Letters to the Editor

Send your letters to editor@themanitoban.com or drop them off at 105 University Centre

Constructive criticism

To the Editor-in-chief:

After having been interviewed this afternoon by News Editor Chelse Mckee - and I mean interviewed in the loosest sense of the term - I am left to question the journalistic integrity of the Manitoban staff.

Upon agreeing to answer a few questions, I was immediately accused of running a “joke slate,” and although this took the form of a question, its tone belied its implication. I was continually harassed about my choice of campaign methods and materials as well as the nature of my platform and its ideals. This did not take the form of constructive journalism but rather a pointed attempt to defame my character and potentially disrupt my campaign for no reason other than to create news.

Over the years, I had come to expect better from the Manitoban, not such partisan hackery. It is actions like this that validate my promise to grant the Manitoban full autonomy from UMSU, both financially and journalistically. I neither demand nor expect an apology; I simply pray you have offered the other candidates more courtesy than you have to me.

Pierce Cairns, UMSU presidential candidate

Accidental joke

The Regressive Conservative’s website clearly states that their purpose is \”to do one thing: purify the corrupt student union and its CFS overlords that plague the U of M\”. If this goal is impossible to achieve because UMSU will always remain a corrupt society, under the control of Mother CFS; then, maybe the Manitoban is right - it was only a joke to think this could change.

Gregory Schmidt

Give us some respect, we’re aiming for the Moose Jaw Times Herald

It’s good to see that Manitoban is doing their level best to sustain the status quo. The fact that they seem unable to refer to the Regressive Conservative slate without reference to it being a “joke slate” just goes to show that they don’t want any change. And why indeed should they? If UMSU actually changes or is destroyed (as Mr. Cairns has oft-stated to be his ultimate goal), then what will the Manitoba write about? The easy topic of student government will be gone! Horror of horros!

Will the Manitoban find interesting, relevant matters to write about, or (more likely) will we be subjected to continued navel-gazing by an aspiring journalism student, who will eventually, with perseverance, hard work and a lot of luck, write for the Podunk Times-Herald?

I used to respect the Manitoban because it had a willingness to publish damn near anything (something the Uniter has been recently unwilling to do thanks to their chickensh*t editorial staff), but it’s become increasingly obvious that they aren’t interested in writing anything except what helps them.

As well, my congratulations to Stephanie Fera, who has proved herself a highly competent CRO by staying within the laws and allowing all comers to run, provided they fulfill the obligations and requirements. The U of M has been lucky to have a number of CROs who understand and embrace the trust they are given, and Stephanie continues that tradition.

Matthew Molnar

A job well done

I just wanted to thank Dana Gregoire for his fantastic coverage of the 08 UMSU election on the election blog. It’s a shame that, despite having that source of relatively objective information, so few students cared enough to get informed and vote.

Trevor Bekolay

The price of student government

Re: UMSU = dumbsu, by Nils Vik

Coming from an inner city high school (Gordon Bell) where no functional student council existed and elections were mere popularity contests, I had little expectation for UMSU and student councils in individual faculties. After attending U of M for almost four years (and paying $140 each year for UMSU), my experience didn’t prove me wrong. UMSU did nothing more than telling me how much I’m paying and “freeze” tuition fees by introducing ancillary fees, lab fees, etc. In fact, taking 30 credit hours each year, my tuition fee increased from around $3200 to a shocking $4000 this year; at least I’m graduating and have taken most of the lab courses already. And the improvements? none, lecture halls and study spaces are still over-packed, lab equipments are not any better. At least this year there are more than Sran entering the presidential campaign, and there are more than one candidate for each position, making the election slightly more democratic than the one-man show.

