The Other Press has been accused of stealing a couch from the. Student Society lounge. What had started as

some affectionally know as the Other Mess may have escalated to an all out war between members of the OP

piece of furniture..

The incident ~- began last Thursday afternoon when two

saw fit to relieve the student lounge of a semi-delapidated couch, wedged between the wall and several other pieces of furniture, and put it where it would be of far greater use,

within the office of the Other Press.

A visibly shaken Kevin Hall- gate (father figure of the Douglas College Student Soc- iety) came over to the OP

joffice and said, ‘‘What do

you think you guys are do- ing? That couch is Student Society property. If you don’t

won't pay you the $245.45 we owe you in ad payments. Now do you really think that sofa is worth $2452’’

After half an hour of at- tempting to remove the couch it was decided that the only honorable thing to do would be to draft and pass a motion to the effect that the OP would keep the couch and send the motion to Hallgate. It goes as follows...

Other Motion

Whereas: The members of the Other Publications Society

are all students of Douglas

College, and

Whereas; all of the members of TOPS have paid student fees, and

Whereas; there is a desperate need for a couch within the confines of the other Press Office, and

Whereas; the confines of the Other Press are within the confines of the student cafe- teria, and.

Whereas; within the students lounge lie a number of couches in various stages of use and abuse; said lounge lounge is also located ‘within the confines of the student cafeteria, and

Whereas; students of Douglas College are free to use any

ae within the confines

a minor facelifting of what .

members of the Other Press.

bring it back to where you - found it, in one hour, we

and the DCSS...all over a bee

a couch.

[From left to right] Lina Meagher,. Perry. Obedinski, Ian Hunter, Roo Anthony, Clair Christian, Helene Wistoski and Paul Sum prove that the Other Press does indeed need

The Other Press

and several

Thwates].

Those intending to disprove the motion were Cal Reyburn, Warren Laine, Christopher Page, Tom Goode, Peter Julian

December 9th 1981 to 1982

people who shall remain

nameless because we forgot. [Photo by Rick

An Other sick

of the Other Press (including couches), and

Whereas; the staff of the Other Press, in a collective decision, moved a then un- occupied couch from the south west corner of the confines of the cafeteria, therefore,

Be it Resolved That the Other Press should be allowed to have said couch within the confines of the Other Press with no punitive action (such as witholding of ad payments) being taken by the Student Society.

The next morning a letter arrived from the Student Soc- iety in response to the OP motion.

The Other Press Publications Society Douglas College New Westminster Box 2503

The Other Press, Re: Furn- iture re-allocation

| have brought to the atten- tion of Multi‘Campus Council the theft of one couch from the New Westminster Student Lounge and after much dis- cussion about your aptly worded request of said stolen couch, Multi Campus Council has directed me to present for your viewing a motion passed in regard to above topic.

Whereas: it is the belief of M.C.C. that all monies spent on behalf of the students of Douglas College should be of benefit to all students.

Whereas: It is not the duty of the Douglas College Student Society membership to funish office space for the auto- nomous self collecting Other Press Publications Society,

Whereas: the staff of The Other Press Publications Soc- iety have, without consulta- tion with the Executive of Multi Campus Council, re- moved by under handed means, the property of Doug- las college students,

Whereas; we have placed a value of two hundred and forty-five dollars and ninety- five cents ($245.95) plus sales tax of $22.14 on the aboved mentioned couch, ;

And Whereas: the above mentioned couch in now re- siding in the -autonomous Other Press Publications Soc- iety Business Office: we have unanimously agreed to make available to you at ten per cent discount, ownership of the aforementioned couch. In the event that you do not desire to purchase, a suitable leasing plan will be made available. If neither of these alternatives meets with your satisfaction, we would expect to see the couch replaced in

the Douglas College McBride site student lounge.

Kevin Hallgate President, D.C.S.S.

A visibly shaken Other Press staff then collectively decided to make the Other Corner question: ‘‘Do you think the Other Press should be al- lowed to keep the couch without being charged foi it?’’ they also decided to try and rally student support for the OP. A Save the Sofa fund was thought of and dismiss- ed. Blocking the doors to the Student Society with all the furniture in the student lounge and proclaiming that “we are doing now to the Student Society what the Stu- dent Society would someday like to do ‘to the Other Press,’’ but this was thought to be too radical by some of the more conservative mem- bers of the staff.

It was finally decided to draft and pass another motion to the Student Society, as follows...

We’re pleased that some discussion resulted from our last communique, although we do have some mixed feelings about . 2 finer points of your offer, which seems to be a little exorbitant (read: extortionate).

Whereas: It is the belief of

The Other

Society that the figure two- hundren and forty-five dollars ninety-five cents ($245.95),

~ plus sales tax of $22.14, for a

grand total of $268.09, as a realistic value of said chester- field amounts to something very like blackmail. = _ Whereas; We promised not to restrict access to the chester- field; it was hidden before now anyway when it was in the cafeteria.

Whereas; The cafeteria is certainly not lacking in decor: there as five (5) other chest- terfields (of similar dimen- sions as the one presently in our office), and six (6) large armchairs. an Whereas; Other students see fit to -move the . existing furniture from pillar to post in the cafeteria (albeit within the confines of the ‘‘alcove’’), without any threats from other students or the Student

Society... Whereas; We did not con- sider our action ‘’under-

handed’’, but merely a sign of initiative; after all, we had spent the day cleaning our office, and we thought, owing. to the surplus of.furniture in the cafeteria, that a chester- field in our. office might make it:a nice addition with-_ out detracting from the orig- inal scheme of the alcove. And Whereas: The Other Publications Society is now ptaced in ‘a tenuous financial situation because of your ultimatum and our present shortage of capital. We would however, be willing to cont- inue negotiations (read: bar- ter), and , hopefully, reach a decision that is feasible for both parties.

What we have here is a question of principles, which cannot easily be rectified by monetary means. It is unfor- tunate that there were out- standing debts, which can be used as ransom.

Please reconsider your re- sponse to our action, which was excecuted with the best of intentions. We regret any inconvenience this incident may have caused, but, be- lieve it or not, we have ethics

as well. Sorry, Dad.

The other Press received no official word back from the Student Society but the mat- ter is expected to be resolved at the next multi Campus

Publications Council Meeting.

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