SSF SSeS FF FE ay a a Oe Le aS ae a SN eae ee ae ef ay ene Oe UE re 8 ars SE pie ide al Chris Sleightholme, DSU Pride Collective Volunteer Time flies, doesn’t it? Weren’t we all just finishing up with final exams and getting ready for the holidays, and now we're finding ourselves waiting in lineups at the Registrar’s Office and the bookstore in a mad dash for another semester of stress and creative budgeting. Well, do we have good news for you! The Pride Resource Centre and its band of merry volunteers have planned several events this month to distract and educate out- side of the classroom. Federal Election 2006 All Candidates Forums Wednesday, January 11 (New Westminster- Coquitlam Riding) from 12 to 2pm in the Main Concourse at the New Westminster Campus; Thursday, January 12 (Port Moody-Westwood-Port Coquitlam Riding) from 12 to 2pm in the Atrium at the David Lam Campus. Welcome back from the DSU Pride Collective! Okay, we didn’t really plan the all candidates forums, but we thought students, staff, and faculty should attend to ask federal candidates burning questions of the day, and seek commitments from them on such things as safeguarding equal marriage (same-sex mar- riage) and entrenching transgendered individuals’ rights in the Canadian Human Rights Act. Many of you will remember that in late November 2005, Conservative Leader Stephen Harper said he would hold a free vote to repeal same-sex marriage immediately following the election, once he becomes Prime Minister. According to a Toronto Star survey conducted in 2004, only 20 percent of Conservatives _ supported same-sex marriage, whereas 80 percent sup- ported civil unions rather than the legal definition of marriage. Though same-sex marriage legislation was adopted in June 2005 and overwhelmingly supported by Canadians, the threat to queer rights will continue due in large part to the Members of Parliament we elect on January 23. No matter whom you vote for, keep your _ elected representatives accountable to the public! Did you hear about Bill C-392, introduced by MP Bill Siksay in May 2005? Bill C-392 proposes to amend the Canadian Human Rights Act to include “gender identity” and “gender expression” to ensure that trans- gendered people are protected from discrimination. The amendment proposal serves to follow up on the Canadian Human Rights Act Review Panel’s one-year consultation process conducted in 2000, which unani- mously recommended that the Canadian Human Rights Act be amended to protect transgendered people from harassment and discrimination. Concerned voters should make efforts to seek commitments from their candidates that amendments to the Act are a priority. Pride Collective Meeting Wednesday, January 11 from 2 to 4pm in room 328 of the Students’ Union Building at the New Westminster Campus. The Pride Collective meets every Wednesday to discuss issues on campus, the creation and implementation of new campaigns to raise aware- ness and visibility of the queer community, the improvement of services, and to catch up on gossip (that’s my favorite part). All lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans- gendered, questioning, and allied students are welcome to attend. Pride Resource Centre Drop-In Hours The Pride Resource Centre is open for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered, questioning, and allied students on Mondays and Wednesdays from 2 to 5pm in room 328 of the Students’ Union Building (SUB). Check out our library of books, videos, and magazines to research queer issues, or hang out and chat. Look out, for Yasmin though; she’ll make you cut up stickers for her, ot help fold pamphlets. Queer Social Wednesday, January 25 from 12 to 4pm in room 328 of the SUB at the New Westminster Campus. Join members of the queer and allied community at Douglas College for a free lunch, scintillating conversa- tion, and an opportunity to meet new friends and visit the Pride Resource Centre. That’s all we have for you this week, friends, but check in within the next two weeks and we'll have more for you about Pink Triangle Week. Ontario PSE Minister Tackles Tuition Freeze Amy Chung and Mike Sitayeb TORONTO (CUP)—The burden of financially sup- porting post-secondary education in Ontario will be shifting decisively in a new direction later this month when the provincial government will be lifting the cur- rent tuition freeze. In an interview with Canadian University Press, the minister of Training, Colleges and Universities, Chris Bentley, discussed the pressing issues facing post-sec- ondary education in Ontario. While students are awaiting the formal announce- ment for the tuition freeze lift, Bentley expresses his optimism, stating it will improve quality and access for students, highlighting the $6.2 billion teaching Higher Plan the provincial government will be allocating to counteract the freeze. “The interesting thing about a tuition freeze is that it delivers exactly the same benefit to a rich student as it does to a poorer student. It improves neither quality nor accessibility,” says Bentley. According to Bentley, a freeze will not improve the quality in resources for students to obtain a strong foundation. He notes that the money Ontario is invest- ing in the universities is to improve quality in areas such as student/ faculty ratios, support for students with spe- cial issues and to improve access to educational resources like libraries, research and computer resources that have not been improved. In provinces like Quebec, where tuition has been consistently frozen for years, Bentley says students con- tinually receive a lower quality education. “There have been quite a few observations coming out of Quebec, by Quebecers, that the continued low tuition is not assisting the province to meet the demand for high quality programming,” says Bentley. “We're not going to force anybody to increase tuition. The point is that if you want to increase quality and accessibility, a tuition freeze won’t do that. Like it or not, (quality) costs money,” he adds. However, not everyone agrees that a freeze lift would be beneficial. “Trying to separate quality and accessibility is a problem,” says the president of the Canadian Federation of Students, Jesse Greener. “Quality of edu- cation and experience takes a hit when students have to reconcile their work and school duties to pay for higher tuition costs. : “The issue of quality and experience scales increas- ingly negatively down the income brackets. Students from families, who are in the lower income brackets suffer disproportionately, accumulate debt and work harder to pay for tuition.” Bentley says that surveys like the National Survey for Student Engagement (NSSE) will not be a primary measuring tool for the government to allocate funding to universities, with accountability agreements to be signed by universities to receive part of the recent $211 million for quality improvement. “T think it is helpful to figure out where you fit in - the system...from our perspective, what we want to do is obtain as much information as possible about where institutions are at the moment. Unless you know where you ate at, it’s tough to figure out where you want to get to,” says Bentley. “Surveys such as the NSSE, give us one measure to be able to do that...I don’t think the intention of the survey should be to put everybody on a survey, match their score and then give out funding,” he adds. With the two-year tuition freeze ending in September 2006, many students are lobbying for a freeze extension, but Bentley reassures that there will be no difference without the freeze as there will be contin- ued post-secondary funding. “In order to maintain the freeze for the second year, it’s costing us $150 million. The freeze is ending this year, but that investment does not end. We have to pay $150 million next year, and $150 million the year after and $150 million every single year until the end of time, just to hold back the price for these two years,” says Bentley. The minister states that the freeze has been good these past two years, but it is not a good long-term strategy. “Tt’s easy to cut the cost of education, you can do it in a heartbeat...but nobody really wants that,” he adds. “This government, against all odds, is determined to increase tuition fees,” argues Greener.