The Muse, vol. 48, no. 14 (30 January 1998)

              January 30, 1997
Memorial University of Newfoundland
Volume 48, Number 14
Students rally against education cuts
Numbers lower than previous years as only about 1,000 participate
By AMANDA LABONTE
It was small but loud.
Students from MUN, the Marine Institute, the College of the
North Atlantic, and even some
from local high schools gathered
in the Thomson Student Centre
gym on Jan. 28 to protest government cuts to education and rising
debt-loads.
The rally was part of the nationwide Day of Action sponsored by
the Canadian Federation of Students (CFS).
Numbers fluctuated throughout
the day, with the crowd swelling to
about 1,000 at its peak. Although
smaller in size than the protests of
1996 and 1995, which drew 2,500
and 5,000 students respectively,
this year's crowd was no less pas-
Emergency loan
fund dry again
By MICHAEL CONNORS
Memorial's emergency student loan fund has been drained
for the third time in a year and a
half.
The $86,000 fund, which is
jointly funded by the Department of Student Services and
the CSU, was not only emptied,
but overdrawn by $32,000 after
581 students made emergency
loan requests in a period of three
weeks.
Wayne Clarke, director of general student services, says the
administration is looking for
more money to add to the fund,
but it isn't looking good, especially now that the fund is in
deficit.
The fund, which is normally
allocated $ 100,000every semester, started the year with less
money because of unpaid loans
from last semester. Clarke says
the amount of bad-debt in the
Correction
In the Jan. 23 issue of The Muse, the banner headline on the front
page read: "Prof suspended without pay." The professor in question,
Aziz Rahman, has appealed the suspension, and is still teaching and
receiving pay from the university until the matter goes to arbitration.
The Muse recognizes the headline did not accurately reflect the story
and apologizes.
"I think it's a right and a responsibility to protest against things
that we don't agree with," said one
of the protesters.
The rally began at 11:30 am
with speeches from student leaders and members of local unions.
Added attractions included a mock
jail cell for students "sentenced to
debt" and a stuffed Jean Chretien
which people were encouraged to
kick.
"It is with great frustration that
we see what is happening today,"
said Brendan Doyle, president of
the Newfoundland and Labrador
Teachers Association.
"Students are prepared, they
have the where-with-all in skills
and prerequisites and we're having these artificial barriers put up."
CSU President Keith Clarke
stressed several issues affecting
students, including the recent dry
up of the Emergency Student Loan
Fund, the increase in the number
of students going to the campus
food bank in recent years, and the
4.5 per cent tuition fee increase
planned for this summer.
Also, back again from last year,
• Please see "Protesters"page 9
fund is usually small, but it sometimes takes students a long time
to pay the money back.
The largest amount of money
a student can borrow from the
fund is $250, with loans being
given out on the basis of need.
This has become a chronic
problem with the emergency student loan fund. Last winter the
fund ran dry by mid-February
even after the CSU and administration combined kicked in an
extra $70,000.
Keith Clarke, president of the
CSU, says tuition fees have increased so much in the past few
years that many students are constantly forced to scrape together
a few dollars just to stay in
school.
"It just goes to show that current student aid levels are not
reflective of the costs of living,
the costs of books, the cost of
tuition, the whole cost of univer-
• Please see "Emergency" page 4
Several hundred students occupied the lobby of the Confederation Building during the
January 28 Day of Action. They were protesting rising tuition fees. Photo by Aaron Siegei
Loan remission appeals go
well, say student leaders
By MICHAEL CONNORS
Student leaders are expressing guarded optimism about the
province's loan remission program after some concerns were
answered during the appeals
process, but they still say there
are problems.
Students graduating from
post-secondary schools this year
were the first to be able to take
advantage of a provincial program which promised to forgive
debts in excess of $22,000, but
only if they finished their degrees within a year of the prescribed time.
The timely-completion requirement drew heavy criticism
from student groups who
claimed it was too restrictive and
didn't take into account certain
realities of student life which
could legitimately delay graduation.
Those student groups said their
concerns were proven last November when only 30 per cent of
the 290 students who applied for
debt-relief qualified for remissions.
But now there is a chance the
criteria will be relaxed and more
students could qualify because
• Please see "Gov't"page 4
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