What the upcoming referendum comes down to is whether the relationship between the CFS and students on this campus is necessary enough to trump a clear attempt to put up barriers to student democracy.
Across the nation, the Canadian Federation of Students (CFS) seems to get a bad rap. Far too often, they are painted as an overzealous organization that has no qualms with dragging student governments into the courtroom. The student press salivates at any opportunity it gets to throw the Federation in the fire.
It is true that our own student government was forced to (successfully) argue in court why this campus deserved a referendum on continued membership in the organization. This came after a lengthy feud over the validity of the petitions sent to both the national and provincial components, requesting a referendum be held.
The CSA won and now we have a referendum on our hands.
But, it would be imprudent to say that the CFS is all bad and no good. Despite the zingers dished out by student politicos in the blogosphere, the CFS is not simply a self-serving organization where staffers conspire to waste student money while beefing up their resumes.
The CFS is an organization with a mandate to serve the interests of students. Students on this campus pay $3.30 per semester to the provincial component of the Federation and $3.97 to the national component. With that money, the CSA belongs to the largest national student lobby, whose best-known initiative is lobbying the government for reductions in tuition.
In the past, the CFS has made inroads for students. Tuition fees in British Columbia, for example, were frozen between 1996 and 2002, with the CFS playing a part in that. In Manitoba, fees were reduced by 10 per cent in 2000-2001. As journalist Erin Mallar, who has covered the CFS for nearly a decade, put it, “The CFS has access to many ministers. They have the ability to put in opinion on the budget. They have all that structure. They have done a hell of a lot over the years.”
CFS initiatives go far beyond reducing tuition. They have task forces that investigate pertinent issues on university campuses like racism, Islamophobia and rape. They run services like the International Student Identification Card (ISIC), which gives students discounts of up to 50 per cent off VIA Rail, 25 per cent off Greyhound and Coach Canada, and discounts on WestJet flights. The Federation is the only student voice that major organizations in the labour and social justice movements work with. The Federation’s ethical purchasing program is the only national, not-for-profit cooperative that offers t-shirts, water bottles and other items that are ethically purchased, sustainable and affordable.
In short, the CFS is an effective organization that unites students and their concerns.
But according to CFS detractors, like the website cfswatch.ca, “The CFS has a long documented history of corruption, gross mismanagement of student funds, stifling opposing viewpoints, and far-left radicalism.”
We can’t prove this. The resources needed to take on a complete investigation into the CFS’s past are far too extensive for a university newspaper.
Nor should we prove this; this referendum should have nothing to do with the CFS’s past and their relationship to other campuses.
It should have everything to do with this campus.
According to a survey recently put out by the CSA’s Capacity Analysis and Planning Committee, the majority of students on this campus are not aware of many of the CFS’s most important programs. Well over 60 per cent of students surveyed had never used the CFS ISIC card. Close to 84 per cent had never used the CFS student saver card. Fifty-three percent had never heard of it (see page 12 for full results). The Ontarion’s own survey several weeks ago showed that nearly 80 per cent of students surveyed had never heard of the CFS.
While this is not a good measure of how effective and important an organization is, these surveys do suggest that students on this campus are not feeling a CFS presence. The CFS has failed to attract students to their purpose and their programs.
This means that a reevaluation of our membership is a worthwhile exercise. This never meant the CSA should leave the CFS.
But, both the national and provincial components of the CFS did everything in their power to make sure a referendum did not come to this campus. With CFS-Ontario petitions, the provincial executive argued that petitions hadn’t been delivered on time and via the right method. On the smallest infraction, the CFS – an organization that says they look out for the interests of students, an organization that claims democracy as their cornerstone – put up a barrier to student autonomy. The courts felt the same way.
The CFS national executive claimed to have had problems verifying signatures on the petitions sent to them, despite a letter from the University’s registrarial office confirming the names. The executive continued over several months, to show reluctance acknowledging what was a clear desire by many students for a reevaluation of membership.
Like so many other student unions, ours was dragged to court.
Is this an organization you want to be part of?
Before you vote, familiarize your self with both arguments and read between the lines.
Loading ...
