Archive for September, 2011

Convict had bragged he would receive only three months

Photo courtesy of davisonscott15 on Flickr

A former University of Guelph football player was sentenced to 4.5 years in prison Monday.

Kyle Hjelholt, 24, was convicted of aggravated assualt in June after he picked up fellow-student Christopher Fruetel and threw him over a railing in the early hours of Sept. 8, 2009, following a verbal altercation. The three-metre fall left Fruetel with permanent difficulties concentrating, little short term memory and confusion. “I’m not the same person I once was,”  he told the court.

Hjelholt, a bleach-blonde strong-man competitor, bragged under a YouTube video earlier this year that he would get maximum three-months for the assault, according to the Guelph Mercury. “Such a lack of insight simply boggles the mind,” Justice Kenneth Langdon said Monday.

Scott Dobson-Mitchell reviews five apps for students

Photo courtesy of Alla_G on Flickr

1) FoodBot [mobile site]

Nevermind medical diagnoses or space exploration. Artificial intelligence has found a more important calling — locating free food on campus! FoodBot combs the web for events where free food has been advertised, such as fundraisers, job fairs and council meetings. It puts them on a calendar that details quality, quantity, time commitment, and — importantly — awkwardness. Too bad it’s only available at a few schools so far.

Continue reading Want free pizza? Hazy about last night? Try these apps.

Party-goers came from club outlawed by McMaster

Four people went to hospital and at least two others were cut during a knife fight at a party near McMaster University. Police entered the party at 69 Mount Royal Ave. at 4:30 Friday morning.

Earlier in the night, police arrested two people at an event called ACADEMIX 101, which was taking place at Club 77 in downtown Hamilton. The event was advertised by Next Level Entertainment (NLE), which calls itself “McMaster’s official entertainment and talent group” on Facebook. Last year, McMaster University banned all events that take place at Club 77 from being advertised on its campus.*

Police entered Club 77 after hearing about fights inside. Two 20-year-old men, one from Brampton and the other from Mississauga, were arrested. Later, police contended with a crowd of roughly 400 people outside of the club. Some of those people ended up at the party on Royal Ave., police said.

No victim or witness has co-operated with police so far. The house has a smashed front door, a slashed window screen and metal bars from a railing on the front porch are bent or missing.

Next Level Entertainment’s Facebook page appears to be administered by Kisanath WooDz and Pratheeb K’mar. “AT MCMASTER STUDENT CENTER SELLING TICKETS,” WooDz posted to the page on Thursday around 4 p.m. Earlier in the day, someone listed as a student at York University, wrote that 900 tickets had been sold. Before that, someone else posted that “…the Waterloo/Laurier bus is officially SOLD OUT, only bus left is the York bus.”

*This story originally repeated an incorrect fact that the Hamilton Spectator had attributed to a McMaster spokesperson. Gord Arbeau of Community and Public Relations at McMaster clarified on Monday that Next Level Entertainment was not banned from campus. It was the promotion of events at Club 77 that McMaster University had banned. Maclean’s On Campus regrets the error.

Student was seen playing “flip cup” in residence

Acadia photo courtesy of Martin Cathrae on Flickr

An male student at Acadia University who was sent to hospital earlier this week has died.

The 19-year-old from Calgary was found unconscious Tuesday morning around 12:30 a.m. in a basement dorm room inside Chipman House residence, reports CBC News.

“It is with tremendous sorrow that Acadia University today confirms that our student, who had been critically ill since September 6, has died. Our deepest and most heartfelt condolences are extended to all family members and friends,” the school wrote on its website. “Acadia will continue to respect the family’s request that no other personal details be released.”

Nathan Rodger told CBC News on Tuesday that the student in question had been playing a drinking game before paramedics took him away to the hospital.

“He was drinking a 40 [oz.] of something and he pretty much drank the whole thing,” Rodger said. “Yeah, we were playing ‘flip cup’ and he had it straight in the can, just right in the thing. Not even mixing it. I think he finished probably most of it, all of it.”

Advice from an upper-year student

Photo courtesy of Symic on Flickr

10. Pick your major carefully. If your university doesn’t make you declare a major off the bat, don’t. Explore new things. Even if you must declare immediately, remember that you can always change your mind. Quiz people in programs you’re considering. Any regrets?

9. If you need help, ask for it. If you don’t understand something, ask your professor. Many will help you. Another place to find help is the library, where employees can show you how to format your citations or find articles in academic journals. If you’re ever accused of cheating, your student union can help explain your rights.

