The World of Sam Reynolds

So it’s Sunday afternoon, and the Canadian Federation of Students Annual General Meeting has drawn to a close. Delegates tired after a few days of meetings have dispersed and headed home.

After following the incredible #cfs09 twitter feed, and talking to delegates who were there leaking out information I have a few observations /comments on the spectacle.

Open the Event to the Media

The CFS is a de-facto public institution. It is funded upon a small fee which each student pays every term. However, there is no opt-out clause. Unlike certain campus institutions like a PIRG or a Student Newspaper, students cannot simply opt-out of the CFS if they are at a CFS school. As a result the federation is far from a private organization.

While representatives from campus newspapers nor bloggers were allowed media passes, the CFS did allow one media representative to cover the entire event. Emma Godmere, Editor in Chief of The Fulcrum and CUP Ottawa Bureau Chief, filled that roll. During the AGM she probably broke world tweeting records, diligently reporting on the antics of delegates and the outcome of plenaries throughout the entire event. Though unfortunately she tweeted near the beginning

“Very unfortunately have to leave opening plenary early for business back @The_Fulcrum. Will be tweeting Saturday’s long haul though! #cfs09”

A few other members of the student press showed up to the event as delegates, but were asked to stop tweeting under threat of having the CUP rep’s media pass revoked.

What needs to happen at the 2010 AGM is an opening of the event to the media. Each paper needs to be allowed to send one representative so that the event can be covered in depth and some journalism can take place. Half the trade is reporting, which Godmere did quite well, but the other is investigation and finding stories. Many student journalists, including myself, would be willing to foot the bill for a flight and a hotel to Ottawa for the experience of covering an event of this magnitude.

Unfortunately, certain CFS executives are against this. CFS exec Kaley Kennedy tweeted the #cfsfcee “has a fair media policy. Rich and local schools should not be able to send campus media with delegation”. Really? That’s like saying that Ottawa television stations and newspapers shouldn’t be allowed to send members of the press to the House of Commons, because they, well, are local. If these CFSers claim to be student politicians then they should have to deal with a major part of the political apparatus – the press. Who knows, it might hold them accountable.

If the event isn’t opened to student media next year, I would be more than willing to go as a delegate. I’ll pay my own way.

Define what a Student Movement Is

The CFS is suffering a mild identity crisis. It claims that it is a student lobby group, yet many of the motions discussed would better fit in the manifesto of a social democrat party than of a lobby group. The CFS should have no role in social lobbying: ending world poverty, reform of the UN and the Security Council, and the abolition of the G8/G20 are not issues which have a place at the AGM. These are political issues, not student issues.

Without a doubt these issues have merit for intense discussion and debate. But since the bill for the AGM is being footed by the students, stick to issues which will represent the electorate. Policies on credit transfer, tuition fees, and the role of private institutions in this country have a place in the AGM. Not social issues.

And how can we forget the Shinerama debacle of last year, and the vicious attacks on academic freedom through the censorship of the Genocide Awareness Project. Good job guys.

Remember CFS: that is why people criticize you, because you pick a fight that is not yours.

Become Less Hostile

What unites the anti-CFS movement, more than a certain political ideology (hint: the CFS has more people against them than conservatives) is the hostility and contempt the CFS shows to it’s critics.

I have firsthand experience in this field.

Earlier this term I penned a news article entitled “Thirteen Schools Want out of the CFS”. It reported on the growing discontent with the CFS at many campuses around the country. In writing the article I talked to many organizers of petitions at different campuses to see what the response from students was. It was overwhelmingly positive. Students were coming out en masse and signing themselves away from the clutches of the CFS. I chose to interview Jose Barrios, one of the UVic organizers, because of just how successful their petition was. I also chose to interview Carleton’s Dean Tester because of how much attention the campaign at that campus was getting.

Taking the journalistic maxim “fair and balanced” to heart, I also called up the CFS-BC office. The representative I talked to had no clue about these petitions and referred me to the national spokesperson for comment. The national spokesperson, then-Treasurer and now-President, Dave Molenhuis played telephone tag but in the end I could not reach him by the time The Peak went to press.

A week after that issue was on the stands I get a call from a rather irate Molenhuis. He was levelling all sorts of accusations at me saying the article was poorly researched, biased, libellous, and hinted ever so slightly at legal threats (a lawlsuit would be martyrdom) if there wasn’t a correction or retraction issued. I told him to arrange all of his grievances into an email and fire them my way. That email never came.

I win.

Another example of the hostility to descent shown by the CFS is the CFS-SFSS lawsuit. The SFSS held a referendum on CFS defederation, following all of the rules laid out by the CFS, and students voted overwhelmingly to defederate from the CFS. The CFS arbitrarily decided to ignore this valid referendum, and sued the SFSS.

It should be mentioned that during the defederation campaign the CFS flew in pro-CFS reps to campus, and purchased pro-CFS advertising on public transportation in the Burnaby area. Talk about self-preservation.

Good job CFS. That is sure to win the hearts and minds of students.