he Cadre + 6 October 1998

UPEI News 3

For the first time in re- t memory, students in the culty of Science are being rged laboratory user fees.

The lab. fees, $7 per rse involving the use of a oratory, affect all students ing science courses.

Students majoring in the ural sciences -- such as ology and Chemistry -- have reater lab component than students in programs such Engineering, and will be ected by this user fee most verely.

These students can ex- ct to pay more than $100 in s over the course of a four ar program.

UPEI administration de- ed to charge additional fees the interest of equality, or arging students taking the me courses the same fees.

“Itcame down toa ques- n of conflicting principles,” id Vice-President External

_ Crossley said, ithad been iversity policy toassure that

ts inall faculties received ual treatment, including the ¢ fee structure, but gov- iment cutbacks forced the niversity to change its policy.

As a result of these cut- backs -- nearly ten percent over the past two years -- each faculty was required to submit reports detailing their plans for decreasing expendi- tures.

For the Faculty of Sci- ence, this included laying off two sessional lecturers and making a $10,000 cut in the faculty’s discretionary budget, which is used to replace old and broken equipment.

According to Dean of Science Roger Gordon, the high prices of buying even ba- sic scientific equipment have forced professors to demand that the discretionary budget be maintained at its fiscal 1997 level of a quarter-million dol- lars or more,

Instead of a general tui- tion hike, the Faculty of Sci- ence decided to institute a fee for each course that involved the use of a laboratory.

This fee is funnelled di- rectly into the Faculty of Sci- ence’s discretionary budget, and is expected to provide $24,000 to absorb some costs of inflation.

Gordon said that the biol- ogy lab fee might be raised, depending on how much prices

Science students absorb governmentcuts Lab user fees instated

RANDY MCDONALD & SARAH MURPHY

for lab equipment increase.

So far, students are gen- erally accepting of the changes.

“If you’re taking a

course that involves the use of a lab, you need to pay for good equipment,” said one science major.

Christiain Lacroix, chair of the UPEI biology depart- ment, agrees.

“The price of consumables has skyrock- eted,” he said. “The depart- ment has been working with the same budget for three or four years now.”

While students have ac- cepted this increase, they cau- tion that they will not be as understanding about future hikes.

“Seven dollars isn’t very much,” said Beth Nason, sec- ond year biology student, “I just think that we should have been warned before this came into effect.”

The statement of one stu- dent in the lobby of the K.C. Irving building sums up student reaction.

“It all costs too much

anyway.”

Tobacco sponsorship of arts an sports to be banned in five years

BY ERIN FAGAN

This week ; favourable reactions towards the elimina- tion of tobacco sponsorship

By the year 2003, tobacco companies will be prohibited from sponsoring arts and sports events in Canada, according to amendments to the Tobacco Act made by Federal Health Minister Allan Rock on June 3, 1998.

These amendments were made to a bill first ratified in the House of Commons on April 25, 1997.

This original bill would have been effective as of October | of this yearto limitall tobacco sponsorship-related advertising restricted to mail-outs, publicity oriented towards adults, tav- erns and bars, and during the events themselves.

The extension of the bill’s time frame was motivated to give organizations that require corporate sponsorships time enough to find replacement funding.

“We are trying to give groups that count on tobacco money some time to find alternative sources of financing,” Rock stated.

According to the press release, there will be no changes in tobacco sponsorships for the next one and a half years.

But as of the year 2000, tobacco will only be able to advertise on the sites of events as they occur.

The last phase of the bill will occur in 2003, and will prohibit all advertisement of tobacco on and off event sites.

The Canadian Medical Association is in strong opposition to the extension.

“Inthe extra years given to tobacco sponsorship, 500,000 Canadians will start smoking and 125,000 will die,” a spokes- person warned a day after the announcement of the amend- ment.

Health Canada has listed its motives as being out of concern for the rise in youth smoking throughout Canada.

According to its statistics, 85 percent of all new smokers are under the age of 16, translating to about 250,000 new underage smokers per year.

Another statistic places 29 percent of all Canadians between the ages of 15 and 19 as being smokers, and 14 percent

of all youth between the ages of 10 and 14. (continued on page 5)

Tobacco sponsporship will slowly decrease over the next five years. -photo by Richard Haines