Ω FILE PHOTO

Québec students teach strike methods 2

Wait until it’s out of the theatre. 5

THEΩMEGA

VOLUME 21ISSUE 32

AUGUST 2012

TRU’s Independent Student Newspaper

Get ready folks!We’re about to gear up for fall

Golf team finally has a woman 6

August, 20122

WINDSOR (CUP) — Ontario students are training to match Que-bec student protesters’ successes in engaging and mobilizing students against tuition hikes.

Post-secondary students in Quebec went on strike in February to oppose a $1,778 tuition increase over seven years. Students gained public sup-port after Quebec passed Bill 78, an emergency law that limits protests and punishes violations with severe fines.

The University of Toronto Grad-uate Students’ Union hosted an Ontario Student Strike Training Camp from July 27 to 29. The conference con-sisted of a series of discussion groups and work-shops designed to teach students how to hold gen-eral assemblies and organize strikes.

Workshops covered topics such as holding general assemblies, differ-entiating strikes from other actions, enforcing strikes, working with me-dia and dealing with police responses. About 260 students from across the political spectrum attended, mostly from Ontario, but some came from as far away as British Columbia, New Brunswick and Minnesota. Student strikers came from Quebec led the workshops.

“There’s a lot of interest right now in moving towards direct democratic structures,” said Ashleigh Ingle, UTGSU’s civics and environment commissioner, in reference to mecha-nisms such as Quebec’s general as-semblies.

At Quebec universities, students have the right to bring forward mo-tions, vote and speak in regular gen-eral assemblies which are organized by departments and faculties. Quebec students started their strike through motions put forward at these assem-blies.

“Right now in Ontario we don’t have these structures set up,” Ingle said. “A lot of focus is on student union executives and not on actual member engagement. I think the first step is to make that transition.”

Quebec organizers consistently em-phasized the dif-ference between their strike and other actions such as boycotts, walkouts or demonstrations.

Where most of those actions are voluntary, the student strike has often been enforced through picket lines much like labour strikes.

Par t icipants simulated en-

forcing a strike by blocking access to classrooms and buildings. Students linked arms in front of a classroom’s doors and used waste disposal recep-tacles and couches as barricades.

“You have no right to keep us out!” shouted camp organizers pretending to be students opposed to the strike as they attempted to enter the classroom by force.

“Are you proud of yourself right now?” another organizer from Que-bec asked as he shoved a cellphone camera in students’ faces to take their photographs.

After failing to gain entry by force, subterfuge, pleading and reason they marched outside to hold their class outside.

The goal of a campus strike is to prevent any academic activity that could lead to accreditation, includ-ing classes, assignments and exams. In order to achieve this objective, the camp’s participants marched outside and interrupted the “class” by chant-ing too loudly for it to continue.

Jihong Kim supports the concept of general assemblies and attended the training camp to learn more about what students are doing at other uni-versities.

“It is something that should be built from the bottom up because student representatives are supposed to repre-sent the students,” said Kim, a gradu-ate student in communication studies and social justice at the University of Windsor.

“You don’t have to be a leader in an organization to build a student move-ment,” he added.

Ingle, who organized the training camp, said that tactics used by On-tario students in their struggles aren’t working.

“We need to show them that there’s a better way to do this. Hopefully we can bring people into collective deci-sion-making and talk to them about different forms of collective direct ac-tion that we could take.

“Even a one-day student strike that’s actually voted on by students is a lot more powerful than a one-day protest where there’s no actual man-date from students to do it.”

Soft strikes vs. hard strikes

Strikes can be voluntary or soft, where students choose to walk out and boycott their classes, assignments and exams.

“In a soft picket, you’re not blocking people from going to class,” explained a strike organizer from Quebec, who did not wish to be named.

“You gather outside of the class, hand them information and try to con-vince them to join you.”

Soft strikes are voluntary. Students who wish to continue

learning and faculty and staff who want to continue running the univer-sity are allowed to do so.

Pickets can also be hard or enforced, where student strikers act to ensure that no academic activity that would lead to a diploma is allowed to happen, includ-ing classes and assignments.

Frank Levesque-Nicol, from the Student Association Faculty of Hu-manities at the University of Quebec at Montreal, explained to participants, “If you are going to have an effective strike, and you let people have their courses, then you endanger everyone else’s ability to have the strike protect-ed from negative consequences.”

“We realized soft pickets are futile,” the Quebec organizer said, adding that the negative consequences for strikers could include failing the semester.

Solidarity and repression

Quebec students have been on strike since February, and the long-term action has taken its toll. The response from police has especially affected strikers.

“It takes a psychological toll when

targeted arrests are closing in on your close friends … or even the experi-ence of having a rubber bullet shot at you, it can be traumatizing,” said Brad Vaughan, who gave a session on po-lice repression at the camp. “We need to develop strategies of self-care and community care that deal with the re-alities of repression and how it affects people.”

During his workshop, Vaughan raised theoretical questions about what repression does to movements, and what movements do to themselves in response to repression. He pointed out how a social movement can be-come divided when protestors are cat-egorized as good or bad, which drives a wedge between radical and moder-ate protestors.

“This repression will induce self-policing within movements … it will also induce paranoia and fear that pre-vents militant tactics from spreading,” Vaughan warned.

