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Salient. An Organ of Student Opinion at Victoria College, Wellington N.Z. Vol. 11, No. 1. February 27, 1948

Seven Points to go

Seven Points to go

1.Exec made a forcible effort to establish Faculty Committees, but lack of co-operation from the majority of.the lecturing staff proved an insuperable obstacle.
2.At about this time Salient published an article suggesting that either the College authorities or the Student Association should indent and import books for student use, which would then be available much more cheaply than they are from shops. Students should be very grateful to the SCM for the excellent service it has done to VUC through its Second-hand Bookstall, but there is need for the cost-of-books problem to be tackled on a far larger scale. So far no progress has been made.
3.The establishment of the temporary Geology and Geography Department has barely touched the fringe of this problem, which has its roots in lack of University finance. Overcrowding and inadequate lecturing staff are inevitable until the University can afford to rebuild, and to offer more and better-paid positions for lecturers and professors.
4.A questionnaire was distributed to obtain statistics that were a necessary basis for a campaign to get better facilities. But students either ignored this, or treated it as a joke, so nothing could be done. Students must co-operate in matters of this nature, if they want their lot to be improved.
6.Shortly afterwards, complete control of the gym became ours—and it will be noted that this has been completely successful.
7.Mr. Harold Miller is still our Librarian, and the Library has been maintained at its previous standard.
8.We are reluctantly forced to admit, that in this isolated suggestion Salient was wrong.
10.The possibilities of using the gym as a common-room proved somewhat lean, but we obtained a promise of one of the huts to be erected above the Biology block, for student use. However, we were not allowed to occupy this, and eventually came the storm which caused a falling cliff to demolish the long-empty huts.

To sum up, only two of the ten points (5 and 6) have been attained, and No. 9 partially (NZUSA has not been directly affiliated to WFDY, but VUC has been affiliated itself; and VUC's representatives have kept closer contact with Salient, or rather, vice versa). The other seven points have been shelved or abandoned. This is owing to two factors, to apparently insuperable obstacles outside student control, and to that age-old evil, student apathy.