raceD - library.ubc.ca · Director of Finance was decided by 11 1 votes, to be a dose raceD and the...

7
a sacred spruce tree Californian Ska-punk septet UBC theatre grad io chopped down / toots its own horns Rachel Caonin gets a job PRESIDENT ELECT Ryan Davies and running mate Ryan Marshall are all smiles at the Gallery Tuesday night. SARAH O‘DONNELL PHOTO by Ian Gunn TheStudentsforStudents slate took the AMs presidency and three of the other four executive positions in student elections last week.Just 1 15 votes pushedRyan Daviespast Action Nowpres- idential candidate Allison Dunnet. The outcome was announced late Tuesday evening‘ after a long day of w a i Q for results many canddates had expected by mid-afternoon. Vivian Hoffman wasthe lone member of the Action Now slate to be elected to office. She will serve as Director of Finance. No independent carididates were elected to executive positions. Independents David Borins and Jeff Meyers were elected to the two student-positions on UBC‘s most powerful decision-malunn body, the munity, he doesntt have anyurgent items on the agenda for his first weeks in office. . He also said the new executive isn’t going to try to make their mark by suddenly pulling the plug on initiatives started by Dunnet and other current executives. ‘‘I never said they were bad ideas, and it’s not the case that because I’ve won I’m going to stop all her projects. Clearlythere’s room for both sides.” Davies will have a constant reminder of that other side in Director of Financeelect Vivian Hoffman. But Hoffman will have her work cut out for her; the first-ye& Arts student has little political experience and will have to work hard to find a place on an executive whose other four members are AMs veterans. Hoffmari said Wednesday she wasanxious Board of GoGernors (BOG). - about finding her place. - , The results for most Dositions were very close. Only 10 votes separated Meyers from Action Now candidate Kera McArthur. The knew it was going Director of Finance was decided by 11 1 votes, to be a dose raceD and the top three f ~ s h e r s for Vice-president all came within about 200 votes. and we had to be The races for the. other executive seats,were more decisive. Shirin Foroutan WOII by more ready for anything: than 300’ votes in the two-person race for Coordinator of External Affairs, and Jennie Chen was reelected as Director of Admmistration with 50 percent of the vote in a four-way race. President-elect Davies said he was pre- dictably delighted with the outcome. ”We knew it was going to be a close race, and we had to be ready for anything. But I’m loolung forward to [taking office] now-I‘m getting excited about it.” Action Now presidential hopelul Allison Dunnet, however, is having a t.ough time finding good in the election. ”I’m not happy with the way the erection was held and the fact that there were numerous e1ec.L tion irregularities,” she told The Ubyssey. She deflected criticism that complaints from her slate were Simplysore losing. “I’m quite aware that that’s how people can see it, but as far as I’m concerned if the results are checked anybody could stand to benefit. It’s not about who won and who lost-it’s abouthold- ing a fair-election.” Davies said that apart from meeting admmis- trators and other members of the campus com- RYAN DAVlES PRESIDENT-ELECT “I’m looking forward to a challenging and interesting year,” she said carefully, acknowledg- ing that there would be some extra pressure on her because she was the only executive not part of the one slate. “I’m hoping we’ll all be able to cooperate. I don’t see the role of Director of Finance as having a lot of autonomy, so I think I will be forced to go along with their ideas at times, but I’m certainly going to make sure that my viewsare heard.” Turnout was downthis year, with fewerthan 5500 students voting that is about 30 percent lower than last year, but roughly double typical turnout for AMs elections in the early 90s’. Neither of the two student referendum ques- tions received enough votes for results to be valid. None of the election results will be official until rahfied by council, which is expectedto happen next Wednesday. The new executive will. take over in mid-February. * : e

Transcript of raceD - library.ubc.ca · Director of Finance was decided by 11 1 votes, to be a dose raceD and the...

Page 1: raceD - library.ubc.ca · Director of Finance was decided by 11 1 votes, to be a dose raceD and the top three f~shers for Vice-president all came within about 200 votes. and we had

a sacred spruce tree Californian Ska-punk septet UBC theatre grad io chopped down / toots its own horns Rachel Caonin gets a job

PRESIDENT ELECT Ryan Davies and running mate Ryan Marshall are all smiles at the Gallery Tuesday night. SARAH O‘DONNELL PHOTO

by Ian Gunn

The Students for Students slate took the AMs presidency and three of the other four executive positions in student elections last week. Just 1 15 votes pushed Ryan Davies past Action Now pres- idential candidate Allison Dunnet.

The outcome was announced late Tuesday evening‘ after a long day of w a i Q for results many canddates had expected by mid-afternoon.

Vivian Hoffman was the lone member of the Action Now slate to be elected to office. She will serve as Director of Finance. No independent carididates were elected to executive positions.

Independents David Borins and Jeff Meyers were elected to the two student-positions on UBC‘s most powerful decision-malunn body, the

munity, he doesntt have any urgent items on the agenda for his first weeks in office. .

He also said the new executive isn’t going to try to make their mark by suddenly pulling the plug on initiatives started by Dunnet and other current executives.

