Editorial The Other Press would like to issue the following apology, because you know the school never will: For all of those students who chose to come to douglas college because it was douglas college, we regret to inform you that douglas college is now Douglas College All students who came to douglas college because it was douglas college and not Douglas College have the option of withdrawing from Douglas College . However, a $100 processing fee will be applied. (This processing fee does not go to defer the $14 500 price tag of the change from douglas college to Douglas College ; everybody dropping courses are dinged $100, whether it is from Douglas College or douglas college.) The Other Press would also like to apologize for this apology, which is silly. But we do take it back. Some may say, as some have already said, that we are dwelling on this whole thing. Damn straight! More students signed a petition against the new logo than voted in the student society-election. There must be a story here somewhere! But it is more than that. With this issue, the Other Press is celebrating twenty years of challenging the status quo, and we would like to remind you that your opinions matter. Challenge what the institution tells you. Challenge what your profs teach. Heck, challenge us, if you disagree. This is your school. Care. If you disagree with something the administration is doing, remember that we’ve got them outnumbered. We’re not advocating civic disobedience here, just saying that you don’t have to sit by yourself and fume. That can lead to ulcers, and besides, it’s kind of lonely. So, if you’re not happy with something, you’ve got a student society. You’ve got a newspaper. If we could get the BC government to freeze tuition increases, we can do anything. Welcome to the world of higher education. Now get off your butt and learn to think for yourself. Letters An open letter of THANKS to 400+ members of the Douglas College Community who participated in a petition...And some lessons learned by a college community. DEAR PETITIONERS- It was a short campaign, just eight days of coffee and lunch breaks, di- aloging and summoning support to save our traditional logo. Ninety nine percent of you were courageous to take pen in hand and question authori- ty. We engaged in something called a democratic right. We did not achieve the objective to halt the implementa- tion of a new visual identity for the college, an identity that each of us in our own evaluative thought process have seen as somehow repulsive. We did not stop the on-going waste of our education tax dollar and tuition dollar that is going to be eaten up by the im- plementation of the new pride of the Visual Identity Review Committee...these three disconnected obtuse triangles. We were bold to give it that “good old college try” though...No question about that! Thanks one and all of the 400+ sol- diers in the logo war! Much education occurred in the process of petition. I hope that you all experienced that education as I have. Ata college we expect such education to transpire...After all, it is our purpose as a community college, supported by tax dollars, to enhance learning by all means available to us. Through this petition process and the dialogue that took place around the issues, many lessons became apparent: We learned that traditional pride can be stepped upon by a few among us in authority who, for whatever reason , feel that it is appropriate to disregard twenty years of proud tradition. No amount of reasoning(newly concocted definitions for the new logo)can justify what has been done to devalue that pride. We learned that those in authority found it appropriate to sell off the bookstore items bearing the traditional logo at half price, resulting in a direct loss to the ancillary financing, suppos- edly to be used to update equipment and resources for learning. How ap- propriate indeed! The message is clear that there is a degree of disregard for those we are here to serve by the so- called stewards of our public educa- tion dollars. We were taught a very important lesson in aesthetics by a commercial design company from outside our col- lege community who in their wisdom, vision and special brand of logo art, see disconnected triangles being far more appropriate for the marketable bookstore paraphernalia, the hats, the tee-shirts and etc.... Yes, more appro- priate than the logo that has served well those needs for more than two decades, We’ve learned in a recently pub- lished, expensively printed, document, distributed by our acting college presi- dent on August the 8th, that the new pride of the Visual Identity Review Committee is derived from “ancient Phoenician and Egyptian symbols (1,000 - 3,000 B.C.). Fascinating, this new information...The VIRC for months has told us in their propaganda that our just 20 year old logo was “out of date and old fashioned” Now we’re told that their new pride is derived from graphics near 5, 000 years old...We are to believe that an expen- sive ancient symbol, at a time of edu- cation funding cutbacks is the respon- sible choice over a relatively young symbol that for twenty years has served us well, and itself is “at once bold”, “timeless”, “versatile” & a very recognizable symbol that has been serving all mediums just fine, in- cluding all electronic age mediums... We were even proud-enough to virtual- ly introduce ourselves to the entire world at our WWW site with our tradi- tional logo for over a year...Just how will the world see our college’s identi- ty now with the VIRC’s new pride looking more like a martial arts weap- on than a symbol for an academic in- stitution? A lesson was taught that the three separate triangles of the VIRC’s new pride represent “students, employees and the community”. I find it particu- larly disturbing as an employee to be depicted as a “knife blade”, as several folks have seen in these disconnected obtuse triangles. The honorable stewards of our edu- cation dollars are now telling us that: “Ultimately, Douglas College’s logo is only a tiny (t-i-n-y) part of our mes- sage to the community and the world”... This is responsible rational for spending the gobs of education dollars to change the logo then? Heads up butts or what?...We must ask our- selves. Only fools would engage in what the VIRC has done in this, a pub- licly funded institution. The private sector wouldn’t be so stupid, would it? We learned about a practice now be- ing engaged in by this institution calléd corporate subsidy, or corporate welfare. It’s more and more evident in the new global economy. Essentially it is a practice of diverting designated tax dollars to the private sector..Money for nothing in many cases. It is common for the principals of these companies, the corporate elite, the most advantaged in our society, to lob- by their government leaders to stop spending money