The CFS responds
Lisa MacLeod, B.C. Chairperson, Canadian Federation of Students
I am writing to clarify the most glaring inaccuracies presented by a columnist in the November 14 issue of The Peak [“Manna from heaven for Douglas students”], with respect to the ongoing interference in the Douglas Students’ Union’s activities by the administration of Douglas College.
As part of an ongoing political dispute between the Douglas Students’ Union and Douglas College, the college is withholding the membership dues of the Douglas Students’ Union. Your writer suggests that this interference is due to financial mismanagement — an allegation that is wholly unsubstantiated, as confirmed by the auditor of the Douglas Students’ Union.
It is disappointing that a writer at your newspaper has taken this position when the college has, according to the Canadian Federation of Students’ legal counsel, overstepped its authorities under the laws of British Columbia, and that your newspaper supports this aggressive political interference by a college in the affairs of a students’ union.
In early October, the Canadian Federation of Students British Columbia provided a secured loan to the Douglas Students’ union in order that the Union could meet its various financial obligations, including its payroll.
The loan provided to the students’ union has been secured against a building and property owned by the union and the union is paying interest at the prevailing term deposit rate.
The Canadian Federation of Students will be repaid immediately when, not if, the college releases to the union its membership dues, as the college is obligated to do by law. Not a single dollar of the membership dues collected by the Canadian Federation of Students has been put at any risk by virtue of this loan.