Volume 48 - Issue 10November 12, 2014theeyeopener.com

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aRYERSON POLICIES m A LACK OF POLICIES xSOME RYERSON PROFSkSHELDON LEVY t WOOOSH INC. n EGERTON RYERSON

One exam.

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Wednesday, Nov. 12, 2014 NEWS 3

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Practice doesn’t always make perfectAn old practice exam was used as an actual test and now students are forced to choose between a rewrite or grade penalty

By Sierra Bein

Mayor begins building legacy with Rye Tory was on campus to help launch Ryerson’s new City Building Institute, a centre that will address Toronto’s “urban problems”

For most students, midterm season is a stressful time in the semester, but for one finance class, a midterm became more of a burden than any-one could have ever expected.

Students in professor Edward Blinder’s FIN300 class got a sur-prise when the midterm they sat down to write on Oct. 23 had the exact same questions as a practice exam (a copy of the 2013 final exam) that had been distributed as a study tool for other sections earlier that month. Once Blinder realized what had happened, he gave his class a choice: either re-write the midterm or have the final exam reweighted so it’s worth 70 per cent of their final marks.

The Eyeopener made multiple attempts at contacting Blinder. He had not responded by the time of publication.

“When a course like FIN300 is run there is a standard practice exam that is distributed to all sec-tions,” said FIN300 professor Le-lah Samarbakhsh. “It was the deci-sion of the course co-ordinator as to what practice exam to share.”

Her section is unaffected by the mix-up.

Course co-ordinator Yi Feng

could not be reached for comment.Some students aren’t happy

with the choice they have to make about their grades and think the whole situation could have, and should have, been avoided.

“We’re kind of mad there’s no communication between the teach-ers,” FIN300 student Carleton Cartmill said. “The teachers should be asking the faculty about passing out these past exams. There needs to be a policy in place where they have to use new exams.”

Cartmill said it’s common for business students in different class-es to study together, and although he didn’t study off the practice exam, some of his classmates did.

“I heard of a couple people who managed to get close to 100 per cent because they actually remem-bered all the questions because they studied pretty hard,” Cart-mill said. “I didn’t take too much into account ... one morning, I just read an email from my professor saying the exam was compromised and they can’t use the marks.”

Finance school chair Allen Goss said the school tried to find the most fair option for students.

“I am working with the course co-ordinator and the instructor to accommodate students by offering

various exam dates to rewrite the midterm,” Goss said in an email. The rewrite is currently scheduled for Nov. 15.

“I understand that some students in the affected section may be frus-trated. On behalf of the department I apologize for any inconvenience that has been caused. However, I hope all students will agree that the marks on the compromised test cannot be allowed to stand.”

Ryerson President Sheldon Levy said that there are no official rules on reusing exams or how to deal with the aftermath of a mistake like this.

“There is no formal policy on re-using exams at [Ryerson’s] senate,” Levy said. “Maybe there should be, but at the moment there isn’t.”

Senate policy 145, the under-graduate course management pol-icy, is the framework for academic conduct — including exam proce-dures. This policy is up for review this year.

John Turtle, Ryerson’s secretary of senate, monitors and reviews senate policies. He said that each department is individually respon-sible for how it handles tests and exams, including what happens if a mistake occurs during the ad-ministration of one.

“Often they’d engage the chair, the director and again, often ex-perienced faculty members that have been through something similar and use our institutional memory for the best way to do it,” Turtle said.

Because exams can be radically different depending on the course, departments also deal with any is-sues on their own. Departments do not have to consult the senate due to the lack of a formal policy, so the university doesn’t know how many times this may have happened in the past.

“I think it’s an unknown

thing,” said Turtle. “People aren’t obligated to notify us, so there’s really no way of tracking it in a systematic way.”

“The main issue students are having is that we’re paying $10,000 a year for a properly working education system, so even when the faculty messes up and we’re penalized for it it’s kind of ridiculous,” Cartmill said. “There needs to be some sort of new poli-cies set in place to stop this from happening again in the future [and to] make sure the faculty is cor-responding and keeping up with what’s going on.”

By Alex Downham

Mayor-elect John Tory is working with Ryerson’s newly launched City Building Institute to address growth and equity issues in Toronto.

“If I didn’t become mayor, I’d still support this institute,” Tory said Nov. 10 at Ryerson’s Sears Atrium inside the George Vari En-gineering and Computing Centre. “This will build a stronger, re-spected, fairer city.”

The Ryerson City Building In-stitute, a “non-partisan centre,” is run by urban planning experts and plans to address Toronto’s “critical urban problems.” There are five themes driving the institute’s plans, focusing on “integrated land use” and “inclusive communities.”

Tory said these two goals, among others, “will define To-ronto as a great city or what might have been.”

He said despite the city’s support of “equality in opportunity,” stu-dents struggle to survive due to a lack of employment opportunities.

“Students go to great schools like Ryerson expecting they’ll be

fine, but people are being left be-hind,” Tory said. “Not deliber-ately, but some citizens can’t find their way through the system.”

According to Civic Action, 83,000 citizens aged 15 to 24 are not in education, employment or training.

Tory blames the lack of prog-ress on these issues to low “po-

litical will.” City Building Institute’s execu-

tive board wants to solve urban issues by consulting Ryerson Presi-dent Sheldon Levy.

“This initiative will build on Sheldon’s legacy,” said Usha George, dean of Ryerson’s Com-munity Services faculty and ex-ecutive board member of the City

Building Institute.Since 2005, Levy has helped

Ryerson’s growth run rampant. He gained a reputation as a “city builder” by expanding Ryerson’s campus throughout the downtown core, including the 2012 renova-tion of Maple Leaf Gardens, the 2006 construction of the Ted Rog-ers School of Management and the soon-to-be completed Student Learning Centre.

“Ryerson’s developed this repu-tation as a city builder because it’s in our DNA,” Levy said. “We don’t just talk about city building – we walk it.”

