![\"Madeline](\"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/IMG_7822-e1368552337560.jpg\")
<\/a>Keller-MacLeod, who is studying political science at Camosun, was elected at the CFS-BC general meeting in January, and her one-year term started May 1. She will be paid a $325 per month honorarium plus travel expenses to organize campaigns and support other student societies in the province on issues that affect women.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m a proud feminist and I want to help women find ways to empower themselves,\u201dshe says. \u201cI ran for the position because there isn\u2019t gender equality in this world, this society, and this culture, and achieving equality is something I\u2019m very passionate about it.\u201d<\/p>\n
The CFS is a national student organization representing postsecondary institutions across the country. Camosun, also known as CFS Local 75, traditionally has one seat on the CFS-BC board, but this year they have three: Keller-MacLeod as women\u2019s liaison, current CCSS external executive Megan Marshall (who goes by her traditional name, Tl\u2019ehskwiisimka) as CFS-BC aboriginal students liaison, and CCSS sustainability director Clare Horwood as the Camosun CFS-BC representative.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m happy to see three strong women from Local 75 sitting on the CFS-BC executive,\u201d says Keller-MacLeod, \u201cand to see that the CCSS is getting more representation on the board. We work really hard for our students and bringing that work to the provincial executive is valuable for the entire movement.\u201d<\/p>\n
CFS-BC chairperson Katie Marocchi isn\u2019t surprised that Camosun now has three spots on their board. In fact, she says Camosun has a rich history with the CFS and has always been very involved in the national student organization.<\/p>\n
\u201cCamosun has really active and involved elected representatives and, in addition to working on educational issues, they\u2019re also interested in social justice issues, and that enriches campus culture and directly addresses issues that impact students,\u201d says Marocchi. \u201cIt\u2019s pretty cool, because not a lot of locals have that amount of representation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Keller-MacLeod says she plans to represent Camosun, the place where she got her start in student activism just two years ago, the best that she can. This will include campaigns that she says will directly impact women on campus, as well as around the province.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like I can do a good job of liaisoning with student groups throughout the province. I love learning about what work others are doing on issues that affect women\u00a0 and I would like to enhance any of the work the locals are already doing,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
One of the campaigns Keller-MacLeod wants to tackle during her term with the CFS-BC is challenging sexism within postsecondary trades programs. And with Camosun having a trades-centric campus at Interurban, she can start by raising awareness close to home.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are many women within trades who deal with sexual harassment on a daily basis and there are not enough safe spaces where those students can speak out and receive support,\u201d she says. \u201cIf I could provide support for women who have experienced sexism and want to come forward, I would consider that a success.\u201d<\/p>\n
Keller-MacLeod got involved with the CFS after being with the CCSS for just under a year. She says getting involved in student politics and activism has been a great learning opportunity and has helped her grow as a person.<\/p>\n
\u201cI haven\u2019t always been interested in student activism. I was brought into the student movement really quickly and it\u2019s kind of taken off from there. I was really impressed by the people and what they are working towards,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
As for her new position, she couldn\u2019t be more pleased. And she wants to bring some fun to the struggle, too.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m really happy about it and I am excited to help facilitate the work that feminist students are doing across BC,\u201d she says. \u201cWorking to advance equality can get heavy so I\u2019m hoping to help people advance gender equality while having fun at the same time.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
One of Camosun\u2019s own has been elected provincial women\u2019s liaison for the Canadian Federation of Students (CFS). Madeline Keller-MacLeod, the Lansdowne campus executive for the Camosun College Student Society (CCSS), will be in charge of \u201chelping to facilitate the work that women students are doing across BC,\u201d she says. Keller-MacLeod, who is studying political science […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":7065,"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":[13,101],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6968","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-may-15-2013"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6968","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\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6968"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6968\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7028,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6968\/revisions\/7028"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7065"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6968"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6968"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6968"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}