Students can unwind during the upcoming LUSU Winter Carnival.

Amy Szybalski

News Writer

What better way to welcome back students from the mid winter study break than with the great winter activities of the 2010 LUSU Winter Carnival.

Vice President Student Issues Trevor Cava, one of the head organizers of the carnival, sees it as a valuable time for students to relax during this stressful time.

“School’s almost over and exams are on the way. The winter carnival allows students the opportunity to come and enjoy some fun events, relax with friends, and even meet new people both from Lakehead and in the community,” said Cava about the value of the event.

“I’m not too sure how many years LUSU has been involved with the winter carnival,” said Cava, “I remember it last year and while I felt some of the events didn’t go well, I still thought it was a great idea.”

The Argus has been covering the Winter Carnival since 1967, and over the years it has entertained the student body in different and creative ways, and this year will be no exception.

Events for the Winter Carnival will start on Wednesday, February 24th and the carnival will wrap up on Sunday, February 28th.

Events include dog sledding on Wednesday and Thursday 12pm to 5pm for a fee of only five dollars. Space for dog sledding is limited and students are encouraged to sign up early at the LUSU office. As of last Thursday there were only eight spots left.

The Lakehead Alumni Student Barbeque will be taking place Friday from 11am to 2 pm. All students are invited to come on down and get their free lunch on a first come first serve basis.

Finishing up the week is “LUSU and Alumni Take The Hill” ski night at Lomond Ski from 6pm to 9pm. The Lakehead University Alumni Association donated $2000.00 for this event. Lift ticket prices are only five dollars.

Space is limited for those who need to rent equipment. As of last Thursday, there were no spots available for skiing, and only a handful of spots for snowboarders. For those who are not quite into skiing or snowboarding, there are also some remaining spots for tubing. Bussing will be provided to all students leaving the Agora between 4:30 and 5pm.

“The activities are available to all local students. Whether you’re from residence, or a “townie” then you can come and enjoy these events,” said Cava encouraging students to get out and have fun to chase away the blahs of winter.

Photo by Jeff Luo

U of Winnipeg’s Brian Stevenson chosen to replace Gilbert in August

Stacey Goyan

News Editor

On February 10^th, the Lakehead community and curious members of the media filled the senate chambers to see what the “top secret” announcement would be from the board of governors.

The Lakehead University Office of Communications sent out a mass email regarding a special announcement from the chair of the Board of Governors. Many speculated that the announcement would reveal the identity of the new Lakehead president.

When 52-year-old Dr. Brian Stevenson made his grand entrance with his wife and two daughters, they were proven correct.

Stevenson, who is the current provost and vice president academic at the University of Winnipeg, will take the reigns from the retiring Dr. Fred Gilbert in August.

Stevenson was introduced with warm comments from current president, Dr. Fred Gilbert, as well as Board of Governors chair Kevin Cleghorn who discussed the process of the presidential search.

“We’re filling big skates,” said Cleghorn to the crowd gathered.

The search was initiated a year ago after current president Dr. Fred Gilbert announced his retirement.

A 13-member presidential search committee was struck, which included students, faculty, and administration.

“An open public process was the favourite approach of the search committee,” said Cleghorn. However, in November it was announced that the search would be done privately on the advice of Laverne Smith & Associates Inc., the company selected to assist in the search.

“The search committee agreed that it would be a great disservice to Lakehead University stakeholders to insist on a public audition of several candidates if it meant that very good candidates concerned about their career and status in their current roles would simply not come forward.”

Cleghorn stated that Stevenson was the unanimous choice of the Board of Governors. As well, he also noted that Stevenson fit the candidate profile developed through input from the university community.

Stevenson then took the podium to address the Lakehead community. While he admitted a lack of knowledge of Thunder Bay, he said consultation will be his main approach.

Following the announcement, a town-hall meeting was held where Stevenson outlined his ideas for Lakehead and took questions from those in attendance.

During interviews with media, Stevenson admitted that balancing fiscal sustainability and the quality of academics will be his major challenge.

Stevenson noted taking an aggressive approach to sustainability at University of Winnipeg. During his time there, bottled water was banned on campus and replaced with water stations throughout campus.

Stevenson acknowledged that the potential for a law school made Lakehead University very attractive. “I’m going to pursue it with every ounce of energy that I have,” said Stevenson.

Stevenson also noted that he would be willing to re-open discussion regarding wireless internet on campus. The issue of WiFi at Lakehead received international attention and criticism after Gilbert banned it citing potential health implications.

The soon-to-be president also remarked on the importance of politicizing students. Stevenson, who has an extensive background in political science and public policy, has a resume which includes student politics, work with the Canadian Federation of Students, and work with a federal minister.

“I believe the students should be very active, and should always be supporting the university as a community and getting involved and engaging the issues of the day.”

With anxieties still lingering over the strategic plan, which narrowly passed vote in November, Stevenson says he’s willing to seek input on how it is put into action.

“Well I think the strategic plan has a lot of wonderful elements. I just finished the academic plan at the University of Winnipeg and there are a lot of similarities between the two programs. I am also going to engage in a consultative on the implementation of the strategic plan starting in August when I arrive.”

Derrick Hosanna

Every year, people feel the frustration and anxiety of having to file their income tax return. And who can blame them?

As Robert D. Brown, the former chairperson of the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants, once said “the Income Tax Act must be the product of the embittered mind of an unsuccessful Chinese fortune cookie designer.”

Who can keep track of all the constant changes in tax rates and tax credits?

Luckily for Lakehead University students, the LU Accounting Club (LUAC) in conjunction with the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) will once again be holding its third annual Community Volunteer Income Tax Program (CVITP).

