FUND-RAISING PLAN OPPOSED

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30892, 27 October 1965, Page 20

FUND-RAISING PLAN OPPOSED

The Lincoln College Students’ Association has protested against the recent increase in their weekly board charges and against the college council’s proposal to grant priority for positions at college hostels to students whose parents gave £3OO or more to the hostelbuilding fund.

These matters were raised In a letter, signed by the president of the association (Mr D. Armstrong), which was read at the council meeting yesterday. The letter said the association believed that where selection for entry to the hostels was necessary it should be based on qualifications and academic standing, not on the size of a person’s financial backing. “The executive feels that a principle is at stake and it would be wrong to sacrifice this principle for a cause for which it is possible to raise money by more acceptable methods,’’ the letter said. “In this case we cannot accept that the end justifies the means, particularly as a person having once paid over £3OO then applies for a boarding bursary of £125.” Deep Concern The association also expressed deep concern over the recent increase of 7s 6d in board because the previous increase, of 12s 6d, had not been in force a full year. The association felt that a price of £6 a week was unreasonable under the present circumstances and reduced the recent increase in the boarding allowance by one third.

No-one would quibble with the paying of a portion of the board to a hostel building fund if the cost were not so prohibitive. It was the

increase, not the destination, that was challenged. The college principal (Dr. M. M. Burns) said that hostel charges were comparable with, or even less than, some halls, apart from laundry costs.

Professor T. W. Walker said he was strongly sympathetic to both complaints lodged by the students. “If the hostel is run as efficiently next year, we will have a surplus of £3OOO or so which could go to the building fund,” he said. Costs Subsidised

The college registrar (Mr H. G. Hunt) said revenue from short courses held at the college had subsidised the costs for full-time students.

He said the occupancy rate at the college this year was 14,500 student weeks out of a total of 18,000 student weeks. This was considerably better than the 50 per cent occupancy rate that used to exist. Dr. Burns said it was easy enough to get outside groups to the college for short courses but it would become more difficult as more residential halls were opened in the cities.

Mr Hunt admitted that overseas students whose parents could give £3OO to the hostel building fund were likely to get preference over New Zealanders. He said the figure of £3OO was the estimated cost of each bed in the new hostels. Plans had

already been drawn up for 160 new beds in three blocks. The college at present has 350 students in residence, 70 of them in temporary accommodation. The total enrolment is 570 students. By 1970 the expected enrolment will be 800 students. The council decided to refer the association’s comments on the hostel-building fund proposal to its executive.