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T H E MCG I L L T R IB U N E Volume 5, Number 24
Published by the Students' Society of McGill University
Wenesday 2 April, 1986
Senate approves Ombudsman, Tables EEGGS by Adeeb Khalid M c G ill w ill soon Have a U niversity O m b u d sm a n . At its m eetin g last W ed n esd ay, Senate passed a motion recom m ending to the Board fo G o v e r nors that it appoint "a respected m em ber of the M c G ill facu lty" to this position. Th e debate on the Term s of Reference of the position was, how ever, tabled. These are to be considered at the next m eeting of Senate, and in clu d e the fin an cia l side of the matter. Th e resolution, m oved by Students Senators Robert W ilso n -S m ith and James G ree n , com es as the culm ination of longstanding student dem ands for the appointm ent of a U niversity O m budsm an. Cu rren tly, grievances are heard by the D ean of Students or by the S tu d e n ts' S o c ie ty (StudSoc) O m budsm an. How ever, W ilso n -Sm ith and G reen argued that in their resolution that both of these positions are "v u ln e ra b le to conflict of interest situations." Th e ir resolution calls for the appointm ent of a faculty m em ber w ho has "garnered the acq u ain tan ce and respect of the U nive r sity staff and student body" during his or her tenure at M c G ill. Th e issue of the expenses incurred proved co n tro versial. Altho ugh all speakers saw the notion of the O m budsm an as laudable, m any faculty m em bers o f Senate spoke unfavourable of the expenses involved. "It is a laudable m otion but it takes aw ay m oney from a ca d e m ic opera tions," D ean of Arts M ichael M axw ell said. "It is im perative that we don't put m ore m oney into adm inistration when w e are so short of m on ey." Student Senators, however, spoke of the a cad e m ic benefits the appointm ent w o u ld p ro vid e . G ra d u a te Senator Ram esh Singal argued that satisfactory g rievance procedure w ould "re lie ve pressure on students, and im prove their acad e m ic perform ance." G ree n spoke of the necessity of ensur ing due process of all com plaints. "T he U niversity rarely has the opportunity of doing so m uch good for so little m o n ey," he said. A cco rd in g to the Term s of Reference proposed by the movers of the resol u-
tion, the $10 ,0 0 0 stipend was to be financed jo in tly by the"adm inistration and students, with StudSoc, the various faculty societies, and the M c G ill Association of C o n tinuin g Education Students paying half the cost.
EEGGS Senate also tabled debate on a motion to recognize the Electrical Engineering
G raduate Students' Society (EEGGS) and to receive its constitution. A second m otion asking for the U niversity to c o l lect fees for the new society w as also tabled. Th e constitution has been refer red to Senate's new ly formed Standing Com m ittee on Student A ssociation C o n stitutions. E E G G S has been trying for som e time now to get the U niversity's recognition. T h e society has been incorporated under Q u é b e c's Bill 32 under w h ich
they started looking into the constitu tio n s of e v e ry little 2 0 0 -m e m b e r associatio n," he said. Although the E E G G S representatives had been given speaking rights, the m o tion to table was passed before they co u ld be exercised. In other business, Senate received the new StudSoc constitution approved by students in a u niversity-w ide referen dum last M onth.