on the intended use of the tax dollar, ie; health care for those that need it, education in our case here at Douglas, infrastructure, social wel- fare for those most marginalized in our society(eg; single parents). Yes, these elites are strongly in favor of taking from the tax base and lining their own pockets. At whose expense? Well, in our case here at Douglas, it is obvious at whose expense. A total of $14,500, went into the hands of the Praxis De- sign Company. Money that should have been used for what our intended purpose at Douglas College is: The education of the students from qual- ity teachers, staff, learning resources and a facility that enhances the learning experience. What we got from Praxis Design has absolutely nothing to do with benefits for learn- ers! We learned that apathy has no place in our college life when it can result in the direct loss of valuable resources for learning. Apathy can and does let misguided decision making _affect all of us. The lesson to remember is that we must always stand on guard to help those charged with stewarding our precious education dollars so that we never again get bamboozled into some bullshit marketing scam... We have learned that our voices can be heard loud and clear. The Board of Directors at least dis- cussed our petition for one and one half hour before tossing our petition out...We have caused some people to think a wee bit, anyway. There are still many things to learn for any of you brave souls with energy left to question authority further. Let’s call for a cleanup crew that might get some answers to the still many ques- tions. Here’s a sampling of what needs in- vestigation: (The Phoenician/Egyp- tian symbol for door...or “Triangle- gate”) Who were the people interviewed for their opinions about the traditional logo identity for Douglas College over the year long visual identity study, re- search and testing that the VIRC has boasted to us about in their propagan- da. Can we see the names and phone numbers please! There must be thou- sands of data entries after a year! Our petition lasted only eight days and ren- dered 400+ names and phone numbers. Shouldn’t the four hundred six peti- tioners have easy access to this infor- mation, bellowed by the VIRC about all their focus group studies? The tax- payers have every right to see this in- formation collected at their expense. It’s called The Freedom of Information Act. Who kept tabs on the total number of person hours that was logged by the (VIRC) committee members over the year and a half of the committee’s op- eration? This is vital data that we should know when the final tally is counted. One would think that this sta- tistic would be very easily available from such a responsible committee charged with such a large task repre- senting significant amounts of educa- tion dollars. Tell us, members of the VIRC...Should not this wage value be _ added to the $14,500. Praxis bill for total cost of bringing the three obtuse triangles to the safe haven of the CMO? How much employee time will be spent manipulating the HTML soft- ware to change all of the home pages at our WWW site, that still bear the traditional emblem?...This is taxpayer supplied education wages, directly related to the triangle folly. What is the estimated cost we'll bear against our education dollar to buy all new litho plates for the hundreds of forms, bro- chures, maps, calendars, letterheads, standard printed matter that all has to be changed now. Figured it out yet? We'd be interested to see your figures! Has anyone priced the new paint job for the college truck? Won’t it look spiffy with its new triangles? How’s the tally looking for all the signage around the Royal Avenue site coming. Got all the contractors lined up for all the plexi glass signage in the parkades, the corridors, etc.? What about the ex- terior signage? Priced the work to erect the scaffold at the southwest cor- ner of the building for a sandblasting operation to eradicate our traditional symbol? How much for the sign paint- er then to paint for us our triangles there? How much for the glass panels over the vending machines? How much for a new awning for the book- store? Better get that ASAP! We wouldn’t want to see the old emblem blazing on the awning, and have a fresh stock of triangle hats and tee- shirts on sale within the store. Why were we fed propaganda about our traditional logo being “out of date & old fashioned”, “turning away po- tential students”..., and now told by senior administration that we continu- ally have to turn away students be- cause there’s not enough resources here at Douglas College to take them? How much for new Safewalk jack- ets? The dedicated volunteers of this program wear jackets bearing the tra- ditional logo. Cost for new jackets please. How long is the list of ongoing ex- pense for these triangles? Is it possible that one of the nine staff of the CMO be assigned to bring us up to date.each time we spend an education dollar on the triangles? The mandate, one would think, of a com- munications office is to communicate to the community that is paying it to communicate or is this not so? Let’s have-the inside scoop on TRI- ANGLEGATE, eh? Proud petitioners, what we must now learn is to salute the new pride brought to us by the Visual Identity Review Committee...these three dis- connected obtuse triangles. As we do come together under this new and so much more improved visual identity, let us remember our lessons well. We must always be willing and able to question authority peacefully, and to peacefully accept the outcomes...We have to stand on guard, and be ready and willing to help those charged with stewarding our education tax dollars and tuition dollars, so that again we do not find ourselves wasting our educa- tion dollars on marketing scam and folly. Again, Thank you for your signa- tures and support for the July 8-July 18, 1996, petition campaign. You show great spirit, great courage! jVIVA LA EDUCACION, SIEM- PRE! ...and have a successful Fall se- mester! Sincerely, Tom Childs, Douglas College Learning Resources Letters continued page 4 September 3, 1996 Volume 21 Issue § _ The Other Press is Douglas College’s autonomous student néwspaper. We have been publishing since 1976. Being autonomous means neitheg the Douglas College Student Society ngr the College ' Administration nor the lop can College. Please fool free down to our basement ¢a excercise your power, By céni voting member. The 5 asa non-heirarchical At ae Tate, no one’s y quibbles with you should get here and help. nger without The Other Press Douglas College Room 1020 700 Royal Avenue New Westminster, BC V3L 5B2 Contributers Jim Chilboyko, C! Gale, Manjit Brar, $ Remis, Byron Fut ,thankyou, you’ re a4 all of us that know ‘ Terry Glavin, Tim @ fuckhead, [if you “4 isue, you will figuré Dutton, ay everyone. Employees Accounting -