Over The Edge

UNBC's Official Student Newspaper

Volume 5 - Issue 4 - October 26, 1998

NUGSS Election Ballot Blow Out

UNDER
THE
COVERS

Page 2 - Find
out why your
textbooks are
costing you
more this
semester!

Page 4 -
Editorial and
Letters to the
Editor return!

Page 6 -
SoundScape
returns with

sounds to
soothe your
soul!

Page 7 - Read
this page! WIN
STUFF!!!

Page 10- -

Sports, Sports
& more Sports

for your to
peruse

Have a Happy

Halloween and

try not to get

run over in the

dark, okay?

By Paul Berard

Outgoing Northern
Undergraduate
Student Society
President, Matt
Macrae didn’t bother
hashing words to
describe the election
last Thursday.

Huge.
While candidates

scrambled to shake
hands, make promis-
es and_ prepare
speeches, students
made their own way
to the polls. Total
voter turnout was 510
students.

“On average, when
you have an election,

you expect some-
where between three
to five percent of the
school to show up”,
said Macrae, “We had
sixteen percent of the
school show up which
is, for a school elec-
tion, great numbers.”

While six of the nine

positions were voted
in by acclaimation,
the contest for
Director at Large
remained the closest
with each candidate
receiving at least 200
votes. Macrae was
not concerned by the
lack of candidates,

pointing out that three
of the Directors are
returning from last
year.

“It's going to be a
very interesting
board. They've got a
lot of experience.
There’s also a lot of
fresh faces, that have

a lot of great ideas - a
very diverse board
from what we've had
in the past.”

As for Macrae, what
of the future?

“I'm going to go back
to school”, he says
laughing,"See what
it's like for a while.”

NUGSS ELECTION RESULTS
- President: Saleem Dossa - 257

Vice-President: Jamie Campbell - 345/88
Treasurer: Chris Reid - 373/56

Social & Promotions: Jackie Eaton - 370/43

Sports and Clubs: Mike Lau - 207

Ombudsperson: Christopher McNelly - 357/48
External Liaison: Richard Harris - 335/71

Fundraiser: Andreea Staicu - 356/39
Director at Large (2 postitions):

Amy Dash - 275

David Schindler - 241

Other Candidates

President: Rob Laluk - 114

Kevin Lavoie - 92

Sports & Clubs: Al Tonner - 151

Quentin Baker - 93

Director at Large: Michael Crawford - 210

(Positions with slashes indicate positions voted in by acclaimation with the number before the slash

By Nicole Larson
Cutting it close would
not even begin to
describe the situation
that averted a strike that
would have effected all
of BC's colleges, univer-
sity-colleges and institu-
tions. Negotiators
reached a tentative deal
at 4:30am _ Friday,
October 23, only an
hour and a half before
about 8,000 educators,
members of either the
College Institute
Educators’ Association
of BC (CIEA) or the BC
Government and
Service Employees’
Union (BCGEU), were
scheduled to begin pick-
eting. If this tentative
deal had not been

reached then more than
75,000 students at 19
colleges and institutions
across British

indicating the number of yes votes. President, Sports & Cabs and Director at Large Positions
were not voted by acclaimation.) —

Columbia, including the
College of New

Caledonia (CNC) in
Prince George, would

have been forced to
stay home. “There is a
sense of relief,” said
Keith Reynolds, a CIEA
staff representative,
“nobody wants to go on
strike.”

The bargaining, which
began after the last con-
tracts expired on March
31, 1998, was a long
and complicated
process, with key issues
only being brought to
the table in the last min-
utes. “It has been an
unusually long session
of bargaining, with
progress coming
extremely slowly over
the last eight months,”
said Ed Lavalle,
President of the CIEA, “I

One strike down, one to go...

am very proud of the
work our joint bargain-
ing committee has done
to bring about this tenta-
tive settlement. | believe
this agreement includes
everything that we could
possibly get, with or
without a strike. It is
clearly better for both
educators and colleges
than what could have
been achieved if we had
negotiated separate
agreements with every
institution.”

Students across the
province breathed a
sign of relief themselves
after they received
news of the strike can-
cellation. “It is impor-

Continued on Page 2