Military welcome on campus

by David Karp

Josh Thompson Photo Students vote to reject a ban on military recruitment at the UVSS annual general meeting. Rougly 500 students were attendance.

Students overwhelmingly rejected a motion to ban the military from recruiting in the Student Union Building at the UVic Students’ Society (UVSS) annual general meeting on Thursday, Oct. 25.

Roughly 500 students attended the meeting, with roughly 25 voting in favour of the ban. Had the motion passed, the Canadian Forces wouldn’t have been able to recruit at the annual UVic Career Fair in January because it is held in the Student Union Building.

The meeting started a half hour late as hundreds lined up to get into the meeting.

George Robinson, former UVSS chairperson candidate, spoke against the ban.

“For students that wish to protest the war, this is the wrong way to do it,” said Robinson. “By banning any organization that we may disagree with, we are acting against the very purpose of this university.”

Student Serina Zapf agreed. “I’m a human rights activist. I totally understand the issues in Afghanistan. I know about the torture. I hear about these things. I campaign on them,” she said. “That being said, as a human rights activist I believe in a dialogue of voices … I’m excited that our UVSS has a voice and is speaking on issues. But at the same time, I don’t think they need to protest for me.”

But proponents of the motion to ban the military said the issue wasn’t about freedom of speech. “Exercising my democratic right is about taking action to actually stop things from happening,” said student Jennifer King. “So I see this ban as a concrete thing I can do to prevent the spread of these ideas, to prevent the spread of our military actions, and to prevent people from really being drawn into something they may not know a lot about.”

Outside the meeting, UVic Students of War co-chairperson Tim Fournier said his organization will continue its protest of the military. “Obviously, this isn’t going to be the end of it … our mandate is to resist militarism,” Fournier said. “This is one tactic we tried, and we’re not limited to just making motions at UVSS meetings.”

For more on the vote, as well as for other coverage of the annual general meeting, please read the Nov. 1 Martlet.

Josh Thompson Photo

Students vote to reject a ban on military recruitment at the UVSS annual general meeting. Rougly 500 students were attendance, with around 25 voting in favour of the ban.