Letters to the Editor
The Martlet can’t count
Is the Martlet run by budding journalists or a crew of the mathematically
challenged? One would tend to think the latter after reading the article
“Chairperson race too close to call” (March 10). This article
has so many errors that it makes you re-think UVic’s entry math
requirements. Even with the correct election results printed right next
to the article, the Martlet couldn’t get it right. First, they report
that the Putting Students First slate was “shut out of any director
at large seats,” when one glance at the results shows that in fact
four were elected.
The article goes on to say that seven Coalition of Independent Students
(CIS) directors at large won seats and the remaining two went to independents.
This makes nine director at large spots on the Board of Directors, according
to the Martlet. Funny, in all my years as a director, there have always
been 11.
Let’s re-check their math. If you add seven CIS candidates, two
independents and four PSF candidates, you end up with 13 directors at
large elected—two more than normally sit on the Board of Directors.
How did this mistake happen?
Either the Martlet was at a different election or they’re desperately
in need of a calculator. Who knew that counting to 11 would be such a
challenge? My suggestion to the Martlet is that next time, when you run
out of fingers, start using your toes.
Joanna Groves
UVSS Chairperson Partisan agenda at the CFS
So now we know that the Putting Students First (PSF) candidates used
the Canadian Federation of Students’ (CFS) office to plan their
strategies and hold their meetings for the recent UVSS elections. Joanna
Groves, the UVSS chairperson, has a key to the room and admits letting
the PSF chairperson candidate, Penny-Lane Beames, use the room. Does that
mean that when we pay fees to the CFS, we are supporting a partisan agenda?
Or worse, does it mean that Ms. Groves, as chair of the Electoral Committee,
was actively supporting the PSF slate over the other contenders? After
all, she did also admit to meeting with the PSF slate. Because of this
cloud of suspicion, I no longer feel that she can represent students,
and I think she should do the right thing and resign.
Matthew Lebrun
Bring back my favourite comic
I would just like to say that while your comics are always funny, I
am very disappointed that you stopped running “Woman and random
object.” What the crap is that? It is a very funny strip, and the
author deserves a Pulitzer. Don’t tell me that the author is too
lazy to write it anymore, cause that’s bull crap. It’s the
same frikkin’ frame with different random commentary. Come on. Get
on it.
Ford Walker
UVic too lazy to vote
I would like to fully agree with Jonny Morris’s comments about
the poor turnout in the recent UVSS elections. I’d also like to
point out the turnout was even worse in the Board of Governors and Senator
elections that were done online. He writes that only 13 per cent of students
got off their asses to vote, yet only five per cent voted in the online
elections, and they didn’t even have to leave their seat to do so.
The labs at UVic even had pop-ups offering to take you directly to the
voting website when you first logged on. It’s a shocking result
when you consider that 60 per cent of Iraqis recently voted in their election
in which they faced the threat of potentially being blown up on the way
to the polling station. Again, kudos to those students who did take five
minutes to vote.
Andrew Allen
Unpaid work not a ‘lifestyle choice’
In the article “Breaking Boundaries” (March 10, the Martlet),
I was seriously misquoted in the sentence: “women are discriminated
against because of lifestyle choices.” Using the term “lifestyle
choices” trivializes the world’s most essential work and is
not something I would ever say in this context. Anyone (male or female)
who does unpaid care work of any kind (looking after elders, children
or family members with illness or disability) faces financial penalty.
World society has not declared that it wants the human species to go
extinct; therefore, this work is not a “lifestyle choice.”
It is work that is essential for society and the economy to function.
Historically men have never wanted to do this work and they usually still
don’t, although there are some exceptions. Men are not all rushing
to quit their jobs to stay at home and raise the kids. It is not surprising
that women around the world are now on a baby strike causing falling birth
rates in all countries except those with high infant mortality rates.
Read more on Mothernomics at: http://pacificcoast.net/ ~swag/Mothernomics.htm
Cindy L’Hirondelle