Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - October 21, 1995, Winnipeg, Manitoba Brian Cole 6977044 readers forum saturday Froe Winnipeg october 1995 even without the Winnipeg is still 1 its great to be Back Home the jets May be on their Way out of but this City still has a lot to Tom ethans reminds us of Why Winnipeg is one great its great to be Back in the firm i worked for decided to move its head office from Winnipeg to Down town i was among 30 people asked to Relo Cate and be part of a new although i had reservations about Leav ing because of friends and my Overall love of this i Felt that this would be a positive settling in Southwest i quickly Learned about the True meaning of i had been living in worse Ley in a seven or eight minute Doort door ride to now i faced a 10minute a 30minute train ride and a further five minute walk to my i occasionally ventured onto the freeway and drove leaving at to arrive at 7 the later one left in the the longer it took As traffic ground to a halt and plodded along for the crawl Home usually took from one to two certainly there Are Many diversions in Toronto the Blue phantom of the opera and other in the Maple and much what was missing was the Quality of life Factor with family and friends and the warmth that i had always found in every summer we would drive across country to spend two weeks basking in the Bright Blue skies of my daughter now and my son who is always looked Forward to these they were excited because it meant that they would get to spend some time with both sets of their aunts and and most their they loved going to the Assiniboine Park a weekly event on our As we drove in the country to the family cottage in Ponemah one Jennifer commented that she thought the sky went Tom ethans on we revealed in the Sun and dry huddled together during Prairie rainstorms they dont have Thun Der like that in and were awestruck by the starlit skies of we would return every Christmas for a week of Winnipeg where the Chil Dren were amazed at the brightness of the and the whiteness of the despite the we would bundle up and join other Hardy souls skat ing and enjoying the freshness of the out we usually got to see at least one jets game each which my son especially enjoyed we have already been to one in this their last we moved to a new area of missis where we found a great Lee Side with wonderful families and some fantastic new Street baseball and hockey Gett Gethers and children Jen Nifer and Jordans Ages made living in Toronto much More we will never forget the fun and friends of Lee Side but the commute to Down town Toronto was even i began to think that it would be Best for the children with family near and moving would also give me More time to spend with Jenny and i knew Winnipeg was very Friendly and Overall a much better City in which to raise the my Deci Sion was made much easier when it was announced that the childrens school had miscalculated on the numbers of students that they thought would be moving into the and that six portable classroom trailers unattached to the school were and there would be 20 portables by it was definitely time to move Home to i found a new career with Winnipeg based vision capital a venture Cap ital company whose objective is to pro vide funds for Small to medium size new and existing Manitoba based firms that Are looking to i have always Felt that Manitoba is the Best province in that our Economy will grow in the next five years and and that More and More Busi Nesses will discover the tremendous benefits of relocating we moved to Winnipeg for the tailed of the Best summer seen Here in years gorgeous weather and no i Felt that this was a Good we found a Home in River the area where i had spent my the children enrolled in Robert Smith and we were greatly helped in Pur first few Days by the staff and off it was perfect that the children were going to Robert As one of their cousins also was enrolled As were our new next door Jenny and Jordan both love their new school and their Jenny is taking gymnastics and piano Jordan begins hockey this on our first Day in we went to the River Heights Library and got new cards and books Jenny has already been invited to two and there will be Many More for both Down the Jordan commented that every one is so Nice and so we have been made very Welcome by our and the children already have Many new As for the drive to work is 12 min the View of Winnipeg from my office is simply my Broth Tom ethans and his children understand the Joys of living in or and Cousin work close by so that we can get together occasionally for my aunt was untiring As she helped us to move in to our new my sister and sister inlaw have brought food and desserts and i spent last sunday cleaning the Yard with a Friend and the i have run into Many old even from my elementary school friends and business associates who have All said the same thing its great that youre Back in especially for the my reply is always the same we love Winnipeg Winnipeg is the Best place to live and raise a family and its great to be Back Portage and main is designed to give readers a Chance to write about issues that matter to if you would like to write a Contact Brian editorial Page at faculty stifles democracy letters to the editor As a captive University of Manitoba faculty association i want to offer an alternative perspective to the views presented by the faculty heres Why i dont support the Ufa does not seek democratic participation by staff and Ufa wants Deci Sions to be made by Ufa officers and we elect our officers and vote on some but Union