Practical measures like legal sup-port are used to deal with police’s responses, said Vaughan. But more important is “Standing publicly and firmly against repression and … tak-ing a public stance supporting a diver-sity of tactics.”

The Lance (University of Windsor)Darryl Gallinger

Feature

—PHOTO COURTESY NICOLAS QUIAZUA / LE DELIT (COVER PHOTO COURTESY HERA CHAN / MCGILL DAILY)“We need to

show them that there’s a better way to do this.”

—Ashleigh Ingle

Ontario students get schooled in how to strike

ON THE COVER:Much merriment was had at the 2011 orientation and back-to-school barbeque, held the first week

of each fall semester. Take advantage of all the free swag, meet some new people, find out what there is

to do on and around campus, and get fed of free! This year’s orientation happens Sept. 4 and the barbeque

is scheduled for Sept. 7.

Summer Contest!Design an Omega (Ω) symbol that we can call our own!

Email your designs to editorofomega@gmail.comand be a part of TRU history by having your design

featured in the paper. Great Prizes, too!

UBC researcher hopes to take the stigma out of HIV testing

VANCOUVER (CUP) — A new HIV prevention initiative pioneered by a UBC researcher seeks to expand HIV testing beyond only at-risk communities, focusing instead on those who are at a low risk of infection or believe that they are HIV-negative.

“We’re trying to take the stigma out of the equation,” explains Dr. Julio Mon-taner, director of the B.C. Centre for Ex-cellence and head of the AIDS division in the UBC Faculty of Medicine. “We no longer want to target HIV testing to people who are at risk, because we’ve done that already. We want to confirm that 99 plus per cent of society is nega-tive, but help those who don’t know their status or are unsuspecting and help them get access to proper treatment.”

Montaner intends to test the general public on a strictly voluntary basis. The

program uses a rapid-result test that takes only 60 seconds to determine a patient’s status; if the result is positive, this is con-firmed by a second test run in a full lab. Anyone who has been sexually active in the last five decades could be at risk for the disease, he said.

Various rapid-testing clinics have spo-radically offered the 60-second test on UBC campus, but UBC Student Health Services currently only offers the full lab HIV test with a longer wait.

Reactions across UBC varied; many students had no qualms about taking or retaking an HIV test. Angus Chak, a third-year Commerce student, was unsure whether he would take the test: “I don’t know if I would take the test. Maybe, probably. Probably would. I don’t [know] for sure.”

Testing costs would be subsidized by Vancouver Coastal Health. Montaner ar-gues that the cost of testing should pay for itself in the future by making sure HIV-positive people begin treatment early.

An earlier program involved giving the rapid HIV test to 20,000 patients at St. Paul’s Hospital, Vancouver General Hospital and other Vancouver clinics. Patients visiting for a non-HIV/AIDS re-lated complaint were offered a rapid HIV test, and 97 per cent accepted. While ac-ceptance was high, “the rate of offer was less than 50 per cent,” reported Dr. Mon-taner. “Doctors or nurses didn’t have the time or the confidence to [offer the test].”

According to Montaner, 21 per cent of HIV-positive individuals are unaware of their status, and infected people who don’t know their status account for 54 per cent of new infections. “If we could test everybody in British Columbia today, we could potentially find 3500 HIV-positive individuals and virtually end HIV trans-mission in the province,” said Montaner.

“We’re trying to use B.C. as a testing ground for how far we can push the en-velope and eradicate this epidemic,” said Montaner. “People infected with HIV need treatment. Full stop.”

The Ubyssey (UBC)Marion Benkaiouche

—PHOTO COURTESY KAI JACOBSON / THE UBYSSEY

publishingboardEDITOR-IN-CHIEF * Mike DaviesBUSINESS MGR * Natasha SlackINDUSTRY REP * Mike YoudsFACULTY REP * Charles HaysSTUDENT REP* Sadie Cox

letterspolicyLiterary and visual submissions are welcomed. All submissions are subject to editing for brevity, taste and legality. The Omega will attempt to publish each letter received, barring time and space constraints. The editor will take care not to change the intention or tone of submissions, but will not publish material deemed to exhibit sexism, racism or homophobia. Letters for publication must include the writer’s name (for publication) and contact details (not for publication). The Omega reserves the right not to publish any letter or submitted material. Opinions expressed in the Letters & Opinion section do not represent those of The Omega, the Cariboo Student Newspaper Society, its Board of Directors or its staff. Opinions belong only to those who have signed them.

copyrightAll material in this publication is copyright The Omega and may not be reproduced without the expressed consent of the publisher. All unsolicited submissions become copyright Omega 2012.

3

THE MEGA

August, 2012 Volume 21, Issue 32

Published since November 27, 1991

Cariboo Student Newspaper Society(Publisher of The Omega)TRU Campus House #4

Box 3010, Kamloops, B.C. V2C 5N3Phone: 250-372-1272

E-mail: editorofomega@gmail.comAd Enquiries:

managerofomega@gmail.com

(Correspondence not intended for publication should be labelled as such.)

editorialstaffEDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Mike Davieseditorofomega@gmail.com/250-372-1272

BUSINESS MANAGERVACANT

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT EDITORWill resume fall 2012

SPORTS EDITORWill resume fall 2012

Copy EditorWill resume fall 2012

Photo EditorWill resume fall 2012

News EditorWill resume fall 2012

Roving EditorWill resume fall 2012

www.theomega.ca

omegacontributors Darryl Gallinger, Marion Ben-kaiouche, Benedict Reiners, Bronte Renwick-Shields, Larry Read, David Dyck, Adam Williams, Samantha Garvey

The Omega · Volume 21, Issue 32

Editorial/Opinions

Follow us on

Twitter:

@TRU_Omega

and “Like” us on

Facebook.

