Students Cry Foul
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
Publication Date: 2009-10-22 View PDF Version 2009-10-22 Vol. 160 Issue 6 Contact the Publisher HOME Students cry foul Canadian Federation of Students deny ARTS & CULTURE receiving student petitions A dank night at the Ebar Daniel Bitonti Behind the counter at the Vinyl Café Featured Artist CFS-Ontario, the provincial component of the Canadian Federation of Students, Canada's largest student lobby, said Tuesday that they had not yet received petitions from any student organizers requesting that a Foodstuffs does Taste of referendum be held on the issue of continued membership in CFS-Ontario. Downtown Foraging for colour with Stefan Herda But according to three sworn affidavits obtained by the Ontarion, student organizers at the University of Guelph, Trent University and Carleton University have sent petitions to CFS-Ontario requesting a referendum Local Expression: Interactions with local be held on each campus at the end of March 2010. artists at the Guelph studio tour On each affidavit of service, Robert James Sutton, Process Server of the City of Toronto, made an oath Microbreweries: small in saying that he personally served CFS-Ontario with true copies of the petition by sliding them through the mail size, big on quality slot at CFS-Ontario headquarters on Sept. 29, 2009 at 4:27pm. David Paul Lee, a Notary Public of the Ohbijou, The Acorn and province of Ontario, notarized the three affidavits. The affidavits also included the signatures of 10 per cent of Kite Hill go to church. the student body at each school, a CFS-Ontario defederating requirement. On thin ice Pissoir pilot project "We have not received any petitions to date," said Shelley Melanson, chairperson of CFS-Ontario. "I'm kind of comes to a close. confused as to where this is coming from because I haven't received anything yet. Nothing physically has come into the office." EDITORIAL Don't be a pawn in their It was reported last month that students at 13 unions across the country had begun petitions requesting game referendums to be held on continued membership in CFS. At Guelph, student organizers explained that their Editor's Challenge main frustration with CFS was its inability to deliver on the mandate of lowering tuition fees for students FEATURES across the country. The good goodbye University of Guelph students currently pay $3.17 to CFS-Ontario per semester and $3.81 to CFS-National. A This View of Life in the petition to defederate from CFS-National is currently circulating on campus. Defederation would mean that Atrium students at the University of Guelph would no longer be provided the services that the CFS offers, such as NEWS TravelCUTS and the International Student Identity Card (ISIC). Guelph students would also no longer Canadian Businesses: officially be represented by the CFS's campaigns to lower tuition, such as the Drop Fees campaign. The Power to Deport CFRU raises funds with "I don't know why they would deny receiving a petition that they are mandated through their own bylaws and illustrations, knitting, policies to receive on the six month notice day anyways," said Curtis Batuszkin, the University of Guelph and custom songs petition organizer. "The only thing I think of is that if they deny it, and they continue to deny, it slows the Cool weather gardening whole process down from the beginning. This means I then have to seek a legal injunction through our sprouting up around student union to get them to recognize their own petition." Guelph News Briefs Batuskin says that the battle between the Cape Breton Student's Union (CBSU) and CFS-National is one of the OPINION latest examples of CFS having no hesitation in throwing up roadblocks in the defederation process. Loose Cannon CBSU held a referendum last spring on its campus questioning continued membership with CFS. 92 per cent Open Content of students voted to discontinue membership but CFS did not acknowledge the results because the Federation Pop cultured claimed that the petition and request to hold a referendum was not received until November of the previous Sexposure: 2 Girls, 1 year. With the mandatory six-month notification period outlined in CFS bylaws, the earliest date for a (sex) Column referendum would have been May. The lost petitions This one is about "It absolutely does not surprise me that they are denying receiving this petition because it is part of what we human rights see is an ongoing pattern of heavy handed corruption from CFS," said James Murphy, the Trent University We like Conservatives - student organizer. as long as they're Liberal Melanson would not speak directly to the accusations that