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Decembér 3, 1996

Student Union Executive Favours Casa

By Kent Driscoll

According to the UPEI Student Union Executive, the needs of UPEI students would be better served in CASA, as opposed to CFS. CFS ( the Canadian Federation of Stu- dents) is our current lobbying voice onanational level, while CASA ( Canadian Alliance of Student Associations) is a na- tional lobbying group who was formed from student unions who were displeased with the performance of CFS.

The major concern that the executive of the Student Union have with CFS is their tendency to puta high priority onlarge socialissues, and their belief that all issues are stu- dent issues. This is readily evidenced by the recent na- tional meeting of CFS. A number of issues that CFS believes to be related to stu- dents include the death pen- alty, the war in Sierra Leone, abortion, Quebec’s and the

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First Nations’ right to self- determination, and the “fear mongering hate tactics” of the Reform Party.

According to Student Union Vice-President Exter- nal Chris Grey, the executive member who is responsible for dealing with CFS, a large number of issues that CFS spend time and money dis- cussing are, “not related to students”, and ourneeds would be better served by joining a group like CASA, who only consider education issues to be student issues.

Former Student Union President, and current CFS National Executive Representive, Amber Allin, believes CFS to be a superior organization to CASA, for a number of reasons. She be- lieves CASA to have “under- currents of elitism”, and be- lieves that UPEI will have a stronger voice on a national level if they remain in CFS. As well, when questioned on

whether education is a right, as opposed to a privilege, CASA has refused to come out with a clear stance. They will not say education is aright (which is one of the rallying calls of CFS), butthey will not say itisaprivilege either. They fall between, with the ambigu- ous statement that education is “a necessity”. This offends many CFS loyalists who strongly believe that a post- secondary education is the right of all.

A further concern that CFS National Executive Rep. Amber Allin has is with a motion that was nearly passed by CASA, making voting power in their national meet- ings determined by the amount of students that attend each university. If this “ represen- tation by population” motion had passed, a university like Dalhousie would have amuch larger say then a university with asmallerpopulation, such as UPEL. In CFS, each mem-

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ber campus receives one vote, regardless of size.

As well, Allin is con- cerned with the tactics of CASA. She alleges that mem- bers of CASA have been lob- bying PEI MLA’s and MP’s, while UPEI isnotamember of CASA. She believes the or- ganizationto be “overstepping its bounds” in this manner. She is worried that CASA is speaking for the students of UPEI, while UPEI is not a member of CASA, and there- fore, doesn’t vote in the body.

Another major concern that has been expressed about CASA is the criminal allega- tions against it’s former act- ing president, who was ac- cused ofembezzlement. While CFS N.E. Rep. Amber Allin believes this to be a matter of concern, Student Union Presi- dent Chris Burns believes this matter to closed. “ They dealt with it properly, and the mat- ter was taken care of. Since they got a scare very early on,

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they are now very concemed about being honest. [CASA] has opened all their financial records to all universities, members and non-members alike. This is more then CFS has done for us, and we aren't evenamemberof CASA. You couldn’t steal a rubber band from CASA now.”

UPEI discussed this is- sue last year, with a referen- dum on membership in CFS, asking students their opinion on membership. According to CFS bylaws, the only way for acampus to leave is through a referendum. While the stu- dents voted to leave CFS, the results were not accepted due to voting irregularities. The Student Union plans to open the issue to students again, with a referendum on CFS membership, which is to be held at the same time as the general election. With the two occurring at the same, this is sure to be a hot campaign is- sue in the spring election.

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