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BRITISH COLUMBIA STUDEN'r FEDEP.ArIONA BRIEF HISTQRY August.!77

Post-secondary students in the province of British Columbia have t r ied, sinceth e early sixties, to organize in support of student needs" Unfortunately, thel i fe span of the associations was incredibly shcbrt andf;rustrating. There werea number of reasons for these fai lures. First of al l , the union/associationsgenerally viewed the student in society simply as ' someone pursuing an education.The. student, under this t radi t ional view, receives an education from educatorswho view the student as dependant and incapable of reasoned criticism of theeducational process. Secondly, these assocat ions viewed the student 'representativeCouncils as s t r ic ly service oriented cliques, responsible for student enter tainment, and often token student'representation on inst i tut ional committees. Finallyth e commitment of ind iv idua l s tudent r e ~ e s e n t a t i v e s was generally restricted totheir insti tuions rather than the broader nature of student issues a t theprovincial and federal levels . Consequently, funding for a provincial union neverprogressed beyond the donation stage.

I t has been a rgured that the objectives of these associations (B.C.U.S.,B.C.A.S.U.) which included exerting pressure in matters of student concern, wer",paid only l i p - ~ r v i c e attention simply because the associations were financiallyimpotent to provide support to s tudent i ssues af ter the committed individualsfinished their studies.

The B.C.A.S.U. is a case in point. I t was established to co-ordinate theinterests and concerns of post-secondary students and press for change. Atsemi-annual meetings, delegates exhcanged information and discussed their problems. Implementation of policy motions and effective lobbying of, g o v e r ~ tdepartments was never accomplished, however. This was because t he assoc ia ti onhad no formal membership, no financing structure, no staff , and no c;entralco-crdfnatdon of information. 'Delegates to BCASU conferences confronted these structural l imitations as

early as september of l974,and resolved a t the March 1975 meeting to re-evaluateand re-structure the association. The delegates agreed to the necessity of organizing co-operatively into a federation (B.C.S.F.) which would press government.agencies for cliangesas well as providing an infoI:1nation and research centre andWorkshops improving general s tudent services a t the inst i tut ional level. Delegatesalso agreed'to consider the holding of referenda on their' campuses (to join theB.C.S.F.) on the basis of a per student fee levy.Implicit in this dialogue was the feeling that students the students' societies/unions were beginning to re-assess their committment as active and cri t ica lmembers of the educational community. I t was fe l t that th e student and insti tut-,ional needs required serious lobbying and organiziljg, co-ordinated by a vibrantprovincial student federation.The f inal stage of this decision took place a t the Fall 1976 Annual GeneralMeeting a t CapUano College. I t was a t th is meeting' that membership in BCSF wasr es tr ic ted to those who 'had conducted some kind of vote within their student ,population and joined 'a t the new lnembership fee. Asa r esu lt of the fact that someins t ituions 'had begun to pay th is fee in the previous yeaI, and combining thiswith a variety of grants, the organiZation had managed to grow in JUBt one yearinto a viable representaaive for students. I t had begun the process of respondingto and in some cases in i t ia t ing , discussion on important educational issues. Aswell, delegates at 'a previous BCSF conference (Nelson, Spring 1976) had madechanges to our operations which integrated our work with that of the res t of the

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2 A Brief History, ,student movement in Canada, thus strengthening SlUr position through informationand resource exchange and constant communication. They, had voted to change thenature of the BCSF executi:v:e by electing the NUS Central Committee representativefor B.C. as a member of tha t executive.

Thus, tneorganization was formalized, and with the paJ!lsing of a new cOnst i tution a t the Capilano conference, continued the, work of organizing andrepresenting students as a cohesive u n i ~ .This is not to say that problems did not arise. At the very conferencewhich finalized the new fee structure and constitution delegates had'to dealwith many internal problems already cropping up . Of p;;rticular importance a tthat time was the fact tha t il'ith t he bui ld ing onslaught against education, the

s t i l l minimal resources of BCSF were being stretched to the l imit . (At tha ttime d e l e g a ~ e s had to put together a projected budget for BCSF which called fora $6,000.00 defici t) . With a handful of executive members and two s taf f it wasimpossible to both deal with government policies and communications between studentuions. To attempt to deal w it h the se problems, th e members discussed the actualcapabili t ies of Imese few resources, and possible ways of expanding this base.I t was hoped a t the time tha t a committee structure woul,d serve th e dual purpose,of getting the.work dOlle and involving more and more people ill the day-to-daygrappling with issues which i s needed to develop a working understanding. Aswel,l d e l e g a t e ~ - p l a c e d a strong emphasis on the need to recrui t more inst i tut ionsto the organizat ion in order for it to.' surVive, '

This process of constant re-evaluationof'metho'; 's of working will always benecessary and is continuing. Suggest:l.Qns' from' student unions, d iscuss ions in theEl1tecutive and a t cl;mferences, and participation' by stUdents, will ' hopeful,ly corrt--o inue to help us to be a more effective organization .

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,-,--.,------------------...-"'"'"'; Brlli". Columbia Seudent. t Federation.Four,h ,AJlJuual CeRfJr,d Meeli,ng "-- '!limo... Fro,er U.",iflerdty oct. 14 - 16, 1977

CONFERENCE STRUCTURE

This conference has three types of sessions scheduled:A) W o r k s h o ~ s B) Cqucuses C) PlenariesA) Workshops provide a forum where reports to ', the plenary or activityon various issues are developed. I t is in' the workshops that backgroundpapers and .repcrt.s to the conference are f i rs t discussed. Workshopsserve two basic functions; 1) to discuss and develop specific policies.....and strategies for the B.C.S .F.' andlor 'local student associations, and

\ to forward"'these 'recommendations to the pienary fo r consideration,arid"2) to exchange information on differing matters SO that those presentat the workshop will be more aware of, and better able to deal With,these matters at the campus" provincial , and lor national level.B) Caucues are sessions Where people with unique shared interestswithin 'the student movement, exchange information on how to deal withthose interests and ,plan ways that the common resources of s tudentscan be used fairly to serve the needs of the caucus members. Acaucus may or may not prepare recommendations for the plenary.C) Plenaries are the meetings of a l l delegates. I t is only in plenarysession that the conference can make decisions binding on B.O.S,'F. .All reports, recommendations and motions that need BCSF action orpolicy should be brought to the plenary. Any registered delegateinay speak at the plenary, but only BCSF member unions may vote.Al1p1enaries are presided over by the conference Chairperson and Secretary.

The annual general meeting is also the organization's- businessmeeting and these affairs are also part of the plenary sessions.

I , .. "'. ". ORGANIZING for ACTION "I