February 26, 2001 Opinions a More Opinions NUGSS Member Living Off Women Volunteers It has come to our attention that NUGSS Executive mem- ber Eric Anderson (Director of Campus Activities) was a particularly hard-working vol- unteer for the Second Annual Jezebel’s Jam concert and dance. OK, you say. So what? Well, we found out that Eric submitted a time sheet to the NUGSS office that allocated approximately 25 of his 50 required monthly hours for his work on Jezebel’s Jam| You see, Eric is required to put in 50 hours of work (towards promoting and orga- nizing campus activities, as his title would reflect) in order to collect his $500 NUGSS honorarium for Executive members. Essentially then, ALL of Eric’s hard work on Jezebel’s Jam accounted for half his monthly honorarium. We’ve been emphasizing ALL of Eric’s hard work, because as the main co-ordi- nators of Jezebel’s Jam, we have a pretty good idea of the time and effort he put into our event. il summarize ALL possible places he could have been working: * He said he would organize the ICBC Safe-Ride home. Just four days before the event, ICBC called the Women’s Centre to find out when our event was, and we then had to organize and finalize all the details. Estimated Eric time to call ICBC : 5 minutes... Okay... we'll say 30 minutes to look up the number and call... * He said he would look into getting more performers for the event. We never heard anything after that about any- one. Estimated Eric time to call “Unknown” performers : We'll be really generous and say 2 hours (that would be 60 two-minute phone calls to leave messages on answer- ing machines!) * He said he would call radio stations to advertise our event. He got us a phone number for “the ZINE” on the Max FM 94, and then we organized an interview. The Max FM 94 contacted us one week before the event to tell us that they knew we were running Jezebel’s Jam, but hadn’t received any other information on the event to help promote it for us. Estimated Eric time: 1 hour to make phone calls. * He came to 2 meetings, each time leaving before they were over. Estimated: Eric time: 2 x 30 minutes = 1 hour. * He was asked to get per- former biographies for 3 per- formers, and did_ so. Estimated Eric time: 1 hour... 2 hours if he told each one his life story during each phone call. So... we totaled up all of these very generous time allocations and came up with 6.5 hours. It is extremely frustrating to consider this sit- uation, because both of us put in countless hours meet- ing, organizing and schedul- ing this event. In short, we worked our asses off for this event! After all expenses were covered, Jezebel’s Jam made just over $500 profit, part of which was donated to a women’s organization downtown. Eric, for ALL his hard work, made approxi- mately $250 for himself! And then hé didn’t even have the decency to come out and support the event! We are disgusted with this finding. We feel that Eric is _ collecting money that he did not earn, and doing so at the expense of the hard work of Women’s Centre volunteers. NUGSS, if you wonder where the students’ enthusi- asm has gone... this is why people have become apa- thetic. | ask that the NUGSS board look into this matter to ensure that it does not hap- pen again. For the other volunteers who did actually work very hard on this event, a huge thanks and congratulations! Tamara Connell Marilynn Hagedorn Jezebel’s Jam Join thousands of other students and... Do you need a course to graduate? ts the course you want to take full? Do you need a course to fit your timetable? Do you want to finish your program faster? ...otay on Course lf so, Athabasca University has hundreds of individualized study courses you can take through distance and online education. ¢ Register throughout the year. * Study at you own pace. * Transfer earned credits to your program. * Get individualized tutar and student support. ¢ Registration fees include all books and course materials. * Challenge courses for credit. Register today and chart your course of study with Canada’s leader in individualized distance and online learning. Call Today To Get Started! 1-888-206-6471 Canada's @)pen University’ ww athabascaueca muito? alhubascauce Ly Ajisroaruy eoseqeyyy contiued (continued from page 4) that can unite women? | always wonder if it isn’t just pure jealousy (i.e. someone else’s insecurity) that drives hatred in certain societies. As a newcomer to this community bringing a fresh look on things, | can definitely feel some prejudices and resentment toward the Women’s Centre. One of the major roles played by the Women’s Centre, is to offer a link to the general community. It is a comforting environment, where women who feel alienated for what- ever reason, form the wider world, can come and regroup themselves. As a foreigner to the western cul- ture, | know what alienation means. | also know that finding friendship and/or true love and appreciation from the female gender is a tough thing. Women can form genuine long-lasting relations to a level sel- dom seen on the men’s counterpart (not that they are incapable of, but it just doesn’t happen as much) and anyone who has experienced anoth- er woman’s love can tell you so. However, such a gift does not come that easily and _ freely. Developing alliances with men as a woman is probably the easiest thing to do, particularly if you’re the “new kid on the block”. Forming alliances with women is another story. This is why, as a solitairy northern-wander- er, | chose to recoil in the nurturing and motherly environment fashioned by the women at Northern Woman’s Centre, knowing fair well that it would be my ultimate way of meet- ing new girls and possibly Mevelop- ing bonds. = So whatever people might think about the Centre, |/would like to stress the essential link that it pro- vides. It is an alternative to women like me that arrive here and feel a lit- tle intimidated by the vast and impersonal community that is UNBC. It is a Tiare that carries familiarity, friendliness and nurturing love - the Abeta things you need when feeling jnsecure. It is an avenue that can lead to a better and more confident expansion of women into the “bigger picture” that have seldom given them a chance to define what THEY wanted to be. thanks to anyone who showed their support to the Northern Woman’s Centre by making the Jezebel’s Jam a Success!