della Sturino

 

ONTREAL (CUP) — Kathy Proot
oke up later than usual last Tuesday
orning because her alarm clock didn’t
po off. In fact it wasn’t even working—
und neither was anything else requiring
electricity, including the heat. So Proot
ade her way to the bathroom where
she washed with cold water and put on
er contact lenses by candlelight. She

en went downstairs to the kitchen and
hte breakfast in the dark.

By the time the McGill University
dent arrived at school, late for her
second day of wintef term classes, she
ought to herself, “What am I doing
ere? I want to go home.”

It was a sentiment echoed by many
ontreal university students hit by the
province-wide power failure caused by a
ive ice storm early last week.

An eerie feeling pervades the city, with
nusually quiet streets and trees
disfigured under the weight of ice.
Branches encased in inch-thick ice hover
menacingly above people's head as they
along the sidewalk, dodging falling

eg Murphy

TORONTO (CUP) — Ontario

uses are buzzing with activity ‘as
tudents plan everything from national
protests to bureaucratic wrangling to
prevent universities from ramming
rough massive fee increases next fall.
The frenzy comes in the wake of a
December 15 tuition fee announcement
courtesy of provincial finance minister
ie Eves.

Universities were given the go-ahead
0 hike tuition fees for professional and
praduate programs as they see fit. They
so have the option of increasing
peneral tuition by 20 per cent over the
ext two years.

“There will be a little bit of a market
Heterminant here. Increases will not be
Hetermined so much by university or the
inistry, but what the market will bear,”
Rita Smith, press secretary to education
inister Dave Johnson, said.

She says high-enrolment programs

ay see more fee increases because they
manage competitively despite a
igher price tag. Smith says this will
imply lead to more selective programs

t Ontario universities, rather than a
tratification in the system.

“Tt may create more of a specialization
ere you no longer have every school
oe the exact same course,” Smith

 
  
  
  
 
  
 
   
   
  
  
 
  
 
 
  
  
 
  
  
  
 
  

Dalish Merzaban and Douglas Quan

 

   
  
 
 
  
  
 
  
   
  
 
  
 
 
   
 

-ANCOUVER (CUP) — A University
bf British Columbia medical professor is
inder investigation by the College of
Physicians and Surgeons after pleading
builty to common assault.

David Levitt, 64, was charged with
exual assault last spring after June
Williamson, a secretary at his medical
bffice, complained to police that he tried
‘o kiss her and touch her breast. She also
omplained that at an office party he
epeatedly propositioned her to have
tercourse and often put his hand on

er hip or shoulder.

Although Levitt was charged with
exual assault he pleaded guilty January
in BC Provincial Court to common
ult. He was given a sentence of 18
onths probation.

| news@op.douglas.bc.ca

Montreal students struggle to weather storm

branches and patches of sheer ice.

Yet during the first few days of what is
being described as the worst ice storm
Quebec has ever seen, most university
students tried to carry on business as
usual,

Slippery roads, closed highways and
sidewalks littered with fallen tree
branches impeded travel, and yet
students trudged on, making their way
through slush, hail and freezing rain to
get to their classes. At the same time,
universities were trying to carry on as if
Montreal had not been transformed into
a frozen city of darkness. Most were
initially unaffected by the massive
blackout which plunged just under one
million Quebec households and
businesses into darkness. The storm also
affected parts of Ontario and the
Maritimes.

By the middle of the week Proot had
already received assignments in some of
her classes, but couldn’t do them because
her apartment had no light, her
computer wouldn’t work and she was
too busy trying to stay warm.

“Tt is seven degrees in my house,”

The latest tuition-fee leeway came in
the provincial government’s two-year
budget announcement, which they claim
increases funding to post-secondary
education.

But university administrators say a
little number-crunching reveals a loss to
university budgets over the next few
years rather than the heralded gain.

Council of Ontario Universities chair
and U of T president Robert Prichard
says the net effect of Eves’ announce-
ment is a four percent reduction in
funding.

