NSPIRG’s Re-orientation plan

Traditionally, universities welcome new students with a week’s worth
of orientation tedium—think tours of the campus, barbeque on the quad
with 3,000 other awkward frosh, boring welcoming speeches by academic
pooh-bahs. A sleepy student is a prepared student, is the idea.

But the Nova Scotia Public Interest Research Group is breaking that
mold with its Alt 101, an alternative orientation series that is
unapologetically political, controversial and, the group hopes,
engaging.

“University administrations and student unions tend to have their
orientation events focused specifically on campus and the student
body,” says Sébastien Labelle, a fourth-year international
studies and theatre student at Dal and NSPIRG board member.

“Alt 101 hopes to give students the opportunity to explore the wider
community in which they’re embedded, and hopefully build bridges
between the student body and community at large. It’s allowing students
to explore beyond campus and kind of undo the isolation that
occurs—to get students more rooted in the community they’re in. We’re
getting those students to set some roots in Halifax.”

Scheduled events include a feminist teach-in on reproductive
justice, an “Are You Queer Enough?” workshop, discussions of tenants’
rights and anti-war work, a bike tour of Halifax, a tour of artist
studios, and radio training at CKDU, among others (the complete
schedule is at nspirg.org).

Last school year, some students at Dal unsuccessfully attempted to
cut off NSPIRG’s funding from student fees, precisely because the group
reaches out beyond the campus to work with non-student groups. But
those ill feelings appear to be have been “smoothed over,” says
Labelle, at least for the moment.

“We think it’s important [for students] to build connections to
people in the community, to get a chance to discover the social and
physical and natural environment that surrounds them,” he says.
—Tim Bousquet

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Effort to de-fund the organization fails

NSPIRG faces funding cut

A Young Progressive Conservative Party recruiter leads an attack in the Dalhousie Student Union to cut off funding to a progressive student organization.

The Coast’s get involved guide

Be the change, slacker. Then there’s the wider world, with all its shortcomings. Maybe the two of you should hook up and make life a little more interesting

Froshing option

A new off-campus orientation event promises to give students an alternative introduction to Halifax. Ben Sichel reports.

This article appears in Sep 3-9, 2009.