The endless talk of CFS defederation: To the surprise of absolutely no one, while looking through our March 8, 1993 issue, we came across a letter to the editor rallying for Camosun students to defederate from the Canadian Federation of Students (CFS). Letter-writer Sue Williams, who was the Camosun College Student Society (CCSS) director of communications at the time, urged students to get a referendum happening to defederate from the national student organization. Williams cited the same concerns that students have today about the national organization, “constant, internal union bureaucratic bickering” being but one example. Camosun students are still paying members of the CFS, and are currently trying to have a referendum to defederate, but the CFS is saying it can’t happen due to outstanding fees (see page 3).
Even more talk of CFS defederation: We also reported in this issue on a CCSS meeting where—surprise, surprise—talk of defederating from the CFS was brought up. And voted down. “Opponents of the motion cited potential loss of national support and benefits as reasons for saying no,” writer Ben McDonald reported. CCSS chairperson Niki Stanford said in the meeting that she was offended by CCSS executives trying to “muzzle” others who attempted to “clarify and improve the situation,” and that the CCSS is not “being accountable to its constituents.” Stanford also mentioned she would not run for re-election in April of that year.
You can get shampoo for that: Alan Callbeck’s Earth Person Commentary column was always an entertaining read; in this issue, Callbeck lamented humanity’s attitude toward nature. He ended off with the sobering words, “Are we, in reality, no more than body lice?”