The Muse, vol. 17, no. 12 (20 January 1967)

              How did
the Graduate
Society
2ttn>
VOLUME 17
ST. JOHN'S, NFLD., FRIDAY, JAN. 20, 1967
IWktail
Party
Go?
Editors, Councillors
Threaten to Resign
By Richard Stoker, Gus Lilly, and
Margaret McCurdy
Two Council members and
three MUSE editors threatened
to resign over the issue of freedom of the press for the MUSE
at the Council meeting on Wednesday night, January 18. This
freedom ;was finally, passed in
principle. The MUSE constitution
was an item on the agenda after
being put off since the beginning
of the university year.
Editor-in-chief Richard Stoker,
Associate Editor Margaret McCurdy, and Executive Editor Gus
Lilly declared that if an amendment granting censorship powers
to the Council were passed, they
would resign. "Make that four
resignations," said Publications
Chairman Robert Pelley. Council Chairman John Frecker said,
"If this constitution is not passed
tonight, I will resign from Council."
The constitution was not passed
in its entirety, but the MUSE entered a plea that if Chairman
Frecker were making this announcement on their behalf, that
they, as the party most intimately
involved with the passing of this
constitution, urged that he remain in office. "On these grounds,
I withdraw that threat," said
Mr.  Frecker.
The controversial article read:
"The MUSE shall be the undergraduate newspaper of Memorial
University of Newfoundland and
shall be a self-governing autonomous body without censorship
from the University Administra-
I. D. Notice
As of January 27th, Student Union
I.D. Cards will be compulsory for
admittance to and participation in all
C.S.U. sponsored events.
Students who had their photos taken during Orientation Week but have
not purchased their I.D. Cards can
ohtain them at the C.S.U. Office.
Students who did not have their
photos taken for I.D. Cards can obtain blank I.D. Cards at the C.S.U.
Office. Students obtaining these blank
cards must provide their own photographs which must be placed on the
cards. These cards and photographs
must be returned to the C.S.U. office
to be stamped before the cards become  official.
Students are reminded that these
cards will be necessary for admittance
to soc-hops, voting in C.S.U. elections,
purchasing tickets to C.S.U. dances,
obtaining student discounts, etc.
Sandra M. Clarke,
Chairman Regulations Committee.
tion, Faculty, or Council of the
Students' Union." The three
MUSE editors were admitted to
the meeting. The first objection
was that no student constitution
can be made binding on the Administration. 'I move that the
words 'University Administration'
be stricken," said Bob Pelley.
During discussion that wandered around the question of whether 'Faculty' should also be deleted, Finance Chairman John
Dawson quietly moved an amendment to the amendment, to the
effect that the words "Autonomous . . . without censorship
from the. . . . Council of the Students' Union" also be removed
from the Article.
Twice, the Council passed this
amendment to the amendment.
Twice, Council members and
MUSE editors challenged the legitimacy of this motion, on the
grounds that it was self-contradictory: If the words "self-governing" remain in the constitution, then that must mean the
MUSE governs itself, which
means  it  also  censors  itself.
"No, no," said John Dawson.
"I take that to mean internal
self-government, they choose
their own-editors, and things like
that."
"Please define your terms,"
said Bob Pelley over the ensuing
uproar. "Are you or are you not
in    favour     of     censoring     the
MUSE?"
"Yes," said John Dawson.
"I think," said Editor Stoker,
"that we should have a definition
of censorship. Censorship of the
MUSE means that someone can
come in and alter, delete, or add
to our news stories, our editorials,
and anything else that strikes his
fancy, and his decision would be
binding on us. There wouldn't
be anything we could do about
it."
"But," interjected Council President Doug Cook, "Council is
responsible for the MUSE. Council, as the duly elected representa
tives of the students, should be
able to act when something is
going in the MUSE that they feel
the majority of the students
wouldn't approve."
"How are we going to establish
a criterion for deciding that?"
asked Bob Pelley. "The basic
issue here is whether or not we
are in favour of censoring the
MUSE. I wish to place a motion
of clarification, and as mover, I
wish to suggest a method of carrying it through. I move that each
member of Council state whether
or not he is in favour of censorship of the MUSE and why, in
thirty seconds or less."
Roy Perry seconded this and
Council passed it. In order of
speaking, the roll can read:
Doug Cook: Approved. Council
must answer for the MUSE,
Council should have some control
in cases of extreme necessity.
Jamie Puddester: Oppose. By
ratifying the Editor-in-Chief,
Council puts trust in him to act
as their censor. This indirect
censorship, and censorship by
cutting the budget is all that
Council has the right to.
