Dear Editor
As universities across Canada, and UPEI in particular, face severe financial restrains, stu- dents will be required to provide more money in the form of tuition fees to enable their favourite institution to continue offering an adequate range of programmes.
Students are already questioning the implications of the Axworthy report which will undoubtedly increase students’ debt-load unless, of course, they choose to stay out of debt by not going to university at all. This latter option may be the only one for many students. So, despite higher tuition fees, the revenue that universities can generate may well decline because ofa smaller student body. And lower revenues will entail less staff and fewer course offerings.
It was, therefore, interesting to hear our recent presidential candidates making noised in favour of increasing the presidential budget by the hiring of an assistant within the office, referred to in many larger institutions asa vice- president. While this position is common- place in many institutions where it is some- times required to share the load of presidential work occasioned by a large’student body, and sometimes to make a smaller institution feel bigger, it has never been required at UPEI through three presidential regimes during which none of the incumbents has collapsed or re- signed from presidential exhaustion. It should be noted that, administratively, this university already enjoys a plethora of deans to assist the president.
That the presidential candidates should talk in terms of vice-presidents either betrays alack of knowledge of the history of this place or an ignorance of our financial plight, which is already preventing us from maintaining active teaching positions. This is no time to ask a smalier student population to bear an even bigger burden than necessary.
The administration of UPEI has suc- cessfully endeavoured to cut administrative costs, an example of which has been the reduc- tion of office hours in the registrar’s office. It would not make much sense to spend those hard-won savings ona new administrator whose doubtful usefulness to the students must be weighed against the loss of areasonable choice of course options available to students in ful- filling their degree requirements.
Thank you, A.R. Galloway
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January 24, 1995
You don’t have a
calender yet!?!!?
(OI me KOCK oe mene page o’ calenders last issue, here are
a few more. Calenders are going for 50% off right now. What are you waiting for? Go buy a calender!
The 1995 Far Side Wall Calender Gary Larson
This calender is everything a wall calender is supposed to be. It’s big, it’s colorful, and best of all, it features a dozen huge Far Side comics. These run the gamut from mildy funny to utterly hilarious.
There is ample space to jot notes on individual days, and extra areas for memos at the top and bottom of the page. This calender will command the place of pride on my closet door. In the words of Statler and Waldorf from The Muppet Show ’’| loved it!”’
-- Marko Peric
@eeoeeeeeeeeeeoeeeeeeeee ee
-The Dave Barry Calendar
This is my first journey into the realm sof daily calendars. Ihave long been a fan of the $Dave Barry travel guides and other works, and Scund this calendar to live up to all my expec- Stations. Its quips are much like Jack Handey's eDeep Thought series in its twist of daily expe- $riences. While nothing in this collection will eenlighten your life, or teach you a new word severy day, it is guaranteed to make you smile eon an otherwise dreary Monday morning. Nis Aldera Chisholm
cece ec ccc cece geccccccces
N x BS.
| (Arts & Entertainment
r-rel ess
Siskel and Ebert’s 1995
; Desk Calendar
You know ‘em, you love ‘em. They’re a neat way to keep track of the days and a messy way to collect trivia. They’re those funky Andrews and McMeels read-them-once then tear-them-off desk calendars.
You know the format: 365 pieces of paper printed with a useless fact or piece of artwork to make each day a little more enlight- ened. I’ve never quite known what to make of the darn things. I mean, do you keep 365 pieces of loose paper or just throw them in the trash when the day is over? And are there really 365 fun quips from Siskel and Ebert?
The last question has an answer: No. The Siskel and Ebert desk calendar grants you
your trivia wishes in the form ofstar birthdays | and deathdays, as well as marking such events | as the opening of the first disco (Argh!). It’s | the S&E part that bugs me: your daily quote from the criticdom’s answer to the Spratts is usually a pointless observation about how wise
a director was to pick this actor for that movie, or a personal favorite scene or gag from the dead comedian of the day. It’s all rather dry and boring and just generally uninteresting. Even at 50% off, it just ain’t worth the trouble of tearing off that little slip of paper.
-- Trent Drake
The Jeopardy Daily
Calender
| Some people would think that I am
|| crazy, but being a Jeopardy fan, I jumped fo
this calender when it appeared.
| This is a daily ‘tear off’ calender. One category runs for a week, and on the weekends
| there is a double Jeopardy and final Jeopard answer. The answers are on the front and
questions are on the back.
| Ilove it. I try a different ‘answer’ ac!
| day. Surprisingly enough, I am not the onl
| one who likes it. Several of my friends have
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|
|
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already flipped through it trying to ‘question answers’. The answers are little bits of fu! trivia. This is a great idea for Jeopardy fan§ like me, and for trivia buffs. The only thing missing is Alex Trebek, but with a little imagi nation, he is there.
T’ll take "Food and Drink' for $200 Alex.’’ -- Yvonne MacKean
we
41l of the above calenders are published by the good folks a! Andrews and McMeel. Most are available at local book- stores.