Student Federation Episode IV: A New Hope

It is a period of civil war. Rebel fed bodies, striking from a hidden base, have won their first victory against the evil Vice President Communications. During the battle, Rebel spies managed to steal secret plans to the Vice President's ultimate weapon, the CFS BULK ORDER, an armored machine of controversy and corruption with enough power to destroy an entire student government. Pursued by the Vice President's sinister agents, several federated bodies race home to their rebel offices, custodians of their own secret plans that can save their people and restore freedom to the Federation...



101 Week is upon us. Let's hope its cleansing fires can fix the drama of the summer. Drama so fierce even AppleDave doesn't want to make lulz of it.

sheets 2.0

Wondering who will represent you on your federated body association?

Elected to one and wondering who you'll see at LeaderAction?

Miss the days of I Liek SFUO Elections and need a little nostalgia?

Just plain curious?

WELL! Have an

SFUO Round Tables List for 2010-2011!

BAM!

Notes/disclaimers copypasta'd from last year:

There might be some holes or misinformation on there still - I've confirmed very little, and am just throwing this up now so it's actually out before Leaderaction where everyone will just meet each other anyway. BAM!

Plus, those of you who are not involved (if there even are any who read this blog), you can now see who to hold accountable for things happening on campus, since I am not aware of anywhere else you can find a list like this.

BAM!

Note - if I missed your executive, it isn't because I don't like you guys. I love everyone who has passion enough to get involved on campus in some way. Student leaders are admirable, whatever they's leadin'. It's just that you're a sub-association (member associations of SAFA, clubs of CETSC, groups under the ESS, etc) or you're not heavily affiliated with the SFUO (droit civil), so you didn't make sense to go on this list, or I just couldn't find any infos about you (nutrition, other).

relay in the face

Executive candidates noted missing from the pie in the face fundraiser for Relay for Life:
- Sidney Loko

BOA candidates who actually participated (because the list is smaller):
- Logan Ouellette
- Martin Schoots-McAlpine
- Brandon Bay
- Peter Flynn
- Iain Brannigan
- Amanda Marochko
- Amanda Iarusso
- Sameena Topan
- Andrei Huranchyk

Noticed at the event, but did not participate:
- Danika Brisson
- Bassam Javed

Assuming we want actually get to vote tomorrow, cast your votes for the above poor sport candidates so that they can suck all the fun and life out of the SFUO.

Oh wait. That would be awful. Don't do that.

I suppose I've endorsed candidates for three BOA races then. Take what you will.

how you should vote

The SFUO makes a habit of telling you how to vote. It's AppleDave's turn.

Today you will vote for:

Steeves
Chaput
Horton
Tishler
Hasinoff
Galette

UPASS YES
GREEN YES
EDS NO

Candidate Videos

Thanks to an anonymous comment on my previous post (good thing I enabled those!), we now know that candidate videos are being posted at least to YouTube. Perhaps to the Elections Website soon? We'll see.

YouTube

uPass - final thoughts

I'm voting in favour, but do not expect a majority of students to. Here's why:

• Students who are "forced" to buy the pass "might as well use it," and will experience the nice parts of the city they would not have otherwise.
• For that reason, I don't feel they're subsidizing the transportation of other students, but are having a door to the city opened. Ottawa is more than just Bank St to Range Rd to the Market to Lees Ave, folks.
• It'll make intercampus events more accessible to the general population of students, so we can encourage students to go to events at Carleton/Algonquin/La Cité and they actually will
• It's carbon neutral - changing the primary mode of transportation of as many drivers as cyclists
• The fee increase is negligable - it's only the price of textbooks.
• It's a *universal* pass, so you can even bus to Navan or Richmond if you want some hot sauce or... whatever Richmond has to offer
• Ridership on the bus will increase, which means the routes will be improved instead of stripped away like is likely happening for the summer
• and selfishly, I will save money as I am a student who buses to school.

However, the "Yes" campaign should not have included "save money" as a platform point. They're just going to agitate the already skeptical Sandy Hill annd Residence students and lose a large portion of the vote. For that, and the lack of an opt-out, it's going to get shot down, unfortunately.

My ONLY complaint will arise if the "no opt-out" policy includes students on out-of-town work terms or student exchange. While it's assumed that that will be the case, we'll see what happens if and when it's implemented.

By the by, I hate the argument that this is contradictory for our campaign to lower tuition fees. It's not. We're working to make education more accessible, not cut funding to student services on campus. If we can one day talk the governments into paying for our tuition AND funding the SFUO and the uPass, that'd be thrilling, but let's do one thing at a time people.

Deeeeeeebatez

I'm excited for tomorrow. Here's something I'd love to see though: BOA debates. Where are they?

