers; previous discussions have focused on supporting survivors of sexual assault and addressing barriers in the Winnipeg music scene.

This month’s showcase features four performers – opening with Ladybug the Rambler, a vocal per-

formance artist who mixes folk, soul, blues, and jazz influenced vocals with spoken word and beat-boxing. The spoken word poet Queen Tite will also perform, followed by the sto-rytelling improv group the Psychics. ATLAAS, an electronic indie pop duo who made waves at JUNOfest last year, will finish the night. FJ Jackson will be providing music throughout the evening as DJ.

This month’s showcase will be held in the Purple Room at Frame Arts Warehouse on Feb. 13, starting at 8 p.m. Wilson encourages any women or non-binary performers interested in joining Cootie Club to get in touch through email at cootieclub666@gmail.com, or to find them on Facebook.

Patterson’s Wager is a safe betVancouver filmmaker returns to Winnipeg to screen his latest feature

alana traChEnKo, staff

What would you do if you could see into the future? Vancouver

director Corbin Saleken explores his interpretation with a balance of realism and light-heartedness in his recently completed film, Patterson’s Wager. The film follows the story of a man named Charles, played by Fred Ewanuick, who acquires the ability to see two minutes into the future.

What seems like a useful skill at first begins to present some challenges for Charles and proceeds to affect his life in unexpected ways.

Saleken managed to complete his film in an impressive 12 days through a combination of hard work and care-ful planning.

“Other shoots that do things in 12 days are insane,” Saleken said. “This

shoot wasn’t like that. I think there was one day where we did 12 hours, but that was it. We had 19 different locations, so every day we had two or three moves to do.”

Saleken says a big timesaver was knowing what shots he would need, and not wasting time with coverage that wouldn’t be useful later.

“I had the whole thing story-

boarded,” said Saleken. With experience working with

the film equipment at Simon Fraser University, Saleken knows a lot of students and graduates who were willing to volunteer on the crew. Their enthusiasm, along with a posi-tive response from actors who were approached for roles, pulled the proj-ect together.

According to Saleken, most of the roles were filled by actors he had in mind. Many of them didn’t meet until the table read, including the two leads, who had to be believable as a couple.

“It wasn’t until a little while ago that I was talking to some people and I kind of realized, ‘oh, that was a pretty big risk.’ If the chemistry wasn’t there, I don’t know what I would have done,” Saleken said, laughing.

While the shoot was completed in less than two weeks, editing took eight months, which, according to Saleken, was the fun part.

“I shot the movie so I would have material to edit [ . . . ] that’s where the movie is made,” Saleken said.

Although the movie’s storyline revolves around Charles’ strange new ability, it is also looks at his life and relationships; the film opens with Charles practising a proposal to his girlfriend.

“When movies work, they have relationships at the core [ . . . ] in a movie like Star Wars, what makes you come to that is not the special effects, but the connections with the characters.”

Patterson’s Wager will be featured at the Winnipeg Real to Reel Film Festival. Saleken said he enjoyed vis-iting Winnipeg for his showing of The Vehicle at 2013’s festival and is looking forward to coming back.

“In Vancouver, we get maybe one snowfall a year that lasts for five min-utes if we’re lucky,” Saleken said. “Just to be able to skate for five kilometres straight is kind of amazing.”

Patterson’s Wager will screen on Feb. 20 at 6:30 p.m. and Feb. 21 at 8 p.m at North Kildonan Mennonite Brethren Church (1315 Gateway Road). Visit winnipegfilmfestival.com/for details.

“Cootie Club was a way to start these conversations again” – Kara Passey, organizer

photo proviDeD by Corbin SaleKen

graphiC by Kelly Campbell

Arts & Culture Arts & Culture Editor: Lauren SiddallContact: arts@themanitoban.com / 474.652918

Students of CanarchyThe Hub to bring back live rock music every Thursday

ian t.D. thomson, staff

Rock ‘n’ roll lives Plans to bring live music at the

Hub have been revitalized in the form of Canarchy. The weekly series, kick-ing off on Feb. 12, will showcase a live rock band every Thursday.

