The Incredibles: Not Just for Kids... A&E p. 11

The Leak in Room 104... On Campus p. 15

VotumE 35 Issuz 8

UPEI STUDENT NEWSPAPER

NOVEMBER 30, 2004

‘What's Inside...

‘Editorial .:.......:025.5 pak oe NeWe 8 - Fact and Fiction: Drinks & Personal Safety - PSE Funding: Crunching i Numbers Seiten: oe as z - Campus Radio Lives? Web Radio at UPEI

_- UPEI and China:

<The Right Durgction?

Shelter or No Shelter?

Matt Campbell Reporter

As. the weather becomes increasingly cold, students are left wondering why weather shelters have been neglected this year. Currently, there are two shelters on campus, however both are severely damaged. Some could argue that shelters aren’t as useful as they once were. In order to set the facts straight and tell the university what students need, I went directly to thesource.

“Whenever I have to wait fora

_ tide, its freezing,” said UPEI student

Crystal Banks inside the broken weather shelter. “We’re missing one whole side of the shelter, and my ride cannot get here just quick enough.”

I contacted the Department of Finance & Facilities who then contacted the Director of Facilities Management about the status of the weather shelters. They gave the following information:

“Weare looking at options now for the weather shelter. The cost to replace the tempered glass is very expensive ($1700). It is being discussed at our next Student Centre Building Committee meeting next week.”

“T think it seems kind ofhigh but Ibelieve it will cost that,” said Banks. “It will be worth it, trust me. In a couple months when people are freezing it will be worth it... and then stop breaking the

shelters, because its really cold.”

“There are only two walls, I can’t understand why it doesn’t cover the other side,” claimed Diana Love. Both Love and Dawn Doiron were standing just inside the rear entrance of KCI waiting for their drives.

I asked why they chose to remain indoors rather than use the KCI weather shelter. “Because its warm in here, and weather shelters aren’t acting as weather shelters. They’re like little stic

“Even the one by the Wave, is notcompletely closed in,” said Doiron. “From the sides and from the bottom, there is a gap for the wind and rain.”

UPEI’s own website site dedicated to the retention of Interna- tional Students stresses the importance of keeping warm in Canadian winters. With winter well on its way, tempera-

tures can easily dip to -40 with wind- chill. These ten weather survival tips suggested several important things to students. “Don’t take chances with the winter cold,” and “If you are stranded in the cold with no transportation, look for a warm shelter.” It also states the obvious: Prolonged exposure to freez- ing temperature can be life threatening. Its like what Diana Love said, “We’re not asking for electricity in there, we just need it covered.” Students just don’t think the shelters provide sufficient shelter against the weather despite their namesake. Surely among the millions of dollars being spend on renovations UPEI can shell over an extra $1700 just to meet basic student needs, right? Besides, how will they retain international students other- wise? How will they retain the rest of us?