The Vice President Equity of U of T’s Students’ Administrative Council resigned recently after a dispute over the Equity Commission’s budget. Julia Munk, who resigned from her position on August 22, now says that she was discriminated against by members of SAC.
The controversy centers around the funding of an attendant caretaker hired for Munk, who is disabled and needs an assistant in order to do her job effectively. Her resignation is a sensitive issue on the council; few members of SAC would comment on the record.
“Julia was expending funds on attendant care that was never approved by the Board and this was a major problem,” VP Operations Lisa Aldridge said. “Her attendant did not have a contract nor a set number of required hours.”
The VP Equity’s duties are to “Work to ameliorate the status of women, minorities and other marginalized groups at the university,” and to “ensure that all students have equitable opportunities to be engaged, educated and involved in the community.” According to SAC execs, while carrying out these duties Munk spent student funds without the approval of the Council.
Munk said in an interview that as she understood it, the funding had been tacitly approved under the new SAC Accessibility Policy which states that attendant care is guaranteed to all those who need it.
But Aldridge said Munk’s attendant wasn’t following standard procedure.
“Julia’s attendant was charging for days he did not work and for days that the university was closed,” she said.
Munk said she and her attendant acted appropriately: “I resigned because I felt I was being discriminated against.”
She said that when SAC came to believe that she was using funds inappropriately, they cut off payments to her attendant and she was left without care for a month. “The Human Rights Code says that accommodations [such as attendant care] can’t be cut off in order to examine the process. You have to provide some type of accommodations in the meantime. But mine were cut off, and it’s my belief that my human rights were violated.”
Munk says she was forced to work from home when she was left without care. “I did my work the best way I could without accommodations. A lot of things I couldn’t do,” she said. She eventually resigned over the issue, but the disagreements didn’t end there.
Under the terms of her resignation, Munk was paid to help provide training to SAC President Ranjini Ghosh, who would take over her duties until a permanent replacement could be found. The training never took place.
Munk insists this was through no fault of her own, and it appears that by this time relations between her and SAC had effectively broken down. “I went into the office, but Rini didn’t want to speak to me,” she said. “It was my impression that she didn’t want to be trained.”
SAC will be electing a new VP Equity October 8, and until then has appointed Jasleen Sekhon as interim VP. But the events of the past month have resulted in bitterness on both sides.
“At the beginning, it could have been written off as a lack of education about disability rights,” Munk said. “But as it wore on I think it became more a case of discrimination.”
Aldridge rejects the idea that the SAC discriminating.
“I can understand why Julia was upset because this is obviously a very sensitive and personal issue, but this was a matter of accountability, not discrimination. SAC is extremely committed to promoting equity and eliminating discrimination on campus and I hope that our new Vice President Equity will work hard to further these goals.”
