Tflf MCGILL TRIBUNf
To Pay Or Not To Pay?
Published by th e S tu d en ts' Society o f McGill U niversity
V o lu m e 5 , N u m b e r 7
by Brian Todd "Should the debt repayment plan go through, M cGill's Students' Society would be one of the most stable and efficient in Canada...Help us continue to build and maintain a strong and effective Students' So ciety." Thus StudSoc President James G ree n capsulizes the very essence of the campaign to repay the debt to the University in a letter to student leaders. This sentiment has sparked the forma tion of a No committee. Manon Lamon tagne spoke on behalf of the No com mittee. "W e don't approve of the prin ciple of raising student fees everytime the Students' Society gets in a bind. What frustrates us, is that we have a council devoted to fighting the deficit but on the other hand we hire the entire executive for the summer." Green explained the creation of the $800,000 debt. "The way we incurred the debt won't happen again. The debt was incurred almost exclusively from the expansion of the Food and Beverage Department and from overspending. Where we used to budget to make money in Gertrude's and then we would in fact lose money at the end of the year, now we have a guaranteed revenue.” "This is the first time we have had notice from the administration about the debt. Before they merely threatened us verbally," stated Green. The ViceP rin c ip a l Fin a n ce inform ed the Students' Society that he would begin to charge interest on the StudSoc debt of $80,000 per annum starting nçxt year. "W e are very serious. We have given them interest for two years. The debt is coming up to a million dollars. That means we are talking about a $100,000 loss. W e must insist on repayment of the debt. "John Armour, V.P (Finance) for the University thus explained the University position. The No commitee has no quarrel with paying back the debt. "W e are not against getting rid of the debt. We think that the Students' Society shouldn't take the easy way out," asserted Lamon tagne. "W e just wish James would make the token effort before coming to students asking to raise the fees." The possible loss of the referendum prompted different reactions from the various participants in the debt repay ment debate. " If this doesn't pass V.P. Armour will ask for $80,000, that's more than we spent this year on all the clubs. We don't have a fat budget. There is a danger we would come into severe financial difficulty. Whether we would go under is hard to say," intoned Green. Lamontagne suggested, "it is impor tant to demonstrate to the University our own responsibility. The Students' Society can't simply go from the Univer sity to the student body in dealing with
B a llr o o m
B o o k in g s
Schedule is Reworked
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the problem. Maybe in the long-term rather than just five or six years, Students' Society will demonstrate their fiscal responsibility and desire to deal with the problem." Armour would not suggest where cuts would"come from if the referendum did not pass. "H o w the Students' Society would go about balancing their budget is their own business. It would certainly mean cutting back in some areas." Both committees in the referendum plan extensive campaigns to proclaim their positions. "W e are launching a poster campaign. I've talked to two faculty societies and I'm going to meet with the faculty presidents," said Green. Lamontagne also plans a cam paign, "Although clearly we don't have the budget of Students' Society." The two views continue to contrast. Says Green, "Anyone who looks at the situation will see it's sane even if it will cost students the price of four beers." And Lamontagne, "There is strong reac tion against raising the fees. People are beginning to question what they are get ting out of the Students' Society."
T u esd ay 2 2 O c to b e r , 1 9 8 5
Graphic—Joe Gillane _ _ “ lom
Inoue
Photo—Kathy Dimma
O n e o f a b o u t 5 ,0 0 0 M o n tre a le rs w h o a tte n d e d d is a rm a m e n t rally in Je a n n e M a n ce P ark S a tu rd a y .
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by Brian Todd Friday night the complete schedule for the second semester use of the Union Ballroom was changed following complaints delivered to the Students' Society Office of the Ombudsman by three student groups. Students' Society's announced policy was to accept room-bookings on a firstcome, first served basis. However, Ballroom bookings were made that favoured StudSoc activities and faculty societies. Initially, it had been feared that book ings fa v o u rin g th e En g in e e rin g Undergraduate Society (EUS) were made to garner support among engineers for StudSoc's debt repayment referendum. The EUS Council is scheduled to discuss the referendum to day. Martha-M arie Kleinhans, Station Manager of Radio M cGill, explains, "O u r major concern in going back to the Ombudsman and the Students' Society was that policy was changed without notice." In a notice that was sent out in September to all Students Societyrecognized student groups, Mary-Ellen Pitts, room-booking co-ordinator for Students'Society (StudSoc) stated that the traditional policy of first-come, first served bookings would be continued this year. Those who handed in their completed room-booking forms in first on October 1 would receive priority bookings. The results of the system weren't in spiring. "Sixty-seven Friday and Satur day nights during classes were re quested by twenty-nine groups. Only twenty-six Friday and Saturday nights during classes were requested by twenty-nine groups. Only twenty-six Friday and Saturday nights exist," said Earle Taylor, StudSoc program director and the man responsible for the crea tion fo the schedule. "The existing policy would have meant five groups getting all the dates." Taylor decided to change the system of priority. " I admit we changed the system. If the Executive Committee and Council want to change the schedule now, that's up to them." Taylor explain ed his system, "W hat we did was to divide the groups applying into five categories: Students' Society activities, faculty societies, Students' Society func tional groups, Students' Society interest groups and departmental associations. The Students' Society activities (Fiesta Week, Winter Carnival and Network concerts and dances) got all the dates they requested except one that was re quested by the Network. Then the first seven groupr on the list each got one night. Then the faculty societies got dates in order of their priority in line. Then the rest of the list till we ran out of dates."
