Much to watch in 2008

The new year is officially under way and students are back to class. There are some things that never change with the beginning of each new term. There will be long lineups at the bookstore, book prices that are through the roof, long lineups in the student service centre where students are looking to drop some courses and add others, and of course there is the disappearance of the Christmas graduates, the students who go for the first term and figure out university is not for them.

Even though there are some things that remain constant, there are, however, others that will be unique to our coming term.

The Government of Nova Scotia will be releasing their findings on the student loan system in our province, there will be a new memorandum of understanding between the province and Nova Scotia’s universities, and CBU students will vote on whether to continue their membership with the Canadian Federation of Students.

Late in 2007, the provincial government started a review of its ailing and archaic student loan system. They toured the province and talked to people about their experiences, asked them what they wanted to change, and took feedback. The report will become available this year and it will certainly be interesting to see what recommendations are made and even more interesting to see what recommendations will be implemented.

The new MOU between the province and universities will also be finalized in 2008. The last MOU, which will expire at the end of March, did nothing to reduce the cost of education in the province. If the Premier MacDonald is sincere about his election promise to reduce the cost of tuition, his government will need to show it and it will need to manifest itself in the new MOU.

In March of 2008, the CBU Students’ Union will be holding a referendum that will decide whether they will continue as members of the Canadian Federation of Students. The SU has been a member of the CFS for close to seven years and pays tens of thousands of dollars in membership fees each year to the organization. While CFS has attempted to tie up the de-federation process, the CBU Students’ Union has followed their rules to the letter of the law and plan to continue with the referendum, even if the CFS does not cooperate.

The referendum will be an important moment in the history of the CBU Students’ Union; however, CBU students have a habit of not turning out to vote. Last November, a referendum was held and not enough people voted to reach quorum. It is not only for referendums, but each General Election for president and vice-president has extremely low voter turnout. This pattern is not limited to student politics; it carries through to politics at all levels.

Apathy oozes from our pores and seals our lips, it has to change.

If the provincial government does not act on the student loan recommendations, if they go back on their tuition promise, and if the referendum does not reach quorum it will be tempting to blame everyone else. It is easy to blame the system and those that compose the system; it is much harder and less comforting to turn that highly critical eye at ourselves.

If things do not go our way it is because the decision makers do not believe that they will be held accountable by those affected. Students have let their rage silence their voice instead of strengthening it. So long as we remain silent we will not be represented and this lack of representation will continue past our university years, it will haunt us for our entire life.