For Hub Manager Brandon Whyte, the possibility of bringing live rock music back to the University of Manitoba bar was a “no-brainer.”

“I think a campus bar [ . . . ] should have live music. It’s a part of the event,” explained Whyte to the Manitoban.

“One of things I really wanted to do was have live music come back to the Hub, but also for a reason.”

Inspired by American college par-

ties and the popular AMC drama Sons of Anarchy, the weekly series will showcase a plethora of modern-day drinking trends. Whyte cited the return of “dad beers” such as Old Milwaukee and Pabst Blue Ribbon as well as “the old boilermaker” (a shot of whiskey and can of beer) as mak-ing Canarchy another great excuse to enjoy a beverage on a Thursday.

“So bikers, whiskey, beer, rock ‘n’ roll [ . . . ] and I thought, ‘okay so we’re going to call this night Canarchy,” said Whyte.

The series kicks off with local rock band the Rockabilly Saints. The band fits the mindset of Canarchy’s atti-tude; their bio presents the band as

“born under the blood moon sky” and “raised by wolf-like parents.”

While “Canarchy” on first glance seems like a purely classic rock event, there will be a variety spanning the rock spectrum: On March 26 the soul-folk group, the JD Edwards Band will be featured and on April 9 the Kasabian-inspired band Attica Riots will take the stage at the U of M bar.

“I am trying to convince myself that not everybody under [the age of] 25 is listening to electronic dance music. There has to be some people out there that love rock ‘n’ roll,” Whyte told the Manitoban.

New manager, new styleBrandon Whyte is the new man-

ager of the Hub, bringing 25 years of experience to the job. Whyte is passionate about the potential that the Hub has to offer.

“I would like to see the Hub get a little bit ‘warmer’ and turn more into a pub,” said Whyte.

“I love the idea of a pub. Back in the day, it was a public house. It was something for everybody.”

Whyte was born and raised in Winnipeg and one of his first jobs was as a bus boy for Bailey’s. His experience in bars led him to running bars on Edmonton’s Whyte Avenue (no relation) as well as bars on the University of Alberta campus.

His experience includes working as a radio rock DJ on community and commercial radio stations, backed up by his larger-than-life-sounding voice. This talent allows the manager to easily run up on stage to arouse the crowd for events such as Jets games at the pub.

“Putting a mic in front of me is a pretty natural thing.”

As the Hub manager, Whyte takes pride in his ability to be a part of students’ memories at their cam-pus bar.

“I fell in love with the industry; I

fell in love with taking care of people,” said Whyte.

“To me, it’s an instant-type Karma business where I can be a direct effect on how good of a night you have and I really like that.”

For the studentsThe Hub is located on the third

floor of University Centre at the U of M Fort Garry campus. The pub is one of many services owned by UMSU, includinging Degrees Restaurant and Archives Used Bookstore.

As a service of UMSU, the Hub has a mandate to provide a service for all students within the union. The bar is often used to host different socials and gatherings put on by dif-ferent faculty associations and clubs on campus.

“I love that idea that the Hub is going to be something different for every association, group, or faculty [ . . . ] on campus. They can make it that whatever they want for the night,” said Whyte.

“And I do love that: being a ‘cha-meleon’ of a pub.”

The Hub offers specials for each night of the week. Monday is Comedy Night, where both old pros and up-and-comers test their jokes in front of a student demographic. On Tuesdays, the pub features karaoke and on Wednesdays, the notorious Rez Night presents both residence and day students at the U of M with $2 beers.

For more information regard-ing upcoming events and specials, visit the umsu.ca/umsu-businesses-umsumenu-9/the-hub

“So bikers, whiskey, beer, rock ‘n’ roll [ . . . ] and I thought, ‘okay so we’re going to call this night ‘Canarchy’” – Brandon Whyte, Hub Manager

photo by Carolyne KroeKer

Arts & CultureVOL. 101 NO. 51February 11, 2015 19

Crossroad of coffee and creativityMAKE Coffee + Stuff combines design culture with coffee culture

laurEn siDDall, staff

The idea of combining coffee and art is not new. Countless cafés

around Winnipeg have aimed to amalgamate art and coffee culture. There is an aspect, however, that has remained virtually untouched: design culture. While locations showcas-ing more conventional mediums of art have sprouted up in countless spots, other modes of creativity have lacked a means of expression – a void MAKE Coffee + Stuff is determined to fill.

