Northern allowance eliminated without consultation Br Dana SCHWEHR STAKF WRITER The provincial government's sud- den decision to cut some of UNBC’s core funding has forced the university to dramatically re-organize its budget for the coming year to avoid making cuts. The Ministry of Advanced Education has just announced that it will be discontinuing the Northern Allowance, a funding provision in the University of Northern BC Act that addresses the higher costs of operation in the north. “This goes against the heart of the mission mandate of UNBC,” said UNBC president Dr. Charles Jago.. The funding has _ gradually decreased from its original levels of 32 per cent of full time equivalent student funding to the current value of. less than 15 per cent of full time funding, according to the 2005/06 Operating Budget for UNBC. While it seems that the provincial government believes that this funding was allocated to UNBC because it is a new campus, it was actually used to pay for the higher travel, heating, and snow removal costs faced by UNBC, said Jago at the Board of Governors meeting held on April 2. “Tt’s a fundamental misunderstand- ing between the government and the. university,” he added. At the Board of Governors meeting, Dr, Jago expressed regret that the deci- sion was made without any consulta- — tion with UNBG, and believes that the subject should be reopened for discus- sion. To make the ‘transition easier, the Ministry of Fiance has given UNBC more than $1 million in one-time funding grants. UNBC has chosen to treat the grants as an increase to the base fund- ing provided to university by the gov- ernment; however, according to Dr. Jago, the government has not indicat- ed that this is actually the case, and no plans have yet been made to deal with the permanent loss of the Northern Allowance. “We have to resign ourselves to the fact that it has been cut,” said Dr. Jago, “but we are insisting on further discus- sions with the government.” UNBC is facing further budget diffi- culties, due to the proposed cap on tuition fee increases that the Liberals announced in the February Throne Speech If passed, the legislation would limit tuition increases to the level of annual inflation. UNBC has chosen to follow the conditions of the proposed cap in its budget for the 2005/06 school year, limiting increases in tuition fees to two per cent, or about $40 per student per semester. The two per cent increase is actually half of the estimated higher education inflation rate. To compensate for the cap, the Ministry of Advanced Education has increased UNBC’s base grant funding by $1.3 million. In addition, the Ministry of Advanced Education has also informed UNBC that is it required to increase enrollment by 5.6 per cent in the coming year. In response, UNBC has identified funding that can be reallocated in order to focus more on the recruitment and retention of students. The newly passed budget proposes Dean of and the creation of the Enrollment Management Student Services |; Lecture Theatres « %et§Q, 7-152, 7-458 3 APRIL 6, 2005 information / Security —* Academic Advisement, as well as the transfer of the university's webmaster position to a full-time position in Communications. A Senior Laboratory Instructor for Biochemistry will also be acquired, and ten more Teaching Assitantships will be created to aid recruitment and serve the increased student popula- tion. TA stipends are set to increase from $4,000 to $4,200 per term, which represents the first increase in the PHOTO BY DANA SCHWEHR stipends since they were initially set in 1994. No layoffs have been recommended in the budget, but a vacant faculty position in the Environmental Science department has been eliminated to allow the university to reallocate its funds. The elimination of this position is to be offset by the appointment of two external candidates as Canada Research Chairs. Pollution Br Brrna Caser STAFF WRITER When one thinks of pollution in our fair city, the mills or one of the many large fuel-guzzling vehicles shoving out exhaust are usually what come to mind. When we think of larger pollution problems, acid rain takes a primary place, but few people think of anoth- er serious problem that affects us - transcontinental and transpacific air pollution. Transcontinental air pollution is what is known as a global environ- mental: problem - problems such as climate change and stratospheric ozone depletion that affect the entire world, and everyone that lives on it. Porto BY TRAVIS NIELSEN Dr. Ken Wilkening stands proudly in front of his map showing Hawaii, where the last conference he attended was on Transcontinental air pollution was held. Despite its low profile, transconti- nental air pollution has been. a hot topic for discussion by scientists of .a diverse range of disciplines for years. However, it was not until the year 2000 that understanding of the prob- lem took a giant leap forward thanks ~ to Dr. Ken Wilkening. An assistant professor of International Studies here at UNBC, Wilkening brought scientists of var- ied disciplines together to “synthesize an understanding of the phenome- na.” According to Wilkening, “transpa- cific air pollution is the long range transport of air pollutants across the pacific ocean. These pollutants are transported on the [mid-latitude, or Spans the Globe westerlies] wind waiients at certain times of the year,” and can be observed most in winter and spring. The conference held in 2000 had over 100 top scientists from multiple . fields gather together to try to decide whether the transcontinental and transpacific pollution phenomena are a significant problem, or if they could grow to become one. The consensus reached at the con- ference was yes there is a problem, and that problem needed and contin- ues to. need research - a conclusion reached by atmospheric physicists, ecologists and scientists in other disci- plines. Conferences like this one have “expanded peoples’ sense of what air pollution might be like,” said Wilkening. “Air pollution: problems that span the globe.” Since 2000, Wilkening’s work has grown to encompass all aspects of transcontinental air pollution “of which transpacific-air pollution is just ~ a zone.” h There are things such as Trans- North American, Trans-Atlantic and Trans-Eurasian pollution, all of which encompass new zones, and are included under the broad banner of transcontinental air pollution. Since the 2000 conference, Wilkening has begun to focus on the “{ntersection between science, policy, and politics,” in his studies of air pol- lution, and he has been able to use this research to look at how exactly scientific knowledge works its way to the general public and the political world. “What I’m interested in, in this particular issue, is how it’s emerging and what kind of momentum it’s gaining,” said Wilkening. NUGSS Election Results Show Few Surprises By KATHLEEN DE VERE News EDITOR The results of the NUGSS election are in, and overall, they held few sur- prises, with most candidates being elected by acclamation. Aaron Widdis (VP Student Affairs), Aidan Kelly (VP External), Tanner Alden (VP Social), Jordie Fraser (VP Finance), Crystal Marko (Associate VP Social), Lester (Todd) Alec (First Nations Rep) and Chelsea Anchikoski (Member at Large) all easily won their acclamation elections, although each candidate did receive a small amount - ~ between 12 and 15 per cent of the total votes ~ of no votes. Perhaps the most noteworthy elec- tion result was for the newly re-named position of President of NUGSS, for- mery the Director of University Affairs. New President Colin Philips won the race handily, taking an absolute majority of the 639 votes cast, and surpassing the vote count of his other two competitors combined. Philips finished the election with 366 votes, 57 per cent of the total votes. Cara ~Westgate was elected Women’s Rep, beating candidate Jamey Dye. Jillian Merrick won the position of CASHS Rep over com- petitor Shawn Rennebohm. The-clos- est race in the election was for the position of CSM Rep, with Jai Parmar narrowly beating Phat Tran, by 39 votes, 344 to 305. The 2005/2006 NUGSS Board. President: Colin Philips VP Student Affairs: Aaron Widdis VP External: Aidan Kelly VP Social: Tanner Alden VP Finance: Jordie Fraser First Nations Rep.: Lester (Todd) Alec Women’s Rep.: Cara Westgate CSM Rep.: Jai Parmar CASHS Rep.: Jillian Merrick Associate VP Social: Crystal Marko Member at Large: Chelsea Anchikoski Northern Lights Limosine Service Arrive in style... Convocation, weddings, and more! (p) 963.7130 | (c) 613.5607