As for faculty student councils, I’m quite impressed with the Art student council - they have a variety of services and multicultural events other than the pub-crawls presented by the Science student council each year. I still remember vividly how I was encouraged to join the Science student council by my fellow lab partner and a member of the council, reasons being “I’m paying for it anyways”, and “there are very few girls applying this year”. The perks as he mentioned other than it will look great on resume, also included free pizza on meetings, money coming from the $140 I’m already paying for each year. I had no encounter with the student council since then - after all, being drunk on a bus taking from bar to bars isn’t my thing. Just as last week, I’ve found a piece of torn printer paper sticking on the locker I temporarily locked the day before to store a few textbooks, informing me that I could claim the content are in the student council office. Big, hand-written letters filled the poor, thin paper, hanging by a small piece of tape. After moments of disbelief, I eventually claimed the two books and a box of crackers in the office, while one of the girls kindly offered me to buy a locker for the rest of the semester. Of course i walked out without agreeing to the nonsense, not only because I was informed that lockers after the sales period are assumed free on the U1 orientation, since locations are limited and qualities are poor, also because I don’t feel like funding the meeting-food-budget by $20 more - the one-hooked, garbage and dust filled locker isn’t worth $20 a year to start with, say nothing about paying for merely one month.

After all, are the art students really “less evolved” according to the T-shirts by the Science student? At least they’d put on a typed, somewhat formal notice days before they decide to cut open an unpaid locker, that’s if they’d bother when there are less than 45 school days left.

Yujia Sun

The heart of Serbia

The historical analysis of Serbia, Kosovo and the corresponding part of the Balkans by two UofM students is timely and well-done. Many people do not understand the background of the turmoil following the recent declaration of independence by the ethnic Albanian leaders of Kosovo. It is, therefore, difficult to figure out what really is going on in that troubled part of the world, and why. This article is a welcome illumination.

The story about Kosovo is possibly even more complex. The Kosovo declaration of independence would hot be possible without the decisive backing of the Unites States. The article hints on this. Indeed, both the Clinton and Bush administration have been deeply involved in carving ethnic mini-states out of the territory that once made the country called Yugoslavia (1918-1991) and numbered 24 million people. The US backed every single ethnic group that declared a desire to constitute a new state. In some cases, the acts of separation resulted in bloodshed, such as in Croatia and Bosnia. A policy of “Balkanization” has been carried out to extreme.

Interestingly, this “Balkanization” process was lopsided, since the US endorsed every ethnic group in creating its state but the Serbs. Although there has been a country of Serbia (before and after the former Yugoslavia), the Serbs have also lived across the former Yugoslavia. But when the Serbs in Bosnia (40% of the population) tried to declare independence from the newly created state of Bosnia, the US stopped them militarily through NATO. Now, this same policy denies the right of self-determination to 150,000 Serbs living in Kosovo. They must live in the newly declared Albanian Kosovo – or leave.

The motives of the creators and carriers of this apparently biased policy are yet to be revealed. On the surface, it is obvious that the same politicians have been involved. A Dutch documentary entitled Albanian Brooklyn Connection, which is available on the Youtube, features a leader of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) who lives in New York. This person is shown going to fund raisers, accompanied by Hashim Thachi (now the PM of Kosovo), both shaking hands with Richard Holbrook (former US ambassador to the UN and the US envoy in the Balkans in the 1990s) and retired Gen. Wesley Clark (chief commander of NATO in 1999 when this alliance bombed Serbia for 78 days). The KLA leader writes cheques for the Democratic Party campaign and comments how convenient it is to live in a country where money can buy anything.

Send your letters to us!

The Manitoban welcomes letters to the editor at letters@themanitoban.com. All letters are printed exactly as received. If a headline is not provided, we will provide one. The Manitoban editorial board reserves the right to not publish letters, particularly those it deems libellous or discriminatory. The deadline for letters is Friday at 4 p.m. for Wednesday publication.