Things I'd ask Bay:
- Why no posters? Are you not trying, jackass? I haven't seen a class presentation yet, but that might be my course schedule. I'll give him a few more days for that.
- How are you gonna do all that in one year and one board seat? It sounds more like an exec platform than a BOA one.

Things I'd ask Javed:
- Do you understand what the BOA *is*? It seems like you're running for VP Academic of the ESS with a platform like that. Good ideas, wrong place to put them in action.
- ...what else have you done on campus? I've neither heard of you nor been able to find a list of past involvements on your website or posters.

I'd also just love to see them fight to the death. Then I'd go watch the debates for BOA: SS get even more ragey. Alas, the Elections Office offers me none of that.

that's a paddlin'

The Disciplinary Committee hasn't yet been called to action, but this blogger expects to see surely Amalia Savva and perhaps also Amy Hammett given the big boot awfully soon for their breaking of the constitution. Maybe there'll be some end-of-year impeachments too. I love dramas.

I just hope whatever's going down happens before votes are cast, otherwise we may be holding a by election next month...

side lulz

Seamus Wolfe was arrested shortly before 13h00 today. He was released and charged with criminal swearing. Word on the street is that it was Marc Kelly related. Maybe he's not running for Prez, but he's certainly not gone either.

<3 Marc. I wish you would return my calls.

Update! La Rotonde has more on the story.

uFail? you tell me.

Now that the city has passed the uPass, as you all know, it's up to the students in referendum to decide.

Here are my pre-campaign thoughts.

The Good:

• The whole city becomes much more accessible to all students
• Students who live farther from campus save money
• It discourages driving from a cost point of view (but NOT from a time one), which could reduce congestion in parking lots, and you know, environmental such

The Potential Bad:

• If there is no "uPass upgrade" option, students who need an express or rural X pass, those who need the bus the most, are in the worst situation
• It remains to be seen, but buses in the Laurier-Lees corridor might get awful congested

The Confirmed Bad:

• There's no opt-out, which screws students who are not in bussable Ottawa (Gatineau in the morning, extremely rural, student exchange, etc)
• The summer semester pass is not included (though this is good for those that don't want ANY bus pass)
• It discourages bicycling as a primary means of transportation
• It will heavily reduce ridership on the shuttle bus

The Translated:

$290 is equivalent to:
• 252 bus tickets (126 regular rides, 84 express rides)
• 41 cab rides from the market to residence
• 10 cab rides from uOttawa to Algonquin College
• 316L or 2000-3000km of gas
• ~800km of driving, or 16 trips across the city using AAA estimates that include averages for gas, insurance, maintenance, purchase price, and depreciation
• A new on sale Norco Rio Vista
• 2-3 pairs of running shoes
• 3-6 textbooks
• 6 regular lectures
• 25 pitchers of beer at La Maison

That looks good when compared to other transport options. Not so much against the beer and books. I'm probably voting in favour, but am still unsure. Thoughts? Comments?

leaf em aloan

Wai evribuddy gotta pickin on quittarz?

Fancie and Julie dropped from the race, and everyone is yelling angry things about a slate.

But, there was arguably not enough evidence to call them a slate last year, so although they are friends and don't hide the fact that they'd like to see each other elected, that's the case for most of the nominations. Does that mean prospective VP University Affairs Osama Berrada and prospective BOA Director for Engineering Bassam Javed are a slate? Not really.

Oh, sure, they probably are a slate. I'm just saying they don't run as one. Uninvolved students don't know about their bonds, or those of the other side.

More importantly though, why must we rip on them? Is it the CFS? We're stuck with that for at least another three years, so it doesn't much matter if our exec is pro- or anti-CFS. Is it the hippy? So someone has different opinions and priorities than you. Let it go. Is it the uselessness? That has everything to do with the people and nothing to do with their agenda.

Let "The Base" alone. By branding them as a politically driven slate, you're only feeding the fire.

mah voetz

Here are the candids.

Update: you can see the official list of candidates on the SFUO elections website now, since I apparently forgot to post this for several days.

Welcome to the 2010 edition of AppleDave votes! Before I hear anything anyone has to say about why they should be elected, here's what my gut tells me to vote:

Chieftain: Tyler Steeves. He's so dedicated. This'll be his third time with his name on the bill - he's had years of debates and camp-painting and board membership to really get to know the ins and outs of being president. Let's let him put his expertise (see what I did there?) to work for us.

OR, Marc Kelly. Maybe his candidacy was rejected, but I might give him a write-in vote. His campaign last year and general activities on campus shows us he is apolitical, full of integrity, and a wise and mature leader. His election would bring about a new golden era of the SFUO.

Soashul: Alex Shampoo. Nobody else is running. I wouldn't want to compete with Snowdin, God of Winter, either.

UAffairs: Billy-Bob THorton. I loved his tenants rights campaign and the student bus stuff victory. The dude gets stuff done. Let's keep him around.

