SPORTS B-ball bronze

The Falcons men’s team

took third at the PACWEST

Student stress

New workshop helps teachers ease students’ pandemic fears.

Comic comeback

Comedy clubs are opening back up again after two years of

championship. P4

(“A sy j A v7)

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closure. langaravoice.ca

PRODUCED BY LANGARA JOURNALISM STUDENTS | WWW.LANGARAVOICE.CA

MARCH 17, 2022

* VOL. 55 NO. 6 * VANCOUVER, B.C.

Financia hardship a stark reality

Bursaries no longer

just a benefit; they are

now a dire need ByJUAN RAMIREZ

s the cost of living increases and financial challenges caused by the COVID-19

pandemic persist, financial assistance from the Langara College Founda- tion has become a necessity for many students.

The pandemic caused a loss of jobs which were crucial to financing their education, but the foundation helped collect $1,162,609 for the 2020 yearly bursary funding.

For the 2021 yearly bursary fund- ing, the foundation raised the $1.65 million, according to Heidy Rahn- umah, the development officer, donor relations and annual giving of the Langara College Foundation.

The cost of food, rent, gasoline and phone plans have all increased over the past couple of years, affect- ing students’ wallets.

The Canadian Consumer Price Index, which measures the cost of goods, rose 5.1 per cent from January 2021 to 2022. This was the greatest year-to-year increase since the index was first recorded in 1999.

According to the Canadian Mort- gage and Housing Corp., in October 2018, the average rent for a two- bedroom apartment in Vancouver was $1,652. By 2021, it has risen to $1,830.

Most recently, gas prices have also been affected by the war in Ukraine. Last years’ average gas price in Vancouver was $1.52 per litre. Today, the average price has risen to $2.00 per litre.

Jennifer Cheddie, a Langara staff member, said the support from the foundation helps not only students but often their families as well.

“Definitely, when it comes to special times in the year, they help students out in terms of doing hampers to further not only help the student, but the families as well,” said Cheddie, who works as a student conduct officer.

Taylor Lundie, a first-year general science student, said the foundation’s assistance can also help with tuition.

“If they want to take a class and they're worried about maybe having to afford the materials or affording the class, they can actually take it,” Lundie said.

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Men's emotions _— on centre stage *—

P4

Quinn Churchill and Ishan Sandhu, actors in Men Express Their Feelings, go head to head ir in a new play. PHOTO COURTESY OF ZEE ZEE THEATRE COMPANY.

LSU site: still n no > minutes

Despite a commitment in 2019, Langara Students’ Union hasnt delivered yet

By MARILYN REICHERT

he Langara Students’

Union, a student-funded

society whose official

aim is “Advocating for Students’ Rights” has yet to come through on a 2019 commitment to become more transparent.

After the Societies Act was amended in 2016 to improve student union transparency, the LSU made some changes to keep in line with its obligations. The amendment allowed the request of records related to student unions.

That said, the LSU still requires students to jump through hoops to obtain information and documents that are posted publicly at other B.C. post-secondary institutions.

A news article in the Voice on Feb. 11, 2019 stated that an email from the LSU to the Vice asserted the societies’ financial records and meeting minutes would be posted “very soon” at the launch of their new website.

Currently the LSU meeting minutes and financial records are still not on their website. A search for “minutes” brings up a “coming

soon’ message.

Students who pay mandatory membership dues must submit a request online or email media@Isu. be.ca to obtain copies. Requests by the Voice for meeting minutes and financial statements were answered within 24 hours.

Cole Evans, president of the UBC Alma Mater Soci-

websites.

“The UVic Student Society regularly practice transparency by putting their meeting minutes on their website and have shown students how their student society fee is broken down,” said Paarth Mittal, a former director of the UVic Student Society. “They made strides to improve transparency,

ety, said that | “This year...we'vealso | like when the it’s important : : director of for student started live streaming finance and unions to be our meetings.” operations transparent _ COLEEVANS, PRESIDENTOF made a video and account- UBCALMA MATER SOCIETY for the annual

able to their members.

“All of our meetings are public,” Evans said. “This year ... we've also started live streaming our meetings.”

Evans, a full-time student, responded to the Voice within two hours of being contacted and was ready to speak to a student from another school despite overseeing 60,000 of his own students at UBC.

Many students’ unions, including those at BCIT, UVic, Douglas and UBC, make their meeting minutes and financial records public on their

general meet- ing explain- ing to UVic students how the $S finances work.”

In 2015, freedom of information journalist and researcher Stanley ‘Tromp stated in his oral presentation to the B.C. Legislative FOIPP Act in regard to FO]-exempt bodies, that “there is an overlooked but extremely serious problem: the secrecy of student societies.”

“In the worst example, the Lang- ara Students’ Union passed changes to its constitution that could allow

LSU to bar students from attend- ing student society board meet- ings, prevent in camera meetings, and prevent students from making copies of student union records,” Tromp said.

The Societies Act was then changed to allow students to request records related to student unions.

The LSU office is currently closed for renovations and emails from the Voice to the LSU president and vice- president on Feb. 28 remain unan- swered by the Voice deadline.

When the Voice emailed the LSU media team on March 2 request- ing interviews, it received an answer within minutes, saying board members do not do “in-person, phone or video interviews.”

The LSU media committee said that to include online access, boards must revisit bylaws.

“This is currently not the case,” they wrote in an email. “The Lang- ara Students’ Union continues to be transparent by hosting annual general meetings, responding to members’ requests, working with various community stakehold- ers to provide services to the LSU membership and Community.”