WILL LIFTINGTHE FREEZEBENEFITYou?

whut kinJ they are but they were dark blue, red, and greenish. The Dodge let the first in but the second i;tarted going after the Dodge began moving. They ulmo~t collided wht:n tht: Dodge stopped. Then the red i.:ar went uheud of him. The green car saw un opportunity and pulled out again making the Dodge stop. Behind the Dodge wus four very understanding cars who I hemsel ves were cut off by one or anotht:r in theit· dnys. When the dodge finally made it to the stop sign seven minutes later. he had to wait for another six cars tu go by before he was kt in by u burgundy minivan. ihc Dodgl;l waved thanks and got in the exit lane to turn left onto King Ruud. I watr.:hcd as the cars slowly crept l'orwurd one by one. Prom the time the Dodge let the first person in to when he got on to the road to go home, eighteen min• utes had passed. And be was only parked ju~t un tup of the hill in the upper level parking lot.

My second trugecly that was avoided by extreme patience was in the Church purking lot 011King RcJad. A car tried for nine minutes to turn left onto King Road. When the car finally i;ot a chance to turn two students darted nut in l'ront of the car and nearly got hit. This car, a light blue Honda Civit (it said so on the bumper) hud parked curs to the right and left or her. There was no visibility and she had to slam on her breaks because rhe students came nut rrom two parked curs on her immediate left and she couldn't see them from what 1 saw. Them was a huge truck behind u tiny hatchbai.:k on her left anc;f the students came out from behind the truck.

the parking lot.

Not here at tilt: schuul, but there was two tnxi drivers that I am remindt:d of thinking of these two men. These taxi drivers were in Toronto, Ontario. One was turning left on to Young Street and the other was in the on coming traffic turning right on to Young Street. The two cars didn't stop and yield to the driving rules and let the one turning right go first, and smashed into each other. Their bumpers got caught and they had to block the entire intersection due to ~heer srupidity. This is a regular occurrence in Ontario. Drivers don't drive defensively, but offensively.

The third was a case occurred last week and it ranges on the opposite side of che scale. This woman and her group of four friends let six cars go in front of her, at one time. She let three n1ore one the way out of tht: parking lot. She :.ilso let four off the highway exit onto McCnllum. Tttook her until a yellow light before she would 1urn left onto Marshall Road. She was a very nice driver to the cars in front of her but the cars behind her were getting a litlle bit angry with her nnd l heard three honks, from three separate cars.

To flx these problems simple measures should be taken. Putting stop, and or yield signs in the parking lots, instead of just around them might help. People with uuthority should be passing our tickets to enforce these rules. Punishment should be given to thuse whu ''hog the road" und disreg.ird others who need to get somewhere too.

by Beth Kt:llcher

The SUS sponsored a forum on the future of tuition fees Munday, October 29.

I must ndmit, that when T suw the poster advertising this meeting [ wns rather impressed • or at least mildly interested • that the t:lusive SUS was involving themselvt:s in this cause which so obviously affects the quality and availability of education for UCFV students. Not only should UCFV students be able to expect this kind of interest and involvement from its council representatives, but we 100, as fellow members of SUS and as students should be expressing our interest and concern in such issues. I walked into the meeting excited at the prospect or receiving answers and being/heuring the student voice of UCFV react to the prospect of Ii fting the current tuition freeze.

In 1996the NDP government implemented a tuition freeze that has been in effect for tbe last 6 years. Last May, the Liberal Party won the provincial election and the tuition freeze has been under review since.

This past fo.11,in an effort to win the popular stuJent vote, tuition fur the 2001/2002 school year was cut by 5%, however the far reaching implications l>I' the millions in lost revenue has sent many institutions of higher learning reeling. The prospect of cutbai.:ks in government funding coupled with decreased or fro1.en tuition is making it impossible lo provide programs with the necessary funding to grow or even maintain their current standards.

Thus SUS organized this forum in an el'fori to educate student~ regaroi ng the issues at hand and solicit feedback from the student body ill order tu represent UCFV students to the Minister of Advanced Education. Knowing these things, I entered the boardroom, expecting a large turnout, and was 1,ac;f ly disappointed and frustrated that there were only 21 people there. Of those in attendance, 2 were Cascade representaLives, 2 were Toe representatives, 4 were SUS council members. at least 2 were faculty, as well as honored speakers, John Less MLA, and our own president, Dr. Skip Ba~sford. (Jn summary, that only 9 students showed up out of their own free will and interest!)

According to Les, maintaining the tuition freeze will increase pressure on capital expansion. In essence,UCFV has an annual operating budget of approxirnatcly 45 million, 29 million uf which is government (taxpayer) funded, 5-10 million of which comes from student's tuition, and 6-11 of which must be raised independently. While education is of absolute basic importance" claims Les, "the key to our growth in the future" may have l\> suffer some severe funding cutbacks, if tuition doesn't start increasing incrementally.

Bassford suggested that the continued tuition free2:e might hinder the quality of educotion to the point where a degree isn't worth enough to hoister the economy. At the very least, maintaining the tuition freeze at present detracts from UCFV's ability to offer more sections, maintain it'll low class sizcs, and continue to offer the services .ind programs it doe.~.much less exp.ind.

