By Alexei Summers (The Cascade) – Email
Print Edition: March 21, 2012
The upcoming CIVL Radio referendum, set to take place at the end of March, has been generating a lot of discussion between students around the UFV campuses. The proposal of this new referendum is a compromise from the campus radio station’s previous referendum, which failed to pass by a slim margin in December.
CIVL attributes the failure of this earlier referendum, which only lost by seven per cent, to two major factors. First, there was a lack of student involvement in the campaign. Secondly, the referendum was bundled up with another referendum that was being proposed by the Student Union Society (SUS) at the exact same time.
When asked what is being done differently this time to make sure the referendum goes through, CIVL station manager Aaron Levy said, “We’re not relying on SUS anymore.”
“We relied on SUS last time because we were busy, and I wasn’t sure how else to do it, and we were told we could just do it with them,” he said. “I think that really hurt us in the referendum – being on the same ballot.”
The campaign carries on; the future of CIVL radio largely depends on the results of the referendum. The decision ultimately rests in the hands of the student body. Some students, when confronted with the question of the upcoming referendum, have reacted with strong feelings of anger, and annoyance, according to a recent survey put on by CIVL. Others were more willing to listen.
“We’re asking now for half as much money as we were asking for last time,” Levy noted.
“We were asking for a $4 increase last semester, and now we’re asking a $2 increase. It will still allow us to hire a full-time staff member, and give us a cash flow on top of that. I’d like to say this is something we will never stop doing, but if we stop getting money in—if we’re losing money, and we’re providing free services, that we could otherwise be charging for—we’re going to have to at some point look at our budget, and start asking the student groups and university departments to pay for the services we provide. That idea is a nightmare for me, I don’t want it to happen.”
More information about the CIVL referendum can be found at their website.
