Dear Editor in Chief,

A mere 40 seconds ago, I, a proud Guelph alumnus, was appalled to notice today’s design on the cannon. The cannon, a symbol of student creativity, had been painted to advertise a sale at a chain clothing store. While some may have accepted that a degree of corporatization on university campuses is inevitable, the Cannon is a reflection of Guelph’s proud sense of activism and tradition and thus it is not a place for corporate advertising. I am bringing this piece of news to your attention because I believe it deserves consideration by the University Community, of which you are a part.

Fraser Pennie

 

A letter to the editor,

I am a frequent guest of the campus pub The Brass Taps who uses this establishment for studying and socializing. In my personal life I have pursued a position in the service industry, and with my five years of experience tending bar and serving tables I have never been exposed to service staff with less ownership and motivation to deliver expedient and quality service.

With the exception of a few dedicated staff members who are pleasant and accurate, the majority of the staff I encounter on a regular basis do not seem to have any motivation or conception of quality of service. In my experience a persisting issue is cause for concern and should be address by management.

My reason for addressing this issue of quality of service is because I would like to see this establishment achieve its full potential. I have an affinity for the service industry and care for the overall well being and experience of guests paying for a service, especially when I am one of them.

Alexandre Marchal

 

My name is Douglas a local university student who visited Mountain residence last Saturday at Guelph. When I visited I found an intoxicated female student by herself who was hysterical at about 1:00am on the ground of mountain parking lot who appeared to by injured, who I coincidentally once knew in my early childhood. As I was waiting to be picked up by a friend I ran over and asked if she was ok, she wasn’t. She had no idea where she was, how she got to Guelph or where her friends went. She told me she had broken her knee and could not move and was extremely cold so I dropped my backpack, threw a coat over her, and carried her to mountain residence. Once getting the information as to who her friends were and a number I could contact them at, another fellow student witnessed what was going on and volunteered to drive to the hospital. Luckily she was ok and only suffered from alcohol poisoning and a torn mcl. However, once I got back from carrying the injured girl to where I had dropped my backpack, it had been stolen.

I am writing to you today in desperation asking you to possibly try and help me find my backpack as it contained my Toshiba laptop which contained all my school work, business plans, business files, and personal information. Words cannot describe how much I would appreciate it and hopefully a person out there who has found my grey Oakley backpack outside of mountain residence could return it.

I thank-you for taking the time to read this and appreciate any input that can possibly be implemented to finding my backpack and laptop as hopefully there are still some good people out there !

Sincerely,

Douglas Lusted

If you have found Douglas’s backpack, please contact us at ontarion@uoguelph.ca -Ed

 

For a campus that wants to create a Better Planet, the University of Guelph sure is doing a great job of promising much and providing little. With tuition fees ever on the rise, students are fighting to keep themselves clothed and fed while they work to turn in papers on time and pass their exams. Many students are coming to learn that the issue of food security is not something restricted to the horn of Africa, but something that affects people on campus every day. According to a Canadian Community Health survey from 2004, 9% of Canadians are considered “food insecure”. With increasingly more Canadians wondering where their next meal is coming from, many are turning to local Food Banks for support. The Central Student Association’s Food Bank, located just off Gordon St. next to the Bike Centre, is starting to really feel the effects of this trend within Canada. This semester so far, the CSA Food Bank has seen a 40% increase in users, many of whom are mature students with small children and international students who pay unreasonably large amounts in tuition. If their food budget continues to be taxed by this influx of users, the Food Bank may not be able to stay open into the winter semester without significant help from the outside. How can an institution with a capital campaign focusing on Food (among other things) call itself a global leader when it can’t even use some of its $200 million to feed students in need on its own campus? The Better Planet Project should stop focusing on abstract, inaccessible goals, but instead on issues that are of real, vital importance to its students.

Paulina Cumming

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