11.20.07 «The McGill Tribune • 3
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Students vote yes to all referenda questions Delayed elections period may have led to low voter turnout S arah X u "We made quorum!" Elections McGill Chief Elections Officer Corey Shefman an nounced to students at Gert's last Wednesday afternoon. The crowd was waiting to hear the results o f the fall referendum, w hich included six questions and tw o contested positions on the First Year Com m ittee o f the Students' Society Council. Voter turnout was only 17.2 per cent of all McGill students, or 3,375 votes. "It was very low; it w as m uch lower than it should have been despite more publicity than usual," Shefman said. Shefman pointed to the delayed election date, a motion approved through Council, as a potential cause. The change in election dates, w hich pushed the referenda period and FYCC elections back by one week, was done to ac com m odate a fee referendum for the Sexual Assault Centre of McGill Students'Society. "One of our main concerns was that [voter turnout] was lower than last year; this
is because the date got pushed back so far,” Shefman said. "With our extra efforts [turnout] was still low, as I warned Council w hen they changed the date in the first place." All six referenda questions passed, with the SACOMSS renewal fee of $0.75 garnering the highest percentage of 'yes' votes at 85.5 per cent. The fee is the only source of funding for the organization, providing approxim ate ly $27,000 per year for the various projects they run. "We are really happy for the student sup port," SACOMSS External Coordinator Halley Crissman. "Students care about SACOMSS and know w e provide im portant services. We were not worried about the passing of the refer endum; w e were however worried about not meeting quorum." Students also supported the institution of a new qualified quorum o f two per cent of the undergraduate student body for Gen eral Assemblies. If the num ber of students in attendance is below quorum, but above 100, the question will be decided via online voting,
SPEAKERS ON CAMPUS
w hich has a quorum of 15 per cent.
Students also agreed to allow regular Gen eral Assemblies to be held before the seventh week of the semester rather than the fifth. A one dollar per semester SSMU student fee increase to increase space for student clubs also passed, as did a motion extending SSMU executive term s to include a one month, non voting extension and the elimination o f a con stitutional flaw. With only tw o o f the six FYCC positions contested by the students, three positions were acclaimed, including the presidential po sition. Two positions were elected and three were acclaim ed. 20.2 per cent o f first ye.ar stu dents voted, and the Vice-President Com m uni cations position remains unfilled.
Shefman was unconcerned by the lack of candidates in the FYCC election. "First Year [Committee of] Council almost always has tw o positions acclaimed, although normally the president is elected and not ac claimed," he said.
"Providing opportunities is what the role
of the council is going to be this year," said ac claimed President Sean Stefanik, Uo political science. "Getting first year students involved in student events, and [giving] them incentives to go out to events—[those are] the kind of things we should focus on." Both Stefanik and Amara Possian, Uo arts, elected to the VP External position, agreed that emphasis has to be placed on increas ing the involvement of off-campus students on campus. "It's more challenging to deal with stu dents who live off campus and find out what their needs are," Possian said. Stefanik also hoped for a better turnout at future FYCC events. "[First-years should] come out to all of our events. Everything we do is for first year stu dents and we really can't be successful without them," he said. The other three positions on the FYCC were filled by Jonathan Verrett as VP Finance, Eleanor Xu as VP Academic and Kelly Ding as VP Internal. ■
CAUGHT ON CAMPUS
White lies behind the War on Terror Pilger speaks out on post9/11 U.S. foreign policy M arine M oulin
Last Tuesday, McGill's Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights student group hosted award-winning Australian journalist and filmmaker John Pil ger, who spoke about and presented his film Breaking the Silence. Pilger, who discussed the current war in Afghanistan and the role played by the United States, also denounced what he asserted were propaganda and lies spread by the U.S. government to justify the War on Terror. "This film is about the rise of rapacious imperial power and terrorism that never speaks its name because it is our terrorism," Pilger said. "[Pilger's movie] is an opportunity: because many are unaware of what is really going on, it is a way to give them the news,"said SPHR Vice-President External Nasser Mohieddin Abukhdeir. "[The film] speaks about the human rights often forgotten.” Pilger em phasized the double standards inside the U.S. governm ent and stated that w h ile the U.S. [administration] could not accept the civilian deaths o f Sep. 11,2001, it seem ed to accept the numerous deaths resulting from U.S. bom bings in Afghanistan. He also discussed Am erican failures in upholding the Geneva Conventions on treatm ent o f prisoners o f w ar and the alleged detainees held w ithout charge in G uantanam o Bay, Cuba. "Amnesty International calls [Guantanamo Bay] a black hole, a violation o f the most basic hum an rights," he said. Pilger also asserted that women's rights were forgotten in Afghanistan, w here w om en required male authorization for daily tasks and also became victim s o f war, rape and torture. "What are the real ends to this war?" Pilger asked. "The answ er is to be found here in the United States w hen those now in power speak openly about their conquest and endless war. Afghanistan, Iraq, these [wars] they say are ju st the beginning." Pilger pointed to Iran, North Korea and China as potential future Am eri can targets. He also claim ed that most terrorist organizations have had their weapons supplied by the United States. Pilger suggested that these Wars on Terror have underlying econom ic motivations, and for most Afghanis, the removal o f the Taliban from pow er has not improved their daily lives. "Today, Afghanistan is run by a regime installed by the Americans and the pipeline [construction] deal [in Afghanistan] is going ahead," Pilger said. Loes Knaapen, a graduate student in sociology, expressed concern about the face o f future Am erican wars, and suggested that Pilger's argu ments are im portant to consider. "The information is good to hear again; w e know it is out there,"she said. "Everyone can know about it. I am wondering: w hat [nation] is next?" ■
SARA YOUSEFNEJAD If anyone ever questions why McGill needs to raise money ever again, they should check out the girls' bathrooms in the Leacock basement. And we thought the guys' was bad!
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South Korea boasts the first boot camp that combats the increasing cyberspace addiction affect ing their youth. It has recently become a serious issue as acute addiction cases have started dropping dead from exhaustion after playing video games for days on end. • People are going totally nuts for this chunk of history; a chestnut from the tree that Anne Frank gazed upon while hiding from the Nazis is up for bid on eBay. The 170-year-old tree is rotting from the inside and will be chopped down on Wednesday of this week. Bids for the chestnut have reached as high as $700 US. • The King o f Spain Juan Carlos'recent fiery outburst demand ing Hugo Chavez to 'shut-up'at a summit in Chile has generated a reported $2 million US in ring-tone sales. In Venezuela, a group of students have been down loading the ring-tone as a form of protest. "It's some thing a lot of people would like to tell the president," said a 21-year old from this group. King Carlos'"shut-up” ring-tone sales are now also making a serious run at the Black-Eyed Peas "shut-up" sales. • Two glasses of
speed wine a day keeps the doctor away, according to the University of Barcelona. Drinking the recommended 'dose'of either red or white wine, improved markers of cardiac health significantly in women, while men saw similar effect upon increasing the dosage. Meanwhile a British-American team found that exposure to sun light could in fact decrease the effects of aging. While people may have fewer heart attacks and look young er, it's likely that the prevalence of liver cancer and skin disease will skyrocket. • According to the 'California Pacific Medical Center Research Institute team," there is a non-toxic compound found in cannabis that'halts cancet'The team is hopeful that cannabidiol could be an alternative to chemotherapy to prevent metasta sis of tumours. The authours claimed that they were not suggesting patients to smoke marijuana, only to enjoy it casually with friends on the weekend in a safe environment. Sources: BBC News, Yahoo News, New York Times