Tough times for profs: “Expansion long overdue at Lansdowne” in our November 13, 1990 issue talked about Camosun profs who were in dire need of new office space. For example, English instructor Bill Jensen: “At the office door, students lining up to see Jensen mingle with women heading to the washroom next door,” writer Frances Hunter said in the story. “From time to time the washroom floods… Jensen says he has placed an order for a supply of air freshener.”
Textbooks were always too pricey: Even in 1990, students didn’t like their textbook costs, as “Carey Road students get Dial-A-Book” proves (Carey Road was a satellite campus of Camosun). The Dial-A-Book program was a network of students selling used textbooks once they were no longer needed. Things are slowly (very slowly) getting better on the textbook front with free online texts, but there will be a network of students selling their used textbooks in one form or another for a while yet.
Big words for the arts community: In “Phoenix presents challenging theatre,” writer David Gordon-MacDonald talked about Victoria’s theatre community at the time, and he didn’t hold back: “What is lacking… is challenging, stimulating theatre,” he wrote. “We’re getting a steady diet of recycled Neil Simon, and his pop-theatre ilk, starring such theatrical giants as ex-cast members of The Ropers and Gilligan’s Island.” Well, at least it wasn’t someone from Three’s a Crowd.