Council of Alberta University Students

The Council of Alberta University Students (CAUS) represents the interests of over 80,000 Alberta university students across Alberta.

They represent undergraduate students from the University of Alberta, the University of Calgary, the University of Lethbridge and Athabasca University to the public, government and other post-secondary education stakeholders. Based in Edmonton, CAUS is a non-partisan and active advocacy group looking to ensure a fully accessible and high quality system of education in Alberta.

History

The Council of Alberta University Students (CAUS) was created in 1986 after the disintegration of the Federation of Alberta Students (FAS). FAS was a provincial umbrella organization that represented all of the public post-secondary institutions in Alberta; the organization fell apart in 1981 when a number of colleges and technical institutes withdrew their membership from the organization because they felt that the universities dominated the Federation. Out of the ashes of the FAS emerged CAUS, which included all of the publicly funded universities in Alberta, and ACTISEC (Alberta Colleges and Technical Institutes Student Executive Council), which represented all of the publicly funded colleges and technical institutes.

The original purpose of CAUS was to facilitate information sharing and networking between university students’ unions and associations. Since then, the emphasis of the organization has fluctuated between being a networking group to being an active lobbying coalition.

Chairs

• 2004 – 05 – Alex Abboud, University of Alberta
• 2003 – 04 – Shirley Barg, Athabasca University
• 2002 – 03 – Anand Sharma, University of Alberta
• 2001 – 02 – Oliver Bladek, University of Calgary
• 2000 – 01 – Leslie Church, University of Alberta
• 1999 – 00 – Leslie Church, University of Alberta
• 1998 – 99 – Paul Galbraith, University of Calgary
• 1997 – 98 – Jon Wescott, University of Lethbridge
• 1996 – 97 – Garett Poston, University of Alberta
• 1995 – 96 – Garett Poston, University of Alberta

Executive Directors

• 2004 – Present – Duncan Wojtaszek
• 2003 – 04 – Melanee Thomas

External link

Official Site