February 11. 2002 News Over The Edge Page 3

Reasons to Believe: A Case for Creation

By Andrea Larson

Evolution may not be the
only scientific answer to the
origins of life on earth. That
was the message that Dr.
Fazale Rana gave during his
recent visit to the University
of Northern British Columbia.
Rana is a biochemist who
works with the organization
"Reasons to Believe" a group
of Christian scientists work-
ing to put forward a "testable,
scientific argument for cre-
ation".

As part of the Worldview
Lectureship Series, put on
every year by the Intervarsity
Christian Fellowship, and
local churches, Rana talked
about the biochemical evi-
dences for design and gave
various arguments that point-

ed towards creationism. The
main point behind the lecture
was not to give one concrete
proof, but rather, "create a
weight of evidence that in
combination is difficult to dis-
miss".

Rana spoke on the remark-
able similarities between cel-
lular machinery and human
made machines, using the
watchmaker argument to
help illustrate his point. Rana
also talked about systems
found in nature that are irre-
ducibly complex; systems
that without one component
would not function in any
way. It was argued that irre-
ducibly complex systems
would be unlikely to form by
means of evolution because
without any one part the rest
would be useless, and unlike-

ly to be selected for naturally.
The final point of his lecture
talked about the genetic
code. Rana argued that the
highly efficient coding system
that is used in our cell's DNA
is evidence for design as the
code that is in place is "one of
the most optimized codes
that could possibly be found
of all the random combina-
tions of codons".

During one of the debates
on the topic of evolution, cre-
ation and design were being
discussed between a UNBC
chemistry professor Dr. Todd
Whitcome and Dr. Rana one
of UNBC's physics protes-
sors showed his unwilling-
ness to hear or tolerate new
ideas. Part way through the
debate Dr. Shegelski, chair of
the physics department,

voiced his opinion that "phi-
losophy has no place in sci-
ence" and that the debate
should not have taken place.

Rana has traveled through-
out North America giving lec-
tures at universities, busi-
nesses and churches, but
has never had such a con-
frontation happen before.
Rana feels that often scien-
tists are opposed to creation-
ism not because of their per-
sonal beliefs in God, but
because "scientists are very
well trained, but poorly edu-
cated". Scientists generally
learn their trade in an appren-
ticeship, in which they are
given all the tools of discov-
ery, but are not taught the his-
tory and philosophy of sci-
ence. Also, many scientists
ascribe to a methodological

ideology, which is rigid in how
scientific theories must be
proven; to look for "a super-
natural cause for a phenome-
non is looked upon as weak
scientific reasoning".

Photo by Andrea larson
Dr. Rana spoke with students
about the possibility of a scien-
tific creation theory.

Canada’s Day of Action

By Stephanie Wilson and
Kristen Wilgenhof

On February 6th, the
Canadian Federation of
Students (CFS) brought stu-
dents from across Canada

together for a Day of Action |
rising }
Prince }

to protest against
tuition fees. In

George, the day began at
11:30. am. with a rally at
CNG. Several hundred stu-
dents attended. Just after 1
pm., NUGSS held an open-
mike forum in the

Wintergarden for all stu- |

dents.

The UNBC turnout wa
much smaller, but just as
passionate.
MacEachern opened
debate. She was followed by
Deborah Poff, Vice President
Academic, who said we need
to. “reconfigure our mandate
to better suit students... we
need to protect the excel-
lence we've already estab-
lished.” After that, students
had the opportunity to voice
their opinions and concerns
on the anticipated tuition
increase. Both sides of the
debate were represented,
although the majority of the
students who spoke were not
in favour of any increase.

Many expressed concerns

that they would not be able to

Nedinska }
the |

attend university if tuition was
increased, and many
expressed anger at BC’s new
$6.00/hour training wage and
the termination of work study

“The money has to come
from somewhere... at UNBC,
we are privileged to have to
the low tuition we do.”

One phrase used repeated-
ly by both sides was “Short-
term pain for long-term
gain.” Those against a tuition
increase said “The govern-
ment should endure the

+} short-term pain... leaving BC

oto by Colleen O'Grady

Nedinska MacEachern, director of
External Affairs, gave the students
at UNBC a piece of her mind during

the Day of Action.

programs. Student loan debts
were also. brought up.
According to one student,
“There is no official opposi-
tion, so we have to be the
opposition.”

On the other side of the
debate, one student believed
that “Paying to get an educa-
tion is better than having no
teachers and no resources.”
Another student said that

| to gain in the long run seems

*| to be the only option.” Those
‘tin a favour of a_ tuition
j increase said that we need
,|to endure the short-term

pain of paying tuition to ben-
efit from the long-term
results of a post-secondary
education. According to one
student, “People need to
work for an education. We
pay now and reap the bene-
fits later.”

CNC students came up to
UNBC after their rally to fur-
ther voice their opinions.
According to Rob of the CNC
Student Society, | uncon-
firmed leaked documents
show a 200% ~ tuition
increase. “What kind of
province increases tuition
200% and kills Work Study
and Co-op?” said Rob. He,
along with other students,
believe that “Education is a
right, not a privilege, in this
country.” Veronica Murphy,
also from the CNC Student

Society, said that “We cannot
afford a tuition fee increase...
[MLA Shirley] Bond needs to
look out for the best interest
for Prince George.”

Prince George students
were joined by thousands of
others across Canada.
UVic’s student newspaper,
The Marlet, reported that
3000 people from five Lower
Mainland and Vancouver
Island colleges and universi-
ties gathered at the provincial
Legislature to protest, while
“5000 students marched in
Toronto, 3000 marched in
Halifax, and 1500 marched in
Vancouver.”

In Saskatchewan, 200 stu-
dents from the University of
Regina protested their
province’s 111% increase
since 1991. Students will also
“freeze to freeze tuition,”
which is being organized by
CFS. Manitoba students ral-
lied to keep tuition frozen.
3000 students, some iravel-
ling up to six hours to attend,
marched through downtown
Winnipeg and gathered at the
Legislature.

Ontario students gathered
in Toronto’s Queen’s Park,
while in Ottawa, federal NDP
leader Alexa McDonough
showed support for the Day
of Action during question
period in the House of

Commons. “The New
Democratic Party absolutely
supports the call right across
the country today from stu-
dents for tuition freezes,” she

said.

In Montréal, students
marched through the city to
the Québec Education

Ministry, where they asked
that the province’s tuition
freeze be continued.

In other tuition news, a doc-
ument leaked to The’ UVic
Martlet also is spelling bad
news for UVic students.
According to the student
newspaper, “The provincial
government will allow UVic to
double current tuition fee lev-
els of $2152 over three years.
The report indicates revenue
from tuition will nearly double,
from $33 million this year to
$64 million in 2004. ‘While
this would be a significant
increase, it would provide a
significant source of funding
over the years ahead,’ the
report said.”

There is no word as to
whether other BC universities
have been granted such abil-
ity. UVic’s student association
has information that indicates
tuition information could be
announced “as early as Feb.
+ ig