The Camosun College Student Society (CCSS) is having its fall student elections from Monday, October 28 until Wednesday, October 30. There will be elections for positions on the CCSS board of directors and for student positions on the Camosun College education council.
The CCSS board manages a variety of auxiliary functions for students. These include the Universal Bus Pass (UPass), health and dental benefits, and the Camosun Bookstore Textbookswap program. The CCSS runs advocacy campaigns on behalf of student interests, such as the Get out the Vote campaign encouraging voter participation in the recent federal election. The CCSS also helps organize student clubs and runs events on both campuses.
CCSS external executive Fillette Umulisa says that she feels like the CCSS does great work.
“It gives a person a purpose to know that there’s a thousand-plus students out there that are kind of counting on you to represent them,” she says.
Umulisa says that being on the CCSS board goes beyond that.
“It makes me feel like I’m part of a really big community and that, to some extent, I do matter,” she says.
CCSS executive director Michel Turcotte says that student involvement in the CCSS matters.
“I think of some of the initiatives that would never have happened without student governments,” he says. “International students wouldn’t be able to work off campus without going through huge headaches like applying for visas; students would still be paying for AUG [Adult Upgrading Grant] and ELD [English Language Development] courses; there’d still be interest on student loans—there’s numerous things that students have successfully pushed for over the years that everyone takes for granted.”
Second-year University Transfer student Max Glassel says that the upcoming CCSS election is an important exercise in local democracy that provides students with more power.
“I do think it’s important because it’s democracy at the most local possible level,” says Glassel. “For many students with political aspirations it’s an amazing place to start, and their first experience running for office.”
First-year Interactive Media Developer student Lucius Hall says that he wasn’t aware of the election.
“I never knew there was an election,” he says, “but I hope to learn more about it now that I do.”
First-year Mental Health and Addictions student Julia Hinse says that she doesn’t intend to vote.
“No, I don’t plan on it,” she says, “because I have no idea what it is.”
Turcotte says that people don’t get anything by not voting.
“I mean, the opposite is what is true—if you don’t participate, you have no excuse to complain about what happens,” he says.
See camosunstudent.org for more information about the election and the services the student society offers.