The Muse, vol. 31, no. 09 (21 November 1980)

              Muse may host national CUP conference
Atlantic student papers meet in St. John's
by Dave Roe
It was decided at a conference of
the Atlantic Region of Canadian
University Press, (ARCUP) hosted
by the Muse, that the 44th National
conference of Canadian University
Press (CUP) be held in St. John's.
The last conference hosted by the
Atlantic Region was held in Halifax.
The national executive of CUP is
working on the figures to determine if
the other 64 member papers of the
national cooperative can afford to
send delegates for the conference.
The Muse is looking for accommodations for the 250 people
expected to come. If these are found,
and if the other papers can afford to
send their delegates, the eight day
blitz of decision making and instructional seminars will commence
Boxing Day, 1981. This will be the first
time that the Muse has hosted the
national conference.
The Muse recently hosted the
second regional conference of ARCUP for this semester. Of the other 7
papers in the region, three sent
delegates to the three day blur of
discussions and casual partying. They
were: The Dalhousie Gazette from
Dalhousie University in Halifax; The
Picaro from Mount Saint Vincent
University in Halifax and the
Athenaem from Acadia University in
Wolfville, N.S.
This was a chance for papers in the
Atlantic region to compare notes, to
discuss regional and national
problems in CUP and to become
prepared for the national conference
to be held north of Montreal this
Christmas.
John Parsons, ARCUP fieldworker
(Muse editor last year, poor soul),
gave a report on the member papers
that could not attend: The UPEI Sun
from the University of Prince Edward
Island; the Xaverian Weekly from St.
Francis Xavier University in An-
tigonish, N.S., The SMU Journal from
Saint Mary's University in Halifax
and the Caper Chronicle from the
College of Cape Breton in Sydney,
N.S. All the papers are doing well
except the Caper Chronicle which has
not published this year because of a
lack of staff.
The region decided to suggest at the
national conference that the application for full membership in CUP
by the Watch be denied. The Watch is
a publication of King's College
Dalhousie's journalism school. It is
being financed by the head of the
journalism department who has little
interest in covering student issues
and letting the paper's staff have free
say in running the paper.
The papers decided that a regional
news exchange should be set up to
allow better coverage of news happenings in the Atlantic provinces.
The region heard a brief from CUP
National Bureau Chief Cathy Smith
on Youthstream, the advertising
agency which handles all national
advertising for CUP. The proposed 10
year contract with Youthstream has
been rejected and amendments for a
new two year contract have been
drawn up. The disadvantage of the
new contract is that there are no
performance guarantees which could
leave CUP papers without national
advertising for up to 15 months, if
Youthstream so wished.
This is an important factor to take
into account if CUP went ahead to
start its own national advertising
agency, which would take a few years
to set up. ARCUP supported such a
move. If the papers decided to accept
the new Youthstream contract and
immediately started their own
national ad agency to begin soliciting
advertising for the papers, we will be
contracted to Youthstream for a two
year period and a 15 month extra
term. If the papers decided en masse
not to renew the contract in two years
time when it comes up for review,
they will still be legally bound to
Youthstream for another 15 months.
Without the performance guarantees,
Youthstream could choose not to give
the papers any national advertising.
This could certainly throw the individual * papers    and    CUP    into
financial chaos and would give
Youthstream the chance to undermine CUP's own ad agency. The
idea of CUP owning its own ad agency
has been around a long time and this
is one of the best chances that we have
to rid ourselves of Youthstream. This
could mean that the papers would
have to sacrifice having a national
magazine for the network. We are in a
tricky situation.
When all these thought provoking
discussions were over, some
delegates were treated to an extra
day's stay in St. John's as flights were
disrupted by fog. They needed it to
recover from the arduous weekend.
As one graphic artist from the Dal
Gazette said, "You Newfs certainly
know how to drink, you do it until
you're annihilated, but you have such
a good time while at it. I don't know
how, I just don't understand ...". We
hope Cathy Smith is back on her feet
by Christmas.
the muse
Trades College strike: long?
by Margaret Donovan
The support staff at the College of
Trades and Technology entered their
second week of dispute with the Administration and both sides have yet
to return to the bargaining table.
Picket lines were set up November 7
when negotiations between the union
and the Trades School Administration
broke down.
On the first day of the strike, instructors at the college refused to
cross the picket lines and as a result,
classes were unofficially cancelled.
While students enjoyed a long
weekend, President Duggan obtained
a court injunction to get the instructors back on the job. Classes
resumed the following Monday, with
the administration doing the work of
the striking employees.
The Students' Activity Committee
(SAC) met with the union and their
negotiator, Allan Carter on November
12 and with President Duggan on
November 14 in order to hear both
sides of the dispute. After these
meetings SAC placed ads in The
Evening Telegram and the Daily
News urging both sides to get back to
the bargaining table. SAC's president,
Kevin Cadieux, said "the committee
supports the strikers, but as long as
our instructors are here classes are
going ahead... the students have to
attend to pass." He added, "if nothing
is done and the situation gets worse,
we may reconsider".
When the strike began the support
staff had hoped that with students
attending classes, conditions at the
school would deteriorate and the
administration would not be able to
keep the school running efficiently.
However, no major problems have
yet been encountered. Services at the
library have been reduced to a
minimum, but there have been no
complaints from the students.
With the college continuing service
to the students, and with negotiations
at a standstill, it seems the strike may
be a long one.
"A gold watch? The ace of hearts?" Premier Brian Peckford tries to
interpret a psychic message sent to him by CSU president Joe Greene
during his speech to MUN students on Wednesday.