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<p>Jan Wong was sitting in her office with the door closed, working on her computer. Outside her door she heard some talking. She thought she didn’t have an appointment and didn&#8217;t answer so she could get her work done. Then, a sheet of folded paper was slid under her door. The journalism professor quickly jumped [&hellip;]</p>

<p>A recent announcement by provincial NDP leader Dominic Cardy prompted a fiery social media response from post-secondary education minister Jody Carr, which whipped up some of the most intense and productive public debate you can hope to see out of New Brunswick. Citing government data that found 56 per cent of New Brunswickers functionally illiterate, [&hellip;]</p>

<p>Subway opened on St. Thomas University campus in December, and what seemed to be a good alternative for students has turned into something a lot complain about. For third-year student Dylan Hackett, it’s the smell that irritates her the most. “The entire building smells like Subway. Some people enjoy that but I don&#8217;t enjoy it [&hellip;]</p>

<p>One of the goals of the first New Brunswick Student Alliance advocacy week was to make getting financial assistance easier for students. One of the ways they did this was to make an ‘ask’ that benefited students who work instead of punishing them. Right now, students with jobs can only make $100 without being docked [&hellip;]</p>

<p>Thursday is Mental Health Awareness Day. St. Thomas University will be celebrating it with popcorn, a five-cent psychiatrist booth, a fortuneteller and sharing stories of mental illness. Positive Mental Health Champion Lindsay Gallagher said both JDH and GMH will be filled with information on different mental illnesses, positive mental health and resources. “Students should get [&hellip;]</p>

<p>St. Thomas alum is making a difference in the Fredericton community. Amanda Dobbelsteyn’s role as social inclusion facilitator at the New Brunswick Association for Community Living is to support individuals with intellectual disabilities. One of her jobs is with the supported living program. She helps to provide individuals with the opportunity to move out independently [&hellip;]</p>

<p>Students on campus are talking, and the subject may surprise you. Last week, women took to the stage at UNB’s Marshall D’Avry Hall to present their version of The Vagina Monologues. “People have the impression that girls, women, go on stage and talk about their own vaginas, sort of like made to write your own [&hellip;]</p>

<p>President &#8211; Santiago Chavez VP Administration -Ben Graham -Woody Brown -Kaley Etheridge VP Education -Sam Titus VP Student Life -Rebecca Ferris -Dallas Power Student Senator (2 positions) -Michael Forestell -Natalia Board of Governors Reps (2 positions) -Shannon Carmont -Michael Farr Grad Class President -Travis Aten Valedictorian -Megan Aiken -Lucas MacLean -Nathan Paton -Julia Cann -Rodrigo [&hellip;]</p>

<p>While the Sochi Winter Olympics may be surrounded in outrage and boycotts in the face of Russia’s anti-gay laws, St. Thomas’ LGBTQ organization Spectrum refuses to let Putin ruin their enjoyment of the games. “Unless our national team boycotts, how can we boycott [watching] our athletes?” said John Staples, vice-president of the universities’ LGBTQ organization. [&hellip;]</p>

<p>While neknominate slowly fades away in New Brunswick, a new social media fad is picking up speed. Young people are preforming random acts of kindness to spread joy and combat the potentially harmful fad. The new fad known as a RAKnomination stands for random act of kindness nomination. It started in South Africa with a [&hellip;]</p>

<p>St. Thomas journalism professor Philip Lee was called out during a panel discussion at St. Thomas University hosted by the New Brunswick Media Co-op. Self-proclaimed activist/journalist Miles Howe used Lee’s quote from a CBC-Radio panel last fall to argue how biased the mainstream media was during the Rexton incident. During an interview with Information Morning’s [&hellip;]</p>

<p>Jan Wong is a journalist. Even when she’s being dragged down by depression, she reaches up for the truth. Thursday night Wong gave a TedxUNB talk at the Wu Conference Centre. The St. Thomas journalism professor talked about her experience with The Globe and Mail’s denial of her work-place depression, and the aftermath that only [&hellip;]</p>

<p>The media fee St. Thomas students pay each year is rising from $23 to $25 next academic year. The Aquinian’s Board of Directors voted to ask for an increase in the media fee for full-time students. With the motion passing unanimously at the Jan. 21 meeting, the Aquinian went to St. Thomas financial services comptroller [&hellip;]</p>

<p>The federal Liberal Party is making marijuana policy an issue going into the 2015 election. Last summer, Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau revealed he had smoked marijuana and expressed his desire to legalize the plant. It has yet to make it into their election platform. Now a Conservative MP representing New Brunswick South West has added [&hellip;]</p>

<p>Frederictonians took off their mittens and dressed up with Guatemalan colours and flavours last Friday night at Noche Latina. Over 200 hundred people gathered at the community centre of the Wilmot United Church to dance to the catchy Latin song Danza Kuduro, enjoy tasty traditional Central American food and raise money to support education and [&hellip;]</p>

<p>Faculty agreement reached A tentative agreement made on Dec. 20 has been ratified by the St. Thomas Board of Governors between the university’s full- and part-time faculty and administration. A letter sent to the faculty from St. Thomas President Dawn Russell stated that changes to the contract include cost of living adjustments and having a [&hellip;]</p>

<p>Student unions from across the province came together for the first ever New Brunswick Student Alliance Advocacy Week. Representatives from St. Thomas, Mt. Allison, UNBF and UNBSJ had 21 meetings between Feb. 3 to 7, 18 of which were with MLAs, said STU student union president, Elizabeth Murphy. Murphy said the week went well for [&hellip;]</p>

<p>Facebook allowed users to share minute-long videos highlighting their posts and photos as the popular social networking site celebrated its tenth birthday on Feb. 4. On that day in 2004, Mark Zuckerberg and his Harvard University classmates founded the site, which, in March 2013, had over one billion active users. First-year St. Thomas student Adam [&hellip;]</p>

<p>Spring Elections STUSU&#8217;s Spring Elections will formally open with the nomination call Tuesday. Other important dates are as follows: Nominations Close: Thursday, Feb. 13 Candidates Meeting: Friday, Feb. 7 (time TBA) Campaigning: Saturday, Feb. 15 – Friday, Feb. 21 Speeches: Wednesday, Feb. 19 and Friday, Feb.21 Debate: Thursday, Feb. 20 (time TBA) Voting: Monday, Feb. [&hellip;]</p>

<p>Professor Susan Reid knew if given the chance, her students would jump at an opportunity to organize something meaningful as a class. Even she couldn’t have imagined just how motivated her class would be or how big the student-lead initiative would grow. All it took was a single spark prompted by one tried-and-trusted documentary. “In [&hellip;]</p>