Ban sent to vote
UVSS rescinds motion to ban military from Career Fair, will let all undergrads vote
by Steve Carey
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| Jon Fox, creator of the Facebook group, |
The UVic Students’ Society (UVSS) rescinded their ban on Canadian Forces recruiters in the Student Union Building (SUB), putting the issue to a student vote at the society’s Oct. 25 annual general meeting.
More than 150 students packed into the UVSS meeting in the SUB Upper Lounge on Sept. 24 to argue both for and against the right of the UVSS to ban the Canadian Forces from recruiting in the SUB.
The student outcry began after society chairperson Tracy Ho broke a 6-6 tie at a Sept. 10 meeting in favour of banning the military.
In response to that meeting, a Facebook group was started called “The Canadian Forces are not criminals … but the UVSS are idiots.” Group members printed handbills and impeachment petitions were circulated for the seven members of the UVSS who voted to remove the military from the SUB.
Before the quagmire of differing arguments and political views began at the Sept. 24 meeting, UVSS director-of-finance Jamie Strachan put forward a start-of-meeting motion to move the decision to ban recruitment in the SUB to the October annual general meeting (AGM).
“I put forward the motion to the AGM because I feel strongly that this is something the entire student body needs to vote on,” said Strachan, who voted on Sept. 10 to ban the military from the SUB. “This needs to be moved away from a board issue to an issue that the general student population — the people that make up the UVSS — decides on.”
“I think that [the UVSS] should keep neutral in this,” said UVSS director-at-large Corinne Harbidge, who voted against a ban on Sept. 10. “A lot of the arguments were way off on tangents — when it comes down to it, they weren’t really what we were voting for, or what we will be voting for at the AGM.”
“This isn’t [a UVSS] even — it’s a Career Services event,” Harbidge added, saying it isn’t right for the UVSS to intervene. “We don’t ban the Students Against War for having a club.”
Tim Fournier of Students Against War said that his group is not trying to censor anyone, but rather “prevent students from being charged with international war crimes.” Fournier said that the UVSS should act as an agent of constructive social change, and that other universities such as Concordia have banned recruitment on campus, and various student newspapers have boycotted recruitment ads.
Director-at-large Christine Comrie, who voted in favour of a ban on Sept. 10, also voted to bring the motion to the AGM.
“It should be brought to the AGM, because after the fact all these students stood up and said, ‘Hey, we do have things we want to say. We want our voices heard’ and ‘I would like to have a say on this matter,’” said Comrie. “I respect that — it’s really important. I’m a firm believer in democracy.”
Before the meeting, the Facebook group, “The Canadian Forces are not criminals… but the UVSS are idiots” had over 400 members. As of press time, it had 471 members.
Fourth-year history student Jon Fox started the Facebook group because he was “pretty steamed in class” about the UVSS decision, and said that the those who voted to ban the military have their “heads up their asses” if they think they have the right to speak for the entire student body.
Graham Noyes, a third-year political science and military history double major student, posted a Facebook event for the meeting called “Bring Back Our Troops and Democracy” and said he felt the meeting went beautifully.
“This is democracy in action, and was handled how the whole thing should have been handled in the first place,” said Noyes. “We had both sides of the issue being presented quite eloquently.”
Anna Planedin, the Women’s Centre representative to the UVSS board, voted to ban the military on Sept. 10, but now says the decision should be left up to students. Planedin said that the mission in Afghanistan is one of colonization, and that it doesn’t allow the Afghani people self-determination to make their own minds about governance.
“We don’t just make decisions about services — we make political decisions. That’s what makes [the UVSS] influential. That’s what makes [the UVSS] have value in the community,” said Planedin.
Some students who spoke said that they were ashamed that the UVSS felt they could censor student access to military recruitment in the SUB. Others accused the Canadian Forces of war crimes, and noted how 93 per cent of the world’s opium comes from Afghanistan and how the Canadian Forces strategy of destroying fields is causing the country to be more warlike, rather than seeking a compromise solution.
UVic student Mark Gisborne wasn’t in support of a UVSS ban.
“Why don’t we send a message to the federal government instead of the military? Why don’t we contact our representative or hold a rally?” said Gisborne.
Bill Danielsen, a fourth-year psych student who spent seven months on a tour of duty with the Canadian Forces in Afghanistan in 2004, encouraged people to look at the other missions of the Canadian Forces, such as deployment during the B.C. forest fires, the Red River floods, and the Quebec ice storms.
“The military does not equal militarization,” Danielsen said. “Because we have a military doesn’t mean we have tanks rolling around the streets of Victoria.
“A lot of what’s been said here tonight is blindness on Afghanistan,” said Danielsen. “It’s me and my friends who get shot at and die … we do this for a nation that has asked us to be there.”
UVic’s career fair is Jan. 30.
- with files from Matthew Gauk