At a board meeting of the Students’ Administrative Council (SAC) on Thursday, November 25, the board voted to elect Jasleen Sekhon Vice-President (Equity). She has held the position since September in an interim capacity.
Sekhon’s appointment follows a multi-month effort to replace former Equity VP Julia Munk, who won the position in April but resigned on August 22, alleging she had been discriminated against by the rest of the SAC executive (Munk required a caretaker to help her perform her duties and used SAC funds to cover this cost. Other members of SAC criticized this use of Council funds).
The by-election to fill the position in October was mired in difficulties. Calvin Yang won the elections by a comfortable margin, but his campaign was retroactively disqualified by the SAC elections committee for violating campaign rules.
Three main incidents were cited by the committee as inappropriate campaign activity: placing campaign posters on a SAC bulletin board in Sidney Smith hall; handing out campaign material with SAC handbooks; and campaigning at the 89 Chestnut residence.
Yang’s campaign efforts at the Chestnut residence were the most contentious. While the official SAC campaign rules do not specifically make mention of any rules regarding the residence, candidates are told, “It is the responsibility of candidates to familiarize themselves with the different rules that may effect the aforementioned [locations].” (Election Procedure, Section 10, sub xi).
Last year, the Chestnut Residence Council, the student decision-making body at 89 Chestnut, passed a resolution banning any candidates from campaigning in the residence. Yang told 89 Chestnut security (which has a reputation for being strict) that he was the guest of a resident and began to campaign door-to-door. Some residents complained and the residence administration subsequently instructed Yang that campaigning was only allowed in the lobby of the building.
SAC refused to certify Yang as VP following the by-election, saying that he had accrued too many demerit points during the campaign period (VP candidates are permitted up to 35 demerit points under SAC campaign rules). When Yang learned he had been given 33 demerit points by Chief Returning Officer Arek Aniolowski (a number that is high, but not high enough to disqualify him), Yang appealed the ruling to the SAC Elections Committee, which met to consider the question on October 29. The Committee, after having been informed of the Chestnut campaigning, gave Yang an additional 20 demerit points, and he was then disqualified.
Yang then appealed this ruling to the highest body responsible for SAC elections: the SAC Elections Appeals Committee considered Yang’s appeal on November 8. Howard Tam, Chair of the Elections Committee, also chairs the Elections Appeals Committee as well. The committee’s voting members in attendance were Margaret Hancock (Warden of Hart House), Nona Robinson (Dean of Students, University College) and Rose Da Costa (Graduate Students’ Union). The Elections Appeals Committee upheld the ruling to disqualify Yang.