March 11 1998

SCHOOL
;ORCED TO
‘RACK
OWN ON

TIGHT OWLS

PHEFT

   
   
  
   
  
   
   
  
   
 

y Jim Chliboyko

 

rise in theft on the New West campus
of Douglas College has led to a
curtailing of access lists. Students who
previously enjoyed staying late hours at
e college to use the facilities are now out of luck.
“There is a problem with theft,” confirms Pat
homasson, of the New West campus Site

rvices. “People are getting into the building, and
e're not too sure how they're getting in.”

The last few months have seen the disappearance
f computers, televisions, VCRs, and even a
ainting hanging just outside the protected area of
e Amelia Douglas gallery on the fourth floor. The
udent society building has seen a 450-pound
ange machine go missing and has also had some
mputer equipment stolen in a separate incident.
any, but not all, of these crimes occurred late at
ight.

Currently, Douglas College students are allowed

Hits
K

to stay on the premises until about 10:30pm on
weekdays, and until 7pm on weekend evenings.

But it is not necessarily the DC students that are
being fingered for the crimes. “This area of New
West has one of the highest property crime rates of
North America,” explains Thomasson. Recently,
Lower Mainland police conducted a raid on a
house thought to be a hideout for a home invasion
gang. That house is within blocks of Douglas
College.

“And any area around a SkyTrain station is bad,”
Thomasson said. She said she'd been told that
sometimes B&E sites in New West turn up clues,
in the form of used SkyTrain tickets.

But the students who do tend to stay after hours
may be accidentally responsible for giving thieves
access to the building. “We're often finding doors
left open,” says Thomasson. Students are appar-
ently not leaving through the doors they come in
by, or are leaving doors open after they go out for
smoke breaks.

Waiting passionately for the end of this semester since 1976

 

  

JOUGLAS HARD

Thomasson says that another worry she has is
that students are occasionally staying overnight.
“T’ve got two concerns; one, if they're in the
building, and we don’t know about it, who else is
in the building that they might be in danger
from? And secondly, if they are leaving at four in
the morning, how are they getting home if they
don't have a car? You're concerned about the
students when they leave here as well.”

“We would love to allow students access 24
hours a day, though” says Thomasson. “It’s a real
balance, to have a public building, but to have
one that’s safe and secure.”

One solution the College is considering is to
have students leave their ID cards ar the security
kiosk in the concourse. That way, those that do
stay late will be forced to leave through the doors
through which they entered. @

Women’s supplement-Flip Over

  
  

Starving
students at
food banks
page 6

The Group of Death « page 9

2 much 2pac « page 11

Volume 22 + Issue 21

 

  

‘We are completely

Clark

by Jim Chliboyko
Premier Clark’s NDP government has announced
the third year of post-secondary education tuition
freezes, saying that, in terms of education policy,
“We are completely alone in Canada.”

Bur the Clark governments self-declared
commitment to education is apparently not
making them any friends amongst school
administrators. “It’s no secret that administrators
are opposed to tuition freezes,” Clark said, in a
conference call Friday with student newspapers.
The Premier was referring to the attempts of
various schools within the past year to introduce
ancillary fees to circumvent the freeze.

But Douglas College’s President, Susan Witter,
seemed to think ir was the right path to take. “Of
course, I’m pleased with the tuition freeze,” she
said. “Ir is the right thing for the government to
be doing at this time.” :

However, Witter gave her praise with a caveat.
“T hope that the BC government,” she said, “in
funding new FTEs (full time equivalents) for the
BC post secondary system in this year's budget,
will fund these FTEs at full value. Otherwise, the
college and institute system will have difficulty in
meeting their costs.”

Witter
echoes the
concerns April
Sanders, the
critic for the
new Ministry
of Advanced
Education. “If
we are not
adding money
_to tuitions,
what are the
institutions
taking away?”
she asked.
“What
technology are
you students

 

 

 

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