March 5, 1990

 
   

Misinformation Sparks Angry Exchange

 

by Matthew Martin

The college administration
tried to remove an information
table about Black Awareness
Month from outside the upper
cafeteria in the concourse last
Tuesday.

Security was asked by Pat
Thomasson, the Logistical Ser-
vices Manager in Physical Plant, to
remove the table from the con-
course because the Douglas Col-
lege Student-Seciety did not have
permission to have a table in place.

DCSS President, Aias Perez,
was incensed. "They have no right
to tell us what to do," Perez told
security guards. "My job is to rep-
resent the students of this college."

"I have orders to remove the
stand, nothing against the books"
said Fadi Baydoun, the security
guard involved.

"Nelson Mandela has been un-
banned [sic] in South Africa, but
we can’t distribute the books here"
said Ned Dmytryshyn of Pathfinder
books who witnessed the ex-
change.

Dmytryshyn was enraged at
the attitude of the administration

and according to him it only proves
that "racism still exists" in our
society.

According to Thomasson, she
had explained to Perez the policy
about setting up tables in the con-
course.

“We have this policy so that
fanatical groups, not this one, but
so that fanatical groups don’t come
on campus...I explained this policy
to Aias [Perez] last week. All he has
to do is fill out the form and he
could have his table back in five
minutes."

However, Perez refused to fill
out the form saying that it was
harassment.

"All they are doing is
legitimising the bullshit
bureaucracy in the college. We as
the student society are independent
and autonomous from college ad-
ministration...who gives a fuck if
this is the college [property]."

The reason Perez thinks that
this is harassment is because the
policy seems to apply only to some
groups. "The Women’s Organising
Committee can have a table - why
is there a double standard?" ques-

tions Perez.

Bill Bell, the Public Informa-
tion Officer for Douglas College,
said that any external group must
fill out the form, but internal col-
lege groups are ok.

When it was discovered by
Bell that the group running the
table was the D.C.S.S., considered
an internal group, he apologised
profusely, and allowed the table to
stay.

"It [the altercation] was totally
unnecessary. I fully support this
type of information being dis-
tributed on campus."

When told that an internal
body of the college was indeed run-
ning the table, Thomasson was
surprised. "They [the Student
Society] never said that it was a
Student Society function. All we
would like is to be informed of
what’s happening," she said.

According to Thomasson, all
the DCSS has to do is inform physi-
cal plant of their intentions, and

there is no problem. "All it is, is a ©

matter of scheduling so we don’t
have ten groups out there harassing
the students," said Thomasson.

Recycling Project Begun
At Douglas College

 

by Brent Kyle

Douglas college is finally slip-
ping into place with other institu-
tions and becoming more
environmentally smart.

A student work-study project
is currently in progress to look into
Douglas College’s waste disposal
and recycling practices. The three
person team is responsible for re-
searching and exploring not only
what is being done in the College at
the present, they are also looking
into the options the College has in
the way of improvement in this
area.

The group will be consulting
with staff, faculty, administration,
and students about what they think
could and should be done with

 

waste at Douglas. No definite con-
sultation plans have been made yet,
but several different methods, such
as setting up a table in the con-
course for a period of time to get
student opinions, talking with the
different department heads on con-
ditions within their department,
and contacting the Student Society,
are all being considered for use.
At the moment, most of the
effort directed into this project is
being done in the area of research.
The team is looking into how recy-
cling has been done in other institu-
tions and what methods are better
than others, for dealing with waste,
from information in reports and re-
search already done on this subject.

Some of the things the project
will be looking at are the waste of
paper in the computer and
photocopy rooms and how they can
possibly be recycled, the styrofoam
being used in the cafeteria, and if
students would use bins provided
for them to throw out paper.

The date for completion of this
project is sometime shortly before
May 4th.

Concerned students are both
encouraged and appreciated. If
you have any ideas or are inter-
ested in helping this project, or
have any other questions, please
feel free to contact Norman
Gludovatz at the Douglas College
Student Society.

Former Ombudsperson
Slams Olstrom’s Report

 

by Chistine Heal

Former Ombudsperson Bill
Small has written a letter to Jamie
McEvoy, Vice President Internal,

 

 

    
 

ficulty [he has] with Mr. Olstrum’s
[sic] report is in the fact that it con-
sists of a number of unverified
criticisms, packaged in an in-
coherent presentation that appears
to be written by someone who is

. __ very nearly functionally illiterate."

