The Investigation
It’s Wednesday night and you know what that means, it’s time to hit the old pub to see exactly how the MSA handles its liquor. Since I don’t drink, I recruited two friends, Jordan and Dave, to tag along in the name of binge journalism. Before reaching The Arnie, we stopped at a friend’s place who Jordan considers a “hardcore partier”. After no answer at the door, we let ourselves in to what looks like a cross between a dark alley and a Payless Shoe Store. Every conceivable style of women’s shoe…

Do the bar room blitz
After listening to Kennedy’s entire story, it sounded as if schools were only enabling this type of behaviour. If students that are arriving on campus expect a lifestyle taken straight out of Animal House, shouldn’t a post-secondary institution be doing something to educate or at least prevent it from happening?
Funny thing is after researching and speaking with numerous academics, counsellors and school reps, I have yet to find a single major college or university in Ontario – or Canada – that doesn’t serve alcohol to its students. McMaster…

It has been another year of Mohawk Student Association elections and another disappointing turnout. Despite responsibility for about $6 million in student money, the MSA was unable to raise interest in the elections, receiving a total of 490 votes in a student body of about 12,500 students.
“It’s definitely tough; it’s something we are faced with every year. This was certainly worse than previous years; voter turnout was very bad for us,” MSA President Daniel Clark stated. “But we still put a lot of man power into it, we’ve still invested money into it…

Students will be waiting even longer as plans to construct the new athletics facility have been pushed back to April 2012, a date that can’t come soon enough.
“Currently our athletics facilities are probably the smallest facility [on a campus] considering the amount of students that we have,” says Matthew Schnarr, Campus Recreation Coordinator for Mohawk’s Students’ Athletics Committee [SAC]. “If you look at other colleges and universities, like Fanshawe, UFT, Mississauga who don’t have as many students, they have outstanding facilities that have more space and programs. I would say ours ranks very…

Renovations seem to be an ongoing project for Mohawk and with each step the college moves closer to attaining their goals of sustainability. Some of the changes are a little less noticeable than others as lighting is replaced, bathroom fixtures are retrofitted and fans blow recycled air around the halls. These changes have been eight years in the making and are credited for an estimated $400,000 worth in future annual savings, with untold amounts of energy being saved in the process.
“What we chose to do was go after all the stuff that would…

After 18 days, a tentative settlement has been reached to end Ontario’s college support staff strike.
Following two days of bargaining by negotiators, the deal was struck late Sunday night.
Rob Bemister, chair of the OPSEU bargaining team, said the union secured key contract proposals for its members and hopes all members will approve the tentative deal.
Over 8,000 college support workers will be returning to work Sept. 20.
Details are expected to be released after the settlement has been approved, which a date has not been set for.

It goes without saying – the support staff on strike has posed a unique set of challenges for Mohawk College.   With the theoretical ball being left behind by the strikers, part-time and administrative staff have teamed up with students to keep the game in play.
Some big names in the college have been found helping out wherever possible.
“I even saw [Mohawk College] President Rob MacIsaac [helping out] in the OSAP office one of the days,” said Andy Hall, MSA’s Vice President.
Meanwhile over in The Square, Jay Robb, Director of Media Relations for…

Students are keeping their fingers as strikers go back to the bargaining table. The Ontario Public Services Employees Union (OPSEU) has adjusted their demands, causing the mediator for the strike to pass the message to school management. This could possibly allow talks to continue as early as Sept. 17.
The main sticking point in this strike is the three per cent wage increase, and job security that the union is asking for.
“By modifying our demands on wages and retiree benefits, we demonstrated our commitment to the bargaining process and the students to return…

After nearly two weeks of delays, the newly renovated Arnie may soon be open for business.
The Arnie was scheduled to open on three different dates, including this past Wednesday. Each of these cancellations were due to problems with the flooring.
President of the Mohawk Students Association, Daniel Clark, says there was an oily film on the floor, making it extremely slippery and unsafe for students.
“Honestly, it was like a skating rink in there,” Clark said. “A wet sheet of ice.”
As a solution to this problem, the flooring company has decided to…

Future Mohawk students may have even more debt before graduating as plans for a brand new athletics facility gets underway.
“[The MSA] has been talking with the college and athletics committee and the college has decided that this is the next step in our renovations in order to stay current and competitive with other colleges,” says MSA President Dan Clark.
The estimated cost of the new facility is $17 million and will be partly subsidized by an undetermined fee once the facility is completed in 2014.
Three years ago the MSA held a referendum…