Community Standards aren’t bad enough to have kept us from choosing Trinity Western University, so why can’t we grow up and accept them for what they are: valuable guidelines that enhance the quality of life on this campus? If you want a place that allows you to drink, club, dance, smoke, or live with the opposite sex, take your pick of any other university across North America. No one is making you stay – and if you’ve chosen not to like it here, we really wouldn’t mind if you left.

Jonathan Mason, a third-year linguistics major, was elected to TWUSA as the Professional Studies and Performing Arts faculty representative, receiving 50 of 150 votes. Lisa Joy Lindahl and Eric Pilon also ran in the election. Two different candidates ran in the regular election, but the “no-candidate” option received the most votes.

“I really want to be involved with the heads of the departments and making sure I am accessible to pass information between students and faculty,” said Mason. “I also want to further my own understanding of the arts in our lives and to promote that to TWUSA and the rest of Trinity.”

The Undergraduate Academic Council discussed a TWUSA proposal to change Academic Advising on March 15. The proposal includes the creation of a Central Office for Academic Advising that would primarily serve undecided and general studies majors, but would also be open for questions from other majors. The proposal included the creation of awards for outstanding advisors, as nominated by students. TWUSA VP of Academics, Andrea Norrish, who created the proposal, said that the aim of the awards is to “combat bad situations by promoting good ones.” Norrish said that the UAC viewed this proposal “in a very positive manner.”

At time of printing, TWUSA was voting on a new discipline policy that will be added to the Policy Manual on March 22. The new policy will allow Council to discipline any member who does not fulfill their job description. The first stage of discipline will include a documented verbal reprimand. If the Council member does not change his behaviour, he or she will receive a written reprimand. In the third stage of discipline, the case will be taken before the TWUSA Executive. All stages of discipline will be documented, and the policy provides that “the steps must be done in an attitude of reconciliation.”

Trinity Western University recently welcomed six new members to the Board of Governors.

Melvin Nelson hails from Fargo, North Dakota, where he is President and CEO of a consulting firm, Executive Management Systems, Inc. His father, Stanley Nelson, was TWU’s first Director of Development and Public Relations, and is the namesake of TWU’s Stanley Nelson Center.

Jeremy Funk, a 1985 TWU graduate is a project and property manager for PFP Ventures Inc., and a professor at Providence College.

Gerald Baron is founder and President of Baron & Company, as well as the founder of AudienceCentral. His involvement in the communications field earned him an honorary humanities doctorate in 2003 from TWU.

The Trinity Western University Chamber Singers will be performing with the Vancouver Chamber Choir and the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra at the Orpheum on Friday, March 25 at 8 p.m. The talent of TWU’s choir has always been strong; they consistantly gain positions in reputable performances. The choir sang at Carnegie
Hall, NY, in January. This Friday, the conductors will be Wes Janzen (TWU), Jon Washburn (VCC), and Branwell Tovey (VSO). Tickets are $20 and can be ordered by filling out a form found outside the choir room in RSC.

Following budget constraints, the President’s Internship program has been cut from eight to two positions. The number of interns each year varies depending on what projects are available in each department and what the budget allows for. Last year’s eight positions constituted an “exception to the rule.”

With only two spots and just as many applicants as in previous years, the selection process is evolving.

“The interview process has been more competitive and the choices were more difficult to make among such great applicants,” said Brian Bevilacqua, the current program coordinator. Next fall, the two intern positions will be in the University Communications and General Advancement departments.

Gaining work experience in a competitive field like international politics is often difficult for recent graduates, but one new Trinity Western University alumnus managed to land his dream job. Due largely to his experience at the Laurentian Leadership Centre, TWU’s internship program in Ottawa, alumnus David Kim was able to secure an internship at the United Nations in New York City.

From September to December of 2004, Kim served as the intern for the Third Committee of the Republic of Korea’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations.