USC President F.A.Q.

Frequently Asked Questions
November 21st, 1996.

Q: Are you the President?
A: 
Yes.

Q: Aren't you that guy in the dress?
A: 
Yes.

Q: You're the guy who made the speech in frosh week, aren't you?
A: 
Yes.

Q: Haven't you graduated yet?
A:
Why, yes I have, and thanks for asking. I have a BSc. in Computer Science and a BESc. in Electrical Engineering.

Q: What course(s) are you taking this year?
A: 
I'm not. There is no requirement for me to take a course (that's an urban myth. However, my vice-presidents still have to take at least 1 half course). I could have taken a course, but quite frankly, I think the course would detract from my job, and the job would detract from the course.

Q: Do you have a girlfriend?
A:
No, I'm single. Actually, this question doesn't get asked that frequently, but this is my web page, and I can use it for a bit of self promotion.

Q: What are you doing next year?
A: 
I'm not sure yet. I received a $31,200 NSERC scholarship last year, but I wasn't able to defer it an entire year, and I had to turn it down to be President. In October, I re-applied for the scholarship, and if I receive it again, I will most likely defer it until next January, giving me a good 8 months to get my life in order.

Q: Do you get a free Jeep?
A: 
The short answer is NO. The long answer is NO.

Q: I thought you quit, and it was all just a big joke?
A: 
The article that appeared in the April Fools edition of the Gazette was completely false. Sorry to disappoint you, but I'm here to stay.

Q: Aren't you that smoke bomb guy?
A: 
I was the head soph for engineering when the smoke bomb was let off last year. We only had one smoke bomb, so we weren't entirely sure how much smoke there was going to be, and we all thought that there would be less. I'm sorry that those people (who I considered to be friends) directly inhaled the smoke, but they were doing dealing with a situation improperly. Yes, I was removed from campus for a week, and I still don't think that was justified. On the lighter side, if that event didn't happen, then I probably wouldn't be president now.

Q: Do you get paid? And if you do, how much?
A: 
I make just over $20,000 a year. There is a CPI raise every year. However, I do get paid for 14 months, because the USC President starts getting paid March 1st, even though they only start their office May 1st. This is done to keep the president-elect in the office pretty much full time, so their learning curve isn't too bad.

Q: Do you get free lunch at the Wave?
A:
NO! When some people see me sign a slip of paper and leave without paying it's just an accounting trick. When I sign for my meals, I put it under a personal account, which the nice ladies in accounting automatically deduct from my next paycheque. I find this very convenient, and I tend to do it often. I do get free pop at the wave, but that is my only perk. I do have a very modest amount in my budget for meetings, and I only use it if I'm taking a guest out to lunch. So far I've only done it a couple of times.

Q: How did you get to be President?
A:
All I did to become president was run for election, have a decent campaign strategy, and the rest is history. If you want to know what I did before I was President, I was the Vice-President Internal for the Undergraduate Engineering Society for two years. The portfolio includes Orientation, Homecoming, Engineering week, general student spirit, and the pool table. Let me assure you that it was a huge step, and although there was quite a large learning curve, the learning curve is always large, and the character in the candidate is more important than the experience.

Q: What's up with the UCC - Why more construction?
A: 
This is the final (I hope) phase of the UCC expansion. Last year, the USC took control of the entire retail component of the building (excluding food services, the book store, and the computer store). This issue gets quite complicated, but the short answer is this: In order to make the retail areas viable and attractive to tenants, changes had to made. The old layout just wasn't working, and the University was losing money.

Q: Why did you move the Spoke? It's just not the same.
A: 
Obviously the Spoke was going to have some changes, but I sincerely think that the new Spoke is fantastic. There were a variety of reasons why the Spoke was moved, including occupancy charges, university political pressure and lease stability. The timing was excellent, with expensive renovations necessary at the old Spoke and the concurrent changes in the UCC. Heck, I still have friends that complain about the removal of the 'Bow.

Q: Why isn't there an Air Hockey Table in the Spoke?
A: 
That's what I want to know.

Q: What was that whole UWO Act thing you were rambling about?
A: 
Now I could fill pages and pages on the UWO Act, and fairly soon I'm going to have a UWO Act specific page. Check out the November 11th Pravda, and keep your ears peeled. Bottom line is: students aren't getting what we deserve, and we're definitely miffed.

Q: Are you busy?
A: 
Yes.  Very busy, but not busy enough to hear your opinion. (Boy, did that sound political or what?)

Q: So what's it like being President?
A: 
REALLY tough question to answer. I don't know, what's it like to be human? I guess the easiest answer would be, "Busy".

Q: Are you having a good time?
A: Definitely
. Wouldn't change a thing. Don't confuse being "busy" with not having a good time. It's like any other job - There are parts I really like about the job, and there are other parts that I would rather not do, but I have to, because it is my job.

Q: Do you want fries with that?
A: 
Sure.

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