"

= Page 8

SASKATOON (CUP) - The $2 million extravaganza in Saskatoon was everything students expected it to be.

It was a meeting of minds, but not a changing of minds. It was an at- tempt to placate students and other groups who were making too much noise about

~under-funding, restricted ac-

cess and poor conditions. It was an orgy of wide-eyed the- orizing about a nebulous fu- ture and a diversion tactic from the real and solvable problems of the present.

But it was, as expected, a good start.

The National Forum on Post Secondary Education in Saskatoon this week brought together for the first time both levels of government as well as over 600 representa- tives of business, labour, spe- cial interest groups, univer- sity and college administra- tors, faculty, and students.

The more than 50 stu- dent participants gave varied analyses.

“It was much better than I thought it would be, ” said Graham Flack, a Dalhousie University student who sat on the Forum’s planning committee.

“There was always the danger that certain groups

would walk out: like labour, or francophones or stu-

dents,” said Flack. “But we

The a

found some central ground, and I think people really lis- tened to each other.The par- ticipants did not necessarily agree but they now appreci- ate each other’s positions on the issues.”

Others were not so en- thusiastic.

“One three-day forum isn’t going to change any- body’s mind,” said Maxine Clarke, co-president of Con- cordia University’s student council. “ There’s a business person in my group who’s been reading about the stock market in the newspaper all afternoon and every once in a while he looks up to say that greater accessibility (to post-secondary education) is *not economically feasible’. I don’t think people were re- ally listening to each other at all. It was more like mental masturbation.”

“You also have to take a look at the people who aren’t here and the way the whole thing was structured,” added Clarke. only female black student here. There are three other black women here but they in the same work- shop. There are very few native students All these people sitting around talking about how they are going to make the system more accessible to minority

are all

here.

evangelist with the "DiFFERENCE” CHURCH -

“T am the °

PUR s groups is great, but that is not how change happens.It doesn’t come from the cen- tre, it comes from the pe- riphery. And the periphery aren’t here.”

“There are so few na- tive people at this forum,” said Gina Blondin, a native of the North West Territo- ries and a graduate student

A

THey

MAN Wi7HOUuT RELIGION 1s Like A FISH WITHOUT A RICYCLE!

Lk I]

THEY CUT Epucation FOWpNGW/! —

(ow Wey'Ze- ALvep

at the University of British Columbia.“ And there is such a limited amount of time (at the Forum), we don’t have time to get into any depth.”

“It makes me suspicious when the list of delegates to this conference does not indi- cate who represents whom,” said Mitch Diamantopoulos, a sociology student at the

——

——————

Thursday, November. 12.1987.

University of Regina, who at- tended the forum as an ob. server.)

Delegates to the Forum were chosen from different sectors but theoretically at. tended as individuals rather than representatives of de. fined organizations or in- terest groups. Conference kits identified participants by name and‘ city only. Name tags gave names only. |

“This makes network- ing virtually impossible, and doesn’t allow coalitions to form. This kind of forum would have been the perfect opportunity to form those networks and it hasn’t hap- pened,” said Diamantopou- los.

Others were frustrated that no resolutions or spe- cific recommendations were expected from the 21 work- shops.

“When we are talk- ing about generic problems and general solutions, every- body agrees,” said Sheena Weir of the Ontario Feder- ation of Students at a mid- Forum student press confer- ence. “But it is much harder if we are talking about de- tails and solutions. When the pocket-books come out, the social conscience goes out the window.”

Cont. on page 10

ARIES. _ SECRETARIAL

« Book reports e Term papers

All your typing - needs | Call

ARIES SECRETARIAL 892-7625

24 2nd Street Parkdale

Wendy Morrison’

te