Levy was appointed to Tory’s 20-person advisory council Oct. 28 because of his city-building credentials.

Ryerson politics and public administration professor Bryan Evans said Levy’s position could make Ryerson the spark for To-ronto’s economic growth.

“It likely is an indicator that Tory sees the development of Ryerson going into the future as being organically linked to what-ever ideas and future plans he may

have for the transformation of downtown Toronto,” Evans said.

Tory said Toronto needs to “come together” before moving forward, saying the city “deserves a leader that brings it together.”

Upon election victory, Tory vowed to end the “division that has paralyzed city hall the last few years” through discussion with politicians like fellow mayoral candidates Olivia Chow and Da-vid Soknacki.

Anne Golden, co-chair of the Ryerson City Building Institute, said Tory’s demand for dialogue makes him a prime candidate for spurring growth in Toronto.

“The one central theme of To-ry’s campaign insisted Toronto must not swing left or right, but forward,” Golden said.

Tory said he’s excited to improve Toronto’s urban issues while pro-moting the city’s positive image.

“We would admit that there’s work to do here,” Tory said.

“But I can’t wait to go any-where and sell the benefits of in-vesting and bringing jobs to this great city.”

Mayor-elect John Tory spoke at the Sears atrium.PHOTO: rOB fOreMan

Tests are stressful enough without having to write them twice.

4 editorial Wednesday, Nov. 12, 2014

Editor-in-ChiefMohamed “Naked Face” Omar

NewsJackie “GARBAGE DAY” HongSierra “Hates Potatoes” BeinJake “With The Hair” Scott

FeaturesSean “Always French” Wetselaar

Biz & TechLaura “Bob” Woodward

Arts and LifeLeah “Lights. Camera.” Hansen!

SportsJosh “Mt. Joshmore” Beneteau

CommunitiesNatalia “With Fire” Balcerzak

PhotoFarnia “Some iMacs” Fekri

Jess “Want To Watch” TsangRob “The World Burn” Foreman

FunKeith “Loves Cards” Capstick

Media

Behdad “Cool Druglord” Mahichi

OnlineNicole “Carpal?” SchmidtJohn “PLZ EXIST” Shmuel

Web DeveloperKerry “Another Brick In The” Wall

CopyeditorBecca “CP Jedi” Goss

General ManagerLiane “Cover Model” McLarty

Advertising ManagerChris “Goddamn Champ” Roberts

Design DirectorJ.D. “HARK!” Mowat

ContributorsVictoria “Zoanthropy” Shariati

Nick “Over” DunneAnnie “Green Gables” Arnone

Adrienne “Archives Room” MetivierRuth “Rememberance” Remudaro

Brennan “Do-Si-” DohertyAlex “Tory Story” DownhamAidan “Well-Dressed” Hamelin

Stefanie “Pop-Up” PhillipsEmma “FORM PLZ” Cosgrove

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Caterina “Violca” Amaral

Super Awesome InternsJulia “JUST” Tomasone

Anika “THE” Syeda

Hayley “BEST” Adam

Playing the part of the Annoying Talking Coffee Mug this week is that shit-ass song “Rude” by that Magic band. I mean, if you’re asking a fa-ther for his daughter’s hand in mar-riage, and you describe his rejection as “rude,” then YOU’RE kind of rude, right? It’s her dad, man. Come on. Don’t be such a poo-poo head.

The Eyeopener is Ryerson’s larg-est and only independent student newspaper. It is owned and oper-ated by Rye Eye Publishing Inc., a non-profit corporation owned by the students of Ryerson. Our of-fices are on the second floor of the Student Campus Centre.

You can reach us at 416-979-5262, at theeyeopener.com or on Twitter at @theeyeopener.

Look at this glorious democracy, this glorious confined-to-a-single-room democracy.FiLe photo

We’re squishing democracy in a room

By MohamedOmar

It is the year 2014. Humans can order food delivered to their door — suck on that, ancestors — from the palm of their hand. Medi-cal advancements are stunning. George W. Bush can paint.

Damn it, by Matt Damon’s chin, we are at the forefront of human progress and almost everything is more amazing than it’s ever been. But if you thought this day and age’s marvelous achievements trickled down to Ryerson’s stu-dent government, you’d be wrong.

The Ryerson Students’ Union (RSU) held its fall general meeting Tuesday, the first of two massive union congregations (the other is in the winter).

At these meetings, motions submitted by any member of the RSU — full-time undergraduate students, as well as part-time and full-time graduate students — can be put to a vote.

These motions can directly affect

RSU policy and, as a result, influence the campus life of close to 30,000 students. Pretty flippin’ rad, huh?

It is rad, but as the great Johnny Bravo taught me, you can be both rad and stupid.

The meeting’s voting system is as functional as my intestines — and I put Tabasco sauce on every-thing.

The meetings are held in Tecum-seh Auditorium, room 115 in the Student Campus Centre (SCC). This dull-looking room can fit — at most — 170 people, according to the SCC’s conference services. It makes some sense for the union to use that room — it’s in the build-ing they call home. But since the RSU’s policy states that union members must attend the meeting to vote on motions, this gives birth to a bastard of a problem.

This means that — brace your-self — out of 30,000 students, only 170 can vote on issues that affect the entire campus.

Yeah, yeah, I know, when it comes to student government Ryer-son students can be more politically apathetic than a baked potato. But

even if only 170 students actually show up to these meetings, the onus is on the union to provide as acces-sible of a voting system as possible, regardless of expected turnout.

Tuesday’s meeting had some in-credibly important motions. Two of them specifically called for mak-ing membership of the union volun-tary. Such a serious motion deserves a system that can include more than 170 votes, whether that means the RSU rents out the Kerr Hall Gym or begins using online voting.

The RSU doesn’t use this method on other votes. Union elections, held in the winter semester, are more traditional — voting booths are set up around campus — and board meetings have representa-tives for each faculty.

It’s preposterous for a meeting that can hold votes on proposals as serious as dissolving the union itself to exist in a forum limited by physi-cal space. It’s a slap in the face to any open, inclusive voting method.