Last year, LUAC completed approximately fifty tax returns for students. This year, LUAC hopes to continue growing the tax clinic by completing over 100 student tax returns.

“The growth of the tax clinic is really a testament to the willingness of Lakehead Business students to get involved and give back to their peers, in addition to being a great way for business students to apply their knowledge to real world situations,” says fourth year accounting major Mark Deleo, who will be participating in his second tax clinic.

All of the clinic volunteers are senior accounting and finance students who have completed a mandatory training course put on by CRA.

In addition, most students have completed an undergraduate taxation course.

“The strong academic background of our students, as well as the CRA training, makes our business students more than qualified to handle their peer’s income tax returns,” says Camillo Lento, CVITP faculty advisor and Accounting Professor.

This tax service is free to all Lakehead students and is a great way to save around thirty dollars from having your taxes prepared professionally.

For those interested in having the CVITP volunteers complete your tax return, the program will take place on the second floor of The Outpost between 11:30 AM and 5:00 PM on March 2^nd and 3^rd. Remember to bring your tax slips, including any T4, T2202 (printed from MyInfo), T3 and any receipts from moving expenses and rent.

Any questions or concerns regarding the CVITP can be emailed to the Lakehead University Accounting club at luac@lakeheadu.ca.

Spookey Ruben - Mechanical Royalty

Derek Wall

A&E Editor

While being completely contemporary and providing music to compete in the ever-morphing indie scene, Spookey Ruben has also created something interestingly classic in this album.

And to be clear, by classic I mean a classic 70’s synth rock sound ala Supertramp and Styx. Even the essence of Bowie haunts this album in tracks like “Rachel.”

And like the classic synth rock of our past, this album is not simply a collection of tunes; it is a journey that one must be prepared to fully embark on or else a critical element of the album is lost.

Some real standout tracks include “Just Another Day”, “U Don’t Know What Your Missing”, and “Superpoke”.

A great deal of the contemporary music today falls into very strict categories, it seems. It must be between three to five minutes in length and follow the “verse-verse-chorus-verse-bridge-chorus” formula. Well to anyone that loves the fact that old school 70’s bands like Pink Floyd might throw caution to the wind and create an experimental rock piece that exceeded 20 minutes, there’s something on this disc for you.

The title track, Mechanical Royalty, is a patient and intriguing rock exploration that goes nowhere in a hurry and takes its deliberate time in taking the listener where it wants to go. The track pushes 15 minutes, but if you love the exploratory rock of the past, or just love to let music wash over you and take you somewhere, then this track is worth the cost of the disc alone.

To summarize the disc, I could only describe it as an interesting and thickly layered homage to the great synth bands of the 70’s while still offering something new to the contemporary listener.

Certainly worth listening to if you’d like to reintroduce a more classic sound back into your music library.

A chance to revel in an original yet old school 70’s sound

Derek Wall

A&E Editor

To some, nothing beats that old-school country rock twang. It might be one of the reasons why classic rock radio stations in Thunder Bay are able to stay afloat. Despite how overplayed some bands get, people can’t get enough of groups like The Band, The Beatles, and Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young.

Many do tire of the repetitive nature of the mainstream radio stations, but there is good news for those in that situation.

The Sheepdogs, out of Saskatoon, have truly taken a classic 70’s sound and made it their own, bringing to mind The Guess Who and other of the time at their very best.

Apparently, their live shows are not to be missed either. The Sheepdogs were voted Favourite Local Band in Planet S Magazine (based out of Saskatoon). To see a group like this would be a real treat as bands like The Guess Who or The Band are a little tough to get tickets to these days.

The Sheepdogs have opened for such groups as Matt Mays, The Arkells, and Tricky Woo.

Their latest offering, Learn and Burn, is being toured across Eastern and Central Canada, and Thunder Bay is fortunate enough to be on the route.

The accolades The Sheepdogs have earned are pretty impressive. Their last CD, The Sheepdogs’ Big Stand, was nominated for a Western Canadian Music Award for an Independent CD of the Year Award. The group was also nominated for an Artist of the Year award from XM Radio’s The Verge.

The group will be playing alongside Money Honey.

Theatre for Change in Action comes to Lakehead University

Kenneth Lloyd

Argus

Story telling is usually what live theatre is associated with, and I guess in that sense, Theatre for Change in Action is no different, but the primary distinction is that the storytelling used by this group is participatory and actively encouraging of dialogue.

Everyone is invited to come out and engage in the events– as much or as little as they feel comfortable with. An audience member can even attend solely as an observer.

The activities during the two-day workshop period should prove useful to anyone pursuing a life in education or simply seeking to fortify their skills in community development, activism, conflict resolution, and public awareness. The techniques used by Theatre for Change in Action are even recognized by the United Nations, who claim these techniques are “an official tool for social change.”

In order to participate, the cost to students is $10 for one day or $15 for the entire weekend.

Theatre for Change in Action is offering an experiential course that will show its participants how to bring about social change through theatre workshops. The workshop will provide a stronger and better insight into how to identify complex social issues, and more importantly, find a way to improve or solve these issues.

Jessica Bleuer, M.Ed, M.A., the facilitator of Theatre for Change In Action at Lakehead, will also be discussing numerous theatre techniques like “Forum Theatre,” and “Image Theatre.” The whole idea is to get people’s creative juices flowing and create an interactive community to generate dialogue.

This event is being backed by the Multi-Cultural Centre, the Gender Issues Center, Pride Central, the Aboriginal Awareness Centre, and LUSU.

This event seems like a sure thing for anyone looking for ways to gain some important skills in interpersonal relationship, and at $15 for the whole weekend, the price is right.