Each week, I like to feature at least one article that helps students get to know more about each other or the people who are educating them. After all, as a distance institution, forming a solid sense of community, and hence community pride, is difficult. To that end, this week we have our interview with student Kristin Jimmy from Nova Scotia, who is in the place so many of us want to get to, just graduating. Congratulations!
However, sometimes we get a story here at The Voice Magazine that grabs on to your brain and refuses to let go. When that happens, I’m fortunate enough that I can decide to have two Feature Articles. This is one of those weeks.
Last week, some of you may recall that Bethany Tynes’ gave us a course exam of Women’s and Gender Studies 422. Prompted by that, one former student felt compelled to write about her own experiences with the course, made especially relevant by how she was living in the situation at the time. I’m very proud to present the first part of her article as our second Feature Article this week. Proud and touched that she was willing to share her story with me, with us, her fellow AU students. Hopefully this will not only serve as inspiration for each of us as we hit our own battles with our studies, but also as a source of pride when we realize that our school is one of the few ways that women can climb out of these types of situations.
We of course have the results of the recent AUSU by-election this week, with both a view from the inside, as candidate, now Councillor-elect, Philip Kirkbride, shares his story of what was involved becoming a candidate, and S.D. Livingston takes a look at the results based on the numbers.
In it, it’s pointed out that the number of people who went to the site but then chose to abstain from voting seems extremely high. So high, in fact, that if it was done in error, up to five of the seats awarded could have been mistakes. I have heard that AUSU is also concerned about the high number of abstentions, and that there may be an appeal requested due to issues surrounding the abstentions. If there is, I’m not sure how the problem could be solved. However, if you’re one of the students who chose abstain, I urge you to contact me at voice@voicemagazine.org, as I’d love to hear what made you decide to show AUSU that you did not want to choose any of the candidates on offer.
We also have the return of “From Where I Sit” this issue, as Hazel recovers from her Babas & Borscht festival, plus our usual selection of reviews, advice, and entertainment articles to keep you thinking and busy.
Enjoy the read!
