“Government _
Tempting a
Bloody Strike

The last edition of The Other
Press contained an ad which was all
about what the proposed G.S.T.
does not include. Now I'll tell you
one thing it does: feminine hygene
products.

Other necessities like non-

| - dessert foods, medicine, and rent

aren’t included in this tax, so why
tampons? I suspect that if Canadian
women proved the necessity of
such products the obvious way,
"going au naturel," so to speak,
we’d see action.

The resulting chaos would
threaten everything from corporate
law to the tourism industry.
Families would become estranged.
Blood on the parliament staircases.
Infection. Rats. Disease. Decay....

It has wings...
"Does it fly?"
Michelle Lavallee

GPA

Registration
Would

Discriminate

Douglas College is thinking of
implementing a policy that only
takes into account grades when
figuring out who gets to line up first
at registration. And they are being
very short-sighted by doing so.

To tell you the truth, the
present system isn’t all that great.
Pre-registration means people in
the sports program, international
students, and registration workers
register for courses before
everyone else. That policy is
wrong.

To say that you get all the cour-
ses you want if you’re on a team,
have tons of money to spend on a

foreign school, or know someone

who can get you a job at registra-
tion pretty well points out what is
wrong with our society in general:
*important’ people get special
privileges.

However, the GPA option
only takes registration out of one
injustice and moves it straight into
another. Whoever thought up this
policy has forgotten it is not just
lazy people who don’t get good
grades. There are a lot of cir-
cumstances that make an A or a B
impossible.

People who come from finan-
cially disadvantaged backgrounds
have more problems getting good
grades than those who have not.
And someone who has to work part
or full-time just isn’t going to get
grades as good as someone who
doesn’t have to deal with that kind
of a situation.

And people who have come
from that background may also
have encountered problems with
improper teaching materials and in-
adequate staffing of schools at an
elementary and secondary level be-
cause of inadequate school fund-
ing. There is also some pressure to
avoid education and its benefits
from a person’s peer group. These
are all contributing factors in a sys-
tem that is stacked up against the
poor, quite a good number of which
are people of colour.

And if you are a single parent,
you still have to take care of your
child while you attend school. Be-
cause of the Canadian
government’s outright inattention
to a public daycare system, parents
have problems finding decent
facilities to take their children
while they are at school. This
creates an immediate problem.
More importantly, when a single
parent gets home from school, they
just can’t put their child in the
closet while they do their
homework. Child-rearing is of
course a time consuming respon-
sibility, and can affect a person’s
GPA.

And on a completely different
tack, I was always under the as-
sumption that a post-secondary in-
stitution was a place to broaden

Other Press

 
 

one’s horizons. Other things can be
learned here besides what you can
get from a book.

If GPA becomes a factor in
registration, people will have no

- time to explore themselves, some-

thing at least as important as read-
ing 12 chapters of Political
Science. People will be afraid to get
themselves involved in activities
other than their studies for fear of
getting a C and not getting a course
they need to go on with thier
eduacation elsewhere. This policy
will purposely breed apathy.

One last thought: it seems to
me that with people being quiet,
trying to pass their courses, it
would be a hell of a lot easier for
Administration to implement more
policies that take away student’s
rights.

Tim Crumley

 

 

REGIST

 

A Little To Do
About

Nothing and
Everything

Ya know, life is funny. People
sometimes ask me "Basil, why do
you choose to be an anarchist? How
can you rail against our beloved
Socred government...and govern-
ment in general for that matter?"
Well, people rarely ask me that,
actually, mainly because I have no
friends to speak of.

Anyways, whenever I look at
any form of government the word
that pops into my head is "stupid."
Not just "stupid," but STOOPID!
And HYPOCRITICAL! Oh my
that felt good. If anybody ever tells
you primal scream therapy doesn’t

 

 

Contrary to what the more
radical elements believe there are
some very positive components in
the college’s administrative struc-
ture. The Douglas College Founda-
tion is one of them. On 'March 22nd
the foundation distributed bur-
saries and scholarships to help stu-
dents continue their education.
Awards night was also an oppor-
tunity for students, faculty and ad-
ministration to mingle with
community members who hold our
educational needs close to their
hearts. It seemed that the evening
also marked a return to some nor-
mal patterns that were marred by
the bitter labour dispute of the fall
semester. It was encouraging to see

..the students receiving something

positive for a change. Both faculty
and administration put aside their
differences on this occasion to
recognize the achievements and the
needs of their true employers, the
students of this institution. A good
time was had by all thanks to the
efforts oft he foundation.

