Salient. The Newspaper of Victoria University College. Vol. 20, No. 8. September 14, 1956
Action on common-rooms at last
Action on common-rooms at last
In accordance with decisions made at a recent Executive meeting, notices have been posted in the college setting out details of proposed improvements to the present common-room facilities.
Past Executives have been concerned, to some small extent, with the situation whereby the existing common-rooms, especially the men's, were not serving their purpose; and furthermore, there was no place in the college for students ff both sexes to sit and talk together except the cafetaria which had great and obvious limitations.
Last year the two then common-room controllers presented plans to the Executive for the improvement of the two common-rooms; new furniture in both, and better toilet facilities, were installed.
It was heartening to see that some attempt was being made to alleviate the situation, but it was obvious even then that the very heart of the problem was being ignored, consciously or unconsciously. The expenditure on furniture and hot water was not wasted, but it did not result in the great improvement hoped for.
Now Mr. Paul Canham, the men's common-room controller, has presented a comprehensive report on all aspects of the position to the Executive, and decisions based on the report have been publicized. Mr. Canham and his fellow committee members have got the matter on perspective; they are on the right track, they are not afraid of a break with tradition, and they have got things on the move.
But things must be kept on the move. It is the student body in general that stands to benefit from any scheme for improvement that may be proceeded with, and it is the student body, therefore, that must stand by the Executive in seeing it through.
Suggestions and constructive criticism of proposed schemes will be of value to Mr. Canham and other committeemen; and student support for whatever proposals are finally adopted is absolutely essential.
Quite obviously the much-talked-of Student Union Building is year away, and any common-room plan embarked upon now will have to be acceptable for a lengthy period. We must not sit back and wait for the Executive and College Council to work wonders with the common-rooms and then complain because we would have done it differently.
There is a deplorable tendency throughout the student body to expect things to be handed across on a silver platter; the same tendency is much in evidence in club grant applications. The time will soon come (the sooner the better) when a drastic review of the situation concerning club grants will be undertaken, and club finances will be put on a far more realistic basis. But that is another story, of which we will hear a lot more a little later.