ampus hews EDITOR CHANTELLE DEACON THE VOICE, THURSDAY, NOV. 17,2016 3 Long waitlists put futures on hold Some Langara students’ studies are being delayed as they wait months to get into a class MICHELE PAULSE photo Students multitask while walking to and from class on the Langara College campus. By MICHELE PAULSE lass waitlists at Langara are forcing some students to delay their academic goals because the seat they want may take months to become available. The college introduced waitlists more than four years ago and although some students get into their desired classes, many do not. When a seat be- comes available, students receive auto- mated messages and have only 24 hours to accept their spots. How quick- ly a waitlisted seat might become avail- able is unpredictable and having to re- main on hold is stressful for students. Rajan Baliwal, a student in computer science, dropped out of Langara be- cause the class he was waitlisted for was a prerequisite for other classes he wanted to take. “T had to wait for a semester to take other subjects in this college so I dropped one session,” Baliwal said. “I [feel] like I can’t take any courses, it was sad for me. I’m late [by] four months to go to university.” Jane Thatcher, a student in general arts, was number 60 on a waitlist for a criminology class. “I was on the wait- list but I did eventually end up getting into the class, two weeks before classes started,” she said. Thatcher was opti- mistic about getting into the class be- cause of assurances she received from other students. Without waitlists students would have to frequently check the status of classes, said Melia Fernandez, an ad- ministration assis- tant at Langara. Fernandez said Langara monitors waitlists but, “Just because a class has a really long wait- list doesn’t mean RAJAN BALIWAL we can open up a Computer sci- new section.” ence student at Space and and Langara instructor avail- ability are only two of the several reasons related to re- sources, that prevent the college from adding more courses when a class de- velops a long waitlist. To help students understand how waitlists function, Langara introduced an online video on its website two years ago. Carr driving for change Once a Langara teacher, now a city councillor, Carr’s love for the environ- ment keeps her focused By LAUREN BOOTHBY Adriane Carr has been passionate about the environment since she was a child. The former Langara instructor spoke to students last Wednesday about her career in politics, education, and her interest in the environment as part of a seminar series presented by the environmental studies department. Carr did not always want to be a poli- tician, but nature has always been im- portant to her. She has fond memories of swimming under waterfalls and looking at the stars with her dad. “We used to go out every weekend and walk the streams with him, and he would catch trout,” Carr said. “I fell in love with [the] streams.” Carr went into politics because she was disillusioned by the lack of focus 66 I felt be- trayed. I felt angry at what I witnessed. And then at the same time, empow- ered CG Party of Vancouver Coun., ADRIANE CARR GREEN PARTY OF VANCOUVER COUNCILLOR on environmental issues by the B.C. New Democratic Party. “T felt betrayed. I felt angry at what I witnessed. And then at the same time, empowered,” Carr said. “Because the NDP wasn’t going to be a party that I could trust to champion [the environ- ment] didn’t mean that [it] couldn’t happen in politics.” But Carr does not want to be a politi- cian forever. “If ’m going to ever retire, ’'m going to take up music again,” she said. “Any- thing that gets a little more technical [I think] ‘my fingers aren’t working prop- erly!” The campus has changed since Carr was an instructor, and she delivered a speech in a classroom that she used to teach in. Katrina Erdos, the instructor who organized the seminar series, said she enjoyed the speech from her for- mer colleague. “Adriane of course, has a long histo- ry of bringing about positive change,” Erdos said. “Its always great to hear someone say: stick with it, persevere, don’t be afraid to take a new opportu- nity. Because we tend to be kind of cau- tious.” CAREER highlights ME Adriane Carr has a master's degree in urban geography. HM sCoun. Carr taught for 12 years at Langara College. ME Carr is a well-known leader in Green politics. HE From 2000 to 2006 she led the B.C. Green Party and became the first Green leader in Canada to be in- cluded in televised leaders’ debates. Source: Vancouver.ca LAUREN BOOTHBY photo Coun. Carr giving a speech about her journey of becoming a politician. Parents like freedom to choose against vaccines Potential health risks, side effects of vaccines make some parents less likely to immunize their toddlers By CLARE HENNIG es, like measles and whooping cough, are on the rise in Canada as more people opt out of immunization says Katharine Browne, an instructor of philosophy at Langara. Browne led this month’s Philoso- phers’ Jam, which focused on vaccina- tions and whether they should be man- datory. The speech also focused in on many parents who are choosing against vaccination for their children. B.C. has one of the lowest vaccination rates in comparison to eastern provinces, ac- cording to the Statistics Canada web- site. “People who choose not to vaccinate are in fact acting rationally,” Browne said. “’m not claiming that they are acting morally, but it is rational.” Sarah Carrey, a mother of two school-aged children, said she likes having the choice to vaccinate her sons or not. “They have the important ones, like tetanus and measles,” Carrey said. “But I don’t give them the flu shot ... getting the flu is normal for kids.” The key point is that having the flu shot is a choice rather than enforced, said Alex Boston, coordinator of the talk. He said the availability of flu vac- cines on campus this past week is a good example. “They’re literally giving you access to vaccines but it’s not that a student would lose grades or not be allowed to come to Langara if they did not have vaccines,” Boston said. “It’s not a case of the government forcing anyone to take vaccines, they’re just making them very easy to get.” Boston said he doesn’t know if that kind of enforcement would happen in Canada, but pointed out other laws re- stricting people’s freedom in the name Ss: vaccine-preventable diseas- of public safety. “Tt’s about bal- ancing individual autonomy with the collective good,” said Browne. Hailey Clyde, a mother of a 4-year-old girl, said she lacks the desire to believe in vaccines, spe- cifically the flu vaccine. “Tf someone gets a flu vaccine shouldn’t they be protected by peo- ple who choose not to get the flu shot? That’s al- ways been the thing thats con- fused me the most 66 I’m choos- ing not to vacci- nate my child, it’s a choice and I should have the right to make my own HAILEY CLYDE MOTHER about vaccines,” Clyde said. “’m choos- ing not to vaccinate my child, it’s a choice and I should have the right to make my own.” CLARE HENNIG photo Langara student gets vaccinated by a nursing student.