CSU Elections
During the week prior to the Olympic break, nothing changed in the CSU. During the Spring elections that took place during the first week of February, both the Social Justice Coordinator Richard McCrae and International Students Liaison Shanky Gondal were re-elected to their positions. McCrae ran unopposed, but Gondal had competition from newcomer Gary Zhou. Compared to the Fall semester’s relatively high voter turnout (with approximately 15% of the student population casting ballots), this election had a very low turnout. CSU Executive Board Chair Trevor Page attributes the low turnout “to the [small] amount of candidates.”
CSU SAGM
The CSU will hold its second General Meeting of the year on March 23. This Semi-Annual General meeting is the spring semester's complement to the Fall annual general meeting. The CSU requires forty members or five percent of the student population to be in attendance in order to pass motions. All students are encouraged to come to attend the meeting and vote.
OLYMPICS END
In an unexpected turn of events, the Olympic Winter Games ended on Sunday, February 28. Vancouver residents awoke to discover that the sidewalks were swimming in discarded red woolen mittens and tears. Only a few stray Russian athletes were found aimlessly wandering the streets and harassing locals for directions to the Rusky Dom.
The only other life found in the post-apocalyptic streets of downtown was a group of black balaclava-clad revelers merrily celebrating their victory by dancing around a bonfire that appeared to be fueled by red mittens and the Vancouver Sun.
Students returning to school admit that they are “shocked it all ended so quickly … where did all the beer go? Where did it go?”
In commemoration of eating disorder awareness week, the Womens Collective covered the mirrors in both of the library bathrooms on Thursday February 18 with posters displaying facts about eating disorders and an explanation of why the mirrors were covered. By noon, three of the four posters in the mens bathroom, and one of five posters in the womens bathroom had been ripped down. According to Women's Liaison Sarah Vitet, the posters were meant to “emphasize the importance that society places on appearance by taking away the ability for people to impulsively check their appearance.” The presence of the posters had been approved by the Facilities department, and were only placed in the main library bathrooms. Vitet is disappointed that “the campaign could not be respected for the one day” but she felt that the reaction of students “emphasized the point” of the campaign.
Starting this month, the Presidential Search Committee (PSC) will begin conducting interviews of potential presidential candidates. The interview process was intentionally delayed in order to avoid forcing candidates to travel to Vancouver during the Olympics. The shortlisted candidates, as selected by the PSC, presented to the Senate and faculty members in an open meeting. Candidate names are currently confidential, and have not been released yet.
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