This year, the St. Thomas University students’ union will start to review its membership in the Canadian Alliance of Student Associations.
CASA represents 26 student associations that collectively lobby the federal government on post-secondary education issues. CASA is the second largest federal student lobby group. The Canadian Federation of Students is the largest.
The debate over whether to remain a member of CASA has been controversial at the STUSU table for years.
CFS is a more activist organization which uses protests in addition to lobbying. STUSU members who prefer CASA, including STUSU president Mark Livingstone, tend to dismiss CFS as too far-left politically.
In 2009, Ella Henry, who was then vice-president education, tried to start the review process, citing governance and budget issues.
The union decided to draft a letter to CASA outlining the grievances. The letter was not sent.
As the first step in the review process, CASA held an information session last week to help students understand the organization.
It was only attended by STUSU members, University of New Brunswick students’ union members and a New Brunswick Student Alliance representative. No other STU students attended.
Vice-president education Craig Mazerolle, who has attended numerous CASA conferences, said the representatives explained what CASA was for those who might not know.
“Essentially, they talked to us about the membership of the organization, what universities are involved, the decision-making process they go through on things like budgets and policy, as well as benefits of the organization,” he said.
STUSU spends $5,000 in membership fees and plans to spend $10,000 for CASA conferences.
A change in the membership fee structure will see STUSU pay more next year, the equivalent of $3.17 for each full time STU student.
“I felt that it was important that they came and expressed their knowledge and understanding of the organization,” said Livingstone.
“We needed an external view on it other than our own considering that we’re going into the review this year.”
Last year, STUSU passed a motion calling for a review of its membership in CASA.
Livingstone said he expects the first vote in the review process in January.
The process would require STUSU to drop to associate membership status for a year, meaning the union likely wouldn’t leave the organization before 2013.
Last year, starting the review was an election plank for Craig Mazerolle’s re-election bid.
