It's really cool, the diversity and the variety with everybody coming together," says Ron Griffith. "It's just a really healthy way to meet new people, a healthy way to spend your leisure time and to be part of a bigger community."

Beginning with a pink wristband and ending with a pink Speedo, Pi Week may have been strange, but holy hell, it certainly was fun.

In a move to combat crime activity, the City of Calgary is deploying new closed-circuit television surveillance cameras in downtown areas in a one-year pilot project.

Up to 24 cameras will be installed in various locations in a two kilometer radius around City Hall, such as Olympic Plaza and the East Village, on a wireless network. The police and senior bylaw officers would view the video downloaded on authorized laptops.

City council approved the project, which will cost $500,000, on Mon., Mar. 17.

From travels in Germany through to prolific writing, deep-sea diving and movie premiers, Dr. Holger H. Herwig has led a fascinating academic career.

The dust has settled, the plants can see the light again, though they're scarcely better off for it. Certainty has died, leaving only the disquiet of the future.

In a social world submerged in wireless techno-gadgets and digitally distanced Facebook friends, it takes someone on the edge of cyberculture to help us understand modern life.

That person is the University of Calgary's Dr. Maria Bakardjieva.

"I was an outsider," said Bakardjieva. "It wasn't part of the culture that I came from. I was like an anthropologist coming to study a new culture."

Bakardjieva, explained she collided with new Internet technologies upon her arrival in Canada in 1993.

Half of the world's population consists of females leaving an essential place for gender equality dialogue, not just in Canada, but globally.

In 1975, the United Nations declared Mar. 8 would be celebrated as International Women's Day. Women's Resource Centre executive director Stephanie Garrett stressed the importance behind the day.

It's a generally-accepted view that university professors are paid more than burger-flippers. However, many students would be shocked and appalled to learn the wages at McDonalds are significantly higher than those received by a full quarter of the university's teaching staff.

This past week, the House of Commons voted 198-77 in favour of continuing Canada's military involvement in Afghanistan beyond the initial Feb. 2009 commitment, extending the mission until Dec. 2011. The vote, coinciding with the 81st military casualty in Afghanistan, was followed by protests against the mission and has called into question Canada's military role in the world.

The role of a university in society is debatable.

Its two main functions--research and teaching--indisputably play a vital role in society. That said, one function cannot be sacrificed for the other. It has been shown that those with a university degree are more likely to stay above the poverty line, vote more often and overall be more aware citizens. However, academic research lends important contributions by adding to a society's knowledge base, which provides a basis of inquiry for advancing further research.