EFUT’s annual Christmas dinner was slated for the Cumberland Room at the International Student Centre.
The French Club, known as EFUT, has cancelled its annual halal Christmas dinner, after finding out its funding from the U of T Students’ Union will be delayed until next year.
EFUT will not find out until January at the earliest whether they will receive funding from UTSU. At a Nov. 20 meeting, EFUT president Sitelle Cheskey was told that the UTSU campus clubs committee could not approve funds for EFUT because the club had not provided a membership list with its application. The club had held back the list due to privacy concerns, but Cheskey sent in the membership list immediately when the funding issue arose.
Approximately 150 of the 300 campus clubs submitted funding requests for the 2009-2010 academic year in October. Clubs with complete applications will be considered for funding at a board of directors meeting this Thursday. EFUT’s request for $17,020.64 will not be considered until the next board of directors meeting in January.
EFUT is already $1,000 in the hole because its executives have been paying for its activities themselves all year. At the halal Christmas dinner, attendees pay $10 for a meal, non-alcoholic drinks, and a chance to win prizes. Fifty people attended last year. As of Sunday, 82 members had replied on EFUT’s Facebook event page that they would attend this year. Cheskey said in an email to The Varsity that the club intends to now hold the event in January.
UTSU’s clubs committee accepts funding requests for campus clubs beginning in late October. This year, the committee required all clubs to submit a list of their active members, including names, student numbers, enrolment status, and email addresses. EFUT, however, maintains that providing this list would entail releasing its members’ private information, and would violate the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act.
When EFUT tried to set up an online portal for its members in September, the club was told by the student life office that it could not disclose the personal information of anyone who joins their online community.
“In lieu of an actual printed list EFUT invited any member of the Clubs Committee to the office to examine the membership rolls, at any time. The UTSU ignored the offer,” wrote Antonin Mongeau, EFUT alumni chair and last year’s president, in a release entitled “UTSU Cancels Christmas.” Mongeau said that many EFUT members do not trust UTSU with personal information.
Danielle Sandhu, who heads the clubs committee, said member lists were required to make sure clubs met UTSU requirements. Clubs must have at least 30 members, of which 51 per cent must be full-time undergraduates.
Sandhu added that EFUT only told UTSU about its privacy concerns last Friday, three weeks after submitting the application and after the committee had already determined that the application was incomplete.
Mongeau said that UTSU had political motives for denying EFUT’s funding. Mongeau sat on the clubs committee last year, until he was voted out by secret ballot in January. While then-VP campus life Athmika Punja called him “disruptive,” Mongeau said he was ejected because he had put in a request for UTSU’s bylaws, election procedures, and minutes.
“From where I’m standing this is purely political payback and frankly of the lowest kind,” he said.
Sandhu said the issue was purely procedural. “There’s nothing political about this,” she said. “The French Club is not the only club that had an incomplete application. It’s mainly just following the rule that I have in front of me.”
Mongeau also singled out UTSU’s budgeting calendar for criticism, saying that clubs operate from September through January without money from the union.
“I do think that it ends up being later than when clubs need it most,” said Sandhu. “Whether you’re a big club or a small club, there are a lot of expenses that members unfortunately have to bear on their own.” She said she was working with the policy and procedures committee to get a quicker timeline for club funding in place. The policy committee will meet in January.
In the meantime, EFUT and UTSU are in discussions to get EFUT’s funding in order.
Comments
Personally, I am glad $17,000+ is not going from UTSU to a French Club dinner! That's a huge, absurd amount of money. Without membership lists, how do we know the 82 respondents on Facebook are even U of T students???
Nov 30, 2009 at 02:51 PM
The $17,000 requested from the UTSU is for all of EFUT's activities for the entire year. That number is commiserate with funding the UTSU provides to other large student clubs at the University. The dinner is one of about 40 events EFUT does a year.
The dinner itself was forecast to cost $1,480. It accommodates 50 people.
As far as the people registered on facebook, they are overwhelmingly U of T students or Alumni. However, EFUT doesn't discriminate against community members, and we don't turn people away.
