STUDENT
ELECTION RESULTS COME IN
The
CSU spring elections concluded last Friday, and two previously vacant positions
were filled. Hyerin Choi was elected as the International Students' Liason, and
Brooklyn Kemp was elected as the Queer Students' Liason. Both Choi and Kemp are
students in the Global Stewardship program, a program that has dominated the
CSU board for many years. Currently seven out of 16 positions on the CSU board
are held by Global Stewardship students. The election had no requests for recounts,
and so the results were officially ratified as of the previous CSU meeting on
Feb. 15.
WTF?!
The
Where's The Funding?! (WTF?!) campaign continues to garner attention, both
provincially and locally on campus.
“We
are calling on the B.C. Government to commit to an immediate increase in
funding to the post-secondary system on a long-term basis,” the WTF?! website
states. “In order to achieve a more accessible and affordable postsecondary
education.”
The
campaign’s list of demands include the elimination of interest rates on student
loans, the re-establishment of a provincial needs-based grants program, and an
increase to core-funding for colleges and universities.
To
promote this event on campus, the CSU is planning on holding a “soup kitchen”
lunch event on Mar. 6: “The soup kitchen was done at UVic originally,” explains
Teresa Grant, Social Justice Coordinator for the CSU.
She
continued to explain that reps from others schools would come to join the event
at Capilano. The goal with this soup kitchen is to raise awareness of the WTF?!
Campaign, to get signatures for the petition supporting the goals of the
campaign, and to give something back to the student body.
“We’ve
printed out a bunch of declaration cards in order to get signature support for
the campaign … [and we] do a lot of outreach,” Grant continues. “Its a one on
one kind of event [where you can] talk to people [and] hear their story. It’s
about reaching people. We at the CSU love to feed people.”
The
event is expected to serve 650 people, and was approved with a budget of
$2,150.
However,
a spot of controversy arose during the Feb. 8 CSU board meeting in which the
Soup Kitchen event was approved by the CSU. Grant, who was elected as the
Social Justice Coordinator, has been coordinating the WTF campaign for the CSU
since joining, but Nolan Remedios, Educational Issues Representative, felt that
this event should have been held under his jurisdiction.
“I
feel that my capacity is seriously diminished by the fact that I have been
given no control over the two campaigns that we're involved with that directly
effect Ed Issues,” said Remedios. “Don’t get me wrong; that being said, Teresa
is doing a great job. That kind of actually happened out of circumstance, more
than anything else.”
Remedios
continues to explain that he wasn’t able to attend a crucial meeting, and
Teresa Grant was sent instead: “She ran with it, and things just kind of stuck.
We decided later on that we should formalize this, and establish a WTF
committee.”
At
that meeting, a formal committee was also struck for WTF, which would act
independently of the Ed Issues Committee. Grant and Remedios both nominated
themselves to be the coordinator, of which the board selected Grant.
When
asked about whether she thought this should go through the Educational Issues
Committee, she said, “We didn’t find it to be the most effective way to run the
campaign so we formed a sub-committee, for the campaign.”
With
regards to Remedios' concerns, she said, “Everyone has the right to run for the
position they want. … It’s ambitious; you really need to know your stuff. It
takes a lot of work, but it really pays off.”
The
soup kitchen is going to be held on Mar. 6 in the Lower Cafeteria during the
noon hour.
CSU
EXECUTIVE FACES CONTROVERSY
Embattled
CSU Ed Issues Coordinator Nolan Remedios has also been tied up in other
controversy recently. Concerns arose among the executive committee in January
when it became evident that he had not submitted minutes for the two meetings
that he is required to hold every month.
“I’d
held the meetings, but I was told after that I didn’t have a proper
minute-keeper,” he explains. “Richard [Honkanen, CSU staff member] had told me
before, for Ed Issues specifically, only he can do the minutes, not a student.”
The
Ed Issues committee also has certain stipulations that don’t apply to the other
committees: “I have to hold [meetings] before board of governor and senate
meetings. If I hold a meeting, I have to have a certain number of board of governor
and senate reps present, otherwise it doesn’t count as a meeting, even if
students show up.” He continues, “Would you as a student come if all you’d hear
about is what happened at the last senate meeting?”
It
was also brought up that Remedios was scheduling meetings that other members
were unable to attend: “We created a doodle page so that it would be easier to
make the schedules.”
On
one occasion he did not show up for the meeting he had scheduled. He explained
that he had decided to meet with students in the cafeteria, and that the
meeting took place in this manner.
He
currently has not applied to receive his stipend for the months of November and
December, which are the months the meetings allegedly took place. Remedios says
he may or may not try to apply for those payments in the future. However,
according to CSU bylaws, an executive member may only collect their monthly
stipend up to 30 days after the end of the month.
Previously,
a similar controversy arose due to another board member, David Clarkson,
failing to collect his stipend for a period of 12 months. He put forward a
resolution at the November general meeting to suspend that bylaw so that he could
collect his pay; however, the meeting was adjourned before it reached
conclusion.
//Beni Spieler, writer
//Beni Spieler, writer
|
