Letters to the Editor

Higher
Education with a
Downhill Slant?

I am confused! One would
believe that the first university
to be built in Canada in 25
years would have some

. knowledge of how to run a
university. One would think
that this new university would
have learned from the
hundreds of preceeding
universities in the past. One
would believe that this new
place of higher learning would
be dedicated to providing the
best possible education
available. One would believe
the way to provide this
excellent education would be
to employ excellent professors.

This does not seem to be the :

case.

A recent event that has
occurred within the commerce
department has left me
wondering where UNBC is
headed. Is it headed into the
small category of great
universities or over into the
over-crowded category of
average universities? It seems
that the University is spending
more time and effort creating
courses that cannot be taught
than it is on keeping high
quality professors here to teach
the courses already in
existence.

Early this month a highly
respected professor within the
commerce department was “let
go”. This professor is currenlty.
listed in the Maclean’s Guide
to Universities as one of the
most popular professors in the
University. Also just last year
he was the University of
Northern British Columbia’s
Nominee for Canadian
Professor of the Year. What I
would like to know is, what
could this professor have
possibly done to go from a
nominee to unemployed by the

very university that nominated
him?

If the university is truly
interested in higher education
then why are they telling this
well respected teacher to
leave? I can not understand
this. When asked, any student
who has taken this professor,
as I have, will tell you they
learned more in his class than
any other. he is very
approachable and
understanding when it comes
to student problems. He is not
a teacher that is feared, but one
that is enjoyed by the student
body and his peers. He is
knowledgeable in the subjects
he teaches and makes the
classroom a fun learning
environment. But the, the
University already knew that
or they would not have
nominated him for professor of
the year in 1996.

At a time when the University
is forming an identity should it
not be showing other
professors that it is dedicated
to quality? Shouldn’t the
University want high quality
professors to teach it’s future
ambassadors to the business
world? At a time when the
UNBC calendar offers 56
commerce courses but the
registration guide only lists 27
of them available for students
to enroll in, most of them only
one section. Can the university
really afford to remove one of
their best professors? I don’t
think so.

This move by the Commerce
Department shows me that the
University does not care about
its employees, nor the
education it provides. So I
must ask myself, as a student,
do I really want to give the
little money I have to a
University that does not
consider the quality of the
products it provides? Well,
right now I am seriously
concerned about the quality of
education this school will be
able to provide if it continues

Phone 563-6637
Fax 563-6610
Toll Free 1-800-303-2950

1685 Third Ave.
Prince George, B,C
~V213G5 »

Books on Fourth

In The Former Danish Interiors Building

this practice of removing high
quality professors. do I want to
pay for a second rate
education?

This is a serious problem for
the entire futureof the
University. if this can be
permitted to continue the
University will become only a
university of second rate
educators and a second rate
education. no self-respecting
professor will want to work
here and only professors that
cannot get hired anywhere else
will work here. If this can
happen in the commerce
department, it can happen in
any other department.

I find this entire situsation
quite ironic. In many of my

classes I am told the value of |
quality employees and that !
turnover is costly to the:
company. 1 am taught ways to °

keep employee’s morale high
and to keep good employees
from going to competitors. I
am told that the customer is
always right and high quality
products will keep the
merchandise moving. Perhaps

the people responsible for this ;

decision should enroll in some
of the classes. That’s if they
are offered.

Christopher Stifling
stircO00@unbc.edu

A Enviromental
Opinion

After a tour of the Canfor
Mill, I felt overwhelmed.
Canfor is serving the public
with some very (1960's) and
some very new (1990's)

technology, providing pulp and ©

paper to consumers worldwide.
Technology, ultimately seems
to be running the show.

After visiting the Canfor
Mill I stopped to think about
how much technology is
behind almost everything we as
human in the western
hemisphere use or purchase,
from fast food chains to the
heavy industry. We are huge
consumers and we are paying
a high price. The high price we
are paying is in our world’s
natural resources including the
air that we breathe. We cannot
afford to think that our world’s
natural resources are
inexhaustible.

Of course, management
systems are in place in an
attempt to make sure things

cont'd on page 6

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