OTTAWA (CUP) — A mem- ber of the Liberal party’s task force on post-secondary educa- tion is calling for a national council to address “an immense crisis” in the country’s uni- versities.

Newfoundland MP Bill Rompkey has introduced a private member’s bill to the House of Commons to estab- lish a Canadian Post-Secon- dary Education Council. The bill has received the first of three readings required before a passage.

“A national strategy for education is absolutely essen- tial,” said Rompkey. He said following his cross-country tour-with the Liberal task force, “T have no doubt in mind that there is a crisis in post- secondary education in Canada.”

Rompkey’s proposal would call for a national advisory body, with representation from the federal and provincial governments, administrators, faculty and students.

Not surprisingly, Rompkey has received no support from provincial ministers responsi- ble for post-secondary educa-

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Universities In Crisis, Says Critic

tion, who say the Council of Ministers of Education already deals with the same issues. Rompkey disagrees.

“I don’t think anybody thinks their council is truly a national body,” he said. “There is no participation from the federal government, or the

VANCOUVER (CUP) — Fa- culty and students have joined American citizens in condemn- ing the ordered deportation of writer and poet Margaret Randall from the United States.

American-born Randall, who teaches at the University of New Mexico at Albuquerque, is seeking repatriation after living for nearly 25 years in Latin America. But a U.S. Immigration court has denied her immigrant status, arguing that her writings ‘go far beyond mere dissent’ with American foreign policy.

Members of the literary and cultural community have come to Randall’s aid, notably members of the writer’s group PEN International. American

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university community itself.”

Rompkey’s bill is similar to one proposed by the Canadian Association of University Teachers, who called for a stronger and more influential body. CAUT president Allan Sharp said Rompkey’s bill

may, however, pass because it is more “realistic”.

“All one can really hope for right now is an agency that can at least carry on informed debate,” said Sharp, who said the council should also have some capacity for research.

OPPOSE DEPORTATION

authors such as Alice Walker, Norman Mailer, and Kurt Vonnegut have supported Randall, as has Canadian writer Margaret Atwood.

Stan Persky, professor of political science at Capilano College in B.C., said the Im- migration court decision gives Randall legitimate hope for appeal. “It looks like a denial of fundamental freedom,” said Persky, “and this. seems to be in conflict with the American constitution.”

Persky said, “the fact that this is a writer who is U.S.- born is what has excited a lot of attention.”

Suzzane Rose, a rehab medi- cine student and an executive member of the Latin American

Solidarity Committee at the University of British Colum- bia, also criticized the court

‘decision.

Rose said the deportation order “underscores the U.S. government’s fear of facing the truth about Central America, that the people there can and must determine their own destiny.”

Randall, who left the United States in the early 1960's

The federal government js planning to save almost $2 bi]. lion over the next five years through limited growth in

transfer payments to the pro. vinces. Sharp said the federal record on education and re. search warrants a council.

worked as a writer and editor in Mexico and Cuba, then moved to Nicaragua in 1979 in time to witness the overthrow of the U.S.-supported Somoza regime.

Her books ‘Sandino’s Daugh- ters’ and ‘Christians in the Nicaraguan Revolution’ docu- ment the role of women and the Catholic left in the Sandi- nista victory.

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