“We have an emerging design cul-ture in Winnipeg, so I’m interested in using the space to promote design culture, especially the younger design culture in Winnipeg, to showcase their work,” said owner Jae-Sung Chon.

“We have strong design culture in Winnipeg, we know this but we don’t see this until they are estab-lished professionals. The fact that we don’t have a portal to celebrate these young designers is why young design culture is my target.”

Chon provides the budding young creators and designers the opportunity to showcase their work within the con-text of what Chon calls “café culture,” in which coffee becomes a means of communicating and creating.

“Café culture used to be, as far as I know, where people would meet and discuss, a place where a lot of thinking and discussion happened [ . . . ] But where is that happening today? Where is that sort of meeting of cultural dialogues?

“We have [TEDxManitoba] going, but that’s a very institution-alized version of culture dialogue. In a public space, it’s very limited,” explained Chon.

MAKE intends to change this. “Coffee is a medium to meet,” said

Chon. “You have people coming in just for coffee and now they have something to engage with, which in this case is design culture. It becomes sort of a crossroad, between design culture—emerging design culture—and coffee culture.”

MAKE creates this atmosphere by collaborating with young design-ers and students to create shows and exhibitions within the walls of the shop, often juxtaposing different disciplines, origins, and artists to create an intersection of unexplored territory.

“The idea of a crossroad is very important to me. I rarely do solo shows; I do collective shows. Sometimes I

mix different disciplines, sometimes I mix different people, sometimes I mix international and national.”

Chon does this not to spark a competition between the creators, but rather to suggest a similarity. By showcasing work from Manitoba alongside that of New York or London, it is easy to see that the workmanship has the same qualita-tive value; it puts Manitoba on the map of innovative design.

At the forefront of the movement

towards innovation are students and young professionals, who bring a fresh outlook to the table.

“Young designers are so charged up with passion when they graduate. But they don’t have the portal; they don’t have the venue to showcase their work [ . . . ] By the time you spend 10 years in the system, you’re exhausted, your ideas and your passion are gone,” said Chon.

“I’m trying to celebrate the fresh ideas; they may still be immature, but

they’re fresh and they’re full of passion. There’s no point in just shelving it, we should give them some sort of showcase.

“We want to introduce something new to Winnipeg. This idea of foster-ing new experiences is something we are interested in. My priority is to introduce new things to Corydon.”

MAKE Coffee + Stuff is located at 751 Corydon Avenue, and is open 7 a.m.-10 p.m. Mondays through Fridays.

photo by lauren SiDDall

20DiversionsGraphics Editor: Bram KeastContact: graphics@themanitoban.com / 474.6775

DiversionsGraphics Editor: Bram Keast Contact: graphics@themanitoban.com / 474.6775 21

22SportsSports Editor: Mike StillContact: sports@themanitoban.com / 474.6529

Bad luck in B.C.Bison women’s hockey team swept by UBC, slips to 3rd in standings

miKE still, staff

Winners of eight straight games entering this weekend, the

University of Manitoba Bison wom-en’s hockey team saw their impressive streak come to an end on the road, against the UBC Thunderbirds. Special teams were the difference over the two-game set, as UBC went a combined 5-for-12 on the power play.

The Thunderbirds entered the matchup ranked first in the Canada West, and fifth in the entire CIS in power play percentage. They used their strong play with the extra attacker to their advantage, sweeping the Bisons in two critical match-ups.

The Thunderbirds pulled out a 4-3 win on Friday and a 5-2 win on Saturday, becoming the first team to score more than three goals against Manitoba all year.