The last time we surveyed the membership, 85% were dues paying members of the UTSU, the other 15% being overwhelmingly graduate students or alumni.
Hope this helps.
Nov 30, 2009 at 06:06 PM
I'm glad the Varsity isn't funded by UTSU. Well frankly it's not any news that the UTSU is consisted of a bunch of anti-government nerds who don't know who to party and have fun.
Nov 30, 2009 at 07:48 PM
$17,000 for a dinner?: we aren't talking about a big banquet. If we were, the dinner would've cost closer to $200/person, not the $10 advertised on the event's Facebook page.
Nov 30, 2009 at 08:15 PM
Dude I think $17,000 is their annual operating budget, not just the dinner. This is bad, but I'm not surprised. Whenever I go to UTSU to get things done, their front desk person treat me as if I'm a piece of sh** who should beg her for things. Don't they realized their salaries come from OUR pockets?????????? At least have some decency to be nice to the students.
Nov 30, 2009 at 11:41 PM
Since joining EFUT in 2007, my French has significantly improved. There's no other club like it on campus. Before having heard of EFUT, I'd tried unsuccessfully to find a French conversation partner--starting in Fall 2006. In a city or town that, unlike Montreal, Ottawa or Sudbury, has so few people who can speak French that well, EFUT fills a gap that would otherwise be hard to fill. Another thing I like about EFUT is its emphasis on denationalizing French. When I think of countries that use French as a language of business, I don't just think of France because that misses the point of EFUT, whose acronym--written out in long form--is Étudiants Francophones de l'Université de Toronto. The "Francophones" in EFUT's name indicates inclusivity, despite the difficulty that there may be in translating the club's name verbatim.
Dec 1, 2009 at 01:14 PM
Lol, what other club gets $17,000? Last I heard the Muslim Student Association got something like $3,000 or $4,000 and they had close to 2,000 members. And actually the name of the club spelled out in full is not inclusive; it doesn't imply it welcomes anglophones trying to learn or improve French, but rather those students for whom le français is a langue maternelle.
This is so obviously a little personal vendetta of Antonin Mongeau's. Sad that a 30+ year old man is so hellbent on exerting some kind of public revenge on the student union. Here's a good question Antonin, if close to 85% of the EFUT membership are UTSU members, why not disclose their name and student numbers? How else is UTSU supposed to verify how big your club is? The fact is that clubs with many student members may be entitled to larger amounts of funding than those with only a few, depending on the nature of their programming.
Also, why is Christmas such a centrepiece event for EFUT? Did you know many francophones around the world are French speaking Jews, Muslims, or atheists? Who has time for a big banquet dinner right around winter exams anyways? This story seems like it was just engineered to cause political tension. Have a potluck, dude.
Dec 1, 2009 at 02:59 PM
In September I signed up with many clubs. Most clubs never got back to me. EFUT was one of the few clubs that sent me info about their events. I went to their events and they were great! Even though I spoke almost no French, I felt very welcome there. I definitely think they should be given enough funding and in a timely manner.
Dec 1, 2009 at 10:19 PM
I simply can't say enough about how fantastic a club EFUT is. Since I joined EFUT a year ago, I've made a point of attending as many of their events as I could. I've always appreciated how warm and welcoming they are to all students. I immediately felt like I belonged to a rich and diverse community. No matter what level of French you may speak, even if you're just starting out, there are always friendly and enthusiastic EFUT members and exec ready and happy to engage in conversation with you.
The dedication and spirit of the exec is readily apparent when you see how well the events are organised. A few weeks ago I went on the EFUT Montreal trip. This excursion was a shining example of the executive's professionalism and care which I have come to expect. I'm confident that such EFUT experiences will be among my most cherished when I look back upon my time at U of T in years to come.
Most of all, it can be difficult to make good friends at a large school like U of T. I deeply value the sense of community that EFUT provides and the opportunity to make so many new friends.
I'm truly disappointed that this dinner has been cancelled. Many of my friends and I had been looking forward to it for some time now. I sincerely hope this situation is resolved soon as it would be a terrible shame to miss out on any future events.
