Start your weekend off with some great reads, because we’ve got them!
This week, we feature a brand-new interview with a student who I think you’ll be hearing more from very soon. She’s big into music, has some pretty solid tips for new AU students, and looking to connect with some Calgary AU students. Why not add a bit of physical to the virtual?
And if you’re one of the many, many students who took in the recent eclipse, you’ll still want to read our writer’s take on it. Out here in Calgary, we tried watching it, but we’re so far from the path of totality that it was a lot of hullabaloo about nothing. Still, getting outside for a bit wasn’t a bad thing. But our writer was able to get into the “path of totality”, a phrase that demands to be read in a deep, sonorous voice.
Find out what she took from it, or perhaps it’s what it took from her. Either way, this complete two-part story is an unusual and interesting read.
Also, this week, we’re featuring the latest from the [blue rare] column. I think this one is a definite read for anybody, because, at least in me, it pushes the emotional buttons in just the right way to be haunting, satisfying, and just a little bit sad, even with the happy ending, and all at the same time.
Meanwhile, it’s come to my attention that what the Alberta government did to university boards, they are now attempting to do to every professionally registered organization (PRO). That includes everything from the various colleges of health professions to things like the professional associations that certify everything from accountants to veterinarians, shorthand reporters to engineers. Apparently, new rules are going to require that, to be recognized by the government of Alberta, they’ll have to be open to the government adding as many people as they want to their boards of directors. We know how that turned out in post-secondary education, with the hastily replaced AU Board of Governors when the previous one didn’t goose-step to Advanced Education’s requests.
Even if nothing untoward is planned, at the very least it will set up the means for the government to load up on cushy trough-feeding positions for their loyalists, as some of these associations provide pay and perks for board members. In fact, that was the reason that the NDP disbanded several fully public boards while they were in power, because it was determined that they weren’t doing much of anything to justify the pay that was being provided. With this new set-up though? Those can’t be easily disbanded because they’re actually representing various groups of people.
Is this a bit cynical of me? Absolutely. Is that justified? Given what happened at AU, given what happened with Steve Allan’s inquiry into foreign influence on Albertan pipelines, a fun bit of nothing that cost us 3.5 million dollars over two years? Yes, yes, I think it is.
But anyway, also this week we have a smattering of articles from informative to inspirational. With events, scholarships, social media reports, the continuation of the Foreign Interference in elections meetings, and more. Plus, if you don’t know, there’s an AU research forum coming up where you can find out what your faculty has been up to, as well as a few students. There’s still time to register, but until then, enjoy the read!
