U-Pass fraud on campus

Students use Facebook page to sell subsidized passes

By KRISTIAN TREVENA

ransLink’s transition

to the Compass Card

system hasn't stopped

Langara students from
trying to sell their U-Passes on a
Facebook group dedicated to buying
and selling used textbooks.

In 2016, TransLink counted
nearly 500 posts online trying to
sell a U-Pass. After linking U-Pass
to a student’s Compass Card, the
number of posts online dropped to
300 in 2017.

From Feb. 1 to March 13, 2019,
The Voice counted six posts from
students looking to buy U-Passes,
and six posts of students looking to
sell them. Posts typically had one or
more comments of interested buyers
or people offering their U-Passes for
sale.

The U-Pass program provides
post-secondary students with a
subsidized monthly three-zone tran-
sit pass for $41 per month. The cost
of the program is a mandatory fee for
all students included in regular fees.

Students aren’t able to opt out
because costs are kept low per
student by having everyone partic-
ipate in the

can save around $30 for a one-
month pass by buying a U-Pass from
students.

Set. Clint Hampton, media rela-
tions officer with Metro Vancouver
Transit Police, said the consequences
of using a fraudulent U-Pass depends
on the situation.

"What they're committing is trans-
portation by fraud," Hampton said.
"So, it's a Criminal Code offence.
So, in theory, they could be charged
with a criminal charge."

Hampton said that people caught
using a U-Pass that isn't theirs are
likely to lose the card and receive
two fines totalling $346.

Jegan said that after learning the
consequences of using someone
else’s U-Pass from fellow Langara
students, he is no longer looking to
buy one.

Some students say the conse-
quences aren’t high enough.

“There should be a stricter fine,”
said Manvir Kaur, a Langara student.

One reddit user posting under the
username Garble7 said they used
a friend’s U-Pass for almost six
months before getting caught and
receiving two tickets totalling about
$400.

Hampton

program. A | “YOU might as welltake | also said that
regular three- oH while U-Pass
zone adult advantage of it. buyers are
monthly pass — MITHUNAN JEGAN, FORMER LANGARA more likely to
costs $174. STUDENT be caught than

Mithunan those selling

Jegan, a former Langara student,
posted on the Facebook page that he
was looking to buy a U-Pass. Ina
message to The Voice, Jegan said he
is not currently in school and is look-
ing for a way to save money.

“You might as well take advantage
of it,” Jegan said.

He said that on average, people

them, Transit Police do operate proj-
ects to target students who are selling
their passes online.

Jill Drews, TransLink's senior
issues management adviser, said
in an email that the online sales
of U-Passes will not jeopardize
the subsidized program for other
students.

A no-entry sign shows in the turnstiles at Langara-49th Avenue SkyTrain sta-
tion on March 11. Metro Vancouver Transit Police regularly check that people
are using valid U-Passes issued to them. «R/STIAN TREVENA PHOTO

College

Langara adds
Musqueam name
to wordmark

By JENNIFER BLAKE

angara’s inclusion of its

Musqueam name in staff

emails and campus posters is
the first step to setting up an envi-
ronment where reconciliation can
happen, said Rick Ouellet, Langa-
ra’s director of Aboriginal education
and services.

Ouellet said the plan is to have
snaweysat lelerh displayed on equal
footing to the college's English
name.

“Now that we have the name we
want, to take it seriously to create a
brand where snoweyat lelerh is not
seen as inferior to Langara. That’s
the idea behind the dual brand-
ing,” Ouellet said,
| adding that the

dual wordmark,

unveils new branding

nad

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CONTRIB
ere en

Langara's Musqueam name is displayed on campus banners alongside the English name. JEéNNiFER BLAKE PHOTO

teaching’ in Musqueam) in 2016. The
college will include both names in
all of its branding in the near future.

The City

a culture that was oppressed by the
Canadian government.

“I think the signal to Indige-

graphic of the

of Vancou-
BJ

ver’s first ever

Aborigi-

nal relations

manager,

a text-only typo-

college name, has
been appearing
on staff emails for

A about threeweeks. Ginger
rick Ouellet “It’s really Gos ne l1-
TIONAND SERVICES respecting that gift Myers, who

DIRECTOR that we received stepped down

from Musqueam,” in 2018, said
Ouellet said.

Langara was gifted the name
snoweyat lelerh (meaning ‘house of

that seeing Indigenous culture repre-
sented visually offers a great sense

“Tt's really respecting
that gift that we
received from
Musqueam.”

—RICK OUELLET, ABORIGINAL EDUCATION AND
SERVICES DIRECTOR

nous students
is at Lang-
ara, things
are chang-
ing,” Gosnell-
Myers said.
Gosnell-
Myers said
she thinks the
transition feels
a bit late, but

that’s normal because Musqueam
and the two other local First
of pride and acknowledgement of | Nations in Vancouver are working

through how their language needs
are reflected in public spaces.

“Because there’s no clear guide-
line to that process of integrating
the names, it is going to take a little
bit longer than people would’ve real-
ized,” said Gosnell-Myers.

Langara student Breanna Dixon
said she thinks the change shows
awareness, but the college should be
careful about using that awareness as
an advertising tool.

“It’s awesome they’ve done so
much work with Musqueam people,”
said Dixon. “It’s a cool statement
to make to the world that we’re
honouring this part of our heritage.”

Filling
programs
a struggle

Department chairs feel
increasing pressure to
recruit students

By CHELSEA LIU

S ome department chairs at
Langara are feeling increased
pressure to fill seats in their
programs, because a smaller pool of
potential applicants means greater
competition for prospective students.

“The sheer number of domestic
students is declining,” said Tomo
Tanaka, former creative arts and
industries division chair from 2010
to 2018. “You’re going to have a
smaller number of people to choose
from.”

Tanaka said universities like UBC
and SFU can adjust their entrance
requirements to admit as many
people as they have space for and
fill their programs, which cuts into
Langara’s pool of applicants.

Tanaka said department chairs in
creative arts and industries take ona
lot of responsibility for recruitment
because the programs are so special-
ized.

“You have theatre arts, photogra-
phy and film. We have very diverse
recruiting needs so department
chairs do a lot of targeted marketing
and recruitment strategies,” Tanaka
said.

Colin Mills, department chair of
geography and geology, said his
departments are feeling the change.

"We used to have full classes with
waiting lists. That doesn't seem to
exist anymore," he said.

Mills said the department usually
gets enough students through the
college's general recruitment, but
they may have to consider ramping
up recruitment efforts in the future.

Department chairs are paid an
extra $2,557.97 per year on top of
a full-time salary to teach three-
quarters of what’s considered full-
time hours and perform extra duties,
such as hiring faculty and recruit-
ing students. Department chairs also
work roughly two months during the
summer to prepare for the coming
year.

“It would be nice to have a recruit-
ment officer for just creative arts,”
Tanaka said. “That would be the ulti-
mate goal.”

Rey Buenaventura, associ-
ate registrar at Langara enrolment
services said there is a serious
problem if a program runs at a low
percentage for multiple years. In that
case, the college works on recruit-
ment strategies with department
chairs.

Number of people aged 15-24 in
Canada in 2017.

Number of people aged 15-24 in
Canada in 1980.
SOURCE: STATSCAN.GC.CA