THEMCGILLTRIBUNE
Tuesday, February 10, 1987
Published Ijy the Students' Society of McGill University
Volume 6, Issue 18
PGSS I g Say. F a re w e ll T o S S M U Z
PG SS Considers Secession b y J e n n ife r M o r i
"The SSMU (Students' Society of McGill University) does not and cannot formulate policies that address the par ticular needs and concerns of graduate students." So states the Final Report of the Special Committee on Graduate Membership in SSMU, presented at the Post-Graduate Students' Society (PGSS) Council meeting last Wednesday. Secession from Students' Society is not a new issue for PGSS. The relationship between the two organizations has been unstable throughout its history. In 1963 PGSS was forced to join StudSoc by a decision of Students' Council and Senate. Since then the issue has been discussed by successive PGSS councils with inconclusive results. It appears that something is finally go ing to be done. Based on a study of post graduate usage of Students' Society facilities, StudSoc treatment of PGSS issues and the fundamental differences between post-graduate students and the rest of Students' Society, the committee recommended two alternatives: 1) That PGSS redefine its status in Students' Society as an organisation with special status. More graduate represen tatives would be elected to better reflect
See Canadian Content Feature pp. 6 and
Daily T y p e s e ttin g S h o p T o B e C u t? b y E liz a b e th P a s te r n a k
The M c C i l l D a ily 's typesetting shop may be forced to close its doors because of financial considerations. "The shop was initially set up to make money for the D a i ly ,'' said D a ily co coordinating editor, Joe Heath. Although the shop has only been marginally successful since its inception, it does cover the salaries of some typesetters that would otherwise come from the D a ily 's budget, Heath said. Brendan Weston, co-coordinating editor of T h e D a ily , pointed out that the typesetting equipment is now quite old. "The typesetting shop cannot function if the equipment is out of date," he said. "For T h e D a ily — we can live with it but we can't service outside customers pro perly." Martha Marie Kleinhans, a member of T h e D a ily Board of Directors and Station Manager for Radio McGill, ques tioned the financial failure of the typeset ting shop: "It's a money-making enter prise...it has an obvious demand...if you can supply this demand then there's no financial reason for closing it." But ac cording to Weston, the shop needs "more than just M cGill" to make money. If the shop should close, T h e T r ib u n e and various other student groups and clubs will have to look for alternative typesetting outside, said Jack Berry, Studsoc Media Manager. "Costs will probably double and there will be the in convenience of having to leave the Union Building." As for T h e D a ily , We'd continue to do our own typesetting," Weston said. In the event of a temporary breakdown, T h e D a ily would have to use off-campus typesetting, but as Weston pointed out, " T h e D a ily staff are not paid, so that T h e D a ily won't lose as much if they have to go outside." If the typesetting machines were to completely fail, the newspaper would be printed less often and have more ads to make up for the increase in costs. Noah Cowan, Director of Concerts at Programming Network and Terry Sbrissa, Director of Alternative Program ming both said that they rarely use T h e D a ily typesetting. Sbrissa stated that there were cheaper typesetters in Westmount, and since club budgets are "real ly tight," they tend to go there. If the shop were to close, however, "it would add to hassles," said Cowan, because
the shop is a fast way of doing "little things like logos." Kevin Davis, Director of Programming Network and Chairman of T h e T r ib u n e Publications Board, said that the Board was going to look into the alternative of buying their own machinery. As for the
possibility of Student Society setting up a typesetting shop of its own, Davis observed that, "If no one's paying atten tion to the closing of T h e D a ily typeset ting shop, the Student Society may not think it's important enough and decide that it can't afford the money for one."
