Volume [I], Issue 3

ettedGem

September 19, 1985

Students Dyin ForA Good Time .

'ITAWA — lt’s quiet at arleton University’s Ren- rew residence at four a.m‘. cattered pizza crusts, beer ottles and overflowing ash- rays are the only signs of last ight’s festivities. Three ours of rotten sleep on a umpy mattress later, the eace is disturbed by dozens f women running screaming down the halls. Pounding on doors the res-fellows (floor leaders) are calling out the names of the frosh. They order frosh to get up for a game of Frisbee-football with the young men on the floor above.

The pounding continues for one hour. Orientation week has begun.

Orientation week, is a week of introduction to the univer- sity at college. A chance to meet people and participate in group activities before the day-to-day ritual of classes and studying begins.

That’s one side of orienta- tion week — full of informa- tion booths, helpful campus guides wearing easy-to-iden— tify sweatshirts, open houses and campus tours.

The other side of orienta- tion week activities begins at night, inside the residences.

it’s less public12ed in o ficial orientation literature, but talked about far more by students. For those students living on campus, orientation week is often a blur of drunken parties and initiation pranks. The beer flows freely and drinking competitions are commonplace.

For new students living away from home for the first time, the tradition of party- ing through orientation week can be an exciting experience.

it’s also a tradition that can lead to tragedy.

An orientation week acci- dent at Wilfrid Laurier Uni-

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versity in Waterloo Sept. 6 left one student dead and four others iniuried. Brigitte Bouckaet, a second year stu- dent and residence don, was crushed to death under the wheels of a bus while trying to control the crowd. Two other students also pushed under the bus ended up with broken legs. The bus was to take students from an annual orientation barbecue and party back to campus.

Accounts vary but student newspaper editor Fred Taylor said the students believed the bus that killed Bouckaet was the last one and in a frantic rush pushed others under the bus.

Despite media reports, to the contrary, the university denies that alcohol was a factor in the accident.

“It wasn’t a drunken festive thing I don’t know what anyone could have done,” said the Dean of Stu- dents, Fred Nichols.

A coroner’s inquest is being held to look into the accident.

That same night, the Fri: day night at the end of orientation week, 22-year-old David Gilmour died after having his throat slit with a broken beer bottle, less than 50 yards away from a Con- cordia University beer bash.

The attack occurred short- ly after midnight after Gilmour asked 22-year-old Glen McCall for a sip of a

beer he was holding. Ac-

cording to witnesses, McCall responded by smashing the beer bottle and slashing it across Gilmour’s throat. Gilmour died shortly after he was taken to hospital. Al- though neither McCall nor Gilmour were Concordia stu- dents it is thought that they were headed to the beer bash at the Loyola campus.

On Monday morning, Sept. 9, the first day of classes on most campuses, police discovered the body of Carleton university student Raymond MacLean in the Rideau canal. Police say the death of the 22-year-old Mac- Lean was accidental. They have been unable to locate any witnesses or find out how MacLean fell into the canal.

With tragedies such as these receiving public atten- tion, university administra- tion and student councils are beginning to crack down on orientation week events. Their biggest enemy is tradi- tion. .

At Ryerson Polytechnical Institute students were forced to attend their annual orient- ation party alongside l8 members of the Toronto police. For the 26th year in a row some 3000 students headed by ferry acrossto the

Toronto islands for their orientation picnic. Police feared a repeat of last year’s disaster _ when a drunken youth dove from the ferry as it neared the island and died when he hit his head on a

submerged piece of timber. Many students complained the police went too far when they began checking bags and picnic coolers for alcohol. “We concede the value in having some kind of police

continued on page ‘

Commission Says Scrap EPF For PSE

By Peter Kuitenbrouwer of Canadian University Press

OTTAWA (CUP) — lf Donald MacDonald has his way, next year students will get an education voucher in the mail worth on average $1850, to put towards the cost of getting a degree.

But tuition costs will be “considerably higher”, and higher- demand or higher-cost programs will also cost more to enrol in. To compensate, the government will extend students’ borrowing limits under the Canada Student Loans Program, and offer more generous scholarships and bursary agreements.

Costs to students will not “necessarily” increase, but students “could be expected to bear directly somewhat more of the cost.”

These are some of the recommendations on post-secondary education reform contained in the report of the Royal Commission on the Economic Union and Development Prospects for Canada, chaired by MacDonald. The com— mission released its report in Ottawa last week.

Under the current university financing system, set up in 1977, provinces get a block of cash which they’re supposed to match with their own money to fund colleges and universities. The amount a province gets is based on popula- tion and gr0ss national product, and not post-secondary operating costs.

The federal portion of college and university funding has gone from 70 to 80 per cent between 1978 and 1985.

The commission says the rising numbers of students enrolled rising costs, and unwillingness of provinces to pay more to colleges and universities means funding, in real terms, has declined since 1977.

This year, because of the current formula, universities in‘ five provinces, Newfoundland, Prince Edward island, New Brunswick, Manitoba and British Columbia will actually give less to colleges and universities than the amount the federal- government tranfers for the schools. in short, in these five provinces, less than no provincial money is‘ going into education.

MacDonald recommends abolishing this system, which will give the provinces $2‘billion in 1985-86. Instead, provinces will get tax points to collect part of the money themselves. The rest of the money will become direct to-student funding. $1.55 billion, split between the current 850,000 full-time post-secondary students in Canada would come to $1850 each.

The report suggests funding for students should vary according to the provincial tuition fees, but that students in one program should not get more than those in another.

The report also suggests much higher grants could be provided to graduate than undergraduate students. The report says nothing about tuition beyond “students should be responsible for a portion of education costs.”

The commission says direct-to student financing, “although it is the most radical option” is the only one that will give "schools the flexibility and excellence the commission thinks is wanted. -

The report suggests tuition increases should “reflect such market factors as the expected return to the student of receiving an education in that institution.”

The commission also recommends additional grants fbr institutions that publish more and get more grants from the private sector.

The commission said it did not get much help from within the university community itself in making its recommendations.

“The combination of faculty unions, the tendency to draw administrators from within the institutions, an aging and tenured faculty, uncertainty about the role of post-secondary institutions in society, all combined with a somewhat defensive attitude toward the status quo does not seem to us to pr0vide

a healthy situation,” the report says.