The Role of Student Politics

There was much discussion around UVic during the election campaign in March about what role student politics should encompass. There were two key strains of thought on this issue. One strain of thought is that student politics should be related, as much as possible, to only those issues which happen on campus and not anything else. The other point of view is that student politics should focus on larger student issues that fall outside of campus as well.

The first strain of thought supposes that all we can or should affect are on campus student issues. So the specific focus for this group is providing great events, keeping fees down, focusing on on campus services, and managing the clubs and course unions. This is not an extensive list and sometimes the focus does fall onto broader issues, such as transit opportunities and student debt.

The other strain also focuses on all these issues, as they are indded quite important. The difference is that this group also feels that the role of student politics should also be expanded to how students interact within the communities in which they live. Big issues here would be the transit issue, legalization of secondary suites, environmental sustainability, and others. The reasoning is that students live and work in the larger community and it is our job to represent students in all capacities. This is the camp which I am in, I believe all parts of our society are connected and we have to acknowledge that reality and interact with society as a whole based on this reality.

I also want to take this a step further and examine the effects of student politics on the community at large. One reason I am in favour of student politics focusing on larger community issues is because I feel that student politics already affects the community regardless of what focus we take, whether is be solely on campus or otherwise. I say this because once the students involved in student politics graduate from school, they will take the skills and views they adopted into the broader community with them, many into larger political spheres. This being the case, the strains of thought that are promoted in student politics can become very influential in municipal, provincial, and federal politics. The interconnectedness of many issues becomes even more apparent at each of these levels. Thus, having a broader perspective within student politics can translate to having broader perspectives at the municipal, provincial, and most importantly, federal levels. I feel this is very important for our society in this day and age, where the interconnectedness of many divergent issues is becoming increasingly apparent. This is why I feel it is not productive to have a limited view of what student politics should be during our time in school.

Rob McDonald