Editorial: Vote Yes for ASFA Restructuring, No to Fee-Levy Increase

Graphic Madeleine Gendreau

From March 16 to 18, students in the faculty of Arts and Science at Concordia will have the chance to restructure the way the second largest student association at our university operates, by participating in a referendum vote on three key questions.

The Arts and Science Federation of Associations is at the epicentre of the potential changes, should these referendum questions pass—and they direly need to.

The first two questions involve fee levies—specifically whether students would approve ASFA increasing its fees from $1.22 to $1.36 per credit in fall 2016, and whether they would approve of ASFA students giving $0.10 per credit to the Hive Free Lunch project in fall 2016. But the answers to these questions are most crucially reliant on the third proposal: do students agree to extensive bylaw changes?

These changes involve a basic upheaval of everything that ASFA has become, from how its executive panel is constructed, to how its funding is distributed. Voting “yes” to this last question means that ASFA’s executive will shrink from seven positions to only three.

Executives would not be voted in—a system that spawned comparisons to a popularity contest in the past—but instead appointed. Executive candidates would have to present themselves to the general assemblies of its member associations, who would then endorse a specific candidate.

ASFA currently represents over 15,000 arts and science students, and consists of 31 member associations—with some associations more active than others. It feels as though it has been a long time since the students have been given any fair representation under the rule of those dubious four letters, which have more recently been synonymous with problematic executives and unnecessary expenditure of fee-levy funds.

The fact is it doesn’t make sense to put more fee-levy money into an association we can’t morally support, especially when they don’t support students. The Link doesn’t agree with a fee-levy increase until ASFA proves it’s capable of managing itself.

Fewer large-scale events at the expense of students and a decentralized executive leave member associations with a larger stake in ASFA’s budget. A fee-levy increase is unnecessary when an association is in the middle of downsizing.

Historically, ASFA has been guilty of many controversial infractions against the student body at Concordia, the community they are supposed to be stewarding.

Whether it’s fermenting the poisonous atmosphere of racism and sexism that was unveiled during the Mei-Ling case last year, or shelling out $16,000 of student cash for controversial YouTube personality Laci Green—previously criticized for islamophobic comments and trans erasure—to speak last semester, this central element of Concordia student life has a terrible habit of putting our money where its mouth is.

So it’s time to tear up the foundations of the house that corruption built and start over, and the upcoming referendum is our best chance to make it happen.

This restructuring would make sure that events like this year’s Grad Ball wouldn’t necessarily happen again. The present ASFA council still may approve to fund an end of the year party for arts and science graduates, at a whopping cost of $53,651. It will take place at a swanky venue in the Old Port, have an open bar and three-course meal, and generally be excessive and pointless. It’s not even free.

If the question of structure were approved, ASFA would become more of a “funding body” for its member associations, distributing money instead of spending it. It would put cash in the hands of its associations, who are closer to the needs of their constituents.

That means wider distribution of assets, and that means more money would likely be spent to the benefit of a greater number Concordia students, rather than just on a select group who are riding high upon the mountain of collected fee-levies.

These changes are vast, and crucial if we ever want to have a hope of trusting ASFA again. It’s obvious that changing the structure won’t fix all of the problems ASFA has been experiencing, but it’s better to fix the foundation now, than continue to pour our future hopes into a shaky structure.