“Mr. Eves’ announcement makes a
bad situation worse with respect to
public funding,” he said.

Ontario languishes in last place
among the provinces in funding for
higher education.

With decreasing public funding,
students can expect the price of a
University of Toronto degree to be
marked up again next fall, adds Prichard.
He says more student cash will be
necessary to maintain quality education
since the university must remain
competitive with its American public-
sector counterparts.

He also says areas like medicine,
dentistry, law and management seem
candidates for disproportionately higher
fees.

Students predict Prichard is typical of
most university administrators who will

a physician who shares an office with
Levitt.

She says she is satisfied with Levitt’s
sentence.

“T feel fine about it. I didn’t want it to
be majorly bad because it was a fairly
minor thing in comparison to a lot of
things that have happened [in society],”
she said.

“There's no animosity towards him.at
all,” Williamson added. “It was just a
stupid moment and he’s got some
problems. I just wanted to make sure
that he got help. That was the big
thing.”

Levitt is currently undergoing
counselling.

Madame Justice Godfry, the judge
presiding over Levitt’s trial, told the
court his record will be wiped clean of
the matter if he meets the conditions of

Williamson, 24, works for Alan Weiss, his probation.

Proot said. “So cold that I can see my
breath.”

Many students would have preferred
to stay at home in the cold or to go to
one of the many shelters set up across
Montreal than deal with school
responsibilities, but they came to class
anyway for fear of falling behind.

McGill student Shane Utter expressed
feelings of frustration and hopelessness.

“Things are getting worse and there's
nothing you can do about it, yet I have
to come to school,” he said, adding that
he would prefer to be at home, tending
the fireplace and caring for his 86-year-
old grandmother and his dog.

But by Thursday, McGill and
Montreal's three other major universities
—Concordia, Universite de Montreal
and Universite de Quebec a Montreal—
responded to the concerns of students
like Utter by cancelling all classes. They
were not expected to re-open until
January 12, by which time the ice storm
was expected to abate.

“Our concern is for the needs of our
clients—the students and staff. It was
felt that it would be in the best interest

lobby their governing bodies for the full
20% tuition hike in the name of
maintaining excellence. They also fear
the sky is the limit for fees in many
professional and graduate programs.

Wayne Poirier, chair of the Ontario
component of the Canadian Federation
of Students, says the 400 000-strong
student lobby group is planning a
national day of protest on January 28
opposing fee increases and calling for a
national grant system rather than an
income-related loan repayment plan.

“T think we have moved beyond
inaccessible post-secondary education,”
he said. “For lower-income families post-
secondary education is not a reality and
for middle-income families there are
serious limitations. Now, for many of
those families it won't even be an
option.”

The federation is holding a January
14 provincial meeting to discuss long-
term strategies, adds Poirier.

Barry McCarten, executive director of
the Ontario Undergraduate Student
Alliance, which represents six student
unions in the province, says the
organization will not fight for a hold on
tuition fee levels. But they will use the
announcement’s fine print as a means of
damage control.

Unlike the federation, the alliance has
historically lobbied for tuition fee
increases when matched with what they

UBC med prof admits assault =»

But Levitt could face further conse-
quences for his actions. He will face a
hearing before the College of Physicians
and Surgeons, which oversees the
activities of doctors in BC, sometime
over the next few weeks, according to
David Vanandel, deputy registrar of the
regulatory body.

Vanandel says the College will decide
whether to discipline Levitt, adding that
possible avenues include ordering him to
undertake counselling or suspending
him from the College.

According to the court transcript,
Levitt plans to continue his job at UBC
and at his practice in order to support
his two daughters, 15 and 17. This term
he is teaching a class on clinical
diagnosis at the university.

University officials could not be
reached to comment on whether Levitt
will face any disciplinary action.

of students to close down the university
so they can concentrate better on their
needs,” Roger Cote, Concordia’s dean of
students, said.

Bishops University in Lennoxville, an
hour's drive east of Montreal, has so far
not been affected by the ice storm. The
area is prone to flooding, which may
result from the storm, and the university
is ready to evacuate if necessary. Quebec
colleges, which don’t resume classes for
another couple of weeks, were also
unaffected.

