Tuesday, March 4, 2008

Evacuation of the UniCentre

Sources tell me that parts of the University Centre (UCU) have been sealed off. No word on the reasons. More information to come (maybe). (Thanks Ryan Kennery)

UPDATE, 15h03: According to Melanie Wood, editor in chief of the Fulcrum, a suspicious package was sent to Community Life Services. Parts of the building are taped off. Sophie Nadeau, Media relations for the U of O, was not extremely generous on information.

UPDATE, 15h23: According to Nick Taylor-Vaisey, news editor of the Fulcrum, the official response seems to be that it was a false alarm and that the UniCentre is set to open soon.

Great job by the entire Fulcrum staff. More details to come (probably) in tomorrow's issue of the Fulcrum.

But what does this have to do with the SFUO elections? According to my sources, Joseph Wesley Richards II went to the Elections Office to get his posters stamped, and, due to this "false alarm" was unable to reach someone. The stars do not seem to be aligned for JWR2, at least, not yet.

More reasons why this matters? We have been trying to reach Community Life Services since this morning to book the Agora of the UCU for the "all candidates'" debate.

Photo courtesy of Meaghan Walton, Fulcrum Art Director. The Fulcrum/The SFUO Blog exclusive.

14 comments:

Elizabeth Chelsea said...

The evacuation first took place of the third floor, and then the fire alarm went off and we all had to go.

One of the staffers at the Centre for Students with Disabilities, due to the utterly bunk design of this Unicentre, had to be carried down the steps from Morisette terrace in wheelchair by a very handsome firefighter, and some cop.

Bravo.

(the elevators don't work during alarms, so the typical protocol for fire alarms for folks who use wheelchairs is to actually sit by the elevator doors and wait to be rescued.)

Serge Miville said...

So apparently the university believes people with dissabilities are cats stranded on a tree branch.

That's respectful.

Anonymous said...

I know there were two certain CSD staff members that were happy about the handsome firefighters...

Virginie said...

Oh yeah.

ShaughnessyO said...

hell ya i was.

seriously though... wtf uottawa? i pay good money to come here and i'll be damned if i'm gonna sit by an elevator and wait for help. also, that snow was hard to wheel through on the terrace, even for a muscular fellow like myself.

Anon said...

Shaunessy is ripped. He should have carried the firemen to safety, he's so buff.

ShaughnessyO said...

oh lord... lawl

Virginie said...

I agree...there has to be a better way than waiting like a damsel in distress by the elevator. I'll look into that.

Speaking of accessibility, has anyone tried the "accessible" word verification (right below the comment posting box)?
It sounds like someone is speaking in tongues/is the hardest thing to comprehend ever/has nothing to do with what is posted on the screen.
Hmmmm...

(This would be my third try to use it...)

Philippe said...

Virginie: What I get is random sounds in the background then there's one sound that's more obvious once in a while. And these sounds seem to be numbers in French "un", "deux", "quatre". I believe it's because my Firefox is configured in French.

Catou said...

Wohah! that is pretty random... sounds more like the subliminal messages you can get by playing songs backwards than anything else. I could hear numbers in english here and there though... maybe it's a code... a secret phone number or something...

Anonymous said...

Maybe Wassim hacked it, and it's actually brainwashing us. That how he gets people to call him with news tips, and that's why we all have this page set to favorites.

Catou said...

Holy shit! Amy, I put this blog in my bookmarks literally 3 seconds before I read your post... you scare me.

Maxime said...

OH MY GOD that is the creepiest thing I have ever heard. It's like 8 languages at once. And it keeps going and going. Oh god I'm afraid, don't click on that late at night.

Anonymous said...

So talking of Debates are we actually going to be able to see candidates ask other candidates questions, like a real debate?

It would spice things up a little.