Grad students question CFS tax plan

By Jacob Serebrin, CUP Quebec Bureau Chief

MONTREAL (CUP)— Graduate students at several schools
across the country are taking issue with a national student
‘lobby group’s call to end tuition and education tax credits.
The call is part of the “Education Action Plan” released

by the Canadian Federation of Students (CFS) in October.
According to the plan, non-refundable education and tuition
fee tax credits cost the federal government almost $2.5
billion annually—money that the Federation wants to see
redirected to upfront grants.

A group of graduate students at McGill, the University
of Manitoba and the University of Calgary, who sent out a
joint press release on Monday, say that if these tax credits
were cut it would hurt them. By taxing graduate scholarship
and fellowship income, recipients of such income could
be taxed as much as 30 per cent of their funding, say the
group members. Fellowship funding is a key income
component for graduate students who often, because of the
extent of their research, have no opportunity to seek other
employment. Taxing that income would make it even more
difficult for some graduate students to get by.

“Broadly speaking, there would be thousands of
people who would be paying a lot more money,” said
Daniel Simeone, president of the McGill Post-Graduate
Students’ Society.

Most graduate students who receive funding are
supported by fellowships from federal or provincial
granting agencies. According to Simeone, “the average
federal or provincial scholarship is in the $17,000 to
$20,000 range.” He said that taxing these scholarships
would hurt anyone receiving such funding.

But Gaétan Beauliére, deputy chair of the CFS
graduate caucus said that because many students have low
incomes, they would not be taxed to a great degree in the
proposed Education Action Plan. “We’re talking about the
largest grants that are available to graduate students,” he
said. “[Like] the Vanier Scholarship for instance, which is
$50,000 a year, and students currently don’t pay any tax on
ie

But since most of that kind of funding for graduate
students is based on merit, Arman Vahedi, a senator with
the University of Manitoba Graduate Students’ Association,

said that taxing graduates would unfairly target the best
students.

Beauliére said that if the tax breaks were scrapped, the
money should be put in to needs-based upfront grants that
would be available to graduate students.

While undergraduate students outside of Quebec now
have access to the Canada Student Grants—which replaced
the government’s Millennium bursaries this year— graduate
students do not. “If this recommendation were to be
accepted all students who have financial needs would be
better off,” said Beauliére. “Tax credit measures are simply
not the most effective way to alleviate student debt or
improve access.”

But Simeone said the tax exemptions have helped
many students deal with increasing inflation. He said that
fellowship amounts have not increased in over five years.
“Part of the nature of graduate studies is that it’s very time
intensive,” he said. “If you’re in chemistry lab you have to
be in your lab from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. every day, so you can’t
get another job.”

At McGill, the largest percentage of graduate students
is in the sciences. “For the vast majority of graduate
students who are working in labs,” said Simione, “it’s like a
job, but it’s like a badly paid job, and the tax-free status of
your low salary makes it a little bit more reasonable.”

The CFS’ Education Action Plan also calls for
increased funding for the social sciences and humanities
and a doubling of the number of Canada Graduate
Scholarships (CGS). According to Beauliére only four
percent of the over 140,000 graduate students in Canada
receive the scholarships.

Simeone likes the idea, but doesn’t think it’s very
likely. “Kudos to them for suggesting that we have more
CGS fellowships,” he said. “I would be very surprised,
but pleased, if the Harper government were to put that
forward.”

Vahedi said he had problems with the way the way
the action plan was drafted, citing a lack of consultation
between the CFS and graduate students’ associations.

But Beauliére said that all CFS campaigns are voted
on at national meetings. “Direction comes from the
membership,” he said, adding that the recommendation to
cut tax credits is “more than 12 years old.”

 

Douglas College Wrap-Up
By Kristina Mameli

Winter registration reminder

Registration for the Winter Semester at Douglas
began November 12. Check your MyDouglas account
for your registration day and time.

Beauty and the Geek pub night

On Thursday November 19 the Douglas Student
Union hosts an end-of-semester pub night. The theme
is Beauty and the Geek. Dress up as a beauty, a geek
or a beautiful geek and celebrate the impending end
of the semester in the DSU’s upper lounge starting

at 8. Attendees must be 19 or over with a valid
government ID.

Put Debt into a Sentence

On Thursday November 12, the DSU kicked off

the Put Debt into a Sentence writing contests with a
free chilli lunch. The contest challenges students to
creatively deal with the issue of student debt in either
essay or poem form.

