Juuius CEASAR OPENS AT STUDIO 58 .....sseeseeceeeeeeesee4 Studio 58’s production of the Shakespearean tragedy opens to the public tonight Students cast ballots for LSU The LSU hopes for better voter turnout during election this week By OMAR SHARIFF e Langara Students’ Union elec- tion continues today. Students can place their votes until 5 p.m. in the main foyer of A Building. The LSU is looking to fill the following vacant positions: Interna- tional Student Representative, Envi- ronmental Issues Coordinator and two representative spots on the Education Council. The candidates running in the elec- tion are Mugurel Mic and Naoko Shira- tori for Environmental Issues Coordi- nator, Taomeizi Gao for International Student’s Representative, Jianing Ma and Agustina Coccaro for a year-long term on the Education Council and Emma Munro and Haoran Ni for the seven month term. To qualify for these positions, each candidate had to submit a list of at least 15 signatures of support from current Langara students each considered to be in good standing with the college. Naoko Shiratori, who is in the uni- versity transfer program, is one of two candidates running for Environmental Issues Coordinator. If elected, she hopes to continue with current envi- ronmental programs and possibly dis- cover areas of improvement at Langara as well. “T will continue with the bicycle proj- ect, which the previous directors have worked on, and also taking care of the LSU garden. In addition, I’d like to find out the Campus’ energy consumption so that I can find possible solutions,” said Shiratori. LSU Candidates 1 Mugurel Mic Environemnetal Issues Coordinator 2 Naoko Shiratori Environemnetal Issues Coordinator 3 Taomeizi Gao International Student's Rep 4 Jianing Ma Education Council Se 5 Augustina Coccaro OMAR SHARIFF photo Candidates (L-R) Mugurel Mic, Naoko Shiratori and Taomeizi Gao discuss- ing the issues in the Students Union Buuilding. Eli Zbar, board member at large and media liaison for the LSU, hopes Lang- ara students will overcome voter apa- thy and come out to vote. “If we can get people involved and knowledgeable about the issues... then we can come together and work the is- sues out,” said Zbar. At the last election in early October, saw only 2 per cent of eligible voters came out to cast their ballots. Candidate for the year-long female representative position on the Educa- tion Council, Agustina Coccaro of the journalism program, will be trying to involve students more if she is elected. “Tm trying more to talk to people at Langara and see what they want, and just make it more about what the stu- dents want,” said Coccaro. The Voice attempted to contact all of the candidates for comment, but were only able to reach the two candidates above. Voting continues tomorrow, Feb. 38, in the main foyer of the LSU building from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and on Monday, Feb. 6, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Education Council 6 Emma Munro Seven month term 7 Haoran Ni Seven month term Source: Langara Student's Union Auction earns only $1,000 for students An art sale last December raised $10,000, but only a tenth of that remained for scholarships, bursaries & JEREMY LIM photo Attendees purused some ot the 300 items at Langara’s Artfully Yours art auction held on December 1, 2011. By DANA BOWEN rtfully Yours, Langara’s first silent Aj auction, held on Dec. 1, 2011 aised $10,000 for students and programs at Langara. Fifty per cent of the amount generat- ed form each piece went to the student artist and the other half went to Langa- ra to be used to fund scholarships and bursaries. However, after subtracting money for advertising, catering, and liquor, the event had approximately only $1,000 re- maining from the proceeds for scholar- ships. To entice people to come, the event sold beer and wine for five dollars a glass and served free appetizers; the food was the largest expense put to- wards the event. Despite the fact that the appetizers came through Langara’s existing con- tract with Chartwells, that expense item totaled over $3,000. In addition, money was spent to ad- vertise the event, postcards were placed around the school, pinned to boards and the school walls at the cost of $700. The total cost to supply alcohol and a temporary liquor license for the day were not provided to the Voice. Despite the money spent, event orga- nizers feel the event was a success. “We had a goal of having an event on campus to highlight the amazing work students do in our own community and externally. I think we definitely achieved this,” said Deoborah So, event coordinator. They did what they could to keep the costs as low as possible added So. A total of 135 staff and students at- tended the event and 300 pieces were sold. The minimum bid for each item was determined by each individual artist.A piece by Roy Daykin & Advancement was the item that generated the highest bid, going for $500. According to So, the event garnered a lot of positive feedback from students, and some are already asking about 2012’s event. Cafeteria to get eight new nukes Langara cafeteria is set to recieve new microwaves to combat the long line-ups to re-heat food at peak hours By MICHELLE GAMAGE ing for the Langara cafeteria in a month’s time. The new machines are to replace the five half-functioning older models. From the $1.8 million budget for the cafeteria’s renovations, $50,000 remain. A portion of that amount will be used to purchase the new machines, which will help to ease the rush hour lineups. “There are too many people in the line,” said psychology student Cristal Fan. “We have to wait for half an hour. And some of the microwaves are bro- ken.” The main focus of the renovations was to get new vendors into the school and replace the mess hall tables. “We needed to maximize the comfort while still maximizing the number of seats available,” said Mark Adams, di- rector of ancillary services. The cafeteria got a variety of new vendors, individual tables and _ flat- screen TVs but was left with only five used microwaves. Lengthy lineups around noon, micro- waves without glass plates and tepid food are some of the aggravations stu- dents expressed. Adams said that the renovation bills needed to be collected, analyzed, and assessed before Chartwells, the com- pany that operates the cafeteria, calcu- lated it was under its budget and could therefore afford new microwaves. Money was saved by reusing r4 4 older equipment and by over-esti: They need mating the number of chairs and tables to rep lace required. all the mi- “They need to re- place all [the micro- CrOWAVES Chun Ho Fang waves] because new microwaves will be arriv- they don’t work,” Arts and science said Chun Ho Fang, student an arts and scienc- es student. Ali Sedighi, a third year computer sciences student, disagrees. “Microwaves are just for warming up food,” Sedighi said. “They are working right now and they will work for an- other year or two. They don’t need to change them.” With the average microwave costing around $79, The Voice calculated the total cost of the new microwaves to be around $632. This raises the question of what the rest of the $50,000 will be spent on. The order for new microwaves was placed on Tuesday, January 24,