In one month Federation of Students, University of Waterloo will be forty years old. On 29 April 1967 Federation of Students incorporated.

In the beginning was the Engineering Society and a few other student societies. After three years those societies got together and formed Students’ Council. Over the years they worked on a constitution, which passed around 1966. The following year they decided to incorporate.

Stephen Ireland was acclaimed as the federations’ first president. In his speech he said

“The present set-up on this campus gives the students very little say in the university. . . . The individual student does not count in the university — his opinion is not heard seriously. But worst of all, he believes he cannot effectively alter the situation.”

Now that the federation has existed for so long, it becomes ever more important that the organization focuses on its purpose as much as it might work for self-perpetuation. Students must have knowledge and efficacy in their organization let alone whole university.

Old BS or new ideas — Anticipating another election uwryan.com 7 January 2003