Archive for ‘News’

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May 31, 2012

CHESS RELEASE: Unique Vandal Crowned Chess Champion of Laurentian

From left: Janique Vandal (1st place), Thato Baruti (3rd place), Raymond Modise (2nd place) and Todd Belrose (2nd place).

By Sean C. Thomas

Laurentian University’s second annual Chess tournament was once again conducted by Sean Thomas and began early this year with several returnees and a lot of new faces. Matches started early this year and finally came to an end last month.

This year’s semi-finals saw two returning semi-finalists: Raymond Modise and Janique Vandal (last year’s first and second place winners) and two new contenders: Todd Belrose and Thato Baruti. After a nerve-wracking, tight fought match between Janique and Thato in the semi-finals, Janique emerged victorious. The match between Todd and Raymond took an unexpected turn
of events when a sudden move by Todd resulted in check-mate. The third place match fought between Raymond and Thato resulted in the victory of Thato.

The pulsating final match for the championship between Janique and Todd was a rematch of the round-robin. In the round-robin, Todd had defeated Janique. So tensions were running high and in what was one of the best played matches in the history of the tournament, Janique overcame all odds to win the match and the championship.

We take this opportunity to thank all our sponsors and the participants for making Laurentian’s Chess Tournament a grand success.

lambda@laurentian.ca

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April 11, 2012

LU lands Starbucks for September 2012

By Ed Veilleux

The J.N. Desmarais Library rotunda, pictured here, is being ear-marked as the location for an on-campus Starbucks. Photo by Ed Veilleux.

The experience of waiting in a Tim Hortons line filled with dozens of students, stretching down the bowling alley, may soon be just a memory at Laurentian University.

Starbucks is on the way, according to Carol McAulay, vice-president of administration at Laurentian.

“We identified the library area as an area that could use additional services, particularly because often we see long line- ups at the Tim Hortons in the bowling alley,” McAulay said. “Both Aramark and (Laurentian) agreed that we need another outlet in that sort-of neighbourhood.”

Aramark currently, and for the next four years, has the contract to provide food services to Laurentian’s campus. When Aramark does a review of services, the company splits the campus into sections, or “neighbourhoods,” and they determined the academic neighbourhood (the library area) could use an extra outlet, according to McAulay.

“After discussion with Aramark, we agreed the library rotunda would be a great spot, so we’re working with them to bring another food service outlet.”

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March 23, 2012

SGA election results: Park Radio heard loud and clear, Rolling with Rollins gains traction, and Shook’s four-prong approach wins out

By Ed Veilleux

The SGA executive will have a new twist with a touch of the old for next year.

The ballots are counted and the results are in for the SGA elections at Laurentian University.

Newly-elected SGA President Andy Rollins, VP Issues Jarrod Shook and returning VP Services Iain Park will make up next year’s executive.

The ballot counting started just after 7 p.m. and, by just after 6:10 a.m., the SGA election officials had counted the eighteenth and final polling station.

In total, 914 people voted, equaling roughly 17.9 per cent of the SGA population. Quorum (the amount of votes needed to make the election results official) for the SGA election is 15 per cent, or roughly 765 votes. Having tallied 914 votes, the election results will stand.

The presidential race heated up with 596 votes counted (13 of the 18 polling stations), as SGA presidential candidate Andy Rollins took a 160-vote lead.

Steve Sutherland, the second presidential candidate, made up some ground when the fourteenth station was counted, closing the gap to 114.

But, in the end, Rollins held on to the lead 460-to-327.

The VP issues race was neck-and-neck right to the end, as Jarrod Shook totaled 253 votes, edging Nathan Knott by 32, and Olivia Coady by 46.

The VP Services race was a landslide victory for incumbent Iain Park, as he took home nearly double the votes of his nearest competitor.

McKenna Elsasser  took home top votes for a senator at 406, and never looked back after taking an early lead. Chloe Mirfield took the second senator seat with 364 votes. The third, and final, seat was snatched by Chris MacCulloagh with 318 votes, narrowly edging Sarah Williams (273 votes).

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Official final numbers:

FOR THE OFFICE OF PRESIDENT:

ROLLINS, ANDY          460

SUTHERLAND, STEVE  327

FOR THE OFFICE OF VICE PRESIDENT STUDENT ISSUES:

COADY, OLIVIA     207

KIRAGA, JOEY        132

KNOTT, NATHAN GREGORY    221

SHOOK, JARROD  253

FOR THE OFFICE OF VICE PRESIDENT SERVICES:

DAVIDSON, KIRSTEN   172

LAPLANTE KELSEY       138

LEBLANC, CAROLYN    65

PARK, IAIN                   332

SUTTON, TOM             140

FOR THE OFFICE OF SENATOR:
ELSASSER, McKENNA  406
MacCULLOAGH, CHRIS  318
MIRFIELD, CHLOË   364

SYLVESTRE, ALLEN  142
WILLIAMS, SARAH    273

REFERENDUM:
YES   518 - NO  352

914 VOTES COUNTED

The numbers have yet to be validated; these results are unofficial until further validation by the SGA.

Posted in News, SGA | 6 Comments »

March 22, 2012

Pride set for referendum

By Matt Rabey 

The mandatory number of signatures was collected to signify 10 percent of the Laurentian University student population being in favour of a new $1 per student incidental fee to fund the Laurentian University Pride Office.

James Spires, Vice President of Pride at Laurentian University explains the importance of this new referendum.

“(This referendum) is important because our office is open to everyone, gay and straight. We host events for the gay community and the straight community and are open to any members as long as they are respectful and they believe in what the club tries to promote: diversity and tolerance.”

The President of Pride LU, Jesse Depatie, added: “Our offices and the resources that we offer are all inclusive to anybody and they are there for anybody who needs a safe space. It is another opportunity for people to come and be themselves and not get judged.”

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March 22, 2012

Laurentian Math Professor Luis Radford wins international award

By Kallie Berens

Laurentian Math professor Dr. Luis Radford poses in front of a chalkboard in his office. Photo by Kallie Berens.

Dr. Luis Radford was in Frankfurt at the beginning of February with three hours to wait for his flight to Toronto when he decided to check his email.

He was on his way back from Geneva, where he was attending a mathematics conference. After answering his correspondence he opened up an email from the International Commission on Mathematical Instruction which contained news about the recipient of the 2011 Hans Freudenthal Award, which recognizes major programs of research in the field of mathematics.

What he saw in that email was his own name, asking if he would accept this award.

“I couldn’t believe it. I had to read the email several times,” Radford said. “Our community is quite big – there are many groups in every country devoted to improving the teaching methods used in mathematical studies. It was a big surprise that they picked me.”

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