‘‘I never said they were bad ideas, and it’s not the case that because I’ve won I’m going to stop all her projects. Clearly there’s room for both sides.”

Davies will have a constant reminder of that other side in Director of Financeelect Vivian Hoffman. But Hoffman will have her work cut out for her; the first-ye& Arts student has little political experience and will have to work hard to find a place on an executive whose other four members are AMs veterans.

Hoffmari said Wednesday she was anxious Board of GoGernors (BOG).

- about finding her place. -

, The results for most Dositions were very

close. Only 10 votes separated Meyers from Action Now candidate Kera McArthur. The knew it was going Director of Finance was decided by 11 1 votes, to be a dose raceD and the top three f ~ s h e r s for Vice-president all came within about 200 votes. and we had to be

The races for the. other executive seats,were more decisive. Shirin Foroutan WOII by more ready for anything: than 300’ votes in the two-person race for Coordinator of External Affairs, and Jennie Chen

was reelected as Director of Admmistration with 50 percent of the vote in a four-way race.

President-elect Davies said he was pre- dictably delighted with the outcome. ”We knew it was going to be a close race, and we had to be ready for anything. But I’m loolung forward to [taking office] now-I‘m getting excited about it.”

Action Now presidential hopelul Allison Dunnet, however, is having a t.ough time finding good in the election.

”I’m not happy with the way the erection was held and the fact that there were numerous e1ec.L tion irregularities,” she told The Ubyssey.

She deflected criticism that complaints from her slate were Simply sore losing.

“I’m quite aware that that’s how people can see it, but as far as I’m concerned if the results are checked anybody could stand to benefit. It’s not about who won and who lost-it’s about hold- ing a fair-election.”

Davies said that apart from meeting admmis- trators and other members of the campus com-

RYAN DAVlES

PRESIDENT-ELECT

“I’m looking forward to a challenging and interesting year,” she said carefully, acknowledg- ing that there would be some extra pressure on her because she was the only executive not part of the one slate.

“I’m hoping we’ll all be able to cooperate. I don’t see the role of Director of Finance as having a lot of autonomy, so I think I will be forced to go along with their ideas at times, but I’m certainly going to make sure that my views are heard.”

Turnout was down this year, with fewer than 5500 students voting that is about 30 percent lower than last year, but roughly double typical turnout for AMs elections in the early 90s’.

Neither of the two student referendum ques- tions received enough votes for results to be valid.

None of the election results will be official until rahfied by council, which is expected to happen next Wednesday. The new executive w i l l .

take over in mid-February. *:e

Page 2: raceD - library.ubc.ca · Director of Finance was decided by 11 1 votes, to be a dose raceD and the top three f~shers for Vice-president all came within about 200 votes. and we had

"~ "" ~ ~- - - -~

2 THE UBYSSEY, JANUARY 31, 1997

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U bv Donovan Kuehn

Monday, January 13 Day One - Action Now! 7: 10 am. I wake up at this ungodly hour. I am usually not what you call a morning person; for me morning begins at 1 1:00 AM. But today is different. Today is the first day of campaigning for UBC's Alma Mater Society elections.

By 8:OO am, I meet with the candidates and organisers from the Action Now! slate. There is some nervous chatting from the novice crew, as most of the nominees don't know what to expect. Only Allison Dunnet, who is running for president, has run in an election at UBC before. Most of the others have worked on their speeches for days, but lack confidence early on.

While Monday is the first day of the cam- paign, we have been preparing for days. It is a time-consuming process, one that involves stamping thousands of posters and handbills with our Action Now logo. In addition, there are two mistakes on Carolyn Granholm's poster, so we have to colour over the mistake with felt pen on four hundred posters. Not the most efficient use of our time.

At 8:30 am we head out to talk to classes and distribute handbills. I go with Shiraz Dindar to a class in Buchanan and hear my first speech of the campaign. Shiraz is articu- late but a little wooden since he hasn't memo- rised his speech. The class is receptive, which is encouraging. In my mind, it is a good start.

We wander back to the SUB where Duncan Cavens, Vivian Hoffmann and Carolyn are practicing their speeches. Duncan works from memory while Vivian and Carolyn read from written speeches. As their confidence grows, their speaking improves, although they all seem to be a bit worried. I do my best to listen and reassure, but confidence is still lacking at this early hour.

The campaign itself is a daunting exercise. Our campaign team consists of seven candi- dates (five for the AMs executive and two for Board of Governors), three organisers (all of whom have served previous1.y on the AMs executive and/or UBC

behind the scenes posters, while the others return later to rip down the latecomers' notices. Different peo- ple exchange words over shredded paper, but there is no way to effectively police the poster boards. Vigilance is the only means of protection.

The most painful postering incident is the "poison pen": the ink trails that leave various biting comments about the candidates' lifestyle, sexual orientation or simply profane remarks. This could be the most hurtful aspect of the campaign, seeing what someone, shrouded in anonymity, says about you.

