news // no. 4

Let's DO Respect campaign

launches at Douglas

» New office for student support and conduct on campuses

Tania Arora
Staff Reporter

 

Fretowine the SHIFT event aimed at
increasing awareness for sexual and
gender violence, Douglas College has now
launched the Let’s DO Respect campaign.

Jay Solman, manager of Douglas’ new
Office of Student Support and Conduct,
spearheaded the campaign and video.

The aim of the campaign is to
create a healthy and respectful student
environment. The college will attempt to
promote this idea by circulating posters to
spread the message. This campaign comes
from the Office of Student Support and
Conduct, where students can report any

incidents of sexual violence or violence
that goes against the college’s behavioural
code. The office holds the responsibility
of investigating complaints and taking
action against the perpetrators. They also
work together with the counselling service
providers of the college to help students
in need of intervention or for someone
to listen. The counsellors will provide
professional advice to students in need.
The Let’s DO Respect campaign
encourages students to analyze and
understand the types of behaviours
they want to see and model within their
social spheres. According to a blog post
by Solman introducing the campaign,
“We are asking all of our students to
step out of their comfort zones, broaden

Say no to interest
on student loans

» BCFS calls on BC government to keep promise

Katie Czenczek
News Editor

 

he British Columbia Federation of

Students (BCFS) is calling all students
who hate student debt to rise up and email
the provincial government.

The student-led organization started
the campaign to put pressure on the
government in hopes of eliminating
interest on student loans in British
Columbia. Specifically, BCFS has called
on current and former students to send a
letter to Finance Minister Carole James and
has submitted recommendations to the
Select Standing Committee on Finance and
Government Services. BCFS hopes that the
government will announce that they will
no longer charge interest rates for student
loans in their 2019 budget proposal.

Effective August 1 of last year, the NDP
government reduced provincial student
loans. The floating rate was reduced by 2.5
percent while the fixed rate was reduced
by five percent, leading to $17 million in
revenue being cut out of the budget. The
reduction did not impact federal interest
rates on student loans, which are still set at
2.7 percent plus an additional 2.5 percent.
These interest rates mean that a student
can pay up to $10,000 more for the exact
same education compared to someone who
does not need student loans.

Aran Armutlu, Chairperson for the
BCFS, said in a video posted on their
website that interest rates unfairly target
people who struggle to pay for their
education without the help of a student
loan.

“This interest is a tax on low- and
middle-income students,” he said. “The
system unfairly punishes those who can’t
afford to pay education costs upfront.”

The NDP listed eliminating
student loan interest rates as a part of
their campaign promises in the 2017
election, but has failed to do so thus far.
The BC Greens, who formed a minority
government with the NDP that year, listed

in their campaign promise that they would
offer tax forgiveness of up to $2,000 per
year for up to five years for graduates trying
to repay their loans.

Armutlu stated in the video that since
1999, interest rates have risen 88 percent
in British Columbia. Provincewide, it is
estimated that around 205,000 students are
repaying student loans, and they're likely
to be paying over $30,000 upon graduation.

Megan Meyer, a former student at
Douglas College, said in an interview
with the Other Press that she will need to
use student loans in order to pay for her
education.

“Tm actually in the process of applying
for a student loan right now,” she said. “T
took out a line of credit for my first year
of school but decided to go with a student
loan because of the fact that I don’t have
to make a payment until after I’m done
studying.”

Meyer, who is now currently enrolled
at Kwantlen Park University in the Business
program, also said that she thinks it’s unfair
for interest to be charged on student loans.

“T definitely don’t think that the
government should charge interest on
student loans, considering how expensive
things are in Canada right now—especially
for people going to school.”

 

 

their horizons and
challenge themselves to become part of a
caring and respectful community.”

The college produced a video featuring
students, faculty, and administration
asking the community to “do something”
against issues of harassment, sexual
violence, and discrimination—adding
another layer to the college’s slogan.

“When you choose Douglas, you
choose to be a part of a community that
believes in respect, inclusion, diversity,
and taking care of each other,’ say the
participants in the video.

According to a 2005 article in the
Journal of Social Work Education by the
Council on Social Work Education, a
classroom that is a “safe space” allows

 

theotherpress.ca

Image of Douglas College
Let's Do Respect Campaign

students to express their opinions and
attitudes without fear. The article states:
“Safety in this sense does not refer to
physical safety. Instead, classroom
safe space refers to protection from
psychological or emotional harm.” The
Let’s DO Respect campaign reinforces
this sense of security through eliminating
harassment, violence, and other behaviours
that contribute to a negative environment.
As part of the campaign, the college
is involved in research where it develops
and plans online modules on sexual
violence and workshops. These tools help
to spread the message that Douglas College
is awelcoming community that supports
respect.

Introduction to
Open Access Week

» Open journals with Kevin Stranack

Tania Arora
Staff Reporter

 

ouglas College organized Open Access

Week from October 22 to 28 at the
New Westminster campus, which involved
three sessions. Open Access Week is an
international event that aims to promote
free and immediate access to information
published by scholars online.

Douglas College kicked off the week
by starting with the event Introduction
to Open Journals with Kevin Stranack.
Stranack is the Head of Digital Publishing
at the Simon Fraser University Library and
the Associate Director for Community
Engagement and Learning at the Public
Knowledge Project (PKP) in Vancouver.
He is responsible for helping to educate
others about the project, ensuring its
development across communities, and
ensuring an uninterrupted user experience
and communications . The event took
place at the Library Quiet Study Room at
the New Westminster campus from 11:30
am to 12:20 pm. Journal editors, authors,
professors, instructors, and students came
together to learn about Open Journal
Systems (OJS).

OJS was created by John Willinsky in
the Faculty of Education at UBC and was
released by PKP as open-source software in
2001. The software helps journals manage
and disseminate their open source online
publications.

PKP then went on to partner with
the Faculty of Education at UBC, the SFU
Library, and the Canadian Centre for
Studies in Publishing at SFU.

Stranack explained how other
universities are using this software at
libraries and how it can be used at Douglas
College. This provides more opportunities
for people who have written scholarly
articles, journals, or theses to have their
findings be read by the general public.

PKP’s main goal is creating software
to make journals more accessible. The
multi-university research initiative

  

has been involved in various research
and development projects every year,
either coming up with new projects or
releasing improved versions of existing
ones. A recent example of this is the PKP
sustainability study, which reviews how
to keep OJS relevant and useful in the
constantly evolving realm of publishing.
Top universities, colleges, and libraries
across North America are currently
partnered with the initiative. Namely, the
University of British Columbia, Stanford
University, University of Alberta, Simon
Fraser University, University of Pittsburgh,
and the Ontario Council of University
Libraries all work with PKP.

The initiative is also involved in
various collaborative services. PKP
coordinates with its partners on research
projects, develops ongoing software
versions, provides language translations,
helps institutions with the documentation
of the software, and holds seminars and
workshops.

The OJS software promoted at
Douglas College’s event is currently on
its third version. Authors and readers
can submit and manage content online
in addition to being able to filter through
and index content. Readers also receive
timely email notifications and are able to
comment on materials online.

OPEN ACCESS
event @212:00

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Photo by Billy Bui