The meeting’s voting system is a colossal elephant in the room we need to talk about — assuming there’s space for it.

Any students can vote on union issues — as long as they’re in a specific space

Are you an excellent communicator? Do you have a

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rnts by November 24th.

2nd Annual Diwali Formal!!

Tickets: FREE & LIMITED. It’s FIRST COME, FIRST SERVE!! At

our office (SCC B23)

DATE: Friday November 14thWHERE: SCC 115TIME: 7pm-11pm

Come out to the 2nd Annual DI-

WALI Formal presented to you by Ryerson Indian Students’ Associa-tion and Ryerson Students’ Union!

Email: risa.rsu@gmail.com

Wednesday, Nov. 12, 2014 NEWS 5

Briefs & groaners

Flaming trashThe fifth-annual Ryerson hobo

convention kicked off last Sunday. Not actually, but security had to go to Victoria Lane to deal with an active garbage can fire. No one was hurt and nothing was dam-aged. The only question left to ask is, “Who starts trash can fires and doesn’t bring any hotdogs?”

Smoke on the waterSecurity and the Toronto Fire

Department were called in to in-vestigate a Pitman Hall fire alarm. Apparently nobody told them it was rave night on rez, because they discovered someone’s smoke machine had set off the alarm. The lesson here is don’t be an idiot, rave responsibly.

Seen some crazy stuff on campus? Email news@theeyeopener.com

Weiner thief!Three wretched, souless creatures robbed the hot dog vendor at Vic-toria and Gould streets. All that nice man wanted to do was sell street meat, but these thugs want-ed more. Security helped Toronto police apprehend and arrest them. Hope they like the all-you-can-eat footlongs prison is so famous for.

Blacked out and teleportingWe can’t always control where

we end up after a good ol’ fash-ioned booze binge. Two men were passed out drunk in the MAC and security was called. When they ar-rived, they found nobody. Either the men woke up and left, or the li-quor fairy spirited them away to a dingy couch in Campus Commons.

Get into the holiday pop-up spiritPop-up events company AdHoc is bringing a holiday market to Ryerson

Ryerson Remembers

Ryerson executives, students and community members gathered in the Kerr Hall Quad on Nov. 11 to honour Canada’s troops for Remembrance Day. It stands as a reminder that in order to lead Canada forward, we must not for-get to take our past with us.

This year marks the 100th anni-versary of the start of “the war to end all wars.”

Throughout those four years of war, soldiers gave their service to grant us our freedom — but their duty continued into the Second World War, the Vietnam War, the war in Afghanistan and into many other military missions.

Ryerson President Sheldon Levy stood at the podium, next to where the Canadian flag hung at

half-mast. He delivered his welcoming re-

marks as part of the Ryerson com-munity gathered to honour the fallen.

Kathryn Rowan sung the Cana-dian national anthem in front of the crowd to open the ceremony. Following her performance, I was honoured to read In Flanders Fields.

The laying of the wreaths was led by Mohamed Lachemi, the Pro-vost, accompanied by Sana Raja, a fourth-year business student.

The Last Post was played on the trumpet by Rebecca Hennessy, fol-lowed by a moment of silence.

Hennessy then played Reveille, as military planes flew across the city.

Levy closed the ceremony with an invitation for guests to pin their poppies onto the wreaths.

By Stefanie Phillips

The empty lot on Gould and Yonge streets will be home to a holiday pop-up market.PHOTO: FARNIA FEKRI

It’s the end of the roadRelax, the road isn’t getting any uglier. The city began the process of grinding away the old paint-stained concrete Nov. 7 to prepare for the repaving of Gould Street.

Since the road is assumed by the city, Ryerson won’t be paying any money for the de-beautifica-tion project. Instead, the bill rests solely on the shoulders of Toronto taxpayers.

According to Ryerson Presi-dent Sheldon Levy, the university has absolutely no plans to repaint Gould Street again, so you won’t be funding another $197,000 art project any time soon.

The second phase, the repaving part, will start Nov. 14. Since the completion schedule isn’t set in stone — it’s weather-dependant work — it’s impossible to know if construction crews will be present on campus during exams.

Even if they left it exposed, it would still look better than before.

PHOTO: FARNIA FEKRIThis was the last remaining piece of a painted Gould Street.

The vacant lot on the corner of Yonge and Gould streets is about to be filled and AdHoc, a com-pany that specializes in pop-up events, is giving Ryerson students an opportunity to help fill it.

The company has coordinated a temporary holiday market (#local-TOmrkt) that will host small and local businesses, including ones owned by Ryerson students, and give them an opportunity to show-case their products. The market will go from Nov. 28 to Dec. 24 under a heated tent where about 30,000 people walk by every-day, according to the Downtown Yonge Business Improvement Area. AdHoc has offered Ryerson students a 20 per cent discount on tables to make it more affordable.

Project partner Ghazaleh Etezal said the market will give students a chance to show products that they are working on to thousands of passersby.

“The issue is you don’t really get out into the world until you’re out of school,” Etezal said. “[The market] gives you a way to get out there and have people being aware of what you’re doing, what you’re making in school or what you in-tend to do outside of school.”

Ryerson students will be able to rent a spot at a discounted rate at $640 per week and $1600 for the month. Regular prices are $800 for a week and $2000 for the full

month. Weekend and daily rates are available as well and can be found on the AdHoc website. All prices include a table, two chairs, electricity, security and marketing.

The tent will be open from 12 p.m. to 10 p.m. on the days of the event with products including gourmet food, cards, aesthetics, jewelry and more. There will also be food trucks outside of the tent.

They are expecting 100 vendors to participate in the market with

prices ranging from $20 to $250, depending on the merchant.

