N _ r\v ,

Reflecting on the recent Student Union Meeting that took place last Monday night, I could not help but » ‘vbice an opinion implying that_candidates.running

for particuiar offices, ‘tackled important but secon— ary problems; such as the improvement of social life on campus, a new student‘ union building, a new athl— / etic complex, a radio station that needs more watts, the fixing up of Memorial Hall and other trivia concerning the betterment of our social atmosphere here on campus. At the time, I voiced my ‘ opinion that the candidates should have been more conc- erned with the academic' aspects of university in terms of how it related to the development of personal creativity as well as its relatién & relevance.to the local and global community because after all this is" supposed to be Ehe main reason why we are here in university in the first place.

My reason though, for writing this article is to try to explain that the reason why students have devOted so much attention t0'"secondary problems" is primarily_because we as students have failed to recognize the "root problem" here on campus, or to put it another way we try to solve secondary problems without ever asking why the problem is there in the first place. I am merely suggesting that if we got to the root of the problem here on campus, a lot of these/secondary problems can be aileviated.

As far as I am concerned the root problem that we as students haVe virtually

ignored and now are beginning r

to recognize, is the import: ance of the major decision making committees on campus and the role they play in determining university. ‘ policy. Committees such

as senate, Tenure, Academic‘ Planning, COurse Evaluation' and Board of Governors, must be recognized and understood by students, if one is to really find out why things are the way they are in this university (‘in an academic financial and hence in an athletic and social sense). Once we find out how import- ant these decisionsmaking Committees are in terms of dictating university policy, We must then look at the Student representation on eaCh of these committees. Roughly. there are around

Don’t‘lis‘lStu'nd’Tllere-I‘ind On" What’s

41 people who sit on the influential decision making committees that dictate . university policy, 8 of which are students. If we are to carefully look at why there is very little change on this campus beni— fiting students, I suggest it is due to the students failure to recognize the importance of these decision making committees; as well as the fantastic misrepres— entation of~the students, who are the university,in terms of how these committ— ees relate to their academic financial, athletic and social reality, here in

‘ this university.

The students are the university. Without the students there is no univer— sity. It is imperative that

we as students, have an awareness as to how the

internal structure of the

university works, and then once we have this awareness

we can make the university service students. Hence,

it is vital that students begin to attend as many student council and Senate~ meetings as possible, as well as read both the university and student cons- titutions. The better we understand how the Universe ity operates, the easier it

Viewpoiht- r

We had been planning to touch on a lighter topic

.this week, but decided inst— ead to get some opinions on

the events at the Senate meeting Wednesday night. Some of the people we asked had been present at the meeting and we talked

to the rest to see how fast

the news would travel.

Orville Lewis was not there,

but he was aware of the’

incident. He was not overly

pleased with Pres. Baker's actions and said that the -seat should be occupied by

Doug Smith. He also thought

that the students should have been better prepared to face controversy before going to the meeting.‘

President Elect "Woozy

MacDonald was at the meeting

He felt that Baker's stand

was ridiculous, constitutio- nally unfounded and a waste of time for the Senate memb-

ers who showed up planning to conduct business; there is no question in his mind

that Doug Smith should have

the seat.

x

The Cadre, Feb. 25,\1975, page 3

is to enact change._Student

Going On‘

or not the potential of

council and Senate meetings are announced regularly so it is up to the students to have the initiative and responsibility to find out what is happening.

This university can be a dynamic, stimulating, active and exciting univer— sity if people really think about why they are here and what they really want out

. of university. Thinking:

critically as to whether

talents and resources are being effectively developed in university will determine how we as students, when

we graduate, will contribute to a society that is already tragically charcterized

by passiveness, alienation dehumanization, oppression, and one dimensional men.

Yours for the cause of awareness and active partic— ipation, Art Laffin

Gorden Campbell S.U. Presid— ent, had quite a bit to say and we had some trouble- condensing it down to fit. The main gist of it 15:, Baker acted irresponsibly and abused his chairmanship by acting stubbornly against a majority. Pres. Baker *has gone way out on a limb and can't get off without backing down, but no matter, what he does, his integrity is in question.

Charlie MacKenzie heard about the meeting and was pissed off at Baker walking out. He said that if Marilyn , was impeached by the studen— ts, then she had no right. to the seat, and it should go to Doug. He also said that a quarem of 14 Senate members could appoint a new chairman and continue with— out Baker. Kip Puiia was not present ’ but thought that it was about time Senate stood up Ato Baker. It shows Baker's lincompetence. Changes are coming and this is only the begining. Anstin MacDonald hadnLt '

OpinionsOf The Senate Meeting

heard of the Senate fiasco but told us about 3 football players who stripped a basketball player (M.C.)

& tying him to a chair in Bernadine. There he stayed at the mercy of cameras until Security rescued him with a blanket.(all male participants are residents Aof'Memorial)

Wade MacLaughlin "The esse— nce of what took place at Senate is that President Baker 'got up on his high horse' over a personal principle. He did not have a legal leg to stand on and this was quite apparent to both students and faculty as evidenced by the defeat of the adjournment motion. This defeat can be interpre— ted only as a vote of non— confidence in his handling of the matter.

On the basis of the people we interviewed and the gen- eral buzz around campus, we have decided to declare this "Stand up to Baker Week".

Ray MacDonald & John Underhayz