Friday’s opening match-up fea-tured an impressive back-and-forth battle, with both squads generating

plenty of opportunities. The Bisons cracked the scoreboard

first, as Tasmine Hemingway found the back of the net just 1:33 into the opening frame. Discipline would cost the Bisons, however, as they found themselves in the penalty box three times in the first 20 minutes, with UBC capitalizing on their second opportunity with the power play.

Tatiana Rafter was the one light-ing the lamp for UBC with the extra attacker, as she tied the game up at 7:46 of the first period. The Thunderbirds were able to success-fully control the zone throughout their entire minute and a half with the man advantage, effectively drain-ing the Bisons’ first unit on the pen-alty kill.

The home squad entered the sec-ond period on yet another power play, after a Caitlin Fyten penalty to end the first. Rebecca Unrau would take

advantage, walking in and going blocker side on Manitoba goalie Rachel Dyck, to give UBC their first lead of the game just 53 seconds into the middle frame.

Fyten would get redemption for the Bisons as her long shot through

traffic beat UBC goalie Danielle Dube at 13:18 to square things up at two. Fyten’s goal occurred on the power play, as Manitoba finished 1-for-3 with the extra attacker.

Manitoba’s momentum was short-lived, as Nikola Brown-John would score the eventual game-winning goal just over two minutes later, as she deflected an Emily O’Neill shot into the back of the net.

Unrau would pad the lead at 3:56 of the third, yet again on the power play, to give UBC a two-goal cush-ion. Alana Serhan got one back for Manitoba at 9:30, but it was too little too late, as the Thunderbirds held on for the win.

Saturday’s rematch saw both teams score twice on the power play; however, UBC was just a bit stronger at full strength, outshooting Manitoba 26-19, and becoming the first team to score five goals against

the Bisons.The Thunderbirds got two goals

from Rafter – both with the man advantage, as well as one goal from Unrau, Stephanie Schaupmeyer, and Nicole Saxvik. Manitoba countered with goals from Courtlyn Oswalk and Michelle Pawluk.

With the pair of victories, UBC leapfrogged over Manitoba for second place in the conference with 54 points.

The best position the Bisons can now finish is second in the conference, as UBC plays top-ranked Alberta this weekend. Manitoba will need to sweep the Calgary Dinos at home for a chance at the number two seed.

The Dinos will visit Wayne Fleming Arena for the final two games of the regular season on Friday, Feb. 13, and Saturday, Feb.14. Game times are 6:30 and 1 p.m., respectively.

Premier panel: Saints’ blessings could be devil’s curveResponsibility is key for soccer club Southampton’s latest ludicrous sales

anDy ChE, volunteer staff

The summer of 2014 brought many prolific changes at Southampton

Football Club, which finished eighth in the Barclay’s Premier League for the 2013/2014 season. Heading into this campaign, the appointment of new manager Ronald Koeman opened the floodgates for count-less heated transitions during a busy transfer period.

The Saints pocketed nearly $200 million in profits since the summer

of 2014 by selling off six crucial first team players, and cashed out little to replace them, which had them tipped for relegation this season. Up to this point during the campaign, Koeman’s spending hesitations have greatly paid off, as the Saints sit in fourth place in the Barclay’s Premier League.

The danger now for Southampton is not to lose footing on their Champions League spot, and, more

importantly, remain strictly hesitant in resourcing to overspending, such as in the case of their latest transfer signing.

Their most recent addition, the $20 million signing of Chelsea left-back Ryan Bertrand on Feb. 3rd, com-pensated for the loss of Luke Shaw, who left for Manchester United in a summer deal worth $50 million. The 25-year-old Englishman joins Fraser Forster, Florin Gardos, Shane Long, Sadio Mane, Graziano Pelle, and Dusan Tadic as the newest signatures in a Saints outfit, costing approxi-mately $80 million in total.

Attackers Mane, Pelle, and Tadic, as well as goalkeeper Forster have exceeded expectations thus far into the season, and have surpassed the values of their respective price tags of approximately $18 million each.

However, the signing of Bertrand for a similar price poses a huge risk for the Saints. The over-inflation of English players is well-reflected in his $20 million fee, as his actual market value would be between $5 and $10 million.