CFRM By-laws Approved By Council
39 Steps frontman, a deathly variation of the Cult, see page 6 Photo — Ezra Greenberg
D issid ent D epicts Life In The USSR by Bilguisse Visram O ce a n ia , Thoughtcrim e, and the Thoughtp olice seem ed synonym ous to life in the Soviet U nio n , as it was described by V la d m ir B ukovsky ad dressed the issue of hom an rights, or rather, the lack of hum an rights, in the Soviet U nio n . A Soviet dissident w ho spent m any years in and out of prisons, p sy c h ia tric in stitu tio n s, and e x ile , Bukovsky depicted a social situation w h ich m ade the large a u d ien ce grateful to be C anad ian . "I believe it goes far beyond hum an rights violations; it's exterm ination," said B u ko vsky of the C o m m u n ist governm ent's treatment of civilia n s. He spoke of a "non-free, non-dem ocratic country, w here fear becom es ingrained in the peop le.” Th e hour-long lecture addressed the governm ent's efforts to crush the growth of the hum an rights m ovem ent in the country. Bukovsky told of how Soviet citizens because of the harsh consequences facing p olitical activists in the Soviet U nio n , try desperately to b eleive Soviet propoganda, and to ra tio n alize the actions of the C om m unist regim e. H e depicted a population a m o n g s t w h ic h a lc o h o lis m an d sch izo p h ren ia are ram pant, and w hich lives by the motto of "thin k one thing, say another, and do a th ird ." A cco rd in g to Bukovsky, Soviet society is based on co llective irresponsibility. " W e becom e a cco m p lices in the crim es
a n y student group can gain accredita tion and the right to have the university co llect its fees. Several Senators spoke against the m otion. Arts Senator M ark W a rn e r was. con cern ed about the precedent the co l lection of fees w ould set and its im p lica tions for student solidarity. "T h e group in question is far too sm all for us even to listen to. It w ould be a waste of tim e for both Senate and the Com m ittee (on Student Constitutions) if
of the State, whether w e want to or not. You either becom e involved in mass m urder (the crim es of the State) or be m urdered." B uko vsky's ow n generation was described as one in w h ich silen ce, inactivitiy, and accep tance bred a very strong feeling of c o m p lic ity . Th e ultim ate result was an overw helm ing need to attempt som e change or reform. H en ce, the growth of the hum an rights m ovem ent. Bukovsky pointed ot the Soviet interventions in both H ungary and C ze ch o slo va kia, as statements, not on ly to the outside w orld, but e q ually, to the restless Soviet population. "Yo u cannot appeal to com m on sense or m ercy. T h e y w ill do what they w ant." H e referred constantly to "the terror" w h ich is exercised by the Soviety governm ent, through various scare tac tics. Th e use of psychiatric hospitals as political prisons, is amongst the most p o p u la r an d d istre s sin g . " P e o p le w ouldn't m ind losing their lives, but not their m inds." The oppression of the Russian people seemed even m ore futile, w hen Bukov sky dism issed the Com m un ist ideology as obsolete, cla im in g that Khrushchev had probablt been the last Soviet leader to really b elieve in C o m m u n ism . A cco r d ing to Bukovsky, the Soviet U nion has evolved from a nation based on Socialist ideology, to one based on the ever-present threat of w ar—a threat issued by the governm ent itself.
"It's very frightening. You don't know about the past or the present, but the future is given to y o u ." T h is O rw e llia n tone pervaded Bukovsky's entire lec ture, but he closed on a hopeful note, telling of a m eeting he had had, m any years ago, in Paris, with a discouraged Po lish dissident. Th is friend had lost any hope for political reform in his country, o n ly to return to Poland three years late, to find thirty m illio n people m arching under the b anner of Solidarity.
