As the complications related to the ratification of VP Finance-elect, Ian Dasti, piled up over the past two weeks, it became increasingly apparent that the LUSU Board of Directors would not resolve this complicated issue in a timely manner. Last Friday, this was confirmed when the Board showed solid judgment in deciding to pursue legal recourse before proceeding any further down the already slippery face that is the LUSU executive elections.
The Board opted to take a methodical approach towards resolving on this matter, for the first time since Ian Dasti’s status as a student was first called into question.
At Friday’s meeting, the BOD was criticized for making “convenient” decisions over the past few months. Indeed, the Directors’ procedural oversights and inability to stick with and justify their initial decision to keep Ian Dasti out of the LUSU election got the Student Union into this shifty situation. Yet, in this negative situation, the Board is doing the right thing in seeking legal advice to carefully navigate their way out of the hole they dug. This method is anything but convenient, but it’s absolutely the correct method to employ.
There are no clear winners in this VP Finance fiasco. The student body was given no opportunity to elect a representative in a fair election. The candidates lose, having invested significant time, money and energy into campaigning for potentially disposable votes. Nevertheless, this lose-lose situation could have gotten significantly worse had the Board buckled under the pressure of a few partisan, impatient students at their last meeting.
There is no single decision that propelled LUSU into this rut. Bad decisions have been compounded over time by subsequent bad decisions, but this time the Board made the right move by deciding not to decide.
As a result of this stalled decision-making process, the Argus successfully requested to continue the publication of our newspaper, with limited circulation, and in a shortened format, in order to maintain the token transparency of the unfolding of the VP Finance ratification.
We will be accepting letters to the Editor in the meantime, giving members of the Lakehead University community a venue to present their concerns.

Mike Bennett
Editor-in-Chief

Fifth-year netminder, Chris Whitley, was brilliant between the pipes in the Thunderwolves’ losses against Alberta and UNB. His finishes his Lakehead career as the all-time winningest goalie in team history, and was the 2007-08 OUA MVP. Photo by Mike Lavoie.

Scoring troubles plague LU as two losses eliminate team from University Cup

Mike St. Jean
Sports Editor

The mood of Saturday’s post game press conference was somber at best, with media and members of the Thunderwolves organization looking for answers as to why the team struggled to bury their chances in their 3-1 loss to the University of New Brunswick Varsity Reds at the Fort William Gardens.
“We never got momentum on our bench, and we just needed that one goal to get everything to shift our way,” explained Head Coach, Don McKee. “You saw it [happen] this afternoon with Western, and we just could not get that puck in the back of the net. If there was an easy answer, I wish we could find it.”
Team captain Andrew Brown echoed the comments made by his coach.
“We knew going in when they set the pools that we had a big task ahead of us, but we felt that if we played to our potential we would be ok. Unfortunately, we just couldn’t get any bounces to go our way.”
Lakehead’s CIS Championship tournament got off to a rough start, Friday night, as the team lost by a close 2-1 margin to the tournament favourite Alberta Golden Bears. The Wolves entered their final game of the tournament against the V-Reds needing to win by two goals to keep their hopes of making the final alive.
Although the Wolves had plenty of good scoring opportunities in the game, UNB goaltender Travis Fullerton was equal to the task, making 30 stops on route to his second victory of the Cavendish Cup.
Lakehead’s only goal of the match came with just 26 seconds remaining, scored by sophomore defenseman Andy Zulyniak. Fittingly, the lone assist on the goal went to graduating Andrew Brown, who ends his Lakehead career having played the most games in franchise history.
Shandor Alphonso scored the Wolves lone goal in their game against Alberta, an empty netter during the Bears’ last-ditch effort to gain the goal-differential advantage over UNB needed to salvage any hope of reaching the championship finals. Alberta had lost 6-3 to the V-Reds, on Thursday evening.
If not for the Thunderwolves’ solid defensive work, and great goaltending from fifth-year senior Chris Whitley, who made 73 saves on 77 shots in the tournament, the score would have surely been more one-sided in both games.
The Thunderwolves will now focus their energy towards next season, when they will make another run at the CIS title, which will be held again at the Fort William Gardens in Thunder Bay. This time, however, the team will be have to make due without several key graduating players, including Brown, Whitley, forwards Tobias Whelan, Brad Priestlay, Matt Maisonneuve and Richard Molenaar, as well as defenseman Drew Kivell, who missed the final game of the tournament due to a concussion suffered in the loss to Alberta.

