All Posts Tagged With: "SFUO"
Student protest at U of O had a point
SFUO board of administration need to follow their own policies, too
It’s going too far to compare the students’ union at the University of Ottawa to the line of despots tumbling to protesters in Africa and the Middle East. But that’s not stopping students.
The student union’s board of administration voted through a motion to remove the student arbitration committee from all electoral processes. Then the very next day voted to remove a winning candidate from the election, naming the second-place candidate the winner.
The big problem being that the now-defunct arbitration committee is the winning candidate’s only recourse against the decision to remove him from the race.
In his words, it’s “anti-constitutional.” But students angry at the seemingly anti-democratic election are taking matters into their own hands. A small group of students took over the offices of the student union yesterday to protest the March 2 disqualification of Tristan Dénommée.
Like most stories, this one is likely more complicated on the inside than we can tell from the outside. But therein lies the Board of Administration’s problem.
The action of justice being done is equally important to the appearance of justice being done. People need to see justice in action, and believe in it, to legitimize the system.
By naming themselves sole arbiter of everything electoral and then naming a preferred candidate in one fell swoop, they give the impression of being power-hungry, rather than acting in the best interests of students.
Under the electoral by-laws governing the U of O’s student elections, any vacancy in the executive positions, which includes the thrown out vice-president-elect of finance, is to be met with a strict set of procedures.
The Board is allowed to appoint an interim person to hold the position until a by-election is held. The key words being “interim” and “until.” If the Board wants to appoint the second-place candidate, they are free to do so.
But given the student reaction, and the convenient annihilation of any recourse for the winning candidate, the Board is faced with only one option that will solve all their problems: Announce a date for the by-election. Policy states that it must run between Sept. 15 and Oct. 31 this fall.
To preserve the image of justice, showing students their voice does in fact matter, the board needs to follow through on their own policies.
The strange case of Marc Kelly
Another controversy for the University of Ottawa
The University of Ottawa is an interesting place, or at least it is a place that generates a lot of attention. Most notably, a scheduled talk by Ann Coulter was canceled in the spring amid student protest, and after the university had warned Coulter she could be jailed if she didn’t watch her mouth. In late April, a freedom of information request revealed support for allegations that U of O administrators spied on and attempted to cancel a talk by Burmese human-rights activist Ka Hsaw Wa in 2007. Then there is the former lecturer accused of being a terrorist and Denis Rancourt, the physics professor who was fired after giving everyone in at least one of his classes an A+. Rancourt has also alleged the university spied on him.
And, just this week, student Marc Kelly was acquitted for trespassing on university property. At the time of his February arrest Kelly had been banned from the campus, but for reasons the university has yet to fully explain. In fact it was the second time in the past few years that Kelly was apprehended after U of O officials called police. The first time was after he had attempted to videotape a senate meeting back in 2008. He was charged with disturbing the peace, but the Crown ultimately dropped the case.
Despite being cleared of criminal charges, Kelly remains banned from the university and will be completing his degree at Carleton University, though he will officially remain a U of O student. It is a curious case. Judge L. Girault of Provincial Offenses Court in Ottawa ruled that even though the Student Appeals Centre, where Kelly was arrested, is located in the middle of the university, the Student Federation of the University of Ottawa is the legal occupier of the space and therefore has the right to determine who can and cannot enter. The ruling should help clarify the relationship between universities and students’ unions.
U-Pass gets started in Ottawa
Students dinged $290 for mandatory program
University students in Ottawa will see their tuition rise by nearly $300 in order to fund a compulsory U-Pass program that begins Wednesday. Both the University of Ottawa and Carleton have been busy handing out bus passes to eligible students, the cost of which is affixed to tuition.
After years of lobbying by the Student Federation of the University of Ottawa (SFUO) and two failed votes at City Council, the U-Pass was approved last February after Carleton was recruited to the plan. Referendums, required for the imposition of new fees, were then handily passed at both universities. Previously, a student bus pass would set students back at least $500 for an academic year. The U-Pass costs $290. “Its about making transit more affordable for students, promoting a ridership culture and making a real dent in some sustainability issues,” Dina Skvirsky, vice-president student issues for the Carleton University Students’ Association says.
So far the University of Ottawa has distributed more than 8,000 passes and Carleton more than 7,000. “From an administrative perspective, its been a success,” says Ryan Flannagan, Carleton’s director of student affairs. Although Carleton University did not explicitly endorse the plan, it will be administering it on behalf of the students’ association.
Alex Cullen, chair of City Council’s transit committee, is thrilled that the plan is underway because it will help the city reach its goal of having 30 per cent of all trips in Ottawa being taken through OC Transpo. “What attracted us to it, is that we’d be able to capture a large number of students who are taking OC Transpo,” he said. However, there are no immediate plans to make improvements to transit. “Both universities are already on high frequency transit lines,” Cullen said.
