The Alberta Wildrose party is taking on student unions saying mandatory membership is against the human rights of students, while those unions say everyone benefits from a collective voice in programs and lobbying efforts.

A Wildrose policy proposal that would recommend changing the province's Post-Secondary Learning Act to make membership optional received the thumbs up at the party's AGM in Calgary on Saturday.

University of Calgary student and Wildrose member Keean Bexte championed the proposal.

Keean Bexte put forward a proposal at the Wildrose AGM this weekend in Calgary, that would see student union membership made optional. The proposal was enacted as policy. (@KeeanBexte/Twitter)

Bexte is also a former students' union representative.

He says forced membership in a students' union violates Article 20 of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which says, in part "No one may be compelled to belong to an association."

"I think that human rights are being ignored here when it comes to students' rights to not associate with someone who they do not agree with," Bexte said.

As it stands now, he says, students are "being forced to pay money, pay thousands of dollars throughout their degree, to fund organizations that don't necessarily represent them and in a place like Canada it is almost amazing that we are forcing students to actually do this, I think."

The Council of Alberta University Students, a collective of student unions and associations, sent a letter to the Wildrose ahead of the AGM, opposing the policy on the grounds unions are fiscal watchdogs and non-partisan advocates who provide core services.

MacEwan Student Centre houses the main campus bookstore, a food court, pub and the student union office. (University of Calgary)

Romy Garrido, the vice president external with the University of Calgary Students' Union and a signatory to the letter, said "If a policy like this were ever implemented, it would do Alberta students a great disservice."

She points to recent advocacy initiatives that she says has left more money in pockets of all students.

"We would not have benefited from the former government's tuition cap or the current tuition freeze if it weren't for firm student lobbying," Garrido said.

Health benefits, mental health support, clubs funding and other programs would be difficult to deliver if there were two groups of students, those who fund the programs through student union fees and those who do not, if they had the ability to opt out, she said.

"There are a series of questions and concerns that follow the logic of this policy, and they haven't been considered because they were not discussed with us," Garrido said.

Meanwhile, Bexte acknowledges the current provincial government may not have an appetite for the new Wildrose policy.

"With the NDP government I can imagine it would be extraordinarily difficult to pass something like that, the NDP seem dead set against things like this," Bexte said.

"I think we are going to have to wait until the next election to form government ourselves and actually bring results for students."