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Free HIV testing arrives atthe U of O
Circus of DreamsUp to form
Homophobia in sports
News
News
Arts
Arts
Sports
Sports
Feature
Feature
p. 4
p. 4
p. 10
p. 10
p. 18
p. 18
p. 14
p. 14
Megan O’Meara
reports on the
fi
rst free, rapidtesting available on an Ontario campus.
p. 4
The
Fulcrum
pro
fi
les the four major politicalparties’ clubs on campus.
p. 7Peter Henderson
goes under the big top with
Corteo
.
p. 10Kalin Smith
takes us inside the closing of the Mayfair theatre.
p. 12
 Women’s soccer returns to their winning ways.
p. 18
BPA and you:
 Anna Rocoski
investigates ex-actly what’s in that Nalgene bottle.
p. 23
 A look at sexual orientation and athletics.
p. 14
Dear Di does deep throat: say that
fi
 ve timesfast.
p. 26
Te movement rolls on
Re: “Supporting student senators” (Let-ters, Sept. 25)
IGNORANCE. HA IS the word thatcomes to mind when I read Luc Lend-rum’s letter regarding the University o Ottawa Senate and their involvement inthe Drop Fees Campaign or lower tu-ition. He believes it is “ironic” to be skip-ping class with no penalty to promoteaccessible post-secondary educationand states that he is “frmly opposed” tothe campaign headed by the CanadianFederation o Students and the StudentFederation o the University o Ottawa(SFUO). Nov. 5 is being recognized by the majority o the U o O Senate as itshould be. It is a chance or students tomobilize without ear o jeopardizingtheir academics, to stand united withthe community or what they believein, and to make a statement or every single individual who is starting theircareer burdened by tens o thousandso dollars in student loans.With a 1-in-6 student support ratio Ibelieve it would be air to say that this issomething our Senate should be back-ing wholeheartedly, and that means en-suring the student population is giventhe support they need. I want to knowthat the SFUO is protecting me and my interests as a student and an individual.Lendrum claims that students every year “vote with his or her wallet” be-cause “education is worth the tuition”,but surely he must be misinormed.Although I agree that education is ex-tremely 
valuable
, this word should notbe conused with exorbitant and unrea-sonable prices that set higher learningout o reach or many young individu-als in Ontario. We “vote” because thereis no alternative and we are hoping or abetter uture, but what o all the Cana-dians that are unable to make it to theseso-called polls?Furthermore, I would like to add thatI did not see anything in Mike Fancie’sletter (“Supporting academic amnesty”,Sept. 18) that gave the impression hisway was the “only way”; the Drop Feescampaign is being maniested in a vari-ety o ways, in and around campus, upuntil the o cial day o action. What Ihear in Fancie’s letter is enthusiasm orhis ellow students and a call to actionrom the Ottawa student body. Wheth-er you wish to support it or not Mr.Lendrum, the movement is happening,and i you are against it I would suggestyou get out o the way.
Sameena opanSecond-year political science and  philosophy student 
Smoke-free campus campaign
RAVEL PAS ANY building entranceon campus and you will understand themotivation behind this campaign.Te time has come or students tohave a conversation about the kind o environment they want at our univer-sity. Tis campaign will advocate or ahealthier, cleaner campus where we canlearn and live.Te ull details o this initiative willbe unveiled in the coming weeks, but inthe meantime we need volunteers to getstarted. I you are interested in lending
 Advertising Department
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
isa proud member of Canadian University Press:www.cup.ca
Business 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 University 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), RamySonbl (Vice-President Internal Communi-cations), Peter Raaymakers, Nick Taylor- Vaisey, Toby Climie, and Scott Bedard.To contact the
Fulcrum
’s BOD,contact Ross Prusakowski at(613) 562-5261.
a hand in supporting the campaign, e-mail us at smokereecampaign@gmail.com. We need people like you to helpmake a dierence.
Sarah Burke and Ryan KenneryCampaign organizers
Put our money where your mouth is
I NOICE HA the Student Fed-eration o the University o Ottawa(SFUO) is once again campaigningor reduced tuition ees this year. Istrongly support them in this fght,but this year I don’t just want to hearthem talk the talk, through protestsand rallies; I want to see them walk the walk, by starting in their ownbackyard. Instead o calling on theuniversity administration to reduceees, or government to increase und-ing, I’m calling on the SFUO
them-selves
to lend a hand in easing stu-dents’ fnancial burden. How aboutthey shave $10 o their student levy (currently $140 per ull-time studentper year) and put that money back inour pockets?Inspection o the SFUO’s 2007audit posted online (props or trans-parency) shows that the SFUO hada surplus o over $500,000 rom theyear beore, most o which is cash,meaning they certainly can aordit. Although I don’t think the SFUOshould be running a defcit, on theother hand, they are non-proft or-ganization, and it seems unfttingthat they should be accruing money either. I don’t give them $140/yearto eed their accounts; it is theirs to
redistribute
to the student populationwithin the university community. Itseems they can do what they’re doingnow with less, so why don’t they?Granted, a $10 reduction may notbe a lot, but it would be the frst real,tangible reduction o ees, and a def-nite show o solidarity/sincerity romour student leaders. Tis is one way that our SFUO can initiate the ac-tion they have been demanding romthe provincial government or years.Tus I call on them to take the frststep towards lowering student ees.Show the students o this campus youare willing to do your part, and be thechange you wish to see in the world.ake
action
. ake the frst step.