AdHoc is also looking for ideas on what to project on the wall be-hind the tent, keeping in mind the theme of a local Toronto market, as well as ideas for performers or entertainers. All ideas can be sent to info@adhocpopup.com

To find out more about the mar-ket search #localTOmrkt on twit-ter or go to Adhocpopup.com/holidaymarket

A man pins his poppy to the ceremonial wreath at the ceremony’s close.PHOTO: RuTH REmudARO

By Natalia Balcerzak

By The News Team

6 Wednesday, Nov. 12, 2014FEATURES

in 2013 rcds gotan 87 per centmandate, with 40 per cent turnout

the art of gettingthings doneIt’s been a year since the Ryerson Communication and Design Society was founded, and with other faculties looking to create similar organizations, Ry-erson’s burgeoning ranks of student societies are quickly becoming a driving force in student life and campus politicsBy Brennan Doherty and Laura Woodward

A hockey puck drops, manoeuvres between each peg of a circular board like Plinko on The Price is Right. A sledgehammer hangs from a string that, when sliced by scissors,

hits a soccer ball. The ball bumps a plank of wood, forc-ing a table to lean on an angle. On the table is a Pizza Pizza box cut into a track for a Hot Wheels racecar with an Exacto knife duct-taped to the top. The string contin-ues on — the product of a chain-reaction spanning nine universities and 750 kilometres.

This is a Rube Goldberg machine on a massive scale. It ends at the CN Tower, in the hands of the Ryerson Engineering Students Society (RESS), who finished the sequence’s last action: a phone call to the CN Tower representative to light up the 553-metre-tall tower. It’s March of this year and a brilliant streak of purple lights up the Toronto skyline.

RESS is the oldest student society on campus, dat-ing back nearly 25 years. Today, it’s one of three large student societies on campus representing its members to Ryerson’s facilities, industry professionals and even other student groups. The other two are the Ryerson Commerce Society (RCS) — formed in 2005 to repre-sent students at the Ted Rogers School of Management — and the Ryerson Communication and Design Society (RCDS), formed just last year.

These societies are more than faculty frosh commit-tees. They’re an integral part of student politics — able to grab (and retain) student interest in developments on campus, opportunities with employers and projects among other students in ways the RSU and campus facil-ities can’t. Huge developments at Ryerson — floor plans for the Student Learning Centre, orientation reforms and faculty-wide student exhibitions — are currently being orchestrated by these groups, alongside Ryerson staff and industry professionals. But despite their origins as faculty organizations, the RCDS, RESS and RCS are collaborating in ways that aren’t far removed from a Rube Goldberg machine. And that level of collaboration may have the power to reshape campus.

Engineering our success,” became the campaign slogan of fourth-year industrial engineering student Urooj Siddiqui for last year’s RESS presidential election. “If we want to make

things happen, we have to work together,” Siddiqui says. “So I went to random classes, making class announce-ments ... and after the class [was] done, I would wait and get feedback from some students.” Now, students come to the RESS presidential office — her office — with recommendations and feedback. RESS aims to make life easier for the nearly 4,000 undergraduate engineering students on campus.

Rose Ghamari, a former RESS president, was an in-spiration for Siddiqui. Ghamari transformed the staff lounge in room 273 in the George Vari Engineering and Computing Centre into the first dedicated room for studying in the building. In the same building, Ghamari initiated a new food kiosk and two more study tables with new plugs for electronic device usage. The initia-tive for more student space expanded to Kerr Hall. For-merly known as the Rye-O-Mat, located in the Kerr Hall North basement, it has been renovated to accommodate

the ryerson com-merce society represents 29 student groups

student engineering teams working on design projects and competitions — specifically for the Formula SAE team where students design, construct and compete their Indy-style racecars.

“We’re talented, but we don’t necessarily have all the skills necessary. We can collaborate all the talent on cam-pus from the other student societies — like RCS’s busi-ness skills and RCDS’s creative side, and then [RESS] can bring a side to these societies too,” Siddiqui says.

Each member from the RCS holds a board in one hand and a marker in the other. It is the first time that every student group under the RCS umbrella meets one another. Every busi-

ness student is told to write their fears on the board. Arrays of fears that come with leadership are written, mainly deriving from failure. The students then go out-side and break the board. This is just one of the ice-breaker activities that take place at the RCS Leadership Initiative.

“[Student societies] always have interacted with each other, but not as much as this year. This year we decided we would be more active and we had the presidents and one representative from every student group,” says Ashi-sha Persaud, the RCS president.

Each student group’s representative explained their role within Ryerson. Other non-affiliated students’ jaws dropped at the variety and diversity on campus. The Ryerson Formula Racing team explained who they are — mainly engineering students that design, manufac-ture, test and race a formula style racecar. After their short explanation, the different faculty leaders wanted

to get involved with the RESS-sponsored group. Faculty of Communication and Design (FCAD) suggested get-ting involved in the exterior design of the racecar and the business leaders from RCS began brainstorming the marketing aspect of the racecar.

“Everyone from different faculties [has] something different to bring to the table,” Persaud says. “I plan to have more meetings with all the societies more fre-quently, it’s just a matter of getting everyone in the same room.”

Despite its youth, RCDS already has a number of close allies, Persaud says. “I’m very close with Tyler Webb (president of RCDS) and I try to help him any way I can. I sent them our frosh operation manual and I was sitting in on the meeting when they were doing the frosh pitches.”

RCDS’s main office is at the top of the Rog-ers Communications Centre’s third-floor staircase, wedged into the back of a quartet of offices. Posters lie against the room’s back

corner in small piles. Several black lockers have been squeezed into the two paces of space between the door and the next office. Yellow t-shirts with “RCDS” printed across the chest in black block lettering lie against an-

RESS is the old-est student so-ciety on campus, founded in 1988other corner, barely two feet from the door. A table alone eats up a third of the floor space, eight chairs nestled un-evenly around it. New office space is planned for Decem-ber, but until then, the bedroom-sized space will have to do for the newest recognized student society at Ryerson.

