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When I imagine our president Sheldon Levy, I picture him sitting behind his desk in JOR1307, next to his Keurig coffee machine, wistfully daydreaming about cutting-edge architecture freshly adorned with the RU logo, on-campus subway access, and a wish list of Toronto landmarks in need of conquering. The soundtrack remained a mystery, until now.

We bring you, Sheldon’s RyeTunes 10.

Kate Voegele – Hallelujah (Leonard Cohen)

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Johnny Cash – Folsom Prison Blues

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The Rolling Stones – As Tears Go By

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Three Dog Night – Joy to the World

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Willie Nelson – On the Road Again

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Andrea Bocelli & Celine Dion – The Prayer

By Nuruddin Qorane

Activists for social change now have an online resource to help put their ideas in motion.

Ryerson’s Digital Media Zone (DMZ) recently brought in SoJo, a tool for young entrepreneurs seeking to better the world around them.

Currently in the beta stage of its development, SoJo connects young entrepreneurs to advice for beginning a venture, building a network and finding funding, among other educational resources to help throughout the process.

“We’re creating an online learning tool that walks people through the process of developing their ideas, developing themselves and executing on their projects,” said SoJo’s founder and CEO Kanika Gupta.

SoJo exists as a guide for social entrepreneurs to hone in on a refined and realistic idea while the site adapts to the unique questions each entrepreneur will ask. Gupta herself comes from a social change background.

She has been involved in charitable initiatives since high school and went on to found Nukoko, an organization focused on making universal primary school education accessible to young girls.

It was through creating Nukoko that Gupta found that resources were not there for people who wanted to create organizations for social change. That’s when she had the idea of a social journal that would guide young entrepreneurs to reach their goals.

At the DMZ, SoJo will have the opportunity to grow with other companies that are creating similar projects. Gupta says that opportunity is invaluable. SoJo will soon be filled with thousands of articles on topics ranging from developing yourself as an entrepreneur to how to pitch your idea.

Using reference systems such as the ones found on Amazon and Netflix, SoJo will help direct its users to the information they need.

“We’re trying to create a system that’s smart enough to recognize what [the user will need], even if they don’t know what they’re looking for,” said Gupta.

Though SoJo is still in a developmental stage, it’s functional on the web as a strategy to allow users to help in the building process.

“Our goal was to have the people who were going to be using the tool build it with us,” said Gupta.

It’s a fight for survival — the result of the game hangs in the balance during the third set between the Ryerson Rams and the Guelph Gryphons. Guelph is in full control, leading two games to zero, but Ryerson refuses to give up. It won’t be easy, but with the right strategy and a bit of luck, Ryerson’s team captain Jeff Haber and teammate Ryan Lai could overcome the odds and spark an upset.

Despite the teams being more than 67 kilometers away from each other, the tension is palpable. Electing to go with the same strategy that helped them seal a victory against the University of Western Ontario in a previous matchup, both Haber and Lai know that they will have to act quickly if they want to get the jump on their opponents.

But things didn’t go exactly as planned for Ryerson. In less than nine minutes, Guelph’s alien army had quickly swarmed Lai’s base, wiping out his defences and the last of his structures. Haber knew that it was only a matter of time before his base would succumb to a similar fate.

In a last ditch effort, Haber started training as many soldiers as he could, clicking his mouse frantically in the hopes that he would live to fight another day. But it was no use; the game was all but over.

“It didn’t feel like a good game,” said Haber with a smile. “It sucks, but at the end of the day you know you’ll play in other games.” With the loss, Ryerson’s StarCraft team dropped to 7-7 on the year; sitting 32nd place in the league’s Northern conference which also features the likes of the University of Windsor, York University and the University of Toronto.

Since its 2010 release, StarCraft has single-handedly brought competitive E-Sports to North America. And, like other sports, it’s found a home at the university level.

The Ryerson gamers compete in the Collegiate Star League (CSL), the StarCraft equivalent of the Canadian Interuniversity Sports (CIS) or the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), with university teams competing against one another on a weekly basis in a best of five game series.

The objective of StarCraft is simple enough: defeat your opponent. To do this, players must devise a strategy that balances gathering resources with developing an army and building structures. The number of variables that can affect the outcome of a game are enormous, and the best way to adapt to those situations, just like any other sport, is through practice.