8. If you’re going to need an extension, ask early. If you ask early enough, many professors will grant extensions. But don’t annoy your prof by emailing and asking the night before it’s due.

7. Develop a rapport with your professors. Ask questions, contribute to the discussion, stay after class for a minute to clarify something that you don’t understand. In university, you’ll need to make some effort to get noticed. Professors who know and like you may help you find jobs, provide references for grad school and will say yes if you ask them to supervise your independent study.

6. Take care of your mental health. University is stressful, especially if you’re moving away from home for the first time. If you feel anxious or sad, don’t be ashamed to ask your friends for support. There’s also formal counselling from the school. Eating well and exercising can also help greatly.

5. Pick your roommates for second year carefully. Think about how you want to live. Your best friend won’t make the best roommate if he or she has different standards of cleanliness, a weird sleep schedule or a higher tolerance for noise. Talk about things like cleaning and splitting bills before you look for housing together. Read up on the laws before you sign a lease.

4. Get involved. If you’re in journalism, write for the school paper. If you’re in fine arts, get your work in student-run shows.  If you’re in business, enter case competitions. Participating in degree-related extracurriculars is a great way to network with future colleagues and learn new things.

3. Don’t bring your laptop to class. Sure, you can type faster than you can write by hand. But Facebook is pretty tempting when it’s in front of you. Plus, when you type your notes, you’re trying to take down every word, which means you’re not really thinking. The secret to success isn’t to take the most notes, but to take the most thoughtful notes. This is easier achieved on paper.

2. Know how to manage your money. Drinking every night doesn’t only lead to failing grades, it also leads to debt. Eating out, buying prepared food and getting takeout coffee can also impoverish you, so learn to cook. Keep track of your spending for a month, to see where you’re overspending.

1. Learn to manage your time. This is the most important skill for university. Most of your assignments probably won’t be that difficult, but they’ll take longer than anything you’ve done before. Assignments for different classes will often be due at the same time. If you have several essays due in the last week of the semester, you won’t get them all done unless you start early.

For more advice on how to ace your first year of university, click here.

Staff and former students targeted

Shots have been fired and buildings and vehicles have been set ablaze in suburban Vancouver.

The incidents are believed to be related. Three of the victims are employees of the Justice Institute of British Columbia, two are former students and the other five have links to the school.

RCMP Chief Supt. Janice Armstrong told the Vancouver Sun that the attacks began in April and that in July, “an astute investigator recognized a link between seemingly unconnected criminal events occurring throughout the Lower Mainland.”

“Persons of interest” have been identified. Police are seeking more information from the public. None of the people affected is suspected by the RCMP of having connections to organized crime.

No current students are known to have been targeted and no one has been physically hurt.

JIBC trains future police officers, security officials, corrections officers, firefighters and more.

Long lines and traffic jams from Toronto to Timmins

Picketers at George Brown College, by Josh Dehaas

There are three-hour waits in line to register for courses at George Brown College in Toronto, reports the Toronto Star.

In Belleville, picketers at Loyalist College created a monster traffic jam that caused students and teachers to be late for class, reports the Intelligencer. The traffic jam also hindered regular citizens. One mother told the paper that the traffic jam made her four-year-old daughter more than an hour late for her first day of kindergarten.

There were also long lines of cars trying to enter Northern College yesterday, reports the Timmins Times and traffic woes plagued Mohawk College in Hamilton too, writes the The Spectator.

A Seneca College, a student told the Toronto Star that his orientation was cancelled.

The disruptions are all due to picket lines created by 8,000 Ontario college support staff who went on strike at 24 schools on Sept. 1. The The Ontario Public Service Employees Union members work in bookstores, registration, financial aid offices, IT, janitorial, maintenance and more.

Warren “Smokey” Thomas, OPSEU President, told Maclean’s On Campus on Thursday that workers are striking to protect full-time jobs, because the colleges want to add more part-time employees. “I tell parents and students that we’re fighting for their futures,” he said.

The union has also asked for wage increases. Under the expiring collective agreement, employees who have worked full-time for more than one year are paid between $18.27 and $44.91 per hour. The College Employer Council’s last offer on August 31st included a 4.75 per cent wage increase, paid over three years, which would have put the average salary at just over $59,000.

Although students have faced delays and headaches at some schools, students at Fanshawe College in London told the London Free Press that there were no serious delays getting to campus on Tuesday. At Georgian College in Barrie, Algonquin College in Ottawa and St. Lawrence College in Brockville, local media also reported only minor delays on the first day of class.

