News We’re saved! Mass vaccination to put kibosh on measles scourge by Jim Chliboyko Provincial health officials will set up red measles vaccination clinics at all three Douglas College campuses this week in an effort to stop the spread of the virus, which is thought to be spreading via post secondary campuses. The Douglas College Health and Safety Com- mittee encourages “all students and employees of,Douglas College born after 1956, who have not had red measles or have not had two doses of red measles vaccine are urged to attend....If you were not born and raised in BC you are urged to attend.” Despite a lower profile in the _ local press, the virus is spreading. Since last week’s tally of 56, the number of confirmed measels cases has almost doubled to 107, ten of which have been hosptialized. Says Doreen Fleury Vaccination clinics will be set up at the following times : David Lam Campus room a2310 Tuesday, February 18, 12 noon-8 pm by jim Chliboyko As the skeleton of the new Student Society Resource Building (SSRB) slowly turns into a fully-realized body, workers are hoping to get the roof on so they can start to work on the guts of the complex. It all depends on the weather, though. “We lost about a month to the weather,” says Terry Leonard, referring to the December snow- storms and January rain, “but as for now, the target date is mid- May.” of the New West Health Unit, “It was sort of a big thing for awhile, then it dies down. But there are new positive cases every day.” The Lower Mainland seems to be the primary location for the virus; to date, there have been only four cases reported east of the Fraser Valley. Other totals at local health clinics are; Boundary, 30; Burnaby, 22; SFU, 19; and Vancouver, 16. College officials urge students to get inoculated as the virus seems to have targeted the student population. Just over half of the victims, 53%, have been in their 20s, a further 12 victims were 19 years old. Only two cases have been reported for those over 40 years of age, five cases have hit people in their thirties, seven cases have been confirmed in children under the age of 12 months, and 15 cases have been New Westminster Campus Lower cafeteria (deli area) Wednesday, February 19, 10 am-2 pm Thursday, February 20, 12 noon—7 pm The opening of the SSRB will be a relief to students who decry a lack of social space at the New Westminster campus. It will be a relief to smokers, as well, who will be provided with their own room, in which they can puff with alacrity. Says Leonard, “The smoking room is mechanically treated. There will be an entirely separate ventilation system.” The three floors of the building all have different functions. The first floor will be set aside for things technical, the second floor reported in the one to 18-year-old range. According to Doreen Fleury, gammaglobulin for pregnant women and those with supressed immune systems will not be available at the clinics. Instead, she advises these people to consult their family physicians. . As for the safety of the vaccine, Fleury says, “It is safe, but there is a possibility of reaction. After the immunization, people might feel the onset of cold symptoms.” As well, says Fleury, between five to twelve days after the shots, those sensitive to the vaccine may get a mild fever and possibly a non- contagious rash. Redness and swelling around the vaccinated area may happen. This vaccine is “slightly different” from the vaccine distributed to BC high schools last year in anticipation of such an outbreak. Thomas Haney Centre Room 2032-2033 Tuesday, February 18, 12 noon—7:30 pm Eric Milner Photo will be more functional, with Douglas College Student Society offices, meeting rooms, and a computer room (as well as a games room), and the third floor will have more of a social atmosphere, with a cafeteria, sun deck and plenty of windows. The whole building will be just over 1500 M?, or 15 000 feet’. As for the service of alcohol, Leonard says that he is working on it. “We're looking at it right now. We've asked for the information and we'll take it from there.” # journalist. You should never work anywhere where there is an / wouldn’t have gone to the School of Journalism if that’s what I | am astounded, really and truly astounded,” said Russell in response , a story was the pay and it didn’t matter to [the government] how _ many stories [the students] wrote.” : gets calls like the one from Cameron all the time. “I just pass them | received a phone call from one journalism student stating that she would not be writing a story because she was not happy with the | idea of boundaries being set on what she could write about. i ST. JOHN’S, Nfld. (CUP) — One hundred students who should | have flunked out of Memorial University last semester were | fortunate that a computer screwed up worse than they did, allowing them back in school this term. Student Society Building to be , up by May | don’t deserve to attend university right now, but say it’s fortunate s positive tax stories by Gina Stack HALIFAX (CUP) — Journalism students at the University of King’s » College have rejected a Department of Finance offer to write stories they say are nothing short of government propaganda. Communications officers for the department recently offered the | students 25 cents per word to write about the new Harmonized | Sales Tax (HST). The HST is a 15% sales tax that will go into effect April 1. It will replace the current federal and provincial sales taxes in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island. Joe Walsh is a journalism student at King’s who recently wrote an article for a local newspaper condemning the actions of the provin- cial government. “They [the government] only wanted stories that had a positive slant on the HST,” Walsh said. “They felt that too many negative stories were already in the press and wanted some balanced coverage. My concern is for any agenda set.” Walsh said he was also uncomfortable with the finance department's insistence that the journalism students not identify ~ themselves to sources as students, or say that they were being paid by the government. Instead, they were instructed to identify themselves as freelance reporters. The articles were to be gathered and some would appear in government publications. Students were also told that they could sell the articles to other media outlets. Bruce Cameron, with the Department of Finance, says he has done nothing to be ashamed of. “I used to teach at King’s and I have a great respect for the students,” Cameron said. The finance department, according to Cameron, was looking for certain types of stories, but not biased stories. “We were looking for business stories assessing the impact of the tax on business and especially in the high tech industry,” he said. “We were not looking for politics, we have a broad mandate for stories. We gave specific instructions as to how the stories were to be written, but we were not looking for propaganda. Quite frankly, I ; wanted.” Tory finance critic Ron Russell disagrees. “It’s straight bribery. I ‘0 the government's offer. “It’s hard to think that a responsible person would even consider that approach.” Russell said it is despicable that the government would approach journalism students because they are in need of money and may be empted to accept the offer. Walsh agreed. “[Students are] like hungry rabbits,” he said. “$125 Stephen Kimber, director of the School of Journalism, said that he nas an option to students and explain what we know,” Kimber aid. “In all fairness, | think [the Department of Finance] wanted a alanced story, but a positive account of how the tax would affect omeone.” Two students met with Cameron to discuss writing an article, but o date no students have taken up the offer. Cameron said that he Computer error lets 100 flunk-outs back in by Chad Luff University Registrar Glenn Collins said the error occurred during the processing of readmission status and grade reporting in late December. It wasn’t picked up until January and by that stage the students involved had already been told they were eligible to return. In response to the screw-up, the university allowed the students , to register, but all were placed on academic warning. “By the time the error was discovered, these students were back into the univer- i sity, if not attending classes,” Collins said. “A lot of them had made travel plans and decided to come in on the basis of the information they were given. We decided to honour that information.” The university says a computer that calculates grades had trouble ; with a new system of credit-hours the university implemented last semester. Colin Winsor and Neville Morgan are two of the students that were allowed back in because of the error. Both agree they probably they were allowed to register after the misleading information they were given. Both students moved from rural Newfoundland to St. John’s after discovering, to their surprise, they were allowed to register for courses this semester and were in clear academic standing. The Other Press February 171997 3