Election Tissues for Election Issues

Some might call me a pessimist, and for those that do, this post is for you.

Every year we have highly distrubtive elections. People come into our lecture halls, interurpt our classes, our meals, our conversations. Hell they even jump up in the middle of the meeting place clapping their hands and chanting. And why? So they can tell us a list of promises they will “try” to do. Main word there is try.

These people claim to be student leaders. But when they throw all these gimmicks at you and preface all of their political promises with “Try” or “Work towards” or “Lobby for” it makes you wonder are they student leaders or polititicans. How in touch are they with the student body when you have elected representatives saying things like :

“It is unfortunate that for some people [elections are] chaotic and annoying. But it is very exciting. It’s coming to school and finding balloons and flyers and finding people jumping up and down screaming while you’re having lunch,” said Mariya Hassan, a Division III director. “It can be a little annoying, but a lot of us do get excited. There’s so much excitement, including the drama and the newspaper articles that come with it. If you find it annoying then I’m sorry, but I guess that’s just who you are.”

I suppose Ms Hassan makes a very valid point here. You shouldn’t find people annoying when they are littering, and screaming at you. I mean I love being told by the same 15 people every 5 minutes to vote for them. It is a great time. Wonderful.

Like any preseason sports commentator I will give some predictions on this years elections:

Team 1 Yellow and or Green:

Team name: Students Progressively United in Solidarity First

Incumbants will be on this team, and it will be unofficially supported by UTMSU’s executive committee.

UPASS will be front and center, as the greatest achievement of all time, second only to Student Solidarity or Unity.

Off campus campaigners! Look forward to seeing UTSU campaigning for them along with other CFS schools!

They will be targeted by every anti-UTMSU group and nearly disqualified for cheating.

 

CAMPAIGN POINTS!

90% of their points will come from not on campus, but from the CFS website and campaigns.

Points will seem reasonable like (and not be goals set by the CFS): lobby to reform osap, try to split tutition, anti-bottled water free campus, Fight to increase government funding to universities, Fight for the right of international students to access OHIP.

Campus points will be: Increased club funding, increased grants, a student center expansion, food diversity, more prayer space, fight discrimination unless we are discriminating based on space for prayer, and work to buying the moon.

Team 2: Blue, Orange or Red (something about Change, starting anew, ect)

Thrown together last minute from people that don’t like UTMSU.

Genuinely looking to change things.

Impossible for them to win.

Avoiding issues like UPass.

You don’t know the candidates, maybe one or two sorta through a friend.

Not as aggressive as team 1.

CAMPAIGN POINTS!

More Realistic goals, but mostly the opposite of team 1, except better spending on campus.
Will be seen as evil.

 

Anywho it will be a blowout and either way nothing will change. You will be pissed off that you are getting yelled at to vote for people that you don’t know or care to know about issues that don’t necessarily directly effect you.  Campus media will be all over it like a fat kid on Skittles. But most importantly rarely will a promise come true. Anywho I am off to cry myself to sleep. Have a good election everyone.

Remember to email me at Peter@utmsu.ca with any question concerns or comments.

Peter Buczkowski

Greek Letter Working Group

A few months ago I wrote a letter to the editor and a blog post entitled “An Argument in Favour of Greek Letter Societies.” In this letter I laid out the benefits of allowing Fraternities and Sororities to be accepted on our campus. Let me note now, that I do not officially represent any fraternity or sorority, however I was elected to UTMSU’s board of directors, and as such I have a duty to represent all students to the best of my abilities. As I see a great benefit for the Greek Letter Societies being recognized by our Union and our University, I proposed a motion last Friday to begin looking into the process of whether or not we could find a way to recognize these societies, and if so how.

