If you liked Terry Talks then you are going to love Terry’s next big event: Terry Tales!
This is your chance to meet and talk with like minded students about issues that matter to you. Think of it as a mini-Terry Talks. Each student comes with a 5 minute story in min about whatever topic they like. Everyone’s name is put into a hat and the names that come out get to tell their story to the group.
Its a great chance to meet new people, share ideas, and be inspired!
Terry Tales …

So I just received an e-mail from UBC asking me to fill out a survey on tuition. There are three questions and they read as follows:

To what extent will the proposed 2% tuition increase ($88.59 on a base Arts/Science tuition) be an impediment to you continuing your studies at UBC?
Your tuition currently pays for 28%-30% of the operating costs of your UBC education. A government grant and investment income pays the balance. Choose one of the following to rate this 28%-30%:
What is the most important thing for UBC to invest …

Board of Governors: Azim Wazeer, Sean Heisler

First of all the obvious: don’t vote for Blake Frederick. You would think that after all of the things that he has done wrong in the past year he would realize that this whole ‘leading’ and ‘making policy’ thing might not be his forte. I guess not. I mentioned him along side my definition of a zealot in a previous post: ‘Someone who, having lost sight of their goals, redoubles their efforts’ and that is exactly what …

I thought I’d write a bit of a report on what will be happening at this Wednesday’s Senate meeting. There isn’t any super exciting or controversial motions but there are a few interesting presentations. The agenda can be found here.
I’m just going to go through the main items of interest. If you have questions or comments about any other items then use the contact form to get a hold of me.
5. Academic Policy Committee – Thursday Noon-hour Break (here)

So if you didn’t already know, you’ll …

In an attempt to ‘equitize’ this web site (something many execs would be happy) I’d like to introduce our new guest video-blogger: Comrade Costeloe. Ironic that such a radical had to come to a capitalist to beg a web-domain off of but that is the way of the world.
Enjoy Comrade Costeloe at his own site: www.comrade.geoffcosteloe.com!
If you like the content please vote in the VFM! It takes a lot of work to put out a 5 minute video like that!

Many of the other media outlets have done a fantastic job of bringing you the latest on the news on the elections. I’ve yet to see some broader commentary on the races so I thought I would give some of that. I’m not going to make predictions or declare support but I’d like to lay out some broad themes I think that we will see, some I think are good, some not so much.
Increased Student Interest?
Regardless of which side of ‘The Debacle’ a student found …

Are you going to the Student Leadership Conference this year? Its on January 9th and all of the information is available on how to attend at the SLC homepage. This years keynote speaker is Canadian Senator Romeo Dallaire. I would highly recommend registering to attend the well recognized event! you can get all the necessary information on the SLC Homepage.
If you are attending (and here comes the shameless plug) I’m running two sessions that day that you might think about signing up for. They first is ‘Finding Your Element’ where …

I thought I would be an egotistical bastard and post up some papers I wrote this year for one of my all time favorite classes: POLI 310 – Parliament and Party: The Strategy of Politics. If you are in poli-sci you must take this course. I really liked writing the papers as a lot of the game theory concepts are parallel to evolutionary biology models.
Charles Tupper: A Measure of Patience
Stephen Harper: A James Dean for the 21st Century (based of of this editorial by Andrew Steele)
Comments and debate on them …

So where do we stand after Wednesday’s council meeting. Lets first look at what we have learned and move on to what what will happen in the coming days. I’m feeling very much like Alice today and so this post is influenced by Carrol’s fantasy world, one of my favourite books.
Where we stand
Now, I give you fair warning, either you or your head must be off, and that in about half no time! Take your choice! – The Queen from Lewis Carrol’s Alice in Wonderland
I believe that there is little …

Well it sure has been a crazy 48 hours. That’s the biggest reason that I haven’t written one of these already. I wanted to take some time to let things filter out and crystallize a bit. Haste makes waste they say. That and throughout the whole process all I found myself wanting nothing more than a drink. Not the best mindset to be in when you have to weigh in on an issue such as this. But I believe I’m ready now to say what I think needs to be …