_- — Joserd Jerrery

Kyra JANOT

Svarr Wrirers
_ The recent UNBC budget cuts
have been a surprise to us all and
a point of much contention in the
university community. Shortly

after the announcement a fel-

low OTE staff writer and myself
caught up with two faculty mem-
bers to find out their opinions on
what they had heard.
_ David Casperson, an Assistant
Professor in the Computer Science
department said that he had yet to
see any real numbers, just pretty

Repgce

a Co-Epiror in Ce
: AsI discussed in the last issue’ S a
article, the co-operative education _
program may be removed fon | ee
ae ome during the. last a

has being engaging in consulta-

tion sessions to gain information —

from some of the people most
affected by co-op, including stu-

March 14, at 3:30 in the Bentley

Center to present a final derision -

on this topic.

The student couldnt meet

ing was well attended by co-op
students, as well as a few students

not in co-op. Students brought up

bees alae ee es which is not currently offered at

op program should be retained UNBC. Offering credit for work

at UNBC. They view getting rel- _

MIcHELE GRANT
' Puoro E DITOR
In the past few months many
ors have begun to fly: of
s being cut, people losing
jobs, and essentially that stu-
dents are getting the short end of
the stick. Different reports have
claimed to have had all the facts
and have spelt nothing but doom
for our quaint little university on
the hill, but most of them have
had only half stories and quar-
ter truths. Once our readers had
caught wind however, things
changed for the worse and we at
OTE were flooded with rumors of

dents, employers, co-op staff and
First Nations groups. The Senate :
will be meeting again Wednesday a

graphs. Due to this, he said, some

faculty are doubtful of the claim

and see it more as a new president

wanting to make changes, though
he says he has yet to decide »
for himself if this is true, or if

under the header of staff and cuts
to them would most certainly im-
pact upon students he feels. In
‘addition with the cuts of faculty

"David Casperson, an Assistant

OVER THE EDGE March 14, 2007

“In the short term it’s
creating stress, faculty are

the president is being honest Profes $507 m the oe omputer Science spending a Jot of time talk-

about the figures.
Robert Budde, an As-

department. said that he bad yet

ing about it, what might
happen, what they might do

sistant Professor in the Eng- £9 see any real numbers, just ee and the same thing is likely

lish department said he was .
concertied about the impact
that the cuts would have on
students. In particular the cuts

of staff as there are only cighty-

seven to begin with, twenty-five is

over a quarter of them. Those who

ence: as an. important component
of eae veny education. :

Students invelved in recruitment L
and tours for UNBC note that pro--

spective students often ask about

co-op as an option. Most students _
agreed that the ideal course of ac- _

tion would be to improve co-op

and increase enrollment in the
- program, as well as creating more
career preparation — for stu-
dents notinco-op.
Students had several supger :
: tions of ways to make co-op more
- feasible. Many other universities.

offer co-op for academic credit,

nape
budget cuts and its effects, and one
poor Photo Editor managed to be
assigned to/take-on tracing down
said rumors to their origin, and
‘filtering the facts from the fiction, ©

However, after emailing a few
professors and deans who could
have been affected by the ramored
“cuts” 1 quickly had Robert Van

_ Adrichem, Director of Media and

Public Relations at UNBC knock-
ing on my door, wanting to set the

record straight, and something”

I wanted as well, and this is the
story of that record.
With the smoke starting to

clear i would like to begin with —

graphs

it may mean larger class sizes in

some cases, which will also have

an adverse effect upon students.

He also. believes that given that
y has

for ois to carol, as this 1 may :
reduce their total course load. They
also that enrollment a

an meee university regis-
tration would streamline this pro-

_ cess and would likely engage more —

Students, as would promoting the
program in high schools, Encour-
aging students in second year and
beyond to join co-op would also

increase enrollment. While co-op.

is currently most popular’ among —
_ science and natural resource man-

agement students, far more could —

be done to engage business and
arts majors. :
A consultation meeting was

also held with about 15 employ-

ers, representing both the public

ery
one is hearing and fearing about,
Four programs will not allow fu-
ther admittance or declaration of
a major or minor in their program
temporarily, until further notice as
of May 2007, for first year entry
or transfer students. Any students
currently enrolled in UNBC can
declare info any degree major,
joint: major, or minor, of their
choice that would have been
available to them when they were
admitted to the university. The
four programs mentioned above
are Physics, Economics, Women
Studies, and Northern Studies, all
of which have had a total of 40

to be going on with the stu-
_ dents. That’s harmful” Cas-
person pointed out. Also
harmful, though he doesn’t see a
way around it, is the leaving of
those who have been around this
university a long time, some as
the univ

Agency, the BC) Mir

receive offers of full time ¢ enploy.
ment upon graduation. Many of
the employers graduated from co-
op programs themselves and stat-

ed that the program was strongly
associated with career success. It

also creates strong connections

between the University and the
surrounding communities. Some

employers stated that they would

‘simply hire co-op students from

other institutions if it were not
offered at UNBC. They were not

generally supportive of other ca-

reer preparation models, such as
service learning and internships.

in the past alf a decade,
12 in Physics, 21.5 (the .5 1s for
joint majors) in Economics, 3.5 in
Women Studies, and 3 in Northern

Studies. The focus of this tempor-
ary suspension of admissions, is .

to allow for reorganization within
the departments and the possible
cutting of upper division courses.

Hf, of course, it is decided by the
- departments, deans and senate,

that they no longer wish to offer
these majors through the univer-

sity or wish to restructure what |

courses are required to achieve
one’s degree. First and second
year courses, will continue to be
offered, especially in Econom-

institution for serv-
ing the community that it should —
“not be run like a business, on the
basis of deficit.

and private sectors. Participants —
included the BC Public ‘Service
stry of For-_
‘ests and Range, the City of
George, Canfor, KPMG, and
Mason and Co. Employers were -
e first year stt ring thi rst_unanimously supportive of retain-
tno mon hal rm. Many oe co-op.

x new students may be feeling too The y vie
: overwhelmed By) the « = of

at 3:300n March 14. The sub-com-

maton of the consul ‘groups

He does see a good side to it
though. That being that the uni-
versity is starting to plan budgets
for longer periods of time, so they

_know how much money they will

have for things like part time in-
structors two years from now, In
the past the budget planning pro-
cess used to be a scramble start-
ing around this time [as of the
interview] and ending at the end
of February. This process could
help the university get better year
by year and a sense of knowing
where we're going to be three
— from now.

ile employers acknowledge
the financial difficulties the Uni-
versity is facing, they felt that the

decision to end co-op was hot the
right way to solve them. :

_ This issue will be diegecis in
the next Senate ‘meeting, to be held

to make recommendations about

co-op and other potential career

programs, This just so happens to
be the date this paper comes out,
so by the time you read this the
future of co-op will probably have

been decided. More information
on this decision will be available

in the next issue of Over the Edge.
However, if you catch this before
then, students are welcome to at-

tend Senate meetings, although
only” Senate members can speak

at them. There are also currently
vacant student positions available
on the Senate if any students are
interested in having input in deci-
sions about their university.

ics and | ysics where they fill

many of the first and second year

tequirements for other majors. As
for Women Studies and Northern
Studies, while some courses may
be cut, the theme of the two pro-
grams will still be offered through
much of the University’s selection
asitalwayshas been. —

Continued

| Under .:
“Clearing the
Air” - Page 5