The Hate Feature 2013
Paul Bogdan
A&C Editor
URSU’s stance on tuition
Tuition should be URSU’s first priority, and it shouldn’t take some sort of visionary genius descending from the academic heavens to come to this apparently opaque conclusion. Instead of fighting for a freeze, the solution URSU’s come up with is to work on “managing tuition increases.” Well, given that we’re facing yet another increase next year of five per cent, on top of a four per cent increase last year, and consistent years of tuition increases since the freeze ended, we’ve got to evaluate just how fucking well this is working out. I understand the political landscape here isn’t the same as the mid-2000s, but our students’ union has been successful in getting a tuition freeze in the past, so completely ruling out the solution would be foolish. And who’s to say we can’t fight for a tuition freeze and then settle on actual manageable tuition increases? Because currently, “managing tuition increases” has thus far been analogous to saying, “please sir, don’t” while the government’s foot comes crashing down on our collective tuition-balls.
If we haven’t been getting manageable tuition increases (that is, giving URSU the benefit of the doubt that they’ve actually been working hard on this), don’t just turn back to us and say, “Well,, that’s how she goes, I guess”. URSU is a union; need I remind you? You have 13,000 members. Use those numbers to your advantage to work out a reasonable tuition price and which can be tied to inflation.
The Board of Governors’ meetings are still closed
I wrote about this a few weeks ago, but I’m not going to stop hounding this until this it’s fixed because this is some serious bullshit. They don’t have to follow the recommendations from University Council, and they don’t have to give a reason why. This is where the decisions happen at this university, and you’re excluded from them, from hearing the rationale behind them, from seeing who votes in favour or against them. But, I guess if I think about it, I can see the concerns of the Board of Governors; I mean, someone attending a meeting, likely not even speaking during it, and taking notes and reporting on what happened! The horrors of transparency! The nerve of those 20-somethings! Sometimes I forget how big and scary students can be.
Julia Dima
Production Manager
Faculty Hate
When things go to shit on this campus we tend to blame each other instead of our administration or board of governors. It`s easier to blame the shithead playing bejewelled beside you in a lecture than a bunch of faceless people making decisions with your money. We tend to turn on each other`s faculties. Arts students blame business students, engineers blame science students, fine arts students blame education students, etc. Every education has value. No education should be more valuable than another, and that`s what we need to tell our university. We need to stop screaming at one another, and start screaming at who`s refusing to hear us.
No access campus
This has been a soapbox of mine for a while, but why don’t students have 24/7 access to this campus? I’m fine with doors being locked, as it’s a safety thing, but even with a valid student ID, if you call campus security to let you in after 11 p.m. they can deny you access. Never mind that we pay some of the most expensive tuition in the country to attend this university, we don’t even have the right to use it whenever we need it, and our right to access it is based on the judgement call of whoever is working security that night.
Michael Chmielewski
Contributor
URSU Poster Policy
Of all the seemingly insurmountable problems to hate at this university, I hate one that is really easy to solve, or at least it seems that way. The poster policy here is ridiculous. I don’t know how it is at other universities, and I don’t care. If I wanted to advertise the show my band had at the German Club a couple weeks back, I would get a reduced amount of posters approved and a fee for the ones that were approved, all because it isn’t at The Owl. It’s not me who sunk The Owl into the red last year, and I’ve done my fair share of beer drinking to help the cause. The poster policy is not what hinders The Owl, it’s mismanagement.
Kyle Leitch
A&C Writer
Course Ambiguity
So, your class syllabus only states what the assignments are and when they’re due, huh? Well, you’d better just try your hardest, and gauge what the professor’s marking on. What’s that? You nearly failed? The professor’s comments said that the criteria for marking were clearly stated in the syllabus? But didn’t the syllabus just say what the assignment was and when it was due? Well, model your next assignment after those remarks. Surely, you’ll get a better grade this go around! You nearly failed the second assignment too, huh? Well, I’ve got nothing. A wise man once said that “Ds get degrees.” You better hope that old adage holds as true, Bubba.
Braden Dupuis
Hater
Three things that I hate
1: Slow walkers. Especially those of you who choose to walk directly down the center of the hallway: get the fuck out of my way. I have long legs, and not a single second to spare.
2: Fancy coffee drinkers. Get the fuck out of my way. All I want is a fucking black coffee and I don't have time to wait for you to get your eight-dollar mocha-frappo-caramel-latte.
3: The rest of you. Get the fuck out of my way. I get nervous and sweaty and anxious in crowds, and if you're not careful I'll totally drop a casual fart and you'll never be able to prove it was me (though deep down we'll all be pretty sure it was me. I have a very distinct brand, which I’ve been told bears a striking resemblance to my face).
If there's anything constructive I'd like to get across with this pleasant piece of literature, it's this: I hate you, and you seriously need to get the fuck out of my way.
Edward Dodd
Op-Ed Editor
Regina City Council
I had the profound misfortune of attending a city council meeting last summer in which council approved the new stadium. What I witnessed appalled me. Arrogant councillors, draconian speaking rules, and paternalism were the order of the day. Councillors were dead-set in their ways and unwilling to listen to any opinion with which they disagreed. The new city council since has not changed much, pushing ahead by approving new neighbourhoods in terrible locations, privatizing water treatment because the city is out of money (maybe because we built a fucking stadium we can’t afford?), and hosting the third “housing summit” in as many years. What’s a good start to fixing city council? Impeachment. But since that’s never going to happen, let’s relax the rules on presenting to council so we have at least a shred of dialogue happening between council and the public.
