The January 2nd, 1985 .Douglas College’s Autonomous Student Newspaper Other Press Volume 18 Issue 1 Foreign students pay more ee Re ae sac amiiabcaatamstaint te tamemameh anaes ieeaemiendh inienneniai nelle Rr GS A — lg A Se Se “Who gives a toot,’ says typically uninvolved Douglas College student. ‘‘The way I see it this place is being run by a bunch of radicals who would rather have you play Huey Lewis and the News than something sweet like a Beethoven symphony.’ photo by SEAN VALENTINI Faculty upset with bargaining by DAN HILBORN The faculty at Douglas Col- lege are more than a little upset because they have gone over 18 months without a contract. Spokespersons for the Douglas and Kwantlen Fac- ulty Association have been taking presentations to the college management and stu- dent society in the hopes of gaining support for their pro- posals. Under the college’s most recent offer ‘‘mediocrity will become the way of life at Douglas College,’’ faculty rep Ralph Stanton told the student society last month. “You'll notice the liveliest faculty are the most active,’’ Stanton said. ‘‘With these proposals we’ll have a college made of the blandest, least controversial and least inter- esting instructors.’ Len Millis, association vice- president, made a_ similar presentation to he college board at their December 14 meeting. He said the college had been negotiating with a ‘‘reas- onable amount of sincerity and honesty’’, but several events show ‘a lack of good faith.’’ Specific proposals the tac- ulty do not like include the vacation entitlement clauses, seniority rights and a_pro- posed 2.5 per cent salary increase in only the second year of the contract. The last faculty contract expired on March 31, 1983 and the old agreement must be used until a new contract is negotiated. Even the two year contract the sides are currently work- ing on would run out in another three months. Negotiations will resume on an informal basis January 8. The student society has not taken sides in the negoti- ations, although president Jesse Sedhu said after Stan- ton’s presentation last month the faculty have supported the society in several concerns over the past year. Pay more. Science classes, get ready for lab fees. Nursing students, start paying for real costs and not the subsidised school you have been getting for the past years. And especially, starting this January, students on the ‘visa’ program of English as a Second Language (ESL), will have to shell out big bucks to attend Douglas College. A $1.5 million budget short- fall will begin to make itself noticed in the corridors of this institution during the next few months, college president Bill Day says. Twice the president has taken his proposals to mem- bers of Douglas College. In October he held a_ public meeting in the large lecture theatre and said teachers and/ or staff may have to be let go. In November he told the Student Society his plans to change the way we learn. And in December the col- lege board tried to get in on the act, but had one. major proposal shot down when con- fronted by about 30 faculty, staff and students. A plan to charge nursing students ‘‘user fees’’ did not make it past the bargaining table of one of the college’s long named committees, board member Sandy Tompson said on December 14. The Educational Policy and Procedure Committee (EP- PCO), made up of students, faculty staff and administra- tors voted to turn down the proposal to bring in Self Funded Credit Courses for Post Basi¢é and Professional Upgrading nursing students. Tompson said the board is in a position to make a recommendation on the pro- posal, but ‘‘not tonight’. The plan ‘stimulated con- siderable discussion,”’ Tompson said, and other board members said the input of EPPCO had some interest- ing points. “What they were debating was how to fund it,’’ said board member Bill Emerton. Both the board and EPPCO used the college’s new phil- osophy statement to back ar- guments for and against the user fee plan. The board has not ruled out the possibility of bringing the proposal back at a later meeting. “Perhaps Douglas College is really saying if employment is a pre-requisite to a course, we may drop this as a prior- ity,” said Tompson. The col- lege may not want fully self-" funded courses, he said. But for students in the visa program, self-funded courses are already a way of life. The new fees are not included in the college calendar, but the course schedule shows a full- time program of ESL will cost $1,223. Last year the fees were only $227. ‘| just think that it’s really sick to charge these people massive fees just to come to Canada,’’ said former student vice-president Gordon Bryan. ‘If we jacked up fees, some students could pay,’ Day said. ‘‘But some would have their fingers pried off the lifeboat.’ Another recent develop- ment is the Student Society stance on tuition hikes and cutbacks in some programs. Jesse Sedhu, student presi- dent, asked the college board to give the students ‘‘a nice Christmas present’’ _ last month, and not raise any tuition costs. Board chairperson Gerry Trerise said he was ‘‘astonish- ed’’ with Sedhu’s comments. Last spring the Student Society sent letters of thanks for giving students a 11.8 per cent tuition increase, Trerise said, and Day told the college in October he expected the Student Society to support another tuition increase. But Sedhu said he didn’t say that. The letters of thanks were for last year’s increase only, because of the large sums Sedhu saw elsewhere around the province, and were not meant to indicate support for future tuition _increases, Sedhu said. But tuition will be going up at Douglas College in the next few years, because the minis- try of education says it must. The policies are outlined in the Five Year Plan and approved by the provincial government. The college received its Program Profile from the min- istry on November 30, but the administration and board have not released exactly what was given to Douglas College for 1985. “We fully expect a lot of energetic debate,’’ he said. ‘There will be time for dis- course and changes are not a fait accompli.’