Administration may not pay for ventilation after all

By Derrick Webber

THE SMOKING erefer- endum to be. held during the upcoming elections for VPC may not be so clear cut after all. A release from the UPEI Student Coun- cil President Steven Wynne that if students decide to keep the Robértson Library Lounge (The Pit) a smoking area, the UPEI adminis- tration will only Jeok into installing a ventilation sys- The system would be needed to make the air quality of a smoking-area Pit healthy for non-smokers.

tem.

As well, a room for

smokers only, which be built in the space now occupied by the UPEI Infor- mation Office, is not guaran- teed by the administration

either.

The release states “It should be noted that no matter how the vote goes, the renovations that will oc- cur in either the pit or the Information Office are only

possibilities.” This contradicts previ- ous statements by Wynne

Fancy forum

TORONTO (CUP) Five months after a much- touted National Forum on Post- Secondary Education, the federal and _ provincial governments have decided to act: the Department of the Secretary of State of Canada recently issued a press re- lease announcing that more meetings will be held.

Six hundred delegates. representing universities, business and government travelled to Saskatchewan last October to take part in the three-day $2.4 mil- lion conference, called- to help formulate a_ national blueprint for the future of the country’s post-secondary System.

Students and forum Participants had anxiously awaited the February meet- ing of the Council of Minis- ters of Education Canada,

could

who, at the last general meeting of the students, assured students either a

ventilation system would be installed if The Pit remained a smoking area or that a separate room for smokers would be_ provided. No matter what students decide at the April 6th and 7th ref- erendum and elections, the UPEI Board of Governors will only consider it as a possible course of action.

To install the proper ventilation system in the Lounge, it is estimated it will cost between $40,000 $50,000. Renovating the area now occupied by the Information Office may cost a fifth of that, according to the release.

The referendum on The Pit is being held as a result of a plan by UPEI to make most buildings on campus smoke free except for desig- nated smoking areas. Up to now the administration has decided which areas should be smoking and which should be smoke-free, but has let the UPEI Student Council

expecting more _ concrete

policies on _ post-secondary

education to be announced.

But according to a February 26 communique, the “new commitment” con- sists of an announcement by CMEC president Roland Penner that the the council had formed a committee of the ministers responsible for post- secondary education.

“My biggest disappoint- ment in all of this was the meeting between Crom- bie and the CMEC,” Tony Macerollo, chair of the Canadian Federation of Stu- dents. “They only met with the secretary of state for a couple of hours.”

said

“That’s not enough. Six hundred people spent three days thrashing through some pretty profound issues. Now we can’t let them (federal and provincial government

see

| 3

make a recommendation for

The Pit. Council

choice to

brought the students at the general meeting March 8th where it was decided to hold a referendum to allow all students to voice their opin-

ion. The referendum will be

officials) skirt the issue.”

A unanimous call from

the forum was for more

provincial and federal coop-

eration on post secondary education funding. Opposition critic Bill

Rompkey introduced a bill to provide for a Canadian Post- Secondary Education Coun- cil, but withdrew it when the government would not sup- port the bill but agreed to have a standing committee study the concept. “At that time the Secretary of Committee’s

it was State intention to the country to hear interested parties,” said Rompkey. ”Unfortu- nately, we recently learned of the Government’s deci- sion to deny the committee permission to travel.

“) think this is. most regrettable as it will mean

travel across

held concurrently with the elections for Vice-President Communications 6th and 7th.

If students vote to bar from The Pit, a smoking area may be set up

elsewhere in the Robertson Building.

April

smokers

However, there

'S flash is fading — whereis that blueprint?

that individuals and

groups will not have the op-

some

portunity to air their views before us,” said Rompkey. there

Macerollo said

have been some _ positive government initiatives since He listed the formation of a national ad- visory group on student aid,

the recent loosening of work

the forum.

is also the possibility that smokers will have no space at “all. Should the vote be ‘to leave the pit a smoking area, there may or may not be a ventilation system installed safe for

to make the air

non-smokers. "

to research and development as concrete outcomes of the forum.

He added that the fo- rum succeeded in raising the secondary

profile of post-

education.

“More people are talking about it. Our one goal had to be to make post-secondary

restrictions for foreign stu- education a_ kitchen table dents, and increased funding topic after dinner.” 5 ’ INSIDE: The new improved Cruise Page 3 Letters to the Editor Page 4 Mother in residence Page 6 UPEI Athletics Award winners Page 8 CIMN and you Page I9 Gruesomania: Record review Page 13 Page 16

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