Do it.

Seriously.

Allow this to be my pre-wel-come to the fall 2012 semester here at Thompson Rivers University.

I say “pre-welcome” because I will be fully welcoming you in the Sept. 5 edition — as well as introducing you to our editorial staff — but since the semester of-ficially commences before that, and this edition will be the last of the summer, I’d hate to have anyone who gets here a bit early thinking we’re ignoring them.

Here’s a quick list of hints to help you out as you begin the year. I’ve been doing this univer-sity thing longer than I care to admit, and as such I feel it’s my duty to pass on bits of wisdom.

1. Asking for help is not a sign of weakness.

People think that if they talk to their professors about problems they’re having with their course that they’ll be judged or punished in some way. This couldn’t be further from the truth.

Going to your professor to ask questions not only helps you to understand the course material better — and therefore helps in your goal, which hopefully is ac-ademic success and knowledge-gaining — but also shows that teacher that you are serious about the class and want to succeed.

Don’t stick your nose up their rear-end, but don’t feel like you need to hide from them if you don’t understand something.

2. Balance work and play.Getting good grades is admi-

rable, but you need to take time for other things, too.

Join a club (or multiple clubs) and have some fun meeting new people. Go to the bar and mingle.

This is considered by many to be the best time of your life, so don’t spend it all in your room with your books.

That said…don’t go too far the other way, either.

You’re wasting both time and money for no reason if you don’t complete your coursework and learn what you’re here to learn. You don’t have to pay tuition and fees to party with college kids, so if that’s all you want to do, just save that cash. You’ll need it for beer.

3. Respect each other. No two of you are the same.

Delight in these differences rather than using them as barri-ers.

Don’t stick to your crew — whether that crew is depart-mental, ethnic, or some other exclusive bond, there is much to learn and much fun to be had by branching out and appreciating each other.

4. Respect each other. This is so important it needs to

be said twice. This time it means acknowledging those differences in a different context.

Not everyone wants to hear you talk about your weekend with your friends while they try to study in the library, so shut up.

You might not care about what the school physically looks like, but others do, so leave the spray-paint at the hardware store.

Take your eyes off your phone while you’re walking so people don’t have to dodge you on the paths between buildings.

Don’t go to class if you need to follow Facebook statuses more closely than whatever your profes-sor is saying, because that’s re-ally, REALLY annoying for other people. That goes for game play-ing, too. Just don’t go if you’re not there to learn, because others are.

5. Self-examine frequently. This is when you’re forming

your identity, so every now and then take a minute to think about whether what you’re doing rep-resents who you are and who you want to be.

People are judged by their ac-tions, so act in the way you want to be judged going forward in life.

Everyone makes mistakes, but if you consciously decide who you want to be and put that self out into the world, I think you’ll find you make fewer of them and the ones you make will be less costly.

Anyway, I’m done preaching (for now). Go forth and educate yourselves! I’ll see you again on Sept. 5.

editorofomega@gmail.com

Mike Davies Ω Editor-in-Chief

Editor’s Note

Positions Available

Dear International Olympic Committee, International Associa-tion of Athletics Federations and all other governing bodies of Olympic sport;

I was hoping that you could clari-fy some things for me.

Taoufik Makhloufi from Algeria was ejected from the 2012 Summer Games for “failure to compete hon-estly,” after not trying to win a race that he was not allowed to simply withdraw from so he could con-serve energy for another race.

Eight badminton players were thrown out of the games for at-tempting to lose matches to give themselves a more favourable draw for future matches in which losing would cause elimination.

While I completely agree that the integrity of sport must be main-tained in order for sport itself to remain both competitive for the participants and entertaining and engaging for the spectators, I find it a bit hypocritical to be expelling these athletes for the reasons stated.

When asked how one manages to recover from one race so quickly as to go back in the pool 13 minutes later and win a gold medal, U.S. swimmer Missy Franklin didn’t try to hide the facts, saying that in the first race she only had to qualify, so a “top eight time” was good enough.

That doesn’t exactly sound like she was trying to win that race. It actually sounds like what Makhlou-fi did — saved his energy for a race that mattered.

Wait…that sounds like what those badminton players were do-ing, too — strategically planned their Olympic Games to give them the best shot at medalling.

So I ask you this: will you please explain to me why some people are allowed to not try in order to better their chances overall, but when oth-ers do it, it’s disgracing the games — or sport in general?

I expect that you can’t really an-swer that, actually, because whatev-er your reasoning is, it wouldn’t be good. How about we consider it rhe-torical, and I’ll just offer a couple of suggestions instead.

What if, in the future, you do away with this whole round-robin to establish opponents in elimina-tion matches?

Set the bracket — double-elimi-nation-style (I’ll draw you one up, it’s not complicated) — and play it out. You won’t see people trying to lose, I guarantee it.

