Clubs Days happening this week > DSU changed club policies last year Jake Wray News Editor t’s the start of a new semester and DSU Clubs Days are happening once again. Clubs Days are a showcase of all the student clubs at Douglas College. The clubs will have booths set up in common areas that students can peruse at their leisure. Clubs Day will be held at the Coquitlam campus atrium Tuesday, January 23 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., and at the New Westminster campus concourse Wednesday, January 24 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Aran Armutlu, director of finance for the DSU, said Clubs Day is one of the busiest days of the year at Douglas College. “Clubs will have interactive things going on. People can come up to the tables and play games, or they can come and do things to interact with whatever the service or the interest is of that club,” he said in an interview with the Other Press during the fall semester. The Other Press will have a booth at both Clubs Day events. Students are welcome to come by to learn more about their campus newspaper. While the Other Press is not officially a DSU club, we nevertheless encourage students to get involved with the paper—our door is always open to new student writers, editors, artists or anyone who wants to contribute. Chandler Walter, editor-in-chief of the a Other Press, said the paper needs more Douglas College students to get involved. “We always encourage students to become part of the Other Press because it’s a great place to have your written work published and become a part of a great group of people,” he said. “Besides, press freedoms are increasingly under attack, and it’s time for young journalists to step up.” Armutlu said this fall that the DSU updated its club policies in summer 2017, including an overhaul of club membership requirements. The old membership requirement for clubs was six members, but now clubs need to maintain 15 or 30 members depending on the type of club. Armutlu said the requirements were updated after the DSU received feedback from students during the club policy overhaul process. Joining a club can significantly enrich a student’s experience at college, according to Armutlu, who said he hopes lots of students join clubs Two DSU representatives elected to BCFS board > ‘I’m excited to bring my twist to it’ Jake Wray News Editor wo DSU representatives have been elected to new positions on the board of directors for the British Columbia Federation of Students (BCFS). The BCFS is an organization consisting of 14 student unions from across the province that works in the collective interest of those unions. Shared services, such as student discount programs and medical insurance, are co-ordinated through BCFS, as well as campaigns for student issues, such as the Fight for $15 minimum wage campaign. Elections for the BCFS board of directors took place at the BCFS annual general meeting, which ran from January 11 to 14. Aran Armutlu, director of finance for the DSU, was elected as chairperson of the BCFS board. “lam definitely excited. I am pretty humbled that the membership thinks I would be a good fit for the role, and I look forward to all the challenges that it will bring,” he told the Other Press in an exclusive interview. Armutlu said one of the BCFS chairperson’s primary responsibilities is to drive BCFS campaigns. Previously, Armutlu sat on the BCFS board in the role of campaigns co-ordinator, which saw him assisting the previous chairperson on campaign files. He said he is eager to continue working on campaigns in the role of chairperson. “It’s a big portfolio,” he said. “I’m excited to bring my twist to it. Obviously with roles like this, you don’t want to reinvent the wheel. It’s something that’s been done for a while and there’s already processes on which things are done.” Armutlu said a recent successful BCFS campaign was their drive to remove tuition for adult basic education programs. The BC NDP government eliminated tuition fees for adult basic education in August 2017. Telka Pesklevits, women’s representative for the DSU, was elected as the services co- ordinator for the BCFS board of directors. She said she sought the role of services co-ordinator because the BCFS is under increasing pressure to provide services after its national counterpart, the Canadian Federation of Students (CFS,) fell into disarray. “There are, I think, 14 student unions or student societies in BC that are members of the BCFS, and a lot of them are seeking an exit from CFS,” Pesklevits told the Other Press in a phone interview. “[If exiting CFS] then we have to rely more on the BCFS, and so one of the ways we really feel that immediately is in the services.” Services include a bulk swag-purchase program, health and dental service, and student union apps. Pesklevits said b f late anor) Ulan} Cc S federation of students student unions save money by grouping together to purchase these services. Pesklevits said one of her first priorities in the new role is figuring out what to do with the International Student Identity Card program, which provides Douglas College students (and students at other BCFS schools) with discounts at local Crete Wee cc Photo of previous Clubs Day by Analyn Cuarto at Douglas College this year. “T think that clubs are a great way for students to get that first-level engagement on campus, because youre really just going in and finding that thing you share as an interest with someone, and that’s how all sort of connections are made,” he said. “Getting involved on campus has obviously countless numbers of benefits, and the more that people invest into their time at Douglas ... it just makes their time here much more enjoyable.” Photo of Aran Armutlu (Top left) and Telka Pesklevits (Top right) with other new BCFS direc- tors via BCFS Facebook businesses. The problem, she said, is that CFS currently controls that program. “The rights to administer that are owned by the CFS, and so the issue is, if people are going to be exiting from the CFS, they'll no longer have the right to administer [the discount program,] so we have to come up with an alternative.”