CELEBRATING 20 1 0
1910
YEARS
volume CI number 39
the official student newspaper at the university of alberta
www.thegatewayonline.ca
tuesday, march 15, 2011
inside
Don’t hate on the players The Gateway’s Darcy Ropchan explores the art of being a ladies’ man — discovering it’s harder than the how-to manuals let on. feature, Page 8
Aaron Yeo
FIRE ON ICE The Golden Bears hockey team won the Canada West championship and will be heading to Fredericton for CIS nationals. See story, page 12.
Tighe talks changes at Dewey’s Let’s boycott cell carriers The stupid ploys by Fido and Telus involving contracts and tabs for our cell bills are nothing short of outrageous. opinion, Page 6
Explosions and aliens just aren’t cool enough Battle: Los Angeles may have an almost unlimited budget for special effects and a plot involving extraterrestrials, but it leaves viewers wanting some real characters. a&e, Page 10
Converting the Powerplant, digital InfoLink booths on the president-elect’s agenda Justin Bell
Managing Editor
Ensuring the Students’ Union is relevant to undergraduate students — it’s a big goal, but incoming SU President Rory Tighe has his sights set high. “I really want more people to be interested in the Students’ Union next year. I really want students to feel more connected to the SU and the university,” Tighe said. In the short term, that’s going to mean trying to get as many students as possible interested in the Students’ Council election on March 24 and 25. He wants to see many seats contested for the 31-seat council. Expanding the role of InfoLink will be another way to get students interested. Tighe said he wants to put together a proposal to expand the number of InfoLink booths, as well as adding digital terminals, what he described as “similar to digital maps you would find in malls.” He also wants to start negotiating with the university and the Graduate Students’ Association about the future of the Powerplant space. The lease on Dewey’s will be up in August 2012, and Tighe would like to see the building converted to a central
Second term for GSA president Justin Bell
Managing Editor
But the space comes with its own pitfalls. The SU ran the Powerplant in the past, and had to shutter the popular bar over mounting debts, which had reached $210,000 by one point. Tighe recognized the problems the space caused for the SU in the past and said he will try to learn from them.
Coming into his second term as president of the Graduate Students’ Association, Roy Coulthard doesn’t have big exciting plans. Instead, he wants proper governance and good administration at the association to be his top priority for next year. “I think a lot of my focus is really going to be internal. It’s going to be making sure we have all the internal supports we need as elected officials to go out and do our jobs properly,” Coulthard said. Coulthard said he wants to grow the association from “a large student club” into a more professional organization better able to respond to the needs of grad students. He also wants to focus on advocacy, expanding the number of university committees the GSA has representation on. That kind of work will only come about when the organization is able to run on its own, according to Coulthard.
Please see tighe Page 3
Please see coulthard Page 2
Dan Mckechnie
GO BIG OR GO HOME Incoming SU President Rory Tighe outlines his goals.
meeting space on campus for undergrads, grad students, and alumni. “I would really like to see the space expand a little bit. I think there’s a real need for a mid-size venue on campus,” he said. Tighe said grad students and undergrads need space on campus to meet, and he sees no reason the two couldn’t come together in an updated Powerplant.