Editorial

The opinions expressed in this column do not —

necessarily reflect those of the staff of this newspaper, or of the Student Union.

For reasons beyond our control, this publication has -been coming out Friday afternoon instead of Thursday. I would like to stress the "beyond our control" bit. In actual fact, we’ve been sending the paper out to the printer’s shop an extra day earlier than in past years, hoping the longer interval would ensure an "on-time" paper, but to no avail. Having the paper out Thursday is a high priority with me, as Friday afternoon’s kind of quiet at UPEI. Well, thanks to Jo-Anna Murphy, VP Internal, we should be circulating Thursdays now. Jo-Anna managed to swing a deal with a courier company to get special delivery of the paper from Summerside (where it is printed) to town.

This week’s editorial wasn’t meant to be dedicated to the technicalities happening with the paper, but there is a connection between our production schedule and this babbling editor’s blurb. It all has to do with a little label most of us are wearing. The print on this label reads "STUDENT".

Part of the reason we've been having some problems with the printer is this printer is already booked printing other, seemingly "more important" publications, and they are the only printers on the Island who can meet our needs (sort of). Now I can’t really blame the printer. These "other customers" are probably paying more for their printing and have larger circulations. But I can’t help thinking that part of the reason we've been set aside is because we're just a STUDENT’s paper.

Last week, I was speaking to Rodney St. Pierre, station manager of CIMN, when I first thought about this STUDENT label. As former assistant manager of the radio station, I’m pretty familiar with the technical problems that crop up at the station, and again, many of the problems are beyond the station’s control. The radio station has

a relationship with Island Cablevision similar to the one this publication has with its printer. Island Cablevision has "more important" customers, and again, the STUDENT organization gets pushed aside.

I know of many people who’ve gone apartment- searching only to be turned away by prospective landlords who refuse to house STUDENTS. I know of people who’ve had to pretend they WEREN'T students, in order to get the apartment they wanted.

Is there a stigma attached to being a student?

There is another way of looking at it. Wearing your STUDENT label doesn’t always mean you'll get treated like a second-class citizen. Sometimes you even get preferential treatment. Look at the CFS Student Saver Card: you get discounts for being a student. My hairdresser cuts my hair and charges me 15% less than her non-academic customers. A very sympathetic policeman reduced my speeding ticket when he found out I was a poor struggling

pupil.

The main point here is, whether we like it or not, students are a distinct group of society. It’s up to us to make that distinct group a positive thing, rather than an unfair disadvantage. That’s just my opinion.

Kristine Suzuki Interim Editor-In-Chief

Please Note! |

As Monday, October 8th is Thanksgiving, the submission deadline for next week’s issue will be Tuesday, October 9 at 3pm, for that week only. Next week’s issue will be distributed Friday instead of Thursday, for that week only, because of the shifted submission deadline.

October 4, 1990

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