Also, stop having qualifying races where more than one person moves on to the next round. How many lanes are there in a pool? Run that many qualifiers, and each win-ner gets into the heat where the top three get medals.

Better yet, just run three quali-fiers. Then race the winners to see which medals they get.

You can do this for athletics, too!Run three heats for each distance.

The winner of each heat gets to run another race to see what kind of shiny necklace they get.

I think you’ll find it levels the playing field — at least in terms of who is trying to win every time they compete.

If you make it so the easiest way to win is to lose sometimes, that’s what some people will try to do.

Some of what’s wrong with the

Summer Olympics

Get ready people!

Ω Editor-in-ChiefMike Davies

A quick primer before the fall semester starts

Management positions available at The Omega for the 2012/13 academic year

Are you a highly motivated, in-dependent worker with a reliable vehicle, a valid driver’s license and a passion for marketing?

Are you an experienced book-keeper or business manager with accounting experience familiar with non-profit organization finances?

We want to hear from you!

The Omega is currently hiring a business manager and an ad-vertising and distribution man-ager for the upcoming fall and winter semesters.

Position 1: Business Manager

The ideal candidate for this position will be proficient in all aspects of accounting and book-keeping.

Responsible for the financial transactions of the organization and oversight of the advertising and distribution manager, the suc-cessful candidate will likely only be required for approximately ten (10) hours per week at The Omega offices, but will be required to keep constant watch on the finan-cial aspects of the business.

Compensation and benefits:

-Salary of $800 per month

-Tuition reimbursement for one course (up to three credits) at TRU-$50.00 per semester textbook allowance-Reimbursement of on-campus parking fees to a maximum of $50.00 per month

Position 2: Advertising and Distribution Manager

The ideal candidate for this position will be a self-starter with a valid driver’s license and reliable vehicle, and a passion for marketing.

Responsible for all aspects of advertising with the publication including sales and invoicing, as well as distribution of the pub-lication, this position will work closely with the business man-ager to ensure that revenue gen-eration is at a level allowing the organization to succeed, as well as planning special events and interacting with readers through social media.

Compensation and benefits:

-$80.00 per issue honorarium-Commission on new advertis-ing accounts-Tuition reimbursement for one course (up to three credits) at

TRU-$50.00 per semester textbook allowance-Reimbursement of on-campus parking fees to a maximum of $50.00 per month

Interested parties may submit a resume including references and covering letter to:

Mike Davies, Editor-in-Chief

By email (preferred) at:

editorofomega@gmail.com

Or by mail at:

The Omega, TRU’s Independent Student Newspaper900 McGill Road, TRU Campus House #4Box 3010 Kamloops, BC V2C 5N3

Positions will remain open until f illed.

The Omega would like to thank all applicants for their interest however only those selected for interviews will be contacted.

No phone calls or drop-ins please.

August, 20124

Life & Community

BURNABY (CUP) — Re-cently, in response to both the Alberta and federal govern-ments pushing for B.C. to allow Enbridge’s Northern Gateway pipeline to be built through the province, the B.C. government issued a set of f ive criteria that the project must meet in order for the province to allow it.

These criteria aim to do a va-riety of tasks, and focus on the protection of the environment with three of the f ive criteria. The other two terms deal with B.C.’s f inancial compensation for its part in the project, and the rights of the First Nations who will be affected by the project.

Though the terms laid are far from ideal, and will likely do little to even slow the project, let alone stop it, they represent the provincial government doing what it can with the little inf lu-ence it has.

Criticism for the criteria has come from a variety of sources, with many, notably the Albertan provincial government, who say that B.C. should not stand in the way of such a large economic de-velopment.

Environmentalists have op-posed it too, suggesting that what B.C. needs to do is not simply set up a series of crite-ria, but rather refuse the project outright.

However, even they must real-ize that they couldn’t just stop this project in its tracks, not with the current attitudes of both the federal and Alberta govern-ments.

Judging by the efforts of these two groups pushing this project forward, the pipeline is likely to be made, one way or another, and at this point even environmental-ists must see that the best that the provincial government can do is stall it, ensure that any spills will be cleaned up as efficiently as possible and milk it for what it’s worth to the province.

One thing that the environ-mentalists should like is the inclusion of terms demanding an expedient, eff icient cleanup. The fact remains that there is a high probability that there will be a spill at some point, sooner or later.

When that happens, the best thing that opponents of the proj-ect can hope for will be that it will be cleaned up expediently, with as little damage being done

to the environment as possible, and that those responsible for the project will be held account-able when such problems come to light.

These criteria aim to make sure this happens.

The criteria have actually put the federal government in a dif-f icult place, and could take them out of the process to some de-gree, something that the envi-ronmentalists should like.

If the Tories push it through without accepting the terms of the criteria, they will look like the bad guys in B.C., and will likely suffer a blow to their pop-ularity in our province. How-ever, if they validate the terms, Alberta will respond similarly, and the Tories will risk offend-ing their base.

This may have even pushed the federal government towards supporting B.C.’s demands, had it not been for the fact that they already know that in all likeli-hood, almost anyone who would consider themselves environ-mentalists would not vote for them in the f irst place.

If anything, the best thing that the B.C. government did in the criteria to prevent the federal government from just pushing the project through was to in-volve groups other than just en-vironmentalists.

This is most prominent in the monetary terms, which instantly make sure that it’s in everyone in the province’s best interest to have the criteria implemented.

