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Letters. -

THE LETTERS page is your forum of discussion. We print all to letters to the editor received except those of

a personally vindictive nature. Deadline for submissions is Monday, 5:00 pm. Drop your letters off at the Student Union office in The Barn, at the Gem office Rm. 01 Util- ity Building, or send them through VAX MAIL to account GEM. Your submission must be signed and include your telephone number or it cannot be printed. Please indicate

if you do not wish your name to appear in the paper.

S=Pag 4

A Snowjob?

The inadequacies of snow removal on this campus are hazardous to all of us who use the campus and must not be tolerated. The side- walks, parking lots and road- ways are being cleared ab- normally slow and often not completely. The crews are also mot sanding and salting

these areas sufficiently.

When students arrived back in residence on January 3rd in’ preparation for rescheduled exams, they were dismayed to find park- ing lots and roadways im- properly cleared. As well, at least as'of noon on January 3rd, no salting and sanding had occurred in areas below the library despite the fact that the road between Blan- chard Hall and the library was a glaze of icy, packed

snow and was very difficult”

to negotiate, even on foot. A few days had passed since the previous snow storm, suf- ficient time for the crews to clear the campus. Even if they had not enough time, why were they not present on Sunday trying to finish the job?

-It is also quite strange that snow removal begins so late in the morning. It is a disgrace for a student to walk across campus at 9 AM and see little or no signs of snow removal (especially during an exam period). Where are the snowploughs and why are they not out there at 5 or 6 AM?

ANother point which must be men- tioned is that the corners of _the parking lots are not being cleaned sufficiently, thereby reducing parking space avail- able for students. It appears, however, that these areas are

being cleared a bit better in the Faculty parking lot. Des- ignated night parking areas were established to “enable our snow removal crew easier access” to these areas. Why is this advantage not being used?

What about the dis- abled students? At times it would be impossible for them to get around campus due to situations such as small banks left by the ploughs not being shoveled out and therefore essentially block- ing these pathways. Ade- quate time must be permit- ted for normal snow removal but it appears that these ar- eas could be cleared a lot faster.

These complaints are se- rious concerns that should be addressed by those in charge of snow removal. There are too many risks being taken. Students should not have to risk injury and the Univer- sity should also recognize the risk it is taking in regards to lawsuits possibly arising from its negligence.

It is surprising that other students have not voiced these concerns. Have you as student, staff or faculty not voiced these complaints be- cause you don’t think that change can occur? These problems are quite serious and change MUST occur. If you have similar concerns, vocalize them or write a let- ter to either The Gem or to the Security Department or both.

- Considering the nature of this article, it would be appropriate for those in charge of snow removal to respond— either explaining their position or their plans for improvement.

—Wendy R. Carpenter

“Early in life I had noticed that no event is ever correctly reported in a newspaper.”

—George Orwell

Derrick Webber, Editor-in-Chief

Ian Mollison, Production Editor Derrick Cameron, Advertising Manager Darrell Cole, Sports

Dolly Bhatia, CUP Editor Karen Cullen, Photographer

. James Connolly, Systems Manager STAFF MEMBERS:

Robert Bodrog, Dawne Chappelle, Kaberi Dasgupta, Cora-Lee Des Roches, Anne Irving, Bobbi Sue Keating, David MacKinnon, Ian Mol- lison, Lisa Murphy, Claire Murray, Sam Okello, Ellen Perry, Daniel Mullen and Chris Vessey.

This Week’s Contributors:

The Marians, the History Society, Friends of the Island, Islanders for a better Tomorrow, Steve Wynne, the Business Society, and many, many more. ee

Anyone can contribute to The GEM: an- nouncements, short stories, poems, letters, or just plain ideas can be dropped off at the Barn, sent through VAX MAIL to GEM, or stuck on

our door down in the basement of the utility building. j : ;

i We cherish typed and double spaced sub- missions and submissions on computer disk or through VAX mail. For legal reasons, all submis- sions must include the author’s name and phone number. However, names will be withheld from publication on request. There is only one more issue of The Gem this term.

Deadline for submissions is Monday, 5:00pm

The GEM is published by the University of Prince Edward Island Student Union. Views ex- pressed are not necessarily those of the GEM staff, the UPEI Student Union, or of anyone in particular.

We reserve the right to edit submissions due to space or taste limitations.