Harvey Taylor: Oppose: Editor's ratification is sufficient.
Diane Colbourne: Oppose. By
ratifying the Editors, Council has
enough  censorship.
Barbara Kelley: Oppose. "I
agree with Diane completely."
Art Bull: Approve. "Doug's
words are my words."
Kevin Smith: Approve. Agreed
with Art.
Bob Pelley: Oppose. Reiterated opinion that ratification of
Editor is all that falls within
Council's  jurisdiction.
John Winter: Oppose. Ratification is enough censorship.
Ida Squires: Oppose. "I am opposed to censorship in any way."
Sandra Clarke: Oppose. Against
censorship in principle.
Don Tarrant: Oppose. Ratification is sufficient. The MUSE is
the only possible opposition to
Council on campus. There must
be opposition of some kind.
Roy Perry: Oppose,
tion is sufficient.
Ratifica-
Fraser March: Oppose. Agreed
with the others.
John Dawson: Approve. "I
guess my motion is defeated then.
But I would like to point, out that
last week you said you wouldn't
give money to the Concrete Vine
unless you had some control over
them. Now you turn around and
relinquish control over the
MUSE." At this point, Mr. Dawson left the meeting.
John Frecker: No vote. Expressed relief that Council finally
appeared to understand the issue
of censorship and had voted
against it.
Total count:
Approving censorship — 4
Opposing censorship —11
As Mr. Dawson had left the
meeting, the Chairman declared
his amendment to the amendment
invalid.
Robert Pelley's original amendment came up again, and passed,
9-4. Doug Cook, John Winter,
Art Bull, and Kevin Smith voted
against it. John Dawson and
Jamie Puddester had left the
meeting.
The clause now reads: "The
MUSE shall be a self-governing
autonomous body without censorship from the Council of the
Students' Union."
Mr. Stoker tried to continue into Article III, but was drowned
out by Councillors calling for adjournment. "Council meetings
are' supposed to end at nine
o'clock. It's now four after," they
called. But they decided that,
since the MUSE has had no constitution for two years, the meet-
Harvey's Heroes Rules
Plans for the formation of a
Discipline Corps at Memorial are
progressing favourably reported
Harvey Taylor, chairman of the
Student Discipline Committee.
The constitution of the "Student Discipline Corps" subject
to modification, presently calls
for a corps chief in his third,
fourth, or fifth year and some
10  to  20  members  of whom  at
least two must be female.
No member of the CSU will be
permitted to enter the corps. Applications for positions of chief
and corps members will be accepted up to January 20. Appointments will be made, Mr. Taylor
added, as soon as possible thereafter.
He explained the purpose of the
corps  as  a  start  at  having  the
university discipline its own affairs. "Social functions particularly," said Mr. Taylor, "seem to
be our most immediate and most
useful purposes."
If legislation is finalized by the
end of the month, he said, the
corps will be able to offer valuable assistance during Winter
Carnival.
ing   would  continue  until  nine-
fifteen.
At this point, John Frecker reiterated his earlier threat to resign if this matter were not settled at this meeting. This time
his earlier threat had passed almost unnoticed in the confusion.
Councillors maintained an iron
determination to get home or to
the Graduate Society cocktail
party on time.
However, MUSE Executive
Editor Gus Lilly said: "Since this
is a matter which can have an adverse effect on the MUSE, I do
not feel that action as drastic as
resignation is necessary at this
time. On behalf of the MUSE,
I would like to ask Mr. Frecker
to retract his statement."
"Under those circumstances, I
withdraw that statement," said
Mr. Frecker.
After prolonged discussion,
which used up most of the extra
ten minutes, Council decided to
put the MUSE constitution first
on next Wednesday's agenda.
On Mr. Bull's motion, they
agreed to continue that meeting
for as long as was necessary to
discuss the whole constitution.
Council adjourned, and Councillors and MUSErs wandered
vociferously into the hall. "I'm
seriously considering resigning,"
said Councillor Don Tarrant. "I've
never  seen   a   Council  like  this
Eleven articles remain to be
discussed next week. At least
one of them promises lively controversy; already President Cook
has declared he is not in favour
of Article XIII which protects the
Editor-in-Chief from arbitrary
firing by the Council, and which
is in accordance with the C.U.P.
Constitution.
Stop   Press!
COUNCIL MEMBER
PETER   IRISH
RESIGNED   HIS
POSITION  ON
COUNCIL
WEDNESDAY, JAN. 18