AMPUS NEWS _ wrroexerneawone THE VOICE, THURSDAY, MARCH 13, 2014 3 Langara Hangout inspires activity New Facebook group aims to bring students together with off-campus events By ALI CRANE make new friends in college, you’re not alone. That’s why Langara student Patrick Tam created the Langara Hangout group, a Facebook group where stu- dents can make friends in an informal environment. “Some people think we are here to study, go to school and that’s it,” he said. So far the group has nearly 100 members, and students at UBC have already reached out to the group to plan a joint event. [: you're finding it hard to meet and Tam _ said his idea originated from reading stu- dents’ complaints I’m hoping on the Langara Confessions Face- that p cop le book page saying Can Just that it is hard to make friends at have fi un school. PATRICK TAM “Tm hoping that GROUP CREATOR people can just have fun,” he said. “T don’t want something that is formal. Formality might repel people. I think people just want to go on to Facebook, see that there is an event and go check it out.” Tam said he is not sure why it’s so hard to make friends at Langara but speculates that it may have to do with the social environment of Vancouver. “T think it’s a problem with the city, not just the school,” Tam said. Mahalia Nahanee, administrator of the group, said she hopes it will pro- vide a comfortable environment for students to make new connections. “T feel like friendships that you can make in college can help build your ca- reer,” she said. “We spent a lot of time here. We might as well make friends.” Nahanee said UBC reached out to the group in hopes of teaming up to do a paintball event. Tam said he hopes the group will continue even after he graduates. ALI CRANE photo Patrick Tam, founder of the Lan- gara Hangout group, on campus. DAVID LA RIVIERE photo The LSU Café is the only on-campus location where students can have alcoholic beverages. Students push back against Internships Unpaid internships are on the rise in Canada, but some aren’t willing to work for free anymore By EDMOND LU growing “collective problem” of young adults working for free said a researcher. But not all Langara students are jumping at the opportunity to work for no pay anymore. A recent report by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives called The Young and the Jobless examines employment problems for those aged 15-24 in Ontario. Sean Geobey, author of the report and a doctoral candidate at the Univer- sity of Waterloo, said Canadians need to work together to solve youth unem- ployment. “Too much of the conversation is about what respon- sibilities young € people have,” said Geobey. “This is an Ue internships are part of a University of Waterloo inter-generational VE ) responsibility, old- zy er workers have to Pr train younger — workers, and £ young workers seAN GEOBEY have to learn the University of Wa- skills to be produc- tive in the future.” Geobey suggest- ed the number of terloo researcher 66 Is binge drinking a Langara problem? New Nova Scotia report says campuses should unpaid interns swelled in the af- _ termath of the 2008 Old work economic reces- eS have sion. '; r Some _ students fo train said they simply Younger can’t afford to work workers... for free anymore. “An amazing op- to be pro- Cee ieame te ductive in good if I’m living in a cardboard box,” the fi uture ban pub crawls, but Langara club disagrees By DAVID LA RIVIERE recent Nova Scotia report sug- gested colleges ban campus pub crawls to end student binge drinking, but the Langara Social Club has no plans to stop hosting events. Students Nova Scotia, an alliance of eight post-secondary student associa- tions, released the report outlining the dangers of heavy alcoho] consumption on university and college campuses. The report made 31 recommendations that student unions and campus bars could implement to reduce student binge drinking. This includes the ban on school events such as pub crawls. According to the Canadian Public Health Association, binge drinking is considered five or more drinks in one sitting for men and four or more drinks for women. “Overconsumption has serious im- pacts on students’ health, to the point where we have lost students in the past few years,” said Jonathan Williams, ex- ecutive director of Students Nova Sco- tia. The Langara Social Club has hosted numerous pub crawls and is hosting a St. Patrick’s Day event on Mar. 17 at FIVESIXTY, a downtown club. But social club member Eyren Ug- genti said the events are about offering students an opportunity to socialize off campus. “T think it’s a fact of society these days... socialization occurs and alcohol is continuously brought into the mix even on a professional level, regardless of if it’s student-oriented or not,” he said, adding that most social club events are held off campus. Christine Peterson, assistant depart- ment chair of the Langara counselling department, said binge drinking isn’t as much of a problem on campus as it is at other institutions. “Tm not suggesting that Langara stu- dents are not engaging in binge drink- ing, but rather that it does not appear to be a campus issue,” she said. Peterson said that because Langara is a commuter school and there are no on-campus residences opportunities to drink are limited. While heavy drinking is widespread at most Canadian post-secondary insti- tutions, the rate of heavy drinking in Nova Scotia was nearly five per cent higher than the national average, ac- cording to data from the 2012 Canadian Community Health Survey. Stud suggests HE Appoint one student as lead on alcohol file HM Create a social awareness cam- paign to denormal- ize heavy drinking HE Hold competitions to come up with the tastiest “mocktail” HE Pressure govern- ment to ban all purchases by retail outlets in Nova Scotia of all drink- ing game-related paraphernalia Source: Student Safety in Nova Scotia review on alcohol said Megan Muir, an environmental studies student. Etie Leyland, a computer sciences student, agreed. “Any work you’re do- ing, you should get paid for it,” said Leyland. However, one student said intern- ships are an investment for the future. “As long as it’s in my field, I’d still be able to put it on my resume, even if it’s unpaid,” said Jo Marcilla, a nursing student. Unpaid internships are on the rise in Canada with companies such as the Fairmont Waterfront Hotel, HootSuite and Bell Mobility recently causing con- troversy over such positions. Geobey said it is difficult to collect statistics on interns because they aren’t considered employed or unem- ployed by the Canadian labour force survey. The Canadian Press estimated there are roughly 300,000 people cur- rently working for free in Canada. According to Statistics Canada’s monthly survey, the average youth un- employment rate in B.C. for 2007 was six per cent, and the average rate for the last 12 months is roughly 10 per cent. Comparatively, unemployment rates for those 25 and over has almost reached pre-recession levels at 3.6 per cent in 2007 and 5.4 per cent in the last 12 months.