News

 

-~Moe money for BC students

 

 

by Jim Chliboyko

BC’s new Education, Skills and
Training Minister Moe Sihota has
pledged to raise the weekly maximum
stipend for student financial aid. The
increase, announced las week at
Granville Island’s Emily Carr College
of Art and Design, is estimated to give
students who receive financial assistance
a $25 per week raise. The hike will be
“the first, and it is only that, of a series
of changes that we will be making to
student financial assistance,” said
Sihota.

“For students in a traditional 34-week
program, this wif! mean that they will
have a potential gain of $850 per year,
calculated on $25 a week. For students
in longer programs, the gain could be as
much as $1300,” the minister said.

It is estimated that upwards of 22 000
college and university students could
benefit from the increase, while those
that are better off will face the spectre
of deductions. Approximately 49 000
BC students currently receive student
aid.

Though the increase is significant,
Sihota claims that the additional funds
“will not increase the overall cost of the
BC Student Assistance Program,” as the
new monies will come from a

redistribution of existing funds. “This
decision is made entirely within the
existing budget,” said Sihota. “We will
be reconfiguring the budget rather than
introducing:new money.”

The maximum yearly amount $8 000
had been frozen for 12 years, according
to Michael Gardiner, chair of the BC and
Yukon chapter of the Canadian
Federation of Students. Gardiner also
pointed out the provincial source of the
initiative. “The province is looking at

taking steps to address the inadequacies .

of the federal program by improving its
own program.”

The initiative, Sihota said, is meant
to draw students from “working class”
families into post-secondary education.
“Today’s announcement will ensure that
students with the greatest financial need
have the support they need to continue
to maintain their education. The changes
that we are making today reflected our
desire to respond to the needs and
aspirations of working class families.”

Sihota also took the opportunity to
repeat his government’s pledge to the
two-year tuition freeze.

In addition to the weekly increase,
Sihota also pledged to appoint a standing
committee on student financial aid. The

committee will include student
representatives, who will study the
situation and report back to him by
December with advice on how to revise
the program.

“This government is fundamentally
committed to increasing accessibility to
education, to all British Columbians,
from all walks of life, from all economic,
social and cultural backgrounds,” said
Sihota, a chorus repeated often during
the conference.

The minister revealed that personal
motives were also behind the initiative.
“One of the most disturbing experiences
of my life as minister of education has
been when I have gone to different
schools...and talked to young [junior
high school] students...and seen how
many young people have given up on
the prospect of a post-secondary
education.”

Sihota’s announcement was greeted
happily by one supporter who shouted
“Way to go, Moe,” from the balcony, to
which the minister replied, “It’s nice to
have relatives here.”

Asked by the Other Press if he would
like to see more grants replace loans,
Sihota answered, “In a perfect world it
would.”

Permanent Ink Leaves
Permanent Mark

by Jim Chliboyko

Deep inside the bowels of the Douglas
College Bookstore, at the end of one of
the less glamorous aisles of school
utensils there is a pen display. It is a
fairly typical display, and seems
innocuous, except for the warning which
looms above the shelf. ‘Caution!’, it
reads, ‘environmentally unfriendly
overhead pens! Your choice can make a
difference to the environment.’

One of the people responsible for this
warning is Christine Doyle, a media
production technician with the campus’
Center for Educational Technology
(CET). She is hoping to stifle campus
use of overhead pens that contain
permanent ink.

Doyle told the Other Press that the
problem came to light when two
Douglas College business students, Greg
Rai and Riyaz Janif, came to the CET
earlier this past summer with a plan.
“They wanted to clean off and recycle
the acetate rolls that instructors use for
overheads.”

The students would then sell the rolls
back to the College at a fraction of the
“new” price. “They did a couple of
samples, and the test rolls looked good,
but when they tried to carry on with their
project, they became aware of how much
permanent ink was used on campus.” It
seems the pair had attempted their earlier
trials on acetate rolls that were marked
only -with water-soluble ink.” The
majority of overheads were marked with
permanent ink,” Doyle said.

Though Rai and Janif were initially
gung-ho about the project, the size of the
permanent ink problem became
overwhelming. “Nothing took it off,”
said Rai, except time and a lot of both
toxic and expensive chemicals. The
more environmentally friendly the
cleanser, said Rai, the less ink it took
off.

