March 31, 2003

Page 4

Photo By Becky Booth

The UNBC Physics Club hosted a Physics Day at UNBC on March
20. Marc demonstrates the Oscilloscope.

NUGSS Election Results

By Dan Turner

Election time has come and
gone. The election of the NUGSS
Board of Directors took place on
March 26th and 27th and the stu-
dents certainly had their say. The
two day election produced 373
total ballots, 13% of the student
body. Of the 14 positions up for
election, only 4 were contested
races. }

The top position, Director of
University Affairs, was being con-
tested by former External Affairs

Director and current
Ombudsperson, Nedinska
MacEachern, and former

Residence Council President and
current Senator, Ericka Stephens.
The race between the two was very
intense. During the speeches
Stephens continued to call for a
“green” Student Union Building,
while MacEachern advised the stu-
dents that it impossible to decide
matters like that at this time, but
reiterated that if elected she would
work toward completion of the
SUB as soon as possible. In the end
Ericka Stephens would be elected
as NUGSS President by 27 votes
(approximately 8.2%).

The closet and most contested
race of the election was for
Director of Campus Activities.
Four candidates would vie for the
position and the top two would be
very close. Duncan McColl, who

Camping for Peace: Victoria

Students brave rain to protest conflict

By Robin Platts, The Martlet

VICTORIA (CUP) — For most of
the world camping is recreation,
but in Victoria it’s recently become
a form of activism.

Last Thursday night, as the U.S.
bombarded Iraq with “Shock and
Awe,” activists set up a circle of
tents on the lawn behind Petch
Fountain at the University of
Victoria (UVic) -a “Peace Camp” to
protest the war. The camp was the
Students Against War (SAW)
group’s latest attempt to create a
forum for discussion on the Iraq
conflict.

Earlier in the day, more than 100
students gathered to protest the
war.

Justin Douglas of SAW said he
hoped to see “more public support
for people in Iraq. To show people
care about the people who are
going to be killed.”

“I don’t agree with bombing
people that have been bombed for
10 years,” said second-year biolo-
gy student Hayley Merkeley. “I
want to let people know that we're
in solidarity with the people of
Iraq.”

On Friday afternoon, rain fell on
the tent circle and few students
were to be seen on the lawn by
Petch Fountain.

“There’s about 15,000 of them in
there,” joked student union direc-
tor Andre VallillKe, before admit-

ting that the tents were empty. “We
started last night with nine people.
A lot of times there’s strength in
numbers, but right now there’s
strength in dialogue.”

VallillEe said the camp will
remain “as long as the war contin-
ues. Hopefully through the rela-
tionships we build on campus, the
discussion surrounding peace will
continue in the future at UVic.”

Downtown, activists from the
Victoria Campaign Against War
and Sanctions on Iraq (VCAWSI)
set up another peace camp on
Harris Green.

“It was a really good experi-
ence,” said UVic student Emma
Marshall, who visited the Harris

sighted the lack of true campus
participation in NUGSS events as
the main problem with the society,
came ahead of Associate Director
of Campus Activities, Serena
Hartl. It is believed that Duncan’s
speech emphasizing the seemingly
“break-even” policy of NUGSS
events and his experience as
Events Coordinator for the
Outdoors Club were his selling
features. However the results are
still very close, with only 3 votes
separating the two. It was
unknown at the deadline as to
whether or not Serena will call for

a re-count.
The race for Director of External
Affairs and Director of

Communication were quite close.
During the ballot counting, the
numbers were for the longest time
tied or just a few votes apart.
When the dust settled Tamara
Sweet, a former Resident
Assistant, beat out CFUR radio
show host Mark de Pelham by 23
votes (7.4%). And
Communications Director was
awarded to Charlea Mitchell who
received 9 more votes (6.2%) than
her opponent, Robert Mealey who
was one of the coalition slate of
candidates.

All of the uncontested candi-
dates were approved for acclima-
tion, with yes percentages ranging
from 73.9% to 91.8%. Of the 373

ballots cast, 23 were deemed to be
spoiled leaving 350 valid ballots.
The Chief Returning Officer has
approved all of the results and
next year’s NUGSS Board of
Directors is as follows:
Erika Stephens,
University Affairs
Barbara Dalflyen, Director of
Finance and Operations
Duncan McColl, Director of

Director of

Campus Activities

Fatima Cengic, Director of
Internal Affairs

Tamara Sweet, Director of
External Affairs ?

Charlea Mitchell, Director of
Communications
Geetu Parmer, Associate Director

of Campus Activities

Will DeWolf, Associate Director
of Campus Activities

Ross Sandwell, Associate

Director of Finance and Operations
Darryl Wightman, College of
Arts, Social, and Health Sciences

Representative
Elliot Chalmers, College of
Science and Management
Representative
Sofia Ansari, Women’s
Representative

Jeremy Belyea, First Nation’s

Representative
Simone Renaud, Ombudsperson

Responds to War

Green camp Friday night. “Just to
go there and sing a couple of peace
songs was quite cathartic.”

In contrast to the UVic peace
camp, there has been a constant
presence of people at the down-
town camp-anywhere from 10 to
80 at any given time.

While Marshall described the
mood of the downtown camp as
“somber,” the quiet was interrupt-
ed now and then by passers-by
who weren't shy about sharing
their views of the peace campers.

“A couple of people came past
and said, ‘Bomb the fuckers!’ and
‘It doesn’t matter what you people
do-it won't make a difference.”
Marshall said. “[The VCAWSI's]
stance is that they don’t react to
that.”

A peace vigil planned for

Tuesday morning at UVic’s peace
camp was postponed due to a lack
of students.

“Right now, it’s really hard to
get anyone to give a fuck,” said
Erik Haensel of SAW. “People just
aren’t coming out. They’ve got
stuff going on. I think there’s a
feeling of ‘It’s happened-I’m going
to go back to my life.’””

Haensel feels SAW will have to
take a new approach in the coming
days.

“Our tactics are going to turn
more to bringing the message to
students,” he said.

“We haven't been outreaching as
much as we’ve needed, due to a
lack of time and people.”