CFS-O referendum denied to student organizers
Written by Daniel Bitonti
According to the chairperson of the Ontario component of the Canadian Federation of Students (CFS-O), there will be no referendum held at the University of Guelph in March on continued membership in the federation.
In September, Guelph student organizers had circulated a petition requesting a referendum to be held on membership in CFS-O on March 29, 30, 31. According to CFS-O bylaws, the federation must receive a petition initiating a referendum process six months in advance of the referendum date.
The Ontarion confirmed in October that a process server delivered a package to CFS Ontario on Sept. 29, including the petition and a letter from the University registrar verifying the signatures of 10 per cent of the undergraduate student body, a CFS-Ontario de-federating requirement.
But CFS-O bylaws stipulate that petitions must be delivered by registered mail.
Shelly Melanson, CFS-O chairperson, told the Ontarion on Tuesday that the Guelph petitions had arrived by registered mail on Nov. 9.
“Any petition that is going to initiate a referendum process must be received six months prior to the date of the referendum. Because this petition failed to meet the notice provision under Article 5 bylaw 2, the petition is not in order,” said Melanson.
Melanson also explained there had been problems verifying signatures and student numbers on the petition, a problem that currently mirrors the situation with the University of Guelph petitions sent to CFS-National.
In October, Gavin Armstrong, the CSA’s communications and corporate affairs commissioner, told the Ontarion, “that it would be very poor of CFS-Ontario to deny the petition based on the fact that it was served by a process server and not registered mail.”
“We are currently looking into our options and into the bylaws,” Armstrong told the Ontarion on Wednesday.
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Guelph students denied say on CFS Membership « Take Back Your School Says:
[...] say on CFS Membership 2010 February 15 by takebackyourschool … because of a simple technicality: In September, Guelph student organizers had circulated a petition requesting a referendum to be [...]
Posted on February 15th, 2010 at 9:27 am
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Posted on February 25th, 2010 at 1:12 pm
Gabe Says:
My advice to the student organizers: Petition your Students’ Union to withhold payment of CFS fees for the year. Also, I hope you guys have good legal representation.
Clearly CFS Ontario is not acting in good faith here. Out west we had similar problems when student bodies decided they’d had enough of CFS’s shady tactics. Personally I think that while CFS does do some useful lobbying work on behalf of students, they have grown far beyond their original mandate and are a bloated and corrupt organization, and have abandoned the democratic principles upon which they were founded. If the CFS executive and management had any honour they would step up and accept the wishes of students. CFS’s actions have become a liability and an insult to students throughout Canada.
Posted on March 9th, 2010 at 5:35 pm
Tyler Says:
It’s my understanding the CFS wanted to confirm the signatures with the CSA, but the CSA basically told them to f off. I also heard that the petition was circulated to a bunch of drunk people and there were fake names on the petition. The CSA took the CFS to court basically forcing the CFS to accept the referendum without even being allowed to confirm the signatures. The one body that did confirm the signatures was the university administration, who as we all know so well, is very impartial and has no interest whatsoever in raising tuition fees.
Regardless of who you believe, I think it would be crazy to leave the CFS and the CFS – O, because it is the one organization that is able to lobby for lower tuition fees. Even if they have not succeeded in lowering tution fees, that’s no reason not to be part of the organization. To quit the CFS is pretty much a defeatist mentality, that we cannot lower tuition fees, so what’s the point of trying? And as for other independent organizations, they simply do not have the resources to effectively lobby on behalf of students.
I honestly think that the people who most passionately opposed the CFS don’t really care at all about tuition fees. What they really want is to attack the so-called left wing organizations and campaigns that the CFS is helping, like the anti-racism and Islamophobia campaign. It’s no wonder that the Campus Conservatives were handing out CFS-watch flyers about a month ago.
Posted on April 7th, 2010 at 12:21 pm
Tyler Says:
We pay the CFS $6.00 per semester. That’s ten cents a day! If anything we should be paying more money to the CFS. How can you criticize the CFS for not being effective when it gets less money per semester from this university, than we spend on the bus pass, the student health plan, and the dental plan? If tuition fees have gone up 300% since 1990, blame that on the university administrators and the provincial government! They set the prices! Don’t blame the organization which is trying to lower tuition fees with the little amount of money they are getting. ($200,000 for a provincial organization fighting on your behalf is hardly anything to complain about. The University President makes more money than that every year).
Posted on April 7th, 2010 at 12:57 pm