S tu d e n ts ’ S o c ie ty M e e ts th e G e n e r a l P u b lic by M ichael S m art Q uestions fro m a sm all b u t irate group o f students p u n c tu ated the stale atm o sp h ere o f M cG ill S tu d e n ts ’ S o c ie ty ’s (MSS) second open m eeting this year, held last T h u rsd ay . T he questions dealt w ith issues ran g ing fro m M SS’s la b o u r relations and its m anagem ent o f cam pus pubs and cafeterias to the acc e s s a b ility o f E x e c u tiv e m em bers. T h o u g h th e m eeting was sparsely atte n d e d by C ouncil m em bers an d o rd in ary students alike, per c ap ita controversy
was high follow ing a question from M o ira A m brose regarding C ou n cil’s h andling o f resolu tions in su p p o rt o f its unions at the Ja n u a ry 19th m eeting. A m b ro se said th a t she “ was really o ffe n d e d ” w hen Council voted n o t to deb ate a m otion th a t w ould have com m itted the M SS no to in terfere if its parttim e sta ff try to unionise. As a student w ho signed a petition su p p o rtin g the reso lution, A m brose said, “ I feel disregarding by m y representatives. C ouncil ju st threw th e m o tio n aw ay. I was interested in at least seeing
it d e b a te d .” M SS P resident G race Perm aul defended C ouncil’s handl ing o f the m otions. She pointed o u t th a t there was som e debate an d stressed th a t, “ it’s n o t an issue th a t should be tak en light ly. I d o n ’t th ink it’s irrelevant at a ll.” T he m eeting was also atte n d ed by Steven F raser, P resident o f the P o st G rad u ate S tu d en ts’ Society. H is rem arks, less in quiries th a n com plaints w ith ap pended question m arks, were directed to P erm au l an d ViceP resid en t U niversity A ffairs,
R o n ald Leber. F raser expressed concern over the ap p aren t lassitude o f M SS’s a p p o in tm e n t p ro c e d u re (see sidebar, “ B order W ars H it M cG ill” ). H e also com plained th a t M SS’s official au d it was tw o m onths late, suggested th at M SS Executive had overstepped its au th o rity in negotiating with its m anagem ent firm , Les Ser vices A lim entaire C V C , an d a t tacked the Executive fo r not be ing m ore accessible to students. T he m eeting opened with sep arate rep o rts fro m each m em ber o f the E xecutive. In her
rep o rt, P erm au l called fo r m ore im put fro m students fo r the E th io p ian relief task-force and questioned the financial p ro blem s o f the pro p o sal to create a new athletics co nference. L eber rep o rted on the progress o f plans fo r a new gym nasium an d his ow n w ork to im prove lighting on cam pus. A fter fielding questions, P e r m aul closed the m eeting w ith a call fo r students to unite against ru m o u red tu itio n fee increases next year. “ All the factions should get to gether to p u t an en d to a re a l p o te n tia l p ro b le m ,” she p ronounced.
B o r d e r W a r s H it M c G ill by M ichael S m art U nfriendly w ords fly back an d fo rth these days betw een the M cG ill S tu d en ts’ Society a n d th e P o s t G ra d u a te S tu d en ts’ Society as fast as the U .S . envoy used to fly to the M iddle E ast. Steven Faser, president o f the P .G .S .S . rem ark s, “ T hey (the S .S .M .U .) spend so m uch tim e w orking for Ju d ith B lasser th a t all the o th er students are su ffer in g .” R o n ald L eber, S .S .M .U .’s ViceP resid en t fo r U niversity affairs responds, “ I d o n ’t have any problem s w ith th e P .G .S .S . M aybe Steven (Fraser) has p ro blem s w ith m e .” T he tw o societies are u p in arm s over a questio n o f ju risd ic tio n in a p p o in tin g stu d e n t rep resen tativ es to U n iversity com m ittees. N orm ally an a m biguous b u t decidedly tepid issue, this year it has been b ro u g h t to th e fore by F raser, w ho thinks th e P .G .S .S . should have th e rig h t to a p p o in t g rad u ate represntatives on their ow n. In fact, F raser is so anno y ed , h e’s decided to tak e his case befo re the U niversity’s