| Homepage
| Guestbook |
A Dozen Top Reasons to Dump the
Simon Fraser Student Society
PREAMBLE
In theory, students should expect a student
society that works for their needs and interests. Student leaders are supposed
to set an example by voluntarily devoting their energy and commitment into
endeavours aimed at better representing all students. Even in real life,
students should expect as a minimum that their student society should be
sensible and effective in carrying out its mandate, whatever that mandate
is.
Unfortunately, after years of mis-management and
self-serving activities, the Simon Fraser Student Society has become a
bureaucratic, arrogant and unreformable organization. Years of effort have
been put in to try to make changes in the organization, but every time
an attempt is made, it is challenged with stiff opposition by those who
have abused the noble ideal of student representation in the name of their
own narrow agendas. The only solution left to rectify this problem
is to dissolve the old organization and to establish a new student society
at Simon Fraser University.
Did you know that there are numerous top reasons
to dump Simon Fraser Student Society? These are but a dozen of the most
obvious ones. Knowledge is power. Here is what the SFSS doesn't
want you to know:
DID YOU KNOW THAT...
-
About 80% of SFSS expenditures are employee salaries?
The average figure for employee costs in the non-profit sector is around
65%?
-
SFSS pays $20.64 an hour plus generous benefits (such
as pension plan, daycare plan, subsidized university tuition and medical/dental/extended
health plan) to about 10 full-time employees?
-
Most full-time employees are permanent, career employees
and many of them have not been taking any classes at Simon Fraser University
recently, i.e. not SFU students?
-
SFSS pays $15.79 an hour to its part-time temporary
employees when over 25% of SFU students require student loans for their
educational expenses?
-
ONLY 4% of your SFSS Student Society fee ($24.35
per semester) is spent on student unions and clubs?
-
In 1996, out of $1,016,340 activity fee revenue,
only $43,149 was spent on student unions and clubs; In 1995, out of $1,009,903
activity fee revenue, only $25,009 was spent on student unions and clubs.
-
In 1996, $85,113 was spent on stipend for SFSS Forum
members and $14,059 was spent on travel and conference?
-
Each SFSS departmental representative gets $150 a
month for volunteering to sit on the student council, Forum and at least
one standing committee of the SFSS? Their fellow student union executives
by contrast get no stipend allottment, often for the same time and energy
spent.
-
Coca-Cola, Pepsi, MinuteMaid, Canada Dry, C-Plus
Nestea, A&W, Fresca, Sprite, Five Alive, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, Kentucky
Fried
Chicken, Frito-Lay were all part of the SFSS official boycott list?
-
Both the SFSS and the Canadian Federation of Students
used the name student activism to fight against Free Trade and NAFTA (that's
the money coming from student membership fees)?
-
SFSS had a net operating loss of $146,000 for the
1996/97 fiscal year (according to a news article published in the Peak
[November 3, 1997, page 6])?
-
SFSS Executives from the same alliance that has been
in power for the last two mandates were responsible for the poor record
keeping and the blank-check agreement with the CFS in regards to the now-defunct
SFSS Health Plan? This poor record keeping and bureaucratic irresponsibility
was explicitly in violation of both the Society Act of BC and the SFSS's
own constitution!
-
SFSS incurred a $22,000 debt from the CFS/SFSS Health
Plan?
DID YOU KNOW that there are more interesting
facts surrounding the SFSS (in addition to the dozen points above), which
you can get from reading the SFSS documents, Forum minutes and attending
SFSS Forum meetings?
These documents are available during normal office
hours from the SFSS Resource Office in the MBC. Regular members of
the SFSS rarely make requests for information about the SFSS, so the SFSS
exists without any real measure of public accountability.
Forum meetings are generally every second Wednesday
at 4:30 p.m. in the Forum Chamber, just below the Highland Pub and next
door to the Peak. Inquire at the SFSS General Office for specific
times.
CONCLUSION
Are these enough reasons for you to dump
the Simon Fraser Student Society?
The SFSS is beyond reformation. Over the years, many students have tried to improve the organization. Without exception, their efforts were helpless. Wherever they turned and whatever they tried, someone or something is always there to put things back to the way they were originally. The best way to
end the red tape and mismanagement is to end the SFSS. It could be
wound down in a short period of time, giving time for it to meet all its
financial and contractual obligations. Then, once closed, a new student
society based on open democratic principles and responsible stewardship
of student resources will be incorporated under the Society Act of BC to
take its place.
January 1998