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Squash the Squeeze campaign
alms to decrease student debt

» The Canadian Federation of Students’ campaign comes to Douglas

Julia Siedlanowska
Staff Writer

Su the Squeeze is

a provincial campaign
launched by the Canadian
Federation of Students (CFS)
BC division to reduce student
debt.

On February 17, the
CFS had a table set up in
the concourse at Douglas
College’s New Westminster
campus, offering students an
opportunity to sign a petition
to BC’s Minister of Advanced
Education, Amrik Virk.
Postcards with the words “Hey
minister, we need to talk...”
were also made available with
the intention of being sent
to the minister along with a
personalized message from
each student.

“Squash the Squeeze
started because students from
across the province were sick of
feeling the squeeze of student
debt,” says Jenelle Davies,
chairperson for CFS-BC. “We

 

more for our education each

from the CFS, Zachary Crispin,

was also present at the event.
The goals of the Squash

the Squeeze campaign are to

: reduce tuition fees, bring back
: provincial grants, increase

: funding for post-secondary

: institutions, and eliminate

: interest on Canada student

: loans.

“We have the most debt

: in the country. $35, 000 is

: the average student debt in

: BC, which is higher than the
national average,” says Davies.

In addition to reducing

: tuition, one of the initiatives

: that the CFS wants to see come
: out of the Squash the Squeeze
find that we're paying more and campaign is the reintroduction
: of grants programs so that

: students, according to Davies,

year and receiving less and less.” :

BC’s national representative “arent starting their life after

graduation saddled with so
much debt.”

Currently the only grants

available to BC students
: are through the federal

: government. Davies mentioned
: that many of these grants were

: for $1,000 and were not enough

: to cover tuition for one semester
: at Douglas College, nor at any
other institution.

The third goal of Squash

the Squeeze is to increase

: funding for post-secondary

: education. “The majority of

: folks in the community and the
: province believe that education
: is something that is valuable
and that the most people

: possible should be able to

> access it, but we can’t do that if
: we won't fund our institutions,”
says Davies.

The fourth and final goal

: of the campaign is to eliminate
: interest on student loans and

: stop the government from

: making money off struggling

: students. “Right now the

 

By Julia Siedlanowska :

: government actually makes a
: profit off student loans,” says
: Davies. “The only people that
: are able to get student loans

: are the people that desperately
: need it because there is no

: other option, and to make

: profit off the people that are

: in the lowest income bracket,
off students, is ridiculous.

: We would like to see the
government stop doing that.”

As part of an ongoing

campaign by the CFS, the aim
: of the Squash the Squeeze

; campaign is to give a face to the :
; Movement to reduce student
: debt in the province. Students
: took photos next to the table

: holding a sign that read “My

”

: squeeze means...” and filling

: in what the cost of tuition and
: funding cuts meant to them.

: These photos were then to

theotherpress.ca

: be posted to Twitter with the

: hashtag “#SquashTheSqueeze:
: “We want to really

: personalize this campaign

: and let the government know

: this isn’t just a faceless body of
: students. We all have stories

: and we all struggle...” says

: Davies.

: Sam Hahn, a student at

: Douglas College completing

: his diploma in theatre, said,

: “I think, flatly speaking, that

: it needs to be recognized

: that education is what makes

: countries happy. You look at

: the most educated countries

: in the world—they pay no

: tuition and they are often the

: happiest countries in the world.
: When we begin to see that an
: educated populace is a happy
: populace then hopefully tuition
: will go down. That’s the idea.”
: Hahn also added, “But I

: think that nobody is making

: any money by having tuition

: fees go down and so because

: of that, especially in North

: America where we are extremely

: capitalist and quite right-wing, I
: don’t think it’s going to happen
: soon.”
: International student Zulia
: expressed her struggle saying,
: “T already paid $6,000 [for my
: semester] and I have to pay

: taxes and I cannot work [for

: the first] semester, so [I] cannot
: even pay for my own education,
: my parents have to do it.”

Google Glass now creeping its way into law enforcement

» American police forces among lucky few to test Google's innovative device

  
 

Patrick Vailancourt
- News Editor

M news

@theotherpress.ca

pe

+t

wo law enforcement
agencies in the United

to be among a few thousand
beta testers of Google’s new
device, Glass.

Google Glass combines
wireless connectivity with
fashion, as the innovative
eyewear can take video, send
messages, and display maps
and other information found
on the Internet, all with a
simple voice command.

Police units in New York
City and a small town in

Georgia are the only two law

enforcement agencies in North :
: America to have been selected :
: by Google to test Google Glass. :
: As of 2013, there were about

10,000 devices that had been
distributed to beta testers

: who had submitted bids on
States count themselves lucky :

how they planned to test the
device. Testers had to pay
$1,500 for the device, which

is also the expected price
Google will set for Glass once
it becomes widely available to
the general public.

A ranking officer with the
New York Police Department
(NYPD) told VentureBeat.
com that they are looking into
Google Glass’ effectiveness in
criminal police work.

“We signed up, got a few
pairs of the Google glasses,
and we're trying them out,
seeing if they have any value

: in investigations, mostly for
: patrol purposes,” said the
: NYPD official.

Google Glass’ use in law

: enforcement is not without

: some controversy. Though

: the American Civil Liberties
: Association (ACLU) has

: generally supported police

: using the device, they are

: demanding that measures be
: put into place to ensure that

: officers are unable to tamper
: with any video recorded by

: Glass. The ACLU has said that
: the device would ensure that
: the public is protected from

: abuse of police powers.

: thing we call for is that body
: cameras not be subject to

: individual officers editing

: on the fly,” said Jay Stanley,

: asenior policy analyst at the
: ACLU, to Time Magazine.

: “That would trump the

: advantage for citizens for

: oversight over the police

: officer.”

: agencies in the United States
: are experimenting with a

: system of body cameras, which :
: are attached to an officer’s

: vest. The cameras—which

: support the widespread use

: of dashboard cameras on

: police cruisers—allow the

: recording of everything from
: aroutine traffic stop to an

“The most important

Some law enforcement

: on-foot pursuit, all from the
: perspective of the officer.

The testing of Google

: Glass by the NYPD is timely,

: especially since in August 2013
: a federal judge found New

: York City’s “stop and frisk”

: law to be unconstitutional, as
: many officers employed racial
: profiling.

Glass may also have some

: administrative applications in
: policing as well. Having video
: records of police interventions

may eliminate the need for

: exhaustive police paperwork

: in the future, allowing officers
: to focus more on frontline

: policing rather than the desk

: job.