Headlines/June 24, 1992

Bookstore debate, continued from page 5

considered.

Scott Fast spoke seriously on the
topic, after lampooning it at Betty
Urquhart’s retirement party the night

before. Calling the decision to
differentiate between the Abbotsford and
Chilliwack bookstores “arbitrary”, he

asked whether the bookstore system asa .

whole generates revenue for UCFV.

Andrew replied that some of the
money generated by the bookstore is
used to pay back the university college
for use of facilities and utilities, while
another portion is reserved to acquire
Capital items for the bookstore.

Fast argued that limiting the hours of
the bookstore would cause faculty and
students to buy their supplies at the
Abbotsford bookstore, which would in
turn reduce the chances of getting the
Chilliwack hours restored.

Andrew said that the revenue
generated by supply purchases is
“negligible”, and wouldn’t be a factor in
deciding whether to restore the hours
(most revenue comes from textbook
sales). ““We offer supplies as a
convenience for people. We don’t have
the buying power to compete with larger
stores in variety and pricing.”

Bob Smith attacked the issue from a
contractual perspective, saying that the
choice of transfer or involuntary
reduction of hours constituted a layoff,
which goes against the clause in the
collective agreement promising no
layoffs this year of employees with more
than two years of seniority.

Ian Fenwick and Fast both pointed to
the reduction as part of a “self-fulfilling
prophecy” encouraging students to move
down the freeway to Abbotsford.

“Investing in this bookstore is
investing in the Chilliwack campus,”
noted Fenwick. “Reducing the hours is
demoralizing. It gives students who
come here the sense that Abbotsford is
where it’s at.”

“We’re driving more and more
students to spend more of their time in
Abbotsford, and this is just one more
reason for them to go there instead of
here,” Fast said. “It flies in the face of
this community’s dedication to
education and our nominal commitment
to them. Don’t dismiss it as a symbolic

issue. It’s part of the essence of what it
means to be at this campus.”

President Peter Jones replied that this
conflict was “hovering on the edge of a
major issue.

“This college was founded here on the
premise that two equal-sized
communities should have two equal
campuses. The reality has changed over
the years in that Abbotsford is now twice
as big as Chilliwack. Looking at things
purely by efficiency, the best place to
put a program is always Abbotsford,
because that’s where the most people .
are. We mitigate that somewhat by
basing some career programs in
Chilliwack. The academic side is
tougher, but we could package some
academic programs so that they could be
offered here and have a strong appeal for
people from other areas too.

“Now that the ministry has let us
know that they are committed to our
presence in Chilliwack by funding a new
campus (see page 1), we have to ask
ourselves ‘what is the appropriate level
of service for Chilliwack?’ I can tell you
now it won’t be a mirror image of
Abbotsford. But we do have to find ways
of making people want to come to the
Chilliwack campus.”

Cameron Roy added that a bookstore
should be a major part of the new
Chilliwack campus. “This decision was
purely financial so as to make the
bookstore more efficient so we can
include Chilliwack more in the future. I
feel this is a very temporary decision. It
would be a major mistake not to have a
full-time bookstore in the new campus.”

All agreed that the $10-12,000 in
question was “peanuts” compared to the
overall budget, but Jones said that these
sorts of tough choices will come up more
in the near future.

“Tt’s a tough decision, but there’s no
way we Can cut expenses without
reducing levels of service,” he noted.
“We have to psychologically prepare
ourselves for looking at issues from the
perspective of efficiency for next year,
which will be a tougher budget year. We
can’t look at existing levels of service as
sacrosanct.”

Thank you

Bertha Dewan and family wish
to thank the many UCFV people
who offered support in a variety of
ways during their recent
bereavement. They deeply
appreciated the many flowers and
cards and other contributions.

Bertha is very grateful for the
friendship and support shown by
everyone who helped her to cope
with the loss of her son Randy.

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