Speaking continues to go well, with only a few glitches. One prof gives Duncan one minute to speak to a class, and as his time expires he continues speaking as he slowly walks up the steps and out of the classroom. The students seem to enjoy it, but the prof doesn't.

Day Three - The Hump We have our first crisis today. I had no idea our candidates could be so fragile! One of our can- didates has a student complain about our tac- tics being the same as politicians', but with no constructive alternatives. Vivian takes it to heart and she is now reluctant to talk to other s t u d e n t s

tion point because we have focused on speak- ing to large first and second year classes. We shift our energies towards the smaller third and fourth year classes, with immediate divi- dends. Carolyn, who was dispirited the day before, comes back really excited because she got a good response from a smaller class.

Not all is well though, as another of our nominees returns from a classroom in tears. She was berated by a candidate from the opposing slate, after a classroom speech. We have to take her aside and rebuild her confi- dence before she goes out to campaign again.

Volunteers drop by all day to pick up posters and give out hand-bills to students. By the end of the day, people begin to run out of energy, and we resolve to leave campus for dinner and prepare for the candidates' debate, planned for 12:30 the next day. I relax as I leave the building and go out into the rain. I have been in SUB for nine and a half hours. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone else.

Day Five - The Debate I get to campus a little late, but make it in time to go with Allison as she speaks to a class. She,

- - - - - " - - . Another of our nomi- IFor aspiring student politicians, no seven days) -

Board of Governors) and a at the All Candidates Meeting. RICHARD LAM PHOTO debate aL 12:30 pm. I dozen volunteers. Our get to hear a lot of speeches before they are ~ C T I O N NOW! slate

campaign strategy for the week includes an intense student information blitz, with candi- dates and volunteers distributing handbills and speaking to classes every hour.

The key is dialogue, not a monologue. It is a gruelling schedule as Action Now! tries to hit every class without redundancy. Heather Hermant takes two to three hours every night to prepare the daily schedule for all of the can- didates. (One day, one of the candidates com- plained about the schedule, and I honestly thought Heather was going to strangle her.)

By 1 1 :00 am, we find that we're not the only ones campaigning. The Students for Students slate is speaking to classes and attacking Action Now. The campaign seems to have turned nasty early. We have a decision to make: do we engage in personal attacks as well, or stick to the issues? We decide to stick to issues and our campaigning continues until 4:30 pm that day.

Day Two - Poster War! Tuesday morning, speaking starts again in earnest. Everyone is more at ease speaking to classes, but we are hampered by Allison being sick. The week before the election campaign started, a number of us slept outside in a card- board shantytown to raise concerns about stu- dent housing. Allison got a bad cold as a memento of our outdoor exercise.

Our campaign is not just about speaking to classes, but also about trying to maintain our profde on campus. We had our posters up on Saturday; most of the other candidates put theirs up on Monday and Tuesday. This meant that most of the prime spots were taken, and the result was a poster war.

Candidates begin to poster over other's

nees hits an anti-social phase and is finding excuses for not hand billing and talking to classes. As for the rest of the candidates, the midweek hump has hit. People are drained and everyone is engaged in the futile effort of trylng to determine who wdl vote, how they will vote and what it means. Even I'm not immune to these feelings; hitting eight class- rooms a day takes its toll. Allison is under the most pressure because she is trylng to snap everyone out of their collective funks while bat- tling the flu.

The only one unaffected is Antmio Zuniga, who races around, tallung to students all day. Antonio, a Board of Governors candidate, seems to have boundless energy, and when asked how his day's going, he says "I'm kickmg ass!"

There are other encouraging signs. At two of the speeches that I see, our candidates receive spontaneous applause; a friend I run into, and haven't even discussed the election with, says she is planning on voting for Allison; people are actually reading our handbills, and even asking questions about them. I began to think that our campaign is sinking in.

Day Four - Papa Bear It's my turn to be Papa Bear. The volunteer organisers, who have been through these cam- paigns before, all have labs to attend or classes to TA, so they are unable to come out until the afternoon. That leaves me to coordinate the campaign. Our "election central" is no more than a table in SUB, but it serves as a meeting point for candidates and volunteers. I do my best to be positive, cheerful and stroke the egos of the candidates in an attempt to keep some momentum heading into Friday.

We are concerned about reaching a satura-

made, and a lot of volunteers drop by to-lend support to our candidates.

The whole day's campaign is almost derailed by the edition of The Ubyssey that came out this morning. The issue has the can- didate profdes, and everyone pours over them to see how they, and their opponents, did. This navel gazing and self-criticism becomes so cap- tivating that we waste time and energy analysing what was said and how it will affect the election.

Finally, 12:30 pm rolls around and the debates begin. The executive candidates speak first, followed by the Board of Governors and the Senate candidates. Allison starts with a fiery speech and the other candidates follow with good, heartfelt talks. Shiraz and Jenny Chen exchange verbal barbs in a spirited dis- play, while Duncan, who gives a thoughtful and competent speech doesn't match the flamboy- ance of Shirin Foroutan. The quality of speech- es doesn't seem to matter as each slate has cheering sections that root for their side and give the unconditional support that only trained seals could mimic.

