March 2011

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and girls as well as raise money for local beneficiaries that are ... monologues by world-renowned authors and .... the root cause of the problems underlying the.
Chalk & Cheese

VIUFA Newsletter Issue 5: March 2011 Editors: Allyson Anderson & John Black. Send Submissions to [email protected].

STRIKE ISSUE There will be no printed issue of Chalk and Cheese while the strike is in progress, and VIUFA communications about collective bargaining and the events surrounding the strike will take place through e-mail and the webpage. In the meantime, though, here are some articles about other matters the union is dealing with in the background.

HRISC Sponsors V-Day Campus Campaign 2011 By Eliza Gardiner, HRISC Chair As noted in the February issue, VIUFA’s Human Rights and International Solidarity Committee is proud to present the fifth annual V-Day campaign at the Nanaimo campus on April 28, 29 and 30, 2011. The purpose of these events is to raise awareness about violence against women and girls as well as raise money for local beneficiaries that are working to end violence. For this year’s VIU events, the HRISC will present A Memory, A Monologue, A Rant and A Prayer, The Vagina Monologues, and a film about the V-Day movement called Until the Violence Stops.

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Doyle. These diverse voices rise up in a collective roar to break open, expose, and examine the insidiousness of violence at all levels: brutality, neglect, a punch, even a put-down. Last year, HRISC premiered this presentation at the 2010 V-Day event at the Malaspina Theatre. It is a very powerful piece that includes works by and for men. We encourage men to volunteer to take part in this reading, which will also be featured as a matinee performance on Saturday April 30. On the evenings of Friday April 29 and Saturday April 30, The Vagina Monologues will once more take to the VIU stage ... but loyal audiences can expect something a little different this year. As the event itself will take place in Building 355’s lecture hall 203 and multi-purpose room 211, the production will be more about the stories and less about the potential theatricality of the script. The award-winning play is based on V-Day Founder/playwright Eve Ensler's interviews with more than 200 women.

On Thursday April 28, the VIU campaign will begin with A Memory, A Monologue, A Rant and A Prayer, a ground-breaking collection of monologues by world-renowned authors and playwrights, edited by Eve Ensler and Mollie

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With humour and grace the piece celebrates women’s sexuality and strength. Through this play and the liberation of this one word, countless women throughout the world have taken control of their bodies and their lives. For more than twelve years, The Vagina Monologues has given voice to experiences and feelings not previously exposed in public and to women courageously revealing their intimate and deeply painful experiences with abuse ranging from rape to female circumcision. Women of all backgrounds and experiences are welcome to take part in this presentation, as performers, directors and to assist with project coordination duties. A new offering in our V-Day campaign this year will be a film presentation of Until the Violence Stops, an uplifting documentary that looks at the V-Day movement and the work we have done around the world. The film features playwright and activist Eve Ensler and the building of VDay from grassroots to international acclaim; it highlights the 2002 season, where eight hundred cities around the world participated in V-Day by staging benefit performances of The Vagina Monologues.

Each year V-Day increases awareness by focusing on a specific group of women in the world who are resisting violence with courage and vision. The V-Day 2011 Spotlight is on Women and Girls of Haiti. The Spotlight will highlight the high levels of violence against women and girls in Haiti, and will focus on the increased rates of sexual violence since the devastating earthquake that took place in January 2010. All funds raised through the Spotlight Campaign will be used to support a revolutionary national campaign in Haiti led by a coalition of women activists. The local beneficiary of this V-Day campus campaign is the Nanaimo Women’s Resources Society, which runs skills programs and offers support to women from its Resource Centre downtown at 285 Selby Street. The HRISC is looking forward to another productive V-Day season – please contact Chair Eliza Gardiner at local 2470 for more information on the productions and how you can become involved in this valuable initiative.