This has also been done on a more narrowly defined level as well, with the inclusion of terms for B.C.’s First Nations.

These terms mean that anyone trying to push aside the crite-ria is essentially attempting to push aside First Nations’ rights, likely offending many First Na-tions groups not only in B.C., but across the country.

This may not have stopped ei-ther this government, or others before it from pushing forward projects in the past, but at least it means that, come election day, they may feel its consequences.

Although B.C. may not be the source of the oil heading through the pipeline, it will bear most of the risk for it.

As such, it deserves to be rightfully compensated and given a say in how the project will move forward. We’re facing an uphill battle, but at least the province is doing what it can.

The Enbridge debate continues: Two opinions

Premier Christy Clark recently announced various criteria that will need to be fulfilled before the Northern Gateway Pipeline project will be given the go-ahead by the provincial govern-ment. Benedict Reiners (SFU) and Brontë Renwick-Shields (UVIC) share their thoughts. —PHOTO COURTESY ERIC MILLER (THE PEAK)

Seems as though the two sides have become “What’s in it for us?” and “No.”

VICTORIA (CUP) — Imagine trying to navigate a boat as long as the Eiffel Tower is tall through B.C.’s northern coastline, avoiding rocks, marine life and, most importantly, the shore. Sounds hard, right? Now imagine that boat is carrying two million barrels of crude oil onboard.

Enbridge would like to see 225 tankers per year take that dangerous journey. The company’s proposed $6-billion Northern Gateway Pipe-lines Project would run 1177 kilome-tres of pipe from Alberta to Kitimat, B.C., where 450 million barrels of crude oil would be loaded into tank-ers set for Asia.

The Enbridge pipeline would re-quire tankers to navigate through Hecate Strait, which Environment Canada has labeled “the fourth most dangerous body of water in the world.”

The project has met strong resis-tance from First Nations communi-ties, environmental groups and many B.C. residents. Critics claim this project would put B.C.’s rainforests, rivers, lakes and oceans at risk, and could have detrimental effects on the health and livelihood of all who live here.

The project could also hurt the province financially. If a tanker were to leak or a pipeline to burst, B.C.’s fishing and tourism industries would be devastated as the Pacific coastline and rivers that are home to salmon, such as the Skeena and Fraser, would be contaminated.

Enbridge already has a question-able track record. The company has reported 804 oil spills from 1999–2010, and this number continues to grow. In 2010, Enbridge’s Keystone XL pipeline poured three million litres of oil into Michigan’s Kalama-zoo River, while this July, the Key-stone XL pipeline dumped 190 000 litres of oil onto a Wisconsin field.

On July 27, B.C. Premier Christy Clark issued her statement on the project. She presented a five-point

proposal that requires Enbridge to provide B.C. with world-class spill protection, prevention and response systems and successfully complete an environmental review. The com-pany also needs to comply with legal requirements and treaty rights for First Nations groups and give B.C. economic benefits that reflect the risks the province will bear.

Even if all these measures are fol-lowed, however, there will still be negative repercussions to consider. With B.C. taking almost all of the risk, is it even possible to receive enough “economic benefits” to com-pensate for it?

David Anderson, former B.C. Lib-eral leader and former federal Min-ister of Environment, Fisheries and Oceans, said, “No amount of money can protect our coast, and no amount of money can repair the damage of a spill of heavy Alberta crude oil.”

Anderson recently produced a message on behalf of the Dogwood

Initative that was deployed to Pre-mier Clark’s riding. During the au-tomated phone call, Anderson said, “Clark needs to firmly say no to these risky projects.” He urged members of the riding to say the same.

The call included a poll on whether or not residents agreed with the pipe-line plans. Eighty-one per cent stated they did not agree with the plans. Of those who disagreed with the plan, more than 90 per cent wouldn’t be swayed even by more money from Alberta or the implementation of world-class safety systems.

The question stands whether or not this is in the best interest of B.C.’s future. Should we not be making ef-forts to turn away from fossil fuels and look for cleaner, more sustain-able methods of energy? Most im-portantly, what happens when the oil runs out?

Premier Clark needs to listen to the residents of B.C. and understand that “no” means “no.”

Christy Clark’s conditions for Enbridge pipeline good for B.C.

The price will never be right for the Northern Gateway pipelineThe Martlet (UVIC)Brontë Renwick-Shields

The Peak (SFU)Benedict Reiners

—IMAGE COURTESY ALAIN WILLIAMS (THE MARTLET)

YOUR THOUGHTS?Chime in on the pipeline or any other story you see in

The Omega.You’ll find most of what’s in the paper online at

www.theomega.ca and can comment there, or join the discussion on Facebook or Twitter!

The Omega · Volume 21, Issue 32 5

Arts & Entertainment

I’m a big fan of Will Ferrell, and I don’t mind Zach Galifiana-kis (especially his early comedy routines where he played piano and just chatted about nonsense). I also love the ridiculousness of the American political land-scape.

So I had high hopes for this film.

Ferrell plays Cam Brady, a North Carolina congressman about to (he assumes) begin his fifth term in office “represent-ing” the good people of the 14th district of that fine state.

