sBoarad menmnioer
gets NeWuide dog

Bciee: member of the College

board stepped down recently, and a new
one stepped up.

Board member Marilyn Rushton, who
has been blind all of her life, says that the
relationships between her and her guide
dogs are “incredibly strong. I’m not with
anyone else 24 hours per day.”

Hoagy worked with Rushton for nine
years, including the past three on the
College board, and attended meetings for
the many other groups Rushton works
with. He went into retirement a couple of
months ago. “He’s 11 years old, and
starting to slow down. I didn’t want him
to work until he couldn’t enjoy playing,”
says Rushton.

To get a new guide dog, as she did in
1976 and 1986, Rushton went in April to
a private school called Guide Dogs for the
Blind in San Rafael, California. It’s a
very highly acclaimed non-profit school
that services Canada and the U.S., where
she first met her new dog, Garth, a yellow
Labrador retriever.

“Tt’s a two-week accelerated program,
very intensive. The dogs aren’t just
picked randomly -- they’re matched with
the way you walk, the kind of dog you
like. The people there are experts in
matching, and all sixteen of us in the class
felt like we got the best dog for us.”

Rushton felt she needed a dog who
didn’t need routine to feel secure.
Because she’s busy as a trustee with the
Burnaby School Board, co-director of the
Burnaby Children’s Choir, and is starting
a business as a disabilities consultant, she
moves around a lot. She wanted a dog
that is able to adapt, be content and quiet
during meetings, and then get up and go
somewhere new.

“People tend to believe that the dog
takes the person, but that’s absolutely not
the case. My dog follows my directions
and gets me there safely. The dog is for
mobility, and is trained in safety, but if I
don’t know where I’m going, Garth can’t
take me,” says Rushton.

A guide dog has to learn to obey a lot
of commands: left and right turns,
stopping, crossing streets -- in fact, the
dog even has to disobey commands if the
person has made a mistake and is in
danger.

Rushton says that the hardest thing for
a dog to learn is to disobey a command,
but they do.

“For instance, if Garth stops me, it’s
because there’s something in my way ora
change of terrain, and if I can’t figure it
out, I may tell him to go forward, but if he
disobeys the command it’s because
there’s something that I haven’t
perceived. I may have put a foot forward
to see if there’s a change in terrain, but
there could be a branch hanging down
that I’m about to walk into. And when he
hasn’t obeyed a command for a reason for
my safety, I’m going to give him a good
big hug and lots of praise.”

Rushton says that guide dogs go out of
work mode when their harness comes off,
and Hoagy is now like any other dog,
playing and eating and sleeping. Garth is
adjusting well to his new position too.

“He seems to enjoy being on the
College board,” she says. I

In Memoriam

Ed Chalkman, a former long-
time Douglas
College Employee,
passed away
Sunday,
May 28, in
Richmond.
He began
working at
Douglas College
in 1975 and was
employed in the
mailroom at the
McBride site. In
1982 Ed went on
Long Term
Disability, then
officially retired
in 1988.
Long-time and
past employees of
Douglas College
will remember Ed
for his vast range of knowledge
and interests, and his sense of
humor. On behalf of Douglas
College, President Bill Day sends
condolences to Ed's family.

 

Budget continued from page i

works, the types of funds the College has,
and how we plan to spend the money in
the coming year.”

The FTE increase allows the addition
of about nine faculty and ten to 14 staff
positions, but the budget letter from the
Ministry states that there are no provisions
for salary lifts. Tuition fee increases of
10% will be necessary to cover salary
increments and non-salaried inflation (for
costs such as paper, mail, heating, etc.)
and maintain current levels of activity.
Last year, 14.6% of total revenue came
from tuition fees.

“A key element is that we have to
provide for the small 1994-95 deficit of
$100,000, and the Board has set up a new
surplus policy where we will put aside
$200,000 for an ongoing operational
surplus account. Another key element is
that Skills Now program funding has been
reduced from the past year, but there are
still a number of initiatives we’re
involved in,” says Greenwood.

Greenwood says that the new budget is
bad news for the Pinetree Way campus in
another way. The Marketing Capital
program, which provided matching
contributions for equipment from donors
and corporate sponsors, has been
eliminated. “Funds from that program
would have been a wonderful boost for
our $5-million Pinetree Capital Campaign
to ensure our capital needs at the new
campus are met,” he says.

“The College is more fortunate than
most because we’re in a growth mode, a
situation where you’re expected to do
more, where you have more opportunities
for hiring people and completing projects.
Still, we’re not getting adequate funding
to recognize the increased costs of our
current activities. My main concern is not
this year’s budget, but next year’s.”

A recent letter from Dan Miller,
Minister of Skills, Training and Labour,
expressed concern over announced
reductions in transfer payments from the
federal to provincial governments, and the
impact that could have on colleges. “We
anticipate that such significant reductions
in transfer payments to British Columbia
will require serious reconsideration of the
level of provincial government support
provided for public post-secondary
education,” Miller wrote. I