Humber College’s student newspaper The Et Cetera took top honours last night as the Canadian Community Newspapers Association announced its national award winners for 2012 at a ceremony held at Toronto’s Fairmont Royal York Hotel.

The publication, produced weekly in print and online editions during each semester as part of the journalism program at Humber’s School of Media Studies and Information Technology, led all Canadian college and university newspapers in the Outstanding Campus Newspaper category. Second-place honours were awarded to the University of Toronto Varsity and third place went to Alberta’s Mount Royal College Reflector.

“I have always told our journalism students that their careers begin with the print and online publications and broadcasts they produce as part of their school program, as it did for me and many other Canadian journalists,” said Prof. Salem Alaton, faculty advisor for The Et Cetera.

“For this award, we had an excellent and motivated student team working within one of the strongest and best-respected media programs in the country. The students and everyone associated with the program, particularly our outgoing Dean, William Hanna, rightly share the honour.”

Partnered with Newspapers Canada, the Canadian Community Newspapers Association is the country’s leading trade association for the newspaper industry.

Hanna, who has been with Humber College over 36 years and served as dean the last 15, will remain in his position as associate vice-president, academic.

Basil Guinane, associate dean, SMSIT, said, Hanna is “a very hard act to follow. He brought a sparkling sense of humour, strong leadership and ability to work well with others. He was the consummate people person.”

A portion of Hanna’s communication:

“Longer term planning and operations, new program development, ongoing leadership and the building and sharing of a common vision for the school requires a full time Dean. I am unable to fill that role at this time and, therefore, have decided to step down from my role as Dean, School of Media Studies & IT…

“This decision has been a difficult one for me to reach. For fifteen years we have shared a journey of building what I believe to be the finest media training centres in the country. I am extremely proud of what we have accomplished together and I value the relationships I have built with you during this time.

“As a new leader moves into the Dean’s role with a fresh perspective and vision, I can rest assured knowing that he or she will have the support of the finest faculty and staff in the industry. It has been a privilege to have been your dean.”

Bryan Tran, 27, will conclude his role as HSF president on May 1. PHOTO BY ERIN EATON

Erin Eaton
HSF Reporter

In the Humber hallways, he is known as “King of the HSF.” But buried beneath Robert’s Rules of Order and mounds of paperwork is a complex, determined individual with a story that may surprise.

A target of childhood bullying, depression and academic shame, Byran Tran, 27, shared his experiences before closing the book on his two-year run as president of the Humber Students’ Federation.

“I was really bullied and teased when I was a kid. Every day I would go home and cry. It took me a long time to develop social skills,” he said.

“I’ve been dealing with depression for most of my adult life and adolescence, and have been seeing a counselor … talking about these things and exploring them at this point of my life has really helped me get over it,” he added.

The combination of family pressure and social woes led the adolescent Tran to rebel – behaviour that pushed him into Robert Land Academy military school in Wellandport, Ontario, where he attempted to regain a sense of discipline and structure.

“My parents gave me an ultimatum – military school or the streets,” he said. 
“It was hardcore. All of the kids there were either court ordered there for drugs or violence or were kicked out from other military schools in the [United] States.”

The self-discipline that was instilled at military school helped him earn an academic scholarship to the University of Waterloo, but Tran never truly felt at home there.

“I flunked out first semester because I went from a very strict environment—every moment of our lives planned out to complete freedom, so the transition was tough,” he said.

He fluttered between arts, accounting and engineering before dropping out of university to spend some time working, eventually heading to Humber. “I didn’t really have a lot of direction, so deciding to come to school was a catalyst for these important changes.”

After a productive first year studying business at Lakeshore, Tran decided to apply for the HSF on a whim. He then participated as lead events assistant and VP campus life at Lakeshore before serving for two years as HSF president.

“It’s kind of lonely at the top – you make all the hard decisions and get all the flack,” he said. 
“But generally, it’s been great. I’ve had a great opportunity to make some important changes.”

Tran said he was most proud of initiating a new governance structure.