“Like with any sort of sport, you have to keep practicing to get it down so that [what you’re doing] essentially becomes second instinct,” said Haber. “You can watch replays and analyze where you went wrong in different games and figure out when to build things or when you should be attacking.”

The idea of competitive video gaming, or E-Sports, being legitimized as sport in North America is still in its infancy. In many parts of Asia, E-Sports is already recognized as a legitimate sport, with the top players earning hundreds of thousands of dollars a year in sponsorships and tournament winnings.

While the popularity of E-Sports is exponentially growing, many people are strongly opposed to the notion that the word sport is attached to video games.

When asked what defines a sport, Ryerson’s director of athletics, Ivan Joseph, was selective with his words.

“For me, [a sport] would have some level of training and physical preparation. There would be a physical dimension, a mental dimension a tactical dimension to it,” he said. “There is a piece that relates to hand-eye coordination, stamina, endurance and psychological and mental elements to it. There is a tactical element to it, and there are one or more adversaries.”

“If it’s meeting those components I don’t see [why it shouldn’t be considered a sport].”

Despite the team’s average season, Haber already considers it a success, as the team is not only competing against universities with higher student populations, but they’re also essentially playing together for the first time.

“Considering it’s the first time that we’ve done this, I’d say we’re doing pretty well” he said.

Although it was initially founded in 2009, when StarCraft: Brood Wars was the game of choice, Ryerson’s StarCraft team lacked organization and quickly disintegrated. This past summer, Haber decided to resurrect the team, and under his management, Ryerson’s team is organzied, disciplined and ready to compete for a CSL title in the near future.

After the season concludes, Haber said that the team plans to apply to become an official club, which would be a step in the right direction in solidifying video games as a real sport, at least on our campus.

By Sadie McInnes

Roughly 200 students met on Gould Street today to rally in support of the Ryerson Student Union (RSU) and Canadian Federation of Students (CFS) Drop Fees movement, in the hopes of reducing Ontario tuition fees.

Despite Dalton McGuinty’s recent addition of a 30 per cent tuition grant, students are still upset because Ontario remains the most expensive province in Canada for tuition, and the grant doesn’t support mature or part-time students.

“I’m pissed off about the 30 per cent thing,” said Samantha Richards, a third-year Early Childhood Education student “I’m a mature student [and I’m not fully covered].”

Students began gathering on Gould Street as early as 11 o’clock this morning, and marched to the University of Toronto campus at 12:15.

The group traveled via Yonge Street and say they may end up protesting all night.

Protesters blew whistles, played music, and several student speakers motivated the group.  Among them was VP of education Melissa Palermo who joined in with a megaphone urging on the students.

“Let’s take over the street, it’s our street,” screamed Palermo in to the megaphone. “Education is a right and we will not give up the fight.”

Hundreds more students from U of T and George Brown College are expected to join them for the protests at U of T.

What began as an orientation pub night for a Ryerson student group ended in a brawl on campus and three arrests.

The Tamil Students’ Association (TSA) Winter Orientation Pub Night was scheduled to begin in the Thomas Lounge at 7 p.m. and move to the Ram in the Rye pub at 10 p.m.

After midnight, Ryerson security was called for a fight in progress.

“We’re called out to fights in the pub for various reasons,” said Tanya Fermin-Poppleton, manager of security and emergency services. “I think this has been one of the biggest pub fights we’ve encountered.”

When security officers arrived at the pub they attempted to help the staff and pub security separate the parties and get the individuals to leave.

“Smaller fights were breaking out as they were trying to break up each fight,” said Fermin-Poppleton. “As they dispersed onto the patio and out onto the street, police were called in as well due to the sheer numbers of participants.”

Toronto police arrested three people, including one confirmed non-student who was injured during the altercation and received patient care, plus a number of tickets.

The security brief estimated that at one point, twenty people fighting on Church Street, but that was just one group that was identified and described.

According to Caitlin Smith, the president of Ryerson’s Student Union, students groups have the opportunity to book the pub for their own use up to once a month.

If they book their events on Thursday, the RSU will help them organize and run it. On a Friday or Saturday they have no part in planning, though Smith confirmed she and members of current Students United slate were in attendance that night. Smith said that she left before the fight broke out.

“It’s hard to tell if it’s related to the student group or if it was something that could have happened any other night,” said Smith.

“Anyone off the street can come into the Ram.”

Even on the event’s Facebook wall, the question was posed as to whether it was a student only event and one user replied that anyone could show up.

