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very impaitant to ha e'_*. defensesu nearly as significant, comments President Baker. However, he is still generally in favor of it. He feels_if there is,a good reviewing procedure than

tenure Becomes a justifiable A

system.

I ALTERNATIVE

If another system were to' be used instead of tenure, President Baker feels a good alternative might be to give the equivalent of tenure to everyone and put all the energy and effort now put into tenure into a good reviewing procedure. This idea is in line with that put forth by a former president of the University of Alberta. '

President Baker feels that the tenure system will last,simply becaUse it is being extended every- where else. School teachers, civil Servants and those in unions now have the equivalent of tenured And it is most unlikely‘that universities will go against thIS' general»pattern.

“Itbs here, it has many good features, the chantes of its going are very, very small, and that the thing‘ to do is to work out the procedures where we use it. I'm not opposed to tenure,” commented PreSident Baker.- ADMINISTRATION RELATIONS WITH STUDENT UNION

According to the Pres- ident, there is.a compatible, working rel- ationship between the present Student Union and administration at U.P.E.I. He reminisced that until about I966 relationships between student unions and administrations were near-4 lywalways very good. Then, student unions became more and more political and relations beCame quite bad. There was a definite strategy to oppose A presidents or adminis- trations or anyone who had responsibility or authority. That is»chang- ing- Students are I- getting less political and more interested in social lifeeand‘other things ohacampus.'Relatibn*> Ships are good and will get even better. Since PresidentBaker has been President ('69) there haVe been compatible relatiOn- ships, according to him. There have been strong d'Sagreements but on the W018. President Baker

*1.

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feels, relationships have . been good. '

ADMI NI STBATION ASSISTS, _T . ' STUDENT UNION '“Each year the T administration gives help to the Student Union with- out the general student _body knowing. Annually, the administration remits fees for the Student Union Executive in Summer School; often the administration pays part of expenses for a student to go to the annual meeting of NAUCC; it pays for a kind of journalism course; it offers the editor of the newspaper a free consult- ation with the U.P.E.I. lawyer about liable; the administration provides a lot of backup help in the Day Care Centre; it provides fire and security protection for the Barn; and supports student V organizations like the SUN

and CIMN. SUN

President Baker feels that it is the university newspaper's responsibility to carry a lot of material about the campus. There

_should be major national iSSUes, local issues, news on athletics, drama and about most campus activ- ities.r-He feels that a . newspaper which reprints,

a lot of articles from other student newspapers is really “falling down on the job”. It is up to the editor to provide an approp- riate mix.

A good newspaper, the President feels, could do a tremendous job. Communic- ation is most important. ~The campus newspaper and radio station have an important role in providing that communic- ation, according to President Baker.

He is very encOuraged by the UPEI SUN. He is hoping that the changeover from ' last year's CADRE will lead

- in I969.

turning out to work on the newspaper. He would like to see the UPEI SUN develop interest in campus activities. A good news- paper should stimulate interest, not just report the facts.

PRESIDENT STEPS DOWN

President Ronald J. Baker has been president of U.P.E.I. since the amal- gamation of Prince of Wales College and St. Dunstan's Out of the 66 members in the NAUCC, President Baker is the 5th or 6th longest serving president. By next year he will be the 2nd longest serving president of a university. He is giving up the presidency when his term expires in the spring. President Baker feels that

-9 years is long enough and

that he has probably done

as much as he is going to

do. U.P.E.I. needs new ideas and energy, says the President. ' He has, on balance, en- joyed his position. ‘ Actually, he says, he prefers teaching and he has a tenured professorship with U.P.E.I. and he is thinking seriously of staying. He has a sabb- atical cOming and is determined to take it. He / has taught nearly every year at U.P.E.I. that he has been president here. He loves teaching and English language is his particular subject. Next year he wili have been teaching for 27 years, not counting the years in the Air Force, when he taught mathematics. a He says his position has been very, very tiring. He very rarely has an _ evening or a weekend off. There is a lot of instant travelling“ President Baker feels that a lot of the strategies and attit- udes needed when he came

si he met .‘R‘

.l978.

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The UPEI Sun, Friday, Oct. 7, l977. Page l3 'to a lot more people

to U.P.E.I. are not

needed now. The emphasis was on bringing people to- gether and he feels that job is finished. President Baker says he just decided “it was high time the

-university has another

president”. So he decided against renewing the contract which expires in Half kidding, he chuckled, “and no one asked me”.

President Baker told The Sun what he felt U.P.E.I. needed in a president. “The new President must be sufficiently flexible that he can tackle completely new issues;“ and it must be “someone with a lot of energy and sound academic ideas, who is going to help the university develop.”

Speaking specifically of the Candidates, he declined

.to say which candidate he

felt was the best, “simply because I don't know the things the search committee knew”. The President knew, or had worked with, 4 out Of the 6 candidates. He didn't know Dr. Meincke. But he felt it was per- fectly fair to say that “just about any one of the final list would be a good choice”. The President felt that it was a real tribute td U.P.E.I. that we were able to attract such good people:.

He was generous and optimistic in his praise of the future president. “From what I've seen of Dr. Meincke, I'm very happy with the choice. I'm not comparing him with the others, but in the time since he was chosen I've spent quite a bit of time with him. I think he's a good scholar, he's got a lot of dministrative ex- perien e, and he's had expepience in both a small college and in a large university. I'm very im- pressed and I certainly ‘ish him very well.“

\ It seems that we can look forward to a successful term under the incoming president.

Ronald J. Baker has been with U.P.E.I. since it has been U.P.E.I. (l969) The university has undergone a lot of changes and I think it's fair to say that a good man has done a good job. We wish our “poor Cockney boy“ the best of luck after stepping down from the presidency and we look forward to hope- fully seeing him accept his teaching position at U.P.E.I. Who knows, maybe he could offer a very “cultured” course in ball- room dancing! I, for one, will be waiting to enrol.