The question and answer session goes well; only one candidate (not from our slate) fum- bles a question. By the end of the debate, most of our candidates are energised and use that energy to carry them through the rest of the day. We have one exception-Duncan-who feels discouraged about how things went; he disappears for the rest of the day.

That night, we go out to celebrate with a social at Duncan's. People are relieved cam- paigning is over, though try as we might, we can't stop talking about the election. Aside from the predictions and second-guessing, all that's left is to wait for the res ults...+

Page 3: raceD - library.ubc.ca · Director of Finance was decided by 11 1 votes, to be a dose raceD and the top three f~shers for Vice-president all came within about 200 votes. and we had

Grant Hadwin, an unemployed forestry worker, chopped down an old golden Spruce that had spiritual s@cance to the Haida people. Hadwin was protesting the dwindling fortunes of the BC lumber industry, but his actions have raised more questions than answers.

by Theresa Chaboyer

In the late hours of January 20th, Grant Hadwin allegedly swam across the Yakoun River, prepared to down a three hundred year old, fifty metre high, two metre thick golden spruce.

Hadwin accepted responsibility for the action later in a letter to the press.

“I didn’t enjoy butchering this magnificient old plant,” he wrote, “but you apparently need a message and a wake- up call that even a university-trained professional should be able to understand.”

The spruce grew near Port Clements on the Queen Charlotte Islands and derived its golden color from a fluke mutation that greatly reduced the amount of chlorophyll.

It was symbolic to the Haida people since, according to legend, the spruce is the incarnate of a young boy who looked back when he was told not to while he and his grand- father vacated their dying village after a snow storm; they were the only survivors. The boy’s feet became stuck in the forest floor where his grandfather had to leave him. .

Ernie Polison of the Haida Tribal Society on the islands says that a ceremony held in commeration of the golden spruce, “was no different than any funeral I’ve been too.”

The part of this legend that Lauren Brown, a Haida UBC nursing student, finds most devastating is the fact that the grandfather says to the boy: ”Even the last generation will look at you and remember your story.”

After she heard of the tree’s death, Brown spoke to her mother on the island and realised its the significance to the Haida nation. “We’re not the last generation to see this tree, are we? And now it’s gone, are we the last generation? Are we really the last generation to see that tree standing, or are we the last generation period,” she wondered.

Brown sees the loss of the spruce as symbol- ic of the dying Haida nation and its traditions. .>.:..> HADWIN’S PROFESSIONALLY CRAFTED LETTER directs his anger towards professors who, he feels, have raised the profile of environmental issues and, consequently, a reduction in forestry jobs.

“I do, however, mean this action, to be an expression, of my rage and hatred, towards ani- versity-trained professionals and their extremist supporters,” he wrote.

Was this the action of a desperate man whose livelihood has been denied him? More dis- turbingly, why did the press focus so much on the golden spruce and not on the person behmd it? Who is the man behind the deed?

Grant Hadwin is a forty-eight year old white man who was, at the time, residing on the Gitanmaax Indian reserve in Hazelton on the Queen Charlottes, according to a report in The Vancouver Sun.

Corporal Doug Pack of the Hazelton RCMP describes the state of Hadwin at the time of the arrest. “It was a pretty run of the mill, uneventful type of dealing between ourselves and Mr Hadwin,” he says. “He gave us no problems and complied immediately ... he was calm, coopera- tive and lucid.”

Hadwin was released on a five hundred dollar BRUCE MACDONALD, director of UBC Botanial Garden, looks over branches of two golden spruces. RICHARD LAM PHOTO

bail with a recognisant order to apper in Masset court next month. At the time of his arrest, Hadwin was unemployed.

There’s nothing to indicate that Hadwin is a madman or a lunatic. As to his motive one is only left to speculate- Hadwin is not talking to the press. +.:..:. UBC HAS TWO OF THESE GOLDEN SPRUCES IN THE BOTANICAL Gardens and it plans offer them to the Haida nation.

Bruce MacDonald, the Gardens’ director, traces their origin to the mother golden spruce; in 1978, Dr. Roy Taylor collected some of the shoots from the original gold- en spruce and three propagated. These three daughter

golden spruces were given to the UBC Botanical Gardens in 1983.

The trees have the same golden color and are around two metres high. More golden spruces are likely to be prop- agated from the original as shoots have been taken by the Cowichan Research Station.

Despite media reports that the tree was unique, UBC forestry professor John Worrall says there are, in fact, four or five of these trees in the same region; the one cut down last week simply happened to be the most accessible and well known.

Oddly enough, Worrall had met Hadwin sixteen years ago when Hadwin was married with two children and was a forester. 0

ers duri S i S Ledwith said the poster wars were not only

fmstratq, but a drain on resources. “We’ve had to spend a huge amount of money on posters just to overcome the attrition of elec- tion candidates ripping down posters as we go. We have people poster@ every day,” he said.

Constitutionally, SUS is required to host its banner week in the last week of January, after AMS elections. The problem, said AMS Director of Administration Jennie Chen, was that there was little that could be done to remedy the booking error.

