. VANCOUVER (CUP)--Delegat- es to the Nov. 18-21 BC Stu- dents Federation conference in North Vancouver left Sunday with plans for major campaigns | in the coming months. In the weekend workshops at Capilano College, the 36 dele- gates from 13 institutions dev- eloped strategy to organize stu- | dents and pressure the govern- ment in three major areas: High student summer unemploy- ment, anticipated tuition fee increases for universities and possibly colleges, and the lack of rights of vocational students. Debate over the need for such campaigns was sparse, probably due to the increased awareness about tuition, cutbacks and un- employment resulting from Nat- ional Student Day Activities 10, days earlier. Vocational students had little problem recognizing the fact university and college students in terms of basic rights. Few have proper representation on student councils and others have to rely on the good will of their administrators for their student fee collection. | The tuition campaign will similar to the one recently run by the University of BC’s Alma Mater Society. Some 6,000 stu- dents signed a letter urging Education minister Pat McGeer not to increase tuition fees. Delegates were split over whether the campaign should attack fee increases or tuition fees themselves. The BCSF has consistently sent a barrier to post-secondary _| education that keeps low income | people from attending colleges and especially universities. But a motion ‘‘recognizing the need for a truly progressive tax system’’ was replaced with one recognizing that ‘‘inequit- ies’’ in the tax system exist when delegates couldn’t come that they lagged far behind | | begin with a petition letter argued that tuition fees repre- The following positions are open: [1] Chairperson for Quad-Council [2] Chairperson for Coquitlam campus [3] Vice-Chairperson for Coquitlam campus [4] Campus representatives, 4 for each campus Richmond, Coquitlam, New Westminster, Surrey The deadline for nominations ts December 3, 1976. Campaign speeches, etc. is December 6, to 10th Election polling: December 13 - 15 Council meeting December 16, 1976. up with a satisfactory definition of ‘‘truly progressive.’’ The motion called for the recognition of tax inequities to be included in any federation submissions to the government. The federation also scheduled a campaign to deal with student summer employment, geared mainly at convincing the provin- cial government ‘‘to continue and expand their student em- ployment program’”’ ‘*We have information that indicates the provincial gov- ernment has no plans to contin- ue the ‘careers’ program,’’ out- going chairwoman Lake Sagaris told the conference. By now, she said, planning for the programs would normally be well under way. Under the careers program, ' the government provides funds ‘for organizations and business- es to hire students. In the past three summers, an average of -12,000 students a year have been hired through the pro- gram, Sagaris said. os ‘A province-wide student em- ployment survey, modeled after one conducted by Carleton Uni- versity’s student union last summer, is planned for Janu- ary. Individual councils will * administer the survey on their campus with BCSF staff collect- ing the results. ‘‘We need that information when dealing with the govern- ment,’’ Sagaris said.’’reliable figures just aren’t available. It obviously isn’t in the govern- ment’s interests to gather statis- tics when unemployment is high.”’ The Carleton survey found that first year students, women, - and students from low income families consistently had to look longer for jobs, earned signifi- cantly lower wages, and found work for shorter periods than older students, men, and stu- dents from wealthier families. Most students got their jobs through personal or family con- nections. be ee ee ee ae RETO | _ STUDENT COUNCIL ELECTIONS ‘Major campaigns planned at BCSF conference The vocational campaign will be centered around a long list of grievances for vocational stu- dents, most of whom take courses shorter than a year and who are largely unorganized. A vocational committee struck at the conference plans province wide distribution of a leaflet outlining the grievances and letter petitioning the govern- ment to make changes. Capilano College delegate ‘Gilbert Tessier argued: ‘‘We should aim for the removal of tuition fees, instead of expend- ing our energies in keeping increases low.”’ But other delegates countered that the federation could not ignore impending increases. The campaign was amended to include both arguments. “‘We’re going to look silly with an ‘abolish tuition’ cam- paign after all the campaigns in BC recently have been against the increases,’’ UBC delegate Paul Saundu said. ‘‘Let’s get on with this battle. It’s all part of the same war.”’ Delegates agreed to amend the campaign to include both . the long-term goal of removal of tuition, and the short-term goal : of stopping the increases. “The reasoning behind keep- ing the fees low and eliminating them completely is the same--to increase accessibility.’’ one del- egate summed up. The tuition letters will be presented to McGeer when the BCSF executive and student council representatives meet with him Dec. 13. Delegates took a small step towards dealing with the quest- ion of taxation. ; Simon Fraser University del- egate Patrick Palmer argued there were problems with sing- ling out tuition increases in isolation from the tax structure. “The money for tuittion will have to come from some- where,”’ he said. ‘‘With the present syster it certainly won’t come from thosz who can afford to pay.” the other press page 3 Speakers Bob Morris, Sheila Dennison and Martin Berinbaum at one of the Career Seminars that the Counselling Dept. puts on monthly. This seminar was on ‘Careers in Music’ and had a crowd of 130 in attendance. Douglas College funding hampers vocational cources The provincial government hasn’t allowed Douglas College to become a comprehensive community college, the col- ‘lege’s principal charged Nov. 9. Addressing a National Stu-’ dent Day forum Nov. 9, Princi- pal George Wootton said his goal was a comprehensive col- lege where students can attend a variety of programs--academ- ic, career and vocational--and mingle with each other. “*We do not want to make one college vocational or strictly academic, but a place that combines all,’’ he said. “It’s not that we don’t want them (vocational courses),’’ he said, “‘we have not been allow- ed.” This year is the first time the college has recieved any vocat- ional funding, he said, but the demand for them still hasn’t been met. ““With career programs, at least four times as many people apply than there are seats available.”’ He said the provincial gov- ernment funds vocational seats depending on the job market. “Tf only 50 jobs are availble then that is the only funding we get.”’ “‘According to their state- ments they are making a con- certed effort, but not mine,’’ Wootton said. “‘This is the first time we have received vocational approval from the Department of Educat- ion, while at the same time the Department of Labour refused us,’’ he said. ‘‘We wanted an automotive course but they said no.”” Vocation courses are usually sponsored by manpower, but through a Department of Edu- cation fund-Request of Addition of Courses (RAC), money has been provided for vocation cour- ses such as clerical, chairside dental, and adult basic educat- ion. Money was provided last year through RAC for childcare and daycare programs. Wootton said the vocation funding is not nearly adequate and ‘‘we have put a request for larger sections for vocation.”’ Douglas College is presently 45 per cent academic (university transfer), general studies 28 per cent, career 19 per cent, and vocation 6 per cent. Assistant Bursar Bob Lisson said that Douglas College is far behind other colleges. ‘‘We do not have a vocation wing and it makes us look sick.’’ He said there have been prior attempts for more vocation courses and career courses but the funding has not appeared. Asked about the $80,000 Douglas College received “overnight’’ for extra sections in September, Principal Woot- ton said it was ‘‘in the bank making interest.’’ ‘‘Not real- ly,’ he added, ‘‘We have not seen any of that money. We were given permission to over- run our budget if necessary, provided we were given prior approval to by the local school boards.”’ Although other colleges needed funding for more sect- ions and did not receive any, Wootton felt it was fair that Douglas should receive it. “It was fair in that we made a request based on a knowing ‘need. This is the first time we have sent a written request.” Capilano College requested ad- ditional funds in September from the Dept. of Education but were turned down. “Capilano College has recei- ved money in the past,’’ he added, ‘‘and if efficient money control is shown by our bursar, we might not need any of that $80,000.”’