NOVEMBER 29, 2005

THE CADRE @ 5

OPINION & COMMENTARY

The Library is NOT a Social Spot

Mansum Yau Production Editor

Ihave come to the conclusion after two and a half years at this university and four final exam periods (with one coming up) that there are people who do not know what a library is. According to the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, a library is

1 a: a place in which literary, musical, artistic, or reference materials (as books, manuscripts, recordings, or films) are kept for use but not for sale b: a collection of such materials

2: a collection resembling or suggesting a library

3 a: a series of related books issued by a publisher b: a collection of publications on the same subject

4: a collection of sequences of DNA and especially recombinant DNA that are maintained in a suitable cellular environment and that represent the genetic

material of a particular organism or tissue

Though none of these definitions state or even suggest that the library is a social place, some people act like they are in one when they are in the Robertson Library. What happened to the concept of the library as a quiet place?

Five minutes before deciding to write this editorial, for instance, I had

to relocate to another room because a |

them if they could get a group study room or if they could lower their voices, but I did not want to before double checking the library’s noise policy. The Robertson Library website Wwww.upei.ca/library, which is up to date and comprehensive, states:

Noise policy: (to maintain an optimum environment for study and research)

Disturbance or behaviour which interferes with the normal use of the Library is not acceptable. Examples of inappropriate behaviour include rowdiness, noise, prolonged conversations, abusive behaviour, loitering and obstruction of

facilities or access.

Please respect the library’s noise policy and give yourself as well as others a chance to properly prepare for the upcoming finals. Good luck.

group of people who arrived after I did‘ |

had a prolonged discussion with raised voices even though they knew I was in an adjacent carrel (sighing heavily). Study carrel areas, which offer individuals with a relatively private place to study without being enclosed in a small room, may not be designated quiet rooms, but they are definitely not meant for group discussions. There are group study rooms available for that purpose (and I doubt all thirteen of them were in use at that time).

Perhaps I should have asked

... And Now For Something Completely Different: The Rants of a University Student

Ryan Gallant Contibutor

Ah yes. Christmas season on PEI. Snow is in the air, our anally retentive Province has opened the doors for shopping on Sunday, and our beautiful trolley-busses are sporting festive holidays boughs. Ding-ding! All aboard the shit-mobile! Meanwhile, amidst our piles of final assignments and exams and papers and labs, us students are left to ponder how big of an explosion we would have to concoct before they cancelled the remainder of classes and delayed exams for 30 or 40 years. There’s a somewhat joyous concept to consider over the festive season. By the way, just for curiosity’s sake, how damn long does it take to build a friggin Nutri- Science Building anyway? Like holy slack-ass construction Batman!

Well, on Monday Islanders had their chance to vote for a system of Proportional Representation. Did they go for it? Well, It’s Sunday evening, so my opinion is purely speculative, but my guess is: No. Part of the reason for this is because no one knows what the hell is going on, another being that old Patty Binns, a man with the foresight of a carrot, raised the bar of democracy to 60%, presumably to protect us poor voters from being represented by any party other than his own. Of course he doesn’t even have to do a damn thing if it passes anyway. But the main reason it didn’t pass, of course, is because Islanders just don’t like change. “Well yeah, no shit Ryan.” That’s why no one knows how to sort their garbage yet and why we didn’t get a 911 system until 2000. Islanders cherish their backwards and antiquated voting

process: you go to the polls, you cast your ballot, your get your pint of rum and you go home. This opinion has been enunciated clearly in the letters to the editor in The Guardian over the past few weeks. These morons would have you believe that the proposed system is equivalent to that of Communist China, which is like comparing my 89- year-old grandmother to 50 Cent. Mind you, the proposed system was likely the stupidest version of Proportional Representation I have ever seen, but the fact remains that somewhere along the line we are going to need electoral change here on PEI. For example, while the rest of the country is going nuts about the Sponsorship Scandal, freaking out that the Liberals gave money and jobs to their friends, Islanders are sitting around thinking: “Yeah...on PEI, that’s called good politics.” Still, some argue that Political Patronage is a thing of the past here on the Island. Oh sure. And if you believe that I have a Little Christo’s Factory and some Polar Food stock to sell you. I’m sure it’s not coincidence that after Catherine Callbeck won a landslide in 1993 that my road was paved for the first time since 1961, nor is it by mere happenstance that every damn mailbox on our road has been blown to shit by Conservative plow operators since Binns took over in ‘96. Binnsy, by the way, has decided to stick around to run in the next Provincial election. Well good. I was wondering who was going to continue funding ridiculous business ventures and driving our economy into the ground. Ahwell. In the era of the quasi-democratic 60%+1, you get what you ask for. Or at least what Binns tells you to ask for. Merry Christmas!

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ryangallant@hotmail.com