AILY

More
tuition
costs?

Proposal would affect new
domestic students only

By RENEE SUTTON

angara wants to temporarily in-

crease tuition by 14 per cent to

establish a career centre and pro-

vide additional scholarships and
bursaries.

The combination of Langara’s low
tuition and the restricted yearly tuition
increase has diminished Langara’s
ability to provide education success-
fully, according to Langara president
Lane Trotter. In a February review of
programs, Langara made preliminary
requests to the province, including an
increase of $390 for every 30 credits.

Tuition prices are regulated by the
province, which allows a two per cent
inflationary increase every year. Lang-
ara has suggested a “one-time exemp-
tion” to this tuition-fee-increase cap.

Under the proposal, the price of tu-
ition for most courses per credit will
rise from $90 to $103 for domestic stu-
dents.

Trotter said if the suggestions were
approved, students who were already
enrolled at Langara would not see the
increase in tuition.

The higher tuition would only apply
to students who register after the in-
crease, and tuition for international
students would not be affected.

The suggested proposal is far from
being a reality, but Trotter said there
are two main reasons for increasing tu-
ition. The additional revenue will be
used to create a career centre.

It will also go toward student schol-
arships and bursaries. “Students are
saying, ‘We would really like a career
center.” The challenge is, how do you
fund it?” Trotter said.

Ameer Mohammad, chair of the LSU
students’ issues action committee, said
he doesn’t think the student body will
support an increase in tuition.

Mohammad said he agreed that Lan-
gara needs a career centre, but doesn’t
think that increasing tuition is the
right way to fund it.

“[The students’ issues action com-
mittee] would definitely lobby against
this very fiercely ... if the government
considers it,” he said.

Langara sciences student Miguel
Desmarais said the increase would
come back to students. “If they want to
build better infrastructure and have
better services, I think it’s worth it,” he
said.

i)

Make way, trees: technology and science coming through

BILL EVERITT photo

A construction worker bucks some trees up before feeding them into a wood chipper. The trees
are being cleared as part of Langara’s new science and technology building which began in 2013.

Q&A with Lane Trotter

Trotter breaks down the tuition hike proposal

By RENEE SUTTON

-What would

revenue

from in-
creased tuition be
used for?

“The money
would be utilized
for several purpos-
es.

1) Creation of a
career centre to as-
sist students in
terms of finding employment

2) 25 per cent of those funds would
be set aside in some form of scholar-
ship or bursaries for students in need
of financial assistance”

LANE TROTTER
Langara’s new
president

Q - Why would Langara increase
tuition if there is financial need?

“If we have some of those funds, we
can leverage that to go out to get alum-
ni, we can go out to the community, to
try and match those funds. So it cre-

ates a way of generating additional
scholarships and bursaries for stu-
dents”

Q - What is the difference between
the VOLT centre and a student ca-
reer centre?

“Our VOLT centre is for helping our
coop students find the right employer,
and helps the students in terms of de-
veloping interview skills. The career
centre would be more focused for all
students, in terms of assisting them
with that kind of opportunity.”

Q- How would Langara phase in
the increase-

“What we’re looking at... to try and
reduce the shock value, or the impact
to students, is to phase it in over a pe-
riod of time to minimize impact on stu-
dents. The intent of that is obviously to
provide students lots of warning that
this would coming so that they could
plan and budget for it”

66

We would
phase it
in over a
period of
time to
minimize
impact on
students

Lane Trotter

Translink
campaign
for safety

Union says that regular
passengers, not just laws
are crucial to driver safety

By GRAHAM MCFIE

paign March 31 to elevate aware-
ness of assault and harassment
cases against bus drivers.

The campaign is called “Don’t Touch
The Operator” and was announced at a
news conference in New Westminister.

Metro Vancouver Transit Police,
Coast Mountain Bus Company, bus
drivers union Unifor 111 and several
victimized bus drivers were in atten-
dance. A new campaign video was re-
leased during the news conference.

“When bus operators come to work
they have the right to complete their
shift without the fear of being assault-
ed or violence,” transit police Const.
Kevin Goodmurphy said in the cam-
paign video.

The video added that “passengers
who are aware of a developing problem
upon a bus can notify the transit police
by discreetly sending information such
as a brief description of the problem
and the bus number and location by us-
ing the transit police code 87-77-77. In
an emergency situation, 911 should be
called.”

Last week TransLink appealed to the
federal government for tougher conse-
quences in cases where a driver is as-
saulted.

However, one Langara instructor
doesn’t think harsher sentences will
help. “Simply increasing the severity of
a sentence likely won’t have a measur-
able impact for that kind of crime.
There’s not a lot of data and research
there to support simply increasing the
penalty will actually reduce the offend-
ing,” said Catherine Huth, chair of Lan-
gara’s criminal justice department.

Spokesperson for Unifor 111 Ruth
Armstrong believes the public plays
the strongest role in reducing assaults
on drivers.

“The public has the power to change
it more so than any employee under
TransLink,” she said.

Understanding is crucial for both
commuters and bus drivers.

“Our operators are under a lot of
pressure out there,” Armstrong said.
“As far as our scheduling goes, as far as
our work goes, our work is being cut,
our schedules are being cut, and of
course the passengers are feeling that.”

She stressed that drivers empathize
with commuters when, for instance, a
25-minute commute ends up taking
closer to an hour.

“We get it. We take transit our-
selves, our family takes transit.”

Tee launched a new cam-