Henick disagrees, says federal lobby group works well for St. Thomas
Council debated for more than two hours last week about whether or not to review the student union’s membership with the Canadian Alliance of Student Associations and consider lowering it to associate status.
The motion, brought forward by vice-president education and president-elect Ella Henry at council’s weekly meeting Thursday, drew more than 20 outside observers.
Henry cited governance and budget issues as grounds for a review.
“As a result of a lot of straightforward issues related to finance, governance and operations of CASA, I think we missed out on an opportunity to advocate effectively for students,” she said in reference to a recent lobby conference in Ottawa. “It’s because I believe strongly that we need our federal lobby organization to be effective for STU students and students across the country that I have been very frustrated working with CASA.”
CASA is the second largest federal student lobby group.
The Canadian Federation of Students is the biggest.
The STUSU is spending $14,500 on federal and provincial lobbying this year.
Henry said student unions at Mount Royal University and the Southern Alberta Institute of technology recently switched from full to associate member in an effort “to ensure that the internal challenges within CASA are taken seriously and resolved as quickly and effectively as possible.”
“And that’s what I propose the STUSU do,” said Henry, who clarified that her motion “does not mean we become an associate member. It means we will send CASA notice that sometime in the next 30 days from now we will be voting on whether or not to become associate members.”
The STUSU filed a grievance with CASA in January over $30,000 the lobby group spent on a survey – money that hadn’t been approved by the board of directors.
Henry said CASA’s response was inadequate, and sent three weeks late.
The STUSU must be an associate member of CASA for one year before it can vote to officially leave.
Her proposal to consider associate member status was supported by Craig Mazzerole, current Holy Cross House representative and vice-president education elect.
He said the weighted voting structure CASA has adopted makes it hard enough for St. Thomas, being such a small school, to affect any real change within the lobby organization.
“We need to send a clear message that we can’t allow things to go they way they are now,” said Mazzerole. “This is a way for a small university to stand up.”
Duncan Gallant, board of directors representative, said downgrading to associate member status to gain leverage within the organization is a bullying tactic and would be a misuse of the tool, which is typically used by schools who have already decided they’re leaving the organization.
Schools that are associate members lose their vote at membership meetings.
And because any decision to downgrade status would be made later than the March 15 deadline, the STUSU would still have to pay full membership fees for the next year.
“It’s sort of counter productive, when you’re saying ‘I want CASA to listen to me more’ by going to associate member status, but you’re losing your vote around the plenary table,” said Gallant.
He noted that CASA’s national director recently resigned, which could solve some problems Henry has.
President Mark Henick rejected Henry’s concerns and said some of the information she presented to council was misleading.
“I will not support this motion,” said Henick. “It is not in our interest, it has been portrayed to us in a one-sided manner, and CASA has worked well for us.
“Above all the governance issues and things like that, we can’t even run an election, so who are we to criticize CASA,” said Henick.
The final motion was amended to read that the STUSU will write a letter to CASA outlining its concerns about financial management, governance, voting structure, bilingualism and a lack of attention to member priorities, and will follow up on that letter.
It passed unanimously.
