ee Cl OR te, ET a FN te TT OHTA Set ip - toe 7 ee a i Doulas Colleze’s autonomous student newspaper. Things didn’t go exactly as Jesse Sedhu planned at the March J. _college board meeting. by DAN HILBORN The board refused a re- quest by Sedhu, a student society representative, to send a letter to Bill Bennett saying ‘‘the government is depriving students of an education.’ “Without students there is no college,’’ said Sedhu. “It would be nice to get a little cooperation, and show that the board does support us on some things.”’ “1 would not support that,’’ said board chair- person Gerry Trerise. ‘‘Give us the details.’’ Sedhu had just told board members that the provincial government has not only redirected $27 million in federal transfer funds to general revenue, but has also reduced the education budget by another $27 mil- lion. “Everywhere we turn there are cutbacks like DTUC,’’ said Sedhu. DTUC is the David Thompson Uni- versity Centre in Nelson the government recently an- nounced closure of. “Why don’t college boards want to help us?’’ Sedhu said. Trerise said the presenta- tion was ‘‘very, very vague, Probation rules, as stated in the college calendar, will be enforced next year to prevent students from wast- ing their time at Douglas College. Students who receive a grade point average of lower than 1.5 will receive a letter of warning, and unless they improve their grades the following semester they will not be allowed back into the college, said registrar Andy Wilson. The college has had its probation policy for some time but hasn’t used it because, until now, there has been room for everyone who wanted to enroll, said Gerry _ Della Mattia, the at best’’, and unless.a writ- ten proposal is made the board would not even consi- der sending a letter. “It’s against board .policy (to act on verbal presenta- tions)..in any case,’’ said college president Bill Day. Dr. John Hopkins, new board member summed up the situation most accurat- ely. ‘It’s my personal view, but we seem to be in adversarial positions,’ he said to Sedhu. But Sedhu wouldn’t stop with that; he also wanted a statement on the new stu- dent. capital ventures pro- gram, the provincial govern- ment’s scheme to loan stu- dents $2000 for the summer repayable without interest up to October. ‘‘In Ontario, one. third of the 660 students on a similar program went bankrupt and couldn’t afford to return to school,’’ Sedhu said. ‘“‘We’re not involved in that program,’’ said Eric Hedlund. ‘‘It’s not in our bailiwick at this point in time.’’ There is a possibility the ministry of small business could assist students with handling the money, said Day. ‘Administration feels some naive people could borrow the money and find themselves further in debt,’’ Day said. dean of student services. “Honestly, it should have been enforced all along,’’ Della Mattia said. Della Mattia is concerned that students doing poorly in their courses could be dis- placing people who can’t find room in the college. “Hopefully, these people will mature, rethink their educational objectives, and come back with a program which they'll do well in,”’ said Wilson. The college will also bring back its policy on course repeaters in September, Wilson said. Students will only be allowed to take any one course a maximum of three times. Thursday, March 29,1984 OTHER PRESS Volume 16 Issue 7 Jesse Sedhu has announced that he will be running for the position of student society president at Douglas College. He’s underway with his campaign by well Student miffed by board beguiling ‘unsuspecting bleeding heart stories of students being unable to afford an education and loan plans- that won’t work. photo by SEAN VALENTINI reporters with Quebec students want general strike Last February 26, 1984, 27 Students’ Associations of CEGEP’s (colleges) and of some universities, members by RICHARD MASICOTTE of ANEQ (Quebec National Association of Students) met in Hull, just across from Ottawa, to decide what ac- tion they were going to take on the main issues they are facing. By a majority vote of 2/3 they have adopted a resolution for an unlimited general strike, commencing March 21, 1984. It surely is not an easy undertaking, but the Quebec students have done it before. Actually, only two weeks ago a move- ment of rotating strikes had been undertak n but they decided that inajor action would be more beneficial to their cause. Already in November of last year, ANEQ had adop- ted in Quebec City a series of demands that were brought up later on to the Ministry — of (MEQ) and its Minister, Camille Laurin. On the 15th lof the same month, a 24 hour strike was held, invol- Education ving at least 70,000 stu- dents. The issues them- selves only justify the very existence of ANEQ. The main issues are: the right of ‘association, which is threat- ened by the PREC (Project of Regulation for Collegial Studies); the withdrawal of Law 32 which is considered as an. interference in the financing of students’ asso- ciations and as a threat to the integrity of the student movement; students repre- sentatives also wanting a reform of the actual loan and grant system provided by the MEQ - they want a guarantee that the govern- ment is not going to impose tuition fees in CEGEPs which do not.exist in Que- bec; and increases in univer- sity fees. Moreover, students want completely free education, a reform that has been in Quebec’s poli- tical parties’ programs for decades. now. Another im- portant issue is the fixing of student quotas for particular programs; there too, be- cause of cutbacks in educa- tion, the MEQ is restricting admission of new students. Finally, unemployment is al- sO a major issue. - Negotiations with the gov- ernment having proven un- succesful even if ANEQ was willing to negotiate with the MEQ, student delegates in Hull have decided to take concrete action. Many un- ions, especially teachers’ unions, have — supported ANEQ. Even the CFS last fall in Ottawa, during its semi-annual meeting unani- mously supported ANEQ on these important issues. It does not seem very likely that we will do the ‘same here in British Colum- bia. Nevertheless, we can support our Quebec com- rades and maybe we could learn a bit from their experi- ence. In February, ZZ Top won the Saturday Night Live Democratic Presidential Phone-in Primary, beating out Mondale, Glenn, and Jackson by a two to one margin. It’s about time we had some presidents from iTexas.