At McGill, as with the rest of
Montreal and Quebec, the storm has
had at least one positive affect, giving
people an opportunity to lend a helping
hand. The student union turned the
student centre into a shelter for students
and their families who were stranded on
campus or left in the cold by the
blackout.

“A lot of people came to our front
desk saying, “We have no heat or hot
water,’ and asking what we would do to
help,” McGill student union president
Tara Newell, said. Once the decision was
made to use the student centre as a

deem substantive student aid reform,
namely an income-sensitive repayment
plan. No details on such a plan were
forthcoming in the Eves’ announcement.

But the Tories did reiterate their
commitment to set in place an income-
contingent loan repayment scheme by
the fall despite widespread distaste from
universities, bankers, students and
provincial and federal governments.

McCarten, determined that students
get a bang for their increasing buck,
points to the vague conditions attached
to fee increases and demands stringency
from the government in ensuring they
are met.

Optional ten percent increases per
year are technically a five percent free for
all, with the additional five percent
having strings attached—universities
must justify the increased revenue with
educational improvements.

And overall, universities taking
advantage of new fee revenue must
address shortages in scientific and
technical programs at their schools.

McCarten says he will monitor the

shelter, dozens of students called to offer
help.

In the end, though, only four
students came to use the shelter. This
was attributed by Newell to the little
time the council had to get the word
out. There were plans to make sure more
people knew about the shelter for the
weekend, but the project was scuttled
when McGill’s power went out Friday as
a result of the spreading blackout.

The blackout spread Friday to
Montteal’s downtown core, which had
been unaffected until then. Stores closed
early and the streets were lined with
slow-moving cars attempting to navigate
without traffic lights. Pedestrians
scrambled to make their way to the
crowded bus stops and watched the
passing army trucks with curiosity.
‘Troops are assisting in the restoration of
power to the area.

Hydro Quebec predicts that it will be
days before power distribution is back to
normal across the province.

Massive tuition hikes in the works in Ontario

government's responsibility in ensuring
universities meet these conditions while
also deciphering their long-term
implications.

“A university can’t just decide to lay
off five faculty members, it has to go
into something that will count,” he says,
pondering what qualifies as an “educa-
tional improvement.”

Spokespeople from the Ministry of
Education say they are currently
consulting with universities and hashing
out appropriate guidelines and establish-
ing specifics.

But Poirier says targeting the
conditions may prove futile. He says the
government has displayed a laissez-faire
attitude toward qualifiers on govern-
ment-okayed funds.

“When the criteria is vague the
institution can pretty much say or do
anything that will make it appear they
have met the needs.

“The bottom line is that they are
disguising a tuition fee announcement in
which the reality means students will see
a 20% increase over two years,” he said.

 

IN

Chief.

final plenary, and are still recovering.
Maple Ridge still alive

the smokers’ patio.

university transfer arts courses.

 

Douglas at a Glance

...At a glance, it appears
to be a large, red brick
building, made largely of
concrete...

New CUP employees hired
At their annual national conference, held this year in beautiful Halifax, Nova
Scotia, the Canadian University Press hired their new administration.

Tariq Hassan-Gordon has been elected president, Craig “Red” Saunders is
the new national coordinator, and Idella Sturino is the new National Bureau

The four Other Press delegates were actually conscious during most of the
convention, though they were named “the wildest paper in attendance,” during

“We're still open,” says Maple Ridge VP Amanda Wheeler in between puffs on

Following the release of Kathryn Barker’s Operational Review of Thomas
Haney Centre at the college’s December Board meeting, the college has
guaranteed Wheeler first year university transfer courses and second year

Though some services are being cut back, Wheeler is working at developing
more community support for the campus. “Governments like partnerships,
they're cheaper,” says Wheeler. Though some of the details are still tentative,
Wheeler feels more hopeful about the future of the campus.

 

 

 

The Other Press January 14, 1997 3