TROJAN) TROJAN) TROJAN) TR RULES AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF DISCLOSURE..ss0sssen0nf A recent Supreme Court ruling relaxs rules for disclosing HIV to sexual partners if risk is low Students suffer longer wait times for counselling During this stressful time of year, it can take up to six working days to get an appointment for advice By ANNE ELLISON the counsellors at Langara are as swamped as students. Although spikes during exam and registration periods are to be expected, the demands on counselling depart- ments across Cana- da are increasing, according to Langa- ra counsellor Tim Charters. “Tt’s kind of hectic around here,” said DD: the first round of midterms, TIM CHARTERS DRY AUTUMN WEATHER HOLDS OUT TO SHOWCASE VIBRANT COLOURS OF FALL SASCHA PORTEOUS photo Students on campus enjoyed Wednesday’s dry weather and bright autumn colours despite the threat of rain in upcoming forecasts. Election results still not public Newly-elected board members only disclosed in LSU meeting Monday Counsellor at Charters, who prac- Langara College tices career, aca- demic and personal counselling. M EM BERS “They should hire some more [coun- selors],” said health sciences student Desiree Bigornia, frustrated by the long wait for academic advising. Students can wait up to six working days for an appointment. Counsellors are working within the constraints of funding Gust over $1 mil- lion annually) to serve the needs of roughly 10,000 Langara students. The department employs one part- time and eight full-time counsellors. Two full-time and one part-time stu- dent services assistants are on hand to answer general career and course- planning inquiries. See Counsellors, page 2 Newly elected Evelyn Zeng, board member at large Adrien Fu, disabilities liaison Adam Giesbrecht, queer liaison Ranhawa Gunkirat, women’s liaison Emma Munroe, environmental issues coordinator Source: LSU board members By TANYA HILL lwo weeks have passed since the Langara Students’ Union elec- tions during the first week of Oc- tober. However, official election results have still not been posted on their web- site or otherwise. Repeated attempts by the Voice to obtain the official results have been ig- nored. This Voice reporter was able to find out the election winners from the new- ly elected members themselves at the annual general meeting. Several of the new members spoke after the annual general meeting about their thoughts on upcoming initiatives. “IT would like to see more transpar- ency, outreach and general student awareness of LSU activities,” said board member at large Evelyn Zeng. The LSU annual general meeting and passing of the budget was held on Sept. 20. When asked about the pending in- formation regarding over $40,000 of un- accounted student fees reported sever- al weeks ago, Adrien Fu, disabilities liaison, stated, “I want to get as much student input as I can before making any financial decisions.” Langara business student Dean Tsatouhas was at the AGM and spoke to Langara Published, a student blog at the College. “IT asked why there was a $10,000 to $15,000 increase in student honorari- ums,” said Tsatouhas. “After some beating around the bush I got an unclear answer,” he added, paraphrasing that “the LSU stated that ‘the board has been much more active this year.” Langara Published previously inter- viewed Langara student and former board member Muneori Otaka about his experience with the LSU. “Tassumed from attending the meet- ings that the majority of the board members just want the titles, and the power to spend money,” Otaka said. “Of course, not everyone on the board was like that, and there are a few intelligent students who are genuinely there to serve students.” Full election results are expected to be posted this week on LSU’s website at www.lsu.be.ca. Thousands of fruit and nut trees will be planted By RYAN BANAGAN Vancouver Park Board continues the city by 2020. Recreation is committed to plant- Te: Vancouver Board of Parks and ing 150,000 new trees throughout to plant trees along streets and in parks for Greenest City 2020 Action Plan The Park Board is responsible for maintaining Vancouver’s urban forest of approximately 140,000 street trees that line boulevards and medians, along with trees in over 200 public parks. Vancouver city council completed the first major step when it approved the Greenest City 2020 Action Plan in July 2011. The plan is divided into ten smaller plans, each with long-term goals that address three overarching areas of fo- cus: carbon, waste and ecosystems. The Park Board is focusing their at- tention on increasing the number of Vancouver’s food-bearing trees by 50 per cent. “Goal six, access to nature, has two targets. Plant 150,000 trees and have all Vancouver residents live within a five- minute walk of a park, greenway, or other green space by 2020,” said Niki Sharma, Park Board commissioner. “Trees provide an incredible array of environmental, social and economic benefits, including cleaner air, habitat and food for wildlife, reduced erosion, improved water quality, increased property values and neighbourhood pride,” said Park Board communica- tions manager Joyce Courtney. In order to reach the target, the board requires public and private part- ner contribution. The board estimates one third of the trees will be planted on private proper- ties. The remaining two thirds will be planted on streets, in parks and on other public properties. Two thirds of the trees will come from the Park Board’s own tree farm in Langley, said Courtney. City staff is projecting about 3,000 street trees will be planted in 2012. The annual planting program costs about $650,000 from the Park Board capital budget. The unit cost of a new tree is $375. In 2012 there was $67,400 added to the budget to support maintenance of these new trees. Maintenance fees include pruning and controlling pests and diseases. ~ RYAN BANAGAN photo The Greenest City 2020 Action Plan aims to increase food-bearing trees in Vancouver by 50 per cent.