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NEWS: Poutine? No, Putin. Oh. Russian democracy? Gravy.
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Curiosity delivers. Vol. 24 Issue 13
P U B L I S H E D BY T HE S T U D E N T S ' S O C I E T Y OF M C G I L L
A&E: Goodbye to the cheesy DJs, CKUT's got a new edge.
SPORTS: Steve Young & the Restless? Sports & Soaps alike.
UNIVERSITY
Tuesday, November 23, 2004
Exec takes one to the face Irate stu d e n t uses shaving cre a m pie to protest tuition, M o n ty Python-style JENNIFER JETT Students' Society Vice-President (Community and Government) Daniel Friedlaender was already having a bad day. Early in Thursdays SSMU council meeting, councillors blocked the Community and Government committee from presenting its full report, claiming committee members had not properly consulted with students when formulat ing SSMU policies. . It only went downhill from there. M id w ay through Friedlaender's regular report, student Lazar Konforti walked in wearing a toque and scarf to conceal his identity. Reaching from behind, he shoved a shaving-cream pie into Friedlaender's face as witnesses stared in disbe lief. "W ha t just happened was shocking, com pletely disrespectful, and inappropriate to what is supposed to go on here," Speaker Ewa Krajewska said at the meeting, and councillors passed a motion to that effect. Friedlaender called the act "despicable." "I don't think that there's any place for that kind of behaviour at any level of politics, espe cially student politics, when all people are trying to do is what's best for students," he said. "If you disagree with how ' someone is trying to go about it, that's fine, but that kind of behaviour I think is ridiculous."
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Pie for policy change The pie incident coincided with the release of a Community and Government committee report that signals a reversal of SSMU tuition pol icy. The report proposes that SSMU lobby the government to peg provincial tuition to the infla tion rate—if the province returns the $ 103-mil lion in financial aid cut from the budget this sum mer. This is a significant change from SSMU's uncompromising support for the legislated tuition freeze. The proposed change reverses 10 years of SSMU policy, said Konforti, and breaks ranks with provincial lobby group la Fédération étudi ante universitaire du Québec. "I chose to throw a pie because it is a silly w ay of protesting," he said, "and the events I'm protesting are rather silly, but not the' Monty Python kind of silly. They're dangerously silly, and Friedlaender is on the verge of destroying 10 years of student action." By offering a compromise, Konforti said, Friedlaender is legitimizing the $ 103-million in cuts to financial aid. "[Friedlaender is] trying to play it as a bar gaining tactic, but when you bargain that w ay it's kind of telling the government it's all right that [they] made the [$ 103-million] cuts," he said. Konforti, U3 Psychology, said he was
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See TU IT IO N , page 2.
2&8 VASEMIN EMORY
How do you like it? Banana cream, custard cream, shaving cream? We like pie so much (well, maybe not that last kind) that the creamy treat has spread itself all over our pages.
The (usually) dependable last-minute exam recipe One all-nighter, plus four large coffees, two Ritalin, two coursepacks, three donuts, and one set o f another student's notes. Combine in one tired body and add a dash of nervous anticipation. Fry overnight. Perform under intense pressure for three hours for one semi-satisfactory exam. See pages 14 and 15.
This Week in McGill Athletics Fri., Nov. 26 at 7:30 pm Redmen Hockey vs Brock (McConnell Arena) Fri., Nov. 26 Volleyball (W) 6pm (M) 8pm vs Laval {McGill Sports Centre) Sat., Nov. 27 at 7 pm Redmen Hockey vs W LU (McConnell Arena) Sat., Nov. 27 at 9 am McGill Open (Tomlinson Fieldhouse) Sun., Nov. 28 Volleyball (W ) 1 pm (M ) 3 pm vs Sherbrooke
Sun., Nov. 28 at 1 pm Martlet Hockey vs Carleton
(McGill Sports Centre) (McConnell Arena)