by Brian Todd Students' C o u n cil em phasized the im portance of student representation at the "n e w " Radio M c G ill (CFRM ) when it passed the by-law s of the station last w eek. Said Arts Representative to C o u n cil M aria Lang, in support of her m otions to increase student m em bership on the ex ecutive com m ittee of the new station, "It's our duty to tinker with it (the b y laws). It's our last ch an ce to m ake sure it represents the interests of students." Lang proposed three am endm ents to the by-law s. Th e first m otion increased the num ber of students-at-large on the Board of Directors from one to three and reduced the num ber of Student C o u n cillo rs to one from two. M edical Rep N e ill W right com m ented in favour of the m otion, "If w e're paying for the station, we should have m ajority co n trol (of the Board of D irectors).” Th e am endm ent w h ich effectively gives students m ajority control of the Board w h ich is "em pow ered to make all decision s and take all actions on b ehalf" of the station, was passed by C o u n c il easily. Lang's second and third am endm ents dealt with the Executive Com m ittee of the station. Th e first am endm ent added a student m em ber to the Executive Com m ittee. An additional clause w ou ld have denied the Executive D irector of the Students" Society (StudSoc) of his vote on the com m ittee. James G re e n , Stud Soc President, argued against the m o t io n . " T h e E x e c u t iv e D ir e c t o r represents the interests of students." Lang did not, however, agree with this line of reasoning. "From m y vie w point, there's no w ay that he represents students at large." N eill W right echoed this sentim ent, "I don't like the prece dent w hereby the Executive D irector of the Students' Society represents the
students." Th e clause den yin g the Ex ecutive D irector a vote was defeated but Lang was successful in her attempt to add a student m em ber to the C o m mittee. Th e Executive Com m ittee co n trols the d ay-to -d ay operations of the station. s In her third am endm ent, Lang again tried to stress student representation on th e E x e c u t iv e C o m m it t e e by establishing quorum as three m embers in clu d in g one student. (The Ch airm an and Secretary of the Executive C o m m it tee are elected from the Board of D ire c tors w h ile the Station M anager, a fu ll tim e em ployee, is hired by the Board of Directors.) Ram esh Singal, G rad u ate Senator, supported Lang's m otion but w ished to strengthen it by adding a Student C o u n c illo r to the Executive, a m otion w hich was defeated. Said Singal, "I don't like the idea of non-students controlling the executive." G ree n arguing against the motion sug gested that "T h e Board of Directors w ill now be in the m ajority students, if they want students they can elect students to office as Secretary." Lang's m otion was put to a vote w here a tie resulted. Keith D enm an, as C h air, was thus able to vote for the first tim e this year and the m otion was car ried. No SIR am endm ent was suggested after current Station M anager MarthaM arie Kleinhans explained, "A lthough it's a good thing and several stations have it, the m ore recently licensed sta tions don't. Th e C R T C seems to have sw ung aw ay from this. T h e y have to know that som ething that is set-up is go ing to last." C o u n c il lost the requisite tw o-thirds m ajority necessary for approval of the Students' Society by-law s late in the m eeting and they were thus tabled until the next meeting.
Lilienthal Decries Zionism
by Adeeb Khalid "T h e continuous hankering of the m edia over the H olocaust forms a co ver-up over what is going on right now in the M id d le east," said Alfred Lilienthal at M c G ill last W edn esday. " T h e m edia has played incessently on the them e of one of the ugliest episodes of hum an history, but I don't see what that has to do whatsoever with what is happening in the M id d le East now ." Lilienthal, author of "Israel's Flag Is Not M in e" and of the books W hat Price Israel? and The Zion ist C o n n e ctio n , was speaking on "Terrorism in the M iddle East: Th e D o u b le Standard." A Jew him self, Lilien thal was careful to distinguish Judaism from Z io n ism . "B e ing a good Jew does not in volve na-
tionalism for Israel," he said. From this perspective, he offered a historical survey of the current problem . "H isto ry does not support the conten tion of (the Zionist) claim to 'their' Palestine," he said, pointing out that ten of the tw elve original tribes of Israel had disappeared. " H o w can one cla im des cent from that sm all group? Th e over w h elm in g m ajority of the present-day w orld Jewry is descended from Zhazars w ho converted to Ju d aism ," he said, citin g anthropological authority. "Repression and suppression co n tinue in Israeli-o ccup ied territories but we don't hear about it," Lilienthal said. Israel kjlled 385 people in its raid on Beirut in 19 8 1 , m ore than the num ber of casualties it had suffered from Palesti-
nians in the entire period of its ex istence, he pointed out. "T h e obnoxious law of the British rule in Palestine, w h ich allow s for a six month arrest without trial, is applied by Israel on the W est Bank." Yet, North A m erican m edia seldom point that out. Instead, we are offered vastly oversim plified pictures of the pro blem . " W e all suffer from label-itis,' a disease W estern civiliza tio n m ight fall into," Lilienthal quipped. Con flicts are reduced to b lack-and -w hite im ages. "In the M id d le East, we now have the 'v ic tims of the Holocaust' versus the 'ter rorists'." " W e must rem ove the word 'terror' from ou r discussion of the M id d le East, continued on page 9