Lifebus shuttles Students to donate The bus runs Thursday and Friday, every hour from noon to 4 p.m. By ALBERTO TUFANO angara students are getting on board with a new initia- tive to encourage blood do- nation. From Oct. 24 until Nov. 16, a shuttle bus operated by Canadian Blood Services will carry eligible students from the Building T to the Oak Blood Centre. This is the first semester that the shuttle bus is being offered at Lan- gara. Karen Garcia, a territory man- ager for Canadian Blood Services, said they hope the bus will make it easier for more students to donate. “If you donate blood you are not alone,” she said. “There are ten thousand donors every month who support hospital patients in need in British Columbia.” Despite the large number of do- nors, there are often shortages. Trillian Mitchell, a Langara stu- dent who boarded the bus on Oct. 25, said “I want to donate now be- cause I understand how difficult it is for hospitals to provide blood for their emergency patients.” Garcia said that not all students who want to donate blood are eligible. People who have come to Canada from India or Pakistan, countries where malaria is a huge problem, must wait three years before donat- ine. Recently, there were several changes to eligibility for blood donors. Garcia said one of them is that the time that people must wait after getting tattoos and pierc- ings has been shortened from six to three months. Serena Sharma, another Langara student who took advantage of the shuttle bus, said “I am glad that it’s finally so easy to access from Lang- ara. | feel like if you have something that you can give to help other peo- ple, why not do it?” Ishbir Heir, a student in Langara's social service worker program, failed a course after being found guilty of plagiarism last year. &1.SE4 FRANZKE PHOTO Process cheats students Langara allows shortest time for appeal in Lower Mainland By KELSEA FRANZKE student accused of pla- giarism says that Lan- gara’s policy to appeal decisions of academic misconduct doesn't give students enough time to process the news, let alone act on it. In September of last year Ishbir Heir’s social work instructor told her that she had plagiarized an es- say. ty was very distraught and I end- ed up crying while I was talking to her. When she told me I had two days to appeal I didn’t even know what that meant. I didn’t have enough time,” Heir said. Timelines to appeal academic misconduct decisions vary at col- leges in the Lower Mainland. At VCC students are given 10 days, at BCIT students are given 30. At Douglas College students are given four months. At Langara the timeline for aca- demic misconduct appeals has now been extended from two business days to five, according to Maggie Ross, Director of Student Conduct and Judicial Affairs. The policy change was approved on Oct. 22 and will come into effect within a couple of weeks. “Tended up crying while I was talking to her. When she told me I had two days to appeal I didn't even know what that meant. I didn't have enough time” —ISHBIR HEIR, LANGARA STUDENT “It’s a reasonable period of time to think about it, consult with oth- ers, or ask professors for reconsid- eration,” said Ross. “It’s appealing a specific point in time, so five days is more than adequate.” Heir says it’s unfair that students at other colleges are given so much more time to appeal. “If I had 30 days I would totally be able to appeal my paper and I'd be able to do it comfortably and not worry about only having two days, which is so overwhelming and frus- trating,” she said. Robyn Lougheed, BCIT"s stu- dent advocacy manager helps stu- dents navigate the appeal process. “We listen to their story, we're non judgemental, to us it doesn't matter if they cheated,” she said. “We just want to make sure they're being treated fairly.” Lougheed said that five days is not enough time for students. “It’s a really short amount of time in my opinion because it’s barely enough to even get over the shock of being accused, especially if the student has not actually plagiarized or cheated. It takes a while for a student to have that news sink in and decide what theyre going to do,” she said. Incidents of academic misconduct. Cases where students appealed. Appeal led to a lesser penalty. SOURCE: 2017 STUDENT CONDUCT AND JUDICIAL AFFAIRS ANNUAL REPORT Controversial therapy is a touchy subject Practice uses bodys energy to promote healing By NATHAN DUREC controversial certificate program offered by Lan- gara College claims to pro- vide healing through the balancing of bioenergy. Chery] Larden, a registered nurse and therapeutic touch instructor at Langara, is a strong proponent of its benefits. “T’ve used it in the hospital,” she said. “I’ve used it in emergencies. I've used it in so many different situations and it can really be help- ful. It really helps relieve stress and anxiety for people too and that’s re- ally so critical.” Langara is the only B.C. college that offers a therapeutic touch prac- titioner certificate program. ‘The website describes it as a “holistic, evidence-based therapy.” Bernie Garrett, associate profes- sor at the UBC School of Nursing said, “To claim it’s evidence-based is deceptive.” In 2017 Garrett co-authored a literature review of available stud- ies, including the three that Lan- gara cites as evidence in favour of the practice. The review found one was based on “low-quality science and low- quality evidence.” Another had a “ludicrous” study-design and an “unfalsifiable” hypothesis. The third was “not a scientific study” and cit- ed “recent evidence” from 1888. Dr. Lloyd Oppel also questioned the science behind this therapy but offered an alternate perspective. “We derive a lot of benefit from practices that can't be substanti- ated,” he said. “There’s great value.” Larden is aware of the contro- versy but she's seen it help people. “It can make such a positive dif- ference to people and I don't quite understand why there seems to be so much negativity,.” she said. Critics don't object to claims that there are benefits, they take issue with the claim that those benefits have been scientifically proven. “If they were to run it as a recre- ational course. . that would be rea- sonable,” Garrett said. “But to run it as a therapeutic course that trains practitioners to deliver faith healing is problematic for a public educational institution.” Langara has been offering courses in therapeutic touch for decades but launched the certificate program in 2015. cioF LOGAN PHOTO