“I thought our board structure was kind of off. We never had the representation that we felt we should have had. And, I don’t think it was any fault of us, it’s just that the structure wasn’t conducive of that,” said Tran.

“So, we’re moving toward a representation by population model in which each campus will have a certain number of directors that are elected at large. The process by which students get elected has improved with this new structure. It’s going to be a huge change, and I’m really excited to see how successful it is.”

“I think he’s a leader who wants to make sure the organization was leading in the right direction, and has strategic goals and plans – he does have that ability to lead,” said Sieu Moi Ly, the services director at HSF.

After Humber, Tran intends to pursue business leadership professionally, though he admits to some hesitation about becoming a “corporate wage slave.”

“There is a deep part inside of me that’s like ‘don’t do it,’ and another part that’s like ‘but what other choice do I have?’” he said.

No matter what path Tran follows, executive director Ercole Perrone said his ability to lead and create change is very impressive.

“The impact and large-scale changed initiated by Bryan are so fundamental—they are not comparable to his predecessors.”

Orville Getz is president of OPSEU local 562, Humber’s faculty union. PHOTO BY RUSSELL PIFFER

By Russell Piffer
News Reporter

Three years after part-time and sessional faculty at Ontario colleges took a vote on unionizing with the Ontario Public Service Employees Union, the campaign is still before the labour board because of challenges from college management.

For a union drive to go to vote, 40 per cent of the workforce needs to sign a union card, according to the province’s Labour Relations Act.

The College Employer Council, the top managing body of Ontario colleges, has requested that the Labour Board review every signature to ensure it belongs to an eligible employee, said Orville Getz, president of OPSEU local 562, Humber’s faculty union.

“The colleges are challenging every name on the voters’ list,” said Getz.  “They don’t want the part-timers to have a union – that’s what it’s all about – because it would be a lot more costly.”

Getz said there are about 450 to 500 part-time and about 30 sessional faculty at Humber alone.

Part-time faculty teach one to six hours a week and sessionals teach 13 to 18.

Faculty that put in seven to 12 classroom hours per week are classified as partial load and are already included in the collective agreement, he said.

“They have a lot higher rate of pay than the part timers or the sessionals and they have some benefits,” Getz said.  “Part time and sessional get nothing and technically they can buy into nothing. If they want to buy into the drug plan or dental plan, they can’t.”

The continuing drive to improve conditions for part-time and sessional faculty comes as OPSEU gears up to negotiate a new contract for full-time college faculty, with an initial notice to bargain scheduled for early June and negotiations anticipated through the summer.

While full-time faculty have attained many key objectives in years past, part-time and sessional teachers remain unprotected. Getz said a successful unionization would mean a big increase in pay and benefits.

“It would cost the colleges millions of dollars,” he said. “And the government isn’t prepared to give them the money.”

The results of the union vote have been sealed and won’t be opened until the Labour Board rules that OPSEU collected enough signatures, said Don Sinclair, CEO of the College Employer Council.

“As the employer we have the ability to challenge the number of cards that got signed,” Sinclair said.  “We do not believe that they have the numbers.”

Sinclair said the Council is not trying to stonewall the union drive, but is making sure OPSEU follows proper
procedure.

“We’re not anti-union, because, obviously, we’ve got two unions already in the college system,” he said. “We just want to ensure that [the union] is going to represent the will of the majority of those people that are working.”

He said the benefit of the current arrangement is that each college can “set the terms and conditions” of its own part-time staff.

Tracy MacMaster, a library technician at Seneca College representing Local 561 who worked on the campaign, said part-timers and sessionals are “completely at the goodwill of the employer.”

She said they work on a contract basis and if a college decides not to renew a contract they don’t need to give just cause or pay severance. Employees, she said, are “completely disposable.”

MacMaster said the Labour Board reviewed the signatures at one mid-sized college and the process took several weeks.

