Bie Press

 

Net: not for you

Internet access for lowly college students? What a bizarre concept. It is
understandable that those high-and-mighty SFU students get such loftly privileges,
but not tuitionally challanged college folk like us.

Think again.

Other smaller colleges and universities have internet access for students. The
University College of the Cariboo, for example, offers internet access for $33 per
semester which allows the student 90 minutes a day. UNBC has a fraction of our
student population, but they have free access.

Ironically, the first primary uses of ARPANET was the exchange of information
between post secondary institutions (are we not one?) and research organizations.
Today the ARPANET is known as the internet.

When I came here to Douglas College in September, I wondered why Douglas
didn’t give internet access to the students, many of my friends have wondered
why too. The instructors have internet access—the students do not. Some students
(like-the)-are even willing to pay for it as long as it is a reasonable price. When
Student Services was asked why there isn’t any access for students, they replied
by saying they “are working on it.”

I know some of you are probably asking yourselves “what would | use the Intermet
for?” Well, the Internet is a powerful research tool for any subject area, even for
Arts Program students. For example, historical photographs, famous paintings,
and good quality essays can all be found on the internet. E-mail is also another
powerful tool that can be used by both instructors and students. An instructor can
give his/her e-mail address out and students can tell their instructors what they
liked or didn’t like about a lecture, or they can ask their instructors questions about
the lecture. Instructors that have done this have said that their students writing
skills have improved through writing e-mail. Exposure to many different ideas
have made students tolerant of different points of view. Another valuable skill
learned through using the internet is higher computer literacy.

The nursing program, here at Douglas, is using interactive television and a world-
wide moderated news-server for nursing instructors. Even so, there is no access
for the nursing students.

Many would argue that in an age of cutbacks, internet access is too expensive,
right? Wrong! According to reliable sources, Douglas College already has a UNIX
server set up for student use. All the student labs are wired to the same network,
which in turn is hooked up to the UNIX server. How difficult would it be to allow
students to use this service? Not very. So what’s stopping the College from moving
into the 90s?

Student Society Vice President Internal Tammy Shapcott is organizing an Internet
Committee to look into available options for students. Students (and instructors)
who are interested in getting the student body on-line should be in room 1715 on
January 25 for the first meeting of the committee.

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Fear, Intolerance & a Treacherous Tale. The Witch-hunt Begins. ..

January 23, 1996

Never good enough for BC

Enough whinin’ and complainin’

by David Sussman

Someday soon I hope, the people of
British Columbia will stop complaining
regarding our province’s role in national
politics. A prime example was the veto
issue last month. For those of you that
may have been hiding under a rock, this
is how the story went: Prime Minister
Chretien took time off from defending
his bedroom from jackknife wielding
terrorists to attempt to keep this nation
glued together. His proposal was that
Canada should be divided into four
regions, each with a constitutional veto:
the Maritimes, Quebec, Ontario, and
lastly the West (the prairie provinces and
BC). This plan was met with a loud cry
from BC’ ers: is not BC a distinct society,
does it not have its own culture, needs,
and economic and political realities?
Well, our demands were answered,
Ottawa listened, and we got our
deserved veto.

At that point we should have felt great
about the way things worked out. In
keeping with modern tradition,
however, we had to complain further.
The cover of the Sun declared how
Premier Harcourt demanded that an
afterthought veto was not enough, that
we should never have been lumped in
with the prairies in the first place, and
that furthermore this was yet another
example of BC being neglected on the
national front. From his reaction, one
would have thought that we did not get
our way.

applicant.

22

By D. G. Black

That’s right. As of
downstairs in that jo
gymnasium, I am officialts
Douglas College as a st
Machete-ing my way
equally-qualified job ap,
job for myself; or wa
résume, plugging my ne
potential employers of
the writing field, wit
actually worked in the

I’m happy to be throu,
semesters of intesti
tying, but I’m also
candidate for the you’ ll-
drag-me-kicking
screaming-into-the rea
syndrome. The onus is
me to get a career, to b
taxpayer that can help
buy their tickets to A’
Florida, to pay down th
national debt, to hel
traitorous Lucien B
$32,000 annual pension
can’t hobble to the tro
But, I. did choose this
this field of endeavour,
bumpy economy; our
their spin doctors did th
bless them, everyone. I
there’s a job for me
information society.
informed and sociable.

Luckily, I researche
employment market
spring of 1993 when I
into Print Futures. T
offered writing, com
computer document d
writing, research, co
interpersonal skills for

Here is another example: last week
Brian Tobin, the federal fisheries
minister, announced his retirement and
his intention to run for leadership of the
Newfoundland Liberal party. Good for
him, he seems to be in touch with the
fishing industry: he faced down the
Spanish, he reworked fishery regulations
to help save the Grand Banks fish stocks
as well as our salmon industry here.
Most political reaction was a hearty
farewell and a wish of luck for the future.
Harcourt was bitter: in a CBC interview,
his terse comment went something like
‘well, we’ve had an EASTERN fisheries
minister for long enough, maybe now
we can get a WESTERN one’. Is there
no national event or procedure BC will
not find a reason to complain about?

Another popular subject for criticism
is disparity in terms of transfer payments
to the provinces. Sure, BC pays in more
than it gets back federally, but so does
Ontario, and any other province that is
doing well. That is all part of being a
member of a national union: the richer
provinces help to support the poorer
ones. The end result is a more even
distribution of wealth and a stimulation
of depressed economies, which benefits
the country as a whole, including BC.
The same goes for cutbacks. All of the
provinces are going to feel the effect of
widespread national cutbacks that seem
to be all the rage lately. It is nothing
personal. BC is not being singled out,

 

no matter what our politicians would
have us believe. True, some cutbacks
may be a bad idea, and they deserve to
be challenged, but this challenge does
not need to always take the critical,
complaining tone that seems to be so
pervasive lately.

I don’t think these negative attitudes
are exclusively our politicians’ opinions
or the influence of the media (although
these elements must act as a catalyst for
widespread discontent). I suspect that
this malaise runs deep in the psyche of
the ordinary citizens of our province.
Maybe we need to consider that if we
perceive a lack of representation in the
nation’s capital, we have only our own
representatives to blame.

Maybe we should offer solutions
instead of constant criticism. Maybe we
should remember that although it may
be true that the proverbial ‘squeaky
wheel gets the grease,’ when all the
wheels squeak, the machine runs the
danger of disintegrating altogether.

I would hate to see this country fall
apart. ] am proud to be Canadian. I have
driven across our country numerous
times and have seen the majesty of it.
There are so many magnificent sights
to see, so many cultures to expose
oneself to, and yet amidst this diversity,
there is still an intangible quality one can
detect, that quality that makes us all
Canadian.

Graduation is over—get a JOB !

This former Print Futures student is now a job

   
 
  
  
 
  
  
 
  
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
   
  
 
  
 
 
 
  
   
  
  
 
  
 
 
 
   
 
  
  
  
  
 
   
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

ersonal skills for the
ted a paying writing
w to be nice to people

ed to be a writer. I had
iting classes for three
‘pragmatist, I figured it
ake the jump into a
would give me the
ty to write, but also to
iving. Don’t get me
I can appreciate the
soaked success story
fleabag hotel dweller
Charles Bukowski,
ting like a madman.
most madmen and
women don’t ever
living at writing. Ifa
ter has a generalist
g, he or she can make
and write that great
tury novel, too. So, off
to the unknown; I
tint Futures: The
al Writing Program.

 

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