UWSA Prez throws book at VP... literally
By Michal Tellos
News Editor
March 10, 2010
Although UWSA board of directors (BoD) meetings can sometimes get heated, earlier this semester it was taken a step further.
 After vice president of finance Aaron Campbell jokingly suggested extending the length of an already long meeting, UWSA president Mohsin Khan picked up a hardcover book and threw it at him. The book was a copy of Robert’s Rules of Order, which is ironically a book used by several governing bodies, including the UWSA, to maintain order and structure in meetings.
Several details are very key in the story, such as the strength of the throw, and the intention behind it.
Vice president university affairs Robert Woodrich, an attendee of the meeting, said the throw occurred with “what appeared to be considerable force,” after Campbell said something about having more questions that would prolong the meeting.
Another non-voting board member, Thomas Sasso, said that emotions were already running high at the lengthy and stressful meeting.
The meeting had an in-camera portion in which board discussed issues pertaining to executives, and this lasted approximately an hour, resulting in the added time.
“After this in camera session we went into question period where Mr. Ajimal jokingly suggested that he had many questions to ask that would take a long time. Everyone laughed. We then went into the new business section of the agenda, which immediately precedes adjournment,” explained Sasso. >>
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UWSA elections move into voting period this Tuesday
By Jared Pollen
Lance Writer
March 10, 2010
With the UWSA general elections opening up their voting period this week from Mar. 9-11, chief returning officer Omar Raza has learned from past years and is looking forward to those in the future.
 The main principles in the election process are fairness and communication. “We are tasked by the UWSA Council to ensure that the democratic process is being upheld,” said Raza.
He also added that “voters are informed and able to freely access the voting system.” The key of the campaign is to get students interested, and make sure that they possess the means to do so.
The first step in an election is constructing a clear set of rules to make sure that there is no confusion. The university by-laws must be simplified for those campaigning and understandable for those voting.
Electronic media has made this task increasingly easier. Social media, online documents and websites have allowed the election office to communicate with students in a much more accessible way than in recent years.
Regulation on social media has made it difficult for spreading information in past elections, but that no longer stands in the way. “What we are doing differently this time is deregulating all social media, since policing the Internet was beyond our capabilities and not benefiting the democratic process in any manner.” >>
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Vancouver was an Olympic-sized party
By Michal Tellos
News Editor
March 10, 2010
UWindsor professor Scott Martyn has been around the Olympic block.
 Martyn, an Olympic historian and author, just recently attended his ninth Olympic Games in Vancouver, and he saw things that he’s never seen.
He said that the Games were largely a hybrid of winter and summer games.
“The closest analogies that I can make are Lillehammer, in terms of winter games, and probably Sydney, in terms of summer games. In both parts, it was that festive atmosphere, that environment that engulfed the community as a whole,” he said.
Martyn noted that what made this atmosphere possible was largely the weather. Despite his transportation being 1.7 km away, when he exited the Richmond Olympic Oval, he walked the distance in a short-sleeved golf shirt.
This warm weather allowed passionate people from all over the world flood the streets at all times of the day and night.
“Celebrations were spontaneous in the streets. And normally at winter games that doesn’t happen because it’s indoors. But there, you could show up downtown at 10 a.m., 10 p.m., or even at 2 a.m., and there were thousands of people celebrating in the streets,” said Martyn, adding that people weren’t even just celebrating athletic victories, but rather the Olympic atmosphere itself.
Martyn was also shocked by the expression of national pride that he witnessed. >>
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