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CHARLOTTETOWN, P. :1.

The Council Resolution

As most students know by now, the Board of Governors last October passed resolutions calling for a $100 dollar increase in both reidence and tui- tion fees. A mass meeting planned for tonight (Wednesday) in the Malpeque Gym. Questions are being asked as to why this is deemed necessary in the light of the fact that in the next fifteen years 69 million dollars is slated for expenditures on the University, 30 million on Holland College and 18 million

dollars for .a program of student aid. Many comparisons are being made with other institutions; many promises have been made. We are presenting the information wecould find in an effort to provide a background to the meet- ing, at which it is hoped that President Baker, the Deans of Arts and Science, representatives from the Board of Governors and Education Minister Ben-

nett, will attend.

It is up to you thestudent to question the priorities the government has set and get concrete answers to why the Administration intends to take $327,000 more from the student body than it did this year.

WHEREAS -— The action taken concerning the raise in tuition and residence fees has taken place without student consultation.

Last October the Board of Governors of UPEI met and unanimously passed a resolution that will increase the tuition at this University from $450 to $550 and the Residence fee from the present 675 to $775. For some reason it was decided by the Board not to make this public. It was approx- imately a week ago that students began to find out. No information was given to the Students Council by the Board or by the President of the University. When questioned about the action they were going to take with regards to the fee hike, Council mem- bers seemed a bit surprised. John Keaveny, Hesi- dent of the Union had not heard anything about the fee increase. Some students heard a CBCT pro- gram on which President Baker announced the in- creases, or from a story in last Thursday’s Journal— Pioneer.

This type of treatment must not be tolerated by the students. It is bad enough that students and their representatives on Council were not consulted, but to not even be officially informed about the Board’s action is an insult to the student body.

When asked Why the Union was not officially informed, President Baker said that he felt students would find out anyway.

WHEREAS -— the government’s promised bursary system hasn’t as yet materialized, and from all in- formation available isn’t planned to coincide with the fee hikes.

“The essential ingredients of this program will include the following:

A program of student aid, including bursaries and scholarships. The aim will be to have about 1,200 new students participating by the year 1978. The total cost of this student assistance is estimat- ed at $18 million over the next ten years.

——Policy Statement on Post-Secondary Education April 2, 1968

Already the promised system of scholarships and bursaries is two years late from when it was promised in the 1968 White Paper. And we have been told in confidence by a highly knowledgeable government official that the financial aid system

WILL NOT be in effect for 1970-71.

In a telephone interview, Education Minister Gordon Bennett said that he was “optimistic” that the plan wouldI be in effect for next year; he stated that such a system was in his department’s esti- mate for the coming year, although he would not reveal the amount of this figure.

The buck was passed to the Treasury Board as to whether or not it will be passed —— Bennett said “they decide what we do with the dollars.” (By way of explanation, a budget subm1ss10n from the university must pass’ through seven screening sessions before it passes. They are, in order, the Post-Secondary Commission, the Minister of Educa- tion, the Education Committee, the Government Budget Committee, the Treasury Board, the Fed-

eral—Provincial Advisory Board, and the Legislative Assembly of this province.)

Another interesting note is that on CBCT De- cember 5, 1969, Bennett mentioned a plan to pro- V1de $400,000 a year in assistance to post-secondary students. Taken over fifteen years (the ostensible duration of the plan) that amounts to SIX, not

EIGHTEEIN million dollars!

He feels that loans are better than outright gran-ts. One suggestion that has been made is that repayment rates on loans be determined by the earnings of the students after graduationQ

That’s fine if you don’t mind! debts hanging over you when you graduate.

_ _ i The only way anything like “universal acces- 1b111ty” to university, or anything like it, will be achieved with the economic resources of the people on the Island considered, is an absolute rock-bottom level of fees, (if any).

. And even if bursaries and scholarships are given, not everybody will get one. But everybody gets the fee hikes.

