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A NEWS YEAR IN REVIEW

Eyeopener Staff

Powdered death threat(s) at Rye

On Sept. 17, 2008, a threatening letter covered in pink powder was sent to a Ryerson administrator. The powder ended up being harmless, but the Hazardous Materials unit (Haz Mat) was called to decontaminate the area.

Six weeks later, on Oct. 27, 2008, an envelope containing a death threat covered in white powder was discovered at enrollment services. Haz Mat was called in again to decontaminate the lower level of the library building and any staff who may have come in contact with the powder.

Subsequent investigations by police revealed the letters may have been sent by disgruntled Ryerson students. Calls into 51 Division regarding the status of the investigation were not returned by press time.

Stabbing on Gould Street

On Oct. 3, 2008, a 16-year-old male was stabbed at the intersection of Yonge and Gould streets after a “rumble” with another group of people.

The victim suffered stab wounds to his head, back and side and was rushed to St. Michael’s Hospital in critical condition.

The Toronto Star reported the incident was not a random attack and the two groups may of had previous contact, according to police Sgt. John Spanton.

Used Book Room meltdown

In late September, the Used Book Room’s hard drive encountered a fatal error that erased the records of all of catalogued books. The information was supposed to back itself up daily, but the backups never happened, for a still undetermined reason.

For weeks, part-time staff and employees manually re-entered thousands of books into their database.

The Used Book Room did manage to reopen and started giving students their cheques for sold books by January— four months after the original crash.

Epic WIN for the RAC

On March 19, the results came in that the majority of Ryerson students that voted in the athletics referendum were in favour of adding $126 to athletic fees to build a new athletics facility for the university.

Of the 4,754 Ryerson students who voted in the referendum, 75 per cent voted yes in the referendum. Twenty five per cent of the students voted no.

These results were in stark contrast to the last athletics referendum, held in 2004, where 60 per cent of voters rejected the idea of increasing athletic fees. In the 2004 referendum, only 2,638 students voted.

“The students went out and after what they wanted,” said Ivan Joseph, Ryerson’s director of athletics.

The fee increase will be added to students’ athletics fees once the centre is built, proposed for 2012.

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