Student Federation of the University of Ottawa

Student Federation of the University of Ottawa
Institution University of Ottawa
Location Ottawa, Ontario
Established 1969; originally 1939
President David Gakwerere
Vice presidents Taylor Davidson, Vanessa Dorimain, Nicole Maylor, Hadi Wess (one post vacant)
Affiliations CFS
Website www.sfuo.ca

The Student Federation of the University of Ottawa (also known as The SFUO or The Fed) is the official student-federated union of the University of Ottawa. It is a not-for-profit organization, incorporated under the Corporations' Act of Ontario since September 1, 1969. The Student Federation of the University of Ottawa is a bilingual entity, and is also known as the "Fédération Étudiante de l'Université d'Ottawa (FÉUO)".

Goals

The SFUO's stated goals are as follows:

Accordingly, the SFUO describes its role in its constitution as the "instrument of political action of the undergraduate student population".[1]

Cost

According to auditors Deloitte & Touche, the Student Federation collected $3,852,475 from all 31,331 registered students alone during the 2008 session.[2] A breakdown of the SFUO levies (services, initiatives and more) can be found on the University of Ottawa's Registrar Page.[3] The executives have a salary of $30,000 (adjusted for inflation),[1] and also covers the cost of up to 2 courses per semester as well as cell phone costs.[2]

Businesses

The SFUO currently owns four student run businesses:

The PIVIK

A convenience store located in the University Centre, which sells an assortment of snack foods, groceries, magazines and some school supplies. It has a coffee and sandwiches section as well as an organic section.

The Agora Bookstore

The Agora Bookstore and Internet Cafe was created in 1999[4] by the SFUO to provide students with a lower cost textbook source than the campus store, which is run by the Follett Corporation, a large American textbook retailer. In 2006, students voted in a referendum to maintain a levy $9 per full-time student per semester to subsidize the Agora. While the Agora is not allowed to sell new textbooks on campus,[5] it is located only a few blocks away on Besserer Street.[6]

1848

Between the period of 1981 to 2000, the SFUO owned and operated a bar located within the University Centre called "The NOX". It was closed after generating significant deficits in the last few years of operation, although it had been successful financially during its first decade of operation. The SFUO briefly opened a bar called The Universe City Lounge above the Agora Bookstore. Universe City was closed after one year of operation. In 2006, the SFUO opened a student bar called 1848 in the University Centre. On Thursdays a effort is made to play bilingual music. In 2009, "F**K Cover Fridays" was introduced, offering the same specials as Toonie Tuesdays and emphasizing no cover charge.

Cafe Alt

Located in the basement of Simard Hall. It opened October 2008 as a green and fair-trade student café with a deli sandwich bar, as well as a variety of fair trade coffees. The space in which the Café (the business) is located was newly renovated and its bookings are managed by the Student Association of the Faculty of Arts. In the corner of that student space once was a student run café, later taken over by Chartwells, and then abandoned in 2007.

Clubs

The SFUO is home to over 250 cultural, religious, political/social justice, philanthropic/humanitarian, recreational and academic clubs on campus. The SFUO subsidises clubs up to $1000 each year.[7]

Each club must register at the beginning of each academic year to be recognized and to receive the benefits of being a SFUO club.[8]

Services

The SFUO runs twelve different services.

Bike Coop

The SFUO Bike Co-op is a space for bicycle enthusiasts. The Bike Co-op offers guided workshops and accessible biking resources.[9]

Bilingualism Centre

The SFUO Bilingualism Centre offers the opportunity to practice a second language in a discussion group, with a tutor, and during cultural events. It also advocates for language rights on campus.[10]

Centre for Equity and Human Rights

The SFUO Centre for Equity and Human Rights (CEHR) works to ensure that differences among students are not treated in ways that produce any form of discrimination. CEHR offers human rights training for students.[11]

Centre for Students with Disabilities

The SFUO Centre for Students with Disabilities (CSD) is a centre for education and advocacy, as well as a drop-in space. The CSD offers events, services, and campaigns throughout the year focused on disability and accessibility.[12]

Food Bank

The SFUO Food Bank offers students access to food at all times. It also aims to raise awareness of food security issues and attempt to break down the stigma surrounding food insecurity in Canada.[13]

Foot Patrol

The SFUO Foot Patrol is a student-run volunteer-based safe walk service offered to all students and members of the university community. Foot Patrol volunteers pick up students and walk with them anywhere within a 45 minute walking radius around main and RGN campuses and ride on several OCTranspo routes.[14]

International House

The SFUO International House is a service designed to respond to the cultural, social, academic, and economic needs of international students and the general student population at the University of Ottawa.[15]

Peer Help Centre

The SFUO Peer Help Centre provides the student community with academic, personal, and social support, which is achieved through short-term peer consultation. The Peer Help Centre offers uOttawa students a comfortable place to turn to in a time of need.[16]

