Dr. Marie Hoskins (child and youth care) wrote a story in the Times Colonist on the pros and cons associated with the closing of the Montreux Clinic, a controversial Victoria medical facility devoted to treating eating disorders). Hoskins, who is chair of the B.C. Eating Disorders Association, says that the clinic’s closure does not resolve several important issues, such as the lack of a legal definition of ethical counselling practice.

Postsecondary enrolment in B.C. was the topic of a column in the Times Colonist by Dr. Eric Sager (history). Sager expressed concern about the low level of enrolment in B.C. universities and the importance of reversing that trend in the years to come.

Dr. Norman Ruff (political science) commented in the Times Colonist on the “double- edged sword” of the NDP’s announcement of a $52 million budget surplus. By publicizing the surplus, the pressure to balance the spring 2001 budget becomes much higher, says Ruff.

In a Vancouver Sun story on B.C. welfare rolls, Dr. Michael Prince (political science) gives some credit to the provincial government for breaking down “the so-called welfare wall” by raising minimum wages, offering new benefits to low-income families and instituting a child benefit program.