Pubdate: Tue, 26 Sep 2006
Source: Mcgill Tribune (CN QU Edu)
Copyright: 2006 The McGill Tribune
Contact:  http://www.mcgilltribune.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2672

A HIT AND A MISS: TALES OF EXECS' SUMMER PROJECTS

The academic year is back in full swing, and Students' Society 
executives are for the first time facing oversight of their actions 
from SSMU Council. Two notable summer projects have come up so far, 
the Harm Reduction Centre (HRC) and the Flying Squad. Both are still 
in the larvae stage, and there are many details that remain to be 
worked out concerning their structures before they can be given full 
approval. The Harm Reduction Centre deserves a chance to work out its 
kinks. The Flying Squad does not.

The mandate of the HRC-the brainchild of Vice-President Clubs and 
Services Floh Herra-Vega-is education about drugs and alcohol and 
activism on drug policy. The HRC plans to take a realistic approach 
towards drug use, which is refreshing. It is time that drug education 
took a page from sex education and went beyond "just say no".

Preaching abstinence from drug use is all well and good, but it 
ignores the fact that many people will use-and abuse-drugs and 
alcohol regardless of how many times they are told that it is bad for 
them. This is especially true during university, a time when many 
people experiment with drugs.

This natural tendency to experiment, together with the lack of 
knowledge that many students have about drugs, means that there is 
potential for the HRC to do a lot of good by teaching people how to 
minimize the harm they do to themselves with their drug use. 
Additionally, the HRC has a reasonably clear mandate. While the 
granting of "interim service status" is an odd move, the concept has 
been well thought out and most importantly, the benefits of the HRC 
to students are clear.

At the opposite end of the spectrum is the Flying Squad, which is an 
excellent example of how not to start a new student group. This 
initiative is the summer brainchild of VP External Max Silverman. The 
Flying Squad's mission, which admittedly is still being fine-tuned, 
is to organize students around various causes, which would be chosen 
by the Flying Squad with no input from SSMU.

The Flying Squad would not be dedicated to any one particular cause. 
Supposedly, it would allow for quicker and more effective organizing 
of actions on issues of interest to students. However, the Flying 
Squad is basically an umbrella organization and it would simply be 
creating another level of bureaucracy, diminishing its effectiveness.

Currently, if SSMU Council wants to organize student opposition or 
support for a particular cause, it can pass a motion creating a 
committee, and give the committee money to carry out its mission. 
What is unclear is how the Flying Squad will improve on this process. 
Its budget will still be controlled by Council and its actions will 
likely need ultimate approval from Council.

How can an umbrella group which has to meet and make its decisions 
democratically and whose members may not have any interest in 
particular issues possibly act faster than a focused group made up of 
people dedicated to a cause?

Effectively, the Flying Squad serves as a duplicate the work of the 
Grassroots Association for Student Power (GRASPe)-a generalist 
activist group-except that it lacks GRASPe's ability to act in an 
expedient manner. In fact, around half of those who took part in last 
week's first meeting of the Flying Squad were members of GRASPe, 
further adding to the question of why there is a need for the Flying Squad.

In addition, the idea that the Flying Squad could take up any cause 
it chooses, is troubling. The Flying Squad, as a wing of SSMU, would 
lend an air of credibility to causes that may be of no interest to 
the vast majority of the student population. Although SSMU Council 
would supposedly have a veto over the Flying Squad's actions, what 
good would that veto do if the Flying Squad had already taken action?

Silverman should take a page from Herra Vega's book and re-examine 
what he is doing with the funds SSMU allocates to him. He must make 
sure that this money is being put to a use that will provide a 
substantial benefit to the student body, and this is one test we feel 
the Flying Squad will not pass.
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MAP posted-by: Elaine