The voters have spoken.

Do you support the Sauder Building Renewal Project with the associated $500 annual Building Renewal Student Fee commencing in September 2012, as described in the Memorandum of Understanding?

63% Yes

What is the immediate result I see?

BEFORE
Undergrad Society Fees Winter Session 2009-2010

AFTER
Undergrad Society Fees Winter Session 2012+

It’s pretty obvious what I voted right?  The majority disagrees but all I see is that the grand total of $766 is 5 times more expensive than the #2 rank spot of Law.

Well… it’s like shopping.  In the long run it’s not so much as how much you had to pay but if it was worth the money.  At the moment… I’m really not so sure to be honest.  Feels like a designer bag that only fits a piece of gum.

If you’re in Sauder and and you’re concerned, please raise your hand.

I am concerned,  But then again, I’m also really confused right now so I may be being misguided into my worry.

Back up.

What’s going on?  [WARNING: I may be misinformed, I am definitely confused, but it seems I am not the only one, so I share what I understand of it in hopes we can collaborate in our confusion and figure it out… you may be better off with a real “news source”]

Sauder school of business is running (holding?) a “referendum”.

In short:
– The government changed it’s mind about giving Sauder the money it needs to implement “Phase 2″* of construction on the Henry Angus building

– Why is Phase 2 important? Because (or so I understand) the “accreditors”**  will not “accredit” our school (Sauder ONLY) if we do not get another upgrade/fix up HA

– There will be a vote on whether or not Sauder students fund the project with our student fees (additional $500 per year, subject to inflation. Voting on March 11-12)

– A similar ordeal happened in 2007

[for a more detailed explanation click here]

*Phase 2: renovate upper floors of the old Henry Angus, at the “Town Hall” meeting today Dean Dan also mentioned something about the building being “seismically unstable” (think earthquakes).  Additionally I remember hearing something about tearing down the tower and building a new one? (Where all the offices are)  But not too much word about that…

**accreditation: I’m told if your school is not accredited, your diploma is worth nothing.

My initial thought: What? Something this important is riding on infrastructure?

That doesn’t sound right.  Which is why everything is quite foggy and confusing.

However to make it clear, there are different accreditations we can receive.  The ones I know of that we hold are AACSB and EQUIS.  It is unclear however which is the one that is being challenged and either I missed it (I only caught the end) or it wasn’t addressed at Town Hall.

The alternative to paying:
Well, Dean Dan says there isn’t much of a choice.  Er no “pot of gold at the end of the rainbow” as he puts it.  A dis/non accredited school isn’t worth much.  Students are going to have to pay some way.  Hey, maybe they’ll cut that class you love/hate.  Maybe they’ll return those awesome mics we got in the new class rooms that have the mesmerizing glowing red button.

What exactly happened at Town Hall:
I was only there to catch some of the Q&A but there was a lot of information being thrown around so I’ll just keeping my eyes open for the Ubyssey or Cavalier or something.

My conclusion:
These meeting things with the free lunch are really good! (The food or the meeting? BOTH!)  On the referendum, I still need more information and less persuasion on both sides.

Some articles you may find more concretely helpful than this blog:
http://ubcspectator.blogspot.com/2010/03/thoughts-from-commerce-and-cus-alum.html

http://foxtrotubc.wordpress.com/2010/02/11/breaking-cus-caught-in-a-pickle/

https://blogs.ubc.ca/ubcinsiders/2010/03/01/cus-board-to-vote-on-500-building-fee-referendum/

The “official website”:
Finally found it. http://mybuilding.cusonline.ca

You know what?  Actually maybe this accreditation thing isn’t as huge of a concern as I thought.  It’s not mentioned on the website at all…

This is bad. I don’t know how to deal with this. The finals. They’re EVERYWHERE.

I’ve never needed to do this before… but I think I’m left with no choice.   I have to make a studying schedule.

