The Panther Prints ¢* Letters to I

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November

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To: All Students

From: Peter Gillis, Sacred Cows

I have received a mixed reaction to the article I sent out to students on Wednes-

_ day. I can understand most of it; but what I do‘not under- stand is the confusion as to where my "whiny, anarchistic opinion" is coming from. Have you seen the election goodie- bag the parties have pulled out for us for the upcoming elec- tion? If you have, then you must be as confused as I am over what's going on.

So what are we going to do about it...now?

If Iam not mistaken, the leaders of all the parties had a debate at UPEI two weeks ago, giving us the impression that they care about student issues. Well, it is hard to tell that from their platforms. Unless you are a first-year student interested in working below minimum wage for the community, a future graduate who will actu- ally use a non-refundable tax credit, or someone who just does not care, there is abso- lutely nothing in their 'prom- ises' for us. No, students are not the only group in PEI and, no, our concerns are not all important. But, we are the fu- ture of this province; and for that reason alone, we deserve better.

So what are we going to do about it...now?

One person reacted tomy idea with incredible outrage. "How dare you treat your right to vote with such disrespect." she said. "Billions of people in this world live without that right; and you just want to throw yours away? Besides, it's better to pick somebody, some lesser evil, and hope that they'll keep their promises. That's what democracy is all about."

Excuse me? When did democracy go from being based on 'faith' to being based on "hope"? The very meaning of democracy is 'government of the people through repre- sentation’. Yet, we have abso- lutely no control over our gov- ernment anymore. Once we vote them in, they're there to stay...and they can do what- ever they want. It's okay for them to break their promises, because we don't expect them to keep them anyhow. That's what 'hope' is. Sure, we can throw them out the next elec- tion; but who are we going to replace them with? Another politician? I agree that some of them are hard-working peo- ple with integrity; but indi- viduals do not run our prov- ince -- the 'body politick' does; and that body is out of control. If this is what democracy has been reduced to in our country then, I'm sorry to break it to you my friends, the only dif- ference between us and the billions living in servitude is that they at least ADMIT it. We, however, continue to play the game. Well, I refuse to play by their rules any more.

So what are we going to do about it...now?

I cherish my right to vote...it's the greatest right a ‘free' person could have. That is why I will not waste it on a farce. On election day I will cast my vote...a vote for 'none- of-the-above’. You can play the game if you want.

SETTING THE RECORD STRAIGHT

Since the events of Oc- tober 31, caused such a reac- tion from all those involved, I think a little explaining is needed. At approximately 10:15p.m., 400 people showed up at the Barn, and there was a line-up. There is always a line up for Halloween. There are three reasons: Firstly, every- body shows up at the same time; secondly, it is a wet/dry event, people have to show ID and be tagged; and lastly, eve- rybody is wearing masks and make-up which makes the ID process take a little longer. Everyone did get in, although in some cases it took a while. As an attempt to make things run smoother in the future, there are new policies con- cerning the door, tickets, and the guest list.

I would like to try to anwser some of the questions students have been asking me:

1. Why is the event wet/ dry? Wet/dry events at the barn average approximately one a month for the simple fact that 46% of the school’s popula- tion is underage. Hard to be- lieve but true. Since these are all fee-paying members of the Student Union their wants and needs have to addressed like everyone else’s.

2. Why did you sell all the advance tickets? The policy at the start of the year was to sell advance tickets and save some at the door. How- ever, after selling 300 advance tickets, (and not selling any more) for the 54-40 concert, rumour was spread that the

event was sold out. Asa result we only sold tickets to 100 people to the door when we had room for 200. Since then, anyone wanting to buy aticket to an event has not been re- fused.

3. The Barn hasthe same, tired bands. This one is hilari- ous. In the first 7 weeks of the school year 9 bands played the Barn. Of these exactly 7 had never played on PEI before. Who came to see them? No- body. It seems that people will only see acts that they know. As much as I enjoy throwing money away, your student fees have to be spent in some sort of fiscally responsible fash- ion.

4. The Barn is only inter- ested in profits. What profits? The SU, and thus the Barn, is a non-profit organization and exists only as a service for the students of this university. The only reason there is interest in making some money is so that there will be funds to put on events.

One thing that people lose sight of is that students run the Barn, not full-time ca- reer people. Students with the same schedules and time re- straints as everyone else. Those that manage the Barn are in the same boat but have to put in 30+ hours a week to keep things running relatively smoothly. Combined with the salary, it works out to about $1.50/hr. It is a system that is given to you, and you try todo what you can to improve it for the next year.

WALTE FOR US

One direction I would like to give this article is to the rather gutless person that last week neither signed their name nor talked to me personally; but felt free to personally at- tack myself and the Barn staff in a letter to the editor. I get complaints, all the time about everything, and I expect it as part of the job. When you in- . sult the staff, who are regular hard working students, that is something that I neither un- derstand nor will accept.

Have a nice day!

Jonathan Seller

Vice-President

Operations

UPEI Student Union

Editors Note:

Not to upset Jon, I will play devil’s advocate for a moment....1. If 46% of all students at UPEI are under the legal drinking age why don’t we have more wet/dry events? 2. Don’t people have to be checked for ID at all events, not just the wet/ dry ones. 3. What are the new policies concerning the door, tickets and the guest list? Do students get to help create these new policies?

4. Suggestion, if the bands-from-away are not attracting acrowd, get more local bands, or get a sound system and play CD’s like that big M place. 5. The Panther Prints exists for stu- dents to voice their opinion, ifa student does not wish to have their name published it won’t be. Our policy on letters is that they must be signed with a phone number, but we do not have to publish the name, we just need it for legal reasons.