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<\/a>Camosun Political Science instructor Dan Reeve says that he thinks there are a number of factors that come into play as to why there are so few political student clubs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIn Arts and Science, it\u2019s typically a two-year program,\u201d says Reeve. \u201cStudents will stay here for one or two years, and typically when I poll my students about two-thirds to three-quarters of them are working, so time, of course, is very precious. Factor in that the price of rent is the third most expensive in the country; that puts all the more economic pressure on students to work while they are going to school. Those two factors, plus the temporary nature of enrolment\u2026 they don\u2019t have the perspective of a four-year stay. In addition to working and going to school, most aren\u2019t seeing this as a place to build partisan community.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Camosun Political Science instructor Alison James was surprised to learn that there are no partisan clubs on campus, but says that may be because her view is skewed by her background and surroundings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI know that a bunch of my students are politically active, both in party politics and the student society,\u201d says James. \u201cI wonder if it is partly because people don\u2019t tend to be at Camosun as long as they are at UVic or some other institutions. You have a full turnover every few years, and less chance to build that community.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Turcotte says that Camosun has never had a lot of student clubs, but historically they were much more prominent than they are today. (The CCSS website does have some political clubs listed on their website, such as the Cam State Conservative Club and the Green Party Club, but none are currently active.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIn the past they were mainly political clubs, with a few activity clubs or something of that nature,\u201d he says. \u201cBut now none of the clubs we have are political. There are some clubs associated with departments, like Criminology or Psychology, but absolutely no clubs, for a number of years, of political or societal interest.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Turcotte says there have been sporadic spikes of increased political activity at Camosun, but there has really been about a 15-year period where that has fallen off.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201c20 years ago we had them all, and for years before that,\u201d he says. \u201cThere were international socialists, and New Democrats, Conservatives, and a lot of Liberals. They were quite well represented.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The political presence was so strong on campus that Turcotte says one of the major worries was that the student society might be taken over by one of the political clubs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBefore I was hired, the Liberals had tried and partially succeeded in taking over a number of the [CCSS] positions,\u201d says Turcotte. \u201cIt\u2019s not always a planned initiative, but rather it was opportunism. There was a time when the major political parties were trying to mark out political territory on campuses, or to quiet voices.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But that is all a distant memory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Reeve says that the decline in partisan involvement likely stems from tarnished reputations attached to parties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cFewer people are aligned with political parties,\u201d he says. \u201cI think that negatively affects partisanship in terms of joining a party. I think some people also assume that if they get active in a party that they have to be big donors. My experience is that parties will be glad to take whatever you can give them in terms of time, energy, and ideas.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
James says that the level of involvement she sees with her students may be because of what she teaches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhether you could go to another subject area and find the same level of involvement, I don\u2019t know,\u201d says James. \u201cA second-year Poli Sci class is quite a selective group, in a way. They have to have taken a first-year Poli Sci class, so they\u2019re going to be interested in politics. I know the students in that class are very up on the issues. We\u2019ve had lots of really interesting conversations in class, particularly about the referendum.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Reeve says that from experience working with parties, he knows that they love it when students join them; however, he thinks Camosun may be overlooked because it doesn\u2019t have quite the same size and scope as UVic, which has a much more established party system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI encourage my students, if they are interested in a political party, to get involved at a constituency level,\u201d says Reeve. \u201cParties are always more than happy to see young people involved. Most parties, at the riding level, are volunteer based, and they are always hungry for young people to join\u2014any political stripe.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Turcotte says that it\u2019s important for politicians to at least have the appearance that they can engage with youth; otherwise they have a harder time as candidates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIf they can only engage people over the age of 50 that would seriously limit their electoral chances,\u201d says Turcotte, \u201cparticularly in a party like the NDP, but even with the Liberals, as we\u2019ve seen with the appeal of Justin Trudeau, where he was seen by the younger demographic as a breath of fresh air after Stephen Harper. Being able to attract youth is an important quality for a political leader. The NDP is kind of trying to characterize first past the post as the old system.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Third-year University Transfer student Sacha Christensen is taking political science classes, is active in provincial politics, and is the CCSS Lansdowne executive. Christensen sits on an electoral district association (EDA) and serves on a provincial party committee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHonestly, I had to seek it out,\u201d says Christensen. \u201cI didn\u2019t have anybody come to me and say, \u2018You should get involved in this.