Editorial Student loans. What a pain in the ass. Most of the people reading this editorial are involved in procuring a loan, know someone who has a loan or are up to their ears in debt from old loans. The government has excused their behavior by saying that, due to so many students defaulting on their massive debt loads, they have been forced to increase the onus for responsibility on the students themselves. Hence the pending legislation that disallows students the protection from unbearable debt by declaring bankruptcy. Without this slim measure of freedom students are forced to pay off their debts by working at marginal jobs. This is assuming that not all students are in school to acquire job-ready skills. If a student pursues a more traditional course of study (e.g. liberal arts) they are ostracized by their peers and to a certain extent by society in general, because they are seen as not being engaged in a serious practical course of study. It appears that the student who engages in study to improve their thinking and understanding of the world through study of abstract idéas is in danger of extinction. The institutions (corporations, banks, etc.) and government do not seem interested in fostering a popu- lace that is educated to the extent of being able to operate with ab- stract concepts, in addition to those students educated in the “practi- cal arts.” The general trend towards the homogenization of the mainstream in post secondary education is being subtly enhanced and advocated by these changes to the student loan rules. By forcing stu- dents to pay back their loans without possibility of much reprieve (minimal remissions aside) the financial institutions and the govern- ment are marginalizing the classical education and placing a set of clearly delineated values on the types of education that we can pursue. If we want the BCIT tradeschool type of schooling, that’s all well and good. If we attempt the pursuit of the classical education (which is what the university was founded on) then we must be content to eke out a marginal existence, burdened by the yolk of unbearable debt ad in- finitum. Ex Nihilo Nihil Fit. a erm | yf gre Loved the Action with the Sports Section, Man this is exciting shit. The best I’ve seen in this section since I used to rip up the OP and wipe my butt with it. Controversy makes the world go round, Print the Shell Ad. You can’t print the Columns without the Cash. Without a doubt, Mortimer Schluff Dear Other Press: I am writing in response to Mr. Elijah Bak’s response to Mr. Dean Clark’s letter in the March 17th issue of the OP. As a student of Douglas College and a reader of the Other Press, Mr. Bak’s article raises some questions and concerns for me—namely the following: 1. Is Mr. Bak not aware that we live in a plural and supposedly, tolerant society. There is no right or wrong only different truths for diferent people. 2. Can any of us who choose to write in to the OP expect such long-winded scathing responses? 3. Do the rest of the OP staff really think that Mr. Clark’s short 400 to 500 word letter is really worth the six columns that it ultimately consumed? 4. Do staff at the OP expect rude and egocentric rebuttals such as Mr. Bak’s to encourage more students to write more letters? In conclusion, I would like to tell Mr. Bak that opinions are like assholes—everybody has one. What makes Mr. Bak think his is any better, or more correct, than anyone else’s? Sincerely, B.A. Hubert Selling Our Souls: The Shell Ad Problem I understand the difficulty you had in reaching your collective decision to run the Shell ad in your paper. But I applaud the way you appear to have made the best of a bad situation. By my understanding you have been given little choice as to whether or not you can pull the ad, for if you do then “The Other Press” will suffer financially (unfortunately, it does almost always come down to money). However, having read the sur- rounding articles and been made aware of the unpleasant facts about Shell’s involvement in the plight of the Ogoni I found that the full page ad reinforced these articles’ messages. Please don’t try to entice me with convenient gasoline and a quick coffee, Shell, when I know where and at whose expense these things come from. I think you, the Other Press, should run the ad again in all its superficiality and surround it again with articles which contain the truth, such as a short biogra- phy of Ken Saro-Wiwa, to high- light this dark irony. Kenn Burns Trent, I have just finished reading the March 24" issue of the Other Press. The article on the AAP, which you wrote, is outstanding in its clarity and understanding of the situation in which the Sports Services Branch has placed student-athletes. I will be sending copies of this paper to all other colleges and universities in the system includ- ing the Sports Services Branch. You may be interested to know that due to the support of the college CEO’s, especially Jim Wright (CEO of Cariboo), the Branch has reinstated funding at 50% of this year’s level with an additional 16% allotted to “other” sports outside of the varsity sports. The chair of our