"Star Wars... If they could Bar Wars... Please let these Star Wars... Staaay... And Hey - how ‘bout that wacky Star Wars bar. Can you forget all the creatures in there? And Hey - Darth Vader in that dark and evil mask. Did he scare you as much as he scared me?"
- Bill Murray as Nick, the Lounge Singer (with a special thanks to caucus chair Ben Thornton)

"Out the 10Base-T, through the router, down the T1, over the leased line,
off the bridge, past the firewall...nothing but Net." - Unknown

"One of the symptoms of an approaching nervous breakdown is
the belief that one's work is terribly important." - Bertrand Russell

Hoo-Hah!

That was a poor attempt at recreating the expression Al Pacino makes throughout Scent of a Woman. I couldn’t put all of my feelings about January into words, so that was the best I could do. Sorry.

Nerd Alert

I spent many hours of the month of January and my Christmas break in front of the computer screen, working on a couple of projects I wanted to succeed:

• The potential for the Events Calendar is enormous! I only hope that organizers will use it to that potential, and that students will find it effective.
• The Gazette on-line has been a big hit, and will become an integral part of student life. The only thing missing is a search engine, and I’m working on it.
• The Vote ’97 page and the on-line voting is an exciting endeavor, and will be the measuring stick for student governments across Canada.

Dental Plan

Enough said. Some debate was good and encouraging. Other debate was bad and frustrating. Debate ideas, not people. It was a little rushed, but not irresponsibly, and In the end the students will decide. And maybe it will be funnier the 2^nd time:
"All I am saying... Is give teeth a chance"

Town Hall Meeting

If Federal Affairs Commissioner Michael "Moose" Rubinoff had one dream this year it was to have a Town Hall Meeting. I was delighted to participate in his vision. Overall, I thought it was great. However, in the future I would not recommend that the President play the role of the "Devil’s Advocate" (or at least not as maliciously and callously as I did). My rant on "Why students should pay more tuition" caused more damage then we anticipated, and some students still think this was what their USC really believes. This project didn’t happen by itself, and my thanks to Jerry, the participants, CHRW, and TV Western.

Inquiry

I was able to redeem my "anti-student" town hall stance when I appeared on the BBS Television show Inquiry. The topic was the rising costs of tuition. I was on one side with MPP windbag Sandra Pupatello, and the other side was Dr. Davenport and Dr. Rundle (Fanshawe). I was pretty nervous, and blundered my way through the first five minutes of the show, but I eventually relaxed and made some strong arguments. I caught Davenport on a couple of points, and I find it hard to disagree with much of what Dr. Rundle says. I think we would have all preferred it if Sandra had stayed in Windsor.

Baby Steps ...

In December, I was at the Alumni Board of Directors meeting, and I nominated myself for the vacant Alumni Senate seat. Wally Gibson, the Alumni President liked the idea and subsequently proposed to permanently set aside one of the Alumni seats for the USC President. Well this apparently raised a ruckus in SLB and the end result was that Senate has now granted the USC President ex-officio, non-voting observer status on Senate. Giddyup!

Charity Ball

I’m happy to say that the most anticipated event of the year did not disappoint. Thanks to everyone who made the night so special, including the Board, Allison, her Charity Ball committee, and a special member of that committee. As an aside, I never could have imagined that I would participate in a Fashion Show.

Powers of Partnership

I’m embarrassed to admit that I had no idea what PoP was until just weeks before the event was to take place. As it turns out, I found it to be right up my alley. I welcomed the opportunity to openly discuss these issues with such a broad cross-section of the Western community. Thanks to the organization team, and hopefully next year the Senior Administrators will attend.

A Day In The Life of Dave

All things being equal, It’s pretty weird having a video camera follow you around.

In Summary

I want to (once again) stretch the analogy boundaries, and reflect upon Star Wars, and how it relates to life, and my job. If you had to pick one Star Wars character to emulate, who would it be? The sincere but impetuous Luke Skywalker? Naïvely playing the white knight with nothing more than a willful spirit and good genetics? Or how about Han Solo - a calculated risk taker always protecting his own assets. What about Darth Vader - with the power and authority to maintain obedience and order. Sometimes you can’t help but feel like an R2D2 - energetic and spirited, but unable to communicate that message to others, and at other times you’re a C3PO, talking away with nobody listening. Some of us are Jawas - just aimlessly roaming the desert. But in reality, you have to be able to tap into all of the different characteristics, and know when to be a Luke, and when to be a Han. And as January closes with the elections in sight, it’s hard for me not to feel like an Obi-Wan: an over the hill has-been ready to hand over his lightsaber to the next generation of Jedi warriors.

In Brief…

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