Taylor justified the policy in this way, "the functional groups are not con stituted to run parties. They are con stituted to run activities. That's why we have the Network to run parties. As for the faculty societies, they should get what they normally get depending on their priority." Things came to a head last week when the list was posted and groups who had lined up to get preferential dates were knocked off the list. StudSoc President James Green denied he had made a political decision to favour some groups over others. "Last night (Thursday night) I talked to Martha-Marie (Kleinhans of Radio McGill) and Dave Gibson (President of the ASUS) who told me what happened. I was really shocked. Dave Gibson was fuming to say the least. I still don't think he believes I had nothing to do with the policy." Green went to Paul McCann, Ex ecutive Director of the Students' Socie ty, "to warn Earle to be on his toes...One of the staff members made a mistake. We don't play politics with the things we do for students". Meanwhile, three M cGill groups, Radio M cGill, the M cGill Photographic Society and the Rugby Team, went to the Ombudsman to try to rework the schedule. The Ombudsman is ap pointed by the Students' Society to mediate between students and the Students' Society. The two Om budsmen, Dave Rose and Patrick Johnston, as they put it, "tried to come to so m e k in d o f a g e n e ra l compromise." Patrick Johnston commented, "w e worked out something. W e're going to call up the people we changed. There still exists the option of starting from sc ra tc h . But th a t's not the Ombudsman's problem. W e doubled up some groups (so that they co sponsored events), we don't know their reaction." The Ombudsman and Mike Orr are meeting with groups on' Wednesday night to explain the changes made to the schedule. "W e think it will make some sense if people know what's going on," said Patrick Johnston. Kleinhans of Radio McGill raised some doubt about how acceptable the plan would be. "I'm not happy but I can live with the schedule. I think that other people might still be mad." Johnston explained the rationale behind the Ombudsman's schedule. "It's a question fo what the Ballroom is used for. It's supposed to be used for entertainment events, not for fund raising. Just to have a party of a Friday or Saturday night to make money is against policy." Johnston later admitted that "Realistically, money is the key, but that's not supposed to be the case." continued on page 3
Struggle Session Strikes S upplem ent by Adeeb Khalid Richard Rosensweig, editor of the M cGill Daily Supplement, resigned last Friday. He is the third Supplement editor to resign in the last three terms. Last year, Brian W alker and Robert Costain resigned from the same post in succession, leading some to suspect a long term conflict between the Daily n e w s sta ff and th e a rts-a n d entertainment oriented Supplement. Rosensweig disagreed with the way the Daily represents only one point of view. By allowing only one viewpoint to be published, wrote Rosensweig in his resignation letter, the paper is "acting irresponsibly towards the Daily Publica tions Society. The Society is a diverse group and should have that reflected in
their press. " A small cliqu e of dogmatic, sophomoric misfits took control of a newspaper and identified themselves with a leftist political orientation at a time when it was fashionable. This group has remained in power until it was unfashionable, and the student body seems completely fed up with them." Rosensweig wrote in his letter of resignation. But Rosensweig does not see the con flict as built in. "It is only a coincidence that the people who work for the Sup plement are more moderate than those who work in the News section," he said. Still, there was pressuré on the Supplement staff to conform. "There were things going into the Supplement
that I didn't want to see there. Whenever a story of a critical nature came up, it had precedence over what the Supplement staff had to write." Robert Costain, who resigned as Sup plement editor last year, also thinks the problem is one of personalities, and not a long term rift between the Daily and the Supplement. "M y own resignation was because of personal reasons. Three resignations in a row is just bad luck. "It all depends on how you define culture and politics vis-a’-vis each other. There are many at the Dialy who believe all culture is political. Richard (Rosensweig) obviously didn't agree." Daily editor-in-chief Melinda Wittstock, when interviewed by the Tribune seemed to see the issue as one of both
competence and differences. "There was criticism by the staff at large of the Supplement for not living up to the statement of principles of the Supple ment." The Supplement is meant to cover alternative culture ignored by the commercial press and mainstream culture from a perspective that is dif ferent from that of the commercial press. "There is very open criticism within the Daily which is necessary if you are to do an excellent job. Some people can take it, some cannot," said Wittstock. Wittstock also seemed to imply that the reason behind Rosensw eig's resignation was inexperience. "It is a high pressure job, and many people just don't realise the amount of work that
would be demanded by the job when they decide to run. Richard was new to the Daily when he got elected; he. had written only three stories." Rosensweig, however seemed to see openness, and not incompetence as the main issue. "There are people on cam pus who want to read about both mainstream and alternative culture, and the Supplement should cater to their in terests too," he said. "M y resignation might show the Daily that it cannot run efficiently if it drives moderate opinion out," he warned. As he wrote in his letter of resignation, the opposition against the Daily has reach ed a critical level. The paper will not win a fee hike this year, or any other year under the present editorial policy."