So what have I been doing with my time?
Mar. 11th, 2007 01:17 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
the_fantastic_ms_fox
VOTE “YES” ON THE REFERENDUM ON CFS/SFSS FEES
(Visit our webpage at www.sfssvoteyes.ca. for more information)
On March 20, 21, and 22, SFU students will have the chance to choose whether or not they want to do the following:
1. Cease membership in the Canadian Federation of Students (or “CFS”)
2. Stop paying CFS membership fees (totaling around $435,000 per year)
3. Instead, direct that money to the Simon Fraser Student Society.
We encourage you to vote “YES.” Here are our reasons.
1. Why should we cease membership in the CFS?
We joined the CFS because we were told that they would help unite students to advance our common agenda, but they are ineffective at lobbying, networking, and representing students.
Although founded in 1981, the CFS has failed to reduce BC students’ tuition.
Many SFU delegates report that CFS meetings prevent dialogue and networking, and are focused on legitimizing the agendas of established CFS directors
Candidates who were part of previous pro-CFS slates report that CFS staff helped them with their poster design, provided free printing and oferred advice on political strategy
By officially running for positions “unrelated” to the student society elections (such as Senate), these slates skirted around the rules for SFSS campaigns
spending considerably more than the $50-per-candidate limit
campaigning and postering when campaigning was not allowed
handing out candy next to polling booths
Our attempts at reforming or changing the CFS have been blocked.
Douglas, Kwantlen and SFU were among the schools that pressured the CFS to reform
Our delegates to CFS conferences found, and still find, that the CFS was and is loathe to consider reforms
After asking for reforms, our schools saw exceptionally well-organized and well-funded teams of pro-CFS candidates in subsequent elections
(see the next point for how they fared once in office)
Scandals at local CFS schools (Douglas, Kwantlen and SFU) show a trend of pro-CFS slates at CFS schools embroiling their student unions in costly scandals
The scandal at Douglas College saw:
highly questionable loans using student union money
an audit pointing to financial mismanagement
the college cutting off funds to the student society
the Canadian Federation of Students granting loans to the Douglas Student Union, despite its dubious ability to handle money responsibly.
The Kwantlen Student Society saw:
opposition candidates followed by private investigators
$100,000 per year paid to a “consultant”
numerous financial irregularities
large amounts of money going missing
rigged elections
an RCMP audit
a court-ordered by-election, with the (pro-CFS) directors being kicked out
no help from the CFS in stopping the scandal
Remember the SFU impeachment? Over roughly five months we saw:
An illegal firing and an extremely hostile environment for staff.
This led to 28 staff grievances (formal complaints requiring union resolution), which is more than we should get in a decade.
Many people suspect that this was part of an effort to force staff to quit, that they may be replaced by pro-CFS staffpersons.
thousands of dollars spent on “consulting”
the Board ignoring legally-binding petitions ignored and cancelling the all-departments Forum
these are the only two internal methods by which SFU students may overrule the Board
administrative chaos
a jeapordized graduate health plan
this is generlly suspected to be part of an attempt to force graduate students to switch to the CFS health plan
around $150,000 in legal expenses.
seven impeached (pro-CFS) directors
most of the impeached directors refusing to leave ofice
lawsuits from impeached directors against the some of the SFU students and staff who organized the impeachment
no help from the CFS in stopping the scandal
following the impeachment, the National CFS withheld our right to a proxy vote at their meeting. Although we have heard no direct word from them on this matter, the Chair of the British Columbia wing of the CFS stated that the CFS National Executive most likely did not want to commit themselves to acknowledging the impeachment of the Pro-CFS G7 directors until the impeached directors could bring their lawsuit to court
2. Why should we stop paying the CFS fees? (over $435,000 a year)
This amount increases every year with both inflation and the number of SFU students.
Yet no matter how many students we have, our entire student union casts only one vote in plenary meetings. This is the same number as given to a small college (except VCC, who gets two votes, and is extremely pro-CFS)
CFS audits do not make it clear where our money goes.
This said, we do know that our fees go to “membership development” – recruiting students at some schools while blocking attempts to leave at others.
