Do you think the Maclean’srankings of Canadianuniversities accuratelyportray the country’sschools?YesNo
Deidre Butters, Advertising Representativephone: (613) 880-6494fax: (613) 562-5259e-mail: ads@thefulcrum.caCheck out our rate card online.Go to www.thefulcrum.ca andfollow the link for “Advertisers”.Multi-market advertisers:Campus Plus: (800)265-5372Campus Plus offers one-stop shopping forover 90 Canadian studentnewspapers.
The
Fulcrum
is a proudmember of Canadian UniversityPress: www.cup.ca
Contents
Contents
Undergrads casttheir votesFashion forwardBasketball’s back
The AIDS epidemicPushy fundraising
News
News
Arts
Arts
Sports
Sports
Feature
Feature
Opinion
Opinion
p. 4
p. 4
p. 10
p. 10
p. 16
p. 16
p. 12
p. 12
p. 20
p. 20
Consequences and controversies of theCFS referendum.
p. 4
Is the U-Pass in danger?
p. 5Laurel Hogan
tries on Ottawa Fashion Week.
p. 10Jaclyn Lytle
embraces Arms of the Girl.
p. 11
Men’s and women’s teams combine to go 4-0on the weekend.
p. 16
Want to explore the great outdoors? Then givethe Outdoors Club a try.
p. 17
The increasing momentum of HIV/AIDScriminalization is explored.
p. 12–13Di
deals with some funky spunk.
p. 22Katie DeClerq
offers advice on how to avoiddonating to charities.
p. 21
Strandherd? More like stranded.
Jaclyn Lytle
describes the Barrhaven busing experience.
p.20
University education is not a right
Re: “Why university education is aright” (Opinion, Nov. 13)
I RECENLY READ an article titled“Why university education is a right”in the
Fulcrum
. Te author stated thatpost-secondary education should be aright based on two arguments. First,that any student who can complete adegree has the right to education, andsecond, that a university degree is “aticket to employment” and thereore arequirement in a air society. Tere isdefnitely something wrong with thesearguments.Essentially, by saying that any studentwho can fnish his or her degree has theright to an education, we are equalizingstudents who achieve 60s and studentswho achieve 90s. How is that air? Inact, this equalization penalizes highachievers because they put in morework and get the same degree as some-one who just passes. It’s not as i fnan-cial aid is not there to help those whowant to achieve. Tere are entrance andmerit scholarships available or thosewho earn them. Tis isn’t to say thatpeople who don’t get high marks can-not get degrees. Tey will have to work hard in a dierent way to get throughschool, but i they want to get a degreebadly enough, they will persevere.What about the act that a univer-sity degree is the key to employment?Should we be seeking to make univer-sities, the places rom which some o humanity’s greatest progress has come, just one more step on the path to theaccumulation o wealth?By admitting anyone who can passtheir courses or ree, which is whatthe idea o the right to education isundamentally proposing, degrees aredevalued.I do not mean devaluation in thesense that the quality o university education within the institution isreduced. Despite what the author o “Why university education is a right”posits, that is not the devaluation argu-ment. Rather, the argument is that theuniversity degree is devalued in soci-ety because it becomes mandatory. Nolonger is it a representation o a strongdesire or knowledge and urtheringsociety. By allowing university to be-come a rung in the career ladder, wehave made it into something to takeor granted.
Carmen GrilloSecond-year economics and political science student
An open letter to Julie Séguin
Re: “Enough isolation already” (Letters, Nov. 13)
DEAR JULIE,I am not taking a side on the re-erendum on Student Federation o the University o Ottawa member-ship in the Canadian Federation o Students (CFS), and I’m sure thatyou know the old adage about opin-ions. However, I eel that it is un-air o you, especially as an electedrepresentative o the undergraduatestudents o the University o Ot-tawa, to label the arguments o theNo campaign as “wrong-headed”,“crazy”, and “angry”. I am unsure o how I will be voting and I am nota member o either campaign, but Ieel that your letter to the
Fulcrum
belittled those who, or legitimatereasons, oppose membership in theCFS. I or one have not heard any arguments which I would describeas you have, rom either side. Let’stry and keep this campaign clean,because in the end, we’re all in ittogether.
Spencer McKaySecond-year political science and religious studies student
An open letter to Marc Kelly
DEAR MARC KELLY,In response to your letter o com-plaint against the president o U o O, I would also like to ask why itwas deemed necessary to orwardyour email to every student. I haveread the email and the backgroundinormation, and I do not eel muchsympathy or you.While I agree that President Al-lan Rock’s dismissal o you rom hisoice was not necessarily polite, Ido not see how it was unwarranted.It is evident rom your recordingthat you summarily ignored his as-sistant—who mentioned the neces-sity o making an appointment toyou—and have done so in the pastas well. he president presumably has things to do other than listen-ing to you whine, and thereore in-sisting on an immediate response isrude as well as ambitious.I have no physics knowledgepast high school, and can there-ore make no comment on yourresearch. I ail to understand yourdiiculty in accepting your aculty committee’s rejection o your pro-posal on the basis that it did notactually contain physics.he purpose o having said ac-ulty members is to ensure that re-search is done with establishedguidelines that conorm to the sci-entiic process. Also, I very muchdoubt the Faculty o Physics de-reg-isters a student rom a class withouta justiiable basis.I there is no basis, why is thereno communication with the dean?here is a reason a hierarchy exists,and the president at the U o O isnot responsible or an undergradu-ate student handing something inthat does not conorm to criteria. Asthere is no mention o anybody elsein the class having the same prob-lems, it is sae to assume that saidcriteria were available.In any case, I ail to understandhow an individual telling anotherindividual to “get out” o his privatespace is in any way violent. Secu-rity was not summoned to drag yououtside and break your toes. In ad-dition, I do not appreciate receivingyour bile against the administrationin my inbox.
Kate Goddard Second-year confict studiesand human rights student
Got something to say?
Send your letters toeditor@thefulcrum.caLetters deadline: Sunday, 1 p.m.
Letters must be under 400 words unlessdiscussed with the editor-in-chief.
Drop off letters at 631 King Edward Ave. ore-maileditor@thefulcrum.ca.Letters must include your name, telephonenumber, year, and program of study. Pseud-onyms may be used after consultation with theeditor-in-chief. We correct spelling and gram-mar to some extent. The
Fulcrum
will exercisediscretion in printing letters that are deemedracist, homophobic, or sexist.We will not even consider hate literature orlibellous material. The editor-in-chief reservesthe authority on everything printed herein.
Nov. 21–26, 2008
Letters
Frank AppleyardEditor-in-Chief editor@thefulcrum.ca
3
Advertising DepartmentBusiness Department
The
Fulcrum
, the University of Ottawa’sindependent English-language studentnewpaper, is published by the FulcrumPublishing Society (FPS) Inc., a not-for-pro
fi
t corporation whose members consistof all Univeristy of Ottawa students. TheBoard of Directors (BOD) of the FPS gov-erns all administrative and business ac-tions of the
Fulcrum
and consists of thefollowing individuals: Ross Prusakowski(President), Andrea Khanjin (Vice-Pres-ident), Tyler Meredith (Chair), PeterRaaymakers, Nick Taylor-Vaisey, TobyClimie, Scott Bedard, and Andrew Wing.To contact the
Fulcrum
’s BOD,contact Ross Prusakowski at (613) 562-5261.
thefulcrum.ca poll
Go tothefulcrum.cato vote!
Last week’s results
How do you plan to votein the CFS referendum?
49% Yes51%No
Leave a Comment