THIS WEEK

Three new Voice writers:.
Bill Pollett, Rebecca Flan and Shannon Maguire join the Voice as writers this week.

HOW TO CONDUCT A SUCCESSFUL SALON – Bill Pollett and his friends are reviving the tradition of the conversational salon:

JUNK TV – Not everything on the tube is educational, but is that necessarily a bad thing? Rebecca Flan finds merit in televised escapism:

LIGHTS GO OUT IN ONTARIO AND THE NE UNITED STATES – Shannon Maguire covers the blackout, and how the re-powering of Ontario is progressing:

CALCULUS AND CROCODILES – What you need to know if you are considering post secondary study in Australia:

LOTS OF LETTERS! Make sure to check out the letters section of this issue, as we have gained permission to reprint a trio of letters recently published in the Edmonton Journal, from a student, a council member, and the AU president.

Report on Dr. Abrioux’s statements delayed

Sorry folks. Transferring the interview with Dr. Abrioux from the tapes to mp3 format proved a bit trickier than I had imagined [actually, I just bought the wrong cable and thus the transfer was in muffled mono], so there is a delay on that report I promised. It is well in hand, though, and I hope to have the entire interview online very shortly along with the other materials presented by Dr. Abrioux.

Dominique has also responded to last week’s editorial with some interesting new information, which I’ll discuss next week because I have just received his e-mail.

So, you are spared my ramblings for this week, but expect an extensive report both on Dr. Abrioux’s statements and the recent council meeting in next week’s issue:

Watch the front page of the AUSU website for the mp3 files of the interview. The files will be posted on the AUSU website only, not directly on The Voice – though I’ll provide links in The Voice next week.

Also, very shortly I’ll be posting the first Voice Annual Reader Survey. I know, I know, between AUSU and The Voice we are always surveying you guys, but given that you all attend this university from a distance, it’s the only way to make sure that the Students’ Union and The Voice are providing you with great services for your money.

This will be much more extensive than the last survey, and the prizes will also be much bigger. Watch for the survey, and please comment voluminously, so that the Voice can continue to provide information that is relevant to you.

And, on another topic entirely, I attended a meeting of the AU web editors today, and I can tell you that there are great plans in the works for improvements to the AU web site, which will in time allow you much greater access to all of your registration and course information. I think that all students will love the new site. As always, if you have comments on the AU site you can forward them to me at voice@ausu.org, since I will have an opportunity to forward these to the AU web unit as student rep at future meetings.

Tamra Ross Low
Editor in Chief
voice@ausu.org

AUSU Survey on Tuition Deregulation at AU.

AU has asked the Alberta government for exemption from the cap which dictates how much tuition can be raised each year. So far, AU has not released a statement explaining the need for this change, but has communicated several reasons for this request to the Students’ Union.

AUSU has created a small survey to assess student opinions on the move toward deregulated tuition for AU. You can access the survey, and read more information on this topic, here:
http://www.ausu.org/tuitionsurvey/index.php

All AU students are urged to voice their opinion on this very important matter.

The first Voice writing contest

See this issue for full details of the first Voice writing contest. Good luck to all entrants. Please ensure that you differentiate between items submitted for the contest, and those submitted for immediate publication!

Link of interest
The first thing most new students receive when they become registered at a university is a shiny new student ID card. What could make you feel more like a real student than having your name and a dorky pass-port style photo emblazoned on a university card? Well, AU has picture ID cards too, provided in conjunction with AUSU and the Office of the Registrar.

Ok, ID cards at most schools can be used for all sorts of nifty things like buy food in vending machines, pay for photo-copies, access reserved parking, etc, while the AU id card is really a very basic plastic card with your name, picture, and student ID number. Still, these little cards are invaluable for obtaining student discounts [remember, while many places don’t allow student discounts for mature students, there are a number of places that do. Always ask!] and for proving that you are, in fact, a bona fide university student.

Make sure to obtain one of these cards if you plan on buying any software, because academic pricing is phenomenal. For information on how to get your AU student ID card, visit : http://www.ausu.org/services/studentid.php

Fiction Wanted

The Voice fiction feature has become popular, but submissions have been slow. Send us your best fiction today, and it might become our next feature.

Attention Budding Writers