For those of you familiar with Ferrell’s work, picture Ricky Bobby mixed with Ron Bur-gundy and dressed in a current businessman’s (or politician’s…because let’s be honest, they’re the same thing most of the time) wardrobe. It’s typical Ferrell, which is good if you like that, although this particular charac-ter won’t have you quoting lines to your buddies years down the road as previous Ferrell charac-ters have.

Brady has obviously settled into his congressional role of talking points, shaking hands and smiling at photo-ops and cashing his public-funded pay-cheque while not doing much for

that public, and this introduction leads you to think that this film will say a lot about what needs fixing in U.S. politics.

Just as Brady is about to ac-cept another term as congress-man, a dumpy, well-mannered — though quite strange — family man named Marty Huggins (Gal-ifianakis) shows up at the court-house to announce his candidacy, which is being bankrolled by bil-lionaire brothers (quite obvious-ly modelled after the Koch broth-ers). Huggins doesn’t realize that he’s being used by the corporate elites, and thinks his father — a long-time inf luential figure of some kind — has finally decided to let him join the political game to better the region.

Hijinks ensue.While I won’t go so far as to

say that it’s a waste of time, I will strongly encourage you to wait until it comes out on video — or Netf lix or whatever you use now that rental establishments are all but gone — to devote an hour and a half to it.

I wanted to be able to say that it was a hilarious romp or a bit-ing satire of the state of Ameri-can politics, or both.

But honestly, it’s neither.You would think that two co-

medic heavyweights like Ferrell and Galifianakis could enter the world of comedy gold that is the

American political landscape, and have you holding your guts or leaving the theatre to catch your breath a couple of times, but I never even missed any jokes because I was laughing too hard at the last one. And vulgarity for no reason isn’t funny, nor is punching a baby in the face.

Sure, there are some funny parts, and it makes some good observations about the electoral process south of the border, but overall, it’s just not quite hitting on all cylinders in either catego-ry.

The characters are good and well-developed, but despite some great one-liners like Huggins’ father telling his son that he’s not likely to ever be proud of him because next to his brother, he “looks like Richard Simmons crapped out a Hobbit,” there just isn’t enough entertainment value in this film to warrant the ticket price that theatres demand these days.

Too bad, too — there was a lot of potential here.

This is one of the few Ferrell offerings I won’t have in my per-sonal collection, but it was worth seeing once.

Maybe in the upcoming An-chorman sequel Ron will run for office and Ferrell can have an-other shot at this? I doubt it, but we’ll see.

Film Review: The Campaign

Ω Editor-in-ChiefMike Davies

Worth your time, but not the price of a cinema admission

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August, 20126

Sports

WolfPack golf makes history

There have been a number of special and historic moments since head coach Bill Bilton Jr. took over the golf program at Thompson Rivers University f ive years ago. The latest has come in the form of Natasha MacKenzie.

M a c k e n z i e has become the f irst wom-an to play golf at TRU.

“I think its great to start a women’s pro-gram at TRU,” said Bilton, who is hoping to have more women try out when the team has their train-ing camp later this month. “It’s long overdue, women’s golf has so many open doors and ca-reer opportunities.”

Mackenzie is a graduate of South Kamloops Secondary and will continue to take courses at Thompson Rivers in the business program. She was in the f irst year of the program in 2011-12.

“I’ve been playing golf since 2008 and have been serious about the sport for three years,” she said. “I was determined to get a job at a golf course and pur-sue a career in the golf industry. Luckily, I got a job at Tobiano. I have been training and playing around 30 hours a week.”

“I am very excited to be the f irst fe-male golfer at TRU,” she adds. “What an honor. I am extremely excited to be part of the Wolf Pack and hope to get a lot of wins for the team this year.”

Bilton said M a c K e n z i e actually came to him about starting a

women’s program. “I have hoped to start a wom-

en’s program but unfortunately there are not very many female players. Hopefully, Natasha’s presence will encourage more women to join the team.”

MacKenzie’s gender isn’t the only dimension she brings to

the team, according to her new coach.

“She has an excellent demean-or for golf and seems dedicated to the team. She has already found us a great sponsor in Riv-ershore Ram.”

“I’d like to say it’s not the size of the dog in the f ight but the amount of f ight in the dog,” MacKenzie said as she assessed her strengths.

“My biggest strength is also my greatest weakness. I have the ability to f ight and overcome in a tournament when I’m losing and come from behind for the win, but I can also do just the opposite and get myself down on my game and lose my control. Another strength I have would have to be that I am always will-ing to change something in my game to make it better. I am al-ways excited when something new works better than how I was doing it before its good to keep an open mind.

“Also, lots of people can hit the ball a long ways off the tee which I can also do, but I feel that not many people have a good enough short game around the greens, that’s definitely one of my strengths. I have a lot of love for this sport and it gives me the desire to achieve and overcome.”

MacKenzie recently won a Na-tional amateur in the women’s di-vision and has won a number of smaller tournaments held at To-biano this year.

PACWEST women’s golf is only a three-person affair. Bilton is hoping to recruit two more females to play alongside with MacKenzie.

She looked at the University of Fraser Valley, UBC, Univer-sity of Victoria and Camosun College before deciding to stay at home and play for Thompson Rivers.

“I think other woman should join the golf team because it gives any golfer great experi-ence with playing lots of com-petitive golf and it is a great way to kick your game up a notch,” MacKenzie said.