“. ..AS I HAVE SAID, PROJECTIONS OF PRESENT COSTS SUGGEST THAT SUBSTAN- TIIAL INCREASES IN UNIVERSITY REVENUES ARE GOING TO BE NEEDED, AND IT IS IN- CREASINGLY CLEAR THAT THESE REVENUES MUST COME FROM THE PROVINCIAL GOV- ERNMENT.”

——Policy Statement on Post-«Secondary Education April 2, 1968.

At their last meeting the UPEI Student Council stated as part of a motion concerning the fee in-

' crease that “The students cannot realistically afford

to pay these higher fees due to the economic con- ditions they find themselves in”. This is a self- evident fact and almost any discussion is redundant. Our Government recognizes this, therefore the De- velopment Plan one must only look at the low per capita income, lack of employment and the low wages to see how true the Councils statement was. Unfortunately the Board of Governors and the Pro- vincial Government must feel that students must be somehow apart from the Isl-and community thus able to take the fee increase in stride. According to our calculations, allowing for the lack of finan- cial aid available except the student loan, it will be very difficult for students to raise the necessary $1800 - $2000 necessary to attend UPEI next year. It will cost less than this if you are living at home, but then you will be allowed less student loan.

Commenting to us on the fee increase, George Key, Leader of the Island P.C. Party said, “It is a sad commentary on the establishment of a new uni— versity of this size, that increase are felt necessary at this early date.”

WHEREAS —- Information concerning the future of UPEI is not available and hence places the stud- ent and faculty members in significant jeopardy concerning his academic future. . .

Requests for information on planned expendi- tures and long range plans, are met with refusals

JANUARY‘ 21, 1969

Explained:

“This single university will be on a scale suf- ficient to enable more Islanders to obtain high quality education comparable to national stan- dards.”

¥Premier Campbell, April 2, 1968.

to divulge this information. Rumors are flying, sev- eral suggest that in 5 or 10 years UPEI will be phased out in favor of Holland College, that it will either be a liberal arts wing of the College ‘or the old St. Dumstan’s board will try to set up SDU again. Does the Government want Holland College to dom- minate the University because it train-s people who in the short run will more directly serve the needs of the Island?

If the Island cannot afford a GOOD university then let’s get rid of it now and not let it slowly suffocate over the next 10 or 15 years.

“EVERY THING SECRET DEGENERATES; NOTHING IS SAFE THAT DOES NOT SHOW'IT OAN BEAR DISCUSSION .AND PUBLICIY —

Lord Acton.

WHEREAS —- Education is a right and not a priv- ilege and increasing fees will not only serve to limit the accesibility of those citizens of P.E.I. to higher education in their home province. .

In the last paragraph of the Declaration of the Canadian Student it is stated that “The Canadian student has the right to be free, to continue his education without any material, economic or social barriers, created by the abscence of real equality of essential conditions.”

What this quote says is merely that education is a right just like freedom of speech, not a privilege which is determined by how much money your par- ents have. ..In a survey taken by the Canadian Un- ion of Students (CUS), in 1965», it was found that parental income of 25% of the respondents in the survey was $10,000 whereas the national percentage of parental income over $10,000 was only 6.1%. The lower 54%, of the Canadian income earners, those earning under $5,000, were the parents of only 28% of the respondents. While our parents in general are by no means “well off”, according to Ontario standards, we must realize that by Island standards the students who attend university are in general from the upper middle class families.

Education at present being a privilege is the situation which should exist in a “truly democratlc” society. ‘

When asked whether or not he felt education was a right or a privilege Bennett said he felt, “education at the post-secondary level was a priv- ilege enjoyed by many young people”, which, in our opinion is hardly an inspiring or even satisfactory statement of educational philosophy.

People should not be ‘denied a university education if they qualify. Therefore, while we are presently involved in a fight not to have fees go higher We must realize that our goal is free edu- cation for anyone who qualifies academically.

with this in mind the UPEISU Inc. formally , requests the following people to be present at a meeting of the entire student body at 8:00 p.m. ‘Gym — Malpeque. These People:

REPRESENTATIVES FROM THE BOARD. PRESIDENT or UPEI V

DEANS OF ARTS AND SCIENCE