The Provincial Government
There are few governments as unwilling to listen to evidence as the Sask. Party government. Whether it’s axing the profitable film industry, doing the bidding of motorcyclists who don’t want to pay for their hobby, or underfunding universities to the point of total emaciation, this government is totally committed to ignorance-based policy. Do you know our film industry created unique Canadian culture while also providing hundreds of jobs? Do you know SGI provides insurance to motorcycles at a net loss year after year? Do you know our universities are drivers of the provincial economy by creating jobs, an educated workforce, and incalculable other benefits that can’t be monetarily quantified? The government knows but doesn’t care. What’s the solution? Reverse some of the more ignorant decisions and in the future, consult with experts before making any more decisions instead of just dictating to them.
The University of Regina’s Senior Administration
We’ve been picking on Timmons and Chase this year for good reason – because they are doing a poor job of handling the funding crisis at this university. From the secretiveness surrounding the APR to somehow turning record enrolment numbers into a reason to cut the budget by three per cent, the senior administration did not show much concern for the people they should have cared about most – students and faculty. It’s time to get serious and be critical of the government, or at least bring the students and faculty directly to the government so they can advocate for themselves. I get not wanting to bite the hand that feeds you, but seriously, the hand is not feeding us enough to survive. The “town halls” were a good start, but if you don’t want to be mentioned in next year’s hate feature, you’re going to have to keep consulting, preferably before you make big decisions instead of three years after.
Aarthur Ward
Graphics Editor
Olivia (the name of a computer in our office)
With such an elegant show of colour and abstract design she welcomes us every day at the Carillon’s office. However that is about the only thing she can do to make up for her deficiency as she takes forever to sluggishly boot up. When she gets excited, we often find ourselves in Photoshop, under many layers and playing with tools. Eventually, I’ll be at the peak of my workflow, when suddenly she will freeze and I’ll have to tap control-Z. I’ll tap her once, and sometimes even say please, but there are times when I’ll lose my shit and punch in all of her keys. This computer is the slowest piece of work that I’ve ever come across and it’s about time she hits the dump. The Carillon office has computers with name tags, and Olivia is the only computer that runs Photoshop.
Taouba Khelifa
News Editor
Sustain What?
Isn’t it odd that whenever our Students’ Union thinks of sustainability, they only ever mention recycling programs as the basis of what they hope to implement and improve on their platforms. Don’t get me wrong, recycling is important, but we really need to be implementing more to create a sustainable campus. Why not encourage students to compost by providing compost bins in Riddell? Why not drop the price of beverages for students who use their own mugs and bottles? We don’t need leaders who will repeat the same line of “we will improve recycling on campus” when asked about campus sustainability. We need leaders who are willing to think critically, engage in the discussion, and educate themselves and the student body along the way.
Dirty Washrooms
Come on guys, we are all adults. We can keep the washrooms clean, right? Apparently not. Yesterday, I walked into a washroom only to find it decorated top to bottom with toilet paper. Literally – toilet paper was hanging from the toilet seats, from the wall, and from the garbage. Other times, the washrooms are much worse off. Let’s make Facility Management’s job a little easier, and keep the washrooms clean. And, let’s also keep it a common courtesy, to the next person using the stall after you, to leave things somewhat presentable? Can we agree on that?
Autumn McDowell
Sports Editor
Academic Advisors
The academic advisors on campus and I have never seen eye-to-eye, and to be honest, I think that I come out of every meeting with them knowing less. It is due in part to their lack of listening ability that I have five extra classes that I cannot use towards my degree. Last year, they tried to convince me not to go into a program by telling me that it was no longer accepting students, however; once I began to cry it was amazing how quickly the program became available and how much more they could suddenly do for me.
Ethan Stein
Contributor
Copyright laws in university
There is no reason why a prof should not be allowed to distribute excerpts from a novel to their class. Unless literature classes became the dangerous new front for illegally sharing copyright material, professors should receive legal and university protection to share material with their students for the purposes of study or analysis. That's a reasonable line of reasoning, right? That's why deranged legal policies get in the way. This isn't a problem that reared its trademarked head recently; this was a problem years ago when a prof told the class that he would love to share a novel excerpt with students “But I can't give you handouts because copyright law forbids it.” I paraphrase but that was the sentiment, and I remember it vividly.
It's incredibly worrying when professors are no longer able to do their job because the myopic policies and laws (that come from a failure to understand piracy's nature) prevent it. Imagine cases where professors have had to adjust their syllabus because they couldn't share a video or excerpt with their class; copyright laws are not inconvenient, they may be doing major damage to our education. Piracy is a rampant issue, but current haphazard laws don't curb the theft of copyright works; they force students to scour YouTube for clips from a documentary. Copyright laws act as a nice microcosm of the problems developing in the relationship between leaders' reactionary decision making in spite of opposition and outcry from an ostensibly acknowledged public (or "subjects").
Michelle Jones
Copy Editor
Chartwell’s
The worst place to eat on campus is easily anywhere owned by Chartwell’s. The food is terrible! I’ve bought muffins on more than one occasion where the centre was still batter. And, this isn’t the only problem with the food quality. BYOB buns are usually stale and fall apart, the sweet potato fries are barely cooked – some of them still cold and limp, and the salads are usually full of lettuce that is about to go bad. And the worst part about all this is that they charge exuberant amounts of money for half-assed shit that my dog wouldn’t even eat.
The sad part is students need to eat – especially those who live on campus – and Chartwell’s knows this, so they completely gouge us for food that they know is shitty quality. But, why not serve crap and charge a fortune when you know you can get away with it? Bon appetite.