“You get a lot of one on one at-tention from the Coach Bill Bil-ton Jr. as a woman golfer and I can say it is hard to play as many events as the guys and have as many opportunities.

“Being on a golf team gives the opportunity to play lots of tournaments.“

“If anyone is interested in try-ing out, they don’t have to feel that they have to shoot under 80,” said Bilton.

“If they do, that’s great. But mid 80’s is a great start and I can help them improve their games as long as they are willing to do it.”

The Wolf Pack have their training on Thursday, Aug. 30 and Friday Aug. 31 at the Dunes in Kamloops.

All players must be at the golf course by 11:15 a.m. on the f irst day and 7 a.m. on the Friday. All late-comers will be disqualif ied. For more information, contact Coach Bilton at (778) 220-4064 or (250) 579-3300 or email him at billjr@golfthedunes.com.

TRU AthleticsLarry Read

SFU conditionally approved for NCAA as first non-American school

BURNABY (CUP) — The Nation-al Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) has conditionally approved Simon Fraser University (SFU) for membership. This will make SFU the first Canadian school to be accepted in the century-old organization.

While SFU has been a member for the past three years, the decision was made recently to grant an exception to SFU’s lack of U.S. accreditation in order to compete in the post-season. This gives SFU the chance to win an NCAA national — now international — championship.

“It’s the culmination of a total campus commitment from Presi-dent Petter to Tim Rahilly to every-one you can think of, to become the first international school to join the NCAA,” SFU’s athletic director, Milt Richards, told The Peak. “It’s a trib-ute to Simon Fraser; if we weren’t such a great university academically, this wouldn’t happen.

“To make a long story short, the president’s council [the policy mak-ers for Division Two] had a meeting,” Richards explained. “They discussed it and basically said, ‘Here’s what we’re going to do for Simon Fraser: as long as you’re a candidate for ac-creditation,’ which we are, ‘as long as you’re accredited by your country’s accreditation, we’ll waive the bylaw that says you have to be accredited by a U.S. accreditation.’ ”

While Canada has no accreditation agencies similar to those in the U.S., SFU’s membership in the Associa-tion of Colleges and Universities of Canada (AUCC) has served as an ac-ceptable replacement. The AUCC is a lobby group that represents over 90 universities nationally.

Meanwhile, SFU is currently still in the process of gaining U.S. ac-creditation with the Northwest Com-mission on Colleges and Universities (NWCCU). It is projected that SFU will not earn full accreditation until 2017.

Richards made it clear that despite being in the NCAA, SFU teams will still compete against their Canadian rivals.

“We would not have enough games and contests and matches if we only played U.S. schools, and we are a Ca-nadian institution, and we’re proud of being in Canada,” said Richards.

Richards explained that the process for joining NCAA’s Division Two — the only division that has voted to al-low international institutions to join — takes three years. In the first two years, the candidate institution is in-eligible for championships.

He stated that last year’s men’s soccer, women’s basketball, track and field athletes, swimming, and wrestling all would have had good chances to be in the NCAA nationals, but were ineligible.

“Softball would have made it the way they finished the season,” said Richards.

“When you have a really com-petitive program and you tell a stu-dent athlete that they can’t compete in championships? You hate to talk about negative recruiting, but you know other people talked about that; well that’s now been removed. That’s a big deal.”

“I’m ecstatic for the whole depart-ment, we definitely have some very strong teams,” said volleyball head coach Lisa Sulatycki.

“You look at the men’s soccer team last year, who didn’t get their chance, and now they’re going to have their chance to do that.”

The Peak (SFU)David Dyck

Natasha MacKenzie joins the TRU golf squad, brings total women in PacWest golf to three

WolfPack golf recruit Natasha MacKenzie (Photo courtesy of TRU Athletics)

“Hopefully Natasha’s

presence will encourage more women to join

the team.”

—Bill Bilton Jr.

Not just about medalsOur resident sports expert chimes in on the Olympics

Few would dispute that spectator sports are all about winning.

Fans gather together to watch a sporting event, pinning their hopes on their favourite team, and for most it’s not so much about seeing a good game or a few fantastic plays, it’s about seeing the “right team” emerge victorious.

For the owners, executives, man-agers, and coaches of these teams it’s the same story — their liveli-hoods depend on their team securing enough wins each year to be consid-ered successful.

After all, spectator sports are re-ally nothing more than a business nowadays, and successful teams are better business.

With each new season hopes are renewed that this might be “the year” and organizations put together mar-keting campaigns aimed at attracting fans to games to support the home team.

In a way, it’s sort of sad that the sports that we played for fun as chil-dren are reduced to nothing more than a job, where the focus is on be-coming bigger, faster, stronger, and to make as much money as possible.

However, there is one event that’s the exception to the rule in spectator sports.

It’s an event that doesn’t buy into the monetary rewards and business like approach that is so prevalent in the rest of the sporting community, which is arguably its most redeeming quality.

I’m talking, of course, about the Olympic Games.

As a sports fan it has taken me a while to realize that the Olympics, as an event, are an entirely different animal.

Sure, everyone wants to see their country do well, but the medal stand-ings aren’t the most important part of the games.

It’s no longer just about winning and losing, it’s about an athlete get-ting the opportunity to represent his or her country on the world’s greatest stage.

