St Lee Over The Edge Page 4 OPINION : February 24, 1998 Why Over The Edge is NOT an Office Supply Store by Paul Berard it irks me somewhat that the almost continual flow of peo- ple that come into the Over The Edge office don’t have a different goal. After all, it's been three years. It is only conceivable that people might have found some alternatives. So, post this on your fridge, because | suspect some of you will for- get. OVER THE EDGE’S FRE- QUENTLY ASKED QUES- TIONS ABOUT THINGS WE DON’T DO “Do you guys sell lockers?” The easy answer here is “No, we do not sell lockers.” Of course, it is only consid- ered considerate to help you, and so we do by tagging the following line onto the previ- ous one:. “But if you go around the corner to the Northern Undergraduate Student Society, they will be more than happy to aid you in that task.” “The —- is broken.” The easy answer is “We don’t give a rat's...” Once again, we are polite enough to realize that the photocopier is just outside our office and respond that the copier is the sole responsibility of UNBC Copy Services and they. will be happy to help you. “Is this UNBC?” This ACTUALLY makes the list of frequently asked ques- tions. | don’t know if there is a wormhole somewhere just dropping these people in front of our office, but if this question went away, !| doubt we'd miss it. “Do you know where Over The Edge is?” Yes. But we’re not telling. Person walks in, picks up the latest issue out of the stand on the desk. Asks “Is this the latest issue?” _ Dead air. You deserved that. That question ranks up there with the “Do you have a paper?” No. We don’t have a paper. And then we'll laugh at you for asking. “Do you have a pen | can borrow?” No. We used to let people borrow pens and pencils, but now that we have none of our own, because some of you people never return them, we think all of you should suffer. “Do you know where the live sex show in basement is?” Well, go down in the base- ment, through the door and ignore the soft click the door makes behind you. Enjoy. “Why doesn’t the bear in the Library building work any- more?” We don’t know. We asked, but nobody else seems to know either. If you know and are willing to impart this infor- mation, please phone Over The Edge and ask for Paul Berard. UNBC students are politically apathetic | am writing to you in regards to the sad state of student activism and politics here at UNBC. For those who were not aware, January 28th was the National Day of Action to stop student debt, as celebrated by various post-secondary students all across the country. The day is an annual event organized by the Canadian Federation of Students for students across the country to stand up and be heard in one united voice to say “Education is a right, not a privilege!” The CFS is a national union that fights for the rights of students all across Canada. Of course, here in BC we are fortunate enough to have a government that under- stands, or acts as though they understand this, as they have frozen tuition fees. While this is good for BC students, mak- ing education a more realistic reality for the average per- son, as opposed to the upper and middle class. However, not all provinces have imple- mented tuition freezes. This concept appears to be difficult for BC students to sympathize with. This apa- thetic attitude is never so pre- sent at a school as it is at UNBC. With NUGSS having to beg yearly for students to show up to the annual gener- al meeting, and to vote in the elections, the apathy at UNBC is everywhere one looks. This apathetic attitude was magnified at the Day of Action protest as only 15 or so UNBC students showed up to support the cause. Now many students here at UNBC are may say that they were not aware of the Day of Action. There is a simple rea- son for this NUGSS has decided that CFS would not serve the best interest of the under-grad_ students at UNBC. This of course is a farce as our present students association does little or nothing to improve the lives of students. All across Canada students partook in protests to show their frustration with the pre- sent student loan payment plan. In Victoria over 3,000 students marched on the par- liament steps. While, in Toronto, where the Harris government is about to imple- ment a 20% tuition raise, thousands of students took over the main CIBC branch in the downtown core. These sort of actions are obviously not going to occur here in Prince George as we do not have the number. But, to have .05% of the student population show up at a rally to eliminate student debt is ludicrous and __ pathetic. Especially after the over- whelming number of people who were more than willing to add their total to the student debt chart outside of NUGSS. For those who were paying attention to the total for the student debt her at UNBC, the total was in the millions leaving an average of thou- sands upon thousands of dol- lars for the students that took part. To end my session of bitching | propose a solution to these problems: ask NUGSS to join the Canadian Federation of Students so that UNBC students have the aH WY