6 THE VOICE, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2012 EDITOR ALEXANDRA GRANT Microwaves a necessity for caf ven with a $1.3-million budget for cafeteria renovations, Langara waited too long to spring for a few working microwaves. 0 P| N 10 N mee! DANA BOWEN microwaves in the cafeteria work, forcing students to go out of their way to the LSU building to heat their food. An order was sent out on January 24 for new ones, but is it too little too late? By the time new microwaves arrive, spring semester will be over halfway through and a majority of students will be gone for the summer. Before the renovations, the cafeteria had rows of long tables and looked more like a basement than a place for college students to spend time and eat their lunch. The cafeteria does look better than it did before. The large room has undergone several changes to brighten it up aesthetically, includ- ing a new paint job and round tables that give the area a restaurant feel. However, it seems pointless to fix the cafeteria’s appearance if it doesn’t even meet the needs of students. It’s like painting a jalopy in a bright colour — it may look better, but it’s still broken. “Perhaps it is a way of getting people to buy food rather than bring their food from home,” said crimi- nology student Frederike Buch- mann. Buchmann said that apart from the working microwaves often being dirty, she doesn’t use the ones in the cafeteria because there is usually a long lineup of students waiting to use them. Students have been complaining about this since the fall semester and while the school has $50,000 left over in their budget for renovations, the issue has not been addressed until now. There are microwaves in the LSU building for students to use, but it hardly makes sense that the cafeteria, which is made specifically for eating, lacks the proper devices to heat food. BEFORE... {\ Hortons changed its cup sizes for hot drinks has already caused a stir for customers, more than just to dissolve sugar. N= from January 23 that Tim We want to hear from you Did we get a fact wrong? Tell us. Got a different point of view? Write to us. Problems with something we've said? Let us know. Journalism instructor Nicholas Read oversees The Voice. Email him at nread@langara.be.ca The new 24-ounce extra-large cup has prompted all the old sizes to move down one. In other words, what used to be a large is now a medium, an old medium is now a small, and so on and so forth. Though the cups are being rebranded, the new versions contain the same amount of liquid and cost the same price as their old counterparts. So, are customers still getting value for money? Well, theoretically no. Many customers that regularly order large coffees would reason- ably expect to pay less now that the size has been bumped down to a medium. For example, a medium coffee OPINION ROSS ARMOUR New sizes may cause confusion now costs $1.59, the same price as the old large. Customers who are unaware of this change and order their usual large must now pay more for the sake of six ounces. Customers have the right to argue that since a large is now a medium, there should be an accompanying decrease in price. Aside from coffee, these prices also relate to steeped tea and hot chocolates from Tim Hortons, while other hot drinks such as French Vanilla lattes are more expensive. New extra smalls, which used to be smalls, now cost $1.52 and the new 24-ounce extra-larges now cost $2.45. This trend of offering colossal size cups to customers is not new. In fact, Starbucks recently launched a new “trenta” 31-ounce cup for some hot drinks in the United States. While Tim Hortons headquarters might argue that the campaign was designed to offer customers more choice, it may actually confuse customers. Fundraisers should be accessible don’t know when or why fundrais- I: became fixated on hair growth. As if it wasn’t already off-putting enough to have to swim in a sea of moustaches every November, a new fundraiser aimed at raising aware- ness about cervical cancer is now encouraging men and women to grow their leg hair out over the course of February. Any effort to raise awareness for an important cause is admirable, but I’m not sure if the organizers of the aptly named “Feb-U-Hairy” thought their concept through. The sad truth is that while many men have no problem letting their moustaches grow freely fora month, a number of women would have an issue with not shaving their legs for the duration of an entire month. “The men had MOvember, so now it’s our turn,” said Kathleen Callahan, one of the two medical students who organized Feb-U-Hairy. True — the men did get MOvem- ber. But does that mean women need to replicate their fundraiser with a hair growth contest of their own? The other issue with this fundrais- ing tactic is the fact that most women are not able to proudly display their leg hair in the depths of winter. Of course, their male counterparts were able to easily show their support during MOvem- ber since it’s relatively difficult to conceal something that was on their faces. I suppose part of their strategy was to create a fundraiser with shock value in order to generate attention; however, is it really serving the purpose of their fund- raiser, which is to encourage early detection of cervical cancer? In my opinion, an awareness campaign should be as accessible as possible in order to encourage more involve- ment. What happened to the days when wearing a coloured ribbon was a way of showing your solidarity against a disease? I commend the students behind Feb-U-Hairy for their charitable efforts but would urge them to look into campaign tactics that would appeal to more people. oy. OPINIO ALEXANDRA GRANT The Voice is published by Langara College's journalism department. Editorial opinions are those of the staff and are independent of views of the student government and administration. We welcome letters to the editor. All letters must be signed. They may be edited for brevity. Names may be withheld in special cases, but your letter must include your name and phone number. HOW TO REACH US PHONE 604-323-5396 FAX 604-323-5398 E-MAIL thevoice@langara.be.ca DROP-IN Room A226 Langara College There is a mailbox at the entrance to the journalism rooms. SNAIL MAIL The Voice 100 West 49th Ave. Vancouver, B.C. VSY 226 WEBSITE wwwlangara.bc.ca/voice EDITORIAL STAFF THIS ISSUE: MANAGING EDITOR/ PAGE 6 Alexandra Grant PAGE EDITORS PAGE 1 Moma Cassidy PAGE 2 Lynda Chapple PAGE 3 Emma Crawford PAGE 4 Jennifer Fong PAGE 5 Shawn Gil PAGE 7 Alanna Hardinge-Rooney PAGE 8 Matt Hyndman WEB MANAGER Patrick Johnston WEB EDITORS Ruman Kang Devon Mackenzie Daniel Palmer REPORTERS Ross Armour Dana Bowen Agustina Coccaro Tyson Cornfield Hayley Doctor Michelle Gamage Lev Jackson Cara McKenna Audrey McKinnon Quinn Mell-Cobb Dennis Page Clayton Paterson Sasha Porteous Brandon Reid Jacqueline Richardson Jeremy Sally Omar Shariff Alexander Skerdzhev Carly Smith Stacy Lynne Thomas Carissa Thorpe Ashley Viens Contact us: Our blog at www.langaravoice. posterous.com Twitter at @langaraVoice Youtube at VoiceLangara flickr at Langara Voice