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Contents
Contents
Drop Fees Pt. IIBe stills, my heartSame ice, new game
The Sex Supplement
News
News
Arts
Arts
Sports
Sports
SEX!!!
SEX!!!
p. 5
p. 5
p. 10
p. 10
p. 18
p. 18
p. S1
p. S1
SFUO launches U of O-focused campaign tolower administrative fees.
p. 5 Amanda Shendruk
asks Elizabeth May whatstudents can do to combat climate change.
p. 7Jaclyn Lytle
interviews Can-rock favouritesThe Stills.
p. 10
Video artist Marc Adornato gets caught ontape by
Megan O’Meara
.
p. 11
National sledge hockey team members visitthe U of O.
p. 18
Gee-Gees and Ravens clash at Scotiabank Place in the Capital Hoops Classic.
p. 12–13Jaclyn Lytle
talks to Marcus McCann aboutsex in the media.
p. S3 Andrea Harris
explains why physical dis-abilities shouldn’t hamper your sex life.
p. S2
Sex
gets raunchier in the dirty worddictionary.
p. S6
Te case against e-voting
Re: “Change through a click of themouse”
O MY FELLOW student politiciansand students alike, I would like totake a moment to voice my opinionon the e-vote that shall be happeningin the next ew weeks.Firstly, I would like to call intoquestion how to perorm a recountwhen using a machine to store the votes. Tere is no manual and anony-mous way to go through all the votesand count them over again. Tis isa computer, storing data in a digitalorm, which will not change once theelections are over. So asking or a re-count becomes completely trivial. Al-though, how are we to say that thesemachines taking our ballots are actu-ally counting our votes properly? akeDiebold or example; they claimedthat their machines were indeed cor-rect and didn’t contain any faws.Elections later, they admitted to fawsexisting within the code that was usedto run these machines which as a re-sult could have had drastic eects onwho won these elections. Now, I donot mean to directly attack the com-pany who is selling this service to usor these elections but they are a com-pany and their goal is to make money.Who is to say that their soware isentirely ree o bugs and will not leadto any problems?Another issue that was brought upwas whether or not there is any securi-ty risk involved. Recently people havebroken the security that is used or se-cure HP connections. So, i some-one really wanted to they could indeedorge the certicates that are used by the system. Tough this would behighly unlikely, that issue still exists.wo years ago, the Graduate Stu-dents’ Association took on a new way o voting which used an electronicsystem to count the votes. Te sys-tem was known as Punchscan, whichcan be ound at punchscan.org. Tissystem uses several methods to en-sure that the elections will still be le-gitimate and problems such as buying votes can be reduced. Tere is inor-mation contained in the requently asked questions o the Punchscanwebsite that explain the advantages o this system over other digital imple-mentations.Also, a member o the student pop-ulation who has been in the campuspapers a lot lately mentioned that “Wedo enough things online these days,and ... to make voting more acces-sible and easier or students is a goodthing.” Just because it is possible to dosomething online does not mean thatone should. We may think that whatwe are doing online is secure butthings such as identity the and losso anonymity still occur.I was in Montreal last week or theCanadian University Soware Engi-neering Conerence. During the ques-tion period, a ellow student askedsoware developer Richard Stallmanhow he elt about voting machinesand e-voting. “I think the reliable,trustworthy way to vote is on paper,”he responded. It means somethingwhen a room lled with 400 studentsand community leaders all applaudedto Stallman’s response.