What remains unclear is whether government loans will reach students later than usual. Chris Whitaker, president of St. Lawrence College, told The Canadian Press that managers at his school are working to get students’ Ontario Student Assistance Program loans distributed on time. But at Fleming College in Peterborough, all student loan appointments were cancelled this week.

In Fredericton, furniture blazes are dangerous tradition

Photo courtesy of qmnonic on Flickr

It’s a sure sign that students are back at school in Fredericton. The Fire Department has responded to three couch fires since Sunday, Platoon Capt. Jeff Mills, told the Times & Transcript newspaper.

“It’s a joke and it’s fun for someone,” said Mills. “But it’s tying up personnel that could really benefit someone else,” he added.

There was an epidemic of couch fires near Fredericton’s two new universities, the University of New Brunswick and St. Thomas University, in 2007, when 43 furniture fires were recorded on Graham Avenue alone. After the the city created designated days for roadside pick-up of trashed furniture, the total dropped to 17 in 2008 and nine in 2009. Including the three this frosh week, there have been six so far in 2011.

Mayor Brad Woodside offered a message for students after hearing of the fires. “This is your home away from home and live, love, laugh and enjoy,” he said, “[But] respect the community when you’re here, we’ll treat you like family, but treat this like it’s your home as well.”

Ontario and Manitoba to vote in October

Photo courtesy of Benson Kua on Flickr

Students will go to the polls a month from now in two provinces: on Oct. 6 in Ontario and on Oct. 4 in Manitoba.

The Ontario Liberal Party made post-secondary students a big part of their plan, which was released today. If reelected, Dalton McGuinty says his Liberals would give 86 per cent of students substantial new tuition grants next year. University students would get $1,600 and college students would get $730. The grants only apply to those who come from households that make less than $160,000 per year. The promise would cost taxpayers $486-million per year. Ontario’s average annual university tuition fees are $6,000, according to Statistics Canada.

The Ontario PC Party, under Tim Hudak, says it would eliminate a $30-million scholarship program that McGuinty created to attract foreign students. They would also change the Ontario Student Assistance Program to allow more students from middle class families to qualify. “A student whose parents earn $39,000 and $46,000 would get about $2,500 in provincial OSAP support,” they said in a press release, adding: ”Dalton McGuinty gives that family no OSAP.”

The Ontario New Democrat platform does not specifically mention post-secondary students.

The Liberals promised earlier to extend the interest-free period on student loans from six months to one year for those working in the non-profit sector and to double the length of teacher’s college.

In Manitoba, New Democrat Premier Greg Selinger says that his government would freeze tuition, give universities a five per cent annual boost and triple annual student award funding to $20-million.

Manitoba Progressive Conservative candidate Hugh McFadyen’s government would boost training for northerners and aboriginals and also help to fund a new stadium at the University of Manitoba.

The races are tight in both provinces are tight.

In Ontario, the PC Party is leading with 35 per cent support while the Liberals have 30 per cent and the New Democrats have 26 per cent, according to a Forum Research poll released Sept. 1.

In Mantioba, the New Democrats and Progressive Conservatives were tied with 44 per cent support, according to the most recent poll, which was released by Probe Research on June 29.

Both polls had a three per cent margin of error.

KSA has banned a student, impeded journalists and an executive has resigned.

Photo of Justine Franson courtesy of Matt DiMera.

To read a response to this article from the Kwantlen Student Association, please click here.

On April 1st, the day that the Kwantlen Student Association’s new executives took office, the KSA’s five rookie execs voted to designate their Director of Operations, Justine Franson, to be the “sole liaison with KSA legal counsel.” At a council meeting five days later, they replaced the law firm Heenan Blaikie with Taylor Nakai Litigation. Franson told the school newspaper, The Runner, that the change was made because a Heenan Blaikie lawyer had gone to school with a fired staff member who had launched a wrongful dismissal suit earlier in the year. A potential conflict of interest, she said. Better safe than sorry.

Thus began a five month period in which the new executive has faced repeated questions about potential conflicts of interest, about money spent on a Sikh parade and about the banishment of a former director from their office. That five months has also included a funding dispute with the student newspaper, which came after the executive temporarily banned recordings of council meetings and demanded corrections to their stories. Now, new questions are arising over costs of a hip-hop concert, Cram Jam, that’s set to happen Sept. 8.

