The crowd couid have been
larger, but those students
who attended the speakers’
corner on January 31 did

 

by JAYNE MUSKENS

 

manage to walk away that
afternoon with some aware-
ness of education cutbacks.

Debra Niessen, treasurer of
the D.C. student society, o-
pened the speakers’ forum.
Niessen quoted B.C. as the
province which spends ‘‘the
lowest percentage on edu-
cation’’ in comparison to
other governments in Canada.
“B.C. has 388 fewer post-
secondary instructors and not
a single penny has been put
aside to pay for new equip-
ment in the last three years,’’
she said.

Niessen then went on to

attack the government for
being the ‘‘only province
without a bursary program,”
which she feels is necessary
for students who can’t afford
to go to college, and then
added, ‘’B.C. actually has to
bring in trained and educated
people to fill jobs when pe-

 ople here would dearly love

those jobs, but either cannot
find room in a program or
afford the rapidly rising tuit-
ion costs.”’

Niessen concluded by en-
couraging students ‘’to speak
and to act’’ and ‘‘ignoring
cutbacks won’t make them
disappear.”

Later on, Susan Woods
DCSS vice president said
“there will be an expected
tuition increase of about 10
percent,’’ which she felt could
be quite ‘‘disconcerting.’’

Some students are already
living on as “‘little as poss-
ible’’ and might have to
“leave school because they
can’t afford to pay,’’ she said.
Woods also spoke on_ in-
creased class sizes as a direct
influence on the quality of
education. ‘‘The one to one
relationship Douglas College
students have with their in-
structors will eventually no
longer exist,’’ said Woods.
Jesse Sedhu, D.C.S.S. pres-
dent, quoted the five year
plan as ‘‘the biggest joke
ever’’ and finished his speech
stressing that the student
society needs student support
to deal with the cutbacks.
Allan Singh, student and
coach of the Douglas College
Women’s Volleyball team,
spoke with concern about the
See Speakers’ Corner, page 2

Crime spree hits...

The problem of theft at
Douglas College has slowly
escalated
months of the new year. The

 

by STEVE GRAY

 

thefts have been a= grave
concern to Ken McCoy, Doug-
las College’s Physical Plant
manager.

McCoy feels that most of
the thefts could be avoided al-
together if two factors can be
maintained. The first factor,
McCoy feels, is that the
building is not constructed to
insure airtight security, and

that the people of the college:
must be aware of their be- .

longings at all times and
protect them with locks.

The college is open to the
public for two-thirds of the
day, which is the prime rea-
son why thefts occur, accord-
ing to McCoy. ‘‘The college
serves as a superb short-cut
in any direction for pedest-

in the first few

rians,’’ said McCoy.
McCoy has made _ recom-
mendations to the senior ad-

ministration that a second.

security guard should be avai-
lable. ‘Having all sorts of
people in the college, and
people who do not belong to
the college, causes a potential
security risk, and it’s hard for
one security guard to main-
tain a position at the control
desk and also attend to the
problems that occur around
the school.’’ McCoy also add-
ed, ‘‘but all of this costs
money, and this money is not
available because of the re-
straint program. ”’

One precaution which has
been taken is the installation
of curtains to cover the many

' windows in the administration

office on the fourth floor. The
curtains act as a deterrent to
passerbys who might be
tempted to break in.

Warnings of theft and pre-
cautions against theft have

 

 

PABOPIIS. (502 Sci cacsctasnnins Ft ARC O
PIONS eines PE

POO CS Feiss. FACE O
Entertainment.......:............age 12

Re cee as cc. URE 14

Valentine Personals..........Page 15

 

been posted in the Mad Hat-
ter newsletters many times.
Bulletin board notices have
also been posted to warn
students and staff of in-
stances that have occurred.

McCoy feels that theft is a
growing problem at the col-
lege. ‘The best thing to pre-
vent anything from getting
stolen is not to leave anything
unattended. Or you will lose
ites

Thursday, rébniary 14,1985

a Press

Douglas See s Autonomous Student Newspaper

 

 

 

bhoto by Brian Bisset

..and Douglas College pays

Douglas College is exper-
iencing a crimewave! Betty.
Lou Hayes of the Athletic
department has been the un-

 

by JOHN MCDONALD

 

fortunate victim of a recent
series of thefts. Since mid-
January, her office has been
broken into three times.

It began on January 22nd
when Hayes discovered some-
one had forced her office door
and pried open her filing
cabinet, making off with $415
in cheques and $115 in cash
— fees from a fitness class.
“The thieves knew exactly
where to go,’’ said Hayes.
‘They missed my ticket mo-
ney but someone got that a
few days later.’’

On January 26th, while
Hayes was guarding the
CKNW Duck (Mr. Quack)
during a Royals basketball
game, somebody broke in and

stole approximately $20 in
cash, proceeds from ticket
sales and a Douglas College
Library ‘‘ghetto blaster’,
which some unfortunate per-
son must pay for.

And to prove that lighten-
ing can strike more than
once, a person or persons un-
known forced her office door
for a third time on February
1st. They stole both her
daughter’s purse and her
own, which contained a total
of $60 plus credit cards and
identification.

I’m really irked about all
this,’ said Hayes, ‘‘and,
though | hate to say it, | think
it’s someone around here (A-
thletics department) because
they seem to know my move-
ments and how | operate.’’

Although the police were
notified about all three inci-
dents, they offered little hope
of an arrest or even recovery
of the stolen items.

“I'd like to get a_ big
hungry python to guard my
office,’’ said an obviously
worried Hayes, ‘‘but | would
be happy just to get the stuff
back, no questions asked.’’

Lucille Kiem, head of se-
curity at Douglas, was em-
phatic on the subject of col-
lege thefts. ‘‘If whoever is
doing all the thefts is ever
caught, they’ll have to deal
with me,’’ said Kiem. ‘’The
problem of thefts at Douglas
is not new,” said Kiem,
who’s been at the new cam-
pus since it opened. ‘‘It’s
getting bigger all the time,”’
she said, brandishing a stack
of theft reports, ‘‘and this is
just for 1985.”

She would like to see a-
nother security guard hired
and has made the suggestion
to administration. ‘‘They said
that the amount of theft
occurring didn’t justify the
See Theft, page 2