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By Ruth Edgett spite worries that few 1 students are interested, Student Council has set uary 8 for a referendum whether the university 1d becbme a full member he Canadian Federation

. udents (CFS). PEI is already a pro- tive member of the

adian-wide organization h provides a variety of cut services and acts as political interest group member universities. er the terms of the .pro-. rive” membership, a endum must be held by g to determine whether miversity will continue as iember or whether its ibership will lapse. i eCFS has been a subject controversy among uni- ‘ties. Some feel the nization does not address- immediate needs of ents and is more‘ in- ted in political issues have no relevance to

hardships faced by Canadian students.

Student Union President Jack Keefe acknowledges that universities have been dropping out of the Federa- tion because they disagree with its direction. Some feel the organization is _ too politically oriented, and others see a contradiction between student travel plans its services section offers and the claim that its political section is working to. better the lot of students who are unable to obtain the funding they need.

Keefe told the meeting he has resigned his position on the CFS central committee because his course load does not allow him enough time but he also told councillors his experience on the com- mittee has lead ,him to characterzie the CFS as “the single most frustrating organization I have ever been involved in in my whole life.”

He said too much time is

curity enters residence

Storm rag es

flag cape

By Carolyn Ryan hen the topic comes up, mutter darkly, calling ‘Mariangate”. Others not-so-subtle references 84. In short, a number sidents of Marian Hall xtremely annoyed. December 19‘, 1983,‘ all of Marian Hall’s 72 cuts had left- for the tmas holidays, the l Security force entered uilding to look for ﬂags from the Charlotte- area in the last four hs. . -, ector of Security Allan acLeod says his men

1y “listed” the ﬂags room numbers, but' sdisagree.

went into my room and i y ﬂags were gone,” a student from the all- residence. “Then some- old me there was a pile ags in another guy’s . They didn’t even make of where, each flag came

ad resident- Marya'Ros‘s, X" had not been notified

‘ search, was in another

nce when the ﬂags were ‘ ed. When she was told '

‘ incrdent, she spoke to or-of Studeiit Services rifﬁth, who requested e ﬂags be returned.

.ey were all back the rig day,” Ross says. ditionally,.,accofding to r

.(z‘vcrtober, ' iffith, ten or twelve ﬂags

Griffith, rooms have been inspected over Christmas only to list damages, and only with two people present, one of whom must be the residence manager or a head resident. Otherwise, the ' student’s privacy is respected.

Griffith agrees the members of Security were “presumptuous in the way they handled it” but says they “were acting in good faith.”

MacLeod says that he acted on complaints passed on by the RCMP of ﬂags missing in Charlottetown, - Sherwood—Parkdale, and other municipalities ‘V across the province. University students are often prime suspects in such cases.

“If students don’t volun- tarily return stolen ﬂags and we can prove that ﬂags are stolen property, prosecu- tions will be taking. place,” says MacLeod.

Doubts have been expressed by residents as to how Security can tell a stolen ﬂa’g'from‘ one that has been

legally purchased, but MacLeod says, “There is a way.”

Also, he adds, “If you

, can’t prove that you haven’t

purchased (a ﬂag) or had it given to you, you’re more likely to be suspect of theft.” Earlier this "year, in accOrding to

wasted at meetings discussing the structure of the organi- zation. '

Nevertheless, he said, he is still in favor of UPEI joining the organization. Since this is the only university on the Island and there is no other interest group to join, it should become a member of the CFS, he said. In that way, it would at least have some form of organized body to represent its viewpoints.

But the major expressed Sunday by student councillors at UPEI was that very few students here either know or care what the CFS is and whether it can benefit them.

Under the Student Unior. constitution, the referendum must be held in the same manner as student elections. The results will be determined by 50 per cent plus one of the popular vote. In other words, if 10 students vote in, the referendum, and six vote

either yes or no to member- 0'

after r

removed from the Charlotte- town Driving Park were re- covered when the RCMP contact UPEI Security. In that instance, however, Security went the Residence manager, who talked to the students involved and quietly got the ﬂags back.

Griffith believes the incident may have focussed the attention of angry former ﬂag—owners on the University, putting pressure on Security to act.

The result angered the owners of the thirty ﬂags involved.

“I have eight ﬂags, and none of them are stolen,”

says resident Jack Keefe. He

believes further action should be taken in the matter, but did not elaborate.

In a letter to the Netted

Gem, Keefe commented, “In »

my limited understanding of Canadian Law, it doesn’t seem to me that it is a crime to own a ﬂag.”

Slowly, however, some residents are starting to put the ﬂag-napping humorous perspective. One owner of ﬁve ﬂags who initially had some trouble locating his brand-new Canadian ﬂag, commented, “We’re going to bill Security for the tacks e— we didn’t get them all back.”

worry '

in a.

ship, the issue will have been decided on those few votes.

As well, the' constitution 'may cause problems for campaigning, councillors said. Although the CFS offers equal amounts of money to campaigns for and against membership, the Student Union constitution stipulates that campaigns are not to accept money other than that allotted by the Student Union.

However, Speaker Michael Trainor said the final decision on how campaigns are to be conducted will be left up to the chief electoral officer.

Councillors had another choice. They could have allowed the prospective membership in the CFS to lapse without a referendum. That would mean another student council a year from the expiry could obtain another prospective member- ship. However, the coun- cillors agreed the final decision should be made by them rather than passed on to another council.

There was also debate on

whether the referendum should follow the consti~ tution, since the final

decision could be left in the hands of very few students.

ﬂ.-4"‘ll V :0

~\.:'l.)uEl!8

CF§referendum date Set: February 8

Some membes suggested including a stipulation that 10 per cent of the student population must vote before the referendum would be considered valid, but it was decided such a departure from the constitution could lead to large problems later. with the validity of the vote.

The only other choice is to change the constitution but that requires a general meeting of the student body with a quorum of 10 per cent, or 170 students.

A CFS membership would cost each UPEI student an additional four dollars a year.

— The » etted Gem

January 12, I984

Volume I, Number 7

The Terry Crawford Band returned once more to an enthusiastic reception at the UPEI Barn. Lead smger Terry Crawford says this was one of their last engagements of the current tour. See story page 5.,Photo: Grimmer.

. No trees were killed to bring you this newspaper. However, several died in their sleep and donated their bodies to journalism.