I understand that this is a contentious issue, and as such I feel as though before moving to recognize or to stand by our refusal to recognize a fully researched stance must be made. Therefore the motion did not ask UTMSU to take a stance on recognition. Instead it asked for UTMSU to strike a group of democratically elected representatives to research the issue, and report back to the board. This group would be able to have townhalls for student input, research different models in application and educate themselves and the board on both the positive and negative aspects of Greek Life. Unfortunately I had to withdraw this motion for reasons I will dive into.

As always when the Greek system is mentioned stereotypes and misconceptions spring to mind. Ideas of racism, sexism and homophobia are followed by class divides and exclusionary spaces. These arguments are generally poorly informed and offensive to anyone associated with the Greek Life system. It is hard to address these arguments because these arguments are based on opinion and perception not in fact. These opinions and perceptions are mostly based off of media stereotypes, not on real experiences or policies. As a member of a Greek Letter Society I can atest to the diversity of not just my Chapter but every chapter I have come into contact with. Muslims, Jews, Christians, Caucasians, Africans, Asians, membership is not exclusively one ethnicity, ideology or religion. Furthermore many Fraternities and Sororities are Positive Spaces, as the community is so strong. For example, a few weeks ago, I attended a fraternity event, at that event someone that was looking to join the Fraternity used a derogative term, not toward a brother, but in conversation, he did so again, and was asked to leave.

The most interesting argument against Greek Letter Societies which was expressed at the UTMSU board meeting was that they are gender exclusive groups. I addressed this issue in my first letter on the subject, however, it is relevant to discuss it yet again. To claim to disallow organizations which would lead to such benefits to the student body on the idea that they are gender exclusive is to in effect also argue against gender specific sports teams, gender specific prayer space and gender specific change rooms. The purpose is not because one is better then the other, or to segregate, but to provide a safe and comfortable environment for your members. Don’t get me wrong, my Greek Letter Society integrates our events with sorority events as often as possible. All fraternities and sororities work together in philanthropic and social events. As such they are no where near being gender exclusive.

The Greek Life system as a whole is extremely diverse and operates much like UTMSU’s clubs. A few may have special interests, such as African interests, or Asian interests, but they are open to all students that share in their passion. An argument against the fact that Greek Letter Societies collect member fees was raised. I personally feel as though no one but the people involved should pay the fees associated. Many clubs on campus collect member fees, UTMSU collects member fees as well. We do not declare that this supports a class divide, yet Greek Letter Societies are accused of that. However simple research would show that payment plans, and discounts are available. My Greek Letter Society actually PAYS you if you achieve higher then a 3.0.

This will not be the last time that Greek Letter Societies are discussed on campus. If you have any ideas, concerns or questions as always feel free to email me at Peter@utmsu.ca

Propaganda and YOU!

There is an amazing course at UTM, Politics and Media, Pol 369. It looks at various aspects of politics and how they are applied to media. There is a large focus on propaganda. Now many of us think Propaganda is just lies and deceit that people want you to believe. But allow me to define propaganda for this discussion. According to Jowett and O’Donnell’s book Propaganda and Persuasion. <span>“deliberate, systematic attempt to shape perceptions, manipulate cogitations. And direct behaviour to achieve a response that furthers the desired intent of the propagandist.” ( Jowett and O’Donnell, 7). For the purpose of this article let me further define the idea of White propaganda. Jowett and O’Donnell define white propaganda as “a source that is identified correctly, and the information in the message tends to be accurate.” (Jowett and O’Donnell, 16).

Have you ever been to a UTMSU townhall meeting or Commission meeting? They generally all follow a script. It begins with a welcome and a slide show of past achievements. Well this is generally excusable, because as an organization you would expect that UTMSU promote itself. I have argued feverishly that UTMSU fails at advertising itself properly and instead relies heavily on past successes and even inflating those. Let me explain; the U-Pass is the crowning achievement of UTMSU. Almost everyone uses it and it is essential to student life at UTM. I used to be a math major, but it doesn’t take one to know that the U-Pass was achieved in 2006 and it is 2010, which is over 4 years ago. Why does UTMSU rely on successes from 4 years ago?

