Photo by Max Hirtz

Kwantlen is about to become a little more Mac-friendly, with an Apple retailer will begin operating out of Kwantlen Surrey’s bookstore at the end of October.

Students and staff will be able to take advantage of educational discounts on Apple products as well as software by Adobe and Microsoft, offered by Simply Computing

Kwantlen students have mixed opinions on whether the store will be useful.

“I don’t know if I’d ever use it,” said Andy Sheppard, a Kwantlen psychology student.

Rahil Faruqi, a Kwantlen student who is taking a double minor in English and philosophy, is a Mac user who welcomes the new addition.

“There aren’t many stores that focus mainly on Macs,” he said. “Seems okay. I don’t see any reason why it shouldn’t be.”

Anish Koirala, an accounting student, also agrees that it could benefit a lot of students.

“I don’t really use Mac as much, but I can assume somebody else would. I think it’s a good thing,” he says.

Simply Computing, which has several retail stores in the Lower Mainland, is, according to its website, the “largest Apple specialty dealer in British Columbia. The store, which will occupy a small portion of the bookstore’s space, will also provide hardware upgrade and rental services.

Eva Botton is one of the lead organizers of Friends 4 Food, a vegan food provider at Kwantlen's Surrey Campus. Photo by Max Hirtz

Friends 4 Food is not friends with Sodexo.

The reactive Friends 4 Food was formed in opposition to what they see as “a corporate bully”, Sodexo, moving in as operators of Kwantlen’s cafeterias through what they say is an all-too-murky process.

Friends 4 Food is run by a small group of criminology students and serves vegan food to students in the Surrey campus courtyard four days a week, offering an alternative to what F4F sees as overly expensive and unhealthy food, provided by Sodexo at Kwantlen’s cafeterias.

In the first week of operations, F4F was shutdown by Fraser Health Authority and slapped with $615 in fines for various health code violations, but not before being warned by Kwantlen administration of the potential health violations and of not properly booking space in the courtyard at Surrey Campus.

The idea was to serve vegan food by donation to students who don’t wish to spend their money at Sodexo.

“We thought we’d call for a boycott, but we can’t really call for a boycott if we have no means for students to boycott it,” said Eva Botten, who is a lead organizer of F4F.

Started as a research project for a criminology class, F4F organizers looked into the history of the company now running the cafeteria at the school.

“So we’re trying to get [Sodexo] out,” Botten said.

On the Surrey campus, there are other food options, such as the student-run Grassroots Café, but campuses in Richmond, Langley and Cloverdale only have Sodexo-run cafeterias.

F4F has gained wide support from Kwantlen’s criminology faculty in its vocal protests against Sodexo on one side, but has been dealing with Kwantlen aministration and policy on the other.

“In an era where there is so much student indifference or apathy, to have a student who is smart and politically engaged and have some political moxie, is a student to be celebrated,” said Hollis Johnson, the criminology professor who assigned the project.

Johnson also harkened back to an incident over the summer when Emery Warner, another Kwantlen criminology student, was booted off campus for refusing to show identification while handing out leaflets protesting Sodexo’s (at the time) new place on campus.

“Why would anybody get in trouble with the university and members of Sodexo for leafleting, handing out pieces of paper on a university, which to my mind is an open, public institution?” Johnson asked.

“Does that mean that anybody who walks on campus who we don’t like what they look like, or have to say, have to identify themselves?”

A scoop of Friends 4 Food's vegan soup. Photo by Max Hirtz

Joanne Saunders, Kwantlen’s Director of Marketing and Communications, said,”everyone is allowed to voice their opinion, I don’t have any concerns about that at all.”

“We’re just a university. The only reason we’re really involved, is we need to make sure that everything that the students are involved in, they’re in a safe environment… the proper space has been booked if they’re planning an event,” Saunders said.

Saunders said Kwantlen’s concerns were solely to do with the booking the required space and making sure the group meets the required Fraser Health regulations.

“We’re not there to hound the students to take up their time and ask them to do unreasonable things, but that is the procedure here at the university,” she said.

Jody Gordon, associate vice-president, students, wouldn’t comment on F4F, even though Friends 4 Food has singled out her office as the source of its troubles.

They believe that someone in Gordon’s office is responsible for tipping Fraser Health off, meaning that F4F was inspected even before the newly-opened Tim Horton’s on Surrey campus.

But according to Gordon, during the first week that F4F was set up serving food, Fraser Health Authority was alerted by an article that appeared on The Province’s website, prompting the health to shut F4F down amid concerns over food safety.

“Fraser Health [Authority] was involved… because of the much stricter regulations that Fraser Health has now on serving food. There’s other things that get involved with more than just occupying a small corner of a very large area,” Gordon said.

Johnson agrees.

“What about free speech? What about freedom of academic inquiry, just to name a few,” he asked.

And for Friends 4 Food, it’s a simple choice — a choice between student-made, vegan food — or not. “We’re only serving vegan food, and they do not offer vegan food,” Botten said.

“They offer carrot sticks, celery and French fries for vegan options.”

Friends 4 Food accepts donations for their services. Donations go right back into providing food to Kwantlen students. Photo by Max Hirtz

In May, Kwantlen announced planned name changes for all of the buildings on the schools Surrey campus. Over the next week signage will be updated to reflect the changes.

Building C has already been dedicated as Surrey Main, and this week the remainder of the buildings will lose their letters in favour of the names of trees indigenous to British Columbia.

Building A is now Arbutus. Arbutus building is where the Coast Capital Savings Library is located. The name Arbutus was chosen because the tree is Canada’s only broad-leafed evergreen tree. It also has historically meaning for the coastal Salish peoples in regards to medicine and mythology. (Kirk Darbyshire photo)

Building B is now Birch. Birch building is where the Kwantlen bookstore and Chartwells Café can be found. “Bright white and shining” is the ancient European meaning for the word birch. Birch was chosen as a name due to the nearly imperishable nature of the tree's bark. It also has historical roots in many cultures including being used to make canoes, tools and musical instruments. (Kirk Darbyshire photo)

Building D is now Fir. Fir makes up half of the academic learning building and is located in the courtyard close to the school's pond. Fir was chosen as a name because the tree is the most commercially important in western North America. Historically, Douglas Firs have the reputation of being the largest of all trees. Even though giant firs are a thing of the past due to over-foresting, stories of the towering trees climbing over 400 feet into the air are still told. (Kirk Darbyshire photo)

Building E is now Spruce. Spruce is connected to Fir and makes up the other half of the academic learning building. Spruce was selected as a name because of the tree's familiarity to many people and its most common use -- the Christmas tree. Spruce is also well known for its musical applications. Instruments such as cellos, guitars, mandolins and even Stradivarius violins are made from this wood due to its distinctive resonant qualities. (Kirk Darbyshire photo)

Building F is now Yew. Yew building may be a small storage building but no one would ever know that by the name chosen for it. Yew was a symbolic tree revered by the Egyptians, ancient Greeks and early Christians as the tree of everlasting life. (Kirk Darbyshire photo)

Building G is now Cedar. Cedar building is home to the gymnasium, KSA offices, and the Grass Roots Café. Cedar was selected as the name for one of Kwantlen's busiest buildings because of its historical importance to the First Nations People of the Pacific Northwest. Sometimes referred to as the long life giver, cedar had many uses across many cultures. (Kirk Darbyshire photo)