For that amount of money, Koeman could have tempted the likes of Liverpool’s Jose Enrique, Manchester City’s Gael Clichy, Wolfsburg’s Ricardo Rodriguez, or Real Madrid’s Fabio Coentrao to arrive at the St. Mary’s. Furthermore, despite possessing a young, highly strategic side, it could

mark the start to unnecessary spend-ing fever, escalated by the fact that Southampton has not yet filled all the gaps of its departures dating back to last summer. This potentially dan-gerous spending tactic may embrace Manchester City’s “quick-and-ditch” transfer strategy, supported by billionaire owner Sheikh Mansour, despite their debt in the hundreds of millions.

Even though they have had suc-cess so far this season, Southampton’s current situation does not justify big spending, even if their short term suc-cess leads to a lucrative change of club owners. If the Saints were to begin to unnecessarily spend millions more

to acquire top quality players, there is a risk that the club could face long-term debt if they are not successfully domestically.

Southampton’s latest rampage up the Premier League table while maintaining positive profits resem-bles the trademark business ethic of Arsenal. The only difference between the two sides is the fact that Arsenal is a consistent Champions League side, while Southampton is a Premier League promoted club from three seasons ago.

If Koeman can maintain his side’s high-flying status in the Premier League table up until at least next season and continue to keep positive figures in the bank, a spot in Europe would be attainable. A place in the Europa or Champions League does call for high spending on the world’s best talent. For the time being, how-ever, Southampton’s focus must be directed solely on their league posi-tion and the FA Cup.

In the case of Manchester City, mass spending has rewarded them with two Premier League trophies and an FA Cup since 2011. Yet for the high-flying Saints, who have not won a major trophy since 1976, mass spending in attempt to achieve glory would cast a devilish shadow over a club reaching the heavens in the Premier League table.

Yet for the high-flying Saints, who have not won a major trophy since 1976, mass spending to achieve glory would cast a devilish shadow over a club reaching the heavens in the Premier League table

graphiC by Kailey trevithiCK

The Thunderbirds pulled out a 4-3 win on Friday, and a 5-2 win on Saturday, becoming the first team to score more than three goals against Manitoba all year

SportsVOL. 101 NO. 51February 11, 2015 23

The future looks very bright for the University of Manitoba Bison

football team. On Feb. 3, Bison foot-ball head coach Brian Dobie officially introduced six new members to the herd – five local, and one British Columbia product, all of whom were impact players at the high school level.

Jamel Lyles (RB-North Surrey/Lord Tweedsmuir)

Likely the standout recruit out of all six, Lyles played his high school football in Surrey, B.C., smashing numerous records. While at Lord Tweedsmuir in 2013, he broke the single season rushing record, racking up 2,400 yards on the ground, in just an 11-game season. He also put up 37 total touchdowns in that same year.

At 18, Lyles is already built like a truck at six-foot-one and 215 pounds. Depending what happens with start-ing running back Kienan LaFrance this off-season, Lyles has the chance to step in and make an immediate impact.

Tristan Bredin (DT-Murdoch Mackay)

Standing six-foot-four and a whopping 360 pounds at just age 17, Bredin’s upside is intriguing. He was the Clansmen’s defensive MVP in 2014, recording 40 tackles, and was also an impact player in the U18 Canada Cup this past season.

One of his biggest honours was being named to Team Canada for the 2015 International Bowl, which occurred on Jan. 30. The Canadian

National Team ended up winning the game over USA, 25-9.

Bredin will likely redshirt this sea-son, and will have a year to develop alongside starting defensive tackles David Onyemata and Kent Hicks.

Ethan Diakow (QB-Oak Park)Diakow was under centre for

Oak Park in 2014, when they upset a dominant St. Paul’s squad in the ANAVETS Bowl, but will likely make the transition to defensive back for 2015 with the Bisons. Diakow has played every skill position in his time with the Raiders, and has a great football IQ.

He was a team captain for the U18 Canada Cup squad this past year, and was also named offensive player of the year in the WHSFL. Diakow will also likely redshirt this season, which will give him a chance to get bigger, and compete for a starting spot in a young Bison secondary.

