Ho stays on Council while Council quits CASA
National student lobby group CASA was left without a voice in Quebec this weekend, as Bishop’s own SRC voted to fully withdraw from the organization.
The vote, at Sunday’s meeting of the Council’s executive committee, was nearly unanimous, with no votes against withdrawal and just two abstentions.
The SRC’s pullout is a significant blow for CASA: Bishop’s was the only student association from this province left in the alliance. Several other student councils in Quebec are members of FEUQ, the Fédération étudiante universitaire du Québec, which lobbies the provincial ministry of education (MELS).
At Sunday’s meeting, SRC President Brad Leung said that the SRC had no immediate plans to join another lobby group, such as FEUQ or the Canadian Federation of Students.
Earlier this year, CASA also lost the Alma Mater Society from the University of British Columbia. Leung said the SRC was treated quite differently from the AMS, which apparently received numerous visits by CASA officials, pressing them not to withdraw.
The SRC, on the other hand, was paid no visits by CASA executives, which Leung said showed that the national alliance did not value its membership.
The vote was mandated by CASA’s constitution, which states that any organization wishing to withdraw its membership must do so in two consecutive years.
—
In other Council news, VP Academic Sam Ho remains in his position, after receiving a narrow vote of confidence at the end of last month.
Ho, whose impeachment had been supported in mid-January by a vote of 15-2, apparently stepped up his game in the intervening two weeks. At the Council meeting of January 31, the second impeachment went 9-8 in his favour.
Speaking to The Campus recently, President Leung said that Ho had received a strong message from the first vote, and changed his ways.
“Many of our minds have been changed, and he continues to perform better,” Leung said. He added that several faculty members had praised Ho, especially the fact that he never misses committee meetings, and is adequately prepared for them.
Leung conceded that the second vote indicates that a sizeable contingent still does not think highly of the VP’s performance, but insisted that Ho has not simply coasted through his tasks since then.