Questions raised include what the affects of increased tuition will have on the availability of student loans and grants, and what the government's advant.ige would be in increasing tuition, (i.e. "Isn't it in the governmt:nt's best interest to educate people?").

To both of these questions, the response was somewhat vague, although Mr. Les and Dr. Bassford reassured the inquiring students thHt the government's and the institution's goal for students remains "a good education for a fair price." One of the slUdents present suggested that his education W<lS "a bargain at any price" and he'd be "willing to pay I 0 times more" than the current UCPV tuition. Other concerns raised included exactly how much the proposed increase would be, and how the government proposes to maintain availability of higher education to lower income residents by increasing tuition. No numbers were proposed at this forum, howcvcr the suggestion that the percentage increase of tuition be matched by that same percentage increase in government funding was raised. II was also suggested that the increase be marginally incremental in proportion 10 inflation. As to the cunt:nued accessibility of education for lower income residents. this issue was also skirted nicely by the promise that "education is an investment in the future."

In foct uncertainty seemed to be the resounding theme of this meeting. Few. in any of students questions were directly answered, thus, in considermion that only a hand flll I of students attended and they were not satisfied with the information they received, we may conclude thut the first objective of this meeting - to educate the students of UCFV • foiled. The second objective - to receiving slltdent input - WHS slightly more successful. though not by much_ Of those present, .ipproximately half of the students voiced opinions: most of, which favored the lifting the tuition. freeze.

Whal are the implications of this meeting?

Basetl on one forum, advertised by a few dozen posters, and the opinions of not-even• .i-dozen students, only one of whom a1;lively opposed the lifting of the tuition frccze, an idea of "the student perspective" was formed. This perspective, as well as opiniom. which surfaced in personal conversations rnembers of SUS have had with their fellow students, becomes the current UCFY student perspective regarding the lifting of the tuition freeze. In other words, based on the misreprcsentativc inference that 0.1% of he student body represent the whole student body, 90% ofUCFV students are in favor of lifting the tuition freeze! Members of the SUS council are attending a meeting with the Minster of Advanced Euucalion on Thursday, November I at which this information will be presented as reprcscntati ve of the students of UCFV !

Now, if you're like me, this will fru~trate you - particularly becauseyou weren't even aware that this was an issue. The reason you weren't made aware of this meeting

BRITISH COLUMBIA LEGISLATIVE INTERNSHIP PROGRAM 2003 Program

Purpose

To provide British Columbia university graduates an opportunity to supplement their academic training with exposure to public policy-making and the legislative process within the province's parliamentary system, WHO IS ELIGIBLE

Individuals who have received a Bachelor's Degree from a B.C. university or a B.C. university-college within two years of January 2003.

LOCATION TERM

ParliamentBuildings,Victoria, British Columbia

APPLICATION DEADLINE

January6, 2003 • June 30, 2003

STIPEND

January 31, 2002 • 4 p.m. $16,21 0 for 6 months

HOW TO APPLY

Program Applications are available from Political Science Departments at all universities in British Columbia. You can also request an application by contacting the Public Education & outreach Office in Room 144, Parliament Buildings, Victoria B.C., V8V 1X4. Telephone: (250) 387-8669 Email: BCLJ.P@leg.bc.ca. Or print an application from the website: www.legis.gov.bc.ca.

ACADEMIC ADVISORS

Dr. Paul Tennant, University of British Columbia

Dr. Patrick Smith, Simon Fraser University

Dr. Norman Ruff, University of Victoria

Dr. Tracy Summerville, University of Northern British Columbia n.:-;~ prior to it's occun-ence by the C.iscnde is because we only learned of it 5 minutes before it began. The rea~onSUS didn't alert you of' this issue is because they were given the information 13 uays before their meeting was to occur, and evidently, that is only enough time to post a few dozen posters and hold a forun1. However. SUS is still looking for your on-going feedback on this issue. which is still for from reaching conclusions of any kinu. If want your voice to be he;ird, fill oul lhe survey in this issue and drop it by the Cascade of SUS oflicc, or better yet. stop in for a chat wirh Dave Bllrnie. himself!

Sustuitionsurvey

by Dave Burnie

This survey is to collec:1infom1ation from UCFV srndents on their thoughts/feelings regarding Tuition Rales

Thank you for taking the timt! to fill this out, when you have completed it please tear out this page and hnnd it into one of the Stuucnt Union Society offices.

I = Strongly Disagree

5 "" Strongly Agrne

I. What program are you et1rolled in?

2. What year are you in'> 1st 2nd 3rd 4th

3. Are you Full or Part Time (circle one)

4. Approx. how much will you spend on tuition fees this year (Fall 200 I and Winter 2002)

$

5. Would you be willing to pay 5% more in tuition to maintain the current level of avnilability anu quality?

2 3 4 5

6. Woulu you supporl u greati.:rincrease t(.)better 1hequality and availability of classes?

2 3 4 5

7. Would you support cuts in progra111areas to allow thc university to maintain operulion in nil other areas in orui.:r for tuition to remain thc same'?

Ph.:.iscprovidt: uny additional comnient:. you Jllay have here: Pleasecome by rhe US offices with any comments nnd questions.