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At present, throughout the
Province of British Col-
umbia, Post Secondary Ed-

“ion is under attack. The

xling for this fundamen-
tal right appears to be
under going drastic cut-
backs. The federal govern-
ment, which is presently
paying about 60 per cent of
- bill for Post Secondary
‘ucation in this province,
has taken the position of
decreasing the federal def-
... This province has also

.sen the same position on
its own deficit. One of the
easiest areas in which to
make cuts in spending, for
the federal government, is

the area of transfer

.yments, and for the prov-
cial government, is in the
area of social services.

These services include, ed-
ucation, healthcare and wel-
fare. While it is not the
opinion of the Douglas Col-
lege Student Society that
decreases in the federal and
provincial deficits are a bad
thing, it is our opinion that
any cutbacks in education
are harmful and totally un-
necessary. :

It has been reported that
up to 50 per cent of the
transfer payment from the

‘eral government (30 per

nt of the fed’s education
portion) to the province will
be cut. This in itself will
have a major impact on our
education. Add to that the
fact that the provincial gov-
ernment is also talking ab-
out funding cutbacks, and
the impact on Douglas Col-

We, the Douglas College
Student Society are cur-
rently involved in fighting
against the proposed cut-
‘backs. We cannot do this
alone and must have full
student support. At our last
Multi Campus Council gath-
ering, Nov. 5, 1981, we
initiatied plans to go ahead
with our ideas and plans to
protest the proposed cut-

On behalf of the

 

backs.
\ students, the DCSS will go

 

Society need support.

lege alone could be almost

30 per cent of its total
budget.

Kwantlen Colleg Board re-
cently passed a motion en-
abling their registrar to
collect a $10.00 application
fee from everyone who ap-
plies. There are also rumors
that they will be passing a

‘ouon to levy a materials

sarge on students. This
would be acharge for using
materials that are necessary
to carry out a course con-

tent (i.e., the use of chem-

icals in the chemistry labs).
As yet, Douglas has not
adopted either idea.

It is not the Board of the
administration of Douglas
which the students are up-
set with and vocal to, but
the federal and provincial
governments. During a re-
cent ‘‘exercise’’ that both
the administration and the
Board underwent (discussed
in further articles) both
bodies came out against
cutbacks. You must recog-
nize the fact that cutbacks

‘© going to occur and that

“y are going to happen at
all institutions in British
Columbia. You must also
recognize the fact that the
time to act against these
cutbacks is now, and you
must support your Society
in its efforts. During our
campaign, volunteer, and
attend the final rally. Show
the provincial government
that the students at Doug-
las are aware and alarmed
at the direction education is
heading.

to the classes to speak on
our policies and will present
written materials. We will
also be writing a letter to
our provincial government
and will approach our local
MLAs. There will be a
protest rally on Friday,
November 20, 1981 at the
McBride Site in New West-
minster. There will be med-
ia and press coverage, but
in order for it to be success-

ful, we need the support of

photo by lan Hunter

 

The Other Press

Cutbacks Killing Campuse

The students of all Post
Secondary Institutions ac-
ross British Columbia are
presently facing a situation
which will have disastrous
conse quences on the quality

Nursing program, VVI has
been forced to cut major
portions of its Music and
Applied Arts programs, and
SFU has been forced to
once again raise its tuition

and availability of education fees by 22 per cent.

Throughout the province
and the country there are
major funding cutbacks oc-
uring which result in lower
student/teacher ratios, low-
er levels of student serv-
ices, such as library and
counselling facilities, and
higher tuition fees. At pres-
ent, in British Columbia,
BCIT has been forced to
cancel a major portion of its

Douglas College is
going to be facing cutbacks.
Your Society representat-
ives ‘are planning camp-
aigns to fight cutbacks, but
once again, without your

“active support, we will have
an inefficient program. It is
time that Douglas students
realize that they do not live

a protected environment
ind that what is happening

also.

Page 3

throughout education is go-
ing to have a major impact
on each and every one of
you personally.

Stand up for your rights.

Support your Council

Volunteer your time and
make the government aw-
are that what they are
doing is wrong.

Go to, or phone the New
Westminster Society ofice
and leave your name and
phone number and become
involved in the cutbacks
fight. 522-6038.

A Stinking Scenario

Thats what Douglas Col-
lege President Bill Day
presented to the Douglas
College Board on Thursday,
October 22, 1981. It was
re quested from the Ministry
of Education to show what
would happen to Douglas
Colle ge if a series of budget
cuts (up to 20 per cent)
were made.

The Ministry requested 3
budgets.

The first budget would
allow the College to offer
the same level of service as
last year. Using an inflation
factor of 14 per cent, the
College arrived at a total of
15.4 million dollars. The
College budget last year
was 11.6 million dollars.

The second budget the
Ministry requested was a
zero based budget. This
meant that the College was
to recieve the same amount
of money as the previous
year. Due to inflation, the
budget would be lowered
by 14 per cent resulting in
a shortfall of 2.7- million
dollars.

The third budget requested
of the Board was where
integral steps up to 20 per
cent would be cut from the
budget.

' ihe first step for this was

: cuts in the Adult Basic
Education Program, the Bu-
siness Program, the Nurs-
ing Program and the Social
Service /Allied Health pro-
grams. These cuts would

Protest on Friday

the students. Attend, even
if it means cutting classes.

Any information you re-
quire can be obtained from
any Douglas College Stud-
ent Society Council member
or by contacting the DCSS
at 522-6038, or by dropping
in to the DCSS office. We
need your support, after all,
we are fighting for you
future education needs and
cannot do it alone.

total $600,000..

lhe second step, a one

‘Ilion dollar cut, slashed

-eper into the above pro-
grams and also cut into the
Performing Arts. At this
point, the cuts are deep
enough to require that two
administrators, one suport
staff, one faculty member
and some student and ad-
ministration services go. It
was all topped off by a 35
per cent reduction in Pro-
gram development money.
© The third step cut some
$348,000 in funds for pro-
grams offered during the
summer semester, includ-
ing Criminology and Gen-
eral Business.
© The fourth step cut some
$313,500 from the Part-time
Vocational programs such
as Adult Basic Education,
Business: and Social Ser-
vices/Allied Health Pro-

 

Day explains scenario to the board.

grams.

* The fifth step requires the

losing the Winslow Site
(Coquitlam Campus), for a
saving of $464,000.

To sum up these cuts in
terms of money is much
easier than to sum up in
terms of impact. The money
cut from the budget totals
$2,759,940,000. The numb-
ber of full-time equivalent
students would drop by an
estimated 587. The drop in
enrolment is expected to
reach 1500. The impact is —
hard to imagine. the only
though I can leave you with
is that for our system of
government, democracy de-
pends on an educated pop-
ulation. the question is,
where do our priorities lie?

Ian Macdonald
Student Society Chairman
Winslow site

photo by Ian Hunter

2)

Kaa aes

 

 

This page has been paid for by the Douglas College

Student Society. The Other Press supports the
student society in their protest against cutbacks
and urges that YOU THE STUDENTS MUST GET
INVOLVED IF THIS PROTEST IS TO BE A

SUCCESSFUL ONE:

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