University of Victoria Students' Society - Controversies

Controversies

The UVSS has had no shortage of controversies over the years. Here are a few from the last 5 years:

• 2007, The banning of the Canadian Forces from an upcoming career fair. The decision to ban recruitment in the SUB was subsequently overturned.

• 2008-2012 Youth Protecting Youth (YPY) is an anti-abortion club at UVic and funded by students. Over the past few years there have been a number of discussions and controversies relating to their activities on-campus. In 2008 and 2009 funding was cut off as a result of the groups posters and activities. In 2010 funding and ratification were lost as a result of continuing controversial activities. In 2010 YPY launched a law suit against the UVSS where they were given back their withheld funding and ratification. YPY lost their booking privileges in spring 2012 because of a graphic display held on campus.

• 2010 Fraternities and Sororities were looking to get recognised by UVic and the UVSS. This resulted in one of the largest AGMs in UVSS history where students ultimately decided to not recognize the Fraternities and Sororities. The groups do continue to exist without the University recognition.

• 2009-2012 From 1985 to 2011 the UVSS was member local 44 of the Canadian Federation of Students. In late 2009, a petition was circulated among the membership to demand a referendum on continued membership. Despite having reached the required number of signatures, the CFS denied that the petition was valid. The UVSS retained a lawyer on behalf of the membership in order to demand a legal referendum. In March 2011, 70.5% of UVic students voted in a referendum to leave the CFS. The UVSS's membership in CFS-National ended on June 30, 2011. The provincial competent of the CFS, CFS-BC, claims that the UVSS is still a member in CFS-BC. The UVSS takes the position that the referendum applied to both CFS-National and CFS-BC and that it is no longer a member of either organization.