Pride Centre

The SFUO Pride Centre strives to promote a culture of affirmation through sex-positivity, and celebrate diversity of gender, sex, and sexuality both on and off campus. It offers students with resources as well as organizing events such as the annual Pride Week.[17]

Student Appeal Centre

The SFUO Appeal Centre offers help and support to students who wish to appeal decisions made by the administration of the University of Ottawa. This free service also assists and guides students who wish to file a complaint against or to receive assistance in dealing with the University of Ottawa.[18]

Sustainable Development Centre

The SFUO Sustainable Development Centre aims to minimize the ecological footprint of the school and to change the mindset of students about sustainability and the ecological crisis. The centre not only runs its own projects, abut also acts as a resource and support centre for environmental and social justice groups on campus.[19]

Women’s Resource Centre

The SFUO Women’s Resource Centre is an inclusive, non-judgmental, pro-choice, feminist drop-in space that supports community members to work together to challenge gender oppression. They offer resources, events and campaigns to challenge gender oppression.[20]

Canadian Federation of Students affiliation

The SFUO is Local 41 of the Canadian Federation of Students,[21] the same local number it held from 1985 to 1994.

In the summer of 2008, a committee was formed to create a report on national student organizations and their benefits. The vast majority of this report was about the Canadian Federation of Students.[22]

Consequently, the SFUO Board of Administration voted in favor of becoming prospective members of the Canadian Federation of Students. Later, in November 2008, the SFUO joined the Canadian Federation of Students in a referendum question that brought out 22% of the voting population. Approximately 52% of those who voted in this election were in favour of the referendum.

Elections

The Student Federation of the University of Ottawa elects its executive council annually, usually in the February general elections. At that time, the positions of President, Vice President Student Affairs, Vice President Finance, Vice President University Affairs, Vice President Communication and Vice President Social are elected as well as the faculty director positions on the Board of Administration.[23]

Past presidents of the organization have included Marcel Prud'homme (1958–59), André Ouellet (1959–60), Allan Rock (1969–70), Hugh Segal (1970–71), Denis Paradis (1974–75), Mauril Bélanger (1977–79), Anne McGrath (1979–80), Bernard Drainville (1984–85), Gilles Marchildon (1987–88), Maxime Pedneaud-Jobin (1990–91) and Guy Caron (1992–94).

General Assemblies

In November 2013, a referendum calling for the creation of the General Assembly (GA) of the SFUO failed, having not met the minimum turnout requirement of 4%, despite the yes receiving 84% of the vote.[24] Several students opposed the creation of the GA, citing cost concerns, as well as concerns that the GA quorum of 1% would not be properly representative of the student population. The petition for the referendum was launched by the Marxist Students’ Association.[25] A second referendum was held along with the General Elections in 2014, and passed.

The first General Assembly of the SFUO was held in November 2014. It failed to meet quorum and all the motions presented were later approved by the BoA, except for the motion calling for the SFUO to study the possibility of a strike. That motion was tabled indefinitely by the BoA in the hope that it would presented again at the next GA. Because the GA never met quorum, it became a Q&A period with the executive. That period was rather heated, with one student being quoted as saying that: "Instead of having a participatory democracy, we were just an audience and that was our feeling, we didn’t feel empowered".[26][27]

Controversies

"In My Skin" Scandal

The Executives of the Student Federation of the University of Ottawa planned an event called “In My Skin” to be held on March 4, 2014. The event sought to foster two conversations, according to its organizers: each group was to discuss the benefits and disadvantages that racialized and non-racialized students face in dealing with institutional racism.[28] In order to foster this conversation it was planned that students would be split into “breakout groups”, where they would discuss discrimination and white privilege and then would regroup to discuss the issues as a whole.[29]

There was a major backlash from students who saw this event as segregation and "reverse racism" because it would split students into different rooms based on skin colours.[28]

The Facebook event and debate were shut down and Nicole Desnoyers, Vice President Equity, released a statement explaining that there was no intention of segregation and racism on the part of the SFUO.[29]

Fireworks Scandal

In the summer of 2014, VP Social Ikram Hamoud decided to hold a fireworks display at the closing ceremony of that year's 101 Week. To that end, the SFUO purchased 10 000 $ worth of fireworks.[30] Hamoud was then notified by the City of Ottawa that they wouldn't be able to use the fireworks due to safety concerns. This caused a lot of controversy. Several of the Federated Bodies VP Socials accused Hamoud of failing to work with the Social Round Table. This, as well as concerns about the VP Social's job performance, lead to an attempt at launching an impeachment referendum.[31][32][33] In part because of it's vocal criticism of the purchase, the Facebook group SFUO Does Not Represent Me gained substantial popularity.[34][35] The 2014 101 Week finished with a budget deficit of almost 80 000$.[36]