“Arts week was already set, Engineering week was already set and they‘d already started organising ... If I had moved Science Week in any way it would have affected all the other bookings that were already made for the entire term,” she said.

Both Chen and Ledwith are looking toward next year. “The best thing we can do now ito prevent this from happening again

SUS~ES Gyasi Bourne and Matt Kowalcqk, board advertising space. “We’ve had events thing else up instead?They wouldn’t be too is have elections blocked offso no-one can roll out the barrel of fun. RICHARD LAM PHOTO that have been almost unattended happy about it.” book that,” Chen said.+

Page 4: raceD - library.ubc.ca · Director of Finance was decided by 11 1 votes, to be a dose raceD and the top three f~shers for Vice-president all came within about 200 votes. and we had

4 THE UBYSSEY, JANUARY 31, 1997

~-

by Psis? T. Chatta~day band’s ongoing irduences. (Although it’s ~ ? o i record, especially o: +As horns, we didn’t on the album, their live cover of a-ha’s ‘Take know what we were doing. It was pretty bad,

First there were the Kingfishers. Someone saw on Me’-with horns taking the synthesizer’s but we had a chance to go back and make a picture on one of their demo tapes and place-works amazingly well.) some of the songs sound the way we wanted to. remarked that it looked like a “real big fish.” Making sense of that in the recording slu- “We tried to keep this as raw as possible. Aaron Barrett, the lead singer, liked those dio proved a bit of a trial. Their independent It’s very difficult, because the way they record

that happening a lot, so now the managers split us up.”

Reel Big Fish started out as a threepiece cover band, specialising in Jimi Hendrix and Led Zeppelin tunes, but quickly moved into ska by adding a pair of trombones and a pair of trumpets to their set. Regan now cites Mexican banda music, punk, glam rock, power-pop and 1980s music as some of the

release Everything Sucks sold thousands of copies-the California band even got a number one smgle in Hawaii, of all places-and MCA Records signed them on to record their first CD, Turn the Radio Off

Some fans were upset that the new album sounded more polished than their indie release, but Regan has no regrets. “On the first

Kegan says tne Dana has never had any flak for ‘their irreverent approach, though. “I’m vegetarian-I’m the only one in the band who is, by the way-and it’s funny. Everyhng’s just in good fun. Yeah, I’m the one who has to raise his hand when we introduce the song.”

The label did veto the back cover photo on their CD; a black void fills &e space now. The

€ror,t cover shows a girl p’eng a cr, ;I. DJ; on the back, the girl was supposed to be tied up, with the DJ wickedly placing another main- stream, mediocre CD in the player. The girl was supposed to represent the band and its frus- trated fans, but the label thought the picture would stir up the wrong sort of controversy.

Regan also cites the satirical mosh man- ners song ‘In the Pit,’ which was taken off the album at the label’s insistence, though he insists that here, too, the band had good inten- tions. “Big, sweaty rough guys start moshing and hit all the little girls and people like that, and it’s like, ‘What are you doing? People are trying to dance!’ And that’s what the song was saying, in a sarcastic manner, and some peo- ple didn’t get it.”

He insists the band has no interest in polit- ical causes or serious themes, but from the sound of it, they might have a thing or two to say about censorship. When I suggest this, though, Regan seems noncommittal.

“We were m i n g about it for a while, but- I dunno. It’s all kind of a big joke. This is a pret- ty big joke as it is. It’s just funny to hear big- name radio DJs say, ‘Go buy the Reel Big Fish album Turn the Radio Off‘ They don’t realize what they’re saying. But as long as the kids

THE UBYSSEY, JANUARY 31, 1997 5

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Page 5: raceD - library.ubc.ca · Director of Finance was decided by 11 1 votes, to be a dose raceD and the top three f~shers for Vice-president all came within about 200 votes. and we had

6 THE UBYSSEY, JANUARY 31,1997

JANUARY 31,1997 volume 78 issue 30

Editorial Board Coordinating Editor

Scott Hayward News

Ian Gunn and Sarah O’Donnell Culture

Peter T. Chattaway sports

Wolf Depner NationaVFeatures Federico Araya Barahona

Photo Richard tam

Production Joe Clark

he Ubyssey is the official student newspa- ‘er of the University of British Colurnbir?. It ; published every Tuesday and Friday by be Ubyssey Publications Society. Ve are an autonomous, democratically run tudent organisation, and all students are ncouraged to participate. ditorials are chosen and written by the lbyssey staff. They are the expressed opin- In of the staff, and do not necessarily ?fled the views of The Ubyssey ublications Society or the University of ritish Columbia. he Ubyssey is a founding member of anadian University Press (CUP) and firmly dheres to CUP‘S guiding principles. ,I1 editorial content appearing in The ‘byssey is the property of The Ubyssey ublications Society. Stories, opinions, pho- )graphs and artwork contained herein mnot be reproduced without the xpressed, written permission of The byssey Publications Society. stters .to the editor must be under 50 words. Please include your phone umber, student number and signature lot for publication) as well as’your year nd faculty with all submissions. ID will be iecked when submissions are dropped off t the editorial office of The Ubyssey, oth- rwise verification will be done by phone.

