PAGE 8

THE OTHER PRESS

MARCH 30, 198

e Official Opening ~

Shein’s silence sheme

falls flat

by Chris Page

Silence may be golden, but
not at Douglas College, it
seems.

Education Minister Bill
Vander Zalm’s speech at
Douglas College’s official
opening March 18th was met
by applause, despite Student
Society President Tim Shein’s
plans to meet it with silence.

Shein blames The Province
for breaking his confidence.
Publicity in the media des-
troyed the plan, he said.

Other protests came from
banners with messages like
““We want to learn.’’ Students
unrolled ‘‘If you think educa-
tion is expensive, try ignor-
ance’’ as Vander Zalm finish-
ed his speech.

Colleges are still being built
in B.C., he told a crowd of
about 900. He called the build-
ing ‘‘the finest college facility
in North America.’’

However, Faculty Associa-
tion President Ralph Stanton
noted in his speech that B.C.
spends ‘less per person on
education than any other prov-

The popular phrase of the day

ORANCE

ince. He said that Douglas
College could not admit 500
people who applied this year.

Following Stanton came
Shein who said the new cam-
pus is better than the ‘‘glorif-
ied trailer park’’ on McBride
Blvd. He barely mentioned
education cutbacks.

Student Society Vice-Pres-
ident Alanna Whitley said
later that she would have ap-
proached the speech more pol-
itically.

“Tt wasn’t the time or
place,’’ said Shein.

Of the political tone of Stan-
ton’s speech, Shein said ‘‘He
has his views; I have mine.’’

College President Bill Day
was among the other speak-
ers. He gave a history of the
college.

Bill Day, Tim Shein and
Ralph Stanton were among
those not clapping after Van-.
der Zalm’s speech.

Bill Vander Zalm donated a
tree to the college, which he
planted by himself.

He was expected to use a
gold painted shovel, but it was
stolen.

  

 

 

Bill Vander Zalm gazes into the crowd

Behind the

by Brian Pharez

On Friday March 18, 1983,
the Douglas College concourse
was full of activity; setting up
for the opening cerimonies.

The concourse was filled
with chairs that were all re-
served for VIP’s and special
guests of the college adminis-
tration and the attending
socred politicians. The stud-
ents were to sit on the cold
cement or stand.

During preparation, the col-
lege administration had dis-
covered and removed some
protest banners that some de-
termined students had spent
the night planting in strategic
places for the cerimonies.
They were placed on some led-
ges and steel support beams
up the sides of the glass en-
closure. One could not be

scenes at the opening

reached and can still be seen
above the 8th street concourse

entrance. Another was suc-
cessfully recovered by these
students and it was released
over the concourses 4th level
railing as Van der Zalm fin-
ished his speech.

Although the banner read-
ing ‘‘If you think Education is
Expensive, try Ignorance’’,
was seen by many people at
the opening and on TV, the
demonstration met minimum
success. The concourse was a
majority of well dressed, up-

per middle class people, some
of which occupied the ‘re-
served’ seats, . * applauded
every speech about the ‘nec-
essity’ of education cutbacks
with much enthusiasm.

Ken Peters, creator of the

 

 

publicized banner, was disap-
pointed in how the cerimonies

-were ‘stacked’ with socreds,

but was pleased with the pub-
licity the banner received.
Other determined protest-
ers placed their banners in
classroom windows overlook-
ing the concourse, but Van der
Zalm had his back to them.
The cerimonial golden
shovel which was to be used
for the cerimonial tree plant-
ing was stolen by unknown
persons and the tree planting
was performed with an
ordinary shovel.
During the planting a man
approached Van der Zalm and
said,‘‘You’ve fucked welfare,
you’ve fucked municipal af-
fairs, you’ve fucked ICBC and
you ve fucked education! Why
don’t you stick to gardening?’’

CONT./ON PAGE 9

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