Simon Fraser University strikes a blow against fanatical, undemocratic national student union

What do university students get for being in the Canadian Federation of Students?

From the sounds of things, not much, other than the opportunity to have part of their tuition fees used to subsidize a few radical causes and the activists who want to use other people's money to push their own political agenda (and enjoy a few expense-paid trips and make a few buck on the side at the same time).

The Canadian Federation of Students (CFS) uses money they take away from students, which amounts to hundreds of thousands of dollars per university, to support radical, divisive issues along with the Public Interest Research Groups at Universities, which has a fetish for some of history's most prolific mass-murderers.  These issues or affiliations include the anti-Semitic Israeli Apartheid Week, anti-Semitism directed at Jewish student organizations, a violent activist group called The Ontario Coalition Against Poverty (OCAP), and the radical leadership of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers, to name but a few.

The radical student organizations benefit from knowing that most students are too busy going through university  trying to get an education (and get laid) to scrutinize their tuition fees line by line.

But at a few universities, the student bodies have caught on and are fighting back and have held referendum to de-certify the CFS. Concordia,  Guelph and the University of Victoria have all voted, overwhelmingly, against continuing their membership in CFS.In each case, the CFS has not respected the democratic outcome and have tried to fight these decisions in court. They have lost, but those court battles to impose themselves where they aren't wanted are being paid for with student fees they take from other universities.

Simon Fraser University is the latest institute to have fought back against the CFS. They voted to get out of the CFS and are facing an ongoing lawsuit by the national student union to bleed money from the school. In fighting the democratic decision of Simon Fraser's student body, the CFS has demonstrated that their only concern is self-interest, which is of little surprise, given where their support is based. In Simon Fraser's case, they've also had the foresight to evict their Public Interest Research Group from the premises.

Students across the country need to become more aware of how their student funds are being used. Like any other union, the CFS, whose leadership works in self-serving partnerships with public service unions, isn't fighting for students as much as the right of a select few to choose how to blow some student money.

(and make dumb videos)