The Muse, vol. 21, no. 04 (09 October 1970)

              the muse
Friday  , October 9, 1970
National Dope Day
Referendum will poll students on p
students will likely vote later this
month in a national referendum on the
legalization of marijuana.
The Council of the Students Union
were to decide last night whether to take
part in the referendum which its
organizers hope will "lend more support
for legalization of cannabis."
CSU president Bill Bishop said
Thursday the CSU would likely want
Memorial to participate in the
referendum but the results of last night's
meeting were not available in time for
this week's MUSE.
The   referendum   is   being   held    in
conjunction with "National Dope   Day,"
ect   promoted   by   the   Western
..an    Students    Unions    at    a
nee   in   August.    The    date    is
October 26.
Christine   M.   Krawczyk    of    the
sity   of    British    Columbia,
co-ordinator of the referendum, said she
hopes the results will be presented to the
federal government as support   for the
legalization of pot, or at least will initiate
a moratorium on convictions under the
il Code.
iferendum, if voted on here, will
also include a  secondary   question   on
: the CSU should   post bail for
nts busted for pot and acid.
meeting two weeks ago, the
threw out a motion that would
quired the union to furnish bail
student busted for possession of
ina, hashish or LSD, if the student
le to find another bail source
18 hours.
motion was made by Bishop and
led by vice-president Merrill
and councillor Bob Pottier. It was.
J by the votes of councillors Tim
Bob Andrews, Adrian Horwood
Kennedy.
-ood   at   the   time   suggested   a
•   referendum   on   the   marijuana
issue and Bishop said that if council
agrees to participate in the national poll,
the referendum on bail could be held
along with it.
The wording for the national
referendum is: "Are you in favor of the
legalization of marijuana?"
Meanwhile, a conference on drug abuse
will be held here in early November. Its
planning is jointly sponsored by the
Student's   Union,   the   Student   Affairs
Department and the MUN Medical
School.
Ed White of Student Affairs said
Thursday that the form of the conference
has not yet been decided. "We hope to
set up an ongoing process which could
include public and student education on
drugs."
He said that the conference will
probably look at what can be included ...
things   like   drop-in   centres,   a   24-hour
crisis phone service, and help in finding
specific kinds of professional help such as
doctors, lawyers, counsellors and
government agencies."
The chief resource person for the
project will be Doctor Taylor Staten,
chief of psychiatry for the student health
services, University of Toronto. There is
also a possibility of the help of some one
who has been involved with a crises
phone service in Nova Scotia.
The new season for Campus politics got off to its usual rollicking start Wednesday as students crammed into
a stuffy and smoke-filled Little Theatre at lunch hour to hear the speeches of candidates for the CSU and
the university senate. The political fervor soon reached such a peak that returning officer Bob Buckingham
decided to cancel the speeches lest rioting ensue. Details page 3.
Charges "spurious", says CSU president
uncil ot the Students' Union has issued a
tatement branding as "spurious" charges made in last
'ISE that Memorial University is offering
degrees to Don Jamieson, federal minister of
and Leslie Curtis, provincial justice minister,
: win their influence in obtaining money for
m   the   department   of   regional   economic
ront page editorial last Friday, the MUSE
ie university senate of offering the degrees to
md Curtis in order to gain their influence in an
i get upwards of $50 million from DREE for
rvelopment of the North Campus.
It charged that the scheme was mainly the doings of
immistration president Lord Taylor and vice-president
•an and that the Senate honorary degrees
.    was    cognL nt    of   the    motives    when
icommending Jamieson and Curtis.
statement issued last weekend, CSU president
p said that after "a thorough and careful
lie  council  is satisfied  that  this   charge  is
•
Bishop acknowledged that an application for the
money has been made to DREE but claimed that at no
time prior to the secret ballot by which the entire senate
approved Jamieson and Curtis did the question of the
DREE grant arise.
"The Senators, with the exception of one or two,
knew nothing of the application to DREE. We are
satisfied that the Senate acted in good faith," Bishop
said.
The statement, however, expressed agreement with
the principle espoused in the MUSE editorial that
awarding of honorary degrees and the consideration of
government fund allocations to the university should
have no connection at all.
"If honorary degrees must be awarded we do not
disagree with awarding them to Dr. Olds, Jamieson and
Winter. However we cannot agree with awarding one to
L.R. Curtis," Bishop continued.
"It would be naive to suggest that the Senate was
unaware that Jamieson and Curtis might be valuable
friends of the university in some way at some future
date. However, it is quite untrue to suggest that this was
the only reason, or even the principle reason for their
selection."
All degrees, the statement said, are fast becoming
farcical nowadays and honorary degrees are a pure joke.
"We are sure that the importance which the recipients
attach to them is minimal. We would hope that it would
have no profound effect of their decisions within the
governmental process.
"This whole misunderstanding and controversy is an
argument for two changes within the university; first,
open meetings of the Senate so that erroneous
speculation based on rumor and loose talk need not
occur, and secondly, the abolition of honorary degrees
entirely, since they are a needless anachronism in any
case," the statement concluded.
MUSE co-editors Paul Harrington and Ron Crocker
say they have no intention of backing down on any of
the remarks made in the editorial and claim they are
satisfied that the university senate honorary degrees
committee had as their primary consideration the
possible monetary return from awarding the degrees to
Jamieson and Curtis.
(See editorial page 4).