Over the Edge + March 22, 2006

News eS

U of S Student Paper on Defensive

CHLOE FEDIO
THE GATEWAY
(UNIVERSITY OF ALBERTA)

EDMONTON (CUP) + While the
Muslim world continues its outcry
against" the publication of cartoons
of the Prophet Muhammad that are
considered blasphemous, students at
the University of Saskatchewan have
started their own protest—this time in
the name of Jesus.

The March 2 issue of the Sheaf, the
weekly campus newspaper at the U of S,
published a cartoon depicting Jesus fel-
lating a pig. The cartoon, entitled “Cap-
italist Piglet,’ was drawn in two frames:
the first shows someone walking in on
the sexual act, while the second features
the pig telling Jesus, “Go on, it's OK. It’s
kosher if you don’t swallow.”

Brent Tricket, who works for Cam-
pus Crusade for Christ and volunteers
at the U of S with students who are
involved in the organization, thought
the cartoon was a cheap shot against
Christianity.

“My initial response was disgust,”
Tricket said. “I really cant see a mes-
sage in it except that it was just meant
to be offensive.”

Several complaints have been filed
that the cartoons violate publishing
laws in Saskatchewan, according to Fiji

Robinson, communications director
for the province's human rights com-
mission,

Section 14 of the Saskatchewan Hu-
man Rights Code prohibits the publica-
tion of material “that exposes or tends
to expose to hatred, ridicules, belittles
or otherwise affronts the dignity of any
person or class of persons on the basis
of a prohibited ground.’

Robinson added that any investiga-
tion into potential violations will wait
until controversy over the cartoons dies
down, as she expects some of the com-
plaints may be withdrawn.

Tim Austin, student president for

the Crusade at the U of S, echoed these
statements, saying that criticism should
be constructive, not mindless.

“It's one thing to be satirical of Chris-
tianity or capitalist practices, but the
comic published in the Sheaf was not
satirical—it's offensive and provoking,”
he said.

‘The Sheaf is an independent news-
paper at the U of S and has a history
on campus dating back to 1912.

Martin Olszynski, Chair of the Sheaf
Publishing Society Board of Directors,

explained that a miscommunication.

between then-Editor-in-Chief William
Robbins and the paper's graphics edi-
tor led to the publication of “Capitalist

Piglet.’ On Sunday, Robbins submitted
a letter of resignation.

“Mr Robbinsis responsible as Editor-
in-Chief for the final edit of the paper,
and he admitted that he didn’t do that
diligently,” Olszynski said.” We felt that
that was sufficiently problematic that
we would accept his resignation.’

However, Robbins said he felt his re-
signation wasnt in the best interest of
the paper and wasn't necessarily an ap-
propriate response to the event.

“I didn’t resign voluntarily; I -was

forced to resign by the rest of the stu-

dent staff at the Sheaf;” Robbins said,
adding that he hopes the campus can
engage in valuable discussion as a result
of this “unfortunate mistake.’

U of S President Peter MacKinnon
denounced the cartoon in an e-mail ad-
dressed to the campus.

“Tt has divisive shock value only and
does nothing to advance the under-
standing or debate for which universi-
ties should be distinguished,” he wrote.
“The Sheaf should apologize to us all.’

U of S Students’ Union President
Gavin Gardner said he was disappoint-
ed in the Sheaf’s decision to print the
cartoon, which he called “offensive and
tasteless.”

However, Gardner went on to say the
newspaper is an ifitegral part of campus

Federal Funding Cuts Threaten
Student Refugee Program

ROBIN COLLUM
THE GATEWAY
(UNIVERSITY OF ALBERTA)

EDMONTON (CUP) - Denis
Remo was born in war-torn southern
Sudan, went to high school in a Ken-
yan refugee camp, and is now halfway
towards a science degree at the U of A.
However, the student group that funds
his education here is facing budget cuts
from the federal government, and may
have trouble sponsoring new students
in the future.

World University Services of Canada
(WUSC), a national aid organization,
has been running their student refugee
program (SRP) for almost 30 years,
while the U of A branch has sponsored
a student like Remo every year since
1988.

Sukaina Hirji, co-chair of the school's
local WUSC committee, explained that
at the U of A, a student is brought in to
study for four years.

“The program is really’ unique,’ she
said. “We try to completely cover liv-
ing costs of the student in their first
yeat, and we try to help out a little bit
with the students for the rest of their
degree.