After the commission meeting last week a friend asked me why UTMSU relies so heavily on the successes of prior years. That question has bugged me all week. Have we not done anything in the past 4 years other then the U-Pass that affects all students? But then it hit me. The UTMSU is spending up to $9300.00 on t-shirts this year, just from the ministry budgets. In the past month, UTMSU Executives have written a great deal of letters to the medium patting themselves on the back. These letters claim that events, such as Frosh, First Pub and Clubs Week, did amazingly well. Well these events always do amazingly well. But I am slightly embittered and let me explain further.

We see rhetoric all over UTMSU’s events and writings. From Dropping Fees, to in solidarity. But have you ever wondered why this happens? I would suggest that in the past 4 years, that the Union has not seen a new executive. The President of UTMSU has been a Vice president the year prior going back 4 years now. This is fact, but it leads to speculation. Does this mean that all communications between the UTMSU and the Student Body are scripted? To examine that look at the bottom of every letter from the president; “In Solidarity”. “Whose Campus? Our Campus!” that is rhetoric at it’s finest. Consistent rhetoric is a sign of a systematic attempt “to shape perceptions, manipulate cogitations and direct behaviour to achieve a response that furthers the desired intent of the”(Jowett) union. It creates an “Us vs Them” attitude, which further places a need to have a union to stand up for your rights.

I mentioned $9300.00 being spent on t-shirts previously. I would argue that what might be called frivolous spending does have a place in UTMSU. But to do so I have to define a new term, permanent campaigning; “refers to the use of office by elected individuals and organizations [...] to build and maintain popular support.” (Lilleker, Key concepts in political communication 143). This is key to any democracy, but it undermines the idea that a group will do what is best for the organization. $9300.00 is a great investment in t-shirts if no one knows you are spending $9300.00 on tees. You see people walking around with these shirts on and you can see how many people are involved heavily in the union. It isn’t like these tees are just given away to any..one..who.. asks… Oh wait.

At the UTMSU Board Retreat I brought up the fact that UTM Students feel that UTMSU is too political. That instead of student leaders, UTMSU was full of student politicians. This is a sentiment that I am sure a few people reading this will agree to. The directors also agreed, and the executive seemed shocked and offended. At a following meeting I motioned to create a marketing and public relations committee, it passed in the early summer, but has never met. This could be that we have been busy with the great successes of the union, or it could be a systematic attempt to keep things the way they are.

I will ask you one last questions before I get off my soap box. In the other UTMSU letters and meetings, were you spoken at, or asked for your input? I look forward to your emails, and letters. I will set up a time to meet with anyone regarding this letter or any ideas you have. Peter@utmsu.ca. I hope my next letter can be a little more up beat.

Commission Meeting Mayhem!

I am sure that most of us received about 300 face book messages last week. A large chunk of those messages were in fact about the Commission Meeting. The first messages said it was last week and the second wave said it was this week. I am willing to bet that about 75% of students that received these messages either chose to ignore them or didn’t know what the Commission is. So I decided to delve into what the Commission is and why it should be important. Mostly because the word delve is underused.

The Commission is a big meeting where every student has a vote. This sounds basic, unimportant and silly, but it really isn’t. The purpose of the student union is to represent your voice. You elected members to listen to you and represent you. Unfortunately because most of those representatives are human (except Rufus the dog) they cannot read your minds. So it is very important to come out to the commission meeting.

During the Commission meeting you will be briefed on what the union is doing. Don’t like what the union is doing? Tell us. If you think that we should be running a campaign to buy a parcel of land on the moon, tell us. If you think that we should be focusing our efforts on finding out what services work and what services don’t, tell us. If you have a sweet new idea of perspective on an issue, or want to bring up an issue, tell us.