Letters to the Editor Offended by Messaging As a current full time university student, I'd like to say that I am offended by the subtle messaging being sent out by Vancouver Island University (VIU), both in this and a previous email released by VIU administration to the entire student body. VIU is providing students with important information, but it's being done in a way that is biased and unfair to the Vancouver Island University Faculty Association (VIUFA). In a recent email, Toni O'Keeffe, Executive Director for Communications and Public Relations at Vancouver Island University, states that they "are disappointed with VIUFA and the impact strike action will have on students, other bargaining groups and the public, and we

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apologize for any inconvenience that will be caused to students, employees and the public as a result of VIUFA action", but it is clear to me that VIU is just as responsible for this process. The opposite of this would be to have the VIU Faculty Association apologize for the university's stubbornness, suggesting that it was VIU that forced this outcome. Both frames would be childish finger pointing, but only the University is resorting to this kind of behaviour as a formal message to students. In speaking with many faculty members in different departments, I was informed that there have been a number of issues regarding their contracts and other job terms that VIU could have resolved. By suggesting that the federal government has forced their position, VIU attempts to shake any responsibility for strike action, and I find this transparent attempt at political messaging to smack of cowardice. Sincerely, Cameron Wigmore, VIU student Transforming the University Dear residents of Nanaimo, When developing nations like Tunisia, Egypt and Yemen are getting their blood-suckers and heavy-weight dictators out, why does not Vancouver Island University neutralize its selfish and short-sighted administrators by a show of strength? You can muster the support of the young and vibrant student community, highlight the root cause of the problems underlying the upcoming strike and outline the possible solutions in large public meetings.

such cuts were announced, it has come out that the total compensation budget for university administrators has risen by 40% over the last five years; but to balance the budget they are now resorting to the totally un-academic approach of deleting popular courses, jeopardising the jobs of 40-60 competent teaching professors and eventually hurting the interest of over ten thousand students. The primary objective of upgrading the status of Malaspina University College to VIU was not to increase administrative salaries or to hire more administrators. It was done essentially to provide academic freedom to the student community, to enlarge the range and quality of educational standards and to attract competent professors. This un-ethical and un-professional attitude needs to be counteracted by expressing public resentment in full force. This movement deserves to be supported not only by the student population but also by the Nanaimo public at large. Hari Pal, PhD Consultant, Biotechnology Research and Applications Maple Ridge, BC

On Sept 1, 2008 when Malaspina University College was suddenly transformed into Vancouver Island University (VIU), nobody had dreamed that in less than 3 years the same government would freeze funding, resulting in the Administration imposing 10% budgetary cuts to instruction, which is a shame on this government. However, around the time when

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Physical Plant is now planning revisions to the new campus plan: stone facades and ivy figure prominently. As a cost-saving measure, phase one will involve the use of styrofoam blocks. “Faux stone is really coming of age; I have it around my fireplace and you can hardly tell the difference,” offered another unnamed official.

Millennial Celebrations on the Way! By our Special Correspondent The true depth of VIU’s academic history is just beginning to be understood. New evidence is emerging that learning of all kinds has taken place continuously at the VIU site for centuries. Recent archaeological evidence verifies that not only did indigenous peoples live here, but also they engaged actively in learning. Anthropology faculty member Dr. U.B. Gnuts has verified that the Salish people have always engaged in technical training, learned history and natural science, and transmitted their traditions and moral philosophy. “They learned all kinds of stuff, right here where we stand, probably,” Gnuts mused in his most eloquent lecturing style. On hearing the news, the Communications and Public Relations Department immediately began the millennial celebrations for VIU, tentatively planned for 2012. When queried about the choice of a date, an official replied, somewhat testily, “You don’t get it, we always round up in Communications: everybody knows that!” She went on to enthuse that rather than being contemporaries of UVic (founded 1903) or UBC (founded 1908) we should look to other more ancient institutions. “VIU can now take its proper place with such distinguished universities as Oxford, Cambridge, Salamanca, the Sorbonne and Columbia Pacific!”

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There is also talk of a dress code for faculty: “Shorts? Jeans? Tsk, tsk!” commented one senior administrator. “In an institution with a deep heritage, it is only fitting that faculty give instruction while attired in gowns.” In reply, Chalk & Cheese Editor John Black expressed his personal commitment to the inclusion of fanny packs, insisting that faculty have worn them in post-secondary instruction from the earliest days. Editor’s Comment: If you are talking about my European belted wallet, let me assure you that it is always worn on the front of my hip, and never in the fanny area.