Although the CFS claims many programs as “services,” we will keep all of the following:
TravelCUTS
this is actually owned by the CFS, and is available at non-CFS schools, such as UBC
“free” dayplanners
at present, we pay the CFS for these, and they get to advertise in them for free
the ISIC card
this is an international identity card, not a CFS service
Studentsaver cards
these are available for free elsewhere
free online tax filing
this is available to all Canadian students
free online rental listings
we get these through the University
our involvement in the Day of Action
most of which we pay for ourselves anyways
the Day of Action is open to non-CFS schools
We might lose StudentPhones, but that would not be a bad thing
[edited to correct an error] Studentphones lead us to expect much higher revenues than they have actually delivered. Our exclusive contract with StudentPhones costs the board thousand of dolars in lost vendor fees - this shortfall then comes out of other SFSS activities.
We will no longer be a part of CFS lobbying. This is not a major loss as:
With the money we'll be saving, we will easily be able to put staff hours towards full-time lobbying on SFU student issues (see section 3, below).
Leaving the CFS will makes it easier to work with non-CFS schools (like UBC or the University of Alberta) because:
the CFS is often hostile to non-members
many non-CFS schools are afraid that the CFS will try to lock them into memberships
Many activists are dismayed by CFS “lobbying”
they find it is mostly a form of CFS self-promotion
it is spectaculary ineffective
it is often unnecessarily confrontational, hostile and rude, further alienating the people whom students need to persuade - be they politicians, average voters, or even other activists
After leaving the CFS, we will still be able to cooperate on lobbying with the CFS, but it will be by our choice
Planning has begun on a new, more democratic, accountable, effective, and less expensive student organization to cover at least the Greater Vancouver Regional District, and perhaps all of BC and the Yukon
3. What can we do if we take our CFS fees and pay them to the Simon Fraser Student Society instead?
Improve funding for Departmental Student Unions and events
Double clubs budgets
Create a student society website with:
student-run events listings
tenants' rights information
roommate-matching
a rate-my-landlord services,
official documents and archives of the student society
online forms and room-booking requests
Hire dedicated staff for SFU Surrey
Add staffing hours for SFU Vancouver
Allocate extra time for staff to lobby the federal and provincial governments, as well as local governments and TransLink for the needs of SFU students.
Increase funding for Out-On-Campus and The Women's Centre
which would help these constituency groups to do their own lobbying
Lobby for students in residence and students in need of affordable housing who face unfair eviction processes, deplorable conditions, and high rent
We will be able to adjust these programs over time - moving our money around to where it is needed according to the demands of SFU students
To recap, in voting “YES”...
We leave an organization that brings more harm than good.
We stop paying them money.
We spend that money on services for SFU students.
We all get more for our student fees.
Our student fees won't go up.
It’s your school. It’s your money. It's your vote. It’s your choice.
Vote “YES”
Tuesday March 20th
Wednesday, March 21st
Thursday March 22nd
For a more thorough overview of the reasons to vote “YES,” visit our website at www.sfssvoteyes.ca.
To ask us questions, arrange a meeting or invite a speaker, email us at sfss-vote-yes@sfu.ca.
To see what “YES” supporters have to say, visit our facebook group.
About our campaign and it's “leader:”
The Vote “YES” Committee is an informal collective of SFU students from a range of faculties, levels of volunteer experience and political stripes.
SFSS bylaws require a referendum to have an official representative, and ours is Sasha Fox, the Student Society's External Relations Officer and Undergraduate Representative to the CFS.
In January's all-departments Forum meeting, Sasha initiated and facilitated the CFS/SFSS working group, which accepted the research contributions of any interested SFU student. This group compiled a report on our relationship with the CFS which they presented to Forum in February. Sasha also invited the The CFS to present their own statement. Both statements are available through your department's Forum representative, the SFSS Board of Directors or the “background information” section of our webpage.
After soliciting advice, Sasha drafted the CFS referendum question and presented it to the Board of Directors. They approved of it and recommended it to the all-departments Forum, who amended it into its present form and decided, by a sizable majority, to put it to public referendum.
Again, we ask you to:
- mark your student-union-provided dayplanners (the ones that we'll still have when leave the CFS) for Tuesday the 20th, Wednesday the 21st and Thursday the 22nd
- visit our website www.sfssvoteyes.ca
- talk to your friends
- ask questions
- Vote “YES”