The Martenette: ‘CBUSU to introduce new, “Domestic Student Rep” position

Inverness, N.S. Tim Martendale

CBUSU to introduce new “Domestic Student Representative” ahead of October By-Elections, cites “lack of representation for students hailing from the Western Hemisphere.”

Plastered on every available surface in the CBU cafeteria are campaign posters, featuring a wide selection of hopeful candidates; one thing you’ll be hard-pressed to find, however, is the face of a domestic student.

With little to no interest in student politics coming from local students, the CBUSU is hoping that limiting their competition will encourage at least one politically-inclined student from the Americas to run for the Student Representative Council (SRC).

Ex-Officio Member of the SRC, Derek R. Nozinan, explained that that the council “needs at least one token Cape Bretoner” and told us he “thought he saw a local student at the Executive’s Debate but it turned out to be just one of the candidate’s landlords.”

Some have commented that after the legalization of marijuana in October, many domestic students who had formerly taken a keen interest in politics no longer seemed to have the time or ambition. Without adequate representation of domestic students on the SRC, it seems that it will fall to the international students alone to fix transit, parking, housing, tuition, events, part-time jobs, work-study placements, and the weather.

“Even if we got a student from Maine to run for office,” Nozinan said “that would be a step in the right direction.”

For now, the prospective duties of ‘Representative from the Upper Americas’ seem likely to mirror those of its counterpart, the International Student Representative. It is unclear whether a DNA test will be required or the legality of such a test under the current CBUSU Elections Act.