The Cadre,Nov.18,1975,pg.6

NUS Fall Conference Long

Fredricton (CUP) ---- The fall conference of the Nat-- ional Union of Students (NUS) held here the weekend of October 17—20 was long on debate and discussion but short on concrete strategy and planning. a 7

More than 64 student dele— gates, representing post— secondary institutions and student organizations from Newfoundland to British Col— umbia, attended the three day sessions to hammer out policies and programs on political strategy, the student aid campiagn,the Fiscal Arrangements Act, and student radio.

By the time of the fiscal plenary session on Sunday -afternoon, general concensus was reached on the major policy directions for the national union.

But, as the conference end— ed, it was clear that not much had been accomplished in terms of committment to specific tactics for organ- izing students in support of those policies.

Actrve Support Mrssrng

The delegates, mostly stu— dent council representatives, showed little inclination to put their credibility on the line by committing themselves to any activity which would require organizing active student support. ' Paul Kellogg, the delegate from York University, repea— tedly called for a campaign of nationally organized ral- lies to demonstrate concern

over student aid and the financing of postOsecondary education.

He argued that "student leaders" had a responsibil— ity to show leadership and to organize active student support around NUS policies. Opponents reacted by claim— ing that leadership was not the issue. IncreaSed aware— ness of problems facing stu- dents and the post—secondary sector must be developed, they said before "action- oriented" plans could suc— ceed. '

"We've no shortage of pro— blems", one delegate lamen— ted, "but the biggest one on my campus is that students don't think they have pro— blems." 4

Delegates finally voted to put the emphasis on "educa— ting" students through a nation—wide "conscious—rais—

ing campaign".

The campaign, to be organ— ized by NUS in conjunction with regional, provincial, and local student groups, will focus on the problem of student aid and post—second— ary financing.

NUS is to produce a news- letter and a leaflet. How- ever, there was no indica- tion of what these publica- tions would tell students,or of the exact content or or— ganization of the national ’ "consciousness—raising cam- paign".

Moreover the delegates did not make any committment to actually carrying out the campaign. '

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On Policies.- ShortDn Strateg

Student Kid Campamn

NUS fieldworker Bob Buck; ingham, speaking.on behalf of the Central Committee, .onceded at the final plen— ary that "concern has been expressed that a specific strategy for the student aid campaign has not been out- 3 lined".

He reviewed the campaign over the course of the past year and claimed that "due to pressure from NUS and other student organizations, the government cannot ignore the student aid lobby in Ottawa."

He said that student aid has been a unifying issue across the country" and that}

.a "continous organizing and

building process" must be sustained until NUS achieved its ultimate goal — "univer- sal accessibility to post— secondary education".

As for the immediate future, Buckingham said the first issue to be dealt with is representation on the Canada Student Loans Plenary Group, a high level federal—provin- cial body which formulates student aid policy national— l .

Buckingham did;not outline the NUS strategy for pressu— ring the government into seating students on the Plen— ary Group. A brief to the group about student represe— ntation was passed but there was no discussion about an earlier plan to organize a delegation to attend the Penary meeting in Ottawa on October 23.

Moreover the chair of the Plenary Group said two weeks ago NUS would not be allowed to address the sercetive

student aid group as it Would set a bad precedent.

Buckingham predicted that "students may not be concer- ned about a refusal for re— presentation" but added "no matter what happens, we or— ganize, and continue our person to person information program.‘

He made no comment on how NUS, with a single feildwor- ker for the entire country, would "organize" students.

As for the petition curren— tly being circulated at some campuses supporting the NUS student aid demands, Buckin- gham described it as "a use— ful device to reach students' but did not answer the major question about the petition campaign — will it continue?

The petition ran into dif— ficulty earlier this fall when the Ontario Federation of Students decided not to commit resources to the cam— paign. workshop discussions

I

at the conference also re- vealed that many campuses which are trying to encour—. age students to sign the pe— tition are having difficulty. Many more are simply doing nothing at all.

"We may be upset that we don't have a lot of support but we ahven't reached a lot of students yet", Buckingham said.

He concluded by stressing, "a national lobby is import- ant but not without local effort". _

Jim Gray of Regina commen— ded the statement made by Buckingham, and pleaded with delegates "to be serious a- bout getting to our members.

I!

Fiscal Arrangement l’oHey

A major part of the work— shop discussion centered around formulating a policy on the Fiscal Arrangemnts Act c

The FAA is a complex fede— ral statute which determines the amount of federal monies .to be transferred to the provinces in support of ' post—secondary education.

In the 1975-76 academic year the total operating cost of the post—secondary sectoruis expected to irse to about $3.03 billion, and about.ha1f'of this cost is to be met using funds_tranf ferred from the federal to the provincial governmentS-

The FAA, which governs these transactions, is pre’ sently being renegotiated, and is due to expire in 19W' Under the terms of the FAE the federal government ag‘ rees to pay a flat per CaP'

r ita sum to support the prw” inces'post—secondary sect“! or to match the province dollar for dollar for all approved operating expend? tures made in this sector, which ever is greater.

The major objection dele‘ gates raised was that the federal government considd: tuition fees as provincia