We both recently attended “The Ecological and Evolutionary Implications of Climate Change Symposium”, where we had the pleasure of watching world-renowned speakers present their recent research advances and discuss some of the implications of future climatic change on global ecosystems.  After observing the unreceptive responses of the audience towards anyone who offered question or comment critical of the ‘causes’ of climate change, we feel that some of the student body at Lakehead University may be generally misinformed about certain aspects of the climate change paradigm, which prompted us to write a short article in the hope of ‘bringing to light’ some of the misconceptions surrounding the causes of climate change.
Somehow, possibly due to the desire of popular media and certain non-governmental organizations to connect climate change with human activity in order to sell stories and facilitate their personal agendas, respectively, ‘natural climatic change’ has become synonymous with ‘anthropogenic- or human-caused climatic change’ among the general public.  However, there is an important distinction between the two.  Natural climatic change is undeniable, as the earth’s climate is a dynamic system which has always been changing, and will continue to do so in the future, regardless of human activity.  Global mean annual temperatures, even during the past 500,000 years, have reached highs that have surpassed current values, while the earth has been generally warming since the end of the last ice age approximately 10,000 years ago.  Human-caused climatic change, in contrast, is the premise that recent changes in our climate can be totally or partially attributed to human activity via increased emissions of greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere from the burning of fossil fuels and land-use change.  While there is no doubt that carbon dioxide levels have increased in the atmosphere since the beginning of the industrial revolution, whether or not these increases are responsible for recent warming trends is not as clear as the media and local politicians would have you believe.
There are plenty of peer-reviewed articles in good journals by respected scientists that have studied the effects of climate change on various terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems (many of which we have reviewed during our graduate studies), and rightly so, since we need to know the potential future impacts of climate change on our ecosystems in order to develop effective mitigation policies and procedures.  However, there are very few peer-reviewed articles which make the direct link between the recent observed changes in the earth’s climate and human activities.  Although various correlations have been drawn between these two variables, bear in mind that they are just correlations, and that correlation does not necessarily imply causality.
We do not deny that the human race as a whole must change their ways, as we can no longer continue to degrade our air, water, and soil and expect the integrity of the planet to not suffer dramatically.  We are also not denying that the earth is indeed warming, and that this warming will have tremendous consequences for all life on earth.  We are simply saying that the ‘human-caused climate change link’ is not as strong as many would have you believe.  It may eventually be shown that human activity has accelerated natural rates of global climatic warming; however, it is equally possible that humans are having no significant effect on the earth’s natural warming patterns.  Only greater research will resolve this critically-important question.
We recognize that there are propaganda machines at work for both sides of this argument, each with their own prejudices and personal biases that drive their respective agendas.  As students at an institution for higher learning, we must remember the importance of keeping our minds open to new ideas, while striving to evaluate the validity of new (and old) ideas critically.  However, even at universities, which regard ‘free exchange of ideas’ as a sacred tenet, it has become socially unpopular, and almost unacceptable, to take a stance critical of human-caused climatic change.  This lack of tolerance among the university community towards disbelievers of the existence of human-caused climate change (which became clearly prevalent at the aforementioned symposium) should be alarming for all.  If discussion of this topic has become ‘off-limits’, what could be next?

Brian Brassard
B.Sc., M.Sc.F.

and

Anthony Taylor
B.Sc., M.Sc.F.

Ph.D. Candidates in Forest Sciences
Faculty of Forestry and the Forest Environment

As the school year comes to a close, many of us may find ourselves (after cramming for exams and finishing final papers) searching for summer employment. My mother, knowing this time is fast approaching, called me last week to give me the low down on job opportunities in Timmins. Needless to say there were slim to none. Timmins is one of those towns where you need to know the “right” people to get a decent job, which are few and far between. In light of this, I mentioned during the conversation the idea of returning to Swallowdale International, the children’s summer camp I’ve worked at for the past three summers. “What!?” she screamed at me “absolutely not! It’s time for you to grow up and get a real job!” A real job? This annoyed me.  According to my mom, I haven’t had a real job my entire life because working as a camp counsellor “doesn’t count”. When I asked her why exactly it “didn’t count” I was met with “because you were paid peanuts to go on vacation and have fun for two months!” Hm. Then is a real job somewhere I hate waking up to go to in the morning or something I get paid ten thousand dollars to do but never see the light of day? So the question is…what is a real job?

To me there is nothing more real than living away from home, taking responsibility for not only yourself, but for ten younger campers, waking up to a mess hall of songs and laughter, and following through with a day in the sun, teaching international students English and how we do things here in Canada. Leading a handful of campers through portage trails and across great lakes, eating out of barrels and singing songs around a campfire, to me this is a real job with real people and real life experiences. I would do it for free…okay maybe not free because I do still have tuition to pay, but it’s definitely not the monetary wages that draw people like me back year after year. I think it’s the payment of life experiences that are unattainable at any other summer job that have that gravitational pull on my heart. Please recognize that I am not trying to convince every single person out there to become a camp counsellor, we all know that it takes a certain kind of someone to live without hot water for two months and go to the bathroom in the bush using nature’s t.p , but I just offer some food for thought. When searching for employment opportunities this summer, I encourage you all to get a real job.
Ali Holmes

