On March 6 and 7, undergraduate students from the University of Alberta will vote on the First Alberta Campus Radio Association dedicated fee.
Every Fall and Winter semester, CJSR’s governing board First Alberta Campus Radio Association (FACRA) receives approximately $2.18 per full-time student and $0.78 per part-time student for the purposes of covering operating costs. This works out to be around a third of our annual budget, and is our largest single source revenue aside from our funding drive AKA FunDrive.
What services does CJSR provide students?
CJSR is Edmonton’s only volunteer-powered, not-for-profit, campus-community radio station. We broadcast diverse programming that you can’t find anywhere else and provide a platform for groups who don’t have access to mainstream media. CJSR exposes University of Alberta students to campus and local news, as well as music, and cultural programming. Furthermore, we provide University of Alberta students opportunities to learn new skills, improve their public speaking, and make new friends!
Regardless of experience, almost anyone can volunteer at CJSR. We offer regular training to learn how to make a music show, be a news reporter, or do engineering and production work around the station. While the University of Alberta doesn’t have an official journalism school, CJSR teaches students how to interview, record, and communicate complex subjects for a general audience. We also provide access to professional studios, recording equipment, and software to make radio shows and podcasts.
Plus, CJSR offers student internships and summer jobs every year!
Where does my money go?
Even though all of our programming is done by volunteers, there are a lot of costs involved in running a radio station. We have to pay for an engineer to keep our signal beaming, our CD players playing, and our turntables turning. Money from the dedicated student fee pays for everyday needs at the station like rent, training, microphones, audio recorders, etc., but also helps improve the services we provide University of Alberta students. The rest of our revenue comes from donations, grants, and advertising.
To review our budget, please click here.
What is a plebiscite?
“Plebiscite” refers to a vote held on a given question, but whose result is not legally binding upon the Students’ Union.
As mandated by Bylaw 6100 s4.1 legislated by the University of Alberta’s Students’ Union, “any entity that collects fees from students through the Students’ Union for the purposes of covering operating costs or providing grants [known as a Dedicated Fee Unit (DFU)] must be re-evaluated by plebiscite every five years.” For CJSR, our first plebiscite date occurs March 2019.
CJSR’s plebiscite question:
On March 6 and 7, University of Alberta undergraduate students will be asked to vote yes or no on the following question:
The mandate of CJSR 88.5 FM is to operate a radio station that includes a campus focus. CJSR enriches the lives of students by providing opportunities to learn radio broadcasting, as well as producing high quality and diverse programming that constantly challenges the status quo. It offers facilities and training for campus and local-centric music and news programming, in addition to documentary and podcast production. CJSR is open to all undergraduate students, graduate students, staff, alumni, and community members.
Funding areas:
- Equipment repairs, maintenance and acquisition
- Operating costs
- Programming, outreach and awareness
- Fundraising events and projects
- Volunteer program, including training
The conditions of the fund shall include:
- The Dedicated Fee will be assessed from full-time ($2.18) and part-time ($0.78) students in only the Fall and Winter semesters, with no opt-out option
- Augustana students are not subject to the fee
- Off-campus students, as defined by the University Calendar, are included
- The fee will be disbursed to the First Alberta Campus Radio Association, CJSR’s governing body and non-profit organization that holds the station’s FM license
- The Board consists of up to 12 elected and appointed members, including the requisite 2 SU and 1 GSA representatives
Do you support the continuation of a Dedicated Fee for the CJSR-FM Fund?
When and where can I vote?
Voting is open to current University of Alberta undergraduate students from 9:00AM on Wednesday, March 6th until 5:00PM on Thursday, March 7th.
All voting will take place online. The online voting system can found at www.su.ualberta.ca/vote.
For more information on voter eligibility or instructions for accessing the online voting system, please click here.