Last year voter turnout was at an all time high at UTM. With such a large voter turn out, and such a contentious election it, it would be a shame to let all that energy die out. In our society people say that a strong united voice is needed, but united against what? How does that voice gain volume? If you dissent against the voice, how is it that the voice is supposed to represent you? How can UTMSU be a united voice that represents dissenters and followers? The commission meeting is a great way to test the UTMSU, to see if they can take criticism, and adapt to allow that criticism to make UTMSU a better service to students. A voice that represents all aspects of student life.

Don’t just involve yourself with the commission meeting though. There are many ways to get involved at various levels. We have a board of directors, such as myself, that was elected along with the executives and several of us take our jobs seriously. As in if you have a concern, we will act on your behalf. If you want to know why your club received the amount of funding it did, contact a Board member. If you think that the union stinks and is a corrupt cess pool, contact a board member with your ideas to increase transparency and accountability. If you love the union and think that it is better then sliced bread tell a board member. Our job is to reflect your views at the second highest decision making body of the union.

The highest body is the membership at the Annual General Meeting (AGM), but I will talk about that closer to the AGM. However I will leave you with something to ponder about why you should get involved with the commission meetings. It is an amazing apparatus that we are very lucky to have. The Commission allows the everyday student that wants to see change make that suggestion. It allows for criticism and praise on every aspect of the union. But alas, the last commission meeting was held on July 28th with 18 out of 23 members being elected representatives, former elected representatives or employees of the union. This leads me to believe that most of the ideas that were brought to the table at that meeting, where already on the table in one for or another. If these students are already very involved with the union, can they represent a view that is not heard with the everyday dealings of the union?

Let me get to the point. The Commission is the voice of the students. If you don’t agree with what the union is doing, the Commission is the perfect way to show that you don’t agree. In fact you might find support for your disagreements. Why let people that you elected speak in your name, without giving them direction? Sure UTMSU does amazing things, but being heavily involved with an organization it is hard to be critical of the organization, this is where we need to have input at the Commission. If you don’t like a campaign tell us why, and we will try to help you. But don’t let elected officials and the people they hire use YOUR money without YOU telling them how to. Come out to the commission on Wednesday Sept 22^nd at 6pm, and have YOUR voice heard. If you have any questions or concerns email me at Peter@utmsu.ca

Peter Buczkowski is a fourth year English major minoring in political science and history. He is currently a Division III UTMSU director, UTM/TV’s Creative Director and a proud brother of Phi Gamma Delta (FIJI) peter@utmsu.ca

An Argument For Greek Letter Societies

When you hear the word Fraternity what do you think of? Many think of movies like “Animal House” or the T.V. Show “Greek”. The image of a Fraternity member is one of a binge drinking, popped collared, chauvinistic pig. The image of a Sorority girl is a stereotypical Valley girl, or worse a woman of very questionable morals. These images of students are perpetuated by misunderstandings and misinformation.

The fact of the matter is that Fraternities and Sororities (Greek Letter Societies) stand for more then they are often given credit for. There has been a change in the Greek Letter Societies in the past 20 years. After pushing the boundaries, many of these societies which have existed for over 100 years, learned that they must change their ways. To do so they in many cases self imposed rules upon themselves. These rules however require a stronger enforcement mechanism.

Currently at UTM there are approximately 8 Fraternities and 6 Sororities that actively recruit UTM students along with St. George students. There are roughly 120 UTM Greeks in these sororities and fraternities, representing 1% of the student population on our campus. This number is well under the international average of 10%, which I will explain further later on. Many of the 14 Fraternities and 8 Sororities not only recruit from all three U of T campuses but also from various other Toronto Universities such as OCAD, Ryerson, York and George Brown. This allows for members to meet other students from across the GTA, and see what they are doing. However some of the Fraternities and Sororities only recruit from U of T.

Potential members, commonly refered to as “Rush” hear about the Greek community at UTM by accident usually. They meet someone in a Greek Letter and come to an event, or know someone that knows a Greek, or maybe just by luck receives a card of events. After figuring out if they want to join the community they become a “Pledge”. Now pledges don’t dress in hot dog suits running around yelling “Touch my wiener”, but they become a probationary member. The purpose of this is to see if the organization fits with the personality of the pledge and if the pledge agrees with the views of the organization.

