DSU election results expected to face challenge By Nikalas Kryzanowski, News Editor Te Revitalize slate may have taken the lion’s share of the votes in last weeks’ student union elections but questions over procedure could still throw a wrench into the mix. A recount has been requested in at least two contests in what seem to be the preliminary steps to a larger challenge. The close College Relations race was decided by only nine votes and the Members-at-Large count has been challenged by Fred Firmansyah, who finished fourth by an unofficial tally of roughly twenty votes (the top three Members-at-Large candidates all win the position). All candidates have been encouraged to request a recount. Election scrutineer and former DSU board member Wendy Case registered concerns over procedural issues during the election to DSU Receiver Manager Marne Jensen who will be investigating the complaints further “There were some election by- laws that weren’t applied consistently during the campaign,” she noted. She has released a list of alleged procedural failings, a few of which revolve around complaints about her vantage point during the vote counting process. Her other main concerns included the Chief Electoral Officer participating directly in the vote count itself rather than simply overseeing the process. College Relations Candidate Matthew Steinbach also claims to have written up a four page document of electoral allegations to be “released at an appropriate time.” The document is believed to contain a list of alleged campaign violations that occurred during the election involving both the process and actual campaigning activities of slates. The election results need to be ratified by the outgoing DSU board before they become official. As this year’s board contains five members of the Revitalize party while only two members of the opposition Douglas Students’ United slate (plus twomembers who didn’t run in this election), a vote to ratify seems likely to pass. The official transition of power to the new board is expected to take place next month, on May 1, 2008, but it is still unclear how these outstanding concerns could complicate the process. April 7, 2008 Canadian schools embrace text messaging as safety measure New technology allows students to be alerted of emergencies on campus By Amy Minsky, The Concordian (Concordia University) MONTREAL (CUP— Canadian universities from coast-to- coast are integrating text messaging into their emergency alert systems. In the wake of the attacks by gunmen at Dawson College in the fall of 2006 and at Virginia Tech last spring, campuses across North America have been exploring new ways to send emergency messages to their academic communities. Text messaging is a popular choice. The Universities of British Columbia, Calgary and New Brunswick, along with Dalhousie and Simon Fraser University have all taken the text messaging technology into consideration. Concordia University is a leader in developing the technology, but has yet to test the system. Andrew McAusland, the university’s associate vice- president of instructional and information technology services, said that campuses should not rely on text messages alone, seeing potential danger in sending mass messages during an emergency. “Messaging in an emergency environment can be very difficult,” said McAusland, noting that sending messages to the wrong people could produce needless panic. “You’ve got to be very judicious about how you communicate. The issue is reaching the exact people you need to reach, without reaching people you don’t need to.” He said that email, websites, and the public address system—Concordia’s existing emergency communications systems—are better suited for the purpose. In order to avoid sending messages to unconcerned parties and avoid unnecessary panic, the system would have to be segmented. McAusland explained that if one of the campus buildings needs to be evacuated, the message informing students of the appropriate procedures should only be sent to those who are actually in that building. Christine Mota, director of media relations at Concordia, said the school is testing the text messaging technology’s viability now. “Luckily, though, we haven’t really had the chance to test it out in a real-life situation.” The dynamics of the student population challenge the efficiency of the system. “We have 10,000 new people entering the system every year, then six or eight thousand graduating,” said McAusland. The system would have to be constantly updated in order to keep track of changing class and office schedules and cell phone numbers. “T can see the problems. But it’s still a good idea,” said Andrew Devine, a biology student at Concordia. “T think the good things about it outweigh the bad. It’s better to freak everybody out and save a few lives than to have students pouring into campus with no clue that there’s any sort of emergency,” he said. Elyzabeth Deschenes, a classics student at Concordia, agreed. “It’s a good way to reach a lot of people at the same time. Everybody has a cell phone these days. I think it could save lives,” she said. News Shorts By Nikalas Kryzanowski MacGrotty and Steinbach win College Board Elections Alysia MacGrotty and Matthew Steinbach have won the two student representative seats on the 2008-2009 College Board of Douglas College. The pair ran in tandem with one another and will now sit in on meetings that will determine the direction of Douglas College for the upcoming year. MacGrotty, who also won a recent by- election to serve as student representative for the remainder of the 2007-2008 term, said she was excited about the prospect of continuing to work for a Douglas U- Pass while also keeping tabs on the effect of recently announced federal cuts to BC colleges and universities. Voting for the race was conducted online. Royal Bank predicts that the Loonie will Slide in 2008 While the cry for lower domestic prices on goods and services didn’t really have a sustained impact on Canadian wallets, it may ultimately be just as well because the dollar itself will have difficulty sustaining parity in 2008 according to the Royal Bank of Canada. RBC sees the Loonie dropping nearly ten percent this year to 90 cents American, with another drop down to 87 cents expected to occur in 2009. In a contrasting view, the Bank of Montreal predicts that the Loonie will hover around 97 cents for the remainder of the year. It is the RBC report, however, that is backed up by a number of other economic analysts, all of whom predict that Canada’s domestic economy will take a hit as the US economic slump takes a harsh toll on Canadian exports and manufacturers that rely on American clients. PM has no plans to attend Beijing Olympics Prime Minister Stephen Harper has stated that he will not be attending the opening ceremonies of this year’s Olympics in Beijing, though he was quick to note that the recent controversy over Chinese human rights abuses and increasing calls for an out-and-out boycott of the games were not factors for his decision. Harper said that he would be sending high-ranking Canadian officials to attend the ceremony instead. He also stated that China’s behaviour would be closely scrutinized by the international community. “I would continue to urge China to respect human rights and peaceful protest, not just in Tibet but everywhere,” Harper said, “and I would also encourage the government of China to understand that its growing wealth, its growing profile in the world, and of course the profile of the Olympics, will put a greater and greater spotlight on its record in this regard.”