: BV olume XXVI: Issue 4, Monday, November 14, Beka} ther | (Stele. Douglas College's \utonomous Student Newspaper since 1976 Left off Voting Li Students Face Possible Eviction VANCOUVER (CUP) -- Enumerators listing voters for a municipal referendum on housing - left off thousands of students and Chinese Canadians, according to five civic election candidates filing suit against the city. November’s election ballot includes a question gauging Vancouverites’ opinion of a 20-year-old law banning the "secondary. suite", defined as a house subdivided into two or more homes -- such as a homeowner renting out his basement. And residents -- including a large number of students -- will be evicted as early as December in wards which favour the law, says New Democratic Party civic candidate David Levi. "[ think it is crucial for students to know the mayor has said wherever the vote comes up as no" for illegal suites, they are ‘planning to start immediate evictions,” says Levi. "What a surprise for those students who are not registered continued on page 2 Students Stand Against Apartheid JOHANNESBURG (CUP) -- Police forces walked in as some 4,000 assembled here on the campus of the University of _ Witswatersrand to hear Winnie Mandela discuss the white | elections in South Africa, May 4 last year. The outdoor meeting was banned 10 minutes before it was to | start and 129 academic staff and | students were detained following - an afternoon of violence and tear gassing. In protest Wits and the University of Cape Town closed on election day, May 6. In the face of National Party apartheid rule, it has not been easy | for South African Universities to maintain academic freedom and - autonomy, given the extension to the University Education Act which enforces racial seperation. Passed in 1959 despite a massive campaign in which 7,500 _faculty members and students ~ marched in protests in Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban and Grahamstown, the Act has led to the establishment of seperate black schools, forcing universities that wish to remain “open” to black students to seek special ministerial approval. In their stand against apartheid, the open universities of South _ Africa -- the universities of Cape _ Town and of Natal and Rhodes University -- have refused to discriminate on the grounds of race in the admission of students and the appointment of staff. Despite the Act, there has been a,dramatic increase in the number of black students at the open universities. In 1976, 5.6 per cent of the students at Wits, UCT and Natal were black. In 1987, there ~ were 21.3 per cent black students. The increase is a result of a relaxation in the need to obtain ministerial permission as well as the schools’ comittment to non- racism. To compensate for the educational inequalities of apartheid, programs for disadvantaged students have also been provided. Open universities are part of the movement for a democratic South Africa. A number of white students who have little direct experience or knowledge of apartheid and the conditions in black townships are made aware of the issues through contacts with black students and the activities of the National Union of South African Students. Widespread student protest at open universities by both black and white students stem from such an awareness of the discriminatory nature of South African society. P.W. Botha’s failed strategy of "reform apartheid" and the imposition of the state of emergency in July 1985 increased the student protest at the open universities. The protests are usually spontaneous and peaceful, but are portrayed in state- controlled media as violent. Conflict is often sparked by police incursions on to campus. The nationwide student protests in late April and May of 1987 received international media coverage. These protests were directed towards the international media simply because the South African Government failed to be moved. These protests provoked strong counter-reactions such as the use of birdshot at UCT and police dogs at Rhodes. The state’s response to student protests has traditionally centred on harassing and detaining student leaders -- a number of academic staff and students are currently detained without charge. Such measures have resulted in a lack of direction within student politics and create a climate of fear. Street:marches are no longer permitted. There has been a Editorials ........Page 4 Feature ...... Page 5 The Inside Box A Big Apartheid Article ........ Page 1 Mulroney Waffles About Submarines ........ Page 2 Entertainment vesseee Page 6 Les Autres Funnies, Of Course ..... Page’7 growing sophistication in police cgntrol through the use of helicopters, the monitoring of protests with cameras and the use of informers and agents provocateurs. heme = the government believes these measures are insufficient to control the rising tide of student protest. National Education Minister F.W. de Klerk, imposed regulations universities must follow to obtain government subsidies -- which constitute about 80 per cent of their funding. The new regulations stipulate university councils must prevent the staff and students from using university property for "the promotion of the aims’ of any unlawful organization” and "the promotion support of organizing of any boycott action” against any film, product, article or educational institution. Similarly, staff and students not disobedience or to encourage members of the public to strike or stay away from work.University councils are requested to inform the Minister of Education and Culture of any incident of unrest or disruption on their campuses within 21 days and to say. what steps have been taken to deal with it. The minister then notifies the univesity if the step taken are adequate -- if not, the minister may cut the university's subsidy. Although Afrikaans universities have expressed a willingness to live with the conditions, open univesities have rejected them. To protest, Wits, UCT, Natal and the University of Western Cape held general assemblies in October 1987. At Wits over 5,000 people attended the general assembly, which was followed by an academic procession. At UCT some 4,000 members of the permitted to support civi W S ‘dl he Q - yi E a v 4 ‘a f a 4 0 H he [A ic / ¥) | KK WK SS university showed up to show their support. The immediate threat of the regulations seems to have passed when the Cape and Natal Supreme Courts ruled earlier this year the minister does not have the power to cut university subsidies in this manner. However, the government could simply introduce new legislation to override these judgements. Whatever happens, — the outbreak of student protests at the open universities cannot be solved by order and discipline -- for the protests spring from indignation’ with a government that denies freedom of association and is unwilling to relinguish state power to the majority. (This article was written by. Rupert Taylor, a political science professor at the University of Witswatersrand in Johannesburg. South Africa.