The McGill Tribune Vol. 2 No. 19, Tuesday, F ebruary 8, 1983.
Student Initiated Referendum Nears Goal by B utch T rischm an T he S tu d en t Initiated R eferendum (S IR ) to m ake paym ent for th e D aily optional has draw n closer to its goal of 500 required signatures. A lthough the pace o f nam e collecting has slowed som ew hat, co-organizer D ave F o rd is rem aining quite confident. “A t the m om ent, we have ab o u t 325 nam es with som e sheets still u n co u n t ed,” said F o rd . “ H opefully we’ll have
500 by next T uesday and a referendum by M arch.” A fter collecting 500 nam es, th e S IR m ust face the C hief R eturning Officer o f th e Daily. T his officer will check all o f th e signatures and m ake a decision as to th e validity o f the protest. If valid, the D aily is perm itted a form al protest. In this case, the m atter w ould be brought to a judicial com m ittee consisting o f 4 law stu d ents and 3 D aily staffers. If the
Birth Control Co-op Offers an Alternative by Brian F orsythe T odd Ja n u a ry heralded the arrival o f a new service to students on th e M cGill cam pus. A Birth C on tro l C o-operative op erated out o f th e W om en’s U nion office in R oom 423 o f the U nion building, opened its doors on th e 24th o f Jan u ary . T he C o-op is designed to provide in expensive b irth co n tro l in a relaxed, in form al, yet inform ative atm osphere. The Co-op is staffed by trained m em bers o f the W om en’s U nion. As well, the M cGill H ealth Service is serving as a “Get well soon Richard and come back to the War!
_ W .V
A l • • Sincerely The Trib staff’
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resource-base for the C o-op. A m em ber o f P lanned P aren th o o d is available for resource inform ation and counselling. T he C o-op, open from 12 to 3 M on day to F riday offers a range o f O rth o an d Ram sey products at prices th at are a mere 5 to 10% above whole-sale prices. T he p ro fit from the sale o f con tracep tives is to be rechannelled into publicity and the purchase o f new supplies. W ith each purchase, a custom er receives a copy o f the Birth C o n tro l H an d b o o k published by the M ontreal H ealth Press. As well as providing contraceptives such as d iaphragm s, cream s, jellies and prophylactics, the C o-op provides coun selling for both men and wom en. T he counselling service includes a referral service to local health centres offering d iaphragm fittings and pregnancy tests. O ffering cheap birth co ntrol in a safe, reliable, yet inform al setting, the Birth C o n tro l C o-operative is sure to be a wel com e ad d ition to the McGill cam pus.
O n H er M ajesty’s N ot-so-Secret Service - The Y eom an o f the G uard (see page 5)
S IR is deemed constitutional by the ju dicial com m ittee, it will becom e a refer endum . A lbert N erenberg, News E d itor o f the D aily viewed the referendum m ovem ent this way: “ I th in k these people are going a b o u t it the w rong way. I don’t think th a t they realize the im plications in volved. Papers aren’t changed by des troying w hat produces them .” T he referendum to m ake paym ent for the D aily o p tional w ould require a sim ple m ajority o f all votes cast providing at least 15% o f the student body votes. F o rd said, “ I th ink we should win if we get 15% o u t to vote. If it does m ake it to referendum , we will get 20 inches of D aily colum n. We w ould use this to en courage people to com e out and vote.” N erenberg suggest the possible fates for the D aily if the referendum did pass. “ I see tw o possible scenarios. O ne would be th at the D aily w ould becom e so inde pendent th at very little m oney would com e from the school. In this case, we w ould become totally detached from M cGill and our revenue would be m ost ly from outside advertising. T he second possibility is th at the paper could only be put out m aybe once a week.” F o rd feels th a t effects are already
being felt by the Daily. “ I think the Daily is getting the hint,” he said. “They’ve been less radical since the peti tion cam e out. If th at were to continue, I w ould see n o reason not to pay dues. They seem to have started w riting news pertaining to cam pus life and th at’s w hat a student new spaper is there for.” Both th e Daily and the students who organized the petition agreed th at any kind of abolition o f the D aily was not the best answer. N erenberg suggested th a t m ore student input w ould be m ore constructive th an posing a referendum . “ I’d like to see m ore people jo in the staff. I’d also like to see a shift from people w orrying about the D aily to people w or rying ab o u t the university. I think th at society is allow ing universities to be com e less relevant, in effect they are being faded out.” It rem ains to be seen w hat kind of lasting effect the SIR will have on the future o f student newspapers at McGill. A nti-D aily backers do not feel satisfied w ith the present publication. The Daily suggests student input as a m eans to ad ap tatio n . T he. way it looks now, it m ight very well be the ’students of M cGill w ho will be deciding the finan cial fate o f the Daily.
David Sinyard:
The Man Behind the Money by B rian F orsythe Todd T his is the third in a series o f interviews with th e executive com m ittee o f the S tudents’ Society. Today we speak with D a v id S in y a r d , V ic e - P r e s id e n t (F in a n c e ), one o f th e tw o executive m em bers elected from the S tu d en ts’ C ouncil. T ribune: C o u ld y o u give us a th u m b nail sketch o f y o u r ow n background p rio r to a n d while at McGill? S inyard: I went to high school in T o ro n to . F ro m there I went to the Univer sity of W estern O n tario for a year. I w ent to w ork at a co nstruction jo b the year before I cam e to McGill. 1 cam e here in J a n u a ry o f 1977 and did a PoliSci degree. D uring the years I was on a num ber o f Senate com m ittees. I was also treasu rer o f the A .S.U .S. in the last year o f my A rts degree. I am currently in my fourth year of a com bined M BA / Law degree. I was on council last year as well as Senate. I’ve done a num ber o f o th er
things; I’ve played rugby and was in volved with the Law Jo u rn al. ' Tribune: W ith the job o fV . P. (Finance) so fa r could y o u p o in t out som e achievem ents, m aybe so m e disappoint ments? Sinyard: I think th a t probably one of the best things we’ve m anaged to do is to m ake everyone assess the long-term im plications of any financial decision. Be th at to put m oney into G ertrude’s or specific functional groups and activities o f the S tudents’ Society. T he S tu d en ts’ Society is pretty well strapped for funds right now. Any type o f investm ent or use o f money is very im p o rtan t because in taking it away from one group and giving it to another, you have to m ake sure th at it’s efficient ly used. If th ere were disappointm ents, it’s be cause I feel in som e ways people get bogged dow n in w hat is the political role for the S tudents’ Society. Is it going out
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