What? These organizations of partiers have views and ideals? Yes, yes they do. Frater and Soror are Latin for brother and sister and thus they are organizations that promote brotherhood and sisterhood. These organizations are based in many cases on Friendship, Morality, Service, Excellence, Academics, Honor, Love and Knowledge. Wait did I say academics? Yes, academics play an important role, to become a member of a Greek Letter Society there s a minimum GPA requirement. This is to ensure that the activities of the Society does not interfere with the reason the member is there, for education.

So why would someone want to join a Fraternity or Sorority? This is not quite an easy question to answer, as everyone is unique. I can say for myself, that I didn’t want to join a Fraternity when I came to UTM. I joined because of the huge amount of support I saw, scholarships, leadership opportunities and networking opportunities. Now I am a member of an even larger community. There are millions of graduates from Greek Letter Societies, which give back to the community in various ways.

However this culture is constantly under the threat of dying out. The University of Toronto refuses to recognize that Fraternities and Sororities exist and operate on their campuses. Other Canadian universities such as UBC welcome the Greek Community, allowing it to prosper, but not in Toronto. But what is the benefit for the university to accept Fraternities and Sororities. All of the Greek letter societies in Toronto are part of national or international organizations. These organizations expect that the local chapters adhere to a strict set of rules. The rules sometimes restrict drinking, or ensure a GPA requirement. If the University were to support the Greek Community these rules could be better upheld. The official reason that Greek Letter Societies are excluded from UofT is in 1959, a black student was denied a bid to a sorority. This was at the height of segregation in the USA, and since then the University distanced itself from the community. However, inclusive policies have since been added to each Greek letter society. A lot can change in 51 years.

Another issue is the perceived risky behaviour associated with Greek Life. If a student were to get drunk at a University event and hurt themselves then the University is liable. But the university currently acknowledges on it’s Ulife site that there are Fraternities and Sororities with UofT students in them, however they choose not to recognized and regulate them. This is borderline negligent of the University’s role to ensure a safe environment for their students. By refusing to recognize and help regulate the Greek Community not only would it make the growth of these organizations easier, but make the community as a whole. The university would be able to impose rules and regulations on the community to protect their students. Add requirements to ensure that students academics do not suffer, or even educate the community on STDs and Drug / Alcohol Use.

By doing so not only would the university would integrate a large culture of leadership into its campus, but it would become a selling point for the university. There are over 1 million Greek Community graduates who would begin to invest back into the University. The Greek Letter Society Houses, like at other universities could be used as cheap housing alternatives. A change from an outright ban to an inclusion would allow for growth of the community and legitimization of what already currently occurs. It would certainly increase campus life on our commuter campuses, something that is direly needed.

I understand that the university is experience budgetary constraints, but this inclusion would not cost the university a huge amount. However a pilot program should be considered, to see if this is even feasible. I am only a student but I know that my ideas might cost more then I thought. Even consultations with the Greek Community to see if the Community as a whole would be interested. This could be considered a first step into a new age of campus life for the University of Toronto, if handled properly.

Peter Buczkowski is a fourth year English major minoring in political science and history. He is currently a Division III UTMSU director, UTM/TV’s Creative Director and a proud brother of Phi Gamma Delta (FIJI) peter@utmsu.ca

Why working on the BOD makes me feel like a spy

Student politics is pretty ridiculous. Last year the UTM campus had the highest voter turnout at 30%. This incredibly low turnout was touted as an amazing success, especially that it was the highest student voter turnout in all of Ontario. The union of course would love to say that our students are informed members of the community and this is why they voted. To be more truthful many students were just pushed to vote by their friends and even if they kind of know what the executives do, they have no further clue of the structure of the UTMSU, a union that easily budgets through about $1.4 million a year.