Another often maligned ser-

wen women

 

  
 
  

  

    
   

 
 

 

vice of the college is the office of
Student Financial Services. Per-
haps the time has come for us to
recognize how dedicated the
people are who process our loans,
bursaries and scholarships. It is not
an easy task to carry the respon-
sibility for such a critical area of
service.

On many occasions I have
heard students complain with real
hardness over financial services.
Few stop to consider that the prob-
lem usually is in Victoria and is not
the fault of college staff. Perhaps
we can show our appreciation by
remaining polite and calm during
transactions at financial services.
At peak periods their office is
swamped with thousands of details
needing attention. The Office staff
have always treated me with a
measure of quiet, polite efficiency
for which I am grateful. Without
their high level of commitment I
would never have been able to
make it economically during my
time here at Douglas.

I would like to recount another

  
      

 

 

work, don’t listen to them. On with
the show.

How can anyone associate in-
telligence and integrity with a
government that shows its com-
mittment to the environment by
printing 1.3 million copies of a 24
page "newspaper" containing in-
spirational stories about families
whose yearly load of garbage is
small enough to fit into a used con-
dom. Or the stories with pictures of
provincial politicians doing some-
thing almost, sort of, but not quite
environmental. Goddess knows
how many trees that rag destroyed.

How can anyone believe that a
government cares about its citizens
when it tries to legislate their
uteruses (uteri?). Oh yeah, and then
there’s that majority rules
stuff...what about the minority? If
the majority says it wants to stuff
lima beans up its nose, and it is
against my beliefs to block my
nasal passages, what can I do? If
one is born into a particular politi-
cal system they cannot opt out
without leaving the country in
question. If this is indeed a free
country shouldn’t people be able to
choose how to live their lives?

You know what else really
grabs me where it hurts? The GST.
Again, taxes in general are a form
of oppression to which I am greatly
opposed, but if they must tax some-
thing, why don’t they make it
something that no-one really needs
or cares about. Like Milli Vanilli
fr’instance. Or Corey Hart. Instead
of a seven per cent tax on things we
really need and want, they could
put a fifty per cent tax on every
record played on LG73. Or if we
want to get REALLY righteous, we
could slap a 200 per cent tax on
pornography (as opposed to
erotica...but then, where do you
draw that line?). Speaking of
which, don’t ya hate those damn
fundamentalist preachers telling
you to be virtuous, and saying that
if you masturbate you’ll go to hell
and tufts of hair will grow in your
ears, but then they’re caught rub-
bing uglies with hairy-eared
hookers dressed as nuns in the
backs of taxi-cabs and then they go

back on TV saying they’ve sinned

  
 
 
 

 
 
 
 

 

incident that speaks highly of the
service. A fellow student of mine
was struck with a tragedy that left
him destitute with little enough
money for bus fare let alone food.
This student, a former street kid,
struggled for years to enter college.
He selected a program of study that
would train him to return to the
streets to help troubled adolescents.
In desperation he turned to finan-
cial services for help. He was not
turned away, but was met with
sympathy, understanding and sup-
port. Along with this caring at-
titude, he was given a cheque that
would enable him to continue his
studies. It is comforting to know
that here are people who care about
the needs of students.

The reality of our Student
Society’s true mandate was plain to
see at the annual general meeting
on March 21, 1990. There were so
few students present that quorum
was far from being a possibility.

As a result, any real student
body representation was a far away
dream. Taken as an indicator of

who represents what, this meeting
drew less than one percent of the
college’s student population. No
small wonder the Ombudsperson
was sacked by the Student Council
a few days later.

Our apathetic attitudes have
given the society executive ab-
solute power, which they use to the
utmost. Strange circumstances in
the least. The Ombudsperson, just
prior to being fired, approached
two members of the executive to
confront them over using our
societies facilities for their personal
political interests. (You know who
you are). Look upon the DCSS fee
as a poll tax in support of a small
clique ridden club. The societies
level of service to the students in
general is minimal and growing
more so each semester. Don’t be
fooled by the rhetoric put out
regularly by some executives. Ask
yourself what benefits you per-
sonally have received as of late. It
is unfortunate for us that the ar-
rogant attitudes of our politicians
have been taken up by our student

representatives.
Ross Bogle

 

 

against god and their loyal
GENEROUS following, but you’re
still not allowed to masturbate? I
hate it when that happens. Hey, I
have an idea...let’s tax them! Come
to think of it, my dad has hairy
ears...it really grosses my mom out.

Basil-King Lamas