It’s about seeing childhood dreams come true, putting years of hard work, sacrifice, and training to the test.

It’s about the world’s countries putting aside their differences for 16 days and showing that there is poten-tial for us to all exist together in this world. And aside from minor sports, the Olympics are the only time be-yond the sports we played as children where the fact that an athlete tried and did his or her best really does count for something.

For a long time I was frustrated by Canada’s performance at the games — especially the summer games. I wanted to see Canada win, and like it or not I was not all that impressed with bronze medals or fourth-place finishes.

But something shifted for me this year watching the games in London. Instead of being disappointed by third and fourth place finishes I was instead proud of our athletes.

Sure, when I saw that they were clearly disappointed in the outcome of their event my heart went out to them, but more and more I came to realize that just being at the Olym-pics is an achievement to be proud of. Winning medals, setting records, landing endorsement deals — that’s all just secondary.

These people represented Canada in the world’s premier sporting event and nothing can ever take that away.

When I saw the Canadian women win the bronze medal in soccer, it was a proud moment.

Sure, the soccer pitch has seen its share of controversy during the games and Canada arguably got a raw deal in the semis versus the Americans, but when that final buzzer went and Canada had won the bronze medal, the emotions those women were feel-ing were clear: elation, relief, pride.

So who am I to say that bronze isn’t good enough, that we should be striv-ing for gold and nothing less?

Who am I to take that feeling of jubilation away from those athletes?

I’m the guy sitting on his couch watching the game, not the woman who has made countless sacrifices and worked her butt off to push Canada to its best Olympic finish in women’s soccer, so who am I to be disappointed with Bronze?

So yes, when I turn on the TV and watch the recap of the day’s events, I would love to see Canada raking in the medals, but I no longer see it as the be all, end all of the Games.

Instead, I now try and focus on all the positive things that the Olym-pics represent: the power sport has to unite people, the importance of na-tional pride and support for our ath-letes, and the culmination of years of hard work and dedication.

These people have devoted their entire lives towards representing Canada, largely for our entertain-ment, the least we can do as a country is be proud of them no matter what.

So congratulations Team Canada, on yet another wonderful showing at the Olympics. I look forward to watching you in action again, just two short years from now.

Meet Adam Williams and the rest of the 2012/13 Omega team in the Sept. 5 edition of the Omega, online at theomega.ca and on out Facebook page, and in person at the Omega booth at the back-to-school barbeque and orientation.

Ω Sports EditorAdam Williams

The Omega · Volume 21, Issue 32 7

Across

1. Indian martial art6. Calculate astrologically10. Exploitative type14. Old war story15. Unattractive tangelo?16. Bad idea17. Sugar ___18. Happiness20. Eton and Epstein, e.g.22. Blonde shade23. Vietnamese musical

instrument24. Relax27. “My bad!”30. For fear that34. Rosary recital37. Sharp39. Post office department41. For her and him42. Interpretations43. Fix firmly44. Start of an idea45. Congeal46. Canal locale48. Pie in the sky?51. He leads a band59. Large, flightless bird60. Short musical piece61. Greek earth goddess: var.62. Ancient Andean63. Fat

64. Tolkien creatures65. Observer66. Beats it

Down

1. Favor one side?2. Banned orchard spray3. Dwelling: var.4. Confection5. Bean products?6. Die7. Seasons8. Is remiss9. Church offering10. Biblical connector11. Music category12. Expires13. Beluga yield19. H+, e.g.21. Where the heart is24. Hard to pin down25. Media attraction26. Photo finish?28. Engine need29. Man with a mission30. Son of Jacob and Leah31. Balances32. Conductor Koussevitzky33. Assignation35. Entanglement36. It may follow you37. Go quiet

38. Maximum40. Suffix with auction44. Apple variety46. Mania starter47. Cliffside dwelling49. “___ So Good,” Mangione

song50. Sight-related51. Brand, in a way52. Grand53. Handwoven rugs54. Riviera city55. Rimsky-Korsakov’s “The

Tale of ___ Saltan”56. Insect stage57. Trim to fit, maybe58. Catsup and strawberry59. Opposite of hence

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August, 20128

Photo Gallery

LEFT: Members of the SFU Pipe Band tune up before their performance at the opening ceremonies of the 2012 Kamloops Highland Games, held July 14 at Albert McGowan Park. —PHOTO BY MIKE DAVIESBELOW: Sri Whorrall receives her Communications and School Support certificate at Friday morning’s Convocation, June 15. —PHOTO BY SAMANTHA GARVEY

ABOVE: Malcolm Smith powers the Bike Blender to make refreshing smoothies for cyclists at the Wrap-Up BBQ for Bike to Work Week, Friday, June 1. —PHOTO BY SAMANTHA GARVEY

LEFT: Grey Cup winning quarterback Travis Lulay signs autographs at the annual FanFest day at Hillside Stadium June 10. —PHOTO BY MIKE DAVIES

Best of summer 2012

LEFT: The longest running Peace Walk in the country begins at Stuart Wood Elemantary School before heading into the downtown streets of Kamloops May 5. —PHOTO BY SAMANTHA GARVEYABOVE: George Feenstra leads chants for a group of two dozen demonstrators outside the KGHM Environmental Workshop, held in Mountain View Room of the Campus Activity Centre, June 28. —PHOTO BY SAMANTHA GARVEY