A squabble erupted between Student Administrative Council (SAC) executives over a cheque-signing dispute last Thursday night at the Stewart Observatory that resulted in campus police being called.

The board of directors of SAC approved a $1,000 expenditure last Monday to allow the International Socialists (IS) to attend a pro-Palestinian rally organized by Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights (SPHR) in Ottawa on Sept. 28-29.

The board’s decision left some at the Students’ Administrative Council feeling embittered, noting that this is not an event that SAC should endorse.

SPHR organized the Sept. 10 rally at Montreal’s Concordia University that ended in vandalism and prevented former Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu from to delivering a speech.

SAC President Rocco Kusi-Achampong said Adam Cutler, chair and students coordinating committee member of Hillel, a campus Jewish organization, attended the board meeting.

Kusi-Achampong said Cutler “delineated concerns about SAC supporting an initiative which may potentially alienate some of its students. This group (SPHR) had proliferated hate speech at its rallies.

“When this was made known to me, obviously the concern would be evident as the SAC, aiding by virtue of funding and allowing students to attend this rally.” Kusi-Achampong said, adding he was concerned about “the proliferation of hate either in speech or in action.

“We do not support the purpose of this rally. We are supporting the board of directors and the students who show interest in attending,” he said.

Former SAC president Alex Kerner, the club convenor for IS, said, “The reality is so many clubs on campus apply for funding and SAC exists to help all political viewpoints, whether it’s for the IS or the PCs (Progressive Conservative party).”

Organizers of the Ottawa rally said they could not guarantee a peaceful event. “The organizers have no responsibility and cannot be held responsible for the select few…they are the ones personally responsible,” said Layal El Abdallah, media and outreach coordinator for SPHR.

The march and festival in Ottawa is intended to commemorate the Sabra and Shatila massacres that took place during the Lebanese civil war in 1982. El Abdallah said the rally was organized to bring attention to the plight of the Palestinian people under Israeli occupation and to call upon the Canadian government and civil society to help ensure justice and freedom for the oppressed people of Palestine.

The issue of funding the Ottawa rally became heated last Thursday night, when SAC executives who supported funding the rally attempted to enter the business manager’s office (who had left for the evening) to obtain a cheque to be signed and given to the IS.

Lea said SAC external commissioner Alexandra Artful-Dodger took his keys and tried to open the office with Mary Auxi-Guiao, the equity commissioner. Campus police were called.

“As VP Operations, elected by students like you, and on a personal level, as a person of some scruples, I have refused to sign this cheque. I have refused because I believe to allow SAC’s name to be associated with a group mired in violence is to misrepresent the 35,000 undergraduates that I have the privilege of representing,” John Lea, Vice-President of SAC Operations, wrote in a statement.

Lea said responsibility and duty are separate things. “Where a duty exists, there is a responsibility. It’s a real disconnect. Do I want to take responsibility for signing a cheque? The board should be responsible.”

Lea’s final comment in the statement said, “Decisions made by the clubs commission, and by extension SAC and myself, are apolitical. Certainly if this were not the case we could not provide funding to both Campus Conservatives and the NDP!

“My objections in this matter have nothing to do with the politics of the Middle East and everything to do with a personal belief in non-violence. Any attempt to portray my intentions as politically biased towards Israel is at best misinformed and at worst maliciously ignorant of the facts.”

Kusi-Achampong concurred with Lea’s statement, saying, “I support my VP in his principled position.”

The cheque was eventually signed on Friday.