HTP Newswire

Monday, May 11 - The Results Are In...

The Student Council Election results were in today, and are printed below;

President: Jackie Pangilinan

Senior Vice President: Reena Kathuria

Treasurer: Vincent Shiao

Social Convenor: Sunil "Skippy" Kothary

Secretary: Sara Beckberger

Intermediate Vice President: Jessica Tuazon

Also, Tiffany Wong was appointed Communications Officer by a combined vote of the new and old Executives. Grade 7 & 8 positions might be elected in September of next year, or simply ignored as they were this year.

Spoiled votes were not as major a factor as some had feared/hoped. Some of the remaining DX candidates seemed poised to lose votes, as the ballots of the DX Army "troops" would made invalid by write-in support for George and Minh. One early, and wildly inaccurate estimate, was that as many as 500 ballots could be spoiled by protest votes. In actual practise, only about 50 ballots were spoiled, not all that much different from last year. Some accounted for the spoiled ballots by saying there was a class where a student persuaded all of his classmates to write his name on the ballot. In another version of the story, the students simply crumpled up their ballots and threw them at their teacher. Both stories are probably false.

Still, the DX Army is not done with yet. Two of their more moderate members rode the wave of notoriety to election victory, though I doubt Jackie would want to associate herself with DX now that she is safely in office. DX leaders assure me that they have further plans to create more "ruckus", so look to here from them in the future. One obvious target for any kind of outrageous stunt would be May 22, when the Prefect Barbecue/ SAC Carnival will take place, an event which Mr. Pirk wants to see covered by the Mississauga News. If the DX have their way, I'm sure the Mississauga News will wind up with quite the story.

Friday, May 8th.

Following Wednesday's election assembly fiasco, DX candidates George Chu and Minh Dang were removed from the SAC election ballot by Mr. Hedges and the administration. As well George Chu was called down to Mr. Pirk's office and suspended for three days. DX ringleader Furhan attempted to organise a protest vote by urging students to write in the names of George and Minh on the ballot, but at present time it is unclear how widespread this practise has been.

The DX's election assembly antics, though hugely popular with the student body, seemed to visibly anger and disgust many of the teachers at the assembly, but no effort was made to restrain them. Many teachers, it should be noted, seemed to enjoy the whole thing just as much as their students, but it would be hard to find any who would admit it now. Apparently a representative from the University of Toronto was in the school on Wednesday, and after watching the election assembly was so disgusted by our school that Mr. Pirk had to take action against the DX just to protect our school's reputation.

Rumours of the DX's fate began circulating almost immediately after the assembly, but at first it was not clear what action would be taken by the administration. The first sign of trouble, so to speak, was when students arrived at school on Thursday morning to find that all of the DX's posters had been taken down by the administration. Also that morning, Vice Principal Mrs. Massey made an announcement talking about the "disgusting and inappropriate actions" which had occurred at the previous day's assembly, and saying that the students responsible would be "dealt with."

On Friday morning, it was still unclear which, if any candidates would be removed from the ballot. No students, including current members of the SAC executive or the affected DX candidates, knew that the DX had been kicked out until they saw the actual ballots. The move on the part of the administration was not entirely unexpected. They were probably worried that DX candidates might win, and were looking for a reason to remove them from the election, a reason which the DX provided them through their none-too subtle use of vulgarity and innuendo.

By removing the DX candidates from the ballot and suspending George, I am sure the administration are trying to send a message to future SAC candidates to behave in a more restrained manner. Had the DX won the election, the recent trend towards increasingly outrageous stunts would have most certainly have carried over into next year's elections, turning them into what I can only speculate would have been a all out orgy of sex and violence. As it stands now though, the future of the SAC is in question. I am sure that many teachers and administrators would like to do away with the election assembly, as I heard some wanted to do this year, or establish some kind of more rigorous screening students through which executive position would basically be given only to "responsible" students.

To close with some kind of editorial stance, I feel that the DX itself is not the cause of our school's election problems, but rather a result of them. Were the administration really concerned that the student body would elect a candidates who based their campaign platforms around wrestling and sexual innuendo? Do they think that lowly of us that they do not have faith in us to choose our own "student leaders." If the students want the DX, let them have it.

Friday, May 8th.

Lost in the uproar surrounding the DX affair, another election controversy was brewing on the other end of our school's political spectrum. The Prefect backed "Blues Brothers" party, arch rivals of the now defunct DX Army, were openly abusing their Prefect connections in an attempt to win votes. Playing over the PA system this morning, right before voting was scheduled to take place, was the Blue Brother's theme song. In an even less subtle bit of self promotion, the Prefect have filled their fund-raising (i.e. Pizza selling) announcements for the past few weeks with reference to the Blues. While most students may not have noticed any of this, some did and were angered by it. Several students went to Vice Principal Mrs. Massey's office to register their complaints about the actions of the Prefects. While Mrs. Massey agreeded that the abuse of power was inappropriate, it is doubtful that anything will be done about it. Some of a more cynical bent might note that while the "trouble making" DX is treated very harshly, the more insidious abuses of the "House of Blues" party go totally unchecked. In short, the Administration want more Prefects on the SAC executive, and less George Chu.

Wednesday, May 6th - And you thought our assembly was bad..

Tempe, AZ (Copyright Associated Press) -- A high school pep rally intended to promote unity included a boy and girl wrestling in gelatin, inflated condoms and other sexually suggestive action.

Student planners at McClintock High School said they got the idea for last month's "Battle of the Sexes" from similar rallies at other Phoenix area schools.

But parents and some teachers are asking why school officials present didn't call a halt to such things as a chant from males in the audience of about 2,000 students that went: "Pork chop, pork chop, good and greasy, McClintock girls are easy."

Critics also cited a skit featuring a male student wrestling a female student in a gelatin-filled kiddy pool during which the boy threw the girl down, then reportedly "rode her like a horse."

Other complaints: Boys wore T-shirts reading, "Girls suck" and motioned toward their pants zippers, condoms were blown up like balloons and batted around, and posters read, "Girls go back to the kitchen."

"It infuriated me," said teacher Sally Plummer. She said there were two administrators present and that the rally plan had been approved by the principal.

Principal Mike Gemma said he has seen similar Battle of the Sexes at other area high schools. Gemma said he wasn't present for the April 24 rally and doesn't know whether someone should have stopped it.

"Kids will take it to the limit," he said. "For the most part, pep assemblies are known to be the most wonderful things in the world."

Gemma said he plans to let students know that some of the behavior isn't acceptable.

Barriers Down, an advocacy group aimed at teaching tolerance on campus, sent the administration a two-page letter of criticism that said in part that such attitudes and behavior "directly lead to rape and violence."

"One mother said, `You're only one step away from rape when you allow that,"' said school board member Mary Frances Lewis. "Racism, sexism and all those `isms' have no place on a campus when you are trying to formulate civil behavior."

Some students approved, noting girls were shouting insults as well as boys and saying the rally was positive overall except for such incidents as the chants and condoms that weren't within their control.

"That was the best assembly we had all year," said sophomore Charles Davenport, 17. He said perhaps it could have been considered offensive "if you're in a bad mood or you're one of those women's lib people."