Continued from cover

The executive had already spoken to the
business manager and told her that if
any financial improprieties were found
to direct them to the executive or the
police. In this case the business manager
reported to the college administration
first, disobeying a directive of her
supervisor, and placing the DCSS’
autonomy as well as the autonomy of
every other student union in the
province, in jeopardy. What organization
wouldn't fire an employee for actions
which jeopardized its very existence?”
As well, the letter mentions the
meetings during which the DCSS voted
to fire Houlihan. The meetings, which

Carla Tonelli

 

ORONTO (CUP) — Unable to
ignore last week’s National Day of
Action, politicians and bankers are
feeling the heat and reaffirming promises
of relief in the near future for debt-
ridden students.

While Liberal lips are tightly sealed as
o whether or not Canadians can expect
A grant system any time soon, fingers are
pointing to the upcoming budget for the
answers.

“We can expect something to be
announced shortly,” a spokesperson for
Prime Minister Jean Chretien said. “I
an't.confirm anything about grants. I
honestly have no idea what they've put
nto the budget.”

After the January 28 national protest
organized by the Canadian Federation of
Students—calling for a national system
of grants, funding restoration and a

ition fee freeze, Chretien confirmed in
a press conference that financial help for

eedy students is on the way.
But if the Prime Minister is planning
o put a large share of his budget eggs in
he Millennium Scholarship Fund
basket, he'd better think again, according
o the federation.

The CFS has already presented a brief
nforming the Prime Minister's Office
hat the much-plugged fund announced

    
   
   
  
 
   
  
 
  
 
  
  
  
  
 
  
  
  
  
   
 

ucy Falastein

 

SASKATOON (CUP) — Buildings are
iterally falling apart at the University of
Saskatchewan campus, and students
ould be the ones who end up paying

e bill.

Two large buildings on the campus
ave been condemned while others need
bubstantial renovations.

The situation came to a head last
December when the university had to
ove exams from the 50-year-old
physical education building because it
as unfit for habitation, It was later
ondemned and is now being disman-
led.

Approximately 4,000 students were
hffected by the closure. University
fficials say students were never in any
physical danger in the building.

“The students were not left in a

own unsafe situation,” Paul Junel,

o is in charge of facilities at U of S,
aid. “I don’t want to leave the [impres-
ion] that if you come to the University
bf Saskatchewan a building will fall
Hown on you.”

The campus’s convocation hall has

i news@op.douglas.bc.ca

Houli-gate: McEvoy speaks

were apparently supposed to be a
representative orientation, were “not
held under false pretences... It is
extremely unfortunate that these issues
arose at the same time, but we felt we
had some important decisions that had
to be made.”

As to the charges of sending DCSS
members to Canadian Federation of
Students (CFS) conferences, the letter
states that it is common practice for
nonmember student societies to send
people to conferences to become aware
of the issues and operations of the
federation.

McEvoy does admit to mistakes being

last October just isn’t enough to deal
with the rising student debt crisis.

When the government first an-
nounced the fund, set to kick off in
2000, $1-billion was promised for
distribution to low to moderate income
students with high marks. Since then,
the dollar figure has swelled to as high as
$3-billion in media reports, but until the
budget surfaces in a few weeks, the exact
figure and specific criteria remain
unknown.

“You'll see that in the budget,” finance
ministry spokesperson Anne Seguin said
of the national grant option and funding
restoration. “At this point we can't
speculate. The Prjme Minister knows the
details but he wants it to be a surprise
for the budget.”

Another possibility for the upcoming
budget is the introduction of grants to
help students pay off their loans once
they've graduated. These repayment
grants have been identified by members
of the post-secondary education sector as
particularly important during the
transition years—the first three to five
years after graduation when high debt
loads are often coupled with insecure
income.

Libby Davies, New Democratic Party
critic for post-secondary education, says
the much-awaited secret weapon in the
upcoming budget better be substantial.

also been condemned, and another
building has been deemed unsafe for
certain chemistry experiments because of
poor air movement.

It is estimated that the total cost for
infrastructure rebuilding and repairs on
the campus could be as high as $90-
million.

The provincial government currently
budgets $10-million annually for
university capital costs. The U of S
receives the bulk of that money,
approximately $7.3-million.

It doesn't look, however, like the
university will get any immediate relief.
from the provincial government.

Ken Alecxe, associate deputy minister
of post-secondary education, says while
the government recognizes the serious-
ness of U of S’s problem, it just doesn’t
have the money right now to fix it.

“What we're looking at is if there’s
some way of meeting that need in the
future,” he said. “There are many
priorities that cost more than what we
have.”

University officials say as a last resort,
they may have to turn to students to
raise the necessary funds. In late January,

made, but asks the student body to
“impeach us for what-we have done, not
what we haven't.”

McEvoy deen claim that the DCSS
isn’t adverse to the circumspection that’s
focused on them since the controversy
erupted, though. “It is fair to ask how
we've handled everything,” he says.

The student society president does
feel confident that the controversy will
help the DCSS in the end. “We're trying
to translate this into getting more
students involved,” says the president,

hopefully.

“This is a very critical time to keep
up the momentum and pressure,” she
said of the demands expressed by
students on the Day of Action. “And
they've certainly felt the sustained
pressure.”

On the Day of Action, Alexa
McDonough, leader of the federal NDP,
announced her party's commitment to
creating a completely accessible
education system through the gradual
abolition of up-front user fees for post-
secondary education.

