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December 18, 1989

The Other Press 3

   

 
  

 

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Students Call for Tuition Fee Freeze |
by Marion Drakos
Proposed tuition hikes at Figure 5
Simon Fraser University have stu- 1988/89° PROVINCIAL OPERATING GRANTS
| dents at the university angry at _PER FULL-TIME EQUIVALENT STUDENT Consdian
what will be the tenth straight year or
of fee increases. ’
"Students are extermely ee
| angry," said Nikos Harris, Simon :
| Fraser Students Society spokesper- QUEBEC
| son. "They’re saying that after ten
staight years of tuition fee increases
and a continual decline in the CAT ORA,
quality of education, enough is
enough!" NEW BRUNSWICK
According to Harris, the SFU
Board of Govenors will vote
January 23 on the proposed tuition ALBERTA
increases of 6% for undergraduates
and up to 139% for graduate stu-
dents, Since 1979 tuition fees have er eee
increased by almost 200% making
tuition at BC universities almost NOVA SCOTIA
the highest in Canada.
Harris questions the need for an
tuition fee increases at this tine 7
saying, “It’s our prediction that
SFU will have an operating budget ONTARIO
surplus of between $1.5 million
and $2 million in the current budget bes
year thanks to increased enrolment. ae
We have to seriosly question what
Dc crtasceatian edersiod of Cee et ee sa
Students is orginizing a Freeze the
Fees campaign that will include sending postcards to MLA’s. on Post-Secondary education decisions like tuition fees." actions here may be a bit awkward
campus rallies at the University of The cost of a province wide should be formed. "We think a Students at U.Vic are planning because registration dates have
British Columbia, the University of tuition freeze would be relatively Royal Commission would give us a walkout for January 23 as part of been pushed back due to the recent
Victoria, S.F.U., and Douglas Col- minor, according to Harris."A tui- @ Chance to set a new long range the Freeze the Fees campaign. labour dispute.
lege other colleges throughout B.C. tion freeze would cost $8.7 million, direction for the system, including Similer actions are being Pam Frache, Pacific Region
Harris said that the students’ or Jess than 1.5% of the Access for questions of cost -- tuition fees. We planned at most post-secondary in- chairperson for the C.F.S., says
campaign will also include lobby- Aji fund," said Harris. Harris also think the public should have a role stitutions for the same day, includ- "the campaign for a tuition freeze is
ing the Board of Govenors and pelieves that a Royal Commission in determining major policy jing Douglas College, although really gearing up." ‘

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Subs Seriously Threaten Canadian Sovereignty

 

By Eleanor Brown

OTTAWA (CUP) -- The
United States seized two Canadian
fishing trawlers this summer to lay
claim to a 20-kilometre strip of
water it wants as a shortcut to Alas-
ka for nuclear attack submarines,
an NDP politician is charging.

Jim Fulton says the sub-
marines will use the shortcut
through British Columbia to get to
a testing base now under construc-
tion in Alaska.

The $35 million base will do
sound testing on nuclear-powered
and nuclear-armed Trident ballistic
missile submarines and, critics
charge, the Seawolf ’stealth’ attack
submarine.

At $1.7 billion per vessel, the

Seawolf is expected to be the most
sophisticated and silent submarine
ever. In wartime, the subs are to
attack the Soviet navy, to keep the
seas open for U.S. troop transport
to Europe and Asia.

The base to be completed in
1991 is in Alaska’s Behm Canal,
just north of Prince Rupert, B.C.
The shortest route to it is through
Dixon Entrance, a 20 km deep
water stretch awarded to Canada by
a turn-of-the-century international
tribunal.

But the U.S. government now
says it has jurisdiction over the
seaway. And Fulton says the U.S.
seized the trawlers to stake its
claim.

