opinion // has nb liquor unleashed socialism in a can? >> pAGE 8 Volume 142 · Issue 24 • March 18, 2009
thebruns.ca
brunswickan canada’s oldest official student publication.
A look at the Engineering differential fee Engineering students are required to pay an extra $1000 per year for facilities
Zaheer Abbas The Brunswickan
Andrew Meade / The Brunswickan
Adaeze Esinulo and Anne Hsiah-Asare perform at African Night last Saturday at the SUB. The event, which celebrated Africa’s diverse cultures, drew close to 450 people and has already generated buzz for next year’s event.
African Night brings out hundreds Alison Clack The Brunswickan It’s hard to ignore the snow and cold temperatures outside, but African Night made it a little easier to forget. The event that was held this past Saturday, Mar. 14, was put on by the UNB/STU African Students’ union. The theme was the tastes and sounds
of Africa, and the event did not fail to deliver on either count. The night, which was a celebration of African culture, featured dancing, food and music, among other things. In addition to a celebration, the night was a chance to educate students and people from the area about African culture. “Our objective was to make you feel like you are in the middle of Africa – not in the desert but culturally. We wanted the students here to feel and enjoy the African hospitality through their food, their music, and their cultural dress at
the event,” explains Samuel Josephson, president of the African Student Union. Beyond bringing the culture of Africa to campus, Josephson says that the ASU wanted to bring people together and expose the local community to the positives of African culture. “The purpose of African Night was to bring all of the Africans, their friends, the community – non-students, the faculty and staff together. It was to showcase African culture, to help the people of Canada and New Brunswick understand African culture and to get to
know African people,” says Josephson. If numbers are anything to go by the ASU did a decent job. Josephson says that the attendance was close to 450 people – a strong showing for the university on a Saturday night. Food was in abundance for all of the attendees, although Josephson laments that he was not able to enjoy the food. “Unfortunately I was not able eat all the food because I was the guy who was
SEE AFRICA PAGE 13
UNB Fredericton has a very strong engineering presence on campus. Sir Howard Douglas Hall, a.k.a. the old Arts building, was also the birthplace of engineering education in Canada. UNB’s rich history, its historic architecture and its century old programs no doubt continues to add value and attract top researchers and students to UNB. The question remains as to whether or not all of these factors raise the cost of providing quality engineering education for the faculty. The Brunswickan met with the Acting Dean of Engineering Dr. Michel Couturier and took a closer look at the faculty’s very own Engineering Program Fund (EPF). The fund was created through faculty-wide consultation with students, professors and administrators during the 2005-06 academic year. When asked why such a fund was created, Dr. Couturier said “the faculty has not been receiving enough money. As a result, budgets have been declining. We had not been investing in our labs and our classrooms as much as we should have had. Things were not improving; we didn’t see the light at the end of the tunnel. “So we sat down with the students at the time and explained if we continue this way, we were likely going to lose professors, students and possibly accreditation.” Each engineering student contributes to the fund by paying $1,000 per academic year in addition to university tuition. The fund generates a little over a million dollars for the faculty annually. The long-term goal of the faculty is
SEE FEE PAGE 2