As you probably know, the graduate students have opted to leave the Simon Fraser Student Society (SFSS) to form their own Graduate Student Society (GSS). The new GSS will be fully operational this May.
On a possible related note, the Spring's SFSS elections will (hopefully) determine whether or not the SFSS is granted a divorce from the Canadian Federation of Students (CFS). I'll discuss the CFS in detail some point in the near future, but for now the latest required reading on the matter may be found here.
There's one big question I have for the GSS: what legal baggage do you carry over from the SFSS? In particular, is the GSS legally a member of the CFS?
There doesn't seem to be anyone speaking about it (at least, my Google searches have not dug up anything) which is strange given the importance of the matter. I've e-mailed for the GSS and the CFS to see if I can get some comment on the matter, and will report back as soon as I get answers. Look ma, mild investigative journalism!
p.s. I'm the other guy running this blog, John LaRusic. I'm a graduate student at SFU Surrey working towards an MSc in Mathematics. My favourite thing to do is watch results during an election night, and my biggest pet peeve is people who crack their knuckles. Hi!
p.p.s. As Patrick likes to remind you, vote for us!
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Here's the rundown as near as I know it.
The Graduate Student Society does not want to be beholden to the CFS in any way. However this does not mean that the CFS believes that they will not be dues-paying members.
What the CFS would like the most is for SFU graduate students who want out to avoid the coming referendum, have the referendum fail, and still be able to claim that the GSS is a CFS member. This would likely be backed up with lawyers, months or even years in the future - wwhenever the CFS thinks it has a sympathetic or easily-frightened executive.
I say this based on past CFS actions. The Selkirk Student society dissolved and a new student society started up in its place. The CFS went after the latter student society, claiming that they were still CFS members. The University of Acadia left the CFS about twelve years ago, and the CFS held a lawsuit against them for years, in the hopes that a pro-CFS executive would spring up and sign a binding contract voiding the previous attempt to leave, and likely binding them in to CFS bylaws.
This is more or less what happened with the Kwantlen Student Society, who left, then were sued by the CFS. Their board signed a cotract saying that they wouldn't leave except through CFS bylaws - which they are doing now.
The CFS has three options:
1. Claim that the Graduate students will remain CFS members unless the referendum to leave passes. This has the advantage of giving them a clear claim on grads, but it will piss off the grads who will vote to kick them out en masse.
2. Say that the GSS won't be a member of the CFS regardless of which way the referendum goes. This would keep grads out of the referendum, but guarantee that the CFS would lose the graduate students as members.
3. Say nothing and hope that people assume that the grads will automatically leave the CFS and so not come out to vote (the CFS mistakenly assumes that undergrads are not also pissed off at the CFS). In this case, the CFS can come back in a few years, after enough of the the current grads have left, and drag the graduate student society through court.
The CFS seems to be favouring option three, and it seems to be working.
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