November 9th, 1984 C.ULP. National News THE OTHER PRESS page 3 Backwater under construction SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY PRESS RELEASE “If the provincial government wants to mortgage the future of B.C.’s young people and make the province an educational backwater it is going about it the right way.’ Strong public statements criticizing political leaders are seldom heard from members of the academic community but Dr. Robert Walker, a professor of education at Simon Fraser University, believes it_is..time academics spoke out. ‘‘We have to impress on the politicians, and the general public, that policies directed at education under the guise of restraint are counter-productive economically and dangerously short-sighted socially.’’ Walker says money seems to be at the root of most policies introduced in B.C. in recent years and that education cutbacks have come about ostensibly because the post secondary system costs too much. ‘‘Of course the term ‘too much’ is subjective but it is rather enlightening to show who really foots the bill for higher education in B.C. “Ever since 1976 when the federal government gave the provinces au- tonomy for the disbursement of trans- fer payments to education and health the province has allocated less and less resources to both jurisdictions. The _ provincial trend of giving less to post secondary education actually started as far back as 1969.’ “For 1984-85, for example, the budgets for pthc ip col-. I leges, the Open Learning InStitute and the Knowledge Network were about $538.6 million. Federal contributions totalled $477.7 million or about 89 per cent, while the province contributed $60.9 million or 11 per cent. What's more, while Ottawa has increased its contributions by $57.6 million since 1982 the province has reduced post secondary funding by $47.7 million over the same period. Do provincial policy makers believe they should bear no responsibility for supporting post secondary education?”’ Walker, a music educator who became involved in education finance research to lobby federal candidates on behalf of the university’s faculty association, says the province’s ma- nipulation of federal funds for educa- tion and health is not lost on federal politicians. ‘‘During the recent cam- paign Conservative candidate Pat Carney said the reallocation of funds by the province is ‘disgraceful.’ She said she would press for a renegotia- tion of the transfer agreement and that if the province doesn’t use the money properly the funds could be cut off.’’ Noting that the use of statistics is only valuable to show that post. secondary education is not a burden on B:C. taxpayers, Walker says:the real tragedy of education cutbacks are the effects they have on people, partic- ularly the young. Do the people of B.C. know, for example, that we have the lowest university participation rate in Canada for the 18 to 24 age group, 9.1 per cent compared to the national average of 13.4 per cent. And this at a time when the unemployment rate for this age group is running between 30 and 50 per cent. ‘“Are people aware that B.C. has the harshest student financjal aid program in North America, that it is the only province to abolish grants and that tuition fees have increased more than 100 per cent since 1981, that a young person in Ontario is twice as likely to earn a degree as one in B.C.? “With the grim employment pic- ture, how are young people supposed to pay for higher education? And even if they have the money there is no guarantee they can attend because all three universities are so over-crowded they have had to impose enrolment caps. No matter how you assess post . secondary education, B.C. comes up dead last across Canada.”’ “"B.C.’s attitude toward higher ed- ucation defies logic,’’ says Walker. ‘‘It is no coincidence that the- nations exhibiting the best economic per- formance are the ones with the highest levels of education. The correct course would appear obvious but since it is not being followed we have to ensure that the message to Victoria is loud and clear. It is penny wise and pound foolish to deny British Columbians access to educational opportunities. | hope the message gets through quick- ly, because even once it is received the turnaround time for us to get back in step will take years.”’ ueens students riot MONTREAL--Forty-five busloads of drunken Queen’s University football fans ripped out a metal goal post embedded in concrete, destroyed a concrete block wall and mock-raped a mannequin on the playing field during a McGill-Queen’s homecoming foot- ball game Sept. 22. After the game, which Queen’s won 59-30, the Queen’s fans ripped up artificial turf worth 500 dollars on the playing field: of McGill’s Molson Stadium. McGill estimates the Queen’s fans caused about $3,500 damage. Montreal Urban community riot police came too late to stop the destruction. The first car of police | arrived after the game as a mob of 1,500 Queen’s students were wrench- ing out the McGill post, but refused to go near the crowd. “The police feared for their own safety,’’ said Bob Dubear, athletics director at McGill. Dubeau explained the visiting crowd’s behavior, saying: ‘The Queen’s students’ party started on the bus at 8:30 a.m. When they got to the stadium, they were roaring drunk.’’ ‘‘We would have had to have 600 security people to stop them,’’ Dubeau added. During the game’s half time, Queen’s students came onto the field with a mannequin on a stick. ‘‘I noticed a whole bunch of fellows jumping on the object and destroying the object,’” Dubeau said. A Montreal newspaper columnist wrote: ‘‘Young men then repeatedly leaped on the wooden model to display how they would rape a woman. The crowd roared jts approval.’’ Near the game’s beginning, a nude Queen’s student climbed a goalpost and had to be taken down by security. Shortly after, seven Queen’s fans dropped their pants and mooned at the crowd. “| can’t see why they (McGill officials and Montrealers) are so surprised about it,’’ said Kent Harrison, student union vice-president external at Queen’s University. ‘‘It’s happened at McGill before.’’ Queen’s_ athletics director Bob Carnegie said the school is embar- rassed about the behavior of the Queen’s fans. ‘‘I| fear the whole Queen’s University community will get a bad name from this,’’ he said. Carnegie -said Queen’s goalposts never get ripped down at home games because ‘‘there’s such a mass of students around the goalposts (de- fending them).’’ Harrison said though the student union arranged buses to the games, it could not be expected to pay for the damage. ‘‘We could maybe ask Queen’s. students to behave a bit better.’’ Dubeau said since the game many angry people have called to say they will never support McGill’s athletics again. McGill is now scrambling to repair the field for a McGill-Concordia game. Students attending games will now be segregated from adults and children in the stands and a fence will prevent students from going onto the playing field, Dubeau said. McGill has not yet decided whether to send Queen’s an invoice for the damage. ‘Student Union shuts down Snowdon Press MONTREAL [CUP]--The staff of the 11-year-old Vanier College student newspaper, Snowdon Press, are fight- ing to save the newspaper after the college’s student council decided last week to throw them out of their office and fund another campus publication. While the Snowdon Press submitted a budget, elected an editorial board and prepared an issue, the council decided to fund the Alternative in- stead. The Alternative began last year with funding from the school’s administra- tion. This year the staff applied to council for money. Council originally asked that the two papers merge, but after many sessions and several draft agreements, both sides said the move was impossible. The Snowdon Press asked that the new newspaper have a different name and elect a new editorial board after its first issue, but retain the Snowdon Press constitution until six issues has appeared. Alternative staff refused to accept the Snowdon Press constitution. But the Alternative editor later said he has never read the Snowdon Press consti- tution. Commenting on the council’s de- cision, John Moore, Vanier college student council vice-president ex- ternal, said Canadian University Press’ actions in favour of the Snowdon Press prompted the council to fund the other paper. He said a CUP article on the controversy, published in the: McGill Daily, was ‘‘crummy and irresponsible journalism.”” Moore said the new newspaper will not be a member of CUP. According to the council, the Alternative must elect a new editorial board after its first issue appears. Voting members will be ‘‘those mak- ing a reasonable contribution to the' first issue.’’ Asked who would decide what a ‘“‘reasonable’’ contribution is, Moore said the paper’s operations, including elections, would be ‘‘under the super- vision of council until we decide it (the Alternative) is fit to function on its _ own.”” Snowdon Press staff has planned to publish their first issue funded entirely with advertising money. Snowdon Press editor Christine Donahue said the staff want to put out a high-quality product to prove they, are the student newspaper on the campus. . ;