Jared Lazarenko (DE-Murdoch Mackay)

Lazarenko is yet another physi-cal specimen at six-foot-four and 230 pounds. He was dominant off the edge for the Clansmen this past year, tallying 38 tackles, to go with seven sacks, a forced fumble, a fumble recovery, and a blocked kick.

With former captain Lauren Kroeker and Tyler Lee both gradu-ated, Lazarenko has one of the best chances out of all six recruits to step in and start immediately.

Cassidy Obijiaku (WR-Vincent Massey Brandon)

Obijiaku is likely the most intrigu-ing out of all six recruits. Standing at six-foot-three and weighing 201 pounds, he has the size and speed to be a difference-maker at the col-legiate level. The former Vikings receiver was a team MVP in 2014 and was also the most outstanding player on offence for the squad in 2013.

With Alex Vitt, Dustin Pedersen,

Committed to the futureBison football announces commitment of 6 standout recruits for 2015 season

miKE still, staff

Push for the playoffsBison volleyball wins 3 of 4 at MacEwan, both teams qualify for post-season

miKE still, staff

The University of Manitoba Bison volleyball squads both had a lot to

play for entering the final series of the regular season. For the men, a chance to host a quarter-final match-up was on the line, while the women were hanging onto the final playoff spot in the highly competitive Canada West Conference and needed at least one win to guarantee themselves a posi-tion in the top seven.

Both teams did what they needed to do over the weekend set, taking three out of four matches.

Men The men swept a one-win

MacEwan squad, winning 3-1 (25-16, 25-19, 17-25, 25-22 on Saturday), (25-23, 23-25, 25-19, 25-14 on Sunday) in both contests. The Bisons were led on Saturday by Devren Dear, who finished with 13 kills, and Adam DeJonckheere, who had eight digs. Luke Herr and Kenny Rooney both

added two service aces. Sunday’s rematch saw another

impressive performance from both Dear and DeJonckheere, as each fin-ished with double digit kills. Dear recorded 21, while DeJonckheere had 12. Dear finished with a double-dou-ble, as he also had 11 digs, the same number as teammate Alex Strachan.

With his 350 total kills, Dear fin-ished second overall in the confer-ence, while his 406.5 points and 4.5 points per set ranked third and fourth respectively.

The Bisons will head into the playoffs as the number four seed and host fifth seeded UBC this weekend. Game times are 7 p.m. on both Friday and Saturday, and 6 p.m. on Sunday if necessary.

Women The women took one out of two

against MacEwan, falling 3-2 (17-25, 20-25, 25-18, 25-19, 10-15) on Saturday,

and Zach Regert firmly set in start-ing positions, along with the likes of Trysten Dyce and Ian Lee now hav-ing a year of experience, Obijiaku will start towards the bottom of the depth chart; however, he could easily spring past a few of the latter mentioned names with a strong training camp.

Randy Sanderson (OL-Sisler)At just 210 pounds, Sanderson

is slightly undersized as he makes the transition to the university level;

however, his resume speaks for itself. He was a member of the U18

Canada Cup team this past year, and was a teammate of Bredin’s for the International Bowl. Sanderson was also the Spartan’s MVP this past sea-son, which is impressive considering his position.

Given a year to get bigger, Sanderson could easily find himself in solid position on the Bisons’ offen-sive line.

and bouncing back on Sunday, with a 3-0 (25-19, 25-20, 25-23) win. The victory in the rematch was critical for the Bisons, who entered the weekend just two wins ahead of their opponent in the standings.

Rachel Cockrell was dominant again over the two match-ups, fin-ishing with a combined 42 kills. She capped off a tremendous 2014-15 cam-paign with a total of 471 kills, good for first overall in the conference.

Caleigh Dobie and Brittany Habing also had strong performances over the weekend. Dobie scooped up 45 total digs while Habing tallied 72 assists.

