Bear aware Coquitlam officials warn residents to be wary of attracting bears to the area. P2 Nerding it up Nerd culture is becoming De-stress fest Langara Library holds stress- reduction event ahead of exams. common in Vancouver, even in burlesque. P5 langaravoice.ca PRODUCED BY LANGARA JOURNALISM STUDENTS | WWW.LANGARAVOICE.CA MARCH 23, 2017 * VOL. 48 NO. 36 * VANCOUVER, B.C. Marpole park plan in limbo TransLink drags heels on sale of proposed land By RICA TALAY Pr: real estate is keeping a planned park in Marpole on hold more than two years after money was set aside for its construction. The $2 million granted by the Com- munity Amenity Contributions, a city-based fund provided by property developers, needs to be used by Novem- ber 2018. The city has been trying to ‘| purchase the land, owned by ‘Trans- Link, since 2015. The park would border the Fraser River to the south, Kent Avenue to the Don Larson . GREEN SPACE north and sit be- ACTIVIST tween Heather and Laurel streets. Michael Wiebe, Vancouver Park Board chair, said the delay is a result of the waterfront property's value increas- ing. "The value of the land is much more expensive than it was two years ago,” Wiebe said. “I know that the city is re- ceptive.” Wiebe said he is working with Van- couver Mayor Gregor Robertson to cre- ate green spaces on this site and in other areas of the Marpole community. "It's a priority for a new green space to be built in Marpole,” Wiebe said, noting the influx of new development in the area. “Tt's a priority for a new green space to be built in Marpole.” — MICHAEL WIEBE, VANCOUVER PARK BOARD Don Larson is a green space activist and resident of Marpole who has long advocated to have a park built on this land. He said TransLink is the main reason why things are still on hold. "TransLink's been sitting there for 13 years,” Larson said, of the site. “It's just an industrial wasteland.” Terry Slack, a fellow activist working with Larson, said Robertson told the community things were going to hap- pen quickly, but that was three years ago. “It's been on stall ever since,” Slack said. "TransLink can't make their minds up whether they can use that property or not.” wh Cast and crew rehearse Studio 58's Risky Nights' production of Zoetrope: The Curiosity of Puppet Oddities on Wednes- day, March 15. sav mowers PHOTO Campus soon to split Building A future may uproot creative arts By KURTIS GREGORY ith Langara College’s Building A slated to be demolished, the creative arts division is waiting to hear if they'll be the new residents of a soon-to-be-vacated space at Granville Island. Emily Carr University of Art + De- sign is moving from its current space on the south tip of the island to a new campus near Great Northern Way. Langara expressed interest in the space in September 2016 to re-home the oc- cupants of Building A, but is waiting to hear about next steps. Tomo Tanaka, division chair for cre- ative arts, is anxious for a decision to be made soon. The department wants time to ad- dress some of the logistical issues that arise from splitting the campus in two, such as how to transport faculty and students between the main campus on West 49th Ave. and the island. Tanaka said they have already thought of tentative solutions; from bringing the teachers back and forth in- stead of students to far more ambitious endeavours. “There was talk about getting that tramway from the Olympic Village to Granville Island that they ran during the Olympics.” The Canada Mortgage and Hous- ing Corporation is reviewing bids for the space, but recommendations on who will move into the structures will be determined by the B.C. Ministry of Advanced Education. Granville Island is federally-owned land, but the campus buildings are owned by the provincial government. The Ministry of Advanced Educa- tion could not confirm where negotia- tions for the space stand, only that the new tenant would have to be a “public, non-profit organization or body,” and that they “would result in the continua- tion of creative and performing arts on Granville Island.” Langara does operate out of a seper- ate facility on West Broadway for cer- tain programs offered by Continuing Studies. Ne wy i ii Emily Carr University of Art + Design's N orth Building could be the future home of Langara's creative arts division. KuRTis GREGORY PHOTO International enrolment spikes 44 per cent rise in foreign students from 2010-2015 across B.C. By CHRISTOPHER THOROSKI ext fall, international student enrolment applications will have have spiked by nearly 300 per cent in B.C. since 2010, causing provincial education officials and Lan- gara administrators to adjust how they manage international enrolment. On Feb. 8, the B.C. Ministry of Ad- vanced Education said in its service plan that the target for international enrolment in the province for next year is ‘to be determined’ — having exceeded its past goals. The province has been setting targets since 2010 and aggressively pursuing international students to study at B.C. post-secondary schools. Between 2010 and 2015, enrolment spiked by 44 per cent, up from 90,037 to 130,053 in the province. A signifi- cant amount of recent interest is com- ing from Americans. Andrew Wilkinson, the B.C. minis- ter of Advanced Education, said in an emailed statement that the province is waiting for the new International Edu- cation Strategy before conducting a year-on-year break- down projection. Wilkinson — said that international student tuition fees, sometimes three c= E to four times the ' y amount that do- a mestic students pay, ~ create —_ additional Ajay Patel seats and opportu- arcpaal nities for domestic DEVELOPMENT students studying in B.C. “In 2015, international students in B.C. spent $3.5 billion on tuition, ac- commodation and living expenses, arts, culture and recreation,” Wilkinson said. Officials with the Langara Faculty Association said increased international enrolment can be risky for the college’s budget planning. “It puts everyone in a precarious situ- ation,” said Lynn Carter, LFA president in a March 12 interview with the Van- couver Sun. “What if something hap- pens in China or India and those stu- dents stop coming?” Ajay Patel, vice-president, external development at Langara, said that the college will continue to diversify the student population nonetheless. “We have, and I anticipate will con- tinue to see demand from international students for our programming and we will manage our international student enrolment based on our capacity to pro- vide quality programming and support for all students,” Patel told The Voice.