CELEBRATING 20 1 0
1910
YEARS
volume CI number 35
the official student newspaper at the university of alberta
www.thegatewayonline.ca
Donation matching program frozen
The Gateway is your source for coverage of the 2011 U of A Students’ Union and GSA Executive elections.
today • GSA Candidate Q&As: President, VP (Academic), VP (Student Life), VP (Labour), and VP (Student Services)
thursday, march 3 • SU Candidate Q&As, Part 1: VP (Student Life), VP (Academic), and VP (Operations & Finance) • Residence Forum in review • The Poster Slam! A less-than-expert panel of Gateway staff rips on and tears apart the best and worst of this year’s campaign posters.
tuesday, march 8 • SU Candidate Q&As, Part 2: President, VP (External), and Board of Governors Representative • Election Dissection: The Gateway’s annual panel of experts takes a look at this year’s candidates. • Myer Horowitz and SUBstage candidates’ forums in review.
friday, march 11 • The Gateway’s annual election special brings you the final results for both the SU and the GSA elections for the first time. Look for this limited release in SUB, ETLC, CAB, and HUB before it’s gone!
thegatewayonline Find live video webcast of the forums and exclusive video interviews at:
thegatewayonline.ca/vote2011 For expert up-to-the-minute coverage and commentary, follow Pecker the election rooster, The Gateway’s official political pet on Twitter at:
twitter.com/ votewithpecker
tuesday, march 1, 2011
Simon Yackulic
Deputy News Editor
dan mckechnie
LET THE GAMES BEGIN Election candidates braved the cold to distribute their signs on campus.
Campus facing unprecedented mice problem in buildings Hayley Dunning News Staff
An infestation of mice across campus is one of the worst in recent memory and is causing headaches for students and staff, especially those with offices in the Tory Building. The university has taken measures to block holes that mice may be using to enter the building. Mice have been seen and heard by graduate students and staff in offices up to the third floor of Tory, eating food that is left out and leaving waste behind as an indicator to residents that they have had visitors. Associate Director of Building and Grounds Service Ray Dumouchel said that it’s not uncommon to have a few mice coming inside for food and shelter in the fall, but numbers usually drop off over the winter. He doesn’t know why this year has seen a more persistent population, but said it’s the worst that he’s seen. “It’s not just in Tory; it’s an issue that’s happening not just here on campus but across the city. Why is it more mice this year than in the past? I don’t know the answer to that,” Dumouchel said. “We’re trying to control it throughout the campus, but it is something that, talking to our pest control company that does all the work here, is a large problem across the city.” Dumouchel said the main focus of mouse prevention is communicating to staff and students the importance of making food unavailable. Tory recently posted bulletins alerting residents to the presence of mice. “Usually, [mice] tend to be no more than 30 feet away from their den — they don’t travel. So if they find a food source, they will stay there until their little tummies are full. If the food continues, they don’t have to go anywhere,” he explained.
Offices in Tory are usually cleaned every two weeks, but if a mouse sighting is reported, Dumouchel said the office will be cleaned once a day until the mice move on. There are also baiting stations in the lower floors of Tory. When a mouse eats the poisonous bait, it goes back to its den before dying, often taking some of the other mice with it.
“We never ever saw [a mouse], but each morning it would leave a special present in her snack drawer.” esther mcnairnay eas graduate student
Earth and Atmospheric Science graduate student Kurt Borth has been dealing with the infestation. “I’ve heard them skittering along the roof of my second-floor Tory office for months; they are in the false ceiling up there. We have traps in our office, but they seem to stick to the roof. It’s a bit creepy. When I was studying for my candidacy exam, I’d be here late and I’d hear them skitter across the roof,” Borth said. “[One mouse] only liked my office-mate’s desk and never bothered me. We never ever saw it, but each morning it would leave a special present in her snack drawer. Now we don’t get to have snack drawers,” said EAS graduate student Esther McNairnay. Dumouchel is asking students and staff to keep food sealed and offices clean, especially if they eat at their desks. Crumbs are a meal to a mouse, and they especially love sugar and chocolate — the items most likely to be kept in office drawers.
A provincial government program that matched private donations to postsecondary institutions has been suspended, the Conservatives annnounced with their budget release last week. The Access to the Future Fund, which provided funding to institutions from interest off of its $1 billion endowment, will be suspended for two years. The funding has maxed out at an annual $49 million despite $700 million in private donation pledges. Advanced Education and Technology Minister Greg Weadick explained that the provincial government was planning on reviewing the program, though there were more pressing reasons for the freeze. While the government might increase the endowment in the future, keeping buildings at postsecondary institutions up and running is a more pressing issue for the province. “During [the two years], we’re going to do a review to see if we can make it work any better. But really, at this point in time, we needed to work with the schools to ensure that they have our bases covered for our students and keep lights on for our buildings.” Weadick blamed a bad economy for getting in the way of any endowment increases, but said that endowments like the Access to the Future Fund are important to the “long term vision” for education in the province. He said there’s higher priorities for the government, such as operating costs at institutions which he referred to as “lights on” issues. However Students’ Union Vice President (External) Aden Murphy said he was less concerned about the suspension of the Access to the Future Fund as he was about the lack of other funding in the new budget. “The majority of projects from Access to the Future were for capital projects. What we need at this point is not more capital projects, but more financial aid for students on campus. You can have the prettiest labs in the world, but if students can’t afford to get to them then it’s a problem,” he said. University Provost and Vice President (Academic) Carl Amrhein said the U of A was looking at how the suspension would affect the institution and would “be communicating with donors in the near future.” Amrhein also said that the “lights on” funding was a positive for the new buildings which received operating funds, such as CCIS and the Edmonton Health Clinic Academy, even though the Campus Alberta grant didn’t see an increase. Murphy, however, said that the budget didn’t offer help where it was most needed — in student assistance. “We have lots and lots of money for new research, for recruiting professors, but not for the undergraduate students that are going to postsecondary.”