All Posts Tagged With: "Mount Royal University"
Double double trouble
Canadian students demand better access to Tim Hortons
An Edmonton Tim Hortons (markyeg/Flickr)
From the 2013 Student Issue on sale now.
After polling his peers last fall, Adam Oran, who represents Human Kinetics students for the University of Windsor Student Alliance, knew which policy to pursue. He started a Facebook page called “Lets Get a Timmies in HK,” referring to their building, a 15-minute walk from the nearest Tim Hortons coffee outlet.
Within a week, 150 people liked the page; by February, 390 had joined. Talks with campus officials are now under way, says Oran. When constituents stop to ask how their Tim’s is coming, he’s proud to report that management has been receptive.
Oran wasn’t the first to make such a petition. A Facebook page demanding a better Tim Hortons for Mount Royal University in Calgary in 2010 noted long lines and lack of variety at the campus kiosk. The page got more than 700 likes by the time Brent Mann, general manager for the school’s food-service provider, Sodexo, posed for photos for the school newspaper with a shovel in hand, turning the sod on the bigger and better location.
What students are talking about today (December 12th edition)
The pope’s first tweet, Mount Royal’s money woes and beer for your cold
(Photo: angelocesare on Flickr)
1. Stressed out from exams and warding off a cold? Drink beer! The National Post writes that Japan’s Sapporo Breweries is promoting a study that says hops, a key ingredient in beer, may have respiratory virus-fighting powers. Researchers at Sapporo Medical University (a partner in research, but no relation to the brewery) found that humulone, a chemical compound found in hops, helps protect against cold-like symptoms in adults and more serious illnesses like pneumonia and bronchitis viruses in children. Note: Do not actually guzzle IPAs for breakfast. Sapporo researcher Jun Fuchimoto told the AFP that someone would have to drink around 30 350-mL cans for the beer to have any anti-viral effect.
2. On Wednesday, Pope Benedict XVI joined well-known Twitter user Jesus and sent out his first tweet “in perhaps the most drawn out Twitter launch ever,” the Associated Press reports via CBC. The ceremony included a proclamation as the 85-year-old pontiff tapped the screen of an iPad: “And now the pope will tweet!” The inaugural papal message: “Dear friends, I am pleased to get in touch with you through Twitter. Thank you for your generous response. I bless all of you from my heart.” Aw. At last count, the pontiff’s English @Pontifex account was closing in on 850,000 followers. Bad news for anyone hoping to hit up the pope via direct message: The Vatican told AP the pontiff won’t actually write his own tweets.
Continue reading What students are talking about today (December 12th edition)
What students are talking about today (November 29th edition)
Tuition paid in change, plus mental health & flying potatoes
Paying in change? (Saimz Eyez/Flickr)
1. Mount Royal University student Devin DeFraine is opposed to a fee for paying with credit cards, so he instead paid his tuition at the Registrar’s Office on Wednesday using 105 kilograms of coins. “If they’re gonna nickel and dime us, I’m gonna nickel and dime them,” he told CTV News.
2. Winnipeg is gripped by IKEA fever. More than 1,000 people lined up in the cold for the grand opening, reports Winnipeg’s Free Press. The first Canadian IKEA opened in Halifax 40 years ago.
3. Queen’s University’s long-awaited Principal’s Commission on Student Mental Health includes 116 recommendations including more flexible exam timetables, a fall reading break, better training and pet visits. The year-long commission followed a number of student deaths in 2010 and 2011.
Continue reading What students are talking about today (November 29th edition)
She’s sorry for robbing that bank
Former student union president pleads guilty
A former student union president pleaded guilty and apologized yesterday for bringing negative attention to Mount Royal University, her former school. Meghan Darcy Melnyk, 28, told reporters outside a Calgary courtroom that she is “so regretful” that her actions put the university in the spotlight. “I am very remorseful,” she said. “I’m willing to take accountability for my actions,” she added. Melnyk robbed a Servus Credit Union on Feb. 29 and was caught because a staff member had written down her PT Cruiser’s license plate number. For more, see the Calgary Herald.
Boomers, you had it easy
Stop being so cynical about young people
Photo by Patrick Lor
The Toronto Star ran a story recently about a 24-year-old “super intern” named Maeghan Smulders, who graduated from Mount Royal University with 29 job offers—all of which she rejected. Smulders figured if she was going to begin her career, she was going to do some research first. So ProjectONE12 was born, a postgraduate’s 112-day exploration into the world of unpaid internships. Smulders took stints in Toronto, Montreal and even San Jose, interning with 10 companies, all in the hopes of finding and landing her dream business job.
She did. At the end of her seven-month journey (which she documented online) she took a job at Beyond the Rack, a Canadian online retail start-up. “Being in all the different places,” she said, reminiscing about the project, “you get a taste for culture and you get a taste for not just the work you’re doing, but the people there. I really wanted to find an environment I could really grow in.” Don’t we all.
Former Mount Royal student president out on bail
Lawyer offers surprising revelation
The former Mount Royal University student president charged with robbing a Calgary bank last week has been granted bail, reports the Calgary Herald. Meghan Darcy Melnyk, 27, must live under house arrest with her aunt in Didsbury, Alta. until her next court appearance on March 16.
In a surprising twist, defense lawyer Derek Lovatt said that his client was under stress and suffering from a gambling addiction when she passed a Servus Credit Union teller a note indicating she was armed and demanding money. Melnyk allegedly took $6,180, but was quickly apprehended; an employee had noted her vehicle’s license plate number.
Melnyk also has pending charges for fraud under $5,000 involving a stolen purse and forged cheque, using a forged document, and breaching probation conditions. She has a 2008 conviction for vehicle theft and a 2010 conviction for attempting to falsely obtain a social insurance number.
After the bank robbery, MRU president David Docherty posted a statement on Facebook, which included this sentiment: “We do not know what drove Meghan to take this course of action; however, we hope she receives the help she needs for the issues that led her to this point.”
Melnyk resigned from the Students’ Association at Mount Royal University in January. Since the bank robbery, some MRU students expressed anger that no criminal record checks took place before she was charged with the $6.3-million budget. Some other student unions require criminal checks.
Former student president charged with bank robbery
Mount Royal’s Meghan Melnyk resigned one month ago
The former president of Mount Royal University’s student union, who resigned from her post just one month ago, has been charged in a bank robbery in Calgary, reports the Calgary Herald. Meghan Darcy Melnyk, 27, was charged after taking cash from a Servus Credit Union. The crime involved “a fairly high degree of planning,” according to police. Melnyk resigned from her post in January following a review that “identified several potential anomalies and policy compliance issues,” according to a release. A weapon was found in Melnyk’s car when she was arrested.
