Other Ontario universities have also begun letter-writing campaigns to advocate for reduced summer 2020 tuition fees. [Photo from file]

The Canadian Federation of Students (CFS) announced an upcoming referendum on whether the Carleton University Students’ Association (CUSA) will continue membership with their organization.

The referendum will ask students to vote on whether they’re in favour of CUSA continuing its membership with the CFS. CUSA is currently Local 1 of the CFS.

The CFS is a national student organization that provides students with various services and lobbies for student issues on a national level. The organization currently has 64 student union members, according to its website.

This announcement comes on the heels of “CU Later CFS,” an ongoing campaign by CUSA to de-federate from the CFS that has been happening since the 2017-18 school year, according to previous coverage by the Charlatan.

In order for CUSA to move forward with defederation, 10 per cent of the undergraduate student body in total must vote on the referendum, CUSA president David Oladejo said. As of the 2017-18 school year, there are 26,321 undergraduate students; 10 per cent of Carleton’s undergraduate population, would be just over 2,600 students.

There are currently two ongoing campaigns urging students to vote: one by the CFS encouraging the “yes” option and one by CUSA encouraging the “no” option. Campaigning is ongoing until the last day of voting.

Students can vote via paper ballot on Oct. 17-19 in these locations:

  • University Centre/Tory Atrium
  • Loeb Building Tunnel
  • Richcraft/Steacie Tunnel
  • Residence Commons Tunnel
  • Minto Building Tunnel

This article will be updated to include more information later.

______________________________________________________________________

File photo