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Thursday, January 17, 1985

Letters

Dear Other Press

The page one photo of a music
student on your last issue finally
assured me of your uselessness. In
conversation with Chief Wazoo, this
front page photo was merely filler,
pulled from the archives to waste
space. As a student newspaper funded
by the students, for the students, | find
this outright trashing a reflection of
the goals of your paper. By lumping all
students into the category of ‘‘unin-
volved’’ proves your own ignorance to
the disciplines offered, and partici-
pated in by your paying subscriber’s.
The music program available through
the college is very difficult, requiring a
great amount of dedication to theoret-
ical, historical, and practical studies.
Such is the same in other fields that
students are involved in through the
college. Perhaps if you educated
yourselves on the needs of the
students you ‘‘aim’’ to please, there
would be no need for this type of filler.

Instead, you and the members of
your staff have chosen to whine about
apathy, every chance you get. Your
definition of apathetic people are those
not contributing to the Other Press,
whereas another’s might be your lack
of interest to show up at a jazz or
concert band performance.

Having viewed your paper over the
last semester, | decided it was a waste
of the hard work put into it by your
dedicated few. Having been referred
to the highest and mightiest in the
college, | was told nothing could be
done about the fact that | refused to
pay my Other Press fees. It seems you
are lucky enough to have the registra-
tion process suck in your operating
costs. The only reason | eventually
paid, better yet wasted, the four
dollars | am required to pay, -is
because | need my transcripts (failure
to pay Other Press fees is considered
failure to pay fully for registration,
meaning no credit can be given). As
your forced subscrbers(sic), we then
deserve information that will be help-
ful to us as students.

| got to thinking about the best way
the Other Press could help me.
Eventually it boiled down to this: crop
the filler, advertising, personal attacks
and Dr. Cannabis. All the relevant,
informative, positive, student oriented
writing could be ultimately printed on
the front and back of a single sheet of

 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
   
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
   
 
 
   

paper. Your rather healthy budget, |

which supplies beer money to some
sparsely paid staff members, could be
used to offset rising educational costs
‘-after all, that’s what we’re here for.
Or perhaps, | as a full time student,
could use that minimal four dollars to
contribute to the needs of my wife and
young son. But all the ‘‘big guys’’,
with their offices high above the
clouds, can do nothing. It is only me,
the student, who can change things. |
only want to change things because
your wonderfully negative office co-
ordinator admits under his breath that
“‘we (O.P.), don’t give a shit about
you’’. | personally, am too ‘‘apathetic-
ally’’ involved in getting myself a good

THE OTHER PRESS

education to contribute to your waste
of paper. Since the chances of elimin-
ating the Other Press are slim,

perhaps you should re-evaluate your
aims as a student newspaper, rather
than a tremendous contribution to the
paper chase bins.

Paul Steenhuisen

 

_ Dear Other Press

Douglas College Student Society

Constitution By law 15. Re neeion or
Impeachment:

15.6 - Wilfull (deliberate), neglect (dis-

regard), abusiveness (violate), or abro-
gation (annul by authoritative act) of
this constitution shall constitute one of
the grounds for impeachment.

It is my opinion that there are
ground for impeachment of certain
members of the Douglas College
Student Society Senate.

According to our constitution,

2. The object of the society is to be a
representative student organization
which defends the rights and interests
of students, and promotes the follow-
ing objectives;

c. to promote and advance the cause of
universal accessibility to all forms of
post-secondary education in the prov-
ince of British Columbia.

It is clear, when looking at the
January 2, 1985 issue of the Other
Press which stated that President
Sedhu sent ‘‘letters of thanks’’ for the
spring 1984 (ed. should be fall 1984):
tuition increases, that our constitution
has been violated. Tuition increases do
not promote the universal accessibility
to any form of post-secondary edu-
cation.

Although Sedhu said the society did
not intend to thank the board for
further increases, the first letter has
already set a precedant which gives
student approval to any further in-
creases.

It is no wonder that our commitment
to other student associations is being
questioned at this time when we allow
such disregard to both the constitution
of the students society and us, its
members.

an Angry Student

page5

  
     

 

Dear Other Press,

| can’t believe my eyes! Did |
actually read in the January 2nd, 1985
issue of The Other Press that the
president of the Students’ Socitey,
Jesse Sedhu, supported a tuition fee
increase?!2 If he thinks that by
supporting a tuition fee increase, no
matter how miniscule, he is represent-
ing the voice of students, then | think
he is sadly mistaken. I’m sure | am not
alone when | say that my voice, one
that | hope is part of a majority, is not
being represented.

Sure, when you compare an increase
of 11.8 percent with the 35 percent
increase students at Okanagan College
faced this year, things may not look so
bad. However, we must all remember
that any increase felt by any student
will further erode our already poor
quality of education. Students, when
speaking in a unified voice, can
implement change. It is a shame
though, that just when we seem to be
taking one step forward - someone
comes along and takes us two steps
back.

Heather Gropp

Dear Other Press

After reading the December 14th
issue of the O.P., a question sprang to
our minds regarding the author of the
feature ‘‘An Insubordinate Clause
(sick)’’.. Who is this tactless, miso-
genous psychopath, and how long has
he/she/it (?) been suffering from
ass-fixiation? Not only was the article
tasteless (b)anal and ignorantly self
indulgent, but it also managed to
degrade women, insult Newfoundland-
ers and promont violence, torture and
the use of illicit substances. . all in the
space of two pages.

Isn’t there some sort of C.U.P.
statement that protects innocent col-
lege students from this kind of
regurgitated bile?

The really tragic part of this article,
is the fact that the writer chose to
project his/her/its. repressed perver-
sions on a figure who has traditionally
been a symbol of love, goodwill and
peace among human beings.

We can only hope that the writing of
this article was psycologically (sic)
beneficial to the author, because we
feel that it was a complete waste of
space in an otherwise informative
issue of the paper.

It is our fervent hope that this kind
of literary sludge will not crawl
between the pages of your illustrious
rag again.

Names withheld by request