After jumping through the procedural hoops, RCDS released a referendum to FCAD students last year ask-ing for their support. Nearly 40 per cent of FCAD stu-dents voted — with 87 per cent of voters approving. This wasn’t surprising. A survey distributed last Febru-ary not only showed strong support for the idea, but also willingness by FCAD students to collaborate with other faculties.

The door swings open and Tyler Webb ducks into the office. A longboard with lime-green wheels rests in his hand. He’s the RCDS’s president and a prominent stu-dent leader on Ryerson’s campus ever since he became president of the Image Arts course union two years ago.

Though he isn’t sure about the other student societies, the RCDS has collaborated with other student groups on campus since its inception. “We just try and make sure we’re all on the same page. I really like to make sure I know what some of the other student groups are doing so when there’s things that overlap, I can pull people over,” he says. Webb’s been trying to connect several as-sociations recently, including the Retail Students Asso-ciation, the Fashion course union and the Commerce and Arts Association, among others.

RCDS supports a myriad of student groups within and outside of FCAD — everything from the TEDxRyersonU conference (with the Ryerson Commerce Society) to graphic-

communications-based RyeTAGA (Ryerson Technical Association of Graphic Arts) to year-end student shows such as Mass Exodus, Ryerson Urban Film Festival, New Voices and others. “We’re looking in the long-term to build out some sort of an FCAD festival that contains all of these things,” says Webb.

Wednesday, Nov. 12, 2014 7FEATURES

“We have a really great relation-ship with the faculty societies”

RESS is the old-est student so-ciety on campus, founded in 1988

RCDS is meant to give marketing and financial sup-port to these events without stripping them of their in-dependence, he explains. “I don’t want to take indepen-dence from these groups — they are really strong groups, they’ve existed for many years — it’s more about bring-ing them together in a way that allows [them to market] their goals.” In short, RCDS has no desire to absorb the organizers of these groups into their executive — merely to be another avenue for these groups to promote them-selves and each other.

Student societies and student unions are not one and the same. The RESS, RCDS and RCS were all raised to provide career opportunities, pro-fessional engagement with industry leaders and

employers and collaborate with other students — in Ry-erson’s case, across faculties and disciplines. The RSU is geared to address issues facing campus culture, regard-less of faculty. They advocate on behalf of the entire student body on issues with footholds both within and outside of Ryerson’s campus, like youth unemployment, mental health and the rising costs of post-secondary education.

RCDS makes its role — and its relationship to the RSU — very clear. “RSU has three pillars and we have three pillars, and they don’t overlap. RSU is services, advocacy

and social. And we are professional, academic and col-laborative,” says Tyler Webb.

The sheer scope of responsibility also differs between student societies and student unions. Any given soci-ety is meant to directly represent the interests of that one particular faculty. RCDS is responsible for deliv-ering professional opportunities to more than 4,400 students, while the RSU is expected to drive campus culture for more than 28,000 undergraduates. On top of that, it also localizes initiatives created and admin-istered by the Canadian Federation of Students — such as many social justice projects — aimed at students across Canada.

That being said, both student societies and student unions work together on a variety of fronts. There is overlap between various faculty course unions. “A course union is automatically part of the student union, by nature of being a course union,” Webb says. “But I’m not going to tell any course union that doesn’t mean they can’t be supported by, or an integral part of, us. That would be ridiculous.”

The RSU understands the roles of both to be closely linked. “I think that as student representatives we have very similar roles, but the various faculty societies are a little bit more specific in representing folks from just those faculties,” RSU President Rajean Hoilett says.

“We have a really great relationship with the faculty societies,” Hoilett says.

That’s good, because if third-year medical physics student Ana Vergas has her way, the Ryerson Science Society (RSS) will represent nearly 4,000 science stu-dents as the fourth major student society on Ryerson’s campus. Though they’ve yet to hold a faculty referen-dum, RCDS executives are already giving them a leg up on the ratification process. “We have regular meetings with Tyler Webb regarding the referendum, since they are the most recent society to hold a referendum,” says Vergas. “Once our meeting with the board goes though, we go to the referendum. We want to make sure we’re very, very strong and we have everything required of us by the board.”

PHOTO: FARNIA FEKRI

It’s not just leadership organizations and student so-ciety presidents that are sitting up and taking no-tice. Alexander Waddling, a fifth-year psychology major and organizer of women’s charity group Ride

For A Dream, met with the RCS last March to request financial support.

A student leader with an interest in gender equity and extensive connections in the faculty of arts, he’s chosen to present his idea to a business faculty, “because I see that RCS needs it the most,” he says, sitting forward on a sofa in the Social Venture Zone. “I mean our business school is more liberal than most. If you look at the board of RCS as an example, it’s half women, give or take.” Waddling points out that business faculties often propogate old-school traditions around gender, and plenty of faculties and student groups at Ryerson are already speaking about it. “I don’t like the idea of preaching to the choir,” he says.

In March, he shows up to a pitch meeting with roughly 15 members of RCS’s board of directors present. He leans forward in his seat. “We’re like, ‘Hi, we’re from Ride For A Dream. This is what we’re about: gender equality. Men and women working together to digest gender issues, end violence against women, fund women’s shelters.’” He be-gins to get worried when one of the directors leans forward, brow furrowed. “And this guy was sitting really close. He’s jacked. Just jacked. He’s huge.” Waddling pauses.

“And then he goes, ‘Great, this is fantastic.’”RCS got on board and provided funding and support

for the group. They’re one of many student groups the society is working with. This culture of collaboration is new — and one likely to continue. “I think we already have it,” he says. “I’ve talked to a number of people who’ve been here for a number of years. It was not that way, say, seven or eight years ago.”

Collaborative culture also extends beyond campus. “It requires a lot of different faculties, a lot of different skill sets that you’re not going to find in any one faculty. You have to be able to cross-pollinate.”

Six months later, he’s looking at also collaborating with RCDS on Ride For A Dream.

When asked why, he shrugs. “Why not?”

