i e ab S news@op.douglas.bc.ca .

DCSS facing its own recall

continued from cover
DCSS’s money-handling woes, a move
that apparently jeopardized DCSS
operations. New Westminster police,
acting on a tip from Houlihan, are
currently investigating suspected missing
funds from DCSS coffers.

Semple testified to her own frustra-
tion over the DCSS’s handling of the
case. “All we want is the facts, but we're
not getting them,” she said. “We're
getting roadblocked everywhere.”

The impeachment effort is spear-
headed by two Athletics Representatives,
Semple and Anne-Marie Fearn, and

Students hit the streets across Canada

(CUP) — Students from St. John’s to
Victoria took to the streets January 28
with a big-picture focus in their fight for
affordable post-secondary education.

The Day of Action, organized by the
Canadian Federation of Students, drew
thousands of students to meeting places
ranging from university campuses to
government legislatures to financial districts.

Students were calling for a national
system of grants and an accessible education
system—and were joined by 125 partners
from faculty associations, social justice
groups and labour unions.

From the growing interest in corporate
control to the increased solidarity between
social justice, labour and student groups,
January 28 was the picture of a movement
maturing and looking at broader issues.

But the immediate concern which
sparked the protest is the growing student
debt load and impending tuition fee
increases. Already, average student debt is
reaching $25 000 a year and tuition fees
have risen an average of 30% in the last two
years.

“These aren't country clubs for the rich
where you can increase the membership fees
to keep the riffraff out, this is public post-
secondary education and we are going to
take it back,” Brad Lavigne, national
chairperson of the federation, shouted to a
rally of 3000 in the heart of Toronto’s
financial district.

“We are here to make a connection
between the policies of [the provincial
government] and the policies of corporate
Canada,” Lavigne continued, pointing to
the banks as the real power-centres.

After the Toronto rally wrapped up, a
group of 40 students decided to stage a sit-
in in the lobby of the nearby Canadian
Imperial Bank of Commerce. CIBC was
quick to express sympathy with the student
debt crisis and the students left the next
morning without incident.

Students expressed similar concerns with
banks in a number of cities, including
Regina, Victoria and Vancouver, labelling
them as the players at the heart of the
problem. The financial elite are pulling the
strings in this charade, since they have too
much weight with politicians and sit on
many university boards, say students.

In Regina the day’s protest centred on the
Royal Bank, which holds a monopoly on
student loans in the province. About 200
students marched through the downtown
area, stopping in front of the bank's offices.
They blocked traffic for several minutes
before they were peacefully moved by police
to a pedestrian walkway half a block away.

The story of protester Peter Borch, a
history student at the University of Regina,
reflects the concerns of many who took to
the streets across the country.

“When I get out, my student loan will be
around $20 000,” he said. “IfI can get a
job, I can probably deal with that. But [if] I
have to go to graduate school...I'll just
accumulate more debt.”

Checking out the protest were two high
school students, who said they appreciated
what the demonstrators were fighting for,
including a tuition freeze in the province.

“T think [the rally] is pretty cool,” Chris

David Lam Campus Rep Laura Selman.

According to the impeachment
petition, there are twelve reasons that the
four are being targeted, among them the
firing of Houlihan. The impeachers are
also holding the four responsible for
what they perceive to be .
administrational negligence: “failure to
follow bylaws of the society,” “failure to
hold representative meetings every two
weeks,” “failure by the DCSS president
to disclose a memo written to the college
board regarding the theft allegations,
without the approval of the representa-
tive committee,” “failure to disclose

Crawford said. “They're trying to make it
better for the next people who come to
school.”

His friend Lonnie Dittmer, who just
finished high school, says he can’t afford to
pursue a post-secondary education yet.

“[The banks] are sucking the money out
of students,” he said.

In Victoria, thousands of students
marched through the city’s financial district.
They made a brief stop at the Royal Bank,
where they left as presents burlap sacks
symbolizing gigantic debt loads. The
demonstrators then made their way to the
provincial legislature, where they were
addressed by high school and university
students, faculty, labour leaders and
provincial premier Glen Clark.

The premier pledged his support for a
national system of grants, spoke against
income-contingent repayment plans and
made overtures about the possibility of a
tuition fee freeze for the third year in a row
in that province.

After Clark’s address, students chanted
“Prove it!”

“We have to hold fire to the feet of
people like Glen Clark,” UVic professor
Jamie Dopp told the crowd after the
premier spoke.

