Re: “A different kind of sponsorship scandal” (Sept. 23, page 7)

In response to A different kind of sponsorship scandal, published September, 23, 2010.

While reading this article, I read the words “Sponsorship scandal” with dismay.

Expecting to find allegations of corruptions within the University of Winnipeg Students’ Association, I instead found that an eccentric lobbyist was the source of disorder.

It seems that a person with no affiliation to the university garnered 300-odd signatures to prevent corporate sponsors from setting up tables during Orientation Week. Robert McGregor claims that because I am so naive, I am taken advantage of and harassed by these businesses. That’s an enormous claim, and it seems unsupported.

This year, tuition rose for many students, and the UWSA faced growing problems associated with costs of providing and maintaining the services that students have come to expect.

Gregory Furmaniuk claims that “the idea of corporate sponsorship sends the message to the government that they don’t need to keep funding post-secondary education because the private sector can handle it.”

While the university does receive subsidies from the government, it is a private institution. The number one concern for students is the cost of university, and if sponsors can subsidize it further, then the students are ultimately the benefactors.

A little advertising by services that students already require is a small price to pay.

As a newspaper that is facilitated by University of Winnipeg students, and run by academics with supposedly high journalistic integrity, I was thoroughly disappointed in such a biased article.

Do Uniter beat reporters walk around the halls and write a half-page on every guy in a box they meet?

A real student,
Travis Turenne

– Travis Turenne

Published in Volume 65, Number 5 of The Uniter (September 30, 2010)

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