Volume 95 Issue 23	The Official University of Manitoba Students' Newspaper Website	March 12, 2008

Home About Us Advertising Rates Contact Staff Current Issue PDF Employment Letters to the Editor Meet the Staff Online Archives Volunteer Online Classifieds St. Vincent's Academy Diaries	Font Size Respond Email Print-Friendly Letters to the Editor Send your letters to editor@themanitoban.com or drop them off at 105 University Centre Constructive criticism To the Editor-in-chief: After having been interviewed this afternoon by News Editor Chelse Mckee - and I mean interviewed in the loosest sense of the term - I am left to question the journalistic integrity of the Manitoban staff. Upon agreeing to answer a few questions, I was immediately accused of running a “joke slate,” and although this took the form of a question, its tone belied its implication. I was continually harassed about my choice of campaign methods and materials as well as the nature of my platform and its ideals. This did not take the form of constructive journalism but rather a pointed attempt to defame my character and potentially disrupt my campaign for no reason other than to create news. Over the years, I had come to expect better from the Manitoban, not such partisan hackery. It is actions like this that validate my promise to grant the Manitoban full autonomy from UMSU, both financially and journalistically. I neither demand nor expect an apology; I simply pray you have offered the other candidates more courtesy than you have to me. Pierce Cairns, UMSU presidential candidate Accidental joke The Regressive Conservative’s website clearly states that their purpose is \”to do one thing: purify the corrupt student union and its CFS overlords that plague the U of M\”. If this goal is impossible to achieve because UMSU will always remain a corrupt society, under the control of Mother CFS; then, maybe the Manitoban is right - it was only a joke to think this could change. Gregory Schmidt Give us some respect, we’re aiming for the Moose Jaw Times Herald It’s good to see that Manitoban is doing their level best to sustain the status quo. The fact that they seem unable to refer to the Regressive Conservative slate without reference to it being a “joke slate” just goes to show that they don’t want any change. And why indeed should they? If UMSU actually changes or is destroyed (as Mr. Cairns has oft-stated to be his ultimate goal), then what will the Manitoba write about? The easy topic of student government will be gone! Horror of horros! Will the Manitoban find interesting, relevant matters to write about, or (more likely) will we be subjected to continued navel-gazing by an aspiring journalism student, who will eventually, with perseverance, hard work and a lot of luck, write for the Podunk Times-Herald? I used to respect the Manitoban because it had a willingness to publish damn near anything (something the Uniter has been recently unwilling to do thanks to their chickensh*t editorial staff), but it’s become increasingly obvious that they aren’t interested in writing anything except what helps them. As well, my congratulations to Stephanie Fera, who has proved herself a highly competent CRO by staying within the laws and allowing all comers to run, provided they fulfill the obligations and requirements. The U of M has been lucky to have a number of CROs who understand and embrace the trust they are given, and Stephanie continues that tradition. Matthew Molnar A job well done I just wanted to thank Dana Gregoire for his fantastic coverage of the 08 UMSU election on the election blog. It’s a shame that, despite having that source of relatively objective information, so few students cared enough to get informed and vote. Trevor Bekolay The price of student government Re: UMSU = dumbsu, by Nils Vik Coming from an inner city high school (Gordon Bell) where no functional student council existed and elections were mere popularity contests, I had little expectation for UMSU and student councils in individual faculties. After attending U of M for almost four years (and paying $140 each year for UMSU), my experience didn’t prove me wrong. UMSU did nothing more than telling me how much I’m paying and “freeze” tuition fees by introducing ancillary fees, lab fees, etc. In fact, taking 30 credit hours each year, my tuition fee increased from around $3200 to a shocking $4000 this year; at least I’m graduating and have taken most of the lab courses already. And the improvements? none, lecture halls and study spaces are still over-packed, lab equipments are not any better. At least this year there are more than Sran entering the presidential campaign, and there are more than one candidate for each position, making the election slightly more democratic than the one-man show. As for faculty student councils, I’m quite impressed with the Art student council - they have a