by Matthew Martin

More than 100 members of the Douglas College Faculty Associa- tion along with nine students ar- rived at the Victoria Legislature on Wednesday to protest the lack of funding for post-secondary institu- tions.

The strike at Douglas College has been the longest running strike in a post-secondary institution in the history of BC. According to Des Wilson, chairperson of the Job Ac- tion Committee for the faculty, "the faculty has ‘Tefused to carry the bur- den" any longer for post-secondary education.

Among the speakers at the rally was Peter Montgomery, the President of the Camouson College Faculty Association. Montgomery

explained "your issues are our is- sues.”

Also speaking was Anita Hagen, the MLA for New Westminster. Hagen told the group that “education in this province is underfunded and undervalued by the current government of BC and this is not acceptable to the people of BC."

After the speakers, a group of four faculty and three students entered the Legislative Building to talk to Bruce Strachan, the minister responsible for Advanced Educa- tion. Strachan’s secretary met the group and told them that the mini- ster would meet with three students at 3:00pm...and it is inappropriate for the minister to meet with facul- ty."

Big Bill May Lose By- Election

i economic record, Brice said. ignitys she said.

Democratic Party candidate.

pf Premier Bill Vander Zalm.

VICTORIA (CUP) -- University of Victoria [ae will play 4 sy € part in next month’s B.C. by-election, candidates say. The traditionally strong Social Credit Oak Bay-Gordon Head ri ncludes the university residences and the suronding neighborhood. _ Local mayor Susan Brice is the Social Credit candidate. Brice said students have the same interests as other electors, espe rially a balanced economy. Students should vote for a party which has 3

"Individuals can manage their lives if they have a job and human -"Thave a lifelong: committment to education,” said Brice, an nelemen lary schoo! teacher and chair of the Victoria School Board. .

‘Municipal planner and school trustee Elizabeth Cull is the ew

= Cll said she is concered that students register to vote

_ Garth Lenz, a pianist and photographer, wag nowsinetod ty the 3rex arty. Lenz said Greens are “obviously pro-education. We want basi ange through non-sexist education.

"We need an attitude shift. I don’ viele nae tae (Social sedis) have the ight wtinide They seem to have almost a lack of res ect

r post-secondary education,” she said. " Should the Socreds lose the lose the by-election to the NDP, it wi be the sixth consecutive loss for the party under the embattled leadershi

Blacks Not Mentioned

HALIFAX (CUP) -- Three months after a task force on racism said universities should be recruit Blacks and Native people Dal- housie is distributing a recruitment booklet that does not mention ither of these groups.

The president of the Black Canadian Students Association Archy Beals said the booklet is an example of the university’s lack of concern for local Blacks and Na- tives.

The twenty page booklet, ’A Guide For Prospective Under- graduate Students’, has sixty-six colour photos in it. There are six photos of visible minorities.

An official with an aboriginal students group said that the booklet is a little biased.

"The targetted blacks and na- tives aren’t represented," Beals said. "There are no photos of Blacks, no mention of them in the text, and it is not a good repre- sentation of us at Dalhousie."

Although the booklet was finished before the task force presented its report, Beals said, "there have been Blacks on this campus for 20 years, and this is another example of how we have been excluded."

Vice-president of Dalhousie Eric McKee said there were no stu- dents that could be identified as Nova Scotian Blacks or Natives in the booklet, but there are some visible minorities in the booklet.

Beals said the booklet was indicative of the University’s ig- norance of the Black presence at Dalhousie. "I take a course in the history of the Atlantic provinces, and no Blacks are mentioned in the course, except the Black Loyalists."

"Part of the solution is to have the Black influence included in cur- rent courses, and not just about slavery because there’s more posi- tive things to be looked at than that," Beals aid.

Other Press

The faculty was then told that the Deputy Minister would meet with them at 2:30. "When 2:30 came around the Deputy Minister would not meet with us" said Wil- son for the faculty.

"It’s deplorable abrogation of responsibility. He is being a non- minister. Surely you listen to everyone who comes along," said JimDavies, Philosophy/ Humanities.

"The minister should listen to voters. I weigh over 200lbs and I’m pissed off!" insisted Robin Ryan, P.E. Instructor.

Connie Green, ad-hoc student representative said "The whole point was that faculty meet with the minister. He’s (the minister) trying

to skirt the issues and I guess he’s trying to divide the students from the faculty. Anything that can be said to students can be said to facul- ty and he is avoiding his respon- sibility to the public.