Dominic AebiSixth-year biotechnology student 
Te
Fulcrum
at fault
Re: “Tis campus’ silence is deafening” (Opinion, Sept. 18)
YOU KNOW WHY no one replied toBen Myers’ editorial? Because it’s em-barrassing to be that person who givesa serious reply to an obvious joke (seeBarack Obama’s rebuke o the
NewYorker 
cover). But apparently Sept. 11’seditorial entitled “No penises allowed”(no, really) was written in earnest!I don’t appreciate the insinuation thatsomething is wrong with the readersbecause we didn’t respond to the edito-rial. It’s
 your 
job to provoke thought andstimulate debate. Don’t condescend tous when you ail; go back to the draw-ing board.Te author said this was the mostearul he’s ever been while writing anarticle. Maybe he should reserve thesel-congratulation or aer his piecehas been received because his argu-ments were not shocking. Yes, they wereridiculous, but not in an interestingway. It’s tiresome to reply to the sameold “boo-hoo-how-dare-those-wom-en-get-special-privileges-don’t-they-want-to-be-equal?” rhetoric that getsdragged out every time a women’s stud-ies program is developed, a women’sresource centre is created, or someoneputs a vaguely pro-woman sticker onher notebook. Te women’s gym timeis certainly an interesting developmenton campus, but even the headline o theinormative piece (“Male? Sorry, comeagain another time” Sept. 11) was un-air. Your readers should be applaudedor not taking the bait.While I don’t believe that Myers is a“misogynist, sexist, or a bigot”, it is clearthat he has a proound misunderstand-ing o gender and sex, and is ignoranto certain religious and cultural issues.But he’s going to have to do a little better(worse?) than that to become our resi-dent Mark Steyn.
 Miatta GorvieTird-year international development and globablization student 
More than just silence
Re: “Tis campus’s silence is deafening” (Opinion, Sept. 18)
I CAN APPRECIAE your surprise atthe lack o student participation in uni- versity aairs. I have seen it throughoutmy time as a student, so I am no lon-ger surprised by it. Yet discouraged Iremain.ake the Caé Alt reerendum andthe U.S. election panel discussion. Teormer drew less than 300 interestedstudents out o the several thousand eli-gible. Te latter brought out 75 people tohear about what will likely be the mostimportant election o our lietimes.How can this be?It is not only students that reject thepublic sphere. Voting in Canada hasbeen in decline or several cycles and Iexpect turnout on Oct. 14 to approach50 per cent. Tis, with a volatile eco-nomic situation and a global warmingcrisis that has yet to be taken seriously,is almost unbelievable.Almost.What is it about contemporary so-ciety that makes apathy so popular?Tere are a number o possible answers:wealth, reedom, security, technology.I students are any indication, it is all o the above. Te problem is, by the timewe realize that all o these are threat-ened and start to act, it may already betoo late. Is it now?How ironic that what Western civili-zation worked so hard to achieve couldbe what destroys it.
Desmond Fisher Tird-year translation student 
Te
Fulcrum
at fault again
Re: “Te Palestinian Question” (Letters, Sept. 18)
OURAGE SEEMS O be a recurrenteeling with regards to the issue o theag o the Palestinian people being dis-played in the erminus o the Unicen-tre, as Matthew Welch demonstratedin his letter to the
Fulcrum
. Te dier-ence between my outrage and that o Welch’s is that mine is directed at the
Fulcrum’ 
s editorial sta. It is appallingthat gross misrepresentations such asthose brought orward by Welch aregiven space in a student newspaper, orany other credible news source.Firstly, to state that Palestine hasnever existed, and to compare it to suchfctional places as Middle Earth, is ob- viously a cheap attempt at provocationand has no basis in reality. For that rea-son, I will not even bother addressingit.However, I believe that some issuesWelch brings up do merit addressing, i only or the sake o education.
LEERS continued on p. 3
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 withthe editor-in-chief. We correct spelling andgrammar to some extent. The
Fulcrum
willexercise discretion in printing letters that aredeemed racist, homophobic, or sexist.We will not even consider hate literature or libel-lous material. The editor-in-chief reserves theauthority on everything printed herein.
Oct. 2–8, 2008
Letters
Frank AppleyardEditor-in-Chief editor@thefulcrum.ca
2
 
LETTERS continued from p. 2
Secondly, the comparison with the states thatseparatist movements aspire to establish, such asthe amil Eelam, demonstrates a lack o knowl-edge o the Israeli-Palestinian confict as a whole.With this in mind, I hope to inorm the
Fulcrum
’sreaders that the Palestinian people are not a sepa-ratist movement. In act, the Palestinian people,Muslims, Christians, Jews, Atheists, and Agnos-tics alike, are the indigenous people o the Lando Palestine. Teir struggle is one o resistance tooccupation, and not o separation. Palestine, asdened by post-1967 borders, is recognized underinternational law. Israel, ollowing the Arab-Israeliwar o 1967, occupied the Palestinian territoriesand subsequently annexed parts o it, such as EastJerusalem; a clear violation o international law.Finally, it is my belie that the fags displayedshould not only represent states, but identities.And i students at the University o Ottawa iden-tiy as Palestinian, or ibetan, or with any otherlegitimate and non-hateul identity, they shouldhave the right to display their colours.I hope that in the uture the
Fulcrum
will at-tempt to dierentiate between opinion and ab-rication, and assure that those views expressed inthe paper do not deny or ridicule the rights o awhole people.
