By Ryan Pike
Students’ Union vice-president external Alastair MacKinnon and Bigfoot have two things in common: lots of facial hair and a tendency to be mysterious behind the scenes. MacKinnon will be retiring to the senate at the end of the month, but he’s not scurrying away from a job half-done. MacKinnon’s racked up a large list of… Continue reading SU Reviews: VP External Alastair MacKinnon
By Jon Roe
Oh bother. Much like Winnie the Pooh is for the Hundred Acre Woods, Alastair MacKinnon is the outward face of the Students’ Union. As vice-president external, MacKinnon lobbies governments at all three levels to help improve student life. Because the effects and success of lobbying is long term, it’s difficult to measure whether or not… Continue reading SU VP External – Midterm Review
Election season has come to an end. In the last year, we have gone to the polls and elected new (the same) municipal, provincial and federal governments. By and large, Calgarians, Albertans and Canadians have opted for the status quo. Reflecting on the events of the last twelve months, I take satisfaction in knowing that… Continue reading SU View: Post-Election Philosophizing
Editor, the Gauntlet, [“Affordable housing blues and a call to abandon ship,” Chuck Day, Oct. 2, Gauntlet] I understand the frustration around delivering affordable housing solutions to students. Progress is slow, the process is highly political and it seems like all anyone ever does is talk about it. I would like to take this opportunity… Continue reading Letter: In defence of housing policy
I hope that everyone reading this is living in safe, affordable housing now that we are back to school. Unfortunately, not every student has access to this basic necessity. The government needs to recognize and act to address the unique housing needs of students. There are several groups in our society including seniors, persons with… Continue reading SU View: Got (affordable) housing?
Political mud was slung during the external forum, Tue., Feb. 5 as two vice-president hopefuls debated each others’ platforms and defended themselves. Current academic commissioner Alastair MacKinnon stressed the importance of experience while Tierney FitzGerald–who has no prior Students’ Union experience–argued SU experience counts for very little, citing conversations he had with SU members before… Continue reading External forum: hopeful VPs debate experience
A heated debate in the academic forum kicked off the first of seven Students’ Union general election debates, Mon., Feb. 5. While all five academic commissioner candidates agreed on most issues, four of the candidates argued against a proposition put forward by commissioner candidate Alastair MacKinnon. MacKinnon proposed an initiative to implement universal citation across… Continue reading SU academic hopefuls duke it out over citation methods
I woke up last Tuesday morning and, like 24 per cent of University of Calgary students, I cast my ballot in the Students’ Union election. The experience was swift and uncomplicated– it takes about two minutes from start to finish– but mine was marked with an unpleasant surprise. After logging in, I was immediately presented… Continue reading Is the CRO the election puppetmaster?
With Students’ Union election posters decorating campus, students may not have noticed several being replaced after some posters were targeted with hate vandalism. According to Campus Security, posters hanging in the science building were defaced with anti-religious and racist material Thursday night. With the two candidates primarily affected both being visibly Muslim women, many feel… Continue reading Students’ posters defaced on campaign
University of Calgary students taking courses in the Spring and Summer might soon be able to take the bus or C-Train as easily as the rest of the year. The U of C, the Students’ Union and Calgary Transit are currently negotiating the expansion of the U-Pass program to include Spring and Summer semesters once… Continue reading Spring and Summer U-Pass may be coming to the U of C