November 25, 1982

The Other Press

Myth or reality ?

Page 9

 

 

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Lack of activism?

by Chris Page

Although the Victoria CFS -
Conference of Nov. 8-13 pro-
duced a campaign plan,
Canada’s national student
organisation still has pro-
blems to overcome

Fiscal restramt will be the
subject of a February Infor-
mation campaign.

**“Monies are being diverted
from post-secondary educa-
tion and directed toward oth-
er segments of the econo-
my,’’ says the Campaign
Committee's report.

“It is essential that post-
secondary education be ad-
equately funded to guaran-
tee a truly democratic socie-
ty."

An action week about Stu-
dent employment is planned
for March. Activities may in-
clude creating ‘‘mock soup
kitchens to publicize depres-
sion levels of unemploy-
ment,’’ alliances with labour
unions and associations, and
information pickets near
Chambers of Commerce or
shopping centres.

CFS had planned an infor-
mation week for last Oct. 11-
15, but organizers failed to
send information to B.C. in
time for it.

Although CFS is now two
years old,it still lacks a com-

photos by Glen Nazaruk and

Chris Page

 

plete policy on education. Of
24 policy motions presented,
at the Victoria conference,
only half dealt with educa-
tion issues. Other motions
concerned peace, apartheid,
gay rights, and rebels in El
Salvador.

CFS’s lack of commitment
to student activism was sho-
wn by refusing to pay $500
toward the $8,000 legal fees
Universite de Moncton stu-
dents face because of an oc-
cupation staged there last
Spring to protest tuition in-
creases.

Universite de Moncton stu-
dents may leave CFS, and
Nova Scotia’s campuses may
also threaten to leave.

Eric Walker objects to the
CFS policy of requiring
members of provincial Stu-
dent Federations to be mem-
bers of CFS as well, and that
it is enforced inconsistently.

University of Toronto was
given voting rights despite
not being part of. Ontario
Federation of Students -
Waterloo, in the same situa-
tion, wasn't.

CFS’s closing plenary ad-
journed at 4:10 a.m. Sunday
Nov. 14, with half the pro-
posed motions never reach-
ing the floor.

 

Excuses not good enough

Be a
=aovp

by Caroline Hardon

“‘Answers, not excuses,”’
was a phrase that many peo-
ple used during the Canad-
ian Federation of Students
Conference November 7-13,
in Victoria. As already men-
tioned in the last edition of
the Other Press, the opening
plenary of the conference
was unorganized. Unfortu-
nately, the rest of the confer-
ence proved to be as unorg-
anized.

Thursday started out with a
Central Committee meeting.
At this meeting, D.C.S.S.
President, Tim Shein, pre-
sented his letter directed to
CFS, and it was met with
general disagreement by CC
members. They gave the im-
pression that it was Douglas
College's fault that informa-
tion wasn’t delivered on
time, and then made various
other excuses for some of the
accusations in Shein’s letter.
On the matter of finances,
Shein claimed the ‘‘organiza-
tion has to be co-ordinated,

it has to work like a well-
oiled machine.’’ The mem-
bers of the C.C. agreed with
this statement, but offered
no solutions.
Next on the agenda was a
General Assembly. It hadn’t
gotten very far when a repre-
sentative from Nova Scotia
requested an open question
and answer period with the
Board Members and Cent-
ral Committee of CFS. The

session got underway, and
many complaints were brou-
ght into the open. The people
that the questions were dire-
cted to sat perched on the
stage together and tried to
pacify the sometimes angry
students facing them. The
session was useful, and was
a positive step forward for
the Conference - it allowed
delegates to reveal what they
really felt, and some quest-
ions were answered.

Some of the CFS services
include Travel Cuts (the CFS
travel agency) and CPS
Canadian Programming Ser-
vices that supplies guest spe-
akers to campuses across
Canada. Travel Cuts is a very
successful part of CFS. It can
offer discounts on flights and
travel arrangements to just
about anywhere in the world,
Douglas College doesn’t
have a Travel Cuts office, but
there’s one atSFU. CPS
looks very promising but the
service isn’t used as much as
it should be. For small Col-

leges, C.P.S. can be quite
expensive. It was recommen-
ded that smaller colleges in-
terested in having a speaker
come to them should try and
arrange other small colleges
in close proximity to share
in the bill and hold a lecture
at one location. The speakers
that the C.P.S.offers are very
good and it could be worth
looking into for Douglas Col-
lege.

 

 

Many committees were go-
ing on during the confer-
ence. They ranged from iss-
ues concerning CFS budget,
to campaigns. Hopefully, the
work put into these committ-
ees will help the students of
Canada. Many good ideas
were discussed, however,
many ideas didn’t reach the
closing plenary.

The attitude of most dele-
gates throughout the confer-
ence was negative, but as
times of fiscal restraint and
decreasing job markets con-
tinue, everyone’s nerves will
be on edge. One must realize
that CFS is just one year old,
and the organization has a lot
of potential. Once the bugs
are smoothed out, CFS
should be a very beneficial
federation in which to

belong. :

 

 

 

{> THiS REACLY
Queen Victor 1A 7

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