Student organization has become an out-of-touch, money-squandering bureaucracy, university groups allege

A crowd of 50 student protesters outside
the annual general meeting of the Canadian
Federation of Students on Nov. 23.

Last month, in a Gatineau, Que., hotel hosting the annual general meeting of the Canadian Federation of Students, delegates looked out the window to behold a throng of student protesters gathering on the front sidewalk.

It is usually the Canadian Federation of Students’ job to marshal student protests, not to endure them. But that day, more than 50 students clutching lobster traps and signs reading “Canadian Federation of Suing” were gathered outside to vent their frustrations at a body they alleged had calcified into a conniving, amoral organization bent on hanging onto its disillusioned membership at all costs.

“They’re like a creepy ex-boyfriend who won’t let it go,” protester Melissa Kate Wheeler told  student journalist Jane Lytvynenko.

As president of the Concordia Student Union, Ms. Wheeler was one of a vocal cadre of student leaders across Canada with Kafkaesque tales of petitioning to leave the Federation, only to be stopped by a years long odyssey of ignored calls, counter-tactics and legal action.

In the words of an official protest statement, “students can get into CFS, but can never get out.”  (more...)

Student organization has become an out-of-touch, money-squandering bureaucracy, university groups allege