NEWS Nikalas Kryzanowski, News Editor and Monica Carino, Associate News Editor news @theotherpress.ca DOUGLAS DECIDES 2008 The race Is on for next year’s student government Nikalas Kryzanowski news editor Lenahan vs. Orlovsky for Treasurer should be a good match up Sitting student union Internal Relations Co-ordinator, Geoff Lenahan, running with the Revitalize slate is set to square off against Alex Orlovsky of Douglas Students United for Treasurer of the Douglas Students’ Union for 2009. The treasury position revolves around managing the finances of the Students Union, which has been in a state of court- ordered receivership since January 2007. Neither candidate was involved in the financial scandal that led to receivership but both candidates declare their primary goal is to recover the financial autonomy of the student’s union as soon as possible. At a recent all-candidates meeting, Orlovskyy, an accounting student, said he would like to apply his education to the position, stating he would like to implement cash controls on the student union so that the courts could see that the DSU can effectively manage its own money, and thus revoke the receivership status. Lenahan is banking on his current experience with the DSU and claimed that he would enjoy looking after the finances of the DSU. He claims he has done so over the past year through the overseeing of budgets for various projects. Lenahan also stated that the DSU is in the process of hiring a permanent financial coordinator. The Douglas Students’ Union abolished its presidency in the year 2000, so the treasurer position is often considered the defacto “top job” in the organization. Bubrick vs. Hess for David Lam Rep. is one to watch The battle for David Lam Campus this year is between Sebastian Bubrick of Revitalize and Benn Hess of Douglas Students United. Bubrick has been at the post for the past year and is very active in student politics. He is aiming to increase the number of student social events and activities at David Lam while ensuring that students from the New West campus ELECTION DATES Geoff Lenahan will have access to them via a shuttle bus from New West. “Asyourrepresentative, I willalways be open to suggestions, work to improve internal controls within our organization, and of course see that there are. good times to be had here at the David Lam Campus as well,” he said. His opponent is newcomer Benn Hess of Douglas Students United. Hess acknowledged that David Lam is catching New West in size and he is aiming to ensure better communication between campuses. He would also like to increase the Student Saver program at David Lam Campus to include Coquitlam-area businesses. Does the campaign’s only independent have a shot? Call him the black sheep of the campaign, but Nav Atwal, running for disability liaison, is the only candidate who has decided nottorun onaslate. He isasecond year financial services student at Douglas and makes it his goal to raise awareness of the New Directions Program. It is a Douglas College program designed for students with acquired brain injury; New Directions students are integrated into regular Douglas College courses and get individualized support for academic, career and personal development. It is on Atwal’s agenda to raise awareness of this program throughout the campuses. He is facing off against Jamie Waterlow of Douglas College United. Waterlow would like to work towards making the campus wheelchair friendly rather than simply wheelchair accessible. Also running in the competition is Sumeet Sharma, on the Revitalize slate, whose platform was unavailable at press time. TUES MARCH 25TH, WEDN MARCH 26TH, THUR MARCH 27TH, FRI MARCH 28TH, MON MARCH 31 Polling Stations will be at both New West and David Lam Campuses Harsh budget cuts hit Douglas College By Monica Carino, Associate News Editor Dia College has been given two weeks notice to cut $2.3 million from its budget after the Ministry of Advanced Education slashed _ post-secondary funding by 2.6 percent. College president Susan Witter said post-secondary institutions had a “bad feeling” about their grant for this fiscal year when the budget speech was strangely silent on 4 university and college funding. At a meeting with ministry officials last week, Witter said the silence was broken: all public post-secondary institutions, including universities, university-colleges, colleges and institutes, will receive 2.6 per cent less grant money. One of the main reasons provided for the reduction in funding, she imagines, will be declining student enrollment at post-secondary institutions: “Everybody’s facing declining enrollments because it’s a good economy,” she said. “The treasury board made decisions as they see enrollments declining. “We’ve lost about six or seven per cent in university transfer arts and science (students) over the last few years. It’s not in our applied programs, it’s not in our career programs, and it’s not in our degree programs. It’s in the students who come to the college system for the first and second year of post-secondary studies. That’s been a big draw for us.” What Witter is concerned about is having to cut low-enrollment programs that work one-on-one with struggling students.