The women will head on the road this weekend for their quarter-final match-up as the sixth seed, taking on third seeded UBC Okanagan. Games will occur on Feb. 13, 14, and, if necessary, Feb. 15.

photo proviDeD by biSon SportS

graphiC by braDly Wohlgemuth

Sports VOL. 101 NO. 51February 11, 201524

Team

x-Saskatchewanx-Victoria x-Alberta x-Calgary x-UBC x-Winnipeg x-Manitoba Lethbridge Regina Trinity Western Brandon

Record

13-513-5 12-6 12-6 12-6 11-7 9-9 7-11 7-11 2-16 2-18

Streak

Won 1 Lost 1 Won 6 Lost 2 Won 3 Lost 1 Lost 5 Lost 1 Lost 6 Won 1 Won 1

Pioneer division men's basketball

x=clinched playoff birth NOTE: Top 7 seven teams clinch playoff birth

Team

y-Alberta y-Calgary x-Mount Royal x-UBC x-Manitoba x-Saskatchewan Regina Lethbridge

W

2420 17131510 85

L (regular)

3810 10 13151723

L (OT)

101 503 3 0

Points

49 40 35 31 30 23 1910

Men’s hockey

x=clinched playoff birth y=first round bye NOTE: Top six teams clinch playoff birth

Following the herdEnd of season stats

miKE still, staff

It was another successful regular season for a number of University

of Manitoba Bison teams. The foot-ball squad reclaimed the Hardy Cup, while both volleyball, and hockey teams clinched a playoff berth. The men’s basketball team will have a chance to secure a spot in the post-season as well, coming up this week-end, while the track and field team is also making strides.

With the track and field team hosting the Bison Classic this week-end, and men’s hockey and basketball on a break, the Manitoban decided to take a look at how each team has done statistically up to this point.

Men’s hockeyThe men’s hockey team had four

players all in the top 20 in scoring at the end of the regular season, with Jordan DePape leading the way. His 27 points tied him for sixth in the conference, while Aaron Lewadniuk was right behind, at ninth, with 25. Taylor Dickin finished 12th with 24 points, with first-year player Shaq Merasty rounding things out, ranked 14 with 23 points.

Deven Dubyk was an ironman in net for Manitoba, as he led the conference in games played, at 21, as well as total minutes, with 1212:54. His 577 saves were also well above any other tender in the Canada West. Jesse Paradis and Darren Bestland led the team in plus/minus, as both finished at plus 11 on the season.

Men’s basketballThe men’s squad is right near

the top of the list when it comes to points per game. Their 79.7 PPG is tied for fifth in the 17-team confer-ence, alongside Regina. Individually, co-captain Wyatt Anders has led the way. His 9.5 rebounds per game places him fifth in the conference. Anders has nearly averaged a double-double every game, as he puts up 10.2 points per game.

AJ Basi has been the team leader in points per game, with 17, which is all the more impressive, considering he came off of the bench for a number of the Bisons’ contests this year. That number also places him 10th overall in the conference.

As a whole, the men’s squad has

five players who have all averaged double digits in points per game – four of whom are starters. Along with Basi and Anders, Justus Alleyn (12.0), Andre Arruda (11.2), and Stephan Walton (10.1) have all eclipsed 10+ points as an average.

Track and field The track and field squad had a

successful weekend at home, captur-ing the team title in the sixth annual Bison Classic.

The University of Manitoba had a strong showing in a number of events over the two-day competition. Friday was highlighted by a victory in the female 4x200-metre relay, where they placed first in a time of 1:39.82. Individually on the first day of events,

Melissa Richards had the strongest showing among Bison athletes, plac-ing second in the triple jump, with a distance of 11.23 metres.

Saturday saw the action pick up, with events occurring all throughout the morning and afternoon. Amy Graceffo was the star of the day, plac-ing third in the 60-metre hurdles (0.84-8.5m), and second in the long jump. The men excelled in the high jump, with Eric Guy placing first, and Oyinkansola Akinola and Chad Enns tying for third.

The University of Manitoba is looking strong heading into their biggest home event, which will occur on Feb. 27, and 28, as they host the Canada West track and field championships.