board, Bob Buzza, also attended the meeting and was quite articulate in his support of funding for student-athletes. Funding for 1997-98 would have remained at zero except for the intervention of the college/ university administrations. In addition, the Sports Editiorial is right on! We do a very poor job of marketing ourselves and our product. The entire Athletic Department, including wrestling coach Dave MacKay, is so totally wrapped in making sure the event itself runs smoothly, that media contact is often ignored. Dave ran a great tournament which did not receive the media coverage it deserved. If it were not for Joriathan Chapman, there would been no press coverage at all. That is one of our short comings which we will try to improve in the future. The support of the Other Press has been much appreciated this year. Lou Rene Legge Women's Issue??? I was very disappointed to see that the issue of the Other Press that was supposed to be dedicated to women in light of International Women’s Day, did not have room to print the two main campuses celebrations for that day. David Lam was mentioned because they have a permanent place reserved just for them in every issue. Well, my question to you is why doesn’t Thomas Haney, since we have been established for a much longer period of time have a space provided for them in every issue as well? This would only seem fair to me. I was asked to produce a write up for the celebrations at our campus for International Women’s Day, which I promptly did and faxed in well before the deadline to make sure that it got into this particular issue. Needless to say we were not even acknowledged. It bothers me that I spent my time Mr. Bitter sees clear: @E (eb? APECALYP TIE NIGHTMARE and effort to do something that someone asked me to do and not even have it printed or acknowl- edged. It also bothers me that when you put one sentence in the paper that the times and days are wrong! For example, you said tha our International Women’s Day celebrations were being held on Thursday March 6th when in fact they were being held on Friday March 7th at the Thomas Haney Centre. It also really bothers me that when an apology is printed to Liz Wilson and once again does n even mention Thomas Haney or the fact that the wrong day was printed. I find this outrageous. We are three different campuses working towards the same mean and should be working together not against each other. What I am proposing is that Thomas Haney Centre has its own space in each issue of the Other Press just like David Lam because we are all students of Douglas College and all have a right to be heard no matter what campus we attend. Interim VP, Thomas Haney; 7 the —— ther Press Volume 21 - lesue 20 April 1, 1887 Room 1020-700 Royal Avenue New Westminster, BC V3L 5B2 Athletics ~ Jonathan D. Chapman sports@op.douglas.be.ca Arts & Entertainment ~ Kim Jorgensen a&e@op.douglas.be.ca Classifieds ~ Barbara Kinley-Hubert (Acting) advertising@op.douglas.be.ca Creative ~ Gweny Wong others@op.douglas.be.ca Coquitlam ~ Joyce Robinson coq_coordinator@op douglas.be.ca CUP Liaison ~ Julia Cornester Features ~ Arthur Hanks features@op.douglas.be.ca Graphics ~ Cheryl Chiu graphics@op.douglas.be.ca News ~ Jim Chliboyko news@op.douglas.be.ca Opinion and Editorial ~ Elijah Bak opinions@op.douglas.be.ca Photography ~ Eric Milner photo@op.douglas.be.ca Production ~ Jessica Fish The Other Press is Douglas College’s autonomous student newspaper. We've been publishing since 1976. The Other Press is runas a norrheirarchical collective, which means that if anything goes wrong, blame it on Trent. The OP is published weekly during the fall and winter semesters and monthly [as a magazine] during the summer. We receive our funding from a student levy collected every semester at registration, and from local and national advertising revenue. The Other Press is a member of the Canadian University Press (CUP), a cooperative of student newspapers from across Canada. We pretend to adhere to CUP’s Statement of Common Principles and Code of Ethics. The Other Press reserves the right to choose what to publish, and what not to publish, General@op.douglas.be.ca cup@op.douglas.be.ca production_co@op.douglas.bc.ca but usually we print everything, unless it is racist, sexist or homophobic. If you have any Phone 525-3542 Distribution ~ Barb Kinley-Hubert Systems Operator ~ Michael Pierre quibbles with what we choose, maybe you should get your lazy butt down here and help. advertising@op.douglas.bc.ca op_web@op.douglas.bc.ca Fax 527-5095 David Lam Campus Doug Whitlow, Rachel Young ( 1/work that body), David Tam, Maureen E Advertising ~ John Morash Production Resource ~ Trent Ernst ug Ww, ‘oung (cover girl/wor! ly), lam, Maureen Egan, Room A3107 aude Sealeubatindiclie tak Colette Ernst (mmm. Food.), § Guys named Horace, and that cute girl who sits next to Phone 527-5805 Bookkeeping ~ David Sussman Editorial Resource ~ Corene McKay me in Philosophy (who provided inspiration and gives my dreams meaning), Niki Paill, sussman@geocities.com editorial@op.douglas.be.ca John Vincent, Sharon Bennet. 2 March 31,1997 The Other Press