Written by Mike Treadgold with files from Daniel Bitonti.

Ok, we’ll admit it. This article is not about sex, drugs, or even terrorism. Instead, it’s about you, the university student. But before you turn the page, hear us out. Because without the aforementioned cover headline, drawing you to this story would have been quite the chore. Among other things, this story also concerns money. Your money.
The age-old question persists. Do university students care about student politics?
Or better yet, how much do students know about their governing body of representatives? Are we apathetic?

Phoot by Rashaad Bhamjee

The Issue

Throughout much of the year, the Central Student Association (CSA), the student union at the University of Guelph, has been embattled in a conflict with the both the national and provincial factions of the Canadian Federation of Students (CFS) over the future of Guelph’s memberships in the organizations. Student organizers at the U of G allegedly had a petition delivered via process server to CFS-Ontario on Sept. 29, requesting a referendum question be held on campus from March 29-31 regarding Guelph’s continued membership.
The petition, which was signed by at least 10 per cent of the undergraduate student body, with the names verified by the university registrar as per CFS-Ontario rules, came in response to students being displeased with the efforts of CFS-Ontario lobbying in favour of the concerns of students to respective governments over issues such as tuition fees.
Initially, CFS-Ontario denied receiving any petition whatsoever until two weeks ago when the motion for referendum was denied. CFS-Ontario bylaws state that any petition must be received by registered mail at least six months prior in advance of the referendum date. Despite the alleged Sept. 29 delivery date, CFS-Ontario chairperson Shelley Melanson stated that the petition was not received via registered mail until Nov. 9, thereby making it invalid because of the six-month requirement. Semantics notwithstanding, legal action is now expected to take place.
Students from universities across the province have long been frustrated with issues such as rising tuition costs, wondering who is responsible for representing students’ concerns at the higher level. Effectively, the answer to this question is the Canadian Federation of Students.
Each semester, each and every undergraduate student at the U of G pays CFS membership fees – $3.30 to CFS-Ontario and $3.97 to CFS-National – amounting to over $200,000 that students pay every year to remain a part of these groups – groups that are supposed to represent students’ interests. Such a tremendous sum of money bringing about seemingly such few results has drawn concerns from students, or at least the 1,854 that signed the petition.

The Experiment

Apathy towards student politics is a theme that we, at the Ontarion, have been conscious of since day one. Do students care about the ongoing controversy surrounding CFS membership, or better yet, do they even know such controversy even exists?
To answer this question, we collectively embarked on a field exercise, taking to the “streets” of the U of G campus to poll students’ basic knowledge of their representative political bodies and specifically, the most contentious ongoing issue. The results were interesting and they included some striking and often humourous anecdotes.
A random poll of 216 undergraduate students provided results that suggest that students are aware, to a certain extent, that these representative bodies exist; however, the issue with the CFS is by no means a familiar topic, despite the fact that it directly affects every one of the university’s 18, 500 undergraduate students.
An impressive tally of 88 per cent of students polled were aware of the existence of the CSA; however, slightly less than 21 per cent of students were familiar with the existence of the CFS with only 11 per cent aware of the issue concerning U of G membership status in the federations.
Now, let’s revisit the 10 per cent validation minimum that was met with the CFS-Ontario petition. When asked of her awareness of the issue regarding Guelph’s future membership, one student responded by saying, “Oh yeah, I think I signed a petition for something about that.” We’ll let you be the judge as to whether or not students have been adequately informed.
So, among this 10 per cent, how many of these students actually knew what they were signing on to support? At past CSA board meetings, several students came forward expressing concerns about not knowing what they were signing in support of when confronted by petitioners.

