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GENERAL

_ Dec. 6, 1977!

WSP a costly headache to run

by Brian Jones’

The Work Study Program (WSP) set up by Victoria to help students relieve the financial strains incurred from student loans has in most cases been a bigger headache than it is worth.

“It has been expensive and difficult for Douglas College to run this pro- gram,’’ said Jim Anderson, director of financial aid at Douglas College.

While at Simon Fraser University the program has cost the University $18,000 to administer $20,000 in financial aid, and - Mike Parrish, an SFU _ student, charged last week in two Lower Mainland newspapers

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OXFAM supports small, self- help projects in developing communities around the world. OXFAM projects stress self- reliance and seek maximum participation by the local population. OXFAM is more than a charity. It is a movement for social justice.

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; pated in

that he had been ‘‘ripped off’? by the provincial go- vernment through the pro- gram.

Parrish, who worked for two education professors on a WSP job, said he was unaware that the money he earned would reduce the money he received on his Canada student loan.

The SFU financial aid de- partment could not under- stand why Parrish did not grasp the basic concepts of the plan: to either reduce a students loan or grant or, in the case specific situations, provide additional income to the student.

Director of financial aid at SFU Vern Lowen said the program does not offer a bonus income but an income that will be subtracted from the funds already being

granted or loaned to every student that is interested in the program. Parrish charges that this crucial in- formation was neither prin- ted on the application form not explained to him during his initial interviews.

There have been no dis- gruntled students at Douglas College because as Anderson explained: ‘‘We have 20 students working under the Work Study Program and all of them are under the sup- plemental option of the pro- gram.”’

“IT try to place every student I possibly can,’’ he said, ’’but there is a point when you have to decide whether you are coming to school to work or learn.”’

Anderson went on to say that the option in WSP that requires students’ loans to

diminish is of no advantage to students what-so-ever.

‘*The portion of the money you make that is applied against a student’s grant means he is working for money the government was prepared to give him,’’ said Anderson.

WSP was implemented b Victoria at the start of the fail term and offers students seeking financial aid the Opportunity to work in jobs related to their studies, as well as earn money that is applied against their student loans and grants or, in special cases, supplements their financial aid funds.

The program offers two options. The first is where money earned by the student is applied against their loan and grant.

“Tf a student signs up for

by Jeannette van Eldik

Experiments on teaching students how to make incen- diary bombs and other ex- plosives aimed at increasing interest in chemistry, was led by six teachers at College Limoilou in Quebec who are

| now suspended with

ay until their cases are henril: by the labour relations com- mittee.

According to Yvon Hamel, director general of the col- lege, 175 students partici- the experiments efore they were ended in November.

The administration acted

Teacher gets

after professors at Laval University said that a nitro- gen compound used was very dangerous because it could explode at the slightest shock.

They also said they would not let their students partici- pate in the experiments in- volving such dangerous sub- stances as described in their lab book.

Provincial police had been investigating the case with city police for the last tow weeks.

The small booklet called the Pouf Commando contains some experiments and in- structions on the making of

ombed

bombs. It also gives an example where the college’s students occupy the college administration and the police riot squad are called in to break it up.

Jacques Couture, ccordi- nator of the chemistry de- partment, was not involved in the experiments but said that quantities had been controlled and there was no

danger.

The only incident that happened concerned stu- dents who took a_ small amount of the products from an experiment and used them as firecrackers in the halls.

by Bill Cartier

Thus the dominant theme of the Greco-Roman and the

world was skiing at Baker this weekend.

What? I have had it! I have never been in an environ- ment so non-condusive to studying as this ‘‘library’’. It

by Myrtle Winchester

Delta junior high school teacher and counsellor Frank Vaselenak was suspended by the school when he was

MAKE THE DIFFERENCE charged with the possession of ena An ao he

leaded guilty to the charge

OXFAM-CANADA ia saunas be was eed

BOX 18,000 moi iaioonl But when Vaselenak ap- TORONTO WINNIPEG! peared later in court he was sai eee ra ay given a conditional dis- ST. JOHN’S VANCOUVER charge. A three man board of

HEREIS MY DONATION OF$__

FOR YOUR WORK. NAME _ : ADDRESS

ALL DONATIONS ARE TAX-DEDUCTIBLE

referees appealed to B.C. Supreme Court claiming he should not have lost his job because he was not convicted of the crime.