variety of services and multicultural events other than the pub-crawls presented by the Science student council each year. I still remember vividly how I was encouraged to join the Science student council by my fellow lab partner and a member of the council, reasons being “I’m paying for it anyways”, and “there are very few girls applying this year”. The perks as he mentioned other than it will look great on resume, also included free pizza on meetings, money coming from the $140 I’m already paying for each year. I had no encounter with the student council since then - after all, being drunk on a bus taking from bar to bars isn’t my thing. Just as last week, I’ve found a piece of torn printer paper sticking on the locker I temporarily locked the day before to store a few textbooks, informing me that I could claim the content are in the student council office. Big, hand-written letters filled the poor, thin paper, hanging by a small piece of tape. After moments of disbelief, I eventually claimed the two books and a box of crackers in the office, while one of the girls kindly offered me to buy a locker for the rest of the semester. Of course i walked out without agreeing to the nonsense, not only because I was informed that lockers after the sales period are assumed free on the U1 orientation, since locations are limited and qualities are poor, also because I don’t feel like funding the meeting-food-budget by $20 more - the one-hooked, garbage and dust filled locker isn’t worth $20 a year to start with, say nothing about paying for merely one month. After all, are the art students really “less evolved” according to the T-shirts by the Science student? At least they’d put on a typed, somewhat formal notice days before they decide to cut open an unpaid locker, that’s if they’d bother when there are less than 45 school days left. Yujia Sun The heart of Serbia The historical analysis of Serbia, Kosovo and the corresponding part of the Balkans by two UofM students is timely and well-done. Many people do not understand the background of the turmoil following the recent declaration of independence by the ethnic Albanian leaders of Kosovo. It is, therefore, difficult to figure out what really is going on in that troubled part of the world, and why. This article is a welcome illumination. The story about Kosovo is possibly even more complex. The Kosovo declaration of independence would hot be possible without the decisive backing of the Unites States. The article hints on this. Indeed, both the Clinton and Bush administration have been deeply involved in carving ethnic mini-states out of the territory that once made the country called Yugoslavia (1918-1991) and numbered 24 million people. The US backed every single ethnic group that declared a desire to constitute a new state. In some cases, the acts of separation resulted in bloodshed, such as in Croatia and Bosnia. A policy of “Balkanization” has been carried out to extreme. Interestingly, this “Balkanization” process was lopsided, since the US endorsed every ethnic group in creating its state but the Serbs. Although there has been a country of Serbia (before and after the former Yugoslavia), the Serbs have also lived across the former Yugoslavia. But when the Serbs in Bosnia (40% of the population) tried to declare independence from the newly created state of Bosnia, the US stopped them militarily through NATO. Now, this same policy denies the right of self-determination to 150,000 Serbs living in Kosovo. They must live in the newly declared Albanian Kosovo – or leave. The motives of the creators and carriers of this apparently biased policy are yet to be revealed. On the surface, it is obvious that the same politicians have been involved. A Dutch documentary entitled Albanian Brooklyn Connection, which is available on the Youtube, features a leader of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) who lives in New York. This person is shown going to fund raisers, accompanied by Hashim Thachi (now the PM of Kosovo), both shaking hands with Richard Holbrook (former US ambassador to the UN and the US envoy in the Balkans in the 1990s) and retired Gen. Wesley Clark (chief commander of NATO in 1999 when this alliance bombed Serbia for 78 days). The KLA leader writes cheques for the Democratic Party campaign and comments how convenient it is to live in a country where money can buy anything. Send your letters to us! The Manitoban welcomes letters to the editor at letters@themanitoban.com. All letters are printed exactly as received. If a headline is not provided, we will provide one. The Manitoban editorial board reserves the right to not publish letters, particularly those it deems libellous or discriminatory. The deadline for letters is Friday at 4 p.m. for Wednesday publication.


Terms of Use RSS Feeds © Copyright 2008 The Manitoban Newspaper Publications Corporation