The legal case files Franson was handed so early in her term included one lawsuit that made headlines and shocked students at the suburban Vancouver polytechnic when it was announced in 2008. The case accuses five former KSA executives, including then-Director of Finance Aaron Takhar, of breaching their fiduciary duties relating to $760,000 of student money during their terms in office, which began in 2005. The case has been stalled since the lawyers were replaced on April 1.*

Franson’s appointment to that file raises serious questions about the KSA’s handling of the matter. After refusing to answer questions about her identity put to her by Maclean’s On Campus, a local radio station proved that Franson is Aaron Takhar’s sister and she has since resigned her position.

When Matt DiMera, a reporter from The Runner, visited Takhar’s house to try and confront Franson, Nina Kaur, the KSA’s current Director of Finance, answered the door. Kaur wouldn’t answer DiMera’s questions about her potential links to Takhar or Franson, but KSA President Sean Birdman confirmed by e-mail on Thursday that Kaur and Takhar are related too.

Before Franson quit, she told Maclean’s On Campus that the student union has a policy of only allowing President Sean Birdman (who also goes by the names Sean Bassi and Diddy Birdman) to speak on the executive commitee’s behalf. Birdman has declined multiple phone interview requests and has only responded to some e-mailed questions. All of the council members have been contacted, but none responded until Friday, when Kaur finally picked her phone.

“I don’t think I really have to disclose anything about my personal life. It’s sort of like a privacy thing,” Kaur said. “But like I said, I completely respect everyone’s concern, which is why I do acknowledge that there may be an appearance of a conflict of interest, which is why I’ve taken steps to ensure that I will of course be abstaining from anything that has to do with any civil matters pertaining to lawsuits against any previous directors or anything from that,” she added. She also noted there’s now an independent committee charged with handling the suit.

Maclean’s On Campus has not yet been able to get in contact with a third member of five-person executive team: Tarun Takhar, who seconded Kaur’s motion to make Franson the sole legal go-to on April 1st. It’s unclear if there is any relation to Aaron. Tarun Takhar has not responded to calls to his office phone or questions sent to his work e-mail.

Kwantlen students were abuzz on Twitter and Facebook in early August, discussing Franson’s resignation and the questions surrounding Kaur’s relationship to Takhar, when Jeff Groat, the co-ordinating editor of The Runner, called to inform On Campus that the newspaper might not be able to pay its staff this fall. More than $60,000 in student fees collected by the university and earmarked for the paper were transferred to the KSA, but the KSA had not yet forwarded the funds. Instead, they had asked the university to freeze the money “in trust” until they could settle their dispute with The Runner.

Joanne Saunders, Kwantlen’s spokesperson, told Maclean’s On Campus Friday that because the university and the KSA are legally separate entities, there wasn’t much they could do to help the newspaper get it’s funds. But they did look for a solution. “For the past three weeks we were working with our lawyers to determine if we have any rights to do anything,” she said. “But it looks like it’s not necessary now.“

Groat confirmed Friday that they had convinced the KSA to hand over the money.

Birdman explained, via e-mail why they had been unwilling to forward the cash earlier. “The KSA had significant concerns with respect to the accuracy of some stories published by The Runner which were not being addressed,” Birdman wrote, adding. “PIPS [the Polytechnic Ink Publishing Society that owns The Runner] and the KSA will soon be engaging a 3rd party [sic] mediator to resolve these issues.”

The reporters had already been working under journalistic restraint when they learned their funds were in limbo. Council would not answer many of DiMera’s questions in person. Then, on May 11, they banned all recording devices from meetings. “Directors felt uncomfortable,” Birdman (Bassi/Diddy) wrote in a separate e-mail to Maclean’s On Campus. “This also impeded the efficiency of meetings because Director’s [sic] felt their privacy was being invaded,” he added. Birdman, for the record, says he is not related to Aaron Takhar.

The case against Takhar, which lies at the heart of this turmoil, followed a forensic audit that alleged he had made high-risk loans totaling $620,000 to Westlund Properties and Apex Communications and made $140,000 in “unaccounted for” payments to companies such as AST Ventures. “I believe that Aaron Takhar has an interest in and/or controls AST Ventures,” concluded auditor Mary Ann Hamilton in the July 2007 report. (Aaron’s middle name is Singh—as in AST Ventures.) Westlund Properties had previously loaned money to Kultak Financial, a company registered at the same address listed on Aaron’s payroll information with the KSA. His mother’s name is Kuldip Takhar, noted Hamilton, who wrote: “It seems that the KSA may have be introduced to Westlund and Apex through the Takhar family’s prior relationship.”

