WTF, CFS: Part One
The Concordia Student Union and the Canadian Federation of Students are in the midst of a long and trying breakup—but feelings aren’t mutual.
Rumblings of a desire to part ways first emerged in 2009 when petitions pushing for both the CSU and the Graduate Students’ Association to sever ties with the federation began circulating around Concordia, and tensions escalated in 2011 when both associations served the CFS with a lawsuit, attempting to sue their way to freedom.
Neither has succeeded yet. Petitions, poor press and plenty of legal action later, the CFS has managed to hang on. Members of both the CSU and GSA remain stuck in the time-consuming and tedious traps of ongoing lawsuits, and probably stand to be for years to come.
Last Wednesday, the CSU unanimously passed a motion to join forces with the GSA in their respective legal battles to defederate from the CFS.
The GSA’s council unanimously passed a similar motion earlier that week.
“The nature of our cases are similar, the evidence comparable, the context and outlook the same,” said CSU President Schubert Laforest. “Given that we have been working together since the beginning, we thought we should combine forces.”
But before moving on to what’s to come, for those who are new to Concordia, or new to the craziness, corruption, and controversy that surround the relationship between the CSU and CFS, here’s a quick catch-up.
Read WTF, CFS: Part Two and visit our Archives Blog for more.
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