MONDAY

Math- focus on Ch 5 and 11; review all.
Econ- read the last chapter, Ch 1-3
Japn- Ch 13

TUESDAY

Math final.Econ- Ch 4-5
Japn- Ch 14
OB – catch up on reading…

WEDNESDAY

Econ- Ch 6-8
Japn- Ch 15
OB- Ch 1-2
Phil- Utilitarianism

THURSDAY

Econ- Ch 9-11
Japn- Ch 16
Phil- Kant

FRIDAY

Econ- Ch 10-13, review all.

SATURDAY

Econ final.
Japn- Ch 17
OB- 4-6

SUNDAY

Japn- Ch 18
OB- Ch 7-8
Phil- Non relative virtue ethics

MONDAY

Japn- review all.
OB – Ch 9
Phil- Cultural Relativism

TUESDAY

Japanese final.
OB- 10-12
Phil- abortion

WEDNESDAY

OB- 13-14, review all.
Phil- animal rights

THURSDAY

OB final.
Phil- all the rest.

FRIDAY

Philosophy final.

FREEDOM

Why I never made schedules before: 1. didn’t really need it, 2. lazy, 3. it’s too overwhelming to look at.

I hope I will survive this.

[on a side note] Any K-pop fans here? I hear Minho of SHINee (along with other Korean celebs) has been around campus this weekend filming for a special on the Olympics.  Fan cams are already on Youtube if you’re interested.  I don’t know if they’re still going to be around though but I hear there are many screaming fans around.

Yesterday was the long anticipated (but not in the “I can’t wait, it’s going to be so fun” kind of way) presentation day of my first big project.  The Electronic Arts case study for organizational behavior (aka COMM292).

At the beginning of the course, the professor puts everyone in the class into teams.  Teams were created based on these personality analysis surveys we did.

I was really excited to find out if good teams can actually be made this way.

My conclusion: well I loved my group but I still can’t tell if it is related to how the prof put it together.

Do you remember how group projects felt in highschool?  (Yes I realize I compare everything to high school a lot.)

1. Most people want every project to be a group project.
2. You must choose your own groups.
3. You must choose your friends.
3b. You must choose the smart kids who will get you the highest marks.

Of course, you don’t always get your way.  It wasn’t so bad when teachers picked your teams because you see these same people all the time and at least sort of know them.

This was different.  I didn’t even know everyone’s names at the start.  Even then, this was honestly one of the coolest project experiences.  Oh I feel like a nerd for saying that.  I didn’t notice much during the whole thing but once it ended, it felt so cool to know total strangers can work together and make something in a short time.

Random fact about me #4: I am a pretty distant person.  Which explains my huge awe of the whole interacting with people thing.

On Sunday, I hung out with a friend from SFU and we were talking about how at the rate we’re going, in four years we will be just as lost with even less of a purpose because by then we won’t even have school to focus on.

I still don’t know what I want to do, and even if it is based on a single experience,  I’m glad I found something that I would like from my future.  I want to work with people.  Ok, so most jobs require working with people anyway, but hey, a step forward is a step forward.

Right direction or not, at least I’m moving?

The following red box contains a single sentence.

Okay not exactly.  There were 3 more lines on the previous page.

High school did not warn me about this.

Isn’t there some sort of grammar rule against sentences this long?

[low quality cell phone picture of JOHN LOCKE The Second Treatise of Government p 491 for Philosophy 102]

(Ooo… what a paradox! To me, philosophy is just one big opinion anyway.  Please don’t take offence to that, I may just be uninformed.)

Anyway, I got distracted with a thought while writing my philosophy paper:

For my paper I have to argue for an idea, object myself, and build my case again.  The problem is, deep down in my heart I believe in idea “A” but as I start writing the objection the counter idea seems to become so true that I can’t argue against it.

At this point, the professor says to change it so that you agree with the counter and use your initial arguement as the objection.

Even then, it’s hard on the soul to argue for something you don’t want to believe.

So, do you believe in the power of believing? That as long as you do, it can still be true?

A Walt Disney world like that seems too good to be true to me.

The power of believing would be useful to get through these dark midterm days though.

After my “emo” night after the econ midterm I realized: believe in yourself.  When it comes down to the moment when you sit down for your exam, you just have to believe you can do it, there is no alternative.

Good luck everyone, and happy thanksgiving!