Wednesday, Nov. 12, 2014ARTS & LIFE8

Breaking in The dance industry has seen huge growth in the last 30 years, so why is it still so difficult to find a reliable job? In the final instalment of the Breaking In series, Leah Hansen looks into the performance dance program

Dancers face a multitude of challenges when it comes to making it in the industry.

PHOTO: FARNIA FEKRI

As third and fourth-year dance students prepare to perform in Ryerson’s

annual performance, Ryerson Dances, they’re also preparing for something far more challenging — the prospect of finding a job after they get out of school.

According to the Canada Coun-cil for the Arts, the number of peo-ple earning a living in the dance industry as dancers or dance in-structors has grown from 400 in 1971 to 6,400 in 2001 — a 1,500 per cent increase. Dance has sig-nificantly outpaced the growth of most other occupations. So why is it still so difficult for graduates to make their way in an industry that appears to be experiencing huge growth?

The issue lies with society’s at-titude towards dance and the arts in general, according to Vicki St. Denys, director of the perfor-mance dance program at Ryerson.

Much of the stigma from getting a degree in dance comes from the low importance many members of the public place on the profession, she said.

“In Canada, we have a sports culture here,” St. Denys said. Finding a way in an industry that isn’t always valued by members of society takes a certain kind of per-son and an ability to insert your-self into a community, she added.

However, when it comes to the looming prospect of finishing school, not all dance graduates are on equal footing. Fourth-year stu-dent Justin De Luna has been in-volved in professional dance work since he was in second year and isn’t scared of the future as much as his less-experienced classmates — though he still has some trepi-dation about the uncertainty of the industry despite his experience.

“Most of the time I feel like I’m ready,” he said. “I have been al-

ready exposed to what’s out there. But at the same time I’m a little bit scared because I’ve always had school to fall back on whenever I’m not doing anything.”

Being successful in the industry comes down to knowing the right people, he said. De Luna has had summers packed with paid dance work mainly because of his con-nections, despite not planning for the work at the beginning of the summer.

Struggling to get that industry experience while in school isn’t the only hurdle dance

students have to deal with. Ac-cording to Ryerson’s statistics, in the 2012 third-year performance dance program, there were 27 fe-male students and two male stu-dents. At first glance, it seems like such a skewed number is advanta-geous to female dancers — in fact, it’s the opposite.

“Because there are very limited male dancers in the dance program, [they] are put in dances with the fourth-years and the third-years,” De Luna said. “So ever since first year, I was always around older people.”

It has nothing to do with knowl-edge of theory, charisma or even physical ability — male dancers in the program tend to get more time on stage and opportunities simply because of necessity. Second-year dance student Preston Wilder is performing in Dances this year for exactly that reason — there simply aren’t enough male dancers to go around.

“Third and fourth years are al-lowed to audition to Dances, but first and second-year males are also allowed to audition just based on if the choreographer wants to work with more males or have more du-ets or partnerships,” he said. “This year, all males who auditioned made it into Dances, which is a fantastic opportunity for all of us.”

But female dancers in their first

and second year of the program rarely get that chance. Standing out from a group of 27 is far dif-ferent than distinguishing yourself from one other person — making those connections with upper year students early on and establishing relationships with the profession-al choreographers who work on Dances can sometimes make the difference between knowing the in-dustry and being unprepared.

“If I talk to any female stu-dents, they wouldn’t know most of the people that I talk about from fourth-year or third-year that I’m working with,” Wilder said. “I think that’s a bit of a shame.”

By their fourth year, male danc-ers tend to have more performance experience than their female coun-terparts, De Luna said.

Being around older dancers and hearing their stories about what the industry is like is one of the big rea-sons De Luna said he’s not as wor-ried about graduating as many of his friends in the program are.

“I heard about their stories and their experiences about leaving school and how it is out there,” he said. “I had the time to know what is going on out there and the time to prepare myself for it. That’s why I feel a little bit calmer and not as scared to graduate.”

Given the massive growth in the industry, finding a job may not even be the

problem for some recent grads. Earning a living wage from the per-formance work you do though is another thing.

According to the Canada Council for the Arts, dancers earn the low-est incomes of all culture workers and their earnings rank in the low-est five per cent of incomes across the board. Graduates from a per-formance dance program may very well find jobs — but supporting themselves is another issue entirely.

“I can’t take on a part-time job serving or bussing tables or re-

tail because I can’t commit to a schedule like that,” De Luna said. “Working as a freelance dance art-ist, contracts come up out of the blue, work comes out of the blue, it’s so uncertain.”

Putting a dance career first is important, he said, and that can’t happen if a part-time job requires you to adhere to a set schedule.

Despite the worry and the fear of the future, there are still students who are

willing to trade uncertainty for a love of what they do. Jessica Ger-mano, who is currently involved in Dances, said that finding a job is her biggest fear but added that she remains optimistic.

“If you love it enough, you’ll find something,” she said.

Each year however, a number of students in the dance program dis-cover that they simply don’t love it enough. According to Ryerson’s most recent statistics, the class of 2012 began with 41 students — 26 of them graduated.

“We’ve had a bunch of people drop out of our year,” Wilder said. “A lot of people see dance as the commercialized TV world of So You Think You Can Dance and Dancing With the Stars, and com-ing to a professional dance school is very different than what you’d expect.”

The difficulty of the program and the challenges of the industry lead some to choose other careers. Even the dancers who stick with it are limited in the length of ca-reer the degree might bring — 80 per cent of dancers were under 45 in 2001, according to the Canada Council for the Arts, which cited the physical demands of the profes-sion as a reason.

“It’s a different job industry than a lot of other industries,” Wilder said. “It’s definitely fun, but I’m not sure it’s what I want to do for my entire career.”

With files from Alex Heck

Rye grad slams TorontoThe Drake Hotel’s popular poetry slam co-founded by journalism alumnus

David Silverberg founded the slam poetry competition at the Drake Hotel after his experience in the Ryerson journalism program.

PHOTO COURTESY DAVID SILVERBERG

Twice a month in the basement of the Drake Hotel, participants in the Toronto Poetry Slam gather to duke it out on stage.