‘Perspectives” are opinion pieces‘over 300 vords but under 750 words and are run lccording to space. ‘Freestyles” are opinion pieces writ- en by Ubyssey staff members. Priority vill be given to letters and perspec- ives over freestyles unless the latter is ime senstitive. Opinion pieces will not ,e run until the identity of the writer has )een verified.

Editorial Office Room 241K. Student Union Building,

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Sarah O’Donnell voted once. So did Scott Hayward. Wolf Depner was too drunk to even check off the bal- lot, so Joe Clark took him home. Todd Silver entered three times and Richard L a m topped him by five. Peter Chattaway didn‘t bother to vote, so Federico B a r a h o ~ took an extra ballot on his behalf. Ian Gunn was too busy blowing his nose to vote, and Donavan Kuehn did the right thing. Peggy Cholmondeley voted at least six times, while Peggy Lee simply spoiled her ballot. Richelle Rae voted as many times as she possibly could without getting caught while Theresa Chaboyer cheering her on in the background. Wesley Cheng photocopied the bal- lots with the help of Emily Mak. But in the end, despite all their efforts, Marina won the r d e for the hotly contested tractor-trailer.

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The AM§, like any democratic body, must not only elect its representatives €airly, but its elections must be seen to be fair and equi- table. That requirement extends not only to Council and the winners, but also the losers and, most importantly, the general member- shp-the student body.

Otherwise AMS Council has little credibil- ity.

Last weeks election was closer than any in recent memory-one Board of Governors seat was decided by just ten votes-so it’s hardly surprising that the results are being scruti- nised as closely as they are.

If the vote had been more decisive per- haps some of the questionable behaviour might have been overlooked. Irregularities have been tolerated in the past, but this year they could easily have tipped the balance.

There is unequivocal evidence that at least one student voted more than once-his name appears more than once on the daily voting sheets. He claims that he voted more than six times, and isn’t worried that he can be sin- gled out from the voting sheets because he knows others students who voted as often.

There are further indications that other students did the same.

How easy would it be for a student to cheat? If you voted, see if you can wipe the marks off boxes 2 and 3 on the back of your student card-some of those marks were made with water soluble, soft tipped mark- ers.

If you can, the phrase “vote early, vote often” suddenly becomes a reality.

How many people voted more than once? More than ten? Did all the people smiling on Tuesday night reallyrepresent the choice of a majority of voters? This years election raises as many questions as it answers.

The fact is h s year’s election needs to be carefully examined, to discover the nature and extent of voting irregularities. Thus far, however, the AMS seems reluctant to investi- gate the wealth of rumours and accusations circulating in the wake of the election. Only by f d y understanding the problems with th is years election will we be able to resolve these issues in the future.

Elections Administrator Zoe Stronge said these elections were as fair as they could be

given the budget she had to work with-a bud- get which was cut this year. But that begs the question-were they fair enough?

There was no shortage of ways to beat the election system-even President-elect Ryan Davies admitted that. But given how hard many candidates worked, and how seriously some people take the AMs, who would be sur- prised if someone weDt too far?

The A M s needs to overhaul their election system, making it more secure. Voters should be required to vote at specific booths in their faculties, and their names should be checked off the voters list when they do.

To reduce the drop in voter turnout which would result, and to increase accessibility, more polls would be required and they would have to stay open longer. Better training for poll clerks is also desperately needed.

Some would argue that the AMS can’t afford to pay for such an elaborate election.

But in fact, they can’t afford not to. No one ever said democracy comes cheap.

As €or what to do with this ~7ear’s results, that’s up to Ah4§ Counc&”our elected repre- sentatives.

The usual suspect I am writing to convey my

annoyance at the use of a student paper to disseminate sublimally racist and stereotypical imagery. In the Ubyssey front page story of Vol. 78 issue 28 dated Tuesday, January 28, 1997, the duo of Sarah Galashan and Chris Nuttal- Smith promoted the racist image of the ‘USUAL SUSPECT by writ- ing ‘In a memo to SUB staff released Monday afternoon, Swan described the man as 5’7”, about 1301bs, with a DARK COMPLEX- ION, short brown hair and an unshaven face’. Why use the blan- ket description of DARK COM- PLEXION? What information is been portrayed and why? In an amazingly reveahg contradictory statement that the above repre- sent, I personally wondered how a dark complexion individual (‘The usual suspect image”) could have a short BROWN HAIR? Brown hair is unusual (not impossible!) for a Black person. So, if the imagery being employed by these duo has intentionally excluded whites, then, which category of DARK COMPLEXION peoples (which may include Asians, east Indians,

indigenous Indians, Latin and Spanish American/Europeans and more importantly Africans and African descents) are these writers targeting and recom- menlng subliminally to the gen- eral public with such blanket attributes? The ‘usual suspect”? I think the UBYSSEY newspaper should represent the collective voice of all students at UBC and should not be allowed to be used for disseminating stereotypical racist imagery.

