You can't part with a few fucking cents?

MELISSA HIEBERT STAFF

Let’s face it; no one cares who won the UMSU election last week. (Garry who?) OK OK, I’m projecting; I guess I should say that I don’t care who won the election last week. The reason I voted at all was for one thing and one thing only: the proposed levy increases.

There were three groups asking for levy money: the U of M’s public interest research group (icePIRG), Engineers Without Borders (EWB), and the University of Manitoba Recycling and Environmental Group (UMREG). UMREG, which currently has a levy of $2 per student, asked for a $0.50 increase in the past election. The U of M chapter of EWB, which currently has no levy, asked for $0.70 per student, and finally, icePIRG, which also currently has no levy, asked for $2 per student.

Of course, being the wonderful and generous person I am, I voted “yes” to all three levies. I know, I know, offering a whole $3.20 a year out of my own pocket is a little excessive, but I figured, what the hell? I can do with one less beer a year. I mean, I’m not saying it wasn’t a tough decision; I had to think really long and hard about whether or not continued recycling at the U of M, building homes for families in the Third World, and researching things like GMOs and environmental sustainability was worth sacrificing the spare change I’d end up losing in my couch anyway.

Apparently, the rest of the student body didn’t feel the same way — for the most part anyway. UMREG actually did get their levy increase, winning by 360 votes, while both EWB and icePIRG lost by 153 votes and 254 votes, respectively.

Honestly, when I first heard the news, I was a little pissed off. Why the hell wouldn’t students fork out a few measly cents for a good cause? Naturally, about 93 per cent of the student population didn’t give a shit about voting anyway and so I guess I can’t blame them. But the ones that did vote, and voted no, were definitely added to my “people to kill” list, right up there with George Bush and the entire cast of Everyone Loves Raymond. And man, do I hate that show.

After the rage onset by my blind idealism had subsided, I decided to do the rational thing and take a look at some of the reasons why people voted the way they did. At first, I figured that people had only voted for UMREG because environmentalism is such a hot-button issue these days, and people were just doing their part to jump on the bandwagon. However, a quick look at their website suggests that there might be a little more merit to their levy increase than mere environmental trends.

UMREG’s website contains information about their current levy, which was supported 4.5 to 1 in 1999, and has not been raised since. The website also contains information about where the money is going: mainly to the wages of the 11 paid staff members that make recycling on campus possible. And, if you think about the overwhelming amount of work that must go into managing the recycling of the entire campus, another 50 cents after eight years does not seem unfair. Would we pay the garbage-men any less? I didn’t think so.

However, the icePIRG website does not contain the same amount of information. Actually, to tell you the truth, if I didn’t already know what icePIRG was all about, I wouldn’t have a clue in hell as to what the group actually does. The website does contain a brief mission statement that begins with “We are a diverse community of students, researchers, community members based out of the University of Manitoba. We are concerned and dedicated to seeking truth and justice for more people and in more places,” but really, what does that even mean? I’m not saying that having a PIRG at the U of M is a bad thing, just that in order to deserve $50,000 of students’ money, any kind of outline as to what icePIRG actually does or what they plan on using the money for might have been useful.

The one that had me stumped for a while was why students didn’t vote for the mere $0.70 levy that EWB had requested. The only thing I can chalk this up to is jealousy; I had to work my ass off to scrounge up money to go on a volunteer exchange — why should I pay to send someone else for free?

So at the end of the day, while I would have liked to see all of the groups get their levies, I suppose the results were legitimate and fair. I’ll just have to assume that the reason why students voted the way they did were because of the facts, and not because they were too cheap to part with a few fucking cents. (Though while I’m at it I’ll also have to assume that I’m going to win a Grammy next year for best new breakout artist.) Not bloody likely.