The Panther Prints April 2, 1996

MacLean'sonUPEI: THE FINALCHAPTER

by Christopher Michaud

For this last edition of the Panther Prints in the 1995-96 academic year, this is the last you will hear about MacLean's magazine's ranking of Canadian universities.

In my last article on this topic, I conducted a survey that was made available to the students of UPEI to find out what they thought about their university. ; Below are the results of my survey. I would like to thank all the students who filledout the survey. I decided to use averages to make this a lot clearer for all to understand.

1. All respondents were full-time students, mostly from the Arts or Sciences

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faculties, with one Business and one Music student responding. 65% were paying their own way.

50% were living at home, while the other 50% was split between sharing or

living on their own. 40% worked more than 1 5hrs/week, 76% working to survive.

76% would plan to continue their studies here if tuition continued to increase, many because they felt they would have no other choice. 55% felt professors understood they worked and had demands other than

classwork.

66% found themselves falling behind in classwork, because of work and

other reasons. 76% felt UPEI was not as bad as MacLean's said it was.

76% did not approve of forced early retirement of UPEI tenured professors

by the University.

10. 100% did not approve of the plan to have these professors replaced by 9-

month replacements.

11. 66% were against the vice-presidential position for UPEI.

12. 100% did not think UPEI's monetary resources were being used properly,

13. It was an even 50-50 split on wether or not students felt their degree would

Here are a few of the comments that students had to say about their answers to

i.e. student-oriented..,

be worth something once they had to hunt in the job market.

the survey: 1. "Ha! What spending money?!" 2. "What have you done for me lately?" (#11) 3. "Too much ineffective administration." 4. "Fire the whole damn bunch. Burn down Kelley and raid the cafeteria." 5. "Hopefully, but probably not." (#13) 6. "The University is a bonafide Island high school." (#8) |

In my survey, I also asked that students list and rank their professors. The

results were very indicative of how students felt about their university. Most profes-

sors averaged very well. In a previous article, I wrote about the forced early retirement action of the

University. As some students are probably now aware, we will be losing some very good professors at the end of this year, including Father Cheverie, Professor Ledwell and Professor O'Grady. These three professors scored the highest averages (9.6, 9.4,

9.3, not in any order). It is an immense shame that these three well liked and re- spected members of this University's faculty will be leaving us. You would think

that the University would be asking them to stick around instead of, well, you know. The University should be ashamed to lose these professors, and any others, at a time

when it is trying to improve its image and reputation. To end this article on a good note, see you all next year. And to MacLean's magazine and their poll of Canadian universities, I offer them two things. One, we like our university, leave it alone, and two, a one-finger salute to their polls. Thank you, and good night.

Provincial Government is Screwing Seasonal Workers

Opposition Leader Pat Mella accuses the Liberal government of a mean-spirited attitude towards students and seasonal workers.

Ms. Mella says the defeat of a resolution she introduced into the Pro- vincial Legislature means the govern- ment is denying an increase in the minimum wage to students and seasonal workers employed this summer. The resolution sought to implement a two- stage increase in the minimum wage -- 20 cents per hour effective June 1, anda further increase of 20 cents per hour on September 1. The government has opted to withhold any increase until Septem- ber.

Ms. Mella says the two stage increase would be fair to businesses and would have benefited students working this summer who are facing increased costs for tuition fees at educational institutions. The two-stage increase would also provide a more immediate increase in pay for all those in the

province working at the minimum wage. Many of those employed at the minimum wage level are involved in the service industries and the peak employment government has deliberately chosen a time frame that will prevent those employed over the summer from benefit- ing from the wage increase. "I think the timing is unfair, and I believe it was chosen deliberately by the government to deny an increase in the minimum wage to those employed this summer. The two-stage increase would also have provided a better adjustment period for businesses.

The Leader of the Opposition also points out the timing preferred by government breaks with the norm in the province. Citing the examples of 1993 and 1991 she says changes in the mini- mum wage normally take place early in the year.

Prince Edward Island has the lowest minimum wage in Canada, and the rate of $4.75 per hour has not changed since 1991.

Election Results

President:

Chris Burns VP External:

Chris Grey VP Internal:

Wendy Venema

Tara Inman

VP Finance: Lindy MacKenzie Curtis Clark

Ombudsman:

Mike Klenavic

TOTAL No. of Votes

VPI - 314

- By Acclaimation - By Acclaimation

- 173 Votes -138 Votes

-151 Votes -148 Votes

-By Acclaimation

VPE - 308

TOTAL No. of Voters - 306