The Commentary

“I think anyone who knows about the history of student activism at Guelph can see that there has been a serious degradation of people organizing around issues affecting the campus and students in general,” said former CSA External Commissioner Cailey Campbell. “Guelph has had a strong reputation as a campus where students take up the task of defending and fighting for the rights of students through challenging power, and it seems like this is only now coming back.”
“I think students are engaged when there is an issue to be engaged with,” said current CSA Communications & Corporate Affairs Commissioner Gavin Armstrong. “Now that there is an issue in transit you’ll see more people being engaged. But it comes in waves.”
Such apathy, disinterest and disengagement is not unique to University of Guelphites. Similar situations exist at other universities as well, such as those outlined by Laura Carlson, editor-in-chief at The Cord, the student newspaper at Wilfrid Laurier University.
“I’ve covered the [student’s] union at Laurier quite extensively, along with the student engagement with it,” said Carlson. “I would agree that there is a similar situation [of student apathy] here, too. Two years ago, for our student elections, we barely met quorum, which is 10 per cent. This year, we had about 20 per cent voter turnout.”
“I have been to other campuses and talked to [other] student unions,” said Armstrong. “I would say [levels of apathy are] similar. Quorum is always a scary word for student politics.”
(FYI, quorum refers to a predetermined number of participants or attendees needed to conduct business at a meeting)
“A lot of people who vote definitely aren’t as informed as they should be,” said Arden Zwelling, sports editor with the Western Gazette. “They’re voting for friends, or people someone else told them to vote for.”
Beyond the voter apathy among undergraduate students, Carlson suggested that, in the case at Laurier, students also weren’t even interested in applying for positions at the highest level of student government with the Wilfrid Laurier University Student Union.
“There are 15 spots on our board of directors, our highest governing body, and in each of the past two years, the positions had to re-open because there weren’t enough candidates running for the jobs,” she said. “This has happened in three of the past four years.”
Armstrong did note that, on occasion, there has been eagerness among University of Guelph students, who have risen to the challenge and become passionate about an issue by which they are personally affected.
“If courses are being cut, then people in those courses will care,” he noted. “With transit, almost everyone is affected. With tuition, I think everyone cares. “
Carlson would also not explicitly label Laurier students as being ‘disengaged’.
“In 2008, we had a part-time faculty strike on campus and there was a huge student movement of support for the part-time faculty,” she explained. “There were rallies and support groups that were completely separate from the student’s union.”
Zwelling noted a similar instance at Western last year when students spoke out against a referendum question to increase student fees by $95 to help finance the renovation of the student centre.
“Students didn’t like the price tag and that brought out a lot of concerned voters,” he said. “When you’ve got a really contentious issue, that helps. And unless you have candidates that can really get people mobilized, you won’t see a good turnout.
“It’s hard to interest students in student government policies,” Zwelling continued. “If a student can’t see how an issue is going to affect their day-to-day life, they don’t care.”
And in the case of Western’s referendum, the $95 proposal was rejected by students, leading to a reduction to a $25 increase proposal this year, an amount students agreed to.
“My generation at the University seems to have grown up without a lot of historical memory as to how battles are won,” added Campbell. “It doesn’t help that student representatives are cliquey and can be not very student friendly if they are unwilling to change their minds and take criticism from students.”
As was the case with the issues surrounding the elimination of the universal bus pass in December, students tend to respond when it becomes a question of dollars and cents.
“The biggest things that concern students are financial issues,” said Zwelling. “People see the price tag and there’s a sticker shock.”
But on a mere day-to-day basis, any sort of profound level of passion among students towards campus politics is noticeably absent.

Criticism and Ideas for Curbing the Apathy

“What I’ve learned is that you actually have to go out to get feedback,” said Armstrong. “You have to have an outward approach, [and] not expect people to come and talk to you.”
Indeed, student governments and other interested groups are seemingly aware that such apathy exists, and in turn, are seeking new ways to engage student populations.
“In our unsigned editorials, we take an active stance encouraging people to become engaged,” said Carlson of the Cord’s actions. “Also, we have the Laurier Students’ Public Interest Research Group (LSPIRG). They’ve been doing things that the union has otherwise had a monopoly on. For instance, LSPIRG now hosts an alternative Orientation Week, just to diversify a little from the student’s union.”
Armstrong also mentioned a particular strategy used to increase student attendance at a CSA Annual General Meeting (AGM) several years ago.
“[The CSA] wanted to get quorum, they were nervous they weren’t going to get it,” he said. “So they made a bunch of lies on campus, like ‘the administration is doubling tuition, the bus pass is cancelled, so show up to this meetings.’ There was a lineup out the door. The AGM was in the Bull Ring and they couldn’t get people in because it was packed. Everyone came out for that cause.”
Similarly, student politicians at Western attempted to engage students with a free hotdog giveaway. Needless to say, in this case, campaign platforms took a backseat to the idea of a free lunch.
Campbell was reluctant to praise the environment surrounding her time on the CSA.
“It seems there is a lot of ego wrapped up in student representatives,” she said. “A lot of times, [student representatives] just want to put something together to leave a legacy of sorts.
“Without real student consultation, and the ability to take direction from the people they claim to represent, student representatives actually perpetuate student apathy instead of encourage student political participation.”
Zwelling was equally frank with his assessment of existing student governments, as well as his forecast for the future of student apathy.
“As far as what our student government does to get out and engage students, that’s probably an area where they’re lacking,” he said. “Every new presidential candidate comes in saying he or she is going to engage students more but those ideas never really seem to come to fruition. You might never solve student apathy.”