As well, the pair found switching
cleaners to accomodate different types
of ink became time-consuming. “It was
a big delay,” said Janif. “Often there
would be water-soluble ink, for two feet,

then there would be permanent ink for
two feet.”

The permanent ink foiled the pair’s
plans in another way, as well. They had
planned to use a “squeegee-like”
machine they had created on the rolls.
Though it was just in the prototype stage,
their plans for the machine’s use were
put on hold after they found out the
extent of the permanent ink use. An
engineer uncle of theirs was also going
to attempt to mechanize the machine.
Though Rai and Janif haven’t abandoned
their plans, they hope to use the machine
in the future, if the anti-permanent ink
campaign is successful, and “after I
tighten the bolts,” said Riyaz.

Though the permanent ink has cost
two students a couple of part-time jobs,
it is costing the college as well.
Previously, the college simply threw the
rolls away.

Recycling the acetate rolls is not just
a matter of cost, either, but it is an
environmental issue as well. The CET
estimates that if the acetate rolls the
college uses annually were unrolled and
placed end to end, the acetate would
stretch from the New Westminister
campus to Stanley Park. While money
would be saved (at several dollars a roll),
so would acetate.

The biggest obstacle to stopping the
use of permanent ink overhead pens is
awareness, says Doyle. “We’re going
to be raising people’s awareness,
students and faculty. A lot of people
don’t even realize which kind of pen they
are using.” Riyaz concurs. “A teacher
will have a pile of pens beside him and
pick one up without looking.”

Differentiation between permanent
overhead pens and water-soluble pens
is quite easy, says Doyle; permanent
pens have black bodies, while the
casings of water-soluble pens are grey.
In the campus bookstore, both types of
pens, made by German pen
manufacturer Staedtler, sell for the
identical price of $1.75, so both cost and
accessibility are the same.

 

Though the problem has only recently
come to their attention, the CET is
pleased with the support the initiative is
getting. “The commerce and business
department, at one of their meetings,
voted to use only water-soluble pens,
which I think is admirable”, says Doyle.

In addition to the warning in the
bookstore, the CET wants to put notices
on all overhead projectors. As well,
Doyle, in conjunction with the College’s
communication department wants to
start a permanent pen trade-in for
instructors.

And while there is no overt resistance
to rejecting permanent pens, there might
be hidden reservations. Says Doyle, “I
just think people, they’re thinking of
making a bold statement, and black
subconsiously looks like ink, whereas
grey doesn’t.”

While the CET is doing a lot of the
legwork in trying to rid the campus of
permanent pens, Doyle sees students as
an important part of the campaign, as
well. “Even if the students, in a really
polite way, see instructors using the
pens, maybe they could say something.”
To Doyle, it is a simple matter of
numbers. “It'll be thirty students in a
classroom, and one of them will be far
more likely to be aware than one
instructor.”

 

 

 

Trent Ernst Photo

 

 

by Jim Chliboyko

, September the

Mainland plan to Take Back
the Night, a woman-and-:
protest

children only
rning violence again
en. 2

ake Back the Night has
taking back Vancouver

nights once a year since 1978,

says a spokeswoman from
f Relief. -

Vi ver .Rape
nizers are expecting 2000
men this year. Literature
circulated by Vancouver Rape

at the Women’s
on Tuesday,

September the 18th, from

2pm-4pm for sign and
banner making.
oe Vancouver, the
ering will assemble at
rout Lake (Victoria and

15th) at 7:00pm, though
‘rallies are not confined to

Vancouver City Limits.
Maple Ridge Women will
meet at the Memorial. Peace
Park Bandstand on 224th St,
with a rally at 6:30 pm, and

a march at 8:00 pm. Signs
_ and musical instruments are

welcome. And in Surrey the
protesters plan. to gather in

the back parking lot of

Surrey Place Mall, where one

: _should “watch for signs.”
© For:

Vancouver
information, or to volunteer,
telephone Rape Relief @ 872-
8212, and for Surrey
information, or to volunteer,
¢ 589-1868.

 

 

The Other Press September 171996 5

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