JUMP FOR OKLAHOMA! .wcnseeceeeeseeceeeeseeeeeeseeeeseeseneel Studio 58 is bringing a little southern charm to Langara next month DAVID OLECKO/ Nexen submitted photo Nexen headquarters in Calgary, Alta. Nexen is a funding partner of Ch’nook Business, a program exclusive to aboriginal students. No Langara Chinook Business program for aboriginal students is suspended By BAILEY NICHOLSON he Chinook Business program is no longer offered at Langara. The two-year diploma program, exclu- sive to aboriginal students, was part of an initiative led by the Univer- sity of British Columbia. The program has remained active at UBC, however, with funding from various oil and gas companies. Miranda Huron, Ch’nook (originally Chinook) program manager at UBC a said she and her S team are selective about which compa- nies they partner with, but contribu- tions from the oil and gas business are necessary to sustain the pro- gram. “Not everybody agrees with oil and gas,” said Huron, ANTONELLA ALVES Assistant chair, Langara school of management : “but as a funding source, they're the 66 best option of many.” ’ According to the It’s not UBC website, that we Ch’nook funding ’ partners include don {sup “ Eneana — Corpora- port busi- _ tion, ConocoPhillips Canada and Nexen n ess oppor- Energy, a subsid- tunity iary of China Na- ° tional Offshore Oil aimed at Corporation Limit- aboriginal ed. students Nexen has been funding various Ch’nook programs through the Sauder School of Business i) for the past three years, largely in re- sponse to policy requirements. Nexen aboriginal relations represen- tative, Connie Landry, said the compa- ny’s operations are situated close to several aboriginal communities and they have an indigenous people’s poli- cy. “Within that policy we do state that we will build long lasting and meaning- ful relationships, and that we respect what the community needs are and,” said Landry, “what a lot of the commu- nities require is education.” Langara College is among 27 Cana- dian post-secondary institutions that have divestment campaigns, decreas- ing their holdings from fossil fuel com- panies. The list also includes UBC and six other Ch’nook partners. “If it is wrong to wreck the climate, then it is wrong to profit from that wreckage,” said environmentalist Bill McKibben, explaining the principle idea behind the divestment movement. The size of Langara's endowment fund, and the amount of that invested in fossil fuels, has not been made pub- lic by the college. Langara’s Chinook program is, however, currently sus- pended and under review. Antonella Alves, assistant chair of Langara’s school of management, said the program ceased operating a few years ago, but she was unsure of an ex- act date. She said aboriginal students are well-supported within the school of management as a whole, but the ab- sence of a program specifically target- ed to this demographic has not gone unnoticed. “It's not that we don't support a business opportunity aimed at aborigi- nal students,” said Alves. “It's definite- ly on our radar.” & ag Rup 715 LIBERTAS €2 ALICE D'EON photo Right Honourable David Johnston, Governor General of Canada, presented Langara’s new Coat of Arms Jan. 28. Langara gets ready for ‘the big one’ Earthquake safety is a priority at Langara By ETHAN REYES its earthquake readiness in anticipa- tion of ‘the big one,’ which some sci- entists see happening within the next twenty years. “There’s no such thing as earthquake proof,” stressed Carlos Ventura, direc- tor of the Earthquake Engineering Re- search Facility at UBC. Ventura explained that because B.C. is in the Cascadia Subduction Zone, an area atop the meeting point of two tec- tonic plates, it has an extensive history with earthquakes. The EERF’s research involves the ob- servation of structures and their re- sponses to seismic activity, and the use of earthquake simulators, or shake ta- bles, to safely recreate earthquakes in a laboratory setting From these ex- periments, Ventura r4 4 and his team have Lise College is aiming to bolster learned to protect There’s no buildings and peo- . ple from earth. Such thing quakes. Worth- as earth- while research, given Ventura is quake currently involved in the retrofitting of pro of elementary schools across the Lower Mainland. Langara’s direc- tor of facilities, Wendy Lannard, said A Building was retrofitted for earthquake safety in 1989, while newer buildings have been constructed according to more stringent building codes. According to Lannard, the partial seismic upgrade targeted A Building’s most vulnerable areas, like the cafete- ria. “The renewal continues to be a prior- ity,” said Lannard, explaining that the college has plans to further reinforce its older buildings after securing addi- tional funding from the Ministry of Ed- ucation. In the event of an earthquake, Lang- ara College’s emergency procedures guide advises students and faculty to remain indoors, avoid windows and other breakable objects, and protect heads and necks by taking cover be- neath a desk or table. Lannard said all members of Langa- ra’s security staff are trained in first aid, as are some students. “T took a first aid course this sum- mer,” said Zahara Baugh, a political sci- ence major. Baugh is aware of the likeli- hood of an earthquake and admitted that her mother has expressed interest in moving to avoid it. Baugh, however, doesn’t want to move. “The only place I’m happy living in Canada is the Lower Mainland.” CARLOS VENTURA EERF DIRECTOR