Dec 2, 2009 at 12:35 AM
Antonin, instead of going to the Varsity to have your one-sided story published (which you never seem to have problem doing), did the EFUT President even make an attempt to meet up with VP Campus Life to discuss options?
Perhaps it's time for you to let go of your former role as president and let the REAL EFUT President to do her job. Transition period is over. She at least deserves that chance.
Dec 2, 2009 at 12:50 AM
To EKS:
Actually, as you may have read in the statement I issued, the Muslim Students Association receives upwards of $17,000 every year. They deserve every penny, and more. When I sat on the clubs committee, the MSA requested $21,000 and I argued for them to get the full amount. They are a great club and have served as a model for EFUT for many years.
In answer to your question, and based on serving on the clubs committee myself, I can tell you that only three clubs received more than $10,000: EFUT, MSA, and the Black Students Association ($12,000). Makes alot of sense, since we are the three most active clubs on campus and all have considerable membership numbers.
As far as EFUT being inclusive: 1) We host a free tutoring hour EVERY SINGLE DAY OF THE SCHOOL YEAR. As you might imagine, this service is not really useful to maternal francophones. 2) We host a Halal Christmas Dinner. I have no shame in saying that this is the most inclusive event on campus.
As far as the membership disclosure: 1) FIPP regulations prohibit the disclosure of student information. They specifically prohibit the disclosure of student numbers and email addresses. 2) Our members are reluctant to share personal information with EFUT, and even less so to have that information shared with the UTSU. Can't say this recent action by UTSU and the confirmed allegations of proxy fraud will ameliorate the situation. 3) We invited any member of the clubs committee to peruse the membership rolls at any time. They ignored our offer. Perhaps you should read the articles before commenting on them? 4) An even better mechanism for ascertaining membership numbers would be for the VP Campus Life to actually go to club events. I have invited every member of UTSU (and many of the staff), past and present, to our events. Only Awad ever showed up to an event; a pub night about 2 years ago. He still has my respect for that.
As far as your comments about the varying religions of francophones: It's a Halal Christmas Dinner, can you even read?. Before it was Halal, it was called the EFUT Non-denominational December Dinner. Since it's been "postponed", likely to February, we're kicking around the idea of having a Halal Purim Dinner.
As far as having time around exams: the event has attracted 50 people, every year, for four years. We would love to be able to expand, but the kitchen at the ISC is too small for that. I'd also like to point out that this event is never catered. EFUT executives cook every dish, which is usually a four course affair, for 50 people. I bet your mom can't do that!
1700 students on this campus paid their dues to the UTSU, which incidentally has banked over $4 million dollars, and increasing by $500,000 every year, largely because they overbill us on health and dental, every year. Given all the money they are stockpiling, I think U of T students deserve more than a potluck.
To JP:
Let's review: The Varsity is an UNDERGRADUATE newspaper. The union is the UNDERGRADUATE student union. The club in question is overwhelmingly comprised of UNDERGRADUATE students. Sounds like The Varsity did the job UNDERGRADUATE students pay them to do.
For reasons I will not get into here I can assure you that neither Jade Colbert (EIC), David Levine (GM), Charles Rhinehart (CEO), or Rosy Rong (VP Finance) are fans of mine. Nonetheless, The Varsity exercised a level of professionalism that I can only dream of seeing in mainstream media.
As far as Sitelle's actions, I can't speak to those. I can tell you that EFUT and UTSU had been in discussions about our budget, and the budgeting process generally, since August. Sitelle went so far as to apply to serve the clubs committee, as did a number of other club heads. None heard back from the VP Campus Life.
We currently are waiting for the UTSU to respond for our latest request for a face-to-face meeting. Our request has thus far been ignored by Sandy Hudson, Angela Regnier, and Danielle Sandhu. Only Vita had the courtesy to answer our email.
As far as EFUT's current president, Sitelle Cheskey, let me be very clear: she is the best president EFUT has ever had. I have deferred to Sitelle's judgement every single time since she became president in July, and I have never regretted it. I haven't even been to an exec meeting in two months.
However, in my capacity as Alumni Chair, I am overwhelmingly tasked with EFUT's long term well being, while the president is in charge of short term well being. You can see how in this instance those two things conflict. I am acting with the full support of EFUT's alumni board, our faculty advisor, and every single member I've spoken to about this issue.
