Students’ new task

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33779, 27 February 1975, Page 10

Students’ new task

This year, students at the University of Canterbury have their first opportunity in 13 years to create a complete campus atmosphere. The transfer of arts students from the old town site completes the move to Ham, reuniting all students on one campus.

While the shift to Ham brings many advantages to both staff and students, mgny students still have 'reservations about the new site. Arts students in particular, accustomed to the cramped. but friendly atmosphere of the town site, may find the vastness of the 750-acre Ham campus hard to adjust to. Long, glassed corridors, large tracts of linoleum, ranks of concrete pillars, the tall buildings, and the large distances between them are unfamiliar and rather unfriendly. The critical element in settling new students into university life will be the atmosphere generated in the Student Union buildings. The obvious focus for student activity other than studies is the Student Union buildings. These buildings do offer a remarkable number of facilities for students. Five

commonrooms are supplemented by the Ngaio Marsh theatre, two seminar rooms, medical health and counselling services, a unisex hairdressing bar, a billiards room, a flatting and accommodation bureau, a student travel bureau, a Union shop, a bookshop, a creche, and the university chaplain, as well as a restaurant and cafeteria that caters for everything from licorice twists to full, fourcourse meals. Having facilities such as these, students at Canterbury are considerably more fortunate than those at other universities. In spite of the rise in union fees to $3O this year, the students are getting value for money. In fact, the increment brings the fees into line with those of other student associations in the country. The students at Canterbury now also control the Student Union buildings at Ham for the first time —

an unprecedented move in New Zealand. The university authorities will be watching with interest to see how the students, manage. By taking over control from the university the students as well as gaining autonomy within the buildings, assume a large responsiblity. All the maintenance in the buildings is now the responsibility of the students. The furniture bill for the extensions, made in time for the Commonwealth Games, was $30,000, and the upkeep of the buildings will be a considerable drain on student funds. Contracts with administrative staff bad to be renegotiated. Insurance, security, and the cleaning of the buildings all had to be reviewed. The catering in the buildings is now a major business: turnover approaches $250,000 for both student catering and outside functions.

Responsibility is not something alien to students at Canterbury. Their foresight in establishing an afforestation scheme of more than 700 acres will pay dividends for students in two decades when the return is expected to run into millions of dollars. The establishment of a University Savings and Investment society further illustrates student initiative in attempting to overcome rising consumer prices. When the university year starts with the orientation activities, students will be able to exploit to the full the facilities at the union buildings. Approximately 6700 students are expected at Ham this year. The orientation activities must be used not only to smooth the path of firstyear students, but also to encourage all students to mix freely. Arts and science students have not been on the same campus for 13 years and often regard each other with some intolerance. If the forums, dances, and debates or orientation week can break down some of the barriers between old and new arrivals at Ham, the atmosphere in the student union buildings may come close to the friendly atmosphere characteristic of the old town site.