Discussions

The University of Victoria Student Society thinks it knows best. It doesn't.  
 
The society made a mistake this month when it decided to block the Canadian Forces from recruiting at a job fair in their building.  
 
It sounds as if politics are getting in the way of presenting students with as many career opportunities as possible or letting them decide for themselves what's right and wrong.  
 
The society says the military has no place in the Student Union Building, where the fair will be held, because it's stingy with information about the psychological, mental and physical problems soldiers have after serving.  
 
Perhaps, but university students are not naive. They read like anyone else, if not more. They are more than acquainted with current events. And they're better than most at asking questions. Presumably, they can make their own decisions.  
 
 
Fortunately, the move by the society has caused such a furor on campus they'll be allowed to do just that.  
 
The job fair isn't until January, but students will be allowed to vote on it next month at the society's annual meeting.  
 
If this is allowed to stand, what next? A ban on job-fair recruiters from the oil or mining industries, tobacco companies, nuclear power generators, junk-food manufacturers . . .?  
 
No employer broadcasts the less savoury aspects of the job - and every job, no matter how attractive, has plenty. But only the naive prospective employee believes working life is going to be easy.  
 
And you'd have to be naive indeed to believe the military is without more than its fair share of challenges these days.  
 
The issue of allowing the military to recruit in student environments is not new and has always been as controversial as it is complex.  
 
It's about more than just charges of military misdeeds or misinformation, as some have alleged. It's about the affordability of university. Particularly in the United States, it's about race and class and the politics of war.  
 
But there is a silver lining: the current debate on the Victoria campus is enlightening for everyone. It is university education at its best.