October 8, 1996

By Tom R. Beveridge

Dial 384# for assist- ance. John McEntee, along with Island Tel, and UPEI Campus Police has intro- duced a phone system that will help make the UPEI cam- pus more secure. A ‘no charge, direct dial’ program has been set up on pay phones around campus. The new phone program links callers with security instantly.

This is a new initiative brought to UPEI by Mr. Mc Entee, the head of the Cam- pus' Security Department. The phone system will make the campus a safer environ- ment foreveryone who visits or uses facilities at the univer- sity. Last October, Mr. McEntee approached Roger Cook, head of the university's Purchasing Department, to see if UPEI could implement a'no charge, direct dial' pro- gram from the pay phones on campus. Mr. McEntee had noted that other campus in the Maritimes have employed these telephone systems, and he wanted to see if this sys- tem could work for UPEI.

Mr. Cook contacted Is- land Telephone with the pro- posal, to discuss the possibil- ity and to find out the costs. On finding it possible to have a direct line to security cre- ated for the pay phones, and associated costs, Mr. Cook worked with Paul Llewellyn, the Island Telephone repre- sentative for UPEI to get the system up and running. To assist in ensuring that the sys- tem could be put into effect without the prohibitive costs of instillation, Island Tel- ephone, in partnership with

The Panther Prints 6* News

Island Tel Contributes toa Safer Campus A Look at Parking Fees

the university absorbed the costs to provide this positive public service. Currently, 26 of 35 pay phones on campus, areconnected to security. The other nine phones should be on line by the end of next week.

Constable Veal, Cam- pus Police, stated that this new '‘free' number to the Se- curity Office will, provide 24 hour safety to everyone on campus, 7 days a week, in- cluding holidays. By dialing

384#, from any of the pay phones on campus people can access an operator who can answer questions regarding directions on campus, send an Officer to assist in walking someone to their vehicle at night, or to help deal with personal safety issues.

Marc Braithway, the Residences Manager is cur- rently looking at programing the phones that have been re- cently installed in individual

rooms within residence with an auto-dial button to reach security, in order to deal with residence security concerns.

Dr. John Crossly, the University of Prince Edward Island Vice-President, commended the Security and Maintenance Departments for their continual sense of secu- rity concerns around campus. Dr. Crossly used the example of this new program as a way that Mr. McEntee, and Mr. Cook, along with their de-

partments, provide incitive by taking the right steps in ad- dressing aconcern by finding creative ways of working out a means to start-up this new program without affecting the UPEI budget.

Island Telephone is happy to be able to provide this service to people at UPEI, and hopes that it will add to the quality of the university environment.

Parking fees. Every where] goon campus someone is complaining about parking fees. When asked howI could help out with the Panther Prints, I was given the task of finding out just what exactly is going on with these parking fees. This humble columnist went out in search of information, every- one probably has hopes that I am going to write blistering accusations that I will hurl against the evil administration who dare impose this upon us. Sorry to disappoint you. UPEI, in fact, has merely caught up with the times when it insti- tuted these fees. Not only do nearly all universities in Atlan- tic Canada either have or plan toimplement them, but there is a growing trend towards high schools having them as well. Hard to believe? It gets better.

Thecurrent parking fees for full-time students is $50.00, with $25.00 for each additional vehicle. Faculty and staff pay considerably more, and part- time students pay $30.00 with $15.00 per additional vehicle. Many students are upset about this, but the facts are that these are rather low prices, overall. I can not quote statistics from other universities, but at the high school I went to-in Nova Scotia-it was $80.00 a year, take it or leave it, extra vehi- cles full price. Actually, all across the board UPEI is one of the cheaper universities in Atlantic Canada, though by no means the cheapest. However, this benefit is somewhat offset

by the fact that the minimum wage in PEI (even after being raised) is still pretty low, as well. Of course, any raises in that are simply going to raise unemployment. Youcan never win, right?

Is there a bright spot in this? Well...yes, actually. For one, anybody who has fears of the parking fees going any higher in the near future can put them to rest, as Murray Stevenson, UPEI's Business Manager, assured methatthere was practically no chance of parking fees rising in the next

few years. I have also noticed

students wondering where the newly-earned money from the fees is going. Specifically, the monies collected last year went towards paving and plowing the lots, as the money from this year is also expected to do. Overall, of course, it is simply helping to make ends meet through the reductions in gov- ernment funding. |

So upon investigation, I saw that UPEI's parking fees, though not exactly what you would call a pleasant thing, could be considerably worse. It is nice to note that parking fees are not likely to rise any time soon, but given the sad state of education funding, we will probably see other fees introduced to make up for it. It probably is not fair, butas they say, life seldom is. We can hope that government will in- crease or at least stop decreas- ing funding for post-second- ary education, but I wouldn't hold my breath if I were you.

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