Following the rally, some students staged
a brief sit-in at the constituency office of
Liberal MP David Anderson, to make sure
that the federal government got their
message as well.

A couple thousand students marched
through downtown Vancouver protesting
against high student debt, tuition increases
and the big banks.

As in Toronto, Vancouver students
united with partners who came from
different constituencies, but recognized
their problems stem from the same root.
“This is not just one fight, it is not just
student interest in education. It is also
workers, parents with children, it is the
public in general that opposes the
downloading and corporate control,” Joey
Hansen, BC national rep for the federation,
said. *
district, some demonstrators presented
bankruptcy notices to banks as a reminder
that the dwindling government support for
post-secondary education is morally
bankrupt, while others wrote slogans in
washable markers on the windows of the
Royal Bank. Several protesters tried to enter
the bank building, but were stopped by
security. One demonstrator was arrested for
mischief after allegedly writing on a bank
window.

Following the rally, about a hundred
students marched on the Vancouver Stock
Exchange. A short sit-in ensued before the
students left peacefully. Two were arrested
while inside. ;

The Vancouver protest was small
compared to one held two years ago, when
approximately 10 000 angry students
gathered in front of the Vancouver Art
Gallery to protest massive tuition increases
which at that time seemed imminent.

Ata time when the province of BC has
absorbed much of the federal cuts without
raising tuition for Canadian students, there

motions or actions taken at executive
meetings,” and “failure to train the
newly elected representatives on their
rights and responsibilities.”

The CFS’s role on campus also
figures in the complaints, specifically
because the DCSS “spent approximately
$8000.00 of student fees on CFS
conferences before the students had a
right to vote as to becoming members of
the Canadian Federation of Students.”

To properly impeach any member of
the DCSS executive, “a petition signed

’ by not less than 10% of the members of

the Society presented to the representa-

seemed little urgency at the University of
British Columbia. The school’s student
union was barely able to fill two of the five
transit buses it had leased to bring students
downtown.

Students expressed a variety of concerns
across the country, and in a number of
ways. In Atlantic Canada, for example, the
biggest target was government funding
cutbacks, and the mood more celebratory
than angry.

Going to the street a day early in Nova
Scotia, hundreds of Halifax students met up
at King’s College January 27 and, along
with labour and postal workers, took on the
legislature.

At the protest, Penny McCall Howard of
King’s College, who helped organize the
day's activities, spoke of the importance of a
university education and the need to
remove barriers to it.

“If they dont stop increasing tuition,
students wont be able to contribute to
society,” she said. Faculty joined in the rally
as well. Andrew Wainwright, a Dalhousie
University English professor, said it was
important for teachers to stand behind their
students.

“As teachers, students are our concern
and we need to support them in these types
of actions,” he said. Wainwright and
colleague Mike Bradfield, an economics
professor at Dalhousie, encouraged their
students to attend the protest through e-
mail.

The day in Halifax had a festive feel.
“The mood was celebratory. Right from the
beginning we wanted the tone to be one of
taking celebratory action,” Jessica Squires, a
national executive rep for the Nova Scotia
component of the CFS, said.

But authorities put a damper on one
element of the festivities. The fire depart-
ment was called in to extinguish a fire in the
legislature's driveway over which students
were toasting bagels.

The mood was also upbeat in New-
foundland, where students from Memorial
University, the Marine Institute and the
College of the North Atlantic gathered on
January 28 in the Memorial student centre
gymnasium to protest government cuts to
education and rising debt-loads. There were
speeches from student leaders, teachers and
local unions. Added attractions included a
mock jail cell for students “sentenced to
debt” and a stuffed Jean Chretien, which
people were encouraged to kick.

‘The crowd, which peaked at around
1000, was also addressed by Greg Malone,
local comedian and activist and a former
member of the CODCO comedy troupe.
He said poor spending choices were being
made by the provincial government, adding
thar it should put back up to $40-million
into post-secondary education. He recalled
a provincial program from the ’60s in which
students were actually paid to attend school.

“T had a free university education. They
paid me $50 a month to go here, and if that
don’t make you bitter I don’t know what
will,” Malone said.

While it was a spirited turn-out in
Newfoundland, at times during the lunch-
hour rush it seemed there were as many
students in the nearby food court as there

tive committee” is needed, according to
the DCSS constitution.