officers set the time and our current pres ident and Vic president were elected by default nobody else wanted the before we Ufa stuffs every faculty Mailbox with one sided information about the Ufa claims to support academic but refuses to publish Dis agreement or criticism from the there is no Way for no officers to communicate concerns to the membership or Correct false state at members Are encouraged to ridicule or even boo those who express dissenting Union lawyers protect officers from members who ask too Many questions or file com plaints with the labor As a Union officers have Little or no accountability for their they dont even answer their since i began speaking out against several people have phoned to express support for my views and their own fear of retaliation from their pro Union col leagues or the Union Ufa supporters who claim to value tolerance often Stop speaking to in Ufa contributes to a negative academic climate 1 Ufa spends thousands of dollars to gain tenure and promo Tion for marginally qualified Mem its hard to ask the administration to take tenure seriously if Ufa 2 Ufa supports a Chilly Cli mate for women and during the political studies Ufa offered support to those who might be accused of harass ment its not Clear who is supposed to help the 3j Ufa encourages a legalistic climate which is not conducive to Trust and despite academic both Ufa and u of m have added lawyers to their in my neither Side encourages use of our University mediation How to reach us the free press welcomes letters from letters must be signed and should include a clearly printed address and Telephone names will be published but not All letters May be edited for style and Short letters Are less Likely to be please address letters to letters to the Winnipeg free 1355 Mountain Winnipeg r2x letters can be sent to our fax number letters May be submitted through the internet at . Letters sent via the internet obviously cannot be but must include Home address and Telephone How does All this affect Stu dents one hour of Legal fees will buy a journal a Cou ple of Library books or ten hours of my own services the Way you treat employees is the Way treat the its hard to deliver Quality service in a climate of and if youre judged by the Quality of your not your academic Contri theres a lot of motivation to become we dont need a we need a whole new Way of doing Cathy Goodwin Winnipeg strike disrupts student life As a graduating third year Sci ence student from the University of the news of the professors strike dishearten me i have put myself Over in debt and have endured several personal sacrifices in order to devote sufficient time and concentration on my for 2v years 1 have worked Long hours in the Hopes that 1 would be Able to get into the faculty of after All that i am now faced with a faculty Possi Bly forcing me to wait another year to get into medical school and fur ther indenting myself several thousands of it is very easy for professors to strike when they do not realize the Impact that their strike action will have on students such As 1 am terrified to note the catastrophic Conse the strike by University of Manitoba professors has drawn criticism from faculty members and quenches that an overdrawn strike will have on my academic and per Sonal Peter Jensen Winnipeg profs to blame for u of m strike professors at the University of Manitoba should not have to take a pay in professors at the University should receive an increase in the unfortunate financial realities of Manitoba largest pos secondary institution do not allow for any pay increase at this if the University administration is successful in collectively bargain ing the changes it wishes to simple wage increases could be a reality in future regardless of the amount of an eventual collective there Are no those students who will be held hostage by the faculty students May sympathize that the situation has come to but i see no sympathy for the professors can distinguish themselves in their career via their academic yet no mention has been made regarding a disruption to the work of research in order for the University of Manitoba to remain a principal Canadian University and to continue to attract High calibre structural changes must become the University must seek out its strengths and exploit the institution cannot continue to offer All programs for previous budgetary cuts have been moving All University programs toward with the University suffering from a shrinking Revenue rather than continuing to reduce funding to All pro Grams a better system needs to be in the University of Manitoba must be Able to offer programs in a More Market driven flexibility must be introduced into the system to enable the University to make future strategic if the faculty association concentrated More on improving performance evaluations and less on defending their rights to guaranteed employ a strike would never have needed to be by no Means is the University administration trying to dispose of academic Freedom or on the it wants to continue to offer those rights in a stronger by choosing to walk off the Job rather than admit that Down Siz ing is needed at the the faculty associations actions Are by strik ing and holding innocent students the selfish faculty association is acting in a most unprofessional manner not what would be expected from our intellectual Hartley Hyman Winnipeg doonesbury by Garry Trudeau goop evening from lo5 the Post match has that has ju6t00tainzpa a Watz investigators 15 Noj Brentwood m search of the person for the of which he was reaction from neighbors has ;