  

Keith Olstrom

critiquing present Ombudsperson
Keith Olstrom’s Interim Report.
Olstrom’s February 15th
report has caused a lot of controver-
sy. Small states the "primary dif-

He continues, "I urge you to
speak directly with Mr. Olstrum
[sic] regarding his unprofessional
manner [sic] of operation." In
response, Olstrom said, "everyone
is entitled to their opinion; I’m glad
the report has facilitated debate."

Small states Olstrom’s

"primary duty as Ombudsperson is

to act as a representative of the
student body in dealings with all
facets of the College."

Small says although this in-
cludes monitoring Student
Society’s actions, in his experience
the majority of student concerns
were issues relating to the College

Administration.

Olstrom said the Ombudsper-
son is "mandated under Constitu-
tion" in Bylaw IX to see the Student
Society is following their mandate.
In his opinion, he would be at fault
if he allowed an infraction to go by
and did not address it. Also accord-
ing to the Policy Manual, "the
priority of cases in the
Ombudsperson’s caseloads shall
be as determined by the Om-
budsperson."

Small stated it is the
Ombudsperson’s "mandate to issue
well researched, reasoned recom-
mendations based on documented
problems." He said Olstrom did not
provide proof for his allegations
nor adequate examples.

Olstrom said "no proof [was]
provided...because I didn’t think it

Continued page 4

 

Securuty Guard Fadi Baydoun asks D.C.S.S. to remove

table.

photo by Rachael Burnett

Racist Pins Found
In Richmond

 

by Imtiaz Popat
Racist lapel pins sparked

protests at the Steveston Fishing:

Village in Richmond.

The B.C. organization to fight
racism (BCOFR) called the rally
Saturday, February 24th to protest
the selling of offensive lapel pins at
the British Pantry, a specialty food
store located in the Steveston Vil-
lage.

Five different kinds of pins
were ordered from the Calgary sup-
plier and the 600 pins sold out in
two days.

One of the pins, which has al-
ready stirred up a great deal of con-
troversy in Calgary, depicts a
Euro-Canadian man surrounded by
a South Asian wearing a turban, a
Chinese wearing a long robe and
coolie hat, and an African wearing
animal skins and carrying a spear.

The caption reads "Who is the
minority in Canada?"

Mary Carter, one of the
proprietors of the British Pantry,
only had samples of two pins left to
show.

"I could have sold a thousand
pins yesterday," she said.

President of BCOFR, Charan
Gill, finds the pin stereotypical and
offensive because Canadians from

these ethnic groups do not typically
dress like that.

"Canadian culture is not stag-
nant. It’s a changing culture,” said
Gill.

But Carter thinks potential
British immigrants are the ones
being discriminated against.

Carter is frustrated because
she is having a hard time getting
food stuffs from Britain because
they do not have French labelling
on them.

She ordered the pins by read-
ing about them in the newspaper.
"When I saw the pins, I thought that
was uS, we are getting dis-
criminated against," she said. "We
are not racist, you know."

The other pin sample available
depicted a Canadian Mountie in
traditional RCMP uniform includ-
ing the stetson. Beside the Mountie
image is a picture of a turban with
an X crossing it out, with the cap-
tion "Preserve our tradition" below.

Sikhs in the RCMP have been
lobbying for the past year to allow
turbans as part of their uniform.
Orthodox Sikhs consider turbans
an essential part of their religion.

While the London "Bobby"
uniform and the Canadian Military

Continued page 4

Olstrom Finds Other
Press "Irresponsible"

Ombudsperson Keith Olstrom
is not pleased with the way the
Other Press presented his report in
its February 26th issue.

Regarding the article, "Om-
budsperson ’Violated Confiden-
tiality,’" Olstrom said it was
"irresponsible of the Other Press to
put names to the positions [men-
tioned in the report]. I did refer to
the current President and Resource
Coordinator and I was obviously
speaking of specific people," but
names were not printed in his
report.

The article, "Ombudsperson

Offends Society Members by Use
of Language in Report,’says "the
impartiality of the Ombudsoffice is
in question following sexist state-
ments."

Olstrom responded, "obvious-
ly some people are offended by it.
I don’t feel my terminology reflects
my attitudes."

In the Ombuds Office Policy,
the Ombudsperson is referred to as
"her" and "she." Olstrom stated that
this usage is either affirmative ac-
tion "to draw attention to it" or
reverse discrimination, but realizes

Continued page 4