1985: A LOOK BACK: Student life (12/29/85)

1985: A LOOK BACK

Student life

The year of 1985 was a sanguine season of high promise for Ukrainian students. Two major projects were launched in North America to revitalize the Ukrainian students movement in the United States and other parts of the world.

Just before Christmas, Ukrainian students from Canada, the United States, Australia, France, Germany and Brazil met in Toronto to talk about giving new life to the dormant Central Union of Ukrainian Students (CeSUS). A three-member coordinating committee was created along with a council of presidents that would include two representatives from a handful of recognized national Ukrainian student groups from around the world.

The Toronto CeSUS parley didn't go without the characteristic round of political bickering which has marred past attempts at revival. But after the smoke cleared, it was generally felt that the organization had a good chance of survival.

In the United States, things looked even brighter. A large group of students from the Northeast met twice in the fall to initiate various wonderfully ambitious nationwide projects. The students, calling themselves Ukrainian Student Outreach, managed to attract members of some 12 Ukrainian student clubs by year's end.

The move was considered a good one by many people because it was the first attempt to revitalize Ukrainian-American students on a national level ever since the Federation of Ukrainian Student Organizations of America (SUSTA) fell apart in 1981.

Also in the United States, the 250-member strong Ukrainian Student Association of Mykola Michnowsky (TUSM) held its 18th annual national convention in November and elected a new national executive board headed by Jerry Halatyn of New York.

Finally, in Canada, Ukrainian students enjoyed a boyant year under the leadership of the 33-year-old Ukrainian Canadian Students' Union (SUSK). The Toronto-based national executive managed to pull off a well-attended annual fall congress in Toronto and an eastern conference in Montreal. SUSK also kept a watchful eye on the Canadian government's Nazi war criminals probe and it announced plans to resume regular publication of its popular monthly newspaper, Student.