Materials Charge Revisited by
C h r is A le x a n d e r &
M a r v in S h a h in
The infamous $100 course materials charge, in place since September, 1986, has been the object of great controversy since its conception. From its first mention in late 1985 to present, students have found reason to protest many aspects of the issue. But while the effect of this precedent on the future of McGill remains unclear, the charge is presently in force amid widespread confusion as to what its immediate consequences should be. Therefore, it seems reasonable that students today should take stock of their situation with a view to making the most of it. According to the University Task Force on Finances Report that first sug gested the charge, its purpose would be "to improve the materials available to students." Furthermore, Vice-Principal Armour's original memorandum to the Board of governors in December, 1985 emphasized that "the overall charge will enable improvements to be implemented and will eliminate collection of payment for those materials on an ad h o c basis." However good the intentions of the administration, our research has reveal ed very little, if any, improvement in either quality or quantity of course materials. In fact, several incidents last semester indicated that a considerable number of professors were not aware that these new funds were available. This situation was partially explained by V-P Armour's assertion that the University "worked on a decentralized system...it was the department that had to decide how to spend the money just as the department decided how to spend its budget." This means essentially that it is impossible to determine how departments are using course materials funds unless they have developed their own policies on the matter. Awareness of the original purpose of the course materials charge is obvious ly low. It also remains unclear whether the money is being spent in accor dance with these aims, because few departments have formulated policies to ensure this. V-P Armour himself admitted in a recent Senate meeting that he was not aware of the method each department used to notify professors of the funds available to them. This seems to indicate that students must create awareness themselves. The charge is supposed to cover "all course related handouts and materials that become the property of students." Exceptions to this rule are items that replace texts or workbooks (eg. course packages) and "special services beyond normal tuition" (eg. Database, searching and cataloguing in the School of Library and Information Studies). With the rightful use of this money unassured, students themselves must lobby professors and departments for policies to improve course materials. Any students who encounter confusion or reluctance to act on this issue should see the Students' Society V-P University Affairs, who has promised to prepare a list of these incidents for the University administration. The course materials charge is not likely to go away in the foreseeable future. Similar fees have become vital sources of income for most Québec universities. Students should not, however,» let these become 'tuition fees in all but name' by their own acquiescence. We have suffered too many cutbacks not to take full advantage of existing funding._____________________ ■•
He added that, "The closing of the shop is something we all should be concerned with, but it rests with T h e D a ily for the moment." The D a ily Planning and Priorities Committee is now discussing whether or not the shop should remain open. The Board will be meeting Tuesday to discuss the finances of T h e D a ily . However, Weston said that a final decision about the future of the shops would not be made until the March elec tions. A referendum will be held at that time over T h e D a ily 's fee increase of one dollar per semester, per student. "We absolutely need a fee increase because there has not been one in the last 10 years and costs have risen so dramatically," Weston said. "Students will be killing the paper if they-don't give an increase this time." According to Heath, the fee increase would make it feasible to purchase new typesetting equipment. A fee increase would not necessarily g u a r a n te e the continuance of the shop, however, Weston added that "not making more money makes the decision certain."
the number of graduate students. Perhaps a new Students' Society ex ecutive post could be created for exam ple, Vice-President for Graduate Students' Affairs. Permanent consulta tion mechanisms between PGSS and SSMU would be implemented. Finally, PGSS fees to Students' Society would represent real usage of Students' Society facilities, about half that of other StudSoc members based on the survey. 2) PGSS would separate entirely from Students' Society and its members would pay fees to PGSS only, which would arrange a transfer payment to StudSoc so that post-graduate students could continue to use StudSoc facilities. This amount would be based on PGSS use of those facilities and the proportion of graduate students to the rest of the stu dent population. The report claims that the PGSS organization is unique within the univer sity because "the disciplinary 'diversity' within it essentially covers that of all other faculties pooled together. Thus, the boundaries d e fin in g it...are not of the same nature as those defining any other faculty." Fhere are also academic differences between the graduates and the undergraduates (faculty-student and T.A.-student relationships). The report also holds that graduate students are a fundamentally different group because of their age and work patterns. The report stated that Students' Society was not receptive to PGSS opinion on several issues. "T ake the P arliam en tary Com m ission," said Lee Iverson, Graduate Rep. to Senate. "Students' Society was completely unwilling to listen to us. There was not one thing we approved of in that brief," he continued. "We can take the money students' Society fees) and use it elsewhere," add ed Mark Readman, PGSS Vice-President University Affairs, "for things like daycare, for example, which Students' Society takes no interest in." "Politically, we're on opposite sides," Iverson told the T r ib u n e . "We're treated very much on whim by Students' Socie ty." The survey of facility usage is not yet complete. Of the test group of 700 (350 graduates and 350 undergraduates), 400 have been polled (350 graduates and 50 undergraduates). However, the results so far show that graduate usage of Students' Society facilities is half that of undergraduates. The committee's c o n tin u e d o n p a g e 3
Residence Limits Reappear b y T r ib u n e N e w s fla s h S ta ff
Senate will vote on a new residence policy tomorrow, despite the defeat of the policy by the Senate Ad-Hoc Com mittee on Residences two weeks ago. The policy proposed that the percen tage of returning students admitted to residence will be gradually decreased over the next three years to 10% of all residence occupants by 1990. Currently, returning students comprise 36% of McGill residents. There are no restric tions governing their return. In her third report to the Students' Council, Vice President (University Af fairs) Grace-Anne Baker stated that the policy to limit the number of rooms available to returning students "was defeated by the University Residences Committee and therefore should not become a policy of the university." However, the apparently dead pro posal, «will be - voted ,Qn . at Senate
nonetheless. The University Admissions And Scholarships Committee passed two motions on February 3 which ask the Administration to "consider the im plementation of a policy that will ensure that places are available for new students and major scholarship holders." It resolved to endorse the limitations on returning students. According to Baker, the channeling of the policy through an alternative body after it was defeated by the Residence Committee "makes a .mockery of the structure of Senate; proper channels have been neglected." She feels that the policy has a good chance of being pass ed by Senate since most of the people in opposition to its implementation are students. The University Senate meets tomor row at 2:20 pm in the Council Room of the Leacock Building., , , , „ , ,