Sabine Mabardi, Modern Lan- guages, said she was "mostly angry. I wish I could read their minds so I could know if it’s total incompetence or if they’re just playing games."

Aias Perez, the President of the DCSS; Ross Bogle, student; and Pam Frache, Chairperson of the Pacific Region branch of the Canadian Federation of Students, were the three chosen to attend the meeting. After the meeting was finished, Perez felt that he had been

December 4, 1989

| Douglas College Faculty Given Brush Off

given the "Brush off. I’m less than satisfied. We asked specific ques- tions but we were not given specific answers. Basically everything is still the same as before the meet- ing."

According to Bogle, "The questions were answered reasonab- ly, and I’m satisfied with what went on." However, Bogle insists that Pam Frache dominated the meet- ing. All she talked about was the global problem of college under- funding. She didn’t deal enough with Douglas College. Aias didn’t get enough time to talk about the fate of students."

When these concerns were presented to Frache, she insisted "Aias did a very good job."

$400 A Year For "Free" College

MONTREAL (PEQ/CUP) -- Students could pay as much as $400 to go to college in Hull Quebec next year -- even though the system is supposed to be tuition free.

Celine Fortin, a student mem- ber on the board of directors at Col- lege d’Outaouais said new fees were in the works.

"There’s a lot of opposition to these fees," she said.

Teachers also oppose the fees. "The college sees it as the solution to its deficit," said a faculty as- sociation spokesperson.

Quebec’s Colleges (CEGEP) act makes any fees directly ’tuition- related’ fees illegal except for out- of-province students.

But education minister Claude Ryan has legalized mandatory regstration, course materials, ath- letics and "special" fees. CEGEP students paid an average of $35 per

year in special fees.

Quebec ministry figures put the cost of a year at CEGEP at $5126. Student fees account for anywhere from one to eight per cent of the total cost.

Students at Montreal’s Daw- son college forced the administra- tion to drop the idea of a course materials fee.

Former Dawson student coun- cil president Chris Meehan said his executive fought the college when it tried to charge “lab fees’ for chemistry and photography cour- ses in 1986.

"(The college) had their lawyer read the college act and they backed down right away," he said.

Quebec’s student federation officials say the province is quite lax in enforcing the tuition-free law because the fees allow the colleges to top up their budgets without dip- ping into provincial coffers.

Quebec colleges have suf- fered $107 million in cutbacks since 1978, according to a Novem- ber 1988 government advisory committee report.

Also, in 1982, the provincial government cut the number of teaching and staff positions at Quebec colleges by 15 per cent and cut teachers’ salaries by 20 per cent.

"Since then there’s been no attempt to make up for those cuts,” Surkis said. "Meanwhile costs have been climbing steadily upward." _

Bill Surkis, academic dean at John Abbott College in Montreal’s West Island said the fees normally represent a tiny part of the real cost of CEGEP education.

Student leaders at College Drummondville took the college to Quebec Superior Court in 1988 after the administration started charging students for course notes.

Video Buff Not Popular With Security

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OTTAWA (CUP) -- A first- year Carleton resident and home video buff has made a formal com- plaint about security guards who don’t like having their picture taken.

Naeem Barmania sent a letter to housing authorities claiming that two residence security guards shoved him, threatened him and wrongfully fined him $50 after he videotaped them searching his room November 1.

Barmania said he was making a video of residence life. While filming a playfight in the hallway, two security guards broke up the crowd.

He said the guards then entered his room and searched it without his permission. He said they told him they were looking for a hockey stick that was used in the playfight.

Barmania caught the incident on video. The footage shows one guard pushing the camera away after Barmania refused to turn it off.

"They told me I was violating their rights by filming them, but I kept the camera on because they were searching my room without my consent and they were violating my rights,” he said.

Neither of the security guards, who Barmania said were in his room, were available for comment

Barmania said a few days after

his room was searched, he was talk- ing to a friend in his room when the security guards returned and fined him $50 for excessive noise.

Before the Nov. | incident, Barmania had had two warnings about noise. But Barmania said security was harassing him and the fine had nothing to do with exces- sive noise.

"My roommate was asleep when I was fined and no one com- plained of any noise from my room the next day, and I live across the hall from the res fellow," he said.

"I didn’t realize that when I signed the res agreement I was signing away my personal freedoms," Barmania said, "their (security’s) abuse of power has gone too far."