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Cougars undefeated and counting
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- Created on Wednesday, 01 February 2012 21:40
By Nathan Frank
The number one ranked University of Regina Cougars women’s basketball team is taking little pride in its record-breaking start to the season.
Led by a dominant fourth quarter by guard Michelle Clark, the Cougars defeated the University of Fraser Valley Cascades 78-61 on January 20th for a team record of 12 straight wins to start the season. Clark finished the game with 22 points, most coming in the fourth quarter.
The win broke the previous team record of 11 wins to start a season, which the Cougars accomplished in 2001-2002 and 2003-2004.
Acknowledging that the streak is impressive, fifth year guard Carly Graham said it is important the record doesn’t distract the team.
“It is nice to have the record, but you kind of need to separate it from what you are doing because if you put that kind of pressure on yourself it makes it kind of hard.”
For coach Dave Taylor the streak isn’t important because the team hasn’t secured a playoff spot or clinched first place. With many great teams over the past 15 years, including the 2001 National Championship team, it surprises Taylor that other Cougar teams haven’t had longer streaks to start the season.
Taylor said this year’s team reminds him of a strong Cougar teams of the past.
“I think our starting lineup is very dynamic. It is very similar to our 2004 team. It was ranked number one a lot of the year and ended up losing in the national final.”
The strong back-court Taylor refers to is headed by two import guards: third year, Clark, from Westlake Village, Calif. and fourth year, Joanna Zalesiak, from Gorzow Wielkopolski, Poland. Also key to the team’s success, according to Taylor is the strong core of local talent. There are 10 Regina products on the team altogether.
The team has the same goal it had to begin the season.
“My expectation at the beginning of the year was that I thought we were really good and I thought that we were one of four teams in Canada that could win it all.” Taylor, said.
With five games remaining on the schedule the Cougars still have everything left to accomplish. If the Cougars finish the season in first place they will host the first round of the playoffs. And with a top four finish in the first round they will also host the Canada West Championships.
Aboriginal students struggle to access post-secondary education
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- Created on Wednesday, 01 February 2012 21:38
by Tiffany Cassidy
Figuring out how to pay for her post-secondary education last semester was a major stress for First Nations student Daphne Kay. Her application for funding was lost when her reserve flooded. Then she applied for provincial and federal student loans and was denied for both. Kay was unsuccessful in scholarship applications. She finally decided to take a bank loan.
And yet, Kay said she is not the only aboriginal student facing hurdles to post-secondary education. She said this is a result of financial issues, but also social issues she has observed. She was the only aboriginal to graduate from her high school class and said that many of Canada's Aboriginal Peoples do not believe post-secondary is an option for them.
“A lot of people think ‘university is for smart privileged children, or smart privileged people, and I’m not one of them, I’m aboriginal,’” said Kay. She sees education as the key to removing social issues in First Nations communities.
When First Nations students apply for government funding they do it through the Post-Secondary Student Support Program (PSSSP). Kay said that bands are given a certain amount of funding for this from the federal government, but band councils may have more students apply for funding than they can support.
The University of Regina’s student union addressed the issue of PSSSP funding Jan. 25 in a “teach in". Cadmus Delorme of First Nations University of Canada took to the microphone and spoke, among other things, about the spending cap on PSSSP. The government continues to increase PSSSP by two per cent each year, despite the increasing growth of First Nations, said Delorme.
The Crown-First Nations summit on Jan. 24 addressed First Nations education, though much of the focus was on on-reserve education. First Nations student Brad Bellegarde said that is where Aboriginal Peoples need to be inspired to enter post-secondary studies.
Speaking on PSSSP, Bellegarde said, “If they (government officials) don’t lift the cap, it’s going to be another long battle.”
NDP MLA Cam Broten, who is Opposition critic for First Nations and Métis Relations, said the problems need to be addressed.
“To have a situation where individuals want to pursue education and better themselves and better their families, to not have the funding available, just doesn’t make sense from a social but also an economic perspective,” he said.
Broten said change will need a collaborative effort from many groups of Saskatchewan to speak on the issue.
Women take on Islamic challenges
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- Created on Wednesday, 01 February 2012 21:29
by Madeline Kotzer
I peer out from underneath a gauzy, zebra-printed silk scarf as Elaheh Ahmadi gently pins it under my chin and in the shape of a flower at my temple. I have decided to take the Hijab Day Challenge for Islamic Awareness Week. Elaheh Ahmadi, secretary for the University of Regina Muslim Students’ Association(URMSA), carefully arranges the complimentary scarves in the form of the Islamic hijab for non-Muslims willing to sport the look for the day.
The dynamic challenge asks: ‘are you brave enough?’ and was created by URMSA to present a new angle at the annual event in order to break down misconceptions about the religion.
“I think that doing something like the hijab challenge brings awareness to non-Muslim girls to what Muslim girls have to go through in a western society when we have to wear it,” explained recent Islam-convert, Lacey Tourney.
The Hijab Day Challenge fell on Wednesday, Jan. 25, also the one year anniversary of the advent of the Arab spring and in particular the violent Egyptian protests in Cairo’s Tahrir square. The 18-day protest eventually forced out Egypt’s authoritarian leader Hosni Mubarak in 2011, and marked an inspiring victory for opressed Muslims worldwide.
“I was surprised that the Arab spring actually even started. Because lots of the countries in the Middle East have been oppressed for so long, like 30 or 40 years. So it is hard to fight that corruption and oppression,” said Taouba Khelifa, president of the university’s UNICEF chapter, who helped URMSA organize the event.
“I was so proud that the people got up and spoke their minds and stood up for justice. The women especially have been the most influential people in the whole revolution and for that I am extremely proud to be a Muslim woman,” said Khelifa.
Women’s highly influential role in organizing and mobilizing the movement caused them to become the target of brutality at the hands of both Mubarak’s army troops and policing forces in Egypt.
When I asked Khelifa for her insight into the complex relationship between women’s rights and Islam, especially in light of the extreme danger woman protesters face in the Middle East, her response was simple.
“To be honest, Islam has given women their rights ever since the religion started. It is human beings that have really taken away women’s rights, so for the women, especially during the Arab spring, to rise up and say ‘this is my religion and I have rights and I am taking them back’ is a huge step because it has always been that human beings have oppressed women from taking their rights back. Now women are taking the active role to bring back what is theirs,” said Khelifa.