\u2019 I got an invite to an EDA AGM, more or less by accident, and decided I wanted to be a part of it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Christensen says that he is particularly disappointed in the absence of political clubs at Camosun, but it\u2019s also something that he understands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI think there would certainly be more students involved in politics if there was more of a presence on campuses,\u201d says Christensen. \u201cThis is a bit tangential, but one thing that I\u2019ve noticed is that, specifically in political circles at Camosun, students seem to join the political clubs at UVic. [UVic] have a mandate that allows [Camosun students] to join, and the students are there for a longer period. The base of students can be there for four years and can be politically active for their time there, but it also means that Camosun students can attach on to that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Reeve says that at various times he\u2019s tried to encourage students to get connected with UVic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThere is always a lot of enthusiasm in September, but by November people are concerned about their projects and assignments,\u201d he says. \u201cI think the hard part is that it\u2019s hard to start from scratch. Whatever your political stripe, if you want to set up a club here, that could seem intimidating. I think an affiliation with the UVic clubs would be great because you aren\u2019t starting from zero. You have people who have been around for a couple of years who can offer a little bit of guidance.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The lack of infrastructure on campus can be limiting, but there are other ways for students to get involved politically. CCSS student wellness and access director Eleanor Vannan has had people from both major provincial parties reach out to her, but she has been careful to remain impartial.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cRight now, I think that\u2019s probably the most beneficial thing for what I\u2019m in, which is the student movement,\u201d says Vannan. \u201cMy primary motivation in politics is as a student and as a parent. For me, that means you work with whoever is going to work with you. If there is a party that is willing to give students what they need, then you put the work in. I am very issues-driven.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
James says that she\u2019s learned a lot about the CCSS from her students who are involved with it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI was invited to an event the other day around disability on campus,\u201d she says. \u201cIt was very interesting to hear about how the college is doing, and what problems students are facing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As a CCSS board member, Vannan says it\u2019s hard for her to see the campus as politically empty just because it lacks party-specific clubs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI think the political drive at Camosun is usually about internal politics, and lobbying the institution, and making sure that the institution is providing the things that students need [and] that policies have student representation,\u201d says Vannan. \u201cFor me, it\u2019s a good fit because of my desire to remain non-partisan. It\u2019s about how we can use political tactics, lobbying, and policy to get those outcomes that are immediate and impact us here right now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In a general sense Turcotte says CCSS involvement ebbs and flows; he says that it\u2019s currently at a down point in that cycle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThere was more competition in the past,\u201d says Turcotte. \u201cOften in our spring election we haven\u2019t been having a lot of competition. You might have three people running for one position, but sometimes there are positions with either one person running or nobody running. It\u2019s sad when you have uncontested positions when you are going through the election process. I had never seen that until this past decade. In my first decade on the job, it never happened.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Vannan won her CCSS ballot uncontested, which she says made her a bit sad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cDon\u2019t get me wrong\u2014I\u2019m really happy to be in my position, but when I say to people I got 98 percent of the vote, because it\u2019s a yes\/no vote, people are like, \u2018That\u2019s fantastic.\u2019 But I say, \u2018Yes, but no one ran against me.\u2019 I want to know I have a mandate from students,\u201d she says. \u201cI want to tell them what I want to do, what I think I need to advocate for, and I want to have proof that they are really supportive of this.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What politics on campus is really good for right now, says Vannan, is specific events like the municipal election or the referendum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe are good at rushing out and coming up with a strategy and implementing it,\u201d says Vannan. \u201cWe are great at getting people to come out and do that work, but it\u2019s the times in between that are a challenge. It\u2019s keeping people politically literate when there is nothing going on in terms of elections. There is always something. There is always legislation being passed, something affecting students on campus, but when it isn\u2019t during an election campaign, it\u2019s really easy to feel like you don\u2019t have a say and it\u2019s just going to go on no matter what you do.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Reeve says that it would be great to see students who have the time to get politically active at a partisan level, but adds that there are lots of ways to be politically active that aren\u2019t tied to a party.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOverall, I think partisan activity over the last 20 years may have changed, but I don\u2019t think that necessarily means that students are more apathetic,\u201d he says. \u201cWe see a lot of students get involved at the local governance level, where there isn\u2019t typically party involvement, and in particular [involved in] the last municipal election.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
