February 26, 1990 Society Must Deal With Problems Like a roaring bush fire started by a carelessly discarded cigarette, the controversy about the breach of ~ confidentiality in the Office to the Ombudsperson has raged on for some time without coming to a satisfactory conclusion. This con- troversy is finally dying down; cooler heads should now examine the situation and develop a remedy. The Ombudsperson’s office was entered (witheut authoriza- tion) by an executive to the Student Society (a moment of poor judge- ment?) and a phone machine was forcibly conscripted for duty at the Student Society’s office. The answering machine contained tape recorded messages that were for the Ombudsperson’s ears only. These private messages may have been listened to but they were sub- sequently erased. The Ombudsper- son at the time protested strongly and requested that council remedy the infraction. Efforts were made, but the infraction was not dealt with effectively. When the term of of- fice for Ombudsperson ended, Ranj Samra exited his office disap- pointed and citing a lack of co- operation over this issue. After a time the Student Society did attempt to deal with the situation. An apology was publish- ed in the student newspaper, but it was labeled a "lame attempt at an apology considering the magnitude of the situation" by the current Om- budsperson, Keith Olstrom. An investigation by the Inves- tigation Committee "seemed like a witch hunt and not an impartial, thorough investigation" com- mented the Ombudsperson. These were strong comments from an of- fice that is respected for its fairness. The Ombudsperson comments fur- ther, "the accessability to the Ombudsperson’s office should only be open to the Ombudsperson. As it stands now members of Security, maintenance, the ad- ministration and members of the Student Society (the offending party) can enter my office at any time. It’s difficult to maintain the confidentiality when these people have physical access to the office. However, I guarantee that there is confidentiality maintained in my office." Four months after the incident, history can repeat itself. A council member can still enter the Ombudsperson’s office, remove the answering machine, listen to the contents of the tape and sub- sequently erase it. The longer the student society takes to remedy this situation the more pertinent the Ombudsperson’s comments be- come. The Student Society has yet to even consider the issue of physi- cal access to the office and its con- tents. This issue must be dealt with. The Student Society can repair the breach in confidentiality in the Ombudsperson’s office and en- hance their own credibility as well. This task can be accomplished through a number of ways; though most workable solutions have yet to be decided. As it is with many tasks in life, the longer it is put off, the more difficult it becomes to deal with it. Peter Malacarne Continued from page 3... Almost 50% would like to see more photograghy, comics and Bog ve : om con : The federal budget cutbacks came as no surprise to most Canadian students. Finance minister Michael Wilson’s lack of new footwear was the prime indicator of his intentions. Any duffer worth their salt knows it is not wise to don new shoes when kicking a downed dog. With the freezing of federal transfer payments to the provinces, the conservatives have extended an open invitation to the provinces to institute their own cutbacks. Even now, high above the educational field, a large flock of budget cutting Social Credit buzzards are circling in for the kill. Historically, education is fair game for austerity measures. Personally I think the reality of tuition increases is a moot point. The question in my mind is simply "How much and how soon?’(my guess is 15% in September 1990). On a related topic, it is interesting to note the bulk of an iceberg lies underwater - unseen by the eye. It struck me that the Canadian Federation of Students has similar qualities. On campus we see their slick publications and brief newsletters. Representatives of the DCSS rush off to Ottawa to attend the national conference spending $6000 of our Societie’s funds. Sadly, we as a student body have received not so much as a single page report of their activities. Could it be that our representatives are acquiring bad communication skills from the federation? Perhaps they are ashamed or just bashful in keeping students informed on Federation matters. I truly hope there is more substance to the Federation than has been seen floating around this campus. Our society gave the C.F.S. well over $34 000 in fees in the spring and fall of 1989 alone. Looking at the paltry results of the "freeze the fees’ campaign, I believe the Federation’s efforts are just not cutting the mustard. It seems the C.F.S. is supplying us with a very expensive ride to destination as yet undetermined. Certainly the concept of a national organization for students is a good idea worthy of respect. What I find unacceptable is the level of committment for meeting the needs of our student body. Perhaps it is time for the students of Douglas College and the Federation to examine their relationship. It might be worth taking our C.F.S. allocated funds and hiring a professional lobbyist. One who knows the turf in Victoria could look out for our specific interests. We might be surprised and pleased with the results. At minimum we could exercise the right of an employer in requiring due services for payment rendered. On the other hand we could use the funds to advance the cause or needs of women, disabled students andvisbile ethnic groups around our campus. Wake up, C.F.S., the night is far spent and dawn approaches. I see a line of students demanding more beef in our federation burgers! Ross Bogle to ask "Does anything else happen besides what is published?" Other types of news stories you would like to see include local events (33%) .creative writing in the paper. Only 6% said they would like to see more sports. Some other things you would like to see more of include news, editoorials and foreign language articles. Now for the good part, our good and bad points accoring to those who read us. The news is okay, 40% said it was one of our strong points, 20% said it was a weak point. Other major weak points were: photograghy (26%) and sports (26%). Others found our design lacking and said that we should really learn to spell. (The people we like the best are the ones who said that we had no weak points.) On the plus side 40% said that they-felt our editorials are good and 13% said they thought the entertainment and design were our strong points. One person liked the price ($4 for 3 months) and one person said our major strong point is the staff. Other people enjoy our CUP (Candian University Press) stories that we get from across the couuntry. Almost 50% said they thought campus news is adequatley covered and 60% said they wonld like to see more. One student even went as far and international events (20%). A shy student, who wouldn’t tell us their name, thinks we should go on a "fact finding mission to find out why the muffins in the cafeteria have shrunk considerably while their sugar content is on the increase." Not all the responses were so positive but hey we can take a little criticism. One student (who also is my friend, the backstabber) says that "This paper is a joke. No one reads it. Student fees are high enough without being forced to pay for this!" 80% of the students who answered the survey are full time students and most (46%), are university transfer students who swear they only saw Batman once and didn’t buy any paraphenalia exepet maybe some underware(?). Generally the survey results show that the population of Douglas College are intellegent with diverse intrests ranging from the envirment to the spread of democracy. However very few surveys were returned so the margin of error is probably somewhere near 100%.