The written essays can be a maximum of 1,300
words with no format restrictions. Hand written or
typed fiction, non-fiction, diaries and screenplays
will all be accepted for a chance to win a $100.00
Metrotown gift card or a $50.00 Safeway gift card.

Poems must be 30 lines or less in any style still
speaking to the topic of student debt. The prizes for
the poetry portion are also a $100.00 Metrotown gift
card or a $50.00 Safeway gift card.

Submissions will be accepted no later
than December 3 at 3 p.m. at the DSU of either
campus. Emails can also be sent to external@
douglasstudentsunion.ca

Winners will be announced December 7.

 

Student-initiated “Free Hug Day” shut down

Douglas College Facilities cites H1N1 risk as reason for shutting down event

 

By Tanya Colledge, Staff Reporter

“We all need cheering up with free hugs,”
said Douglas College student Helen Clay,
initiator of the second annual Free Hugs
Day at the New Westminster campus. Along
with fellow students Shaylee Perez and
Alma Mandera, the students set up in the
concourse with t-shirts and homemade signs
reading “Free Hugs,” inviting students,
if they so choose, to come and receive a
friendly hug. Clay chose November 10, the
day before Remembrance Day for this year’s
event, to convey a special message: “You
have to put down your guns to hug,” said
Clay.

But the innocent, student-initiated act
of kindness was soon interrupted when a
member from the Douglas College Facilities

came by the concourse not for a free hug,
but to shut down the entire operation. “They
said they had received a couple of calls from
people who were concerned about H1N1
and that in the current climate it wasn’t a

said Clay who explained that being in

a college environment, the opportunity
for H1N1 is elevated with the amount of
surfaces we touch on a daily basis: door
handles, washroom doors and stairwells.

“It’s all about levels of risk...people were free to choose whether or not
they wanted to come and hug the free huggers.” —Helen Clay

good idea to do free hugging on campus,”
said Clay who attempted to discuss the
matter with Facilities, but was not able to
persuade them differently.

“Tt’s all about levels of risk. ..people
were free to choose whether or not they
wanted to come and hug the free huggers,”

“So what is so different about hugging?” she
wondered.

“Three weeks ago, I lost my mom.
So, when Helen e-mailed me saying that
she was once again free-hugging in the
concourse, I was really excited to connect
with people, and yes, receive some comfort

in the form of many love-filled hugs,”

said Perez who said she could not help but
smile at the joy they brought to their fellow
students. Perez also explained that although
she understood the school’s predicament to
mediate the situation, adult students should
be able to make their own decisions and
choose what risks to take.

Intended to bring a smile to peoples
faces, Free Hugs Day, a movement that is
seen in communities around the globe, is
intended to bring joy into peoples lives,
and this year, draw special attention to the
fact “that we can all take part in the attempt
to prevent war by having lots of hugs,
peace, kindness and warmth,” said Clay
who remains uncertain about how much is
too much in terms of trying to overprotect
against the current H1N1 virus.

 

oe 201

Douglas gets a taste of the Olym ics

ascots visit and Paralympian A

Imes visit Douglas

a

 

By Kristina Mameli, News Editor
n Monday November 9 at the New
Westminster Campus, the Douglas
College Business Association
Holmes—and her Vancouver 2010 mascot

At the event, the decorated Paralympian
4

spoke about teamwork, leadership, goal
setting and overcoming obstacles. She
strongly believes that the Olympic and
Paralympic Games are an excellent
opportunity to believe in yourself, set goals
proudly welcomed local Paralympian Andrea _ and achieve them. She told inspirational
stories about her experiences as an athlete,
friends. student, overcoming obstacles and her work
with sponsors RBC and Lululemon.

Holmes, who was born without the
lower portion of her left leg, boasts a long
list of accomplishments. She represented
Canada from 2002 to 2007 and is currently
competing as a member of B.C.’s Disabled
Ski Team. In 2007, she won a bronze medal
in long jump at the Para-Pan American
Games. A four-time long jump and
three-time 100m champ, Holmes is also a

Canadian record holder in high jump. And
she has no plans to stop there. Holmes is also
a 2010 Paralympic hopeful.

Also on hand at the event supporting
the Paralympian were the Vancouver
2010 mascots: Quatchi, Miga and official
Paralympic Mascot Sumi; not to mention
Douglas’ own Roary the Lion, in a show of
school spirit.

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