19-year-old Ned Taylor defied the odds and broke the mould when he was elected alderman in Saanich last fall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMyself getting elected sort of shows the uniqueness of municipal politics,\u201d says Taylor. \u201cI don\u2019t think we see that sort of thing happening in provincial or federal politics, so it\u2019s sort of a unique area.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Taylor says he started volunteering in Grade 10 or 11 for the federal election campaign in 2015 and decided to continue after the election.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThen I talked to my MP, Elizabeth May, when she came to do an in-class presentation, and she invited me to work in her office in Ottawa,\u201d says Taylor. \u201cIt was an internship\u2014it wasn\u2019t paid\u2014but it was a great opportunity, so I took her up on that. It just sort of went from there.Then I tried to apply for a job in politics after the provincial election last year and didn\u2019t get accepted. So I thought, \u2018That\u2019s okay, I\u2019ll see if the public wants to hire me.\u2019 After a couple of tries they did, so it worked out.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Whatever level their political involvement has been, everyone I interviewed agrees that the experience of being actively involved in politics has helped shape their lives in everything they do. When he went to university, Turcotte enjoyed the political experience as a member of a political party that participated in the youth wing and took part on the frontlines during elections, and it was an experience that served him well later in life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou get that mentorship and that experience,\u201d says Turcotte. \u201cThose are skills that serve you beyond political purposes\u2014those are skills that serve you in life. You gain the ability to project ideas, and project how you feel in order to influence the world around you. People need to know how to make a difference. It\u2019s not something that is taught in school. It is a practically learned activity. I used to be afraid to speak in public, but now if I feel the need to express my opinions I have the ability to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That kind of student leadership does look really good on a resume, says Vannan, although she adds that it goes beyond making students more appealing to employers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt actually makes you a better hire,\u201d says Vannan. \u201cWhen someone hires you and you\u2019ve worked on the CCSS board, you\u2019ve learned interpersonal skills, you\u2019ve learned how to mediate conflict with different personalities, you\u2019ve really practiced professionalism. Those aren\u2019t things you magically figure out in the student society; those are things you\u2019re taught. If I were to rank my courses, I would rank my experience on the CCSS as high as any course, in terms of what I\u2019ve learned from it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the great things he experienced while working through youth politics, joining a political party, and being part of its youth wing, Reeve says, is the contacts that he made.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI have some great friends all these years later who I met in my youth through party involvement,\u201d says Reeve. \u201cAnd then I got to meet some amazing people, who kind of mentored me and guided me. That experience was irreplaceable. Just getting the chance to meet these people was a real eye-opener for what politics really was. Seeing the hard work, seeing the hours, and seeing the rigour kind of opened my eyes. If people want to get involved it gives them a view of the road, or they can see that there are many ways to affect change without necessarily being a public face. When I grew up I was politically active and tied to a political party\u2014that was my start. There is a natural framework built in, because all of the major parties are already well established, so there is an infrastructure for you to join and be active with.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Taylor encourages students here at the college to get those political clubs started up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThere are no political groups at Camosun,\u201d says Taylor. \u201cThere is an opportunity for students to create one. This is an exciting time for young people in politics. Finally politicians have started to realize just how much young people can impact both elections and policy. We saw a focus on younger voters for the proportional representation referendum. We saw younger people getting elected, not only in Saanich, but in other municipalities in the region and across the province in this general municipal election. Clearly the tide is turning. Politics isn\u2019t just for the working middle aged or the retired. It\u2019s for young people just as much. I hope Camosun students can grasp those opportunities.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Students inherit the responsibilities of the generation before us, and as a post-secondary institution Camosun College is responsible for fostering new ideas while students develop the skills, knowledge, and confidence necessary to bring them to fruition. Considering the recent student council elections on campus and municipal elections across the capital region, as well as the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":16979,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,225],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16999","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","category-january-23-2019"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16999","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16999"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16999\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17000,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16999\/revisions\/17000"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16979"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16999"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16999"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16999"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}