By Paul Esau (The Cascade) – Email
Print Edition: June 20, 2012
Yes, that is a picture of a gorilla wearing a “Free Candy” sign posing with Mark Evered, the president of UFV. No, I say to the skeptical, it’s not a digital manipulation. No, I say to the naive, that is not a real gorilla.
What it is, what it really encapsulates, is one of those rare moments when reality defies the explanation. I could tell you why said photo exists, I could even tell you how I came to obtain it, but such qualification would only hamper the whimsy of the image. Some things in life need to be appreciated, not explained.
This is the mentality I have decided to take regarding the saga of the Student Union Society’s My Safe Ride Home program, which will be ending permanently next April.
It’s not easy to be a member of Student Union Society Board. It is easy to be elected to the Board (at least as a representative-at-large) if the last election can be used as the rule, but that doesn’t make such a position itself easy. Of course, it’s also our job here at The Cascade to make sure no one rests easy on their laurels, but we still do sympathize.
I’m speaking of Joe Johnson’s summary of the My Safe Ride Home program (pg. 3), which examines where exactly that portion of your $40 U-Pass fee is ending up. Turn around and ask your friends (if you have them) whether they’ve used their My Safe Ride Home credit.
Have they? I didn’t think so. Did they know that program was ending in April 2013? Do they know why the program is ending?
Read the article, then explain it to your friends. And next time you go out with them for a wild night on the town, make sure you’ve activated your MSRH credit at www.ufvsus.ca/projects/u-pass/ and have your U-Pass holstered and ready. Use it before you lose it, since you’ve paid for it after all.
In all fairness, the current SUS Board has very little to do with the problems that has plagued the MSRH program since its inception in 2009, but that’s also part of the issue. No one likes to spend their time cleaning up after their predecessors, yet that seems to have become an annual portion of what SUS does. As I said, it’s not easy to be a member of the SUS Board.
My Safe Ride Home was a whimsical idea that no one seems able to explain. At least as eccentric as a gorilla posing with the president…
But, then again, that gorilla suit was only $50 to rent.