McDonough pointed to 27 advanced
countries in the world that have tuition-
free universities, and asked why Canada
is not one of them.

Even Conservative Ontario Premier
Mike Harris said he supported the
national day of protest. Taking the
national scope of the day literally, a
spokesperson for the premier says the
Ontario government is supportive of the
students.

“The premier thought the protest was
good because it raised awareness of the
lack of federal support,” spokesperson
Wallace Pidgeon said about the
thousands of protesting students across
Ontario, including a number who
targeted Harris’ own constituency office.

“We've been handcuffed by the federal
government,” he added about the
Liberals’ cuts in transfer payments and

Students could end up footing bill
or crumbling U of S buildings

Tony Whitworth, a vice president at the
U of S, put forward the possibility of
introducing a temporary annual student
building levy of approximately $250 to
come up with the money.

“Tt was an idea that was put out at the

_ time and. it’s still a possibility,” he said.

Whitworth adds, however, that the
school would not turn to the levy unless
the money couldn't be raised through
the provincial or federal governments or
the private sector.

Sul, the suggestion has raised
concerns among students. Natasha
Stinka, president of the U of S student
union, says students shouldn't be left
holding the repair bill when it is the
province that is responsible for paying it.

“T don’t think it’s the best solution for
the problem,” she said. “It’s not students’
responsibility to pay for a provincial
problem.”

U of S physical education classes have
been moved to an off-campus facility.
But students have been left without any
recreational facilities on campus since
the physical education building was
condemned.

Lawyers to the left, lawyers to the right

A Douglas Colles

Bigwigs answer to Day of Action

stalling tactics around the implementa-
tion of a harmonized income-related
loans repayment scheme.

“Tt is a student-friendly premier,”
added Pidgeon.

As the only province in the country left
pushing for such a loan repayment
scheme, Ontario students on the streets
last week demanded that the government
abandon its plan to implement the
unpopular student-aid model by next fall,
in addition to the national demands.

“For Mike Harris to dance around the
issue, he’s ignoring the truth,” Jennifer
Story, national deputy chairperson of the
federation, said. “He’s shifting the
blame.”

Even the Canadian Imperial Bank of
Commerce, the site of a overnight sit-in
during the Toronto protest, has given up
on Harris’ student aid plan.

CIBC's senior manager of corporate
communications Wally Hill says the
bank no longer supports an income-
based loan repayment plan. The bank

Houli-gate litigatory inventory

id Houli-gate “scandal” promises to

h S nn proceedings,
in place largely “for defensive

; Amanda Wheeler, and
according to McEvoy.
st the —— laid

 

 

would rather see a grants system,
income-based loan remission and debt
relief as attractive ways to tackle student
debt.

“CIBC didn't get into student loans to
make money. CIBC got into student
loans to build good relationships for the
future,” Hill said, explaining why the
income-contingency proposals put forth
by the provincial Tories aren’t a good
idea.

“We're not proponents of spreading
out unreasonably high debt payments
over a 20-year period,” he said. “Debt
levels need to be brought down.”

Ontario's isolation on the income-
contingent loan issue was driven home
at a major post-secondary education
stakeholders meeting last November,
attended by students, teachers, univer-
sity administrators, politicians and
bankers. There was broad consensus at
the meeting that such income contin-
gent loan programs were no longer a
viable policy option.

 

Denise Rideout

 

ST. JOHN’S (CUP) — Recent changes
to Newfoundland’s student loans
legislation means students will soon be
able to process their provincial loans at
the bank of their choice.

The government has decided to allow
banks other than the Canadian Imperial
Bank of Commerce to participate in the
provincial student loan market.

The CIBC had been the exclusive
provider of provincial loans in
Newfoundland since 1994. While
students could go to any bank to
process the federal portion of their
loans, they were required to deal with
CIBC for the provincial portion.

Hayward Harris, director of student
aid in the province, says the Depart-
ment of Education has invited a
number of commercial banks in the
province to become involved with
student loans.

Harris says the opening up of
provincial loans is important, especially
in light of the possibility of a harmo-
nized loan system.

Ottawa and the provinces have, for a
number of years, been negotiating a
plan to harmonize their student loan
systems. Under such an arrangement,
both levels of government would
continue to cost-share loans as they do
now, but students would be able to get
the money from a single administrative
source.

Canada Student Loans officials say

 

Newfoundland loans
open to bank
competition

harmonization could happen within
two or three years.

“If we are going to harmonize to
have a single product, then one of the
things we would need, of course, is to
have an arrangement with other banks
like the federal government does,”
Harris said.

Dale Kirby, chair of the provincial
component of the Canadian Federa-
tion of Students, says opening up
provincial loans is good for students.

“You don't have to be filling out two
different forms or going from bank to
bank or going to a bank where you
don’t have an account,” he said.

Despite the fact that other banks
can now get involved with provincial
loans, CIBC representatives say it
doesn’t necessarily mean the bank is
pulling out of Newfoundland.

CIBC's contract with the New-
foundland government does not expire
until next year. Bank spokesperson
Peter McCreath says he is unsure of
what CIBC will be doing with regards
to provincial student loans after that.

Last summer the bank pulled out of
Nova Scotia’s student loan program,
saying the current system left students
with unmanageable debt loads and was
no longer viable.

McCreath says CIBC is glad that
other banks have been invited to
become involved.

“We will welcome other banks into

the student loan business,” he said.

 

 

 

 

The Other Press February 11, 1998