OVER THE EDGE September 12-26, 2007 Your Northern Undergraduate Student Society: On the Move Copy WiiLetr Epiror in CHitF So, student body of the beautiful UNBC campus, it’s time to figure out what NUGSS is up to this year. If there’s one universal truism for new and returning students beyond ridiculous amounts of homework and inconveniently timed lineups at campus printers, it’s the vagary of student awareness of NUGSS activity on campus. We here at Over the Edge wish to shine some light on your student fees at work. I sat down for-a can- did interview with NUGSS’s pene face, VP External Cameron M. Ehl. I’m not gonna lie, due to a housing emergency, I’m living with Cam at the moment and with his busy schedule, the only time to get this exclusive Willett One on One™ was over morning coffee. Cam, looking his usual striking self, was in a bathrobe, but was nevertheless ready to perform his public duty to UNBC students. To get an idea of what mo- tivates students to take up the call to service the stu- dent body, I asked Cam what made him stand for election. Among the reasons Cam provided for running were a love of politics, the op- portunity to give back to the Cameron Ehl student community, and his previous experience as chairman of his high school grad committee. Of course, other board members might have been lured by the honourarium paid for office hours, the local celebrity, or the immense power the NUGSS board wields, but overall the end roster is a good mix of males and females representative of Canada’s multicul- tural mosaic. Cam said that this particular NUGSS team is out to prove itself capable of connecting with stu- dents as never before since three of the Board’s Execu- tive members were acclimated, facing nothing more than a simple “Yes or No” vote. It would be hard to imagine an acclimated candidate getting more No votes than Yes, but like one party states, the onus of proving one’s worthiness of authority lies all the heavier on a lonely leader. With the behind the scenes preparations NUGSS undertakes to make the start of the new school year ex- citing for the summer-spoiled gaggle of students, I had to ask how board members overcame the lack of hu- man resources and distance to get everything done. At this question, a weary look shadowed Cam’s face. He told me stories of some board members making summer sacrifices by taking over the portfolios of those absent while working dreary 40-hour weeks at jobs in the real world. Underlining his commitment to his post, Cam said “We agreed to [this workload] when we submitted our nomination papers, and with that, the commitment to keeping student interests at the forefront.” Such a show of responsibility stands as an inspiration to those who submitted their registration papers to UNBC, with their academic interests in the balance. The moral: No drinking this year; it would only be a betrayal of who- ever paid your tuition... Cam’s noble statement begged the question of what exactly these “student interests” could include. There- fore, with deft journalistic skills, I pounced with said question. Unfazed, Cam began to tell me how a new clubs package was developed by the crack team of ex- perts in the NUGSS board office. This year, a new club classification system sorts clubs by size, longevity and purpose. This new classification eliminates much of the bureaucratic red tape dreaded by club presidents. An- other initiative in the interest of students is certainly the continuation of student charity work. Again, the epic battle against Cystic Fibrosis is fought by volunteer students marching under the Shinerama banner. With so much to organ- ize as Chairman of the Shinerama campaign, Cam brought in the big guns, tapping student at large, Jessica Schmit as Vice-Chair in charge of soliciting corporate do- nations. Anyone familiar with Shinerama activity would knew that corpor- ate donations are not all there is to Shinerama. On Saturday, September 15th phalanx upon phal- anx of students will take to the streets washing cars, shining shoes, col- lecting bottles, and em- ploying many other novel ways to raise money to fight a debilitating disease affecting primarily young people like our brothers and sisters. Volunteers will be nourished with breakfast, lunch and a dinner at the Caribou Steakhouse and Grill, while sporting the latest iteration of the Shinerama t-shirt. Cam also hastened to stress the personal side of the services NUGSS provides to students. Located just beyond the Wintergarden, the NUGSS office houses not only telephone and fax ser- vices, but also April and Fatima. These indispensable women are there to answer student questions, liaising students to administration and the Ombudsperson for those suffering unfair treatment or eee financial need. However, not all NUGSS initiatives are so straight- laced and business-like. Oh no, with James de Vust holding down the VP Social fort, there will undoubtedly be many opportunities for carnivalesque debauchery to let off steam. On deck are time-tested UNBC favorites like the Backyard BBQ, UNBC Idol and the Winterfrost Ball. With new planning talent looking to leave its mark on the UNBC history books, NUGSS Social board members will surely be looking to try out new and ex- citing events on unsuspecting party-goers this year. With our time running short and our coffee getting cold, Cam and I exchanged the usual interview-ending niceties and ambled off to our respective rooms of the house. It was bittersweet really, that I, a newbie editor and interviewer, had the distinct opportunity to observe the man behind the public man, in such an intimately platonic setting; even if he unabashedly showed little leg from under that housecoat. Fue Paoro Aews 7 UNBC Caters to Environmentally inded Tier CLARKE Proouction CoorbDINATOR UNBC students are all just a bunch of tree-hugging sap-sucking hip- Pies, statistically speaking. According to UNBC’s director of media and public relations Rob van Adrichem, the university “had 15 per cent of our enrollment in natural resources [which includes various fields linked to natural resources, including things like environmental studies, environmental planning, fisheries and wildlife, among other things]. The national average is .8 per cent... We’re educating the next generation of environmental lead- ers.” Although larger universities like UBC have more students in natural resources programs, UNBC has a higher percentage. UBC has 1.7 per cent of their students enrolled in natural resources. Of UNBC’s total funding from the Canadian Foundation for Innova- tion, 80 per cent is used in environmental fields, and of UNBC’s 13 research chairs, 11 are doing environmental research. The university’s location, surrounded by nature, certainly helps pro- ject its green image. , “A lot of people come to our school because of the lifestyle. We’re close to nature,” Adrichem said. In keeping with the university’s green-hungry educational focus, they’ve launched a green university initiative, though despite the in- itiative, the university hasn’t really changed much since last year. The only noticeable differences have been the 750 trees given away by the Northern Undergraduate Student Society (NUGSS), and the reusable green bags which sold out within days at the UNBC Bookstore. Adrichem said that projecting the university as green doesn’t neces- sarily mean that it’s environmentally friendly. “A lot of people hear green and see operations... It’s more a reflection of what we already are... As a university we are green in our teaching and our research,” he said. Despite this, in keeping with the university’s green education, they hope to improve the operations side of their environmental impact. “We can do a lot of things better. We are still burning non-renew- able resources,” Adrichem said. They currently don’t use any renewable means of power or heat, such as geothermal, wind, or pellet-burning. To UNBC’s credit, the Prince George Public Interest Research Group (PGPIRG) has a compost program that Adrichem said is one of the best for a university in Canada. In addition to this, UNBC uses only local wood products, as well as having energy efficient lighting. Adrichem said that because the university was built during the last decade or so, it can more easily become energy efficient, as opposed to older universities with more primitive heating and electrical systems. This has helped them win the Phillips award for energy efficiency. Dur- ing last winter the university also reduced gas consumption. Because the university has to upgrade and build upon existing facili- ties in the future anyway, Adrichem said it’s likely they work on making the improvements more environmentally friendly. But for now, from an operations standpoint, the university is more or less just like any other new facility, environmentally.