I regret nothing. I will continue to shine light on UTSU'c completely undemocratic processes, for as long as I breathe. Not Naylor, not Hudson, not Cheskey, not the janitor will silence me, so get used to it.
Lastly, I would point out that everyone at UTSU reads the Varsity, and especially these forums. I have posted all of my comments directly, and signed them. Why haven't they done the same?
Dec 2, 2009 at 03:12 AM
This situation is more than unfortunate. The French Club provides, to their "30+ members", at least three events per month to support the French language and la francophonie. Since joining EFUT, this year, they have held a great social atmosphere to meet fellow students (yes, comprised mostly of U of T students) as well as catering to French tutoring. With such a large community, EFUT definitely deserves the funding!
J'espère que ce problème va se régler au prochain semestre.
Dec 2, 2009 at 09:49 PM
I think the person "EKS" is just being a prick and cannot read english properly (try using an online translator). Firstly, I come from a franco-country where there are mixed religions and 90% of us do celebrate christmas. So most of his points are misleading and fake. But anyways I wont go through those pointless comments...
EFUT has been a great experience, led by a great team and I'm sure they will have great success in the near future. Its a place where I met many nice people, I exchanged a lot of things and more importantly, I helped many people practice their french. We've had many conversation events where many of us had great opportunites to practice their french with others, a few of those whose native language is french even volunteered to help beginners and those wishing to be proficient in the language.
Given in Canada that being bilingual in both english and french is hugely beneficial when looking for jobs etc, I think this club is an invaluable tool to all those students who are constantly in touch with the other EFUT members. Its unfortunate about the dinner, but i'm sure we will still have a blast in the forthcoming events organised by EFUT. I would definitely say EFUT well deserves the funding!
Dec 2, 2009 at 10:20 PM
The priority of UTSU should be to protect those student associations not to take them apart. I have known the members of EFUT for over a year now and I find it extremely sad that all the efforts and time that this team of students is putting in improving the university experience are not even recognized. Being myself very involved in student associations at my university and having co-founded a francophone student association, I have had the opportunity to meet Antonin a couple times. Spending afternoons travelling across the city to help our association, sharing his experience and tips, Antonin is truly dedicated to helping others and is always willing to volunteer his time when his peers need him. I really believe our current association would not have been that successful without his dedication. To answer the comments about inclusivity; I would simply explain that the role of a francophone association is not to regroup francophone students together but to create a community with the people who have a common interest in the worldwide Francophone culture and French language. Because “French” is much more than what is written in our textbooks, such a community creates unique learning environments where learning can be shared from student to student. The learning can be formal through conversation meetings or more informal during social events. Drop by one of the events to see it yourself. To put it simply, refusing funding for the largest francophone club on campus is denying the importance of the “francophonie” in Toronto. I do not understand how a student union can possibly discourage the activities of such an important club. I am shocked by the lack of respect for all the time those students have dedicated to make a difference in their community.
Dec 3, 2009 at 09:09 PM
Wow this is ridiculous, EFUT is like one of the biggest clubs at UofT, this is really unacceptable. Antonin keep up the fight your homies at EFY have your back all the way man.
Dec 3, 2009 at 11:39 PM
I'm disappointed with UTSU as well. Since joining EFUT, I have nothing but good things to say about the club and all the hard work that the execs have put in. Indeed it is one of the most recognized and hardworking clubs at U of T. It is just ridiculous that UTSU would refuse funding over such a small matter.
Dec 5, 2009 at 02:45 AM
Reading the comments here I get a feeling that those who speak against EFUT work for UTSU. How else can anyone support such a decision? By the way, those of you who support UTSU, at least try making intelligent points and support them with proper evidence. Otherwise it just turns into a personal attack on Antonin, which makes you all look even worse.
