Campus Digest: Downtown campus dead for now

By Communications Staff
January 10, 2013

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Lost, found and sold

Paul Mayne, Western News
Western’s Campus Community Police Service held a found property sale last week, offering everything from jewelry and watches to iPod Shuffles, Nanos and Touches. With some items for sale, and others won through a silent auction, the campus police managed to bring in close to $2,000, which will fund the Bike Patrol and charitable donations, such as United Way.

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Western won’t be expanding its downtown London footprint, at least any time soon. In December, the city’s Investment and Economic Prosperity Committee made five recommendations aimed at stimulating the London economy – Western’s plan for a downtown campus was not among the five.
According to the city, 49 proposals were received, 12 completed a due diligence checklist and were evaluated using “a business-centred approach focused on economic development.” Western’s downtown campus made the cutdown list, but no further.
Last year, Mayor Joe Fontana expressed an interest in partnering with the university in plans to revitalize the city’s core, a proposal that included building a new city hall and moving Western into its current building – as well as the buildings in the adjacent Centennial Plaza – at the corner of Dufferin Avenue and Wellington Street.

NEWS AND NOTES 

• With declining revenue and more online OSAP (Ontario Student Assistance Program) options for students, the Canada Post outlet in the lower level of the University Community Centre (UCC) will be shutting down, effective May 31.
  The main function of the post office has been to serve students with the ability to mail in OSAP applications throughout the school year. Recently, the OSAP program has moved the bulk of the application process online, greatly diminishing the need for a Canada Post outlet on campus.
  “The USC (University Students’ Council) is currently on the tail end of a five-year contract with Canada Post and will not be renewing it,” said Tony Ayala, USC finance vice-president. “If we were to renew the contract, the space would require a mandatory $60,000 capital upgrade. Given the current market situation, we can’t justify sustaining the losses on top of the additional costs to students.”
  
  
• Western PhD student Gobi Thillainadesan has been awarded the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Institute of Cancer Research Publication Prize for his recent paper in the journal Molecular Cell, TGF-β-dependent active demethylation and expression of the p15ink4b tumor suppressor are impaired by the ZNF217/CoREST complex. Microbiology and Immunology professor Joe Torchia, in Western’s Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry, supervises Thillainadesan in his London Regional Cancer Program lab.
  
  
• A new report released by the Network for Business Sustainability (NBS), a research group based at the Richard Ivey School of Business, reveals the 39 practices businesses can use to foster innovation.
  Based on a review of more than 127 studies from the last 20 years, Innovating Sustainability provides tangible, real-world practices to reduce costs and drive revenues while improving impacts on people and the environment. It also includes a three-stage framework for business leaders to assess their progress. Visit nbs.net for a copy of the report.
  
  
• Western students can now catch the Express. Greyhound Express — the company’s premium non-stop express service between major cities — will offer an on-campus stop at Western, starting Jan. 11. The company has had a long-standing on-campus presence, and worked with the University Students’ Council and the university to bring its Express service to students. The route will provide two daily trips from Western to Toronto on Fridays, with return service on Sundays. There are two pick-up and drop-off points: The Gates on Richmond Street and Oxford Drive opposite Lawson Hall. Visit mygreyhoundexpress.ca for details.

Playing in pink

Paul Mayne, Western News
The first game of the New Year for the Western Mustangs was awash in pink, as the team took part in the annual Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) Shoot for the Cure to raise awareness for breast cancer research. Mustangs player Melissa Rondinelli, complete with pink uniform – and even a pink basketball – was thrilled to be part of the initiative, which has proven an overwhelming success since it was launched in the fall of 2007, with more than half a million dollars in raised by the CIS for the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation and other related charities. Although wearing pink, the Mustangs felt a bit blue after the game, dropping a 70-49 decision to the Brock Badgers.