At the next Liberal Party policy convention in February, a proposal that originated with University of Calgary students might lead Canada to
develop thorium as a future energy source.

“The idea came from Alberta Young Liberals,” said the president of the U of C Liberals, Vincent St. Pierre. “We said, ‘let’s make a new resolution for the policy conference and let’s try to engage Canada in a greater debate about our energy future.’ ”

The University of Calgary’s radio station, CJSW, is pushing for a referendum next year to increase their student levy by $1.00. We recently sat down with CJSW station manager Myke Atkinson to ask why they need the money.

The Gauntlet: CJSW broadcasts to all of Calgary, all day, everyday. That can’t be cheap.

Myke Atkinson: No, it’s not.

Two University of Calgary students were recently chosen as Rhode Scholars, placing them in the ranks of former prime ministers, U.S. presidents and Nobel Prize winners.

The Rhodes scholarship gives graduate students the chance to study at Oxford University in England for two years, free of charge. Only 83 students are selected world wide every year. The scholarship is considered one of the highest academic accolades in the world.

The Students’ Union recently sanctioned Wildrose On Campus, a partisan club that hopes to mobilize students for a political party that has seen substantial growth in recent years.

The WROC is part of a province-wide push from the Wildrose Party to increase its support amongst youth in Alberta. At the moment, the Wildrose lacks the large youth wings held by the Progressive Conservatives and the Liberals in Alberta.

The University of Calgary has come out in defence of deals made with corporate donors in response to a report released by the Canadian Association of University Teachers.

The report shows the U of C finalized two secret corporate research deals — called the Alberta Ingenuity Centre for In-Situ Energy and the Consortium for Heavy Oil Research by University Scientists — that allow corporate donors to dictate how research dollars are spent and to withdraw funding if research is not favourable to their interests.

When most people hear the word “drone,” they tend to think of a few very specific drones. Particulary the ones currently being used by the United States to carry out extrajudicial killings. Or perhaps they think of any of the many drones in movies, video games and books that are depicted as terrifying murder-robots. Either way, the mental image conjured by the word is rarely a pleasant one, which may be why there has been such a vocal reaction to Amazon’s planned drone delivery service.

With the holidays and their barrage of family encounters fast approaching, many University of Calgary students are bracing themselves for the inevitable onslaught of questions from prying aunts, nostalgic older siblings and confused grandparents concerned with their well being. This winter, many students will find themselves exhausted with repeating the same generic answers.

One student may have found a solution to this problem.