November 27th to December 8th The Other Press Page 7 IA plea by John K. Gilbert In begging for a halt on budget cuts for academic subjects and arguing for absolute necessity for purely academic endeavour, | can think of many lines of philosoph- ical argument. | doubt, however, that they would be of much concern to someone who does not indulge in broad _ philosophical discourse, or reading as at least a pastime. Philosphy, metaphysics, the questioning of what it means to be human, contributes a signif- icant part of my life’s joy. It seems that | cannot expect that attitude from the majority though. Therefore, | will limit my plea along these lines to a plea for a little altruism. Remember, please, that you are not merely a bureau- cratic cipher, you are a human being with ethical obligations to other human beings both existing and yet to be born. Of more practical implications is the problem of communications. Our culture has a tendency to for sanity at college blind stumbling rather than the enlightened striding that human- form itself into special interest groups. Group mentality is such that it often becomes a contest between us and them. Academic endeavour provides a language, an awareness, and a common sense of idenitity that allows for communication between groups. Without these there will be strife that contributes to no one but society’s carrion birds. Apathy and despair do not last forever. They will turn to anger, and without a common understanding of some sort - not purely material- istically based - there will be distruction of some sort. Society has weathered these sorts of changes and storms before, but surely they are a waste of our precious time and energy. Society does change; we hope that it progresses. Not only does our technology change, but our goals shift as well. If we concen ‘trate on technique to the detri- ment of academic interests, that are equipped to question and examine the goals, we will stifle ourselves and whatever progress © we maintain will be more of a So what now? by Helene Wisotzki~ It was almost inevitable that we would be compared to the protest- ers of the 1960s. The media is often not very original in their assessment of events, tending to rely on old stand-bys, perhaps be- cause stereotypes are what the public is best equipped to deal with. It is so easy to disregard public rallies and political assem- blies by comparing them to sim- ilar ventures which did not pan out, or else patronize the involved parties bypseudo-flattery: marched on hae as their parents _ did in the 1960s...’’ Really now. The turnout of students was impressive for Douglas College and, | am sure, unexpected by the Student Society. Although the organization of the meeting was quite acceptable, MLA Norm Levi (NDP) did not deserve to have competition for air time with the placard-carrying students outside and the assembled students in- side. Levi seemed quite sporting though, and continued his talk relatively undisturbed. It was good to hear him say that there was political relevence in our actions, and remind us that we, Photo by Helene Wisotzki ity is capable of. This questioning of our goals that academic en- deavour provides is not respons- ible for radicalism. What is re- sponsible for the radicalism that threatens so many is the failure of education - when it is doled out in such a miserly fashion that those that love it totter on the brink of intellectual starvation - it is the failure of education that produces radical violence and nihilism that threatens the structure of our society. If you are wondering ‘‘Who the hell is this person?’’, | am a studednt at Douglas College who plans to go on: to Simon Fraser and from there to who knows an as voting citizens, have the pot- ential to further our cause at the polls. Vice-President Jim Davies gave Levi’s spech an enthusiastic seal of approval, adding that the administration was definitely be- hind the students’ protest and supported all efforts to publicize and fight the ‘grim education . prospects that Douglas College might face next year. Davies’ promise of allegiance was kind but almost redundant: instructors are just as concerned about ed- ucation cutbacks as students; for if there are no students, there will be very few other educable com- modities available - tables and chairs make poor scholars. None- theless, the students did apprec- iate the fact that the administra- tion is now of the oppressed (in this case, anyway). President Bill Day was honest enough to admit that he had very few answers for us regarding the proposed cutbacks, except to as- sure us that the cuts had not yet been decided or finalised. He seemed quite cheerful as he talked, although in a _ previous television interview he showed some consternation. The admin- istration doors were still locked, and there was the possibility, however minute, of it becoming an all-day affair; fortunately for the staff, this did not happen. Originally Education Minister Brian Smith was invited by DCSS President Kevin Hallgate to “’... remove the locks (himself)... eS. eee where. | do not feel my future severely limited. | will survive. | am sure however that there are many, who have a_ significant contribution to make to socieity, that will survive only in a stunted intellectually malformed state if academic cuts are made. Many of them will fight though. If they win these rights that are threatened to be taken away perhaps some will learn from that experience. Many though will be hurt, their faith in the society in which they live will be hurt, and the society will be hurt. The greed and misplace values that result in the threaten- ing of education hurt me, they hurt all of us. | don’t want to Wiz, the society that | love, but | will. but Smith declined the offer. Perhaps it was appropriate that the students, via Hallgate, re- mained in control of the morn- ing’s proceedings. Thereby hangs the thread of the -demonstration on Friday (and the information rally on Thursday): that the students initiated, organ- ized, and followed through with a significant show of involvement against the proposed government cutbacks. It matters not whether Brian Smith chose to become part of the demonstration, because we had enough of our own people participating, including three in- vited guests (Norm Levi, Jim Davies, and Bill Day), and a healthy supply of media to ensure us some amount of public recogni- tion (note, however, that we did not rate a mention in Saturday’s edition of the Vancouver Sun!) the demonstration was not a complete success, but neither was it meant to be. Friday was only a small example of what will hope- fully continue throughout British Columbia for the next several months. Perhaps not all post- secondary institutions will engage in active protest, but surely we have set some kind of precedent. We are just beginning the strug- gle, so to speak, and we cannot expect instant victory. Too many people are reluctant to shed the warm blanket of complacency: it is up to us to change their minds, and show the government that ‘they are still answerable to the . people of un country.