“If you multiply that by 24 colleges, and if the employer made the union go through that procedure for every single college, you can imagine that you and I will be very old and grey before they’re finished,” she said.  “Clearly, their goal is to tie up the process indefinitely.”

MacMaster said the easiest solution would be for the Council to withdraw their objection.

Part-timers and sessionals should have the right to collective bargaining, “just like every other public service worker in Ontario,” she said.

An adult peregrine falcon. The peregrine is well-known for its speed. PHOTO COURTESY CANADIAN PEREGRINE FOUNDATION

Kaitie Fraser
Environment Reporter

Hundreds of thousands of migrants are flocking to Toronto and its surrounding area – some for a visit, others returning to their summer abodes.

“Toronto is a leader in bird conservation and does a lot to help birds during migration,” said Melanie Sifton, Humber Arboretum director. “Toronto is like a bird motel.”

Several peregrine falcon couples are nesting on downtown skyscrapers, and webcams have been set up by the Canadian Peregrine Foundation so bird watchers can follow live on its website.

Peregrines are closely monitored in the GTA because they were on the verge of extinction about 40 years ago after the pesticide DDT killed off massive amounts of the population, said foundation director Mark Nash.

“Peregrines are the ‘canary in the mine’ for environmentalists. They accumulate more toxins being at the top of the food chain and they were the first to tell us that DDT was dangerous,” Nash said.

Once again, peregrines are warning environmentalists about a new chemical, he said.

“Studies in Europe, the U.S., and Canada have shown extremely high levels of flame retardants in peregrines,” said Nash.

Polybrominated diphenyl ethers or PDBEs are used in any appliance or electronic device that has a circuit board. Many of these products end up in dumps, Nash said, allowing the chemicals to work their way up the food chain.

“This is an important observation because, like peregrines, humans are at the top of the food chain and what hurts them could hurt us,” he said.

Nash said the peregrine is currently a threatened species but could be demoted to a vulnerable species, which would give it less protection in North America.

“The peregrine is being downgraded because of money and not because of biological reasons. But more needs to be done to preserve this species,” said Nash.

Peregrines have been sighted in the Arboretum along with Humber’s mascot, the red-tailed hawk, said Taurean Linton, nature interpreter at the Arboretum.

“A red-tailed hawk nested here last year, and she might be back to nest again this year,” Linton said.

While visitors to the Arb may not be able to see the red-tail’s nesting areas they can hear its recognizable screech, which is frequently used in the media as a generic cry for falcons.

Toronto Police officers, including Constable Richard Cashmore of 22 Division, are encouraged to reach out to their communities via social media platforms such as Twitter. SCREEN CAPTURE BY PATRICIA BROTZEL

Patricia Brotzel
News Reporter

Toronto Police 22 Division gathered at the Etobicoke Olypium last week to host a town hall for concerned citizens.

Members of the community came to address issues in their neighbourhood, while others came to thank 22 Division officers and Police Chief Bill Blair for their service.

Chief Blair said he often comes out to these neighbourhood events. “People come not to talk about murder and mayhem, but to talk about things that are important to them,” he said, such as parking problems, traffic problems, or disorderly conduct in their parks.

The April 11 gathering also provided an opportunity for police to introduce themselves to their community.

Toronto Police superintendent James Ramer said he took over 22 Division last year, and he is “just getting used to the division, and it is these kind of partnerships that we want to build in the community.”

With the police working on a continually tightening budget, social media officers promoted the use of services like Facebook and Twitter as a cost effective way to contact police about smaller issues.

“It is the way we are moving forward. It’s a free service for us, it’s a free service for you and it’s where we are heading,” said 22 Division Constable Richard Cashmore.

Const. Cashmore said platforms such as Facebook are helpful to police because of the real-time element.

“Social media is global– it’s live, it’s active, and we want you to participate with us in getting information though,” he said.

In many ways, police can use social media to communicate with the public on their own terms, said Henri Berube, co-ordinator of police foundations at Humber.

“The police need to be aware … of how people are communicating. You have a whole generation of people getting their information from the Internet,” he said.