Thank you. Dr.hkOjo

PDF, UBC

Vote earlier! Vote more often!

I am writing out of concern over the A M s electoral process. Poor voter turnout is almost justi- 6ed in the face of such disorgani- zation. Perhaps the low numbers are partly due to the lack of pro- motion of the “All Candidates Debate”; many students have never seen their potential student leaders and do not trust a well- designed poster to illustrate integrity. Consequently, students choose to abstain from voting.

Furthermore, the irresponsible way the elections are managed makes voting a joke. The poll clerks and the Elections Administrator were not able to do their part in ensuring a fair elec- tion. It is unclear to me how accu- rate election results can be deter- mined when there is no measure to ensure that students only voted once. In a properly organized stu- dent election, a number is crossed off the back of each student’s A M s card ( i n indelible ink) to ensure the one person-one vote ‘democ- racy“. However, when I voted, no attempt was made to mark my card. When asked about this lack of due process the poll clerk sim- ply answered, ‘I don’t know any- thmg about it.’ Numerous others that I have spoke with described similar lack of voter monitoring. This means that any student could have easily voted more than once throughout election week. Considering that the difference in votes between the top two Presidential contenders was less than one hundred votes, I would hardly call the results sound. Any person with a little motivation could have swayed the election results because there was no way to determine from a poll booth if

they had already voted. Voters should complain to the elections administrator so that this issue can be addressed.

NamilroKunimoto

Park this! In my 3 years of post-sec-

ondary education attended at UBC, I have seen the birth of 3 new years with little distinguish- ing one from the other. For exam- ple, might someone tell me how UBC charging $13.85 for a day of parlung is justified? Can someone please tell me how vast expanses of parking along N.W. Marine Dr. and in residential areas are assigned to be ‘No Parlang‘ or ‘ 1 hour ody’ zones? This is a prime example of profiteering, gouging, scamming and protectivism on the part of UBC. By restricting or severely limiting parking (free that is) on the UEL, the UBC fails to recognize just how much more exclusive they are making those extravagant homes surrounding this campus. Such blatant misus- es of authority should be checked, the perpetrators fired, and some- one installed who will respect the needs of students by increasing

cont on p.7

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THE UBYSSEV. JANUARY 31, 1997 7

Graduate awards are ”classist“

letters ”

Letters cont. from p.6

space availability, reducing park- ing rates, and respecting the needs of motorists.

As far as any intended objec- tives deemed to be met by such crass authoritarian parking regula- tions are concerned; I suggest that someone with a logical, capable, and functional brain be delegated the authority of reforming UBC campus parking policy. These are my honest opinions and I believe them. I can just imagine the untold kickbacks, perks, and privileges that su& parking administrators receive.

Even more frustrating are the conspirators of such political mis- demeanors like the UBC Board of Governors, the AMs, and/or any other interest group who fails to prepare, modi$, and foricibly change such bullshit policies. I can assure people that simple reforms are possible so as to maintain the environment. Protectionism by elimination of reasonable parking areas besides curbs and in lots

makes line ups to exit parkades frustrating. stressfull, and extreme- ly wasteful due to the necessity of idling your car. I thmk that I have voiced my opinion and made my point. A quick drive around cam- pus makes my opinion an obvious fact. Thus, I will not have such crap (that the UBC parking enforcement c d s policy/law) rammed down my throat. As result, I park on 16th and cycle to Buchanan.

Yours Sincerely, Andrew SZalO

Palisci

Photo gallery reviewer exposed

I am writing in regards to Sarah Barr’s review of the PhotoSoc Annual Gallery Exhibit. As a mem- ber of PhotoSoc who has pieces in the show, I am slightly more informed than the reviewer on the purpose of this show (though she should have informed herself since she was writing a review): to give club members an opportunity to

display their work, both those who are semi-professionals, and ama- teurs who have been doing photog- raphy for only one month (myself). The reviewer acknowledges that the photos displayed were ‘chosen by the members themselves,’ and then proceeds to bash them hap- hazardly. I do not think that every review should be nice and encour- aging and placating to artists, but it should be fair and respectful of the artists. Perhaps th is review should not even have been written; though she says ‘Decide for yourself,’ the reviewer’s article basically tells people not to go to the show and insults the PhotoSoc members. The %anality and meanmglessness’ of a photograph of oranges is a purely subjective matter: has the reviewer ever considered good contrast, good composition, or the concept of STILL LIFE ART?!?I! Anyway, I shouldn’t be too mean since I think the reviewer just simply missed the point.

AmnnrlnGrOW€! Arb32

Notice of the AMs Annual General Meeting

The AMS Annual General Meeting will take place on

Friday, February 14th, 1997 at 12:30 pm in SUB Room 206

(Council Chambers).

Agenda includes: Official Business

Official Turn Over of the AMS Executive

@ All students are welcome to attend.