SAffairs: Agbodjogbe is definitely getting my vote is not in the race anymore, so I abstain (for now).

Monet: Moneen Hasinoff. She's the only one who really wants it, and therefore the only one who'll have the passion to do it right. SJK and Loko would both rather be UAffairs but can't compete with Teddy. Fancie is branded as being a slate backup, but true or not, he has never given me the impression that he's up to the task of exec work, especially not an important role like Finance has withdrawn from the race and therefore not eligible for voatz.

Communicajun: Triscuit Denummer. He's a dickface and barely speaks Henglish. Vote for him.

BOA: Bay. He has experience in student politics, and wasn't a useless tit on the board like I may or may not have suggested a year ago, so I'll let him stay. Plus, who the devil is this Bassam Javed?

Senate: Undecided, but not Lendrum. I'll wait and hear what the others have to say, but for the sake of feminism I'll say Andrea Bordeau until I hear more.

Who you should vote for BOA: Keep Flynn and Prazeres around and get Brisson out since she's been there three years already. Otherwise I'm not partikalar about how you vote.

When campaigning starts, maybe I'll change my mind. I'm tempted to jump over to the Mark Kelly camp for good. I love him.

line of time

Tonight

5pm: nomination period closes
6pm: exec candidates meeting
7pm: board candidates meeting

Next Monday

List of candidates published

31 Jan

Campaigning begins

9 Feb - 11 Feb

Polling Days
Results the evening of the 11th

I'll leak the names of as many candidates as I can before next week, but these are the dates to watch for.

Blaggin' 'bout votin'

Changed my mind. Absent or not, I need to blog the BOA at least once, as KJ360 updates me that the board just passed the list of polling stations, to be:

• Tabaret lobby
• Desmarais lobby
• Simard or Arts
• SFUO office
• UCU Tim Horton's
• UCU Cafeteria
• Montpetit 2nd floor
• Fauteux lobby
• Marion basement
• CBY basement
• Sports Complex lobby
• SITE first floor entrance
• RGN somewhere

In spite of encouragement from several members, we're missing residence entirely. Who needs first years to vote, right? They haven't been here long enough to know what's what. They get no say in their future, speaking in terms of student politics.

A lot of the words from board members seemed to sum up as "the list is great if we have e-voting." But as KJ360 reports, e-voting isn't a sure thing. I for one hope it's not happening, though I'll leave it to the e-voting activists (who seem awfully quiet this year) to complain about. I would point out, however, that you can't evote if you don't know about the voting, and polling stations are just as good for promo as they are for doing the voting.

Phish concert

I love Phish. And the internet.

Check it. There's more here and here, too.

I wonder if there'll be any fancy lawsuits? Who would want to phish uO students anyway?

Wondering why I'm playing with URLs and not blogging the BOA this week? It's at RGN. Fuck. That.

theyz lissennen

I think someone in the elections office heard our cries.

Walking through CBY and SITE yesterday, I only saw new posters styled like the website. Fame and glamour were nowhere to be found.

I'd raise the score of this batch by 5 points to a 7.5/10.

I also saw would-be BOA candidate Brandon Bay collecting nominations on his Tablet and making claims of a paperless candidacy. Green or lazy?

I have confirmation that Ted Horton is running for re-election as VPUA, not for President. Tyler Steeves is unsurprisingly making a bid for that role again though.

newspaper goo goo, marketing gaga

The Fulcrum beat me to the punch, but I will blog my thoughts anyway.

The Lady Gaga themed posters all over campus are obnoxious and/or disgusting. I'll let you decide which.

Firstly, SFUO fame is not fame. Hey non-involved students, stop me when you hear a name you recognize. Mélanie Lefebvre. Jocelyne Turner. Adrienne De La Rosa. Brigitte Noel. Danika Brisson. Michele Lamarche. No? Most of you have only heard of Michele, if any? Even Danika is already a stretch? Hmm. Usually fame lasts a little while. You'd think the names of VPs Student Affairs over the past seven years would ring some bells.

Secondly, fame or power or money (LULZ) or resume padding are NOT good, valid reasons to run for a position in student government. Student leaders should be there because they want to defend the rights and interests of students, not for personal gain. If an elected student politician forgets that it is the students that put him there to serve the students, then the politician will be taught that it is the students who can remove her.

Thirdly, the posters are not even well-designed. They're ugly and blend in with all the other posters on the wall. I barely noticed them enough to get offended and blog.

I'm not sure who is responsible for this, but I hope that whoever designed the elections website does the next batch of posters.

That's all I got. Read the editorial I mentioned for moar bitchinz on this topic.

-AppleDave

omglulz

Nomination forms are now available in the Fed office, so sayeth their webgods. What does this mean? Finally, it's the most wonderful time of the year.

Stay tuned. Oh, and watch your back, De Bellefeuille.