UNews - ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ President

Protest puts SU president Wutzke into custody

trevor.kenney — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 21:14:31 +0000

A combination of youthful enthusiasm, righteous indignation and an activist student culture led to one of the most significant nights in the early history of the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge and the young life of Richard Wutzke (BASc '72).

It was May 1968 and determining the future site of the fledgling university was the topic of the day. While ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ administration, faculty, students and the City of Lethbridge all agreed that a westside location matched the vision of the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ's founders, the provincial government did not originally accept this recommendation, and instead proposed a local referendum to determine the site.

Days after SU President Richard Wutzke spent an evening in a Lethbridge jail, the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ's first graduation class, along with faculty, marched in city streets to protest the proposed referendum that would decide the future site of the U of L campus.

With philosophical lines drawn, ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ students took to the streets, and on one fateful night, to the avenue in front of Lethbridge MLA John Landeryou's house. It wasn't long before Wutzke, the Students' Union president, was being hauled away by police, to be joined later by his right-hand man, Arthur Joevenazzo.

"Looking at it from the age of 63 and looking at it from the age of 18 are two different perspectives entirely," says Wutzke, now an artist living in the Laurentian Mountains north of Montreal.

"Now when you look at it and you see a campus with 8,500 students and a third of the city's population is on the westside, it all seems so obvious that this was the right direction to go. But if you were picking up the tab for some kind of a pipe dream like this, I think you might say, "Wait a minute now"."

Student politics of the day had grown more and more confrontational and Wutzke admits he was elected SU president as an activist candidate. He says that as the debate ramped up, a culmination of factors led students out into the streets that evening.

"We were really keen on this type of activity," he says, noting that he and Joevenazzo were the debate champions of Alberta at the time. "There's a lot of testosterone pumping away in your veins and you're just looking for a scrap somewhere."

Fueled by what he calls "hearsay" and inspired by "the struggles of Mahatma Ghandi and the readings of Henry David Thoreau", an evening meeting with ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ faculty was the impetus for a placard-waving group to descend upon Landeryou's home.

"Today I'd be embarrassed to go forging out on an expedition like this with the kind of information we had," chuckles Wutzke. "We felt that somehow Mr. Landeryou was in cahoots with landowners surrounding the junior college who all stood to make very handsome profits by the expropriation of their property. Now, like I say, that is what we believed at the time and that's the information we acted on and we did so with righteous indignation."

When police arrived, they quickly identified Wutzke as a ringleader and put him in a police cruiser.

"I was taken into the police car and then the car was surrounded by students," says Wutzke. "Everybody sat down on the asphalt to prevent the police car from moving. Finally they basically threatened to run people over and they left with me. As soon as I was taken off the scene, my most able henchman, Arthur Joevenazzo, took up the charge and started the chanting again. They came back and picked him up too."

Wutzke and Joevenazzo were actually never arrested, as lore would have it. They were never charged, fingerprinted or put into a cell. ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ President Sam Smith got out of bed, drove down to the police station and vouched for the duo's character and Wutzke's father eventually came to drive him home.

Two days later, following the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ's first convocation, a street march was held, culminating with a rally at Galt Gardens. Days later, with provincial eyes now on Lethbridge and its rebellious students, the government backed off and the westside plan was ratified.

"If I hadn't been there, somebody else would have been there," says Wutzke modestly. "What's important is that in that time in history, the students, even though they would not be the recipients of this glorious new campus, acted and didn't sit on their hands and change occurred. When I look back at that, there is a sense of pride. Not only that I had some personal role in it but that I was part of a student body that really had the guts to get up and be heard."

It's a spirit he continues to see today, and one he applauds.

"Sometimes students really get on your nerves because they are always agitating about something, but it shows you it's a very essential part of the democratic process."

This story first appeared in the February 2012 edition of The Legend. To view the full issue in a flipbook format, follow this link.

Town Hall packs ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ Theatre

trevor.kenney — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 16:05:11 +0000

The hard reality of shrinking government grant money, combined with a struggling economy and declining numbers of post-secondary students was spelled out Thursday as the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge held a Town Hall meeting in its ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ Theatre.

��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ President, Dr. Bill Cade, was assisted by Vice-President (Academic) and Provost, Dr. Andy Hakin and Vice-President (Finance and Administration), Nancy Walker, as they presented the budgetary issues facing the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ over the next three years.

Hakin described a "perfect storm" of factors that have come together to force the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ to address what is expected to be a budgetary shortfall in the years 2010-2011 and 2011-2012. Operating grant increases from the Government of Alberta are not expected beyond the 2009-2010 budget year, meaning the U of L forecasts cutting its budget by $5 million and $6 million respectively in the ensuing years.

"Some of these factors are not within our control and yet as a community, we must deal with them," said Hakin. "We, as the community of the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge, must find a way forward."

The meeting was extremely well attended, filling the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ Theatre and most of the overflow seating established on the floor of the stage. Following addresses by Cade, Hakin and Walker, who presented the financial picture with a PowerPoint presentation, the meeting was opened for questions and suggestions from the floor.

Among the issues discussed were the possibility of layoffs and whether every unit of the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ was under review, including senior administration. Cade assured that every unit would be treated equally and be under the same scrutiny should downsizing be necessary.

Questions continued around the areas of student recruitment, the role of the U of L's Calgary and Edmonton campuses, the possibility that early retirement packages may be offered and whether the issue of student housing was a priority to better attract and retain students.

Cade concluded the meeting by assuring the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ community that the institution was not facing a financial emergency, rather it was planning for the future and enlisting the ideas of its faculty and staff to best cope with the realities of a tough economy. He also indicated continued town hall-style meetings would follow as the year progressed.

McAdam, Titley receive honours

trevor.kenney — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 21:39:10 +0000

Dr. Ian McAdam and Dr. Brian Titley were both honoured by the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge Wednesday as they received the Distinguished Teaching Award and the Ingrid Speaker Medal for Distinguished Research, Scholarship or Performance, respectively.

McAdam, of the U of L's English Department in the Faculty of Arts & Science, was selected by the Distinguished Teaching Award Selection Committee to receive the Distinguished Teaching Award to be presented at the 2009 Spring Convocation.

"The commitment of the university to teaching excellence is appropriately recognized through this award and I congratulate Dr. McAdam on being selected to receive the award in recognition of the quality of his teaching," ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ President, Dr. Bill Cade, says.

Titley is a member of the Faculty of Education. He has been selected to receive the Ingrid Speaker Medal for Distinguished Research, which will also be presented at the 2009 Spring convocation.

"The ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge is a research intensive institution, fostering high quality, world-class research

Dr. Brian Titley

," says Cade. "I congratulate Dr. Titley on being the recipient of this prestigious award which recognizes his excellence in research."

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