The Voice of the University of Toronto at Mississauga
MEDIUM THE
MONDAY, APRIL 7, 2008
VOLUME 34, ISSUE 26
Talking with The Carps
Our fourth annual photo contest
Page 6
Page 8
www.mediumonline.ca
Creative Corner Page 14
“Skip A Meal” exceeds goal SAIRA MUZAFFAR NEWS EDITOR
Students helped raise thousands of dollars on March 26 through “Skip A Meal,” an initiative organized by Meal Exchange at UTM. It allowed students to donate cash and unused meal plan dollars to fund the campus food bank and Mississauga’s largest food bank, Foodpath. Meal Exchange, which is a national student-founded charity organized to address local hunger needs, had volunteers collecting donations around campus food outlets, including Oscar Peterson Hall. “Skip a Meal facilitates the student donation of money from your meal plans to purchase food at wholesale prices for those that can't afford it in their community,” said UTM’s Meal Exchange coordinator, Sunny Pathak. According to Pathak, the program helps local organizations purchase items that are not always available at regular food drives, such as baby food, foods low in sugar, and foods for unique cultural communities. The day-long event raised close to ten thousand dollars in collaboration with Chartwells, the university’s food contractor. Many donated hundreds on their own, including Joy Zakhary, a first-year student who put up $800. The program’s original goal was to secure at least $2,500. “From the beginning at 11 a.m. right up until 6 p.m. we had students donating and expressing how grateful they were for everything they had. Equally, stu-
dents were also excited that Chartwells and the university supported this program, it is a win-win all around,” said Pathak. The total raised will be finalized once the meal plan office validates the donations collected. “The students have clearly proven themselves to be generous and have shown a willingness to support the broader Mississauga community,” said the university’s director of hospitality and retail services Bill McFadden. According to Foodpath, 53 per cent of its users are children. Results from a survey conducted among residents in Mississauga showed that the average monthly household income in 2007 was $1,170, with nearly 69 per cent of that total being spent on rent and housing expenses. Since Foodpath does not receive any funding from the provincial or federal governments, the food bank resorts to donations and programs like Meal Exchange to fund increasing demand. “The people at Meal Exchange work very hard to ensure that the money gets spent in a meaningful way. Food is purchased and given to those people in our community who are struggling to get enough food,” said McFadden. Pathak hopes to improve on the success of this year’s program in the future and thanked Nancy Carrol at Del Labs, Roy Jagota at Nature’s Source, Cathrine Ann with Consumer Connection, and Shane Madhani, the Blind Duck’s manager, for their support. Turn to page 3 for the names of winners from Skip A Meal’s raffle and giveaways.
Photo/Melissa Di Pasquale
UTM Meal Exchange coordinator Sunny Pathak speaks with studentsregarding the Skip A Meal initiative at UTM.
Last pub fails to draw usual crowd MEGHA KUMAR ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR
Photo/Vlad Glebov
The Blind Duck failed to garner the large crowds, upbeat enthusiasm and rammed dance floor that usually mark the annual “Last Pub” of the year, held last Thursday, April 3. The last pub of the school year was organized by the University of Toronto Mississauga Students' Union (UTMSU) and had music courtesy of Infamous Sound Crew, the urban group of disc jockeys from Toronto who contributed to UTM's first pub, among others. But, due to the hectic time period of exams and the consecutive array of events that took place within the past two weeks, namely the Residence Formal, Athletic Banquet, Commerce Gala and others, the last pub did not end the school year with a bang.
Though the pub was scheduled to begin at 10:00 p.m., there was no lineup and most people only started showing up close to midnight. On the day of the pub, there were still 87 tickets available with 200 confirmed guests on the Facebook group event, compared to last year when tickets sold out. By the end of the pub night, the Blind Duck was close to empty. Though the Infamous Sound Crew played a good mix of urban beats and a wide range of genres from house to pop, not everyone was pleased with the proportion and timing of the music. “The pub was alright, but the music kept changing too soon... and it would keep shifting from different genres much too quickly... I like to hear a good song fully,” said Suzie Bangura, a second-year science student at UTM. Fourth-year student Amit Nair agreed with Bangura's views. “It was alright, but by 1:00 a.m.
when the party was supposed to be happening it became empty. The drinks also seemed more expensive. Last year was awesome, much better,” said Nair. Some students still found the pub a worthwhile break from studying. “This was the only pub night I actually managed to attend, and even though I expected more of my friends to show up, it was still a rocking party. Beats spending the night at the library,” said fourth-year history student Madeeha Khan. “It wasn't the best,” said UTMSU president Walied Khogali. He added, “It wasn't that high this year, because we sold about 250 tickets but we didn't sell out. But we got a good majority despite it being exam period. I wish all the best to those students studying for their exams and see those who come back at first pub next year.”