The annual New Student Orientation (NSO) kicked off the school year for first-year students. Casually known as Frosh week, UPEI’s NSO, like those of other universities across the country, tried to adopted a_ strictly alcohol and drug-free approach.

“It was great to have events without liquor, it is a completely chem-free week,” said BJ McCarville, UPEI Student Union President and NSO leader. “I think [sobriety] is a really important part of frosh week,” she continued. “Students can still have a great time without [alcohol].

McCarville added that although drinking will always be part of student life, the NSO organ- isers simply wanted to provide a week where students could meet each other without the use of intox- icants.

“There was great leader participation this year...everybody was really keen,” said McCarville, speaking of her fellow NSO lead- ers. “I felt like the leaders were really there this year to ensure the success of the activities and were really committed to putting effort into them.”

“Steve and BJ. were incredible...Peggy MacEwan was amazing,” said students such as Aaron Landry and Susan Welton.

Others were disappointed by the week.

“Be prepared to be Blown away!!!” said the NSO pamphlet. Unfortunately many students were not. Some described the event as “boring, corny, and tiring”.

Some students critiqued the event’s registration, which was long despite the fact that the organ- izers had wanted it to be the most efficient one yet. NSO tried, but not hard enough, said many first

year students who were forced to wait outside in a long line-up. Some did not bother with the line- up and left.

Despite this, student turnout was excellent McCarville believes. “It was amazing,” she added, “we had more new students than t-shirts.”

“This year, there was more of a UPEI spirit being shown,” said McCarville. “Instead of having teams beating up of each other, stu- dents joined together and became proud to be little ‘Panthers.’”

Some students disagreed.

They felt restricted to their group and unable to make the acquaintance of anyone else. Many thought the teams were too com- petitive. Others felt that too many events were going on at once, and others should have been left out.

Shinerama, a fundraiser aimed at raising money for cystic fibrosis research, was also a suc- cess according to McCarville. Over 6000 dollars were raised.

“T wouldn’t change much, it was an amazing week,” said McCarville who commented on the great job done by Steven Forbes, NSO Coordinator, and his partners in crime, Chris Power and Nadine Candelora. “The students this year were so great. I see a phenomemal growth in school spirit at UPEI.”

Despite the sometimes severe criticism, students agreed that the events, t-shirts, bandanas, pens, prizes, free meals, and infor- mation, were worth the price of the registration.

Follow up events which will likely tie-in with the Winter Carnaval, and possibly an official welcome for new student in January will be planned by the NSO organisers. eR NR CT a CRC SR NR aR SE AER

20 summit

By Jon Bricker (The McGill Daily) When leaders of the International Monetary Fund,

World Bank, and finance ministries from around the world converge on Montreal next month, the G-20 Welcoming Committee — will undoubtedly be there to receive them.

But this is no ordinary wel- coming committee. Instead, it’s the next in a line of demonstrations that have made squaring off with activists seem like part of the job of international summitry.

Montreal is slated to become the site of the next meeting of the upstart G-20, a Canada-led multilateral organization commit- ted, its leaders say, to giving glob- alization a friendlier face. But when meetings kick-off on Oct. 24, Montreal-area activists say they’ll be there to deliver their own mes- sage about globalization.

“Some of the most power- ful men behind the international economy are coming to Montreal. Of course the G-20 Welcoming Committee is going to be there to meet them,” said Montreal activist Jaggi Singh yesterday.

“The G-20 is another pillar of the pro-corporate, capitalist world view that we need to be con- cerned about.” :

Singh was part of the famed APEC protests in 1997, as well as more recent mobilizations in Seattle, Washington D.C., and Windsor that have turned interna- tional eyes on the growing anti- globalization campaign.

This time around Singh says he expects a more “modest mobilization.” Maybe a couple of thousand protesters, a small turnout compared to the one wit- nessed in Seattle last summer. But

he also says that the amount of mobilization taking place in prepa- ration for next month’s summit shows how far the anti-globaliza- tion campaign has come.

“There’s a lot of energy and serious organizing going on,” Singh said, pointing to the dozens of groups that have come together under the G-20 Welcoming Committee umbrella.

“Even at McGill, a very conservative campus historically, there’s been a lot of talk about this event.”

But the federal government who is hosting the meeting defends the G-20’s role. Scott Reid, spokesperson for Liberal Finance Minister Paul Martin, who chairs the G-20, says the organization, which first came together last fall, is one of the best equipped to address concerns with globaliza- tion.

“It’s a very formative group,” Reid said, “but it has the potential to become an ideal forum for discussion of globalization issues.”

Reid says the G-20 grew out of a concern during the recent Asian economic crisis that the G-7, which consists primarily of wealthy Western nations, was not the best organization to address globalization’s impact on less developed countries.

“It was said that we needed

a bigger table,” he explained. Reid also says that Canada

and the G-20 both stood for a somewhat moderated approach to globalization.

“You have those that say that globalization is a good thing in and of itself and those who say that globalization is simply evil. But

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