This brings me to the title of this blog post. Around 800 people had voted for me, but I suspect that out of those people, a lot of them just checked the first 7 people of the long list of people under the division III BOD (Board of Directors) ballot. As my luck goes, my last name starts with a ‘c’, so I was one of these people.  Out of these 800 people I probably personally explained to about 25 people how the Union works and what the BOD is, to another maybe 80 or so I told to vote for me and then many of my friends told their friends to vote for me. So it is possible that about 200 people knew they were voting for me before going to the ballot and maybe 120 know me enough to say ‘hi’. 200 people is about 1.6% of people on campus. 25 people is about 0.02% of the campus. Let us say that the statistics are similar for all 14 BOD, and not count the execs, because they do not really advertise themselves as sitting on the BOD, but being execs, so the knowledge of the BOD does not spread by them. With this we come to the (almost) fact that a whooping almost 3% know what I do on campus (even less because the people that know who board members are, overlap vote for the same people ex. Me and Peter have several mutual friends that I’m sure voted for both of us), but since they can’t even connect it to the face they have no clue who these people with the power to control $1.4 million are.

A perfect anecdote was when I was volunteering for frosh at the carnival, before any of the frosh were there, an orientation leader asked me how I’m doing and how I like orientation, after telling him it was awesome he said “what about utmsu, a little less maybe” as a little joke, when Kumari, our VP Equity stepped in laughing and told him I was on the Board of Directors:

“Board of Directors? What do you direct?”

“those guys” (pointing at Kumari)

“The equity people?”

“No the execs in general”

“cool, I don’t even know what that means, but cool”

These words came from a volunteer for the union, someone who brings in first year students into university, so clearly the basic knowledge of the structure of UTMSU is not important, or else the leaders would be required to know these things just in case the froshies decide to ask anything about their new found union.

So what does this mean in general? I’m not a cry baby that wants fame on campus, that’s not the point. I’m worried because most people don’t know that if they have an issue with the union they have representatives on the BOD they can talk to, especially if they have already talked to an executive that didn’t help them. Most people will try to go through the executives and these problems will never even come to the attention of the BOD, meaning that it’s harder to do our job, because it’s harder to figure out what certain stress points are on the union. Instead I am a spy, walking around campus holding a secret. A secret that I can start some sort of change and with some of my recommendations to committees, work on the committees and motions I have have already changed some smaller things on how the Union works, but I need you fellow students, to tell me what you want. So please, write to me, I will read your e-mails and I will hopefully be able to answer all of your questions, maybe refer you to a specific ministry or open committee where you can implement a change that will then go through to the board. And finally as most people who aren’t involved in UTMSU politics often have great ideas for positive change, I will be your vote on the BOD and your lobbyist, to convince the other 18 of the importance of your project.

Robert Ciszek is a fourth year specialist in management. He is currently a Division III UTMSU and UTSU director, UTM/TV’s Business Manager and a proud brother of Phi Gamma Delta (FIJI).

UTM Cultural Wish List: Ways to Make UTM Better, part II

After the last article I published I received some very and varying feedback to my ideas and wishes for this campus. I fully admit that these aren’t answers or solutions to problems we have on campus. If I wanted to do that I would need a publishing deal to go into as much detail as I could. Instead the purpose is to get you involved in thinking of solutions, and to get you to comment and start discussions, something this campus is seriously lacking. Feel free to comment, or email me at Peter@utmsu.ca. I will actually respond with a personal message not written by my assistant. Man I want an assistant. So jumping right into the next five things I think UTM would benefit from.

Group Campus Events

We have clubs, we also have a student union, we also have a residence council and an athletic council. But what we are lacking is cohesion. It would be amazing to see UTMAC and UTMSU throw together some sweet events. You know like bringing people out to sporting events, showing support for our student athletes. What better way to raise spirit and support for your campus then raising the support and spirit of your athletes? Raptor tickets are great, but UTMSU, post a schedule of UTM sporting events! Or have a bunch of clubs get together for a cause, Coalition for Haiti and Coalition for Pakistan are great examples of what happens when clubs get together. Or have clubs get together for other events. Why does UTM think that Pub Nights are the only social events we can have on campus?