A poetry slam is a performance that stitches together various poets, all vying to outdo their opponents by presenting the best spoken-word pieces — that is, poetry intended to be heard from a stage.

The competition is the most reg-

ular adult slam in the downtown core and is hosted by the Toronto Poetry Project, an organization founded in part by Ryerson jour-nalism grad David Silverberg.

Silverberg, who managed a slam in North York before making the move to Toronto’s downtown, was inspired by the popularity of the spoken word scene. In deciding it was time for a regular slam in Canada’s biggest city, he took his cue from already-bustling scenes in

Vancouver, Ottawa and Montreal. “I got thinking that a poetry slam

would be useful in a city that is so diverse and as culturally expansive as this,” Silverberg said.

Although there are a handful of slams in Toronto, none are as fre-quent or as packed as the Toronto Poetry Slam, which routinely crams the Drake Hotel’s underground lounge with 80 to 190 people.

For the full story, visit theeyeopener.com

By Dylan Freeman-Grist

Wednesday, Nov. 12, 2014 SportS 9

‘You have to be all in now or not in at all’Ice dancer Piper Gilles is getting a degree at Ryerson while training six days a week for the 2018 Olympics in South Korea

By Adena Ali

Piper Gilles almost competed in the Sochi Olympics.

She and her partner Paul Po-irier were the alternates for Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir. An injury to Poirier kept them from train-ing enough before the Canadian Olympic trials.

Now, Gilles is a creative indus-tries student at Ryerson and is training for the 2018 Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

“You can accomplish a lot in four years,” said Gilles, 22. “So you have to be all in now or not in at all.”

Gilles was born in Rockford, Illinois, and began skating when she was two years old. She moved to Canada and officially became a Canadian citizen last December.

Gilles and Poirier, who stud-ies at the University of Toronto, follow a very strict routine. A typical day begins with a three to four-hour skate, followed by a two-hour workout, six days a

wanted to enroll in fashion, but the program did not fit in well with her skating schedule. In-stead, she is specializing in fash-ion and communications within the creative industries program.

“I wouldn’t have been able to manage [fashion] because the classes were all held in the morn-

week. Depending on their school

schedule, that workout is usually followed by a ballroom dance class. They do all of this while balancing the pressure of compe-titions with the demanding work-load of a university education.

She designs her own outfits and

ings,” she said. “In the creative industries program I am able to balance both my studies and skating.”

The pair recently returned from the 2014 Skate Canada International competition in Kelowna, B.C. where they took home the silver medal. It was

their first medal in a Grand Prix competition.

The pair is now preparing for the 2014 Trophee Eric Bompard competition coming up at the end of November in Bordeaux, France.

“We just run through the pro-gram. We have really hard weeks and weeks where we don’t push as hard,” she said. “It’s best to get the kinks worked out now.”

“How you plan your training makes a difference,” Poirier said.

“It distinguishes the strongest teams from the not so strong teams. You’ve got to be smart about it,” Gilles added.

While she would have liked to go to Sochi this year, Gilles is us-ing the experience to push her to-ward 2018. She knows the road to the Olympics isn’t easy but that the work will be worth it.

“Sometimes I wish there were more hours in the day to get more stuff done,” she said. “I don’t know what I would do if I had too much free time.”

Piper Gilles with her silver medal from 2014 Skate Canada International and the flag she skated around with that night.

PHOTO: JeSS TSanG

Vernon carries RamsRookie women’s volleyball player already showing she is ready for the OUA

By Sarah Cunningham-Scharf

Theanna Vernon is one of the starting middle blockers on the Ryerson women’s volleyball team and is also leading the country in hitting proficiency — and she’s only a rookie.

“The fact that I got the oppor-tunity to [start] and the fact that my team’s there behind me making sure I can do well is great for me. But I was quite surprised,” said the 6-foot tall Scarborough native.

After the Rams’ first five match-es, Vernon has logged 36 kills, three errors and an average of 2.40 kills per set. She’s leading the country with a hitting percentage of .465, the second best is .406.

“The biggest thing about her game is when the moments are the most important, she doesn’t shy away, she gets more aggressive,” women’s volleyball coach Dustin Reid said. “That’s a really unique ability.”

Vernon, 19, began playing com-petitive rep volleyball for the To-ronto Diamonds when she was in Grade 9.

“I fell in love with it because I finally felt like I was dominant in a certain sport. It was natural,” she said.

Reid first watched her play when Vernon was 15 or 16 and saw the potential.

“She was really raw, but you knew early on she was going to have the talent to be a good play-er,” he said. “She’s made great im-provements but I think she’s just scratching the surface of what she can become.”

In Grade 11, Vernon made a commitment to play in the NCAA. When she decided she wanted to

be closer to home, Reid took the opportunity to recruit her.

“She could have played any-where she wanted to from a vol-leyball standpoint. I think we’ve been fortunate and I think it’s a good fit for both sides,” Reid said.

Last year, Vernon was a red shirt — or practice player — for the Rams.

In terms of her decision to join the Rams, Vernon said, “I’m a family girl, and the fact that I get to see my family every day [and] they get to see me play [is] what did it for me. Ryerson’s a good school. I’m in a great program. I love my coach and my team.”

As the only first-year starter for the Rams, Vernon said she’s a team player and wants to continue contributing to the success of the Rams.

“If that means I have to sit on the bench for a game or two so other people can play it’s fine with me. But of course ... if I can be on the court to do better for my team that’s all I want to do.”

Reid is looking forward to working with Vernon for the next four years.

“[When you look at] the type of player that she can develop into when she puts in the hard work, she has potential to be one of the top players in the country,” he said.Vernon smashing a ball back at U of T.

PHOTO: nICk DUnne

PHOTO: ROb FOReman

Turning laws into a business prospectWednesday, Nov. 12, 2014Biz & tech10

The art of storytelling is evolving — with geeks.

