ival—will only add to the
ivision between the two
ational student organizations.
“The biggest problem with
he Canadian student move-
ent is that it’s divided,” said
offman, who hopes that the
S will be able to persuade
ASA to work in partnership
ith the CFS in the future.
The two organizations are
penly hostile to each other
d the press.”
CASA was founded in 1992
d has been

direct

r student
embership

er since.

oasts a membership of stu-
ent associations at approxi-
ately 60 schools, while 17
anadian student associations
e members of CASA, includ-
g BC’s Kwantlen College.
Ryan Marshall, coordinator
f external affairs for the

MS, said UBC is overdue in
ining a national organization.
BC's undergraduate council
as been autonomous since

ey left CASA several years

o, after an internal dispute
urred the AMS to withdraw
s membership.

“We've been sitting on the
nce for years, and I felt it was
me to get out there and work
national efforts,” said
arshall.

While CASA is pleased to
elcome another major
anadian university into its

_ The biggest
ompetition problem with the AMS nearly 12

BC JOms CASA continued from page 2

fold, the CFS isn't happy about
UBC's move.

“We need a united student
movement in Canada, and
CASA spends more time criti-
cizing the Canadian Federation
of Students than anti-student
policies developed by govern-
ments,” said Maura Parte, BC
Chair of the CFS. “It’s unfor-
tunate that the UBC Alma
Mater Society would choose to
join such an organization.”

Marshall estimated that to
join the CFS

would cost the

times the esti-

Canadian Student ...:< 525.000
ith the CFS movement is that the council will
it's divided

hand over to
CASA,

But Parte
said comparing the services
offered by the two organiza-
tions is like comparing apples
to oranges.

And the two national stu-
dent organizations have differ-
ent mandates, and different
approaches to attracting mem-
bership.

While CASA requires a two-
thirds vote from student board
members, the CFS requires a
student referendum on campus
involying substantial research
and preparation.

The Douglas College
Student Society joined the CFS

after a referendum held this
spring.

 

 

DCSS collects another acronym
The Douglas College Student Society has joined

another student association. It became an acting
member of the British Columbia Yukon Student
Association, while at Langley’s Kwantlen campus in
June.

“We attended a meeting based on a two-year-old
motion that said we'd join any active student associa-
tions,” said DCSS president Jaimie McEvoy. “We have
to have a further $800 to become a permanent mem-
ber, so we have to vote on that.”

McEvoy described the association as strictly provin-
cial,

“Tt differs from the CFS in that it doesn’t attempt
to adopt a structure, and is essentially informal,”
explained McEvoy. “It provides a mechanism for CFS
and non-CFS schools to get together.”

DCSS AGM AWOL

It has been over a year since the last Douglas College
Student Society Annual General Meeting, and that has
some members of the college community rather riled
up.

“We applied to the government for an extension,
and got it,’ says DCSS office person Jean. But she
could not tell us when the meeting would occur.

According to the DCSS constitution, the AGM is
to be held annually, within the first few weeks of the
beginning of the winter term. But President Jaimie
McEvoy says the delay is a part of yet another prob-
lem connected to the embezzlement of thousands of
DCSS dollars. (The former DCSS treasurer, Rhonda
Lussier, has been charged with theft over $5000 and
fraud over $5000.)

“We're probably looking at the beginning of
August [for the AGM],” said McEvoy. “We're waiting
for the audit—it is almost done.”

This is complicating things for some of the college
community's operations. Athletics, for example, has
had their accounts frozen pending the AGM. This is
Not just an inconvenience, it threatens to bankrupt the
entire athletics program of the college.

“They don't have any money, because we don’t have
any money to give them,” said McEvoy.

McEvoy estimates the quorum needed, a problem
for DCSS AGMs in the past, for the rare summer
AGM would be about 75 people.

 

NEWS July 1998 Paget