Chief Blair said the decision to look toward the Internet to assist policing is about progressing in a fiscally responsible way.

“We are working very hard for ways that we can maintain the high level of service but make it efficient and economical,” Blair said.

Last year's Our Future Without AIDS event, hosted by CANFAR's Young Professional Council. COURTESY CANFAR

Sarah Rix
A&E Reporter

Taking place in Toronto on April 28, Our Future Without AIDS will feature a night of food, art and technology.

The Canadian Foundation for AIDS Research’s Young Professional Council is hosting a second annual event as part of an effort to increase awareness and generate funds for research.

“Last year, we netted over $33,000,” said Mark Mahoney, 30, YPC chair and a lawyer in Toronto. “It’s a great opportunity for young people to make a difference.”

The YPC is a volunteer organization created two years ago made up of young professionals assisting the foundation in education, outreach, fundraising and HIV/AIDS research.

While the YPC is based in Toronto, there are plans to expand the organization nationally. A similar group is currently being set up in Vancouver, Mahoney said.

“The goal is to raise funds for CANFAR, but it’s also an awareness event as well,” said Laura Graham, development officer at the foundation and 2011 graduate of Humber’s fundraising and volunteer management program. “The theme is art meets technology. It’s interactive, there’s a Twitter feed, things that people can be involved in on the technology side and an art auction.”

According to the Canadian Foundation for AIDS Research, more than half of Grade 9 students across Canada believe there is a cure or vaccine for AIDS.

“There’s still no cure, there’s still no vaccine. That’s what we need to focus on,” said Christopher Bunting, CANFAR’s president.

Statistics from the charitable foundation reveal more than 34 million people worldwide, including 65,000 Canadians, live with HIV.

“When we started out [in 1987], it was a death penalty,” said Bunting. “The life expectancy back then was about 11 months. Today, through and because of research, people live much longer, healthier lives. But there are still complications, there’s no question.”

Bunting said the foundation’s main goal is to collect funding for research and place emphasis on prevention.

“I think it’s really important to not only raise money for people with AIDS, but also raise money for finding exactly what AIDS is and why we can’t seem to cure it,” said Miranda Loutet, 21, co-president of McGill University’s CANFAR campus club in Montreal and a fourth-year anatomy and cell biology student.

Loutet said each year their chapter contributes up to $8,000 to the foundation, but awareness is still an issue among students.

“We’ve had some rude comments before, like, ‘Oh, wasn’t AIDS a 1980s thing?” said Loutet.

With the charity now in its 25th year, awarding over $17 million for research and continuing its work to end AIDS, Bunting calls the milestone bittersweet.

“We’re still here, which means HIV and AIDS are still here,” he said.

For more information on the Our Future Without AIDS event, visit CANFAR’s website.

Helen Surgenor
News Reporter

First-year Humber student Katelyn Bates got a late start on her job hunt for this summer.

Bates said she expects to be working a retail job to pay her rent this summer, but wishes she could find something more related to her future career.

“I really want to go into culinary arts, so I’m trying to get a job in a café or something,” said the 19-year-old. “They’ve already hired all the people for the summer.”

But some fortunate Humber students don’t need to work. Karen Fast, manager of Humber’s career centre, estimates that 20 per cent of Humber students can afford to fill their summer with activities that will look good on their resume.

With the summer semester beginning on May 7, registration for summer classes at Humber has begun, offering students an alternative to the more common minimum-wage summer job.

“If they are doing a program that’s going straight through, they can actually graduate quicker and maybe get into the job market sooner than a cohort that had started in September,” said Humber registrar Sharon Kinasz.

Related job experience, volunteer work, and even international travel can give students an edge when they start job shopping, said Fast – providing they adequately frame it to an employer.

“You have to promote it properly, so I would put it in as an international opportunity, really describe in point form — almost like you would a position — and talk about what you’ve learned and what you’ve gained from that opportunity,” Fast said. “In certain career areas, I think that would be extremely useful.”