“The pub is an establishment like any other, it sees it’s fair share of conflict,” said Smith.

She added that though the Ram is public to more than students, usually groups aim their advertising for their events to their members.

“[Student groups] are not usually ones to break the rules or mess up that privilege because they can make money for their group,” she said.

Eric Newstadt, general manager of the Student Campus Centre, said he was not sure if extra security members had been put on staff at the pub that night.

“We evaluate each pub night based on how busy it’s going to be and we provide for security accordingly,” he said.

If their team feels they need backup they will call in Ryerson security, and even further, Toronto Police.

On the subject of stopping student groups with problems during their events from renting the pub, Newstadt said it is up to the Board of Governors (BOG) to address the issue at their next meeting.

“I notify the BOG, they review and if they feel it’s necessary they take action,” he said.

Newstadt said before he decides whether he makes the recommendation they have to finish their investigation, a procedure that occurs after every incident involving security and police.

The investigation is underway and it is unknown when it will be completed. Despite repeated attempts, the TSA could not be reached for comment.

The search for an incumbent Dean of Science is now underway as Ryerson prepares to establish an independent Faculty of Science this coming Fall.

While the search remains confidential, provost and vice president academic Alan Shepard, who is in charge of the search, said based on Ryerson’s up and coming reputation, they have received a lot of interest so far.

According to President Sheldon Levy, Ryerson will look beyond just its immediate community to cast a wide net to get the very best. The search committee, consisting of six elected members and three appointed, including a graduate student, will sort through the applicants with the final decision left to Shepard. Hired headhunters Laverne Smith and Associates are currently conducting the search.

The Dean will be appointed this coming July or August and will oversee the faculty’s four founding departments: chemistry and biology, computer science, mathematics, and physics, alongside three newly established PhD programs in molecular science, computer science and biomedical physics.

Levy said the university is currently discussing the mechanics of the forthcoming projects including separating the budget from the Faculty of Engineering, Architecture and Science (FEAS ), where the dean’s office will be located and the identification of faculty members that will make the move. Even previously inclusive student awards will now have to be split to suit both faculties.

The incoming faculty is Ryerson’s first in approximately 40 years. Early discussions of establishing the faculty were voiced as far back as 2007. When the program starts in the fall, classes will be held in various rooms on campus, as they are right now, said vice-provost academic Christopher Evans.

In the programs first year, the classes from the previous faculty will continue to be offered with changes being made in subsequent years, said Evans.

A professor at the Ted Rogers School of Management is questioning why Ryerson security doesn’t have a full-time presence at the business school after protesters disrupted a guest lecture Thursday.

Avner Levin, a law and international business professor, said that he realized the need for security after protesters disrupted a guest lecture in his LAW 722 class on Thursday Jan. 26.

Former Ontario premiers Mike Harris and David Peterson had been invited to speak as part of a special speaker series in Levin’s Law in Canadian Business class. In the middle of the lecture, several non-community members stood up to and started shouting profanities at Harris during the event. The former premier’s time in office has been seen as controversial due to his sweeping reform of social services.

The lecture was open to the public.

Manager of security and emergency services Tanya Fermin-Poppleton said the protesters cooperated with Ryerson security once personnel were called, but Levin said he wonders why security wasn’t on-site already.

“Let’s say those protesters wanted to physically attack the [former] premier… security should be there for us,” he said.

Levin said he figured Harris’ presence might draw controversy, and spoke with the business school’s building manager about asking security to attend.

“We figured that Mike Harris’ name would draw attention of that sort, and had a conversation with security, given the protests he’s gotten in the past.”

He said his understanding was that security personnel would be at the lecture.

Fermin-Poppleton said security completed a risk assessment for the event, which involves analyzing the potential risk of the situation to the speaker and those attending. She said the risk assessment team decided the event didn’t warrant a security presence.

Harris said he wasn’t expecting a negative response, but protesters occasionally show up when he speaks in public.

“Once in a while [it happens]. 19 times out of 20, everything is fine.”

Levin said while he doesn’t expect any of the future speakers in his class to be as controversial, he has asked security to be present for the rest of the lecture series.

“I’d rather be safe than sorry going forward,” he said. But he said he thinks the business school is big enough to have its own security staff. “[We have] one-third to one-quarter of the students at the university, and no permanent security presence,” he said. ”It seems to me, I think, we’re big enough to have someone there.”