Although a common act among general society, one night stands are particularly common amongst the campus of university life.  It is something that almost everyone can relate to either from personal experience or through friends’ experiences, but in most cases there is always the ultimate question of are one night stands really moral?
Had this not been 2009 and we had been in our grandparents generation there would be absolutely no question as to whether or not they were moral; flat out they would be wrong.  In the past issues like sex were taboo to begin with so even the thought of a one night stand was no doubtfully immoral.  However, this is 2009, and in today’s world sex and other similar issues are becoming much less taboo and more acceptable to talk about freely.  With this openness comes a much less conservative attitude toward actions and with that the acceptability of promiscuous behaviour.  This mindset allows the one-night-stand concept to become much acceptable in our modern day society which, in many minds, also makes it morally acceptable.
There are many different views on one night stands and whether they are moral or not.  Studies have been done showing that after the act men tend to feel euphoric and experience positive feelings while women often feel cheap, easy and a plethora or other negative feelings.  Does this apply to whether or not one night stands are moral?  It depends on the feelings before the act.  If both parties were consenting to the terms of a one night stand, that it would be casual sex with no strings attached, and not expecting anything more of the situation, then these feelings don’t apply.  However, if one party was under false pretenses and experiences these feelings afterwards, then this does bleed back to the moral factor.  That party may have thought that one night stands were immoral but was under the impression that what they were partaking in was not just a mere one night stand.  In this sense the act would have been immoral, since both parties were not consenting and aware of the terms.
Many people who consider one night stands immoral give reasons such as that the people are only using each other and that it lessens the deeper meaning of sex.  These things may be true for some individuals, but not all.  Many people consider one night stands to be morally acceptable if both people involved are okay with the idea, neither party is in a relationship and would therefore be committing adultery, and the people take precautions and do it safely.
In the end what it comes down to is not whether society considers one night stands morally right or wrong, but what each individual considers to be morally right and wrong.  This is a common idea amongst many issues, and although society is accepting the behaviour of one night stands more than in the past, it is up to each unique person to decide what is moral for them and what is not.

Karly MacLeod

Making sense of Lakehead`s musical community

Anthony Marrelli and Mike Trevisanutto

Every university owes it to its students to make full use of tuition costs, knowing that those finances are funding their department according to their hopes, needs and philosophies. One of the most ethically difficult programs to apply standardized praxis to is the music program.
Music is a unique form of individual expression, and leaps beyond simple banking systems of subject regurgitation. Music provides the individual with a personal form of expression, and is an intimate form of human learning. Therefore, a standardized music program will only cater to certain audiences of music students, making it an exclusive and narrow form of education.
To look at how the individual student fits into these roles set out by the University`s plan, it was time to gouge the answers out of these students to discover what they believe could help surmount their potential.
The first issue is the fact that LU’s music program provides students with a classical focus, with few exceptions. Not all musicians fit this role exclusively, with Lakehead`s program not offering resources within their library to allow students to discover other forms of music for their primary instrument. With a low student population in the program, it becomes an issue to provide a new versatile program that encompasses all styles of music. Only 13% of professors in the music program are full time, the rest are all contract lecturers. With contract lecturers being an unstable instructor pool, it is problematic to find enough instructors for all forms of music, from blues to metal. Currently the only type of non Western art music that is taught is jazz, and there is only one ensemble class for it. Does that suffice?
The Lakehead University music program is also home to the only full year course offered at Lakehead that is only worth a half credit. Although the end result is always an amazing performance put on with the class and the Thunder Bay Symphony Orchestra, it does seem unfair that the work load to put on a professional performance is only worth a half credit. This is not the only flawed class in the department. In the ensemble classes, small groups are made to collaborate on a certain piece. Often the stronger or more hardworking students must pick up the slack of the weaker students, causing frustration and fewer opportunities to learn. This is not a case of lazy group members in a class project, it is guided by the professor consciously knowing that stronger students will have to work harder but receive the same amount of credit.
The main issue regarding the music program at Lakehead boils down to the human element.  Whether you can play music or simply enjoy its sounds, we are all sentient to its impact on human emotion. Music is a multidimensional form of learning that spans both the deep cognitive capacities of the individual and their emotions and values.  Music making of all kinds should be at the heart of any musical program. This provides an environment where the student can grasp their interests and delve into music with a positive attitude based on their personal feelings for the music they love. The problem with a program such as this is the necessity of having enough instructors to guide students with all forms of music composition and experimentation. Without a doubt many other programs suffer from the same issue of being a standardized program with little elasticity for the student`s interests. Therefore, newer programs must be put into place that allow for such elasticity.
Other universities such as North Texas provide some of the most extensive music programs in North America, yet struggle to maintain full time instructors for all forms of instruments. Universities such as these have provided students with a range of global musical studies from Brazilian to Afro-Cuban. Their programs also utilize an online network to allow students in the music program to distribute their compositions to the public for free, allowing for their music to reach beyond their own community. Support such as this is a benefit of a larger university, meaning a larger student base and therefore a bigger budget. However, despite these hurdles it is possible to implement programs, such as an online distribution network or a larger digital library of various musical compositions for students to distribute and explore. To provide your own feedback, speak to the chair of the music department, Dr. Glenn Colton to have your ideas considered.
“Music is a multidimensional form of learning … music making of all kinds should be at the heart of any musical program.“