Judicial B oard this week to settle the m atter once an d fo r all. T ra d itio n a lly , S tu d e n ts ’ Society is em pow ered to a p p o int studen ts to com m ittees o f Senate an d to Cyclical Review C om m ittees. Cyclical Review is the evaluation of each d e p a rt m ent an d school adm inistered by the U niversity every five years. T o date, p o sitions on fo u r teen o f the com m ittees rem ain v acant. M any m ore w ere u n fill ed th ro u g h o u t th e fall sem ester, as w ere a n u m b er o f Senate com m ittees. L eber attrib u tes th e vacancies sim ply to stu d en t a p ath y . F raser
d is a g re e s a n d a c c u se s th e S .S .M .U . o f sloth. “ W e sub m itte d th e n am es o f nine g rad u ate students (fo r th e com m ittees) in N ovem ber. T hey sent them back because we d id n ’t have th e o ffical applica tio n fo rm s,” he said. T he ap p o in tm en ts w ere final ly ratified Ja n . 19, a fte r talks betw een F raser an d S .S .M .U V P In tern al Y at K. L o , Leber said. L eber explained th a t the two m o n th delay was m ore th a n ju st knee-jerk b u reau cracy. “ T he m a jo rity o f the p ositions were acclaim ed an d I was concerned
th a t Steven m ight have m ade th e a p p o i n t m e n t s h im s e lf w ithout opening the no m in a tio n s ,” he said. T he S .S .M .U . w anted the nom inees to apply directly ra th e r th a n have them nam ed by the P .G .S .S . F raser asserts th a t in ques tioning the app o in tm en ts, L eber violated a verbal agreem ent m ad e w ith the P .G .S .S . last year. F raser claim s th a t in A ugust, the tw o agreed th a t the P .G .S .S . w ould m ake its a p pointm ents th ro u g h its ow n a d m in is tr a tio n , r a th e r th a n th ro u g h the S .S .M .U . as is ofco ntinued on page 2
M cG ill’s D eficit W orse Than Expected by G o p al Sreem vasan T he m essage delivered at last F rid a y ’s S ta ff A ssem bly on M cG ill’s financial o u tlo o k was fra n k a n d d istu rb in g . T he p r e s e n ta tio n s b y P r in c ip a l D av id J o h n s to n a n d ViceP rin cip al (A d m in istratio n and Finance) J o h n A rm o u r centered o n developm ents arising o u t o f the recent an n o u n cem ent o f Q uébec university g ran t figures by the provincial governm ent. A ccording to A rm o u r, the ac tual g ra n t figures are m uch w orse th a n anticip ated. As a result, th e 1984-85 deficit stands at $10.3 m illion ra th e r th a n the $7.2 m illion estim ated. F u rth e r m ore, last y ear’s deficit o f $5.1 m illion m ust now be ad ju sted to $6.6 m illion. A nd forecasts o f next y e a r’s deficit swell by $1.2 m illion to a to ta l o f $6.2 m illion. A ll in all, the new figures m ean th a t, fo r th e three y e a rs 1983-84 to 1985-86, M cG ill n ow has an $18.0 m illion deficit to finance. In th e p ast, M cG ill has covered its deficits by draw ing
on its fu n d o f U nrestricted E n dow m ents. T hese funds repre sent m oney d o n ated to M cGill w ithout any specification regar ding how it should be used. H ow ever, because o f this past use to finance deficits, there is o n ly $ 2 .4 m illio n in U n restricted E ndow m ents left. In sh o rt, M cG ill currently faces an u n fu n d ed deficit o f $15,6 m illion. A s V ice-Principal A r m o u r puts it, “ this year w e’re in real tro u b le .” T he reason fo r the sh o rtfall in gran ts centres aro u n d fo u r fac to rs. F irst, the m oney the U niversity receives in foreign stu d en t fees is deducted from the grants it receives from the province. T he difficulty arises fro m the fact th a t the province deducts this am o u n t fro m the g ra n t based on an estim ate o f the foreign student fees the U niversity will receive. A d ju stm en ts to the deduction are only m ade in the follow ing year. It tu rn s p u t th at M acG ill has suffered fro m excess deductions u n d er this system . This is a parcontinued on page 3
F ran k ie V enom gets lined, p h o to by E zra G reenberg