"There wasn’t any logic be-

hind the arrest and seizure of
trawlers in Canadian waters,"
Fulton’s aide David Garrick said. |
"There’s lots of resources
under there that are certainly worth
protecting, or trying to make a grab
for," he added. "But it’s not logical,
going across a friendly border.
There must be another reason.”
While the U.S. Navy has not
confirmed that it will be testing the
Seawolf at the base, it told a U.S.
District Court judge it needed to "to
measure the radiated noise of the
new generation of quiet U.S. sub-
marines which commence with the
SSBN 726 (Trident) class...
"Some of the evaluation
criteria, specifically those relating
to submarine performance charac-

Jack the Ripper Stikes Fear in
Langara Student Union

VANCOUVER (CUP) -- Van-
couver Community College - Lan-
gara students’ council will hold a
special general meeting next
semester to discuss their future.

The meeting is a response to
two students who have been
waging a campaign to get the coun-
cil to spend less time on"social is-
sues" and more on providing
Student services.

Rosalin Hanna and Bo Osad-
chuk started the petition demand-
ing the meeting and calling for
"drastic changes" to the student

union structure.

While people signing the peti-
tion weren’t told about what kind
of changes were involved, Hanna
has said the college administration
should appoint two business stu-
dents to run the student union
building.

The petition has more than 600
names on it, more than enough to
force a meeting. But among the sig-
natures are "Jack the Ripper" and
"Hulk Hogan." Council executives
say the petitioners don’t have
enough valid signatures.

"We've decided to call this
special meeting to address the con-
cerns of the small group of
petitioners, in accordance withour
bylaws," executive Tracey Wen-
berg said.

Nevertheless, the Union voted
unanimously in an executive meet-
ing on Friday last week to hold the
meeting. The Union also agreed to
begin a campaign to promote stu-
dent democracy at Langara.

_ Student council official Phillip
Link called
"amateurish." He said about half

the signatures were questionable. -

the petition.

teristics and acoustic measurement
envi ent, are necessarily clas-
sified."

A Washington-based coalition
of American peace and environ-
mental groups tried unsuccessfully
to stop contruction of the base in
November.

A Washington newspaper
recently quoted unnamed sources
saying the Navy was referring to
the Seawolf. It said the navy needs
a site far enough away from the
"noise" of civilization to test the
ultra-quiet Seawolf properly.

In a recent interview,

American Navy Senior Chief Gene

Romano said the Alaska site
“would also be capable of testing
attack submarines,” but refused to
comment further.

In November, U.S. District
Court Judge Joyce Green ruled that
the navy may have violated U.S.
environmental laws, and has
scheduled further hearings, al-
though she did not stop the base’s
construction.

The Foundation on Economic
Trends, a coalition of five groups,
wants a permanent injunction
against the base.

The base’s opponents include
the Tongass Indian tribe, sport fish-
ing groups and the tourism trade.
They say the navy’s restricted ac-
cess policy will ruin the area.

Others warn of the potential
damage of a nuclear accident.

"I’m not sure we can have a
wilderness Eden with nuclear sub-
marines and underwater cables,

moorings and blinking beacons,"
Foundation Lawyer Andrew
Kimbrell told the judge.

A nuclear accident in Dixon
Entrance, just north of the Queen
Charlotte Islands, would put
38,000 B.C. residents at risk, said
Fulton, who is the NDP environ-
ment critic.

It is U.S. Navy policy neither
to confirm nor deny the presence of
nuclear missiles aboard their craft.

External Affairs public rela-
tions officer Patricia Low-Bedard
said they aren’t worried about a
nuclear accident in Alaska.

"There is a system of port visits
where Canadian authorities can
board and satisfy safety measures
(are being met)... but the American
safety record is excellent. They
haven’t had an accident with a
nuclear power vessel such as the
Russians (have)," she said.

In 1985, the U.S. Navy
released a list of accidents involv-
ing its nuclear weapons since 1965.
There were an average of 30 a year.

And two weeks ago, the U.S.
navy ordered an unprecedented 48-
hour halt in operations, for all ves-
sels,

"We've had this recent rash of
accidents which makes me say, "Is
there something we’re overlook-
ing? Are people getting careless?’
It’s our responsibility to take a
careful look," said Adm. Carlisle
Trost, chief of naval operations.

As of mid-November, 101
people had died this year in
U.S.navy accidents.

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