Despite providing reduced transit passes for students, not everyone is happy with the new fee. Charlie Taylor, who studies journalism at Carleton, is running for mayor and opposition to the U-Pass forms a central plank in his platform. “By forcing people to buy the product, you no longer have the motivation to provide a good product at a reasonable price,” he said. “They’ve got a captive consumer base now. They can basically do whatever they want.”
Other than exemptions for those with disabilities who already have bus passes provided for them, students from Quebec, and those who will be away studying afield, the U-Pass fee will be universally applied to all full-time students at both universities.
For students who currently cycle or walk to school, Skvirsky says that they can still make use of the U-Pass on evenings and weekends. “Most students do take transit and we do got a mandate from our members,” she said.
As for students who live outside of OC Transpo’s jurisdiction, Ted Horton, vice-president university affairs for the SFUO, says they actually have the most to gain from the plan, through Transpo’s Park n’ Ride program. The program permits drivers to park their cars at transit stations for free, and then ride the bus. A parking pass at the University of Ottawa costs $700 between September and April. “All feedback, both positive and negative, however, has been overshadowed by the vast number of students who have contentedly filed through the University Centre to pick up their U-Pass without complaint,” he says.
Cullen says the U-Pass will help to recoup costs from those who don’t pay taxes in Ottawa but nonetheless make use of city services. “Those folks ought to be using Transpo . . . they drive on our roads which they don’t pay for,” he said.
The pilot program will be reevaluated by city council next year to determine if it succeeded in increasing ridership without becoming too costly. U-Pass programs have been implemented at several universities across Canada, including at Brock University and the University of Alberta. The British Columbia government announced a plan in June to bring a U-Pass to all students attending a public university.
photo by Dick Penn
How dare you use student fees for protesting?
UOttawa Campus Conservatives indignant over student funded bus sent to protest G20
A Conservative club at the University of Ottawa says that the student union was wrong to use student fees to charter a bus of about 50 students to protest the G20 in Toronto. “I highly doubt that every single student who has to pay those fees would be happy to know their money was being spent to send a few individuals to protest for the weekend,” Campus Conservative president Peter Flynn told the Ottawa Citizen.
The Student Federation of the University of Ottawa’s (SFUO) Foot Patrol Centre pooled resources with the Student Appeals Centre and other campus groups to pay the $1,000 bus rental fee. Flynn took particular issue with the fact that services like foot patrol and student appeals have no mandate to protest. “If there was a ‘protest centre’ on campus then it would make sense to use its budget for this sort of thing, but these service centres have nothing to do with protesting,” he said.
SFUO president, Tyler Steeves defended the expenditure. “We try to capture the passions of our students and help students to pursue them, whether that means setting up intramural sports leagues or renting a bus so they can protest something they care about,” he told the Citizen.
For coverage from campus paper the Fulcrum, please click here.
For all of our coverage of the G20, please see here.
Stepping on free speech to keep out Coulter
University of Ottawa student union president wants to ban controversial writer and speaker from campus
“Fickle Students for Selective Free Speech?”
Yes, that’ll do nicely. After all, I think it’s about time we coin some sort of phrase to describe the exasperating irresolution of student leaders on the issue.
Free speech is good, right? Except when it comes certain stances on abortion, Israel/Palestine, and anything else that can otherwise make you uncomfortable or upset.
This week, it’s Ann Coulter, the notoriously controversial writer/speaker/columnist known for her right-wing opinions and provocative comments. Coulter is scheduled to speak at the University of Western Ontario Today and University of Calgary Thursday, but it’s Tomorrow’s visit to the University of Ottawa that has spawned a “Ban Coulter from Campus” Facebook group and disdain from SFUO president Seamus Wolfe.
“The federation does not support Ann Coulter speaking on our campus,” Wolfe told the Ottawa Citizen. “We’re trying to work with the administration to see if we can ask her to do her speaking event somewhere else.”
That’s not all. According to the Ottawa Citizen article, Wolfe has prohibited posters advertising the event from going up in the University Centre building.
It seems obvious to me that these are counter-productive resistance tactics. Not liking Ann Coulter—that, I get. But trying to keep her off campus? I’ll need a little help with that one.
If anything, U of O students should consider themselves lucky; they have home court advantage, strength in numbers (or so it seems, at least, from Wolfe’s comments) and the opportunity to challenge Coulter directly during a scheduled Q&A after her speech.
Censorship is nothing but a soggy band-aid. Why cover up contentious ideology when you can potentially reason it down to irrelevance?
If you really think Coulter spews ridiculous, insulting dribble, let her hang herself with her own words. It will be a lot more effective than putting tape over her mouth and insisting that she would have been offensive.
In a 2005 editorial, Gilles Marchildon, executive director of Egale Canada, a national LGBT lobby group, summed up this view of censorship very succinctly. Referring to a homophobic letter printed in an Alberta newspaper by Pastor Stephen Boissoin in 2002, Marchildon writes:
While it is difficult to support Boissoin’s right to spew his misguided and vitriolic thoughts, support his right, we must.