As many have already said, EFUT organises great events throughout the year, on a regular basis, which means you can always keep up your French and not lose touch with those you met last time. So there's that on the scales against a stupid technicality, which actually sounds quite controversial: why does UTSU want to keep our student numbers? Why don't they just go and look at them as Antonin said they were offered many times? Is it that UTSU people enjoy the "power" of deciding who gets funds? The real power goes to those, who have the respect and support of the student body. I think in this sense it's pretty clear who gets that when it comes to EFUT vs. UTSU.
Bon courage, les gars!
Dec 7, 2009 at 12:12 AM
I have been with the EFUT for four years, till I graduated. The first year I joined, the group counted few but very convivial events and all the members were quite friendly. In my four years in Toronto (I am from Montreal) I had not encountered any space/community with such a pleasant, fun-loving vibe. Toronto, much like UofT, tends to be quite lifeless and boring at times, and EFUT really changed that for me. At first, I would act as a volunteering member, cooking at the so-called "Christmas" Dinner with the 5 other execs of the club, assisting in the set-up and promotion of their other events. During, the two last years of my degree, I was included into the exec team and, hopefully, participated in making all our members happy with their experience at the club's events. Now, I am a member of the Alumni board and I can be sure that when I am back in Toronto I will pay more than a simple visit to EFUT!
All this to say, UTSU, during these four years has done nothing to help our genuine efforts at making UofT a better experience for its students. Student life on campus is VERY poor compared to other canadian universities. This is partly due to UTSU and UofT's corrupt administration. Just face it!
BTW, newsletter list spans to over a 1000 members I believe and UTSU KNOWS this. We have been putting our posters up throughout the campus to promote our club every year since 3 years. And may I add, most posters on campus advertise commercial ventures. EFUT prides itself to compete with such trashy advertising that does NOTHING to better students' lives on campus. As for the proceedings of the executive board of the club, every person attending says his/her opinion, which is fully considered during that meeting. Naturally, some people have more to say than others, but this can be said of any organisation. What counts is that there is consensus and positive intent, which there always is at EFUT.
UTSU likes to "fart higher than its ass" as we say in French. It does not do much for its students, other than stunt the growth of student public culture on campus. I would encourage all active members, affiliated to any club, to donate small amounts regularly, as this would in fact create a more self-sustainable and democratic manifestation of student activity on a corrupt and barren corporate wasteland of a university campus.
Dec 7, 2009 at 02:10 AM
I can't believe EFUT can't do all it's events. I was myself helping them last year because a lot of students wanted to speak French, to listen to French and to enjoy the "francophone" culture. We are not only talking about parties here, we are talking about art (we had a French play, an art gallery...), about getting to know people and their cultures and of course, about being able to speak a language with native speakers!!!
You wouldn't only see French-speaking people at the different events. I remember talking to a lot of students who just came to improve their French. Of course there are native speakers in EFUT, and so what? Doesn't it make it more authentic to speak French with a French-speaking person, than with another English-speaking one?
Dec 10, 2009 at 06:57 AM
Having served on several executive boards I know how frustrating it is for a club to have to wait and have to postpone its events due to lack of organization from the funding-provider, in this case, the UTSU.
I think it is an understatement to state that EFUT is the most present student club at UofT. It's activities are varied (theatre, art shows, movie nights, conversation clubs, dinners, soccer games, the list goes on...). Because of the omnipresence of this club in UofT student life, it pains me to learn that it not only is getting its funding postponed but that to 'carry on the show', so to speak, execs have been forced to pay out of their own pockets without knowing when payback day is going to arrive. When is the day going to come, UTSU?
The Halal Christmas dinner is a cornerstone event of EFUT's. By delaying this club's funding, UTSU has effectively cut UofT's largest student club from being as performing as it would have been otherwise. I wish the UTSU was more considerate, better understanding and appreciative of the tenacity and effort EFUT execs invest into their club, and the devastating effects of delayed funding can have on student life.
Dec 18, 2009 at 11:11 AM
I don't seem to comprehend why was EFUT attendance even questioned? Just another bureaucratic nonsense. EFUT has shown that its events are well attended despite not requiring its members to commit to regular attendance.
Obviously, UTSU simply wants to show who's the boss. They choke the access to the funds just to prove some kind of a point, instead of using sound judgement.
Dec 21, 2009 at 04:33 PM
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