WEST lOTH OPTOMETRY CLINIC Dr. Patricia Rupnow, Optometrist

I General Eye 4320 W. 10th Ave.

and Vision Care Vancouver. BC (604) 224-2322

Faci 1 ity or Contact Plant Operations by phone, fax, or e-mail ~7 to

or wounds Droblem and I Grounds report any campus building

Facilty or Grounds Exterior lights On/y ph: 822-21 73 ph: 822-21 73 fa: 822-6969 fa: 822-6969 e-mail: tcQplantops.ubc.ca e-mail: lightsoutQplantops.ubc.ca

Please give complete details includmg CONTACT NAME and NUMBER

YOU CAN ALWAYS

STUDY ON T H E PLANE.

RIGHT?

VANCOUVER 0\\ EDMONTON 0

0 OTTAWA

KELoWNA ‘-0 HAMILTON 0 TORONTO

CALGARY WINNIPEG

We know what’s important to you.Thatf why Greyhound Air is making sure that everyone can connect with friends

and family over reading week.To top it all off, just men- tion “U-Read ‘97” when booking your flight and

receive an additional IO% off our already incredibly low fares.

%L G R E Y H O U N D A I R , .

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*

- -8 FRIDAY, JANUARY 31 ,1997

.

Ir

C -

Met in Abbotsford Fvidaj: January 25, 1957

The entire Forestry Engineering Division of the Hungarian Sopron University arrived in British Columbia Thursday noon.

Close to 300 students, faculty, wives and children were temporarily housed at the RCAF camD in Abbotsford awaiting comde-

Arrive by UBC dignitaries President NAM MacKenzie, Deans Geoffrey Andrew and GS Allan, World University Service representatives and three Ubyssey staffers. TOLD DETAILS

After the official greeting ceremony, the immigrants were detained in one large build- ing to Dass through customs and immigra-

representatives through three interpreters who became noticeably excited each time the student uprising which preceded their move to Canada was mentioned. JOBS SOUGHT

WUS committee is currently trying to find jobs for the students until the fall session oDens. Thev will studv at Powell River until

Y Y I - Y

tion oftheir winter quarters at Powell River. tion. While awaiting turns for the inspection, May and w i l l then be placed in summer jobs. for choosing Canada as a home were: ‘%k The students, clothed in heavy green they told UBC students and reporters details DEMOCRATIC SYSTEM know it has a democratic political system,

coats and woolen sweaters, were greeted at of their recent experiences. Reasons given by the President of the and is a country for the future. lhlostly, it is the Abbotsford dormitories by UBC All conversation was clarified to the UBC Students’ Council of the Sopron University the most promising country fix fbresters.” 0:.

INTRODUCING THREE HUNGARIAN Refugees to the Vile Rag is Ubyssey Managing Editor Pat Russell. -Photo by Wilder

“Cocktail” mixers tell of battle by Dave Wilder

Friday, January 25, 1957

Flaming gin bottles against Russian heavy tanks. That is the story ofthe Hungarian students’ battle against their Kussian enemies, according t o the students of Sopron Uni\ ersity I spoke to yesterct,ly.

This technique was L W ~ almost exclusively in the dying d q s of the rebellion. The famous LMolotov cocktails were used by otherwise unarmed students against heavy Russian Stalin 111 tanks. They threw them in the carburetor intakes and flooded the tanks with flaming gasoline.

Although the students had arms, and lots ofthem, they had no ammunition. The arms were turned over to them by members of the Hungarian Army, Secret Police,

and by the munition workers in the factories. THEY KNEW HOW

The students knew how to use these weapons. A l l of the men and women had received long periods of intensive military training. They had spent thrce hours a n w k ever!’ \veek during the school year ,und one month during the holida! s learning how to use the Russian arms.

They fought gallantly. They used insect sprayers loaded with gasoline and shotguns with solid slugs to hold open the corridor to the West despite frantic efforts to seal off the country. They were dive bombed, strafed, rocketed and skip-bombed by Russian Migs and Ilyshuins. THOUSANDS ESCAPED

The corridor stayed open and

thousands of refugees were able to escape. Food and medical supplies were brought in t o ease the suffer- ing of the rebels. Wen the corridor was shrinking uncicr thc weight of Red armor and the battle was dmost over, the whole school retreated to thc west.

LVhen the!- left h r the nest they left because they had nothing left to fight with. During their brief struggle, the girls of the Medical School used heaving artillery and machine guns, the Boys of the Forestry School L I S ~ everything from pistols up.

Their defense was as brief as i t \vas incredibly valiant. By holding the corridor open they allowed thousands of rehgees to escape. These refugees as well as the whole west, owes much to these students of Sopron. 0

,FREE Classifieds for UBC students

Got something to sell? Need to find a roommate? Need a ride home for Reading Week? What about personals?

Every Friday starting with the February 7th issue, The Ubyssey will be offering free classified ads to the students of UBC.

Come by our office in SUB 245 between 10 AM and 4 PM and fill out a form and your three line classified will appear that Friday. Deadlines: every Wednesday at Noon.

Why are we doing it? Because this is your newspaper and we want to give you something back.

the