Budget fails; Ham resigns
‘Make the rich pay,’ says gov’t appointee
1 April 1981
By Ricardo Montalbalnis
In a dramatic move at the conclusion of last Thursday’s Governing Council meeting, President James Ham submitted his resignation, following the defeat of his budget.
Ham turned over his key to the presidential marble washroom to the Secretary and left the council chambers, claiming that “all you people don’t appreciate me.”
When questioned by members of the Council over the secretive and hidden budget formulation process of the University, the President hotly denied charges of administrative inefficiencies, featherbedding and hidden “slush funds.” It was under the close cross-examination of Bev Batten, however, part-time undergraduate student representative and full-time employee of the Association of Part-Time Students (APUS), that the President withered. “You have done your usual thorough homework,” the President conceded when Batten confronted him with the fact that Ham’s $950,000 per year salary could buy “a number of teaching assistants” and that the sale of Ham’s Rosedale mansion could save Varsity Arena.
Ah, so little has changed. The most thorough homework is still required to figure out what the administration is up to, Varsity Arena is still in need of saving (though these days the idea is that students should foot the bill) and APUS is still fighting the good fight.
