And now for something completely different: Ranting of a university student

anyone else.

5 , B Bee I have no qualms about renew- able energy programs on PEI. Hurricane Juan made me realize that I am a big fan of electricity, and the cheap stuff isn't bad either. But what is it with Binns' plans for it? Natural gas generating plants? Last time we checked, we don't have any natural gas. A multi-million dollar pipeline? Cool. But why didn't we sign on when it was a much more affordable prospect? And wind farms? Come on now. Everyone knows that if you're looking for a place to harness wind energy on P.E.I., the windswept cam- pus of UPEI is the place to do it, not Malpeque. (As a popular university joke once put it: Q: Why is it so windy in Charlottetown? A: Because UPEI

blows.) Just chalk it up as another poorly planned provincial government endeavour.

Speaking of systems that don't make any sense, I have a bit of trouble understanding this parking system here at UPEI. A few years back it was decided by administration that us stu- dents have way too much freedom just parking in any old parking lot on cam- pus. It was decided we should pay $50 for the privilege of parking in parking lots that we basically pay for. But what would all this money for parking pass- es pay for? Because, you know, we could always use the extra fifty bucks for essentials, like for drinking or something, or perhaps for more trivial

"items such as, oh, I don't know...books

maybe? But, as it turns out, our money is going to pay for our wonderful secu- rity personnel to drive around in their cute little mini van and pass out park- ing tickets for violations. And why not eh? Us university students have tons of money. $50? That's nothing on top of our $5000 tuition. Pocket change. We love the brisk walks from the annals of the earth behind C.C. or KCI to our

classes in Duffy or Main when it's -40 degrees. And towing our cars us for lit- tle or no reason is perfectly ok too. Why not sell passes to parking spaces that don't exist? As long as we have the peace of mind in knowing that our hard-earned money is going some- where important, namely, to protect our beloved security staff from the elements as they punish other students and to pay for their gas to make half a dozen trips to Tim Horton's everyday. God for- bid they crack down on real crime.

I was told last week by a professor that once upon a time that our great university had free parking. I didn't believe that. Beinga | naive second year student, I didn't experience the "crazy days" of the late nineties : here on campus. The days of the Drink-the-Barn-Dry when crazy radical ideas like free parking were swirling around. Back in the day, I was told, we didn't pay for the privilege of having a van on our ass all day trying to penalize us for parking

he Cadre is now accepting

wrong or telling us to "Move along." But those days are gone. Free and unrestricted parking? Nahhhh. That would never catch on.

I also love how all the com- puters work in the all of the computer labs here on campus. Oh damn. I must've been thinking of that other

submissions for our annual

ate Pe

UPE!I Cadre November 17 2003 page 14