denying the petitions and referendum requests are SPORTS AND HEALTH part of a CFS stalling tactic. Cool in the pool It's a want, not a need "All I can tell you is we haven't received anything in our office," she said. On to the semis According to CFS-Ontario by-laws, notice of a vote on defederating, signed by a notary public, must be Scoreboard delivered by registered mail to the head office of the Federation not less than six moths prior to the vote. What about hand sanitizer? Batuskin, along with the organizers of Trent and Carlton, used a process server to deliver the petitions rather CLASSIFIEDS than registered mail. Classified Ad Form "They can nitpick but whether they are nitpicking according to law is a lawyers discussion," said Batuskin. COMMUNITY EVENTS "The discussions we have had with our lawyers makes it clear that a process server is a higher standard of Listings proof, saying that we delivered the petition on time. To turn it away over legal semantics would be really LETTERS TO THE EDITOR low." The mail Gavin Armstrong, the Central Student Association's communications commissioner, was also told by the CFS- ADVERTISING INFO Ontario that the Guelph petition had not yet been received. Publishing Schedule Advertising Rate Card "If [the organizers] feel like they have been disadvantaged, the CSA will step in to find out what is going on. On-Line Advertising If they claim they are being disadvantaged it is our obligation to look into it," Armstrong said. "It would be very poor on CFS-Ontario to deny the petition based on the fact that it was served by a process server and STAFF LISTING not by registered mail." Generated with www.html-to-pdf.net Page 1 / 2 The deadline to submit petitions and requests of referendum to CFS-Ontario was Sept 30. Return to News section Readers Comments Comment on this article or Send a letter to the editor Comments posted here do not necessarrily reflect the views of The Ontarion or its staff and affiliates. NotSoFresh posted on Friday October 16th 2009 I am an undergrad poli-sci student. I spend my time reading political theorists, and have never ever read anything which is as much a farce as this topic. I pay money to the CFS as a student at a cfs school (which I can confirm HAS a petition circulating). I would like somebody, anybody to tell me where my money goes, and what I get for it. All I hear about is petty backstabbing and complaining. I assume we are all adults here. Lets all grow up and act that way. How about a questionaire to the entire membership to get to the bottom of this issue. Then we all will know how the Canadian student body feels about this issue. I signed the petition, and I want out. Why?? I am tired of paying a glorified stitch and bitch. I am tired of hearing about this whole thing. I do not see any benefit to belonging. I may change my mind if I were to, say, receive an info package telling me who this CFS is, how much and WHY i pay them. Again, Grow up kids, and act like adults. NotSoFresh Oct 16, 2009 at 09:58 PM Dan Woods posted on Saturday October 17th 2009 A CALL FOR DIRECT ACTION When the CFS holds its own members hostage by refusing to acknowledge petitions (http://www.theontarion.ca/viewarticle.php?id_pag=2655), it is time to do something more. If one student union stops paying its membership fees to the CFS, they will probably get sued. If 10 of them stop, they will soon run out of money to sue anyone... The CFS is meeting in Ottawa in November. Could students videotape the meeting? Would the CFS call the police to arrest its own members? What will happen of them when the footage goes online? How many people could gather in Ottawa to hold a counter-meeting? Could it get even more attention from the media, including student media, than the very secretive CFS meeting? any other ideas? Richard posted on Sunday October 18th 2009 This is all too typical of the CFS both national and provincially. The CFS continues to deny their members basic democratic rights as outlined in the CFS bylaws! How can we continue to support an organization that ignores its own bylaws and changes the rules whenever they feel like it? The process to leave this organization is so constrained and so restrictive that they will do anything possible to stall this process. I would also like to make a comment about the following in this aticle: "Defederation would mean that students at the University of Guelph would no longer be provided the services that the CFS offers, such as TravelCUTS and the International Student Identity Card (ISIC). Guelph students would also no longer officially be represented by the CFS's campaigns to lower tuition, such as the Drop Fees campaign." This is false.