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6 NOVEMBER 06.08 GAUNTLET NEWS<br />
Students want/fear Flying Spaghetti Monster<br />
Sarelle Azuelos<br />
News Editor<br />
<strong>The</strong> Flying Spaghetti Monster<br />
has another hurdle to tackle in<br />
spreading his noodly appendage<br />
across the land. University of<br />
Calgary third-year chemical engineering<br />
student Jeremy Zhao approached<br />
the Students’ Union clubs committee<br />
with a proposal to start a Pastafarian<br />
Student Society last week and was<br />
denied.<br />
“To them it would be a parody<br />
religion, but for us, our god wants<br />
it to be a parody,” said Zhao. “<strong>The</strong>y<br />
questioned our sincerity and we have<br />
a problem with that.”<br />
Pastafarians are followers of the<br />
Church of the Flying Spaghetti<br />
Monster which was established in<br />
2005 after Bobby Henderson wrote<br />
an open letter to the Kansas School<br />
Board. <strong>The</strong> board decided to teach<br />
creationism alongside evolution in<br />
public schools and Henderson argued<br />
the theory of the Flying Spaghetti<br />
Monster should also be included in<br />
the curriculum.<br />
SU vice-president operations and<br />
finance and clubs committee chair<br />
Alex Judd admitted some members<br />
of the committee were questioning<br />
the legitimacy of the religion, but<br />
said the club was ultimately rejected<br />
because of a flawed constitution. Judd<br />
was the only member on the council<br />
who voted to table the issue to give<br />
the club time to make changes.<br />
“I think that came to the difference<br />
in opinions regarding the sincerity<br />
and legitimacy of the club,” she said.<br />
“I wanted to give them the benefit of<br />
the doubt.”<br />
In the past, clubs with flawed<br />
constitutions have been sanctioned<br />
if they promised to make<br />
proper amendments, but SU events<br />
commissioner and clubs committee<br />
member Kat Lord claimed<br />
there were too many necessary<br />
changes for this to be possible.<br />
“Minus all of my own personal<br />
interpretations of what that club<br />
was there to be doing, there was<br />
actual constitutional basis for denying<br />
them,” she said. “<strong>The</strong>re were more<br />
than just a few minor changes that<br />
needed to be made. <strong>The</strong>re were quite<br />
a few articles in their constitution that<br />
Zhao will have to dress up and talk like a pirate under his own accord.<br />
needed to be rewritten to fit in the SU<br />
guidelines.”<br />
Zhao explained that the constitution<br />
was mostly taken from already<br />
existing Christian and political science<br />
clubs, although there were a few key<br />
changes including a coin toss to ratify<br />
all decisions.<br />
“<strong>The</strong>re were some parts that were<br />
just stupid that we added,” he confessed.<br />
“In the Christian one they said<br />
they would ‘prayerfully do something’<br />
and I said we would ‘noodly do something.’<br />
”<br />
Members would also participate in<br />
talk like a pirate day and collect pasta<br />
for the food bank.<br />
Zhao is infamous within the SU for<br />
his past antics. In his run for Board<br />
of Governors in 2007, he planted<br />
friends in the forum audience to<br />
ask difficult math questions to the<br />
candidates. He also ran as Optimus<br />
Prime in the recent byelection. Last<br />
year, he proposed Club Soda for students<br />
who appreciated ice tea and<br />
was also rejected. This bothered Zhao<br />
because previous committees have<br />
sanctioned clubs for students appreciating<br />
sandwiches or coffee.<br />
Zhao became concerned about the<br />
complaint process when he was told<br />
to approach the clubs committee<br />
directly about the matter.<br />
“I don’t think that this is a big<br />
enough deal that it couldn’t be<br />
remedied through another meeting<br />
with the clubs committee,” said<br />
Judd, adding that there were other<br />
authorities if Zhao wasn’t satisfied. “I<br />
do believe that the conduct of some<br />
of the club committee members was<br />
less than satisfactory and I have, as<br />
chair of the committee, taken steps<br />
to make sure that that conduct is not<br />
repeated.”<br />
Police, continued from<br />
page 5<br />
Paul Baker/noodlestrations<br />
To watch Zhao in action, visit<br />
www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4r_Ynv-6_4<br />
ment’s efforts are a part of new<br />
recruitment campaign sparked by<br />
the planned addition of 110 new<br />
officers over the next eight months<br />
as a part of the city’s preparation<br />
for the 2010 Olympic Winter<br />
Games.<br />
“We’re finding that recently<br />
we’re not getting the same amount<br />
of applications that we have been<br />
getting in past years,” said Tremblay.<br />
“You’ve got to start thinking outside<br />
of the box and start reaching out,<br />
looking at other places where you<br />
can find potential applicants.”<br />
Tremblay believes they had<br />
trouble filling these additional<br />
positions because the economy is<br />
hot and unemployment is low.<br />
“At the Vancouver Police, we have<br />
very successful police officers that<br />
did come out of the U of C,” said<br />
Tremblay.<br />
He added there isn’t a shortage<br />
of police officers in the Vancouver<br />
area, arguing the problem isn’t with<br />
current numbers, but with a shortage<br />
of applicants for positions that have<br />
recently been added.<br />
In regards to Calgary, recruits are<br />
needed to ensure a maintained level<br />
of safety.<br />
“We do have growth that is happening<br />
in the city,” said Skeleton.<br />
“We certainly have a need for additional<br />
police officers to combat some<br />
of the issues that we’re faced with.<br />
I’m sure that the other municipalities<br />
in the province are facing similar<br />
challenges.”
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