[Those were only some of the allegations against Aaron Takhar. Read The ugly side of student politics by Erin Millar for more.]

The parties involved in the suit agreed to a new election in October 2006 after the alleged improprieties were discovered by then council-member Laura Anderson. After the auditor’s report was published, the new student union executive launched a suit in 2008.**

The court dates that followed weren’t the only time Takhar faced the legal system. Police arrested him in his Mercedes Benz near Vanderhoof, B.C. in May 2007, just two months before the auditor’s report was published, after a van rented in his name was found to contain 170 marijuana plants. Two of Takhar’s friends were in the van when it sped away from police, turned down a mountain road and plunged into the Nechako River. Daljit Sandhu was found drowned weeks later. The other passenger, Pritpal Virk, was shot dead in Surrey, B.C., nine days after the drug charges were stayed. Takhar’s charges were also stayed.

The resignation of Justine Franson was only the latest in a series of KSA controversies. At the new executive’s second council meeting, on April 14, the KSA made sweeping changes to regulations that gave some members, including the executive, a 40 per cent pay raise, in part by increasing their weekly paid hours. At the same meeting, they took away a rule that required them to attend at least one meeting per month during the summer. They also tried to have executives’ summer courses paid for by the student body. And it was also decided in camera that Reena Bali, the former Director of Events (one of the five executive positions) would be banned from entering the student union’s offices during her successor Tarun Takhar’s, office hours.

Franson told The Runner that the decision was made because Bali had “legally threatened” Takhar, but she wouldn’t say how. More than three months later, she gave a report to council that included a letter from Takhar outlining an incident in which he said he felt “very scared of Reena and her people who may try to do something.”

Bali says she did, in fact, confront Takhar in April, because he failed to show up for a meeting she had set up in March in order to train him on his new portfolio. She expressed her worry that he wouldn’t be prepared for the huge annual Cram Jam concert, coming up on Sept. 8.

Cram Jam has created even more controversy since. The back-to-school party’s budget was increased earlier in the summer from $50,000 to $82,000, much to the dismay of clubs and advocacy groups that lost funding as a result. Council resolved to hire a “high-lining hip-hop artist” for the event. Bali thinks that the bigger budget is a mistake, considering Cram Jam lost nearly $50,000 in 2008 on a budget of $100,000.

Birdman has already accepted that money will be lost. He wrote to On Campus on Friday to say that “CramJam, as always, is a subsidized event,” and that “increased costs,” related to fencing, insurance, municipal and policing requirements will put the total “in the same range” as “previous Cram Jam concerts,” which “have cost up to $120,000.” But he also says more attendees are expected because “a bigger artist,” someone by the name of Jay Sean, has been hired to perform.

Another controversy covered by The Runner involved Bali’s boyfriend, Harj Dhesi, the Richmond Campus Director, who is responsible for social events and operations of the satellite campus office. He had his pay cut in May of this year after the new executive deemed him to have delivered an “insufficient report” to council. The executive said he was “not doing any work.”

Dhesi wouldn’t comment, but one thing’s clear. He holds a council vote and often uses it against the new executive. In one report, he wrote that he was “not pleased with the Executive Board’s decision to release $3,500 for an event that had NO budget breakdown.” The event in question was Vaisakhi, an annual Sikh parade. When a student voiced concern at a council meeting about spending money on a seemingly religious parade, Franson said the event is not religious, but rather, a “harvest celebration.” Vaisakhi’s own website lists it as the one of the most important dates in the Sikh religion. Maclean’s On Campus twice asked Birdman to provide receipts. The first time, he wrote that it would take more than a week. Two weeks later, he wrote that “our financials are available to members upon request.”

To recap, in just five months, the new KSA council has banned reporters from recording their meetings, briefly cut off funds to the student newspaper, had a member resign due to an apparent conflict of interest, faced questions over money spent on a seemingly religious parade, banned a former executive from the council office, cut the hours of one of their critics and added $32,000 to the budget of a party that lost $50,000 two years ago.

When school begins on Tuesday, the questions will surely continue.

*The original version of this article incorrectly stated Aaron Takhar faced more serious charges than his fellow KSA executives in connection with a lawsuit alleging financial mismanagement at the KSA. This is not the case.
**The original version of this article stated Takhar ran and lost in an October 2006 election ordered by a judge. The election was in fact the result of an out-of-court settlement and Takhar was not a candidate.