Lama Mourad  Media Relations Director,Solidarity for PalestinianHuman Rights (U of O)
A second opinion for Palestine
Re: “Te Palestinian question” (Letters, Sept. 18)
LEER-WRIER MAHEW Welch’s unintel-ligible comments in regards to Palestine are at bestalse, and at worst, racist. o compare Palestinewith “erabithia” is misleading and disgusting.o say that Palestine never existed is a politically charged, boldace lie that should never be printedin a respectable newspaper such as the
Fulcrum
.Why blatant lies about Palestine are tolerated whilesimilarly oensive lies would never be printed issomething we should all refect on. Te name Pal-estine has been used to describe the land betweenthe Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River sincethe ourth-century AD; it was originally coined by the Romans. More recently, Palestine was part o the Ottoman Empire until it ell under British ruleuntil 1948, when the State o Israel was declaredand Palestine was literally wiped o the map.Please Mr. Welch, you do not have to take my word or it; the University o Ottawa library keepsreliable maps that will show you that Palestine wasa recognized country until 1948. I think Welchshould step out o antasyland and enter the realworld where people are slowly realizing the truth.Tose like Welch who deny justice or Palestiniansare now the minority in the world and will soonrealize that their eorts to mask the truth will bein vain.
 Jessica CarpinoneU of O alumna
In support of women’s rights
Re: “No penises allowed” (Editorial, Sept. 11)
HE EXECUIVE MEMBERS o the University o Ottawa’s Women’s Studies Students Association(WSSA) are appalled by the editorial written by Ben Myers that was published in the
Fulcrum
, con-demning women-only gym and swim hours at theMontpetit gym as a sexist, anti-penis practise. Asone o the driving orces behind women-only gymhours being established, the WSSA would like tostress that the purpose o women-only gym hoursare NO to discriminate against the men o theU o O community. Rather, these hours embracethe concerns that women across campus have ex-pressed to us as an association on numerous oc-casions, as well as to the Student Federation o theUniversity o Ottawa and their sub-organizationsincluding the Women’s Resource Centre. As Myerswrites, “Other than the tight pants or gym shorts,Montpetit is no dierent rom any other gather-ing place on campus in this way.” Tis is precisely why women-only gym and swim hours are neces-sary since the environment o a gym makes many women eel discomort or discrimination basedon gender, arising rom stares, sexual comments,or unwanted behaviour.Women-only gym hours go urther than sim-ply providing women with three hours a week towork out. Tey go as deep as the continual embed-ded sexism in modern culture, even at the post-secondary education level. It is the eeling o beingwatched and appraised that leaves women eelinguncomortable with themselves and uncomort-able with working out in a gym.Women-only gym hours were created withMuslim women in mind, but it was not meantexclusively or Muslim women. It is meant or allindividuals in the U o O community who iden-tiy as a woman, regardless o her or his religion o choice. Te comic that was included (in extremely poor taste) also pokes un and discriminatesagainst transsexual people and students who arebiologically male but identiy as emale and wantto work out at the gym without judgment and notbe judged. ranssexual people and students acenumerous hardships every day and we think it isdespicable that the
Fulcrum
would choose to printsuch a comic and make transsexual people andstudents eel even more segregated.Women-only gym and swim times also serveas a preventative measure rather than reactionary.Why can action only be taken or justied when awoman is assaulted or verbally harassed at a gym?Te assumption that a “recent string o sexually inappropriate conduct in the weight rooms” ledto the implementation o women-only gym timesnegates the act that many women are uncomort-able in the gym environment, and have been sosince gyms became popular. Tis is why women-only gyms, hours, and recreational programs existat other universities across Canada.Our nal point is simple—equality is not abouttreating people exactly the same but rather rec-ognizing the dierences and diversity in society and accounting or it. Sometimes this means thatpeople will be inconvenienced so that others canenjoy an opportunity that would not be availableto them within the current status quo. Te WSSArecognizes that men also eel pressured and un-comortable at the gym and we are not seeking todeny that in any way.
Danielle Alarie, Caitlin Campisi, BeckyDier-McComb, Chaya Porter,Victoria Sands,Bethany Schock(Women’s Studies Students Association executive)
How do you plan to vote in theOct. 14 Federal election?
Conservative:Green:Liberal:NDP:Other:
Last week’s results:Will you attend the SFUO’sWake Up and Vote event on Sept. 26?Yes: 37 %No: 50%What’s that?: 13%
Go to www.thefulcrum.ca to vote! 
LETTERS
Oct. 2, 2008
3
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