On Campus Growth: “Douglas College has the single largest additions in the province. How can you have a growth program without investing in the people? New diplomas and collab- orative degrees are being offered, but to do this you have to invest in those who make it possible.” So says Robin Wylie, history instructor and president of the Douglas College Faculty Association (DCFA). He was referring to the 1,500 new seats “Coming to Douglas, the $5,000,000 expansion on the New Westminster campus, and the new degrees and diplomas now available. With all that cow being spent on our fair campuses, one would like to think that they’d first invest in the people who make it possible to run the place—what is a bureaucracy without its minions? “Tt literally doesn’t even make capital- ist sense. And I can’t even get the capitalists to explain it,’ Wylie added, in possibly the greatest quote I’ll ever get. On Susan Witter s Fat Raise: “Susan Witter has had a 30-percent raise—they’re all making six figures in administration,” said Raphaella Weissgerber, External Relations Coordinator for the Douglas Students’ Union (DSU). She said this after having possibly broken the bank buying herself and the DSU babes coffee, while talking to me in my hole-ridden shirt and old shoes, and standing next to the photogra- pher who invested all his money into this semester hoping it would be his last. On the picket lines, Barbara Hill told me of the 10- to 32- percent raises given to upper-level administrators, wondering aloud, “Where did that money come from?” My pocket, Barbara—the one with a hole in it. Yes, there are people who make entire- ly too much money. Good Charlotte, Paris Hilton, and any professional baseball player, for example. But it’s hard to start pointing fingers at folks whose jobs we can't do, I can write simple lyrics, ’'m pret- ty sure I could fuck on film, and I don’t equate hitting the ball once every four at bats with Hall-of-Fame numbers—yes, I can theoretically do those things (though cameras make me nervous)—but I cannot run a college. “You can pick out individuals in both employee groups (and make the claim they’re overpaid),” said Brad Barber, director of Communications and Marketing for Douglas. “Some of them may have changed roles or titles. There’s a process for job evaluation—for both the BCGEU and administrators—where you look at different factors to see how much that person should receive.” Barber added that these raises are sometimes given out retroactively, due to the sometimes long process of evaluation. To look at a per- son’s name and their salary from one year to the next is often unfair and skewed, but no less fun in stirring shit up. On Fighting Over Our Money: On this point everyone is a loser, but none more so than the students. I sympathize with the union workers’ needs to be paid fairly and in line with inflation. “We need our jobs,” Hill said. “A lot of us are single moms. We’d have been happy to take a cost-of-living increase.” And so you should have been granted it. It isn’t as if our raised tuition fees went towards improved conditions or quality (?'m not gtiping about the current quality, I’m just saying we get less bang for our buck now). Where’d the money go? I understand the BC Liberals’ desire to mimic American politics—raping and pil- laging union coffers and the public sector, pawning and privatizing any public body they can rid themselves of, only to boast pre-election that they’re adding more seats, have a surplus, and are making the province a better place to live. It’s nasty but it works. People are stupid, but they vote. When these strikes happen, people look to the students for support. They claim that it is somehow in our best inter- est to have the support staff paid equitably. Others claim it is hurting our access to education—or the 1,500 new students that aren’t you or me—to have unionized groups grubbing for more money. Whatever the argument, it is an implicitly held belief by both sides that we really give a shit about anyone but our- selves. How selfish of them. These strikes do happen, and if they have to happen, then it is better now, rather than later. Echoing the sentiments of the BCGEU, DSU, and DCFA, Barber said, “I think that both the college and the union have the students’ best interests at heart.” I believe him, but only because he and everyone involved are genuinely good people. It just gets harder to swallow each time we hear it. We are the forgotten foot soldiers of the future. Royal Roads University makes it easy to get a jump on the job market. Our accelerated degree programs are designed for college diploma graduates, allowing you to earn your Bachelor’s degree in just 12 months. And, ask about our 2-year online degree programs — for another flexible option. Visit www.royalroads.ca/moreinfo, email us at learn.more@royalroads.ca or call 1-800-788-8028, Royal Roads University is located in Victoria, BC. Accelerated programs: Bachelor of Commerce in Entrepreneurial Management; Bachelor of Science in Environmental Science; Bachelor of Arts in Justice Studies; Bachelor of Arts in Applied Communication ROYAL ROADS UNIVERSITY January § 18/2005