Christopher SaundersFourth-year computer science student
Not in my village
LIKE A GOOD, inormed student, Itook a peek at the Student Federationo the University o Ottawa’s (SFUO)iwillrun.ca site (kudos on generatinginterest, by the way) the other day toget the latest scoop on the reerendumquestions. I came across the one re-garding the Millennium Village ini-tiative. I’m going to preace my angerwith some inormation about whatthis is. Basically, it’s a United Nationsdevelopment project that, i the reer-endum passes, University o Ottawastudents would support at a rate o $6per year or both ull-time and part-time students. It’s a charitable organi-zation. And that’s all you need to know.It doesn’t matter i the MillenniumVillage is a worthwhile, transparent,or sustainable charity. It may very wellbe. But the act is that it has nothingwhatever to do with my education, oreven with the SFUO. Tis $6 would betaken rom me involuntarily and givento a charity. I already donate to chari-ties. I choose my own.I don’t know whose idea this was,but I am oended that they think they can donate my money better than Ican. Membership in the SFUO is man-datory or all undergraduate students.Tat means that i you want to attendthe U o O as an undergraduate, youmust donate $6 per year to a charity you did not choose. It’s my money, orcrying out loud! When will it stop?ake my money to run student ser- vices. ake my money and join a na-tional organization that may or may not be intolerant o my personal views.ake my money and give me an edu-cation. But do not orce me to donatemoney to a charity I did not choose.Surely anyone can see how absurd thatproposition is. I am a ull-time studentand do not have the time to managea No committee. So I’m writing thishere, and will do my best to inorm asmany people as I can. Please vote no.Please don’t donate my money. Pleasehelp me draw the line.
Travis Weagant Second-year political science student
An open letter to Allan Rock
DEAR MR. ROCK,I am writing to you in regards toinormation I have recently receivedregarding Proessor Denis Rancourt.I completed my undergraduate at Uo O and, while I never took a coursewith Rancourt, I ollowed his sagathrough articles in the
Fulcrum
andword o mouth on campus. I think your decision to re Rancourt—atenured proessor—as soon as pos-sible is wrongheaded and harms thereputation o the university as wellas general academic reedom. Fromwhat I have read, I more oen thannot disagree with some o the politi-cal stances and campaigns initiatedby Rancourt. Tat does not, however,mean that he should lose his position.Te whole idea o tenure is to allowproessors to ask challenging ques-tions and conduct ringe research thatcan better society, but that they may not be able to conduct in a non-ten-ured position due to political reasons.By attacking Rancourt in this man-ner, you are setting a precedent thatwill harm the research quality o allother tenured proessors at the uni- versity, who will now as well be araido losing their jobs.I strongly encourage you to recon-sider your decision. I Rancourt isred, I will lose considerable pride inmy Alma Mata.
Eitan WaldmanQueen’s Universityeconomics student
Another open letter to Allan Rock
MR. ALLAN ROCK,Your dismissal o Proessor DenisRancourt is inuriating. ProessorRancourt is asking the academiccommunity to question the way stu-dents are traditionally educated andthe research that is being producedin this institution. Tis debate needsto happen. And it is an outrage thatis not currently happening consider-ing university research is largely pub-licly unded and university graduatesoccupy the most elite and infuentialpositions within our society.Your treatment o Rancourt hashighlighted to me your objectives orthis university. It has become clear inmy mind that you treat this univer-sity as nothing more than a corporateentity—a diploma mill—sardining asmany students as possible into largeauditoriums to be talked to at a rus-
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Jan. 29–Feb. 4, 2009
Letters
Frank AppleyardEditor-in-Chief editor@thefulcrum.ca
3
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Do you think the benefitsof online voting outweighthe potential problems?
Yes:No:
thefulcrum.ca poll
Last week’s results
trating speed or one to three hoursat a time. Te continuous stream o lecture inormation compoundedwith endless acts and gures com-piled into textbook ormat busies thestudents enough to be out o the hairo the proessors who are scramblingto write yet another paper that willno doubt be published in a high-end journal viewed by none other thanthe privileged academic community.Tese papers will eventually end upin another pricey university textbook.And the race continues.Mr. Rock, university is considereda place o higher learning and thepride o this institution rests on itsability to educate. In my mind thisinstitution ails in providing studentswith true education. I the priority o the University o Ottawa were toeducate, class sizes would be smaller,time spent with proessors would begreater, and true questioning wouldhappen. Tis is not the case, not be-cause it is impossible but because Iam coming to learn that this is notthe priority o this institution. I amcoming to learn that your interests arecorporate, and this reverberates pro-oundly throughout the institution.Your actions have demonstrated tome how you handle dissenting opin-ion—by using your power and privi-lege to silence it. I ask o you to makethis debate public.I you are condent that the teach-ing methods and the choice o re-search in this university refects thegreatest public interest you should beable to speak to this without eelingthreatened by Rancourt.
LEERS continued on p.20
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