ampus hews EDITOR WARREN JANE THE VOICE, THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2018 3 Hotmail - andrea-an. f Facebook [§ Pinit M&@ imported From Firef. UVic Current Students Weather Forecast: P,. Langara confessions B® SideRee! 1Channel.ch | LetMe TRICIA LO photo The ‘Langara Confessions’ Facebook page offers students an outlet to make confessions or complain anonymously about other students. Forgive me Facebook, for |... ‘Langara Confessions’ page causing a stir among students online By TRICIA LO “Inbox us your most heartfelt, disgusting, hilarious, filthy and embarrassing confes- sions from Langara!” at is what the new Langara Confessions Facebook page reads. The page asks individuals to send their “confessions” via private message to the page adminis- trator, who then posts them anony- mously for other students to view, like, share or comment on. Science student Alisa Nakamura first visited the page in mid-October after a friend messaged her about it on Facebook. “T didn’t consider writing in [the page], but I would if | had something to say,” said Nakamura, who says privacy issues are not a problem to her. “Lang- ara’s really big, so I don’t think [the moderator] would know who I am. Even then, it wouldn’t really matter. It’s just good entertainment.” The concept is similar to that of oth- er university and college confession pages, including those for UBC, SFU and Kwantlen. Already more than 450 people have liked the page since its creation on Oct. 6. The Voice spoke with one of the two moderators of the page, who wanted to remain anonymous. “We both started this page because we wanted Langara students to be equal to university students,” said the moderator. “We wanted Langara stu- dents to feel they can be just as cool as the university kids.” Popular topics to arise include bath- room etiquette, a “hot” security guard, irritating classmates, classroom crush- es and a lack of respect for silent study areas. But don’t believe everything you read — not every post is a legitimate confession. “Thomas Soon, I love you so much, I can’t wait till you finish at [Langara] so we can be together at SFU,” reads con- fession number 56. The mini love letter is actually a joke between Langara computer science student Vahag Petrosian and SFU stu- dent Thomas Soon. “I knew my friend was getting back at me, so I just played it off. It’s all in good fun,” said Soon. One of Soon’s concerns about the page is that confessions aren’t truly anonymous because they must be sub- mitted to the administrator using a Facebook account. “The person behind Langara Confes- sions is literally untraceable and knows all your deepest, darkest se- crets,” said Soon. “You should never post things that are too personal, be- cause pages can be run by many ad- mins.” A secondary “Spotted at Langara” Facebook page was created on Oct. 10 for students to post pictures and cap- tions of others on campus who they think are cute, annoying or interesting. Langara confessions 1 Confession #68: “Everytime I'm walking on the little bridge in front of the library and there are two slow people blocking everybody's way around them, | am tempted to push them into the fountain.” 2 Confession #62: “| haven't been to class in 4 1/2 weeks. LOL, my schedule is a joke. So is my life.” Public speaking made simple as E-S-L Has your lack of fluency in English ever held you back from making a big speech? Well here’s a club for you! By GAVIN FISHER tion at Langara formed with the goal of giving non-fluent English speakers the opportunity to practice debating and public speaking in an en- vironment that suits their level. “Tt’s to let our members have confi- dence to stand in front of lots of people and to present what they want to pres- ent,” said club president Elizabeth Jia. The club was formed last year, after one of Jia’s friends joined a Toastmas- ters group in Vancouver but found she Ti: ESL public speaking associa- couldn’t keep up with the level of fluent speakers. Jia, a graduate of the Langa- ra English for aca- demics purposes (LEAP) _ program, joined the group with the goal of im- proving her own public speaking abilities. je Speaking up is , : the aim of the DUBLIN DEUS lub’s weekly ESL public speak- c , : ing club member meetings, which take place on cam- pus every Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. Jia encourages different executives in the club to host meetings. “The format is totally up to them, as long as the goal is to get everybody to speak,” said Jia. The group has over 60 members on their Facebook page with an average of 10 members attending each meeting. Many members are students from the LEAP program, but not all are cur- rent ESL students. Second-year psychology — student Dublin Deus said he joined the club be- cause he doesn’t get many opportuni- ties to practice public speaking in class. Laura Zitron, a continuing studies instructor at Langara who teaches pub- lic speaking, said the club is a benefit to ESL students. “People from foreign countries are often very good at reading a different language, but they’re not used to hear- ing their own voices speak that lan- guage, so they lack the confidence when speaking,” said Zitron. “Any op- portunity that they can take to hear themselves speak English, I believe is beneficial.” 66 It’s to let our mem- bers have confidence to stand in front of lots of people and to present what they want to present.” Elizabeth Jia LSU provides no funding for clubs Unlike some other schools, student clubs here say they aren’t receiving cash aid By GAVIN FISHER struggling from a lack of funding, are questioning why neither stu- dent services nor the Langara Stu- dents’ Union provide any financial sup- port. “It’s always hard to organize activi- ties when you don’t have money at all,” said Francois Charette, the founder of the Langara Toastmasters club, a club that helps members speak confidently in public. “Before you organize any- thing you have to do fundraising.” Charette said it was a challenge to come up with the $125 the club needed to be part of Toastmasters Internation- al. He asked the LSU and student ser- vices for contribution but was told no funding was available for clubs. He said members will likely have to pay the cost. Clubs fall under student services at Langara and are managed by Reba Noel, the student engagement officer. Noel said clubs are provided with free printing for promotional materials, a locker and are able to book rooms free of charge. Clayton Munro, dean of student ser- vices, said that while student services can’t provide financial aid to clubs, they have supported clubs with the cre- ation of a student engagement centre, the Hub, for clubs to operate from. “As much as we would like to provide program funding to each of our ever- growing number of clubs, at this point it’s simply not something that we’re able to do,” said Munro. The student unions at Vancouver Ca- reer College and UBC manage student clubs and offer funding. Official clubs at UBC can apply for a clubs benefit fund of up to $1,500 per fiscal year from the Alma Mater Society, UBC’s student society. Elizabeth Jia, president of the Lang- ara ESL public speaking association, questioned why the LSU doesn’t pro- vide any financial support for clubs. “We want to host speaking contests, but we do not have money to buy food, prizes and other things that the con- tests need,” said Jia. Leilani Reum, who leads the Langa- ra Oxfam club, said that it’s hard to get started with no budget. “The expectation is to fundraise, but how do you fundraise if you have no money to start off,” said Reum. Vicky Wang, president of the Langa- ra kendo club, said that financial sup- port for clubs would help all students. “If we really can have more options for funds, I am sure every club can achieve more club activities, which benefits the college,” said Wang. The LSU could not be reached for comment by deadline. S: clubs at Langara College, GAVIN FISHER photo Elizabeth Jia, president of the ESL public speaking association, wishes the LSU would give clubs funding.