At least one of the accused is dis-
traught over the charges, feeling that he
has been falsely accused. Paul Rosha, in
a three-page letter to Douglas College
VP of Finance Peter Greenwood,
requests that, the people behind the
impeachment proceedings be expelled or
suspended from school, specifically
because “only the third allegation
(failure to follow bylaws of the society)
pertains to me.”

“The effects of this petition on
myself have beer detrimental to my

Protesters at the Vancouver rally

was in the gymnasium.

Demonstrators had a full day (and night)
in Winnipeg. Approximately 250 students
from the University of Winnipeg and a
much smaller contingent from the
University of Manitoba blocked traffic in
front of a government building while
waving banners and picket signs and
blowing whi

Lisa Shaw, who works with the Canadian
Centre for Policy Alternatives, a progressive
think-tank, told the crowd that it had
gained the attention of politicians.

“By coming out here today, you can have
a victory against student debt by making it
be addressed and making the politicians
look at it. And by coming out and blocking
traffic in downtown Winnipeg, I think
they're going to listen,” she said.

Later in the afternoon a group of
approximately 100 students occupied the
constituency officer of premier Gary
Filmon. As the day wore on, numbers
dwindled, with approximately 30 staying
the night. Authorities allowed the occupiers
to come and go as they pleased. Several
unhappy students left during the night,
saying the sit-in had become more of a
party than a political action.

A number of students rejoined the
occupation the next day, and it ended
peacefully that afternoon without incident.

Liz Carlyle, president of the U of W
student union and national chair elect for
the federation, says she thought the
occupation was important to get the
students’ message across. ;

“There hasn't been an occupation in
Manitoba for some time. I think it’s about
the provincial government has been
ignoring our requests for a long time,” she
said. “I think the occupation was a good
idea because it shows, not just to the
politicians but also to the public, that
students are pretty well at the end of their
rope.”

Events were more sombre at Simon
Fraser University, where the focus of
discontent January 28 and for the past two
weeks has been a large brick wall erected by
the student union to represent the extent of
student debt.

Students had the opportunity to write
their student loan debts on the bricks that
made up the wall. Debts as high as $60 000
were recorded. The wall grew to cover an
area over eight feet high and 12 feet wide.
Maya Russell, student union treasurer, says
the total debt written on the wall added up
to $8.28-million.

academic and personal well-being,”
writes Rosha. “I feel my instructors and
fellow students look upon myself with
uncertainty because the petition is
insinuating a lack of honesty, therefore
damaging my integrity.” Rosha adds that
he had'been planning to run as treasurer
in the March 798 elections, but now
doubts that he would be able to run
successfully, although “that depends on
the outcome of this,” he said.

  
     

Jim Chliboyko photo

Several hundred students from Northern
Ontario colleges and universities gathered
together at Laurentian University in
Sudbury for the first-ever collective rally of
students in the northern region of the
province.

“Overall, I think we sent the government
a clear message that students have had
enough. We had a couple hundred students
from all across Northern Ontario, which
was a first. It was an overwhelming success,”
Jennifer Chamberland, an executive
member of Laurentian’s student union, said.

On their way to Sudbury, students from
Nipissing University, where tuition fees
makes up more than 50% of the operating
budget, took a ‘Stop the Cuts’ bus tour
checking out the food banks, transition

» houses and other areas impacted by

provincial government cutbacks,

The tour wrapped up at provincial
premier Mike Harris's constituency office,
where the students left a small graveyard,
indicating accessible post-secondary
education is dead.

Because January's massive ice storm
hampered organizing efforts, the Day of
Action was pushed forward in Quebec to
February 11.

But at a press conference January 28,
Anna Kruzynski, chair of the Quebec
component of the CFS, spoke of how the
corporate sector was undermining public
post-secondary education. This was vividly
illustrated by a mural presented at the
conference, which had the Montreal stock
exchange lit up with all the colleges and
universities in the dark.

Kruzynski says during the ice storm
downtown Montreal was black except for
the exchange. There were hundreds of
thousands of people freezing in the dark
and the financial district went on business
as usual, she says,

“It was a metaphor for the corporations
taking over and leaving us all in the dark,”
she said. :

Tasha Bollerup, a Concordia Universi
student and Quebec rep for the CFS, says
an important component of the upcoming
provincial Day of Action will be criticism of
the growing corporate alliance with
universities, which she says creates a serious
conflict of interest.

“Corporations are in the business of
making money. Their goal is to have
universities train students to become good
little workers and to contribute to the
market economy,” she said,

 

 

The Other Press February 4 1997 3