Home Coming (Or similar event)

Frosh week is amazing for the first year students, and the leaders who help them. But I can’t help but long for the days when we were Frosh. Why can’t upper years have an awesome event like that? Sure sure, downtown has tried to host Homecoming for the last two year. Currently renamed Blue and White Spirit Week this week has the same idea as Homecoming just a different name. But it lacked organization and the feel that a Homecoming should have. First week of October, imagine walking by the Blind Duck, seeing huge grills pumping out food, UTM Hip Hop Union, UTM Music Club and CFRE hosting a concert on South Building Hill. After the concert going to the Blind Duck for a pub night. Having a week of academic societies duelling it out for supremacy in frosh-esque games. And having UTM vs another college in Rugby or Football with a huge tailgate party in Lot 8? Just writing that gave me goosebumps.

Food

9 out of 10 times when students are asked about food diversity on campus, we demand more. To help with our food diversity issues, we have been blessed with a new coffee shop Second Cup in South building. The new Instructional Center is also rumoured to have a self serve Timmies. So the administration is listening to our requests for more food options by supplementing our two Tim Hortons and our Starbucks with a Second Cup and another Timmies. South Building is also rumoured to be getting a new food court within the very near future. However, we need more healthy food on campus, more unhealthy food as well, longer hours would also help, but quality food is the real issue. We are students, we are health conscious, but sometimes we want that greasy hamburger, or tasty spring roll closing in on midnight the night before a midterm. It would be even better if one of our 300 coffee joints sold coffee into the early morning so we don’t have to leave studying to get it.

Blind Duck Hours and Events

After ranting about longer hours, it is logical to look at the Blind Duck. The Blind Duck should be the center of campus life. Other campus pubs host retro nights every Tuesdays, with drink specials. With our lack of Student Lounge space the pub should fill this void. Projecting football (soccer games), football (the real one) and hockey games and having longer hours with pitcher deals would probably increase profits as people eat when they drink. Hosting pub nights with lower cost drinks would increase attendance. Thursdays daytime DJing outside the pub would draw people into the pub. CFRE broadcasting from the pub for an all request show on Mondays. Remember St. Patty’s day, how packed and full of life the pub and campus seemed? Yeah that is what alcohol combined with university students does. I don’t remember seeing any out of control riots or super drunks.

Politics at the Door

Not everything is a student issue. Please, please, please do not bring politics to every event possible. Is nothing sacred? I don’t want to hear about Drop Fees when I am on a bus to Niagara Falls for Screamers. In the last three years I have noticed that UTMSU is a political beast by nature. But do we want to hear about it as we are getting sandwiches at an Exam Destressor? No, we want tasty sandwiches. Just as there are rules like no politics and religion at the dinner table, there should be no politics at something like First Pub or other social events. Heaven forbid that at the beginning of our lectures our prof starts teaching instead of us having to hear about something we don’t care about. Raising money for a cause, acceptable, raising awareness for a campaign, not so much. There has to be better ways of getting the message out. But I stand by my stance on Starbucks closing at 3pm on Fridays as being a student issue and ACTION must be taken!

There we go. We have gotten to 10 things I wish our campus had, lets see how many more we can get. Again I beg that you disagree with some or all my recommendations. I would love to get the chance to defend them or change them depending on what you have to say. Make your own suggestions, give me some input. Tell me what you like, tell me I am stupid, anything, I am a big boy I can take it. If you have any ideas or suggestions email them to Peter@utmsu.ca

Peter Buczkowski is a fourth year English major minoring in political science and history. He is currently a Division III UTMSU director, UTM/TV’s Creative Director and a proud brother of Phi Gamma Delta (FIJI).