NOVEMBER 29, 2005

THE CADRE @ 2

But I digress...

Ray Keating Managing Editor

The front cover of the Cadre this week tells a story that strikes me as just beyond belief. On the Friday after our last issue, three non UPEI students walked into Bernadine Hall and assaulted one of the RLA’s who was just trying to do her job and keep things calm in the building. This really gets under my skin on a whole bunch of levels. First of all, these three guys weren’t even students here. They came to our campus, drunk, and proceeded to physically assault a young woman. That brings me to another issue... somebody needs to point out to these guys that there is no lower life form than a guy who hits women. If you look up LOSER in the dictionary, you just might find that as the definition. Real tough guys they were... 3 drunk men smacking around one woman who was just trying to do her job. If | was one of those guys, I wouldn’t have the nerve to show my face around town. The thing is, they’re not alone. I heard on the radio this week that one in six women worldwide is a victim of violence at the hands ofa man. I don’t know about you guys out there, but when I was growing up, my dad told me that violence was never a solution to anything, and hitting a woman was just plain pathetic. These days, I am doing my best to convey that same message to my own son.

On the other side of the situation was the university’s reaction to the situation. There are certainly two sides to that one. On the one hand, it’s

good that they have the best interests of the residents in mind, but on the other hand, I think the course of action was a bit heavy handed and misguided. The comment that closing the residences to visitors was done to protect the safety of the residents only holds water until you realize that the 3 guys involved in the incident were all taken to Sleepy Hollow that night. I could even see the logic in shutting it down for the remainder of the night, but beyond that it seems a bit like punishing a large group for the actions of a few stupid individuals. I’m not going to keep bashing residence services here, lam sure they did what they did with everyone’s best interests in mind , and that they don’t set out to frustrate their residents, but there were certainly a lot of frustrated people in the residence system last weekend. Basically, the administrations position is that students who choose to live in residence have to be willing to accept that they are giving up some freedoms that they’d have if they lived off campus, in exchange for the convenience of being steps away from everything.

On a different note, this is the last issue of the paper before the Christmas break. Exams are close at hand and you could cut the tension on campus with a knife. The good news is that you’ ll all be sitting around the old Christmas Tree (or Holiday Tree if you live in Boston) getting loaded on rum and eggnog and singing “Jingle Bells” before you know it. I am sure you’re

all looking forward to the break. At The Cadre, we’re looking forward to the break too. For the past couple of months we’ve been working on anew look and feel for The Cadre Online. It’s almost ready to go, and if all goes as planned it will be up and running for the first January issue. We are also working on a few changes to the print version which we hope to have in place at the same time, so the break will give us an opportunity to get the loose ends tied up with those projects. Hopefully we'll have an even better product to deliver in the New Year.

With that, [ll close by wishing you all a safe and happy break, anda happy New Year. We’ll see you all in 2006!

Canadian companies are helping China to eliminate Tibetan culture...

Support the innocent by joining the campaign to fight bombardier’s support of Chine’s occupation.

s{tpel@gmall.com