She added that there are opportunities for students who need to work this summer, but the secret is to get an early start looking for relevant experience.

“If you do not have related employment to your program, in one form or another — it could be an internship, it could be part-time work, summer employment — you need to find something that’s going to give you that.”

Bates said she has considered the career centre’s tips and she is debating whether or not to take a summer class. “I want to, but I can’t afford it right now,” she said.

But after the bustle of the school year, another summer investment Bates is aiming for is a short vacation to Cape Cod.

Four lots will be closed due to the construction, and 240 staff members will lose their parking spots. PHOTO BY DIPA HAQUE

Michael Gregory
Senior Reporter

The closure of four major parking lots at Humber’s North campus this summer to begin construction on a new building will threaten the number of available prime parking spots for students and staff.

The college will close lots six through nine, located along Humber College Blvd, on May 1, with roads and parking being relocated to improve traffic flow on campus.

This is the first phase of construction on the Learning Resource Commons building, which the college said would allow for more than 2,000 new students in the coming years.

As a result of the closures, 240 staff are being temporarily evicted from their spots in Lot 9, with the college offering a monetary incentive for some to relocate because of limited space.

The Department of Public Safety and Human Resources has offered up to a $100 on-campus dining card to 40 staff willing to move to the general lot permanently starting next month.

If the quota is not met, a lottery will be held to determine who will be forced to move.

Students purchasing a parking permit can park in Lot 1, near the residences, and Lot 13, next to the athletics building.

Those paying the daily flat rate will make the trek from the lots on the east side of campus.

Construction on the parking lot will continue until the end of the summer, when work will begin on the actual building and the transit loop.

The LRC is scheduled to open in 2016.

After a nation-wide search, Humber College is set to receive its new president and CEO, Christopher Whitaker, to succeed the outgoing head, John Davies, on July 1.

“Humber is a student and community-oriented school which focuses on the success of the student. So when the opportunity came up, I wanted to be a part of it,” said Whitaker, 52, who spent the last 25 years at St. Lawrence College in Kingston.

Whitaker began his career at St. Lawrence in 1987 as a part-time teacher at the Brockville campus, teaching literacy and numeracy to at-risk youth.

His career at St. Lawrence included roles ranging from teacher to dean of the school of business, regional director of the Kingston campus to academic vice-principal, and, from 2007, as president and CEO.

When his resignation was announced the morning of April 12, his colleagues and students were shocked.

“I had the privilege of assisting him for the past five years and he is a very private person.

So when the news came, we were sad. But our loss is [Humber’s] gain,” said Maggie Stevens, administrative assistant to the president and board of directors.

Andrew McNamara, professor of behavioural psychology at St. Lawrence, described Whitaker as “the man with the heart.”

“I have known him from the time I came to the college. He is fun, laid back and has [had] a big hand in our college’s progress, like starting Canada’s first wind turbine technology program,” said McNamara.

Whitaker holds a PhD from the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education from the University of Toronto, an MA from York University and a bachelor’s degree from Queen’s University. He said he is excited to be coming to Humber hopes to start his orientation before July.

“I am looking forward to learning more about the school, knowing the staff and faculty, meeting the community.”

Whitaker said he welcomes the challenge at Humber, Ontario’s largest community college, with an enrolment of more than 22,000 full-time students and 56,000 part-time students across its three campuses. That’s a sharp increase from St. Lawrence, which has approximately 6,500 full-time and 20,000 part-time students.

“Humber offers a wide rage of credentials, from degrees to diplomas to apprenticeships, which provides more options to the students,” said Whitaker. “I would be very interested in exploring new options for different and diverse programs to help with the growth of Humber.”

Whitaker succeeds Davies, who has held the presidential role since 2008.

“It is the team that is responsible for the success of our college,” said Davies. “Whitaker is a great team player and shares the same ideologies.”

Preparing for retirement, Davies has already bought tickets for the London Olympics and is excited to travel to England with his wife this summer.

It’s “a new beginning,” said Davies.