Over the past few weeks the Canadian Federation of Students (CFS) has been discussed at length in the Charlatan and among Carleton students. It is my hope to take this opportunity to clarify the Carleton University Students’ Associetion’s (CUSA) position with regard to the CFS.
Contrary to the claims of many, our dislike of the CFS is not politically motivated. It is motivated by a history of corruption, undemocratic behavior and profiteering on the backs of students that has become increasingly present in the CFS since its founding at Carleton in 1981.
In order to leave the CFS, CUSA must hold a referendum. This makes sense: students should hold the ultimate power to decide whether or not they wish to be members. Unfortunately, the CFS has consistently shown that they have no interest in giving students that power.
In 2009, Carleton students delivered petitions to the CFS offices with more than enough signatures to trigger a referendum. At that time, I was actively working against these students who wanted to leave the CFS. I believed the CFS was working for students, not against them, I believed in what the CFS stood for and I believed that the CFS would ultimately let students vote on membership when the petitions were delivered requesting one.
Three years later, the CFS continues to deny Carleton students the right vote on whether or not they wish to remain members. In addition, the CFS is currently involved in lawsuits with at least six students’ associations who held successful referendums to leave the CFS. Instead of working with these associations, we are helping to fund lawsuits against them through our membership in the CFS. This is not the student movement that I believe in, that I fought for and who has used my picture in their ads and literature for the past two years.
The trouble with the CFS becomes particularly clear when you compare them to Association pour une solidarité syndicale etudiante (ASSÉ) – arguably the most effective student organization in Quebec. The annual membership fee for ASSÉ is $1.50 – a fraction of the $15.40 that each Carleton student pays to the CFS every year. To leave ASSÉ, students must simply hold a vote at their own school, using their own rules. To our knowledge, no litigation has ever arisen as a result of a school deciding to leave.
Our decision to remove CFS material was not because we think the material is inherently bad. It is because we think the organization behind the material has lost its way. I believe in fighting for lower tuition fees, sexual assault awareness and improved conditions for international students. I want to stand with an organization that represents the student movement and works with students to these ends. Unfortunately, the CFS is no longer that organization. They have become too obsessed with control. Instead of helping to foster a positive atmosphere on campus, they will choose to pit student against student, community against community and divide our campus before giving up that control.
Similarly, our decision to go with the Consent is Sexy campaign, instead of the No Means No campaign was not out of a dislike for the No Means No campaign. It was simply to demonstrate to Carleton students that we do not need the CFS to implement sexual assault awareness campaigns. In fact, we believe the message and content of Consent is Sexy is superior to No Means No, despite being less expensive and locally organized.
We admit that we are not perfect. We have made mistakes along the way. We have not properly communicated why we have made some of the decisions we have made. For that, we apologize. CUSA has relied on the CFS for decades and in our move away from that reliance there have and will be bumps along the way. But it will inevitably lead to a stronger student association – that is more responsive to needs on our campus, less expensive for students and more effective at advocating for our students’ interests.
— Fatima Hassan,
CUSA vice-president (student services)