Geektropolis is a project that tells multimedia stories about To-ronto’s geek culture — from their leaders, gathering places, events and interests like zombies and comics.

The project partnered with Ry-erson’s Transmedia Zone (TMZ) incubator at the Rogers Commu-nication Centre. Geektropolis was accepted into the TMZ on Oct. 6, shortly after their application in September.

The TMZ looks to partner with a mix of projects that reflect the diversity of the media ecosystem.

“They had a great presentation, and the three team members had the kind of collaborative, eager en-ergy that does well in the TMZ,” said Ramona Pringle, media direc-tor at the TMZ.

The project is a product from the company *nocampfirere-quired, which aims to tell stories on a platform that allows the user to enter at any point of the story and consume as much or as little as they want.

“Maybe [the information for the story] is in video format or maybe it’s a book or it’s audio and we put is all together so one story is being told across multiple mediums. All the integral parts

By Jacob Dubé

PHOTO cOurTesy maTTHew TOkarik

Talk nerdy to me

A new Ryerson startup takes ad-vantage of a recent Toronto bylaw by creating a business plan to im-prove energy efficiency.

The Toronto Green Standards bylaw dictates that every building larger than 2,000 square metres be assessed for its energy perfor-mance in order to create a business plan that helps buildings improve their energy efficiency.

2nd Lot assesses small to medi-um-sized buildings and consults on energy conserving methods to be implemented in the build-ing process. The startup makes a 3D model of the building and in-puts all of the information on its systems, occupancy and building class to predict its energy use.

Matthew Tokarik and Matt Carlsson co-founded the busi-ness and set up in the Centre for Urban Energy (CUE) at Ryerson. The CUE is an academic-industry partnership that develops solu-tions to urban energy challenges and provides research, educa-tion and innovation to new green

startups. Until the creation of this bylaw,

only big buildings were required to follow this rule.

“There’s been this new market

segment that’s opened up because of this requirement in the city, so that’s how we found our way in to this specific niche within the industry,” Tokarik said. “The

green building industry is grow-ing and it’s fairly large. Our niche within it is targeting the smaller and medium buildings that now require this energy assessment.”

The founders were part of the iCUE, an incubator for new start-ups that helps them grow from an idea to the marketplace.

Dan McGillivray, the director of the CUE, taught them business skills needed to be successful in the industry.

“[2nd Lot] can undercut the competition since they’re a small business and they don’t have the large costs for doing their work, [so] they can stay competitive by doing that,” McGillivray said. “That makes them a little special, and you’re always looking for the secret sauce in the company.”

The iCUE takes people from engineering and architecture back-grounds, mixes them all up and teaches this very specialized focus set of skills that deals with build-ings, sustainability and energy.

“Our vision for the centre is to be interesting enough that we want to be visited by others. I think Ry-erson’s making noise. We want to be a world-class centre. You’re not world-class unless the rest of the world thinks you’re world-class,” McGillivray said.

are over different mediums and can be experienced in different ways, but it’s one experience,” said Chris Casselman, co-creator of Geektropolis, who is currently working at the TMZ.

Geektropolis was created by Casselman, along with Em-ily Smith and Camile Gauthier. Geektropolis began telling their stories through weekly short vid-eos featured on their website.

But Geektropolis plans to make their videos more interactive through a virtual map filled with stories from “geekdoms” around Toronto. Casselman and the other Geektropolis members also plan to “gamify” storytelling.

The creators intend on creating online identities through charac-ters for its users. Points will be rewarded when members interact with other members and contrib-ute to the website.

Once the database is established and identities are virtually created, Geektroplis envisions an entire virtual geek world in their future, consisting of missions and quests.

A project telling multimedia geek-inspired stories calls Ryerson home

Our partnership with [the] TMZ has given us access to lots of great resources and equipment

“Our partnership with [the] TMZ has given us access to lots of great resources and equipment,” said Casselman. The TMZ pro-vides Geektropolis with a “collab-orative incubator environment” as well as resources and technology, mentorship and opportunities to share their innovative work within the industry.

“I think there will be some re-lationships and alliances formed,” Casselman said.

Casselman said that Geektrop-olis is interested in some of the other projects at TMZ and are looking forward to collaborat-ing with them — such as The Next Super Geek and The Cana-dian Nerd Show, both multimedia platforms that feature geek and nerd culture.

Geektropolis isn’t aiming for a short-term project but a world that will last, by connecting geeks with one another, fans and events to cre-ate a stronger geek community.

But the project has a four-month time period at the TMZ to work on their project before their part-nership agreement expires.

“They are able to apply to stay longer if they show that they have been producing high quality work that pushes the boundaries of sto-rytelling in interesting ways, and that staying in the zone will be of benefit to their work,” Pringle said.

The creators of 2nd Lot: matthew Tokarik, left, and matt carlsson.

By Julia Knope

Wednesday, Nov. 12, 2014 Fun & unFinished Burritos 11

MinK and levy: “stay classy, rye”

ILLUSTRATION: JESS TSANG

This week Rosencrantz sits down with the president of Ryerson University, Sheldon Levy, to have a glass of scotch.

It’s been a long couple of months for Rosencrantz since arriving at Ryerson, but he has made a name for himself on campus, and Levy recognizes this.

“The little guy just cracks me

up,” Levy said. “Did you see what he did to that Kim Jong-Un fella?”

Rosencrantz felt it was time to sit down with Levy to discuss a pressing issue that has been weighing on his mind for the last few weeks.

“I just want to be on the cov-er of that paper, The Eyeopener. They put me in comics every week

but never the cover,” said Rosen-crantz.

As the room-temperature liquid crosses his thin minky whiskers, there’s yearning in his eyes.

“Why not put my face on the stands for everyone to see?” said Rosencrantz, a little choked up.

What do you think Ryerson? Email fun@theeyeopener.com

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Drop off your completed sudoku at The Eyeopener office (SCC207) and you’ll be entered to win a $25 Chipotle gift card. Also, Squirtle will spit on you.

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