Crashing of ARC Opening Ceremony

A group of student, led by several members of the executive, crashed the opening ceremony of the Advanced Research Complex (ARC) in September 2014. The group stood behind the podium with a banner calling for lower tuition fees, and the VP University Affairs interrupted [Reza Moridi]'s speech to read a statement.[37][38] This protest drew criticism from many students,[39] including several executive members of the Science Student's Association, who wrote a letter to the Fulcrum stating that: "The fact that the 'student representative' felt it necessary to protest rising tuition fees on the opening of (Dr. André Lalonde's) building is offensive to many of us. We feel that it is not only disrespectful to his memory and his legacy as a student-oriented dean, but also because this building should be celebrated for what it is, instead of criticised for what it is not."[40]

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 http://www.sfuo.ca/pdf/constitution/constitution.pdf
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 http://www.sfuo.ca/pdf/financial/sfuo_statement_apr30_08.pdf
  3. ↑ "Incidental Fees 2010-2011". Registrar.uottawa.ca. Retrieved 2013-09-14.
  4. ↑
  5. ↑ uOttawa Policy 50
  6. ↑ Agora Bookstore and Internet Cafe
  7. ↑ "SFUO Clubs About Us". SFUO. Retrieved 17 March 2014. |first1= missing |last1= in Authors list (help)
  8. ↑ "Student Federation University of Ottawa Clubs". SFUO. Retrieved 17 March 2014. |first1= missing |last1= in Authors list (help)
  9. ↑ "SFUO Bikes". Retrieved 17 March 2014. |first1= missing |last1= in Authors list (help)
  10. ↑ "SFUO Bilingualism". Retrieved 17 March 2014. |first1= missing |last1= in Authors list (help)
  11. ↑ "SFUO CEHR". Retrieved 17 March 2014. |first1= missing |last1= in Authors list (help)
  12. ↑ "SFUO CSD". Retrieved 17 March 2014. |first1= missing |last1= in Authors list (help)
  13. ↑ "SFUO Food Bank". Retrieved 17 March 2014. |first1= missing |last1= in Authors list (help)
  14. ↑ "SFUO Foot Patrol". Retrieved 17 March 2014. |first1= missing |last1= in Authors list (help)
  15. ↑ "SFUO iHouse". Retrieved 17 March 2014. |first1= missing |last1= in Authors list (help)
  16. ↑ "SFUO Peer Help". Retrieved 17 March 2014. |first1= missing |last1= in Authors list (help)
  17. ↑ "SFUO Pride". Retrieved 17 March 2014. |first1= missing |last1= in Authors list (help)
  18. ↑ "SFUO Appeals". Retrieved 17 March 2014. |first1= missing |last1= in Authors list (help)
  19. ↑ "SFUO Green". Retrieved 17 March 2014. |first1= missing |last1= in Authors list (help)
  20. ↑ "SFUO Women's Resource Centre". Retrieved 17 March 2014. |first1= missing |last1= in Authors list (help)
  21. ↑ "cfs-fcee.ca". cfs-fcee.ca. Retrieved 2013-09-14.
  22. ↑ English version of the The committee's report: http://sfuo.ca/pdf/cfs_report_EN.pdf
  23. ↑ http://www.sfuo.ca/pdf/constitution.pdf
  24. ↑ http://thefulcrum.ca/news/general-assembly-referendum-fails-to-meet-quorum/
  25. ↑ http://thefulcrum.ca/news/sfuo-to-hold-referendum-for-creation-of-general-assembly/
  26. ↑ http://thefulcrum.ca/news/close-ga-debut-misses-quorum/
  27. ↑ http://thefulcrum.ca/opinions/forum-what-are-some-ways-to-improve-the-general-assembly/
  28. ↑ 28.0 28.1 Lytvynenko, Jane (3 March 2014). "Ottawa students tried to segregate whites from non-whites". Macleans. Retrieved 19 March 2014.
  29. ↑ 29.0 29.1 Desnoyers, Nicole. "In My Skin Campaign". SFUO. Retrieved 17 March 2014.
  30. ↑ http://thefulcrum.ca/news/student-fed-sitting-10000-pile-fireworks/
  31. ↑ http://thefulcrum.ca/news/anti-social-vp-social/
  32. ↑ http://thefulcrum.ca/news/students-petition-impeachment-ikram-hamoud/
  33. ↑ http://thefulcrum.ca/opinions/sfuo-exec-crowd-sources-job/
  34. ↑ http://thefulcrum.ca/opinions/editorial/editorial-minority-impact/
  35. ↑ https://www.facebook.com/sfuoDoesNotRepresentMe
  36. ↑ http://thefulcrum.ca/news/101-week-budget-red-second-year-running/
  37. ↑ http://thefulcrum.ca/news/students-crash-arc-opening-party-drop-fees-protest/
  38. ↑ http://cupwire.ca/2014/09/30/university-ottawa-students-crash-building-opening-party-drop-fees-protest/
  39. ↑ http://thefulcrum.ca/opinions/editorial/misrepresenting-student-interests/
  40. ↑ "Letter to the editor" The Fulcrum. Volume 75, issue 8. 9 October 2014.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Student Federation of the University of Ottawa.