If Boissoin was no longer able to share his views, then who might be next in also having their freedom of expression limited. Traditionally, the LGBT community’s freedom has been repressed by society and its laws.
Plus, it is far better that Boissoin expose his views than have them pushed underground. Under the glaring light of public scrutiny, his ideas will most likely wither and die.
Coulter’s views, too, should face the glaring light of public scrutiny. And our universities are just the places to house the debate. That is, unless our student nannies get in the way.
Break out the bullhorn
Student papers out questionable campaign practices
It seems that many Canadian universities each experience their own bout of political fervor and drama during student government elections.
Well, ‘tis the season for hopeful student politicians to hang posters, hand out pamphlets and make speeches in their respective student centres.
For some political hopefuls, like those vying for spots on Carleton University Students’ Association executive, last year’s elections didn’t exactly go smoothly.
After Carleton took the world stage under profound criticism for a badly worded motion to drop the infamous Shinerama frosh fundraiser, Carleton’s student population was looking for a government who better represented them. However, as is often the case with student elections, scandals and subsequent disqualifications plagued what was one of the school’s most anticipated political races.
In the end, the incumbent slate won out the president position, but now shares executive seats with one third of the opposing slate in what was a somewhat anti-climatic finish.
But for those who cared then and care now about what’s going on behind the scene, there is the student paper.
At York University, the Excalibur already has its nose in some potential issues with the newly announced chief returning officer. Casey Chu Cheong will serve again as the York Federation of Students CRO, who also filled this position last year. The YFS board of directors selected Chu Cheong by vote, facing no opponent to gain the title, the Excalibur reports.
As with many schools, the appointment of important election officials who face allegations of bias and friendly relations with current executives or running slates becomes a heated issue that carries throughout the election season. And it is likely, if you’re following the York election, this won’t be the last you hear about Chu Cheong.
Meanwhile, the Fulcrum, the University of Ottawa’s student paper, in a recent editorial, outlines some strange poster campaigning to encourage candidates to run in the Student Federation of the University of Ottawa. The “BE FAMOUS” posters look more suited to American Idol audition calls than to student government, and as the Fulcrum points out, perhaps the road to executive seats is all about the glamour, but maybe it should be about the responsibility these students find in office.
Remembering that students executives not only vie for a slice of the large executive pay pie, but also control hundreds of thousands of dollars in student funds, paid through tuition, these top spots come with a lot of power. While arguably many respectable, rule-abiding candidates have run, many of them have lost as a result of scandal or failed democracy.
While this isn’t the Hill, the results still affect often large student bodies, so for once, a fair student election at a Canada institution would be welcomed. I dare you.
- photo by Carol Browne
What are your student politicians up to on your campus? E-mail me at jenniferpagliaro[at]gmail[dot]com or leave a comment below.
Age cap on student bus passes reversed
In rare unanimous decision, Ottawa city council votes to remove 28+ age limit on student passes
Ottawa’s city council has voted unanimously to allow students 28 and older to purchase student bus passes again.
City council set the age limit on student bus passes last December, and once the policy took effect in July students began protesting the decision.
Students from Carleton University and the University of Ottawa presented council with 2,400 signatures demanding that the policy be reversed. Student groups argued that all students face the same type of financial barriers, regardless of their age.
Many city councillors spoke in favour of the motion, some admitting they had made a serious mistake. Others also took the opportunity to criticize council’s decision to reject a universal bus pass proposal earlier this year.
The move will cost OC Transpo $220,000 per year, but saves students 28 and older about $20 on a monthly bus pass.
Voter turnout up at SFUO
The SFUO reports a 27.2 per cent voter turnout in student elections at the University of Ottawa. This is a massive improvement in turnout at the University and should assist the union in lobbying local government. The union is looking for transit improves and an universal bus pass program. Seamus Wolfe won the SFUO presidency [...]
The SFUO reports a 27.2 per cent voter turnout in student elections at the University of Ottawa. This is a massive improvement in turnout at the University and should assist the union in lobbying local government.
The union is looking for transit improves and an universal bus pass program.
Seamus Wolfe won the SFUO presidency with 2735 votes. Runner-up Renaud-Philippe Garner had 2293 votes, and third place was taken by Tyler Steeves with 1986 votes.
SFUO and CFS rush membership vote
Students at the University of Ottawa, after an extensive four month evaluation period, will be voting on CFS membership from November 18 – 20th. I have to give credit, it’s brillant timing with a massive day of action on November 5th promoting the CFS just prior to the vote.
Students at the University of Ottawa, after an extensive four month evaluation period, will be voting on CFS membership from November 18 – 20th.
I have to give credit, it’s brillant timing with a massive day of action on November 5th promoting the CFS just prior to the vote.