Last Wednesday, J.D. Kinzie, council for the school board, disputed the referee board’s stand saying that a

guilty plea is a conviction

Oriental conceptions of the.

seems to have replaced the cafeteria as a combination lunch room, discussion cen- tre and social centre.

What can a person do about this? On three occa- sions this semester I have requested that some groups of people be a bit quieter. The first two times the persons concerned were apo-

Teacher’s future up in air

within the Criminal Code, even if it is followed by a discharge.

Education Minister Pat McGeer said that the legis- lature would be under obli- gation to change the Public Schools Act if ‘‘adequate protection cannot be given to youngsters as a result of technicalities.’’

R.K. McDonald, repre- senting Vaselenak in Su- preme Court, maintained

that the case could only be treated as an acquittal as there was no conviction in existence and that he should be entitled to have his job back.

Judge James MacDonald of the B.C. Supreme Court reserved decision on the case.

logetic and receptive to my Opinions. This latest skir- mish, however, almost ended in disaster.

“Excuse me, would you mind keeping your voices down or else take your discussion somewhere else? It is very hard to concentrate with all the noise in here.”’

““What’s it to you? Why don’t you go somewhere else? We have just as much right to be here as you do.”’

It was only with a great amount of willpower that I held back from my ‘‘Prince George logger reaction’’ and refrained from punching his lights out. Then I was so pissed off I couldn’t study.

The biggest problem in- volved is the lack of suitable lounge space on this campus. The cafeteria is usually full or the noise level is so high that it is impossible to carry on a normal conversation anyway. The student lounge at the back of the cafeteria is also usually full, or else there are four people sprawled out on the couches catching a few hours of sleep.

Student society president Dave Johnston agrees with this reporter’s analysis of the situation.

‘‘The administration is a- ware of the problem, but there isn’t anything that they

the program under the ‘‘R’’ (replacement) option he has no choice, if he workds he loses,’’ Anderson stated.

The second option is the supplemental, whereby a student must either be as- sessed as needing more mo- ney than the maximum pro- vided by student loans and grants, or not have been able to save $800, which Victoria automatically expects every student to have done when they apply for a loan.

“This is a far better option and I try to steer every student possible toward type **S’’ (supplemental),’’ An- derson said.

He said that the jobs these students obtain are usually jobs created especially for WSP.

A student can suggest a job, related to their field of study, to the division director and if the director feels there is a need for that particular job the request will be passed to the finan- cial aid officer and the funds forwarded from Victoria to ae the job, Anderson said.

The original concept of the plan was to decrease student debts by adjusting the loan and grant packages before they were sent to students (the loan portion of the package is always $600 grea- ter than the grant). When this idea proved unworkable, Victoria decided to reclaim the money by billing stu- dents for 75 per cent of the salary they earned from WSP, or through with- holding the equivalant from their next sade loan.

Library like living at airport

can do about it. There is just no extra space available.”’ The only solution, he thought was in changing the attitudes of the students. ‘‘There are a large number of students here who are just killing time. They have no respect for education. ‘‘If the stu- dents aren’t going to police themselves the library staff should do something. I think the staff is negligent in curbing the problem of noise.”’

Dave Williams, library di- rector, doesn’t think the problem is as bad as it seems. ‘‘There are two types of noise in the library. Some noise is inevitable, like people saying hello or dis- cussing what they are study- ing. There is also the prob- lem of noise caused by the typewriters, photocopiers, staff, etc....”’

The existence of this ‘‘in- evitible’’ noise tends to en- courage other people talking. If there is a certain amount of noise in the background. A person isn’t going to feel as conspicuous as he might feel in a completely quiet room. Williams feels that it is up to the students to police them- selves, ‘‘If we thought that we could do it by telling people to be quiet we would but it doesn’t work.”’