Page 14 September 8, 2008 NATIONAL

UPEI Cadre

International tuition hike cancelled in NL

ST. JOHN'S (CUP) -- The Memorial University of Newfoundland Board of Regents has voted to post- pone an international student tuition hike planned for the fall semester.

The fee hike, which was announced by the university last October, was met with opposition from Memorial University Students’ Union (MUNSU), the Canadian Federation of Students (CFS), and MUN's Graduate Students’ Union.

A silent protest was set to take place during the July 17 Board of Regents meeting, where the decision was sup- posed to be discussed. But before the protest went ahead, campaign organizers were told they would have a chance to make a presenta- tion to the Board. In light of this, the protest was re- organized as a barbeque.

“We wanted to have a demonstration to show the support in the university community,” said MUNSU’s_ Director of External affairs Cameron Campbell. “But when we were becoming part of the process...we didn’t want to take that same kind of harsh stance on it.”

About 30 people showed up to support the cause. Students ate hot dogs, played hacky sack, and talked about the issue.

Campbell, who was chosen to give the presentation to

the Board, felt ~— the Newfoundland and Labrador government’s

assistance played a large role in getting access to the

meeting.

“It really helps that we’ve got the provincial govern- ment’s support on this,” said Campbell.

“We have a well prepared presentation and lots of doc- umentation to show to the Regent members and we hope that that really makes a difference,” he said at the

demonstration. Daniel Smith, Newfoundland and

Labrador's CFS chairperson, first learned of the intended increase while at a national CFS meeting.

“Tt was at that time that we said we have to make sure that doesn’t happen,” said Smith. "Ever since then we’ve had at least one meet- ing per week."

Smith says that the increased tuition could turn potential students away from the province.

Newfoundland and Labrador has long been plagued with outmigration, declining birth rates, and declining high school gradu- ation numbers.

This has prompted Memorial to look outside the province to keep enrolment steady.

The anti-fee hike group had hoped their lobbying efforts would persuade the adminis- tration to try out a spending model approved by MUNSU before boosting the fee.

“That allocation model hasn’t been put in place yet,” said Smith. “Before this has been implemented they’re coming out already and say- ing they don’t have any money, which doesn’t make

much sense.”

After a meeting with the CFS, NL Minister of Education Joan Burke, and Minister of Human Resources Shawn Skinner sent a letter to the Gil Dalton, chair of the Board of Regents. In the letter, they asked that the “views of the

‘CFS be taken into consider-

ation.”

Burke also requested infor- mation from the Board on how international services have grown in the last six years since the last interna- tional tuition increase.

On July 8, Memorial's act- ing president, Eddy Campbell, said that one of the university’s reasons for

the increase was to support services like the Writing Centre, which he says inter- national students use more than Canadian ones.

The Board of Regents voted unanimously to delay the fee increase until further discussion with provincial government can be conduct- ed.

PEI AGRICULTURE AWARENESS COMMI1

Comité sur la sensibilisation a agriculture de L’'l.-P.-E.

2008 PEI Open Farm Day

"Know Farmers, Know Food"

The PEI Agriculture Awareness Committee is pleased to announce the 7th Anniversary of the PE! Open Farm Day. Open Farm day is an event that hap- pens in all of the Atlantic provinces and this year it will be held on Sunday

September 21. Open Farm Day is designed to promote Island agriculture and to help connect the non-farming public to the source of their food. The PEI Agriculture Awareness Committee would like to thank Sobeys, the major sponsor of this event, for once again supporting this great initiative. This year’s theme is “Know Farmers, Know Food”, and it is our hope that visitors will see the high quality food that Islanders produce. Last year thousands of people visited Island farms with their families. They learned many different things about the agriculture and forestry industries on PEI and most importantly they were able to meet the hard working people who produce their food. For more details visit our website at www.gov.pe.ca/go/peiopenfarmday or pick up a map at any Sobeys location across PEI.

If you have any questions you can contact Jennie Palmer at 388-1613 or peiopenfarmday2008@hotmail.com or Nancy Smith at 393-6082 or 892-5335.