by Ben K. McConchie

What a cute little protest the University of Victoria Student Society (UVSS) and Canadian Federation of Students (CFS) held on Feb. 4 in Downtown Victoria.

As I walked down Government Street onto the Legislature lawns, passing stark-ravingly confused onlookers, listening to passive-aggressive rhetoric, watching the media pick and choose its two-second sound-bytes, I came to one gigantic conclusion: The UVSS and CFS have an image crisis.

Any of the 16,000 students enrolled at UVic who didn’t attend the protest will tell you the typical reasons why they didn’t show up. “It won’t make a difference,” “What’s the point,” etc. However, there was one answer that kept popping up, to the effect of, “it’s just a bunch of hippies finding something to complain about.”

I found this insulting, because I am not a hippie. I wear khaki’s and collared shirts, and I don’t play hacky-sack at the fountain when I should be studying. But the UVSS and CFS do have the stigma of a “group of hippies,” and for anyone to take our student groups seriously, the UVSS and CFS need to address this stigmatization of their image.

I’m not talking about image as substance. On the contrary, I am discussing image at the most superficial level. I’m talking about Services Director Scott Payne wearing a shirt with the words “LIAR” and a cartoon of Gordon Campbell plastered on his body.

Exclaiming buzzwords and claiming our “education system is in crisis” is no way to appeal to the public eye. By shrieking into the microphone and wearing a bandana, the UVSS and CFS speakers at the protest were perpetuating this image crisis. The people’s minds we want to change are those who voted for Gordon Campbell in the first place. This first thing the average BC Liberal voter assumes when watching the student protest on TV is, “there goes those spoiled whiny students again.” I know because that’s what my friends and family said. The UVSS and CFS need to stop being the stereotype.

To the speakers, get yourself a new wardrobe and new speechwriters. You won’t degrade yourself by wearing something other than jeans and a T-shirt. As leaders and representatives of our student body, you must take into account that you are also trying to appeal to the mass public. People respect someone well-dressed. Also, write speeches that focus on what the tuition hikes mean to all British Columbians. Not everyone out there is an academic.

Stop turning a serious protest about a serious issue into a comedy hour. Get rid of the cartoons. If the UVSS and CFS want to stop being the stereotype of student partiers, act like professionals by refraining from cat-calls into the microphone, or screaming like an Australian sheep-dog trainer.

Let’s be realistic, the protest was a failure. Tuition will rise and continue to rise in the years to come. The UVSS and CFS need to start new with a fresh approach to tackling this issue. By changing their image, they will be on their way to making real progress by getting students and community members involved in this most pressing issue.

To the UVSS and CFS, your message is there. That’s not your problem. Your problem is what you look like when you present it. If George W. Bush can convince the American people that he is an academic, surely the UVSS and CFS can convince British Columbians that education is a right.