The

Volume 18 Issue 7

 

 

 

 

Douglas College’s Autonomous Student Newspaper

     

Frid

ay, March 29, 1985

' College board culls cash —

The cost of going to Douglas
College has just jumped 10.5
per cent. The college board
approved the increase, despite
student and faculty protests at
their March 21 meeting.

The increase equals $2 for
every credit or about $30 for
the averagé university trans-
fer student. People registered
in science courses worth five
credits will pay $10 a class
more.

Also passed was a proposal
to charge a ‘‘one time only,
non-refundable’’ $10 applica-
tion fee. This fee will only be
paid by people currently. with-
out student numbers and will
take effect immediately.

Jesse Sedhu, student so-
ciety president, asked the
college to give a ‘‘grace
period’’ for students who ap-
ply early, but the proposal was
shot down by New Westmin-
ster board representative Eric
Hedlund.

The college is expecting to
earn an additional $40,000 this
year with the application fee.
President Bill Day said the
move was necessary because
the college is facing a $1.5
million shortfall.

Board member Sandy
Tompson and acting chair Cliff
Murnane voted against the
application fee but not the
tuition increase.

“| think it restricts access
and raises the level of frustra-
tion,’’ Tompson said. ‘‘It’s
another chip away in a small
way and | think the timing is
bad.’’

In rationalizing the tuition
hike, college bursar Bill
Morfey said students are pay-
ing less of the college’s oper-
ating budget now than they
were when Douglas College
first opened, in 1970.

Students paid 12 per cent of
the budget in 1970; as low as 6
per cent during the 1970’s,
and now pay 11.6 per cent of
the budget following the in-
creases, Morfey said.

The ministry of education is
expecting students to pay 20
to 25 per cent of total educa-
tion institute fees by 1988.

When told by Sedhu that
students were being hit by
hundreds of different costs,
Murnane said the topic was
‘not applicable to debate.’’

Sedhu also asked to delay
the increases until the student
society had time to make a

Parade planned

Student society president
Jesse Sedhu is organizing an
April 4th march on New
Westminster’s city hall, with

 

by JOHN McDONALD

 

the theme of Memorial Day for
Education.

The motion for the march
was passed during the March
25th senate meeting, and as a
result, Sedhu will be ap-

proaching the school boards in
the school districts of Surrey,
Coquitlam, Burnaby and New
Westminster.

“| will request of the prin-
cipals of all the schools that |
be allowed to address school
assemblies,’’ said Sedhu, ‘‘in
order to rally support for the
parade.’’

see Parade page 2

Sedhu withdraws

Jesse Sedhu, president of
D.C. Student Society, denied
that he withdrew from the
D.C.S.S. secretarial race be-
’ cause of allegations of mis-
propriety at the March 7th
AGM.

Sedhu cited a lack of time
and an inability to meet’ the
obligations of the secretarial
position as his reason for
withdrawing.

“| need a break after this
year,’’ said Sedhu, ‘‘it’s been
one hell of a year.’’

Merrilyn Houlihan, Chief
Returning Officer, said Sedhu
had withdrawn his nomination

voluntarily after the AGM.
Houlihan received six letters
of complaint — concerning
Sedhu’s actions at the AGM.

‘Jesse Sedhu was acting in
the capacity of president of the
student. society at their
AGM,,”” said Houlihan,
‘therefore it was inapprop-
riate for him to solicit votes for
the upcoming student society
election.’’

Sedhu plans to run for
alderman or school board
trustee in Surrey in the fall,
and to return as a UT rep next
year.

presentation to the college
board, but the request was
denied.

“This was known through-
out the college for at least two
weeks,’” said Murnane. ‘‘We

- have to proceed with this and
you can make a presentation
at our next meeting. I’m
sorry.”

David Wong, a candidate
for student society secretary,
attended the meeting and

stormed. off, slamming the
door after the increases were

   

Protestors making a lot of noise to a capt

passed. The motions also in-
cluded increased fees for
course changes, withdrawals.
and challenges.

The college board turned
down a similar motion last
year which would have seen:
the application fee added in
September 1984, when tuition
rose by 11.8 per cent.

A presentation from the
Student Services and Develop-
mental Education department
made by director Al Atkinson

ive rush hen audience.

said increases in tuition fees
coupled with decreased fin-
ancial aid is putting some
departments into a ‘crisis
stage’.

Students enrolled in the
Adult Basic Education pro-
gram are hurt the worst,
Atkinson said. ABE students
received reduced support from
the Ministry of Human Re-
sources because of govern-
ment cutbacks and they are
also ineligible for B.C. student
aid.

 

Patullo protest

Access not axe us seemed to
be the definitive placard in the
March 19th protest on New
Westminster’s Patullo Bridge.

 

by JOHN McDONALD

 

But the combined Douglas/
Kwantlen protest had minimal
support from their respective
student bodies. No more than
30 people showed up for the
Day of Concern protest over
budget cutbacks in education.

The demonstration was or-
iginally scheduled for 6:30
a.m., but a communication
breakdown resulted in a few
students waving their signs on
Royal Ave. They never made it
to the bridge.

Rescheduled for 3:30 p.m.,
the protest finally got off the
ground when the demonstrat-
ors marched from the student
society offices, through the
cafeteria, and then up to
administration. The idea was

to drum up support and recruit
some more protestors. The
attempt failed, leading one
student, Kirstin Shaw, to com-
ment ‘‘People are willing to
bitch but they’re not willing to
do anything about it.’’ But this
time they made it to the
bridge.

The response from the pub-
lic, if judged by the honking
horns and waving hands on
the bridge, was more encour-
aging. The protestors were
making a lot of noise them- °
selves, cheering on not only
each other, but each honk
from an admittedly captive
rush hour audience.

When queried as to their
motivations for braving the
rain, as well as the occasional
““Socred Salute’’, the respon-
ses from the dissenters were
as varied as the signs they
carried.

There was the political,

“such as the response from

Terry Hunt, chairperson for

C.F.S. Pacific Region, in at-
tendance to lend support to
protest organizer Susan
Woods. Hunt went on at
length against education cut-
backs.

‘It’s time that students take
matters into their own hands,’’
he said, ‘‘and put an end to
this slaughter. Funding for
Colleges and Institutes has
been reduced by $38 million
and University funding has
been cut by 18 million.”’

“The end result is that we
have one of the worst records
for education and currently
the B.C. government has the
lowest participation rate in
post-secondary education in
the country,’’ said Hunt.

He maintains that. the
Minister of Universities,
Science and. Technology, Pat
McGeer, said in the legisla-
ture that education is a top

see Protest page 2