“Its simple and cost-effective; its
really cheap and has been really suc-
cessful, It makes a huge difference to
the students who are sponsored,’

Each local WUSC committee is in
charge of the in-Canada costs for their
students. Sponsored students at the U
of A are funded through a combination

of a tuition waiver from the University,

a grant from the Registrar's office and a
$0.72 dedicated fee from each student's
tuition,

“The University sees (the program]
very positively overall,’ said assistant
registrar Melissa Casey. It's an excellent
opportunity to offer assistance, and it's
a wonderful opportunity for students
in Canada to learn about the world and
the issues the refugees are facing.”

“(The volunteers] lit-
erally went with me
to class for the first
couple of days, show-
ing me where things
were. They helped me
in a lot of ways, social-
ly and academically.’

- Denis Remo

Overseas expenses of the SRP used
to be covered by WUSC's national
office, through a block grant from the
federal government. Recently, though,
the government decided to restructure
international development funding,
and they will no longer provide money
for WUSC's overseas projects. This
means that overseas expenses of the
program will be transferred to the indi-
vidual campuses.

“They're asking us to fundamentally

shift the way we see funding for the
SRP” said Hirji.

The extra money WUSC needs
amounts to about $5,000 per spon-
sored student, Hirji explained, and

would cover such things as the cost of

selecting students and training them
before they come to Canada.

“They advertise and encourage high-
school students to apply,’ said Remo,
describing his own experiences with
WUSC in Kenya. “Hundreds of stu-
dents apply, because it’s the only chance
they'll have to get postsecondary edu-

cation. [WUSC] tries to look for the .

people who really need help, which is
funny because everyone in the refugee
camp is in need of help?

Remo went on to say that when he
was selected for the program, he under-
went three months of cateer training
and coaching before taking the TOEFL
English proficiency exam. Later at the
University, WUSC volunteers guided
his experience.

“They basically organized everything
for me,’ Remo said. “[The volunteers]
literally went with me to class for the
first couple of days, showing me where
things were. They helped me in a lot of
ways, socially and academically.’

“The surprising thing is that they're
students, but they sacrifice all their
time to volunteer for this organization,
There's no way to repay [what they've
given me], other than to work hard and
help incoming students after you get
here,’ he said,

After Publishing Jesus Comic

life and that the staff dealt with their
mistake appropriately.

“The USSU Executive strongly sup-
ports the current editorial staff, includ-
ing William Robbins,’ he said.

“The reason we support that staff is
because we believe that the Sheaf is a
very strong and historical institution
on the University of Saskatchewan
campus, and the only way that it’s go-
ing to be able to maintain its integrity
is with a professional staff.’

Still, Austin was concerned about
the effect the cartoon has had on recent
debates between religion and freedom
of speech,

“I find it difficult to accept that it
was mere oversight or miscommunica-
tion, because the Sheaf had previously
stated how they felt it was irresponsible
to republish the Danish cartoons. Since
the ‘Piglet’ comic seems to have been
also created and published purely for
shock value, the double standard the
Sheaf seemed to employ is fairly evi-
dent,’ Austin said.

The Sheaf maintains it was a mistake
and issued a statement on their web-
site, in-addition to an apology in today’s
issue.

“I want to stress here, we didn’t make
the editorial decision to run the car-
toon, so in some sense it's a moot point:

A Career in

It can't be a double standard and it can't
be hypocrisy if we didnt intend to do
it,” Robbins said.“I'm not going to jus-
tify editorially my reason for publish-
ing it because I didn’t intend for it to
be published.”

Furthermore, Olszynski explained
that the cartoon was not consistent
with the newspaper's commitment to
pluralistic ideas.

“Because the staff chose not to:pub-
lish the Mohammed cartoons the week
previous out of concern for that com-
munity, we felt that publishing this sort
of comic, which was obviously directed
towards another religious affiliation,
wasnt consistent with that pluralistic
objective,” Olszynski said. ‘

Gardner said that, despite their er-
rot, the staff is making a significant ef-
fort to remedy their mistake.

“People can dispute the content all

. they like, but students are in charge of

that content,’ Gardner said, pointing to
opportunities for students to take part
in the paper as volunteer writers, to

apply for editorial positions or run for

the Sheaf’s Board of Directors.

“Irs up to them to determine what
the response is going to be. If people
are offended enough to volunteer and
write for the paper, I think that's a very
appropriate response, Gardner said.

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