Over the past three days, The Varsity has been sent angry letters and, Wednesday night, had our reporters berated and humiliated in public by University of Toronto student leaders. Apparently, members of SCSU believe that it isn’t enough to attend meetings, debate their opponents and argue for a solution to the mess that’s spilled over at Scarborough, so that everyone can reasonably decide the fate of their student union.

They’ve also got to make sure everyone knows they mean business by yelling at a Varsity reporter as she attempts to take notes at their meeting-criticizing her work as a writer so aggressively that she breaks down.

Like a bickering couple taking out its rage on the kids, SCSU has been driven into factions this week ever since SCSU’s president-elect Alexandru Rascanu was disqualified from elections after committing illegal campaigning offenses. After the very body that disqualified him, the Election Committee, had its own report tossed out by SCSU’s board of directors-a majority of whom backed Rascanu-it became very clear that these factions had brought the political process to a standstill.

So far, a group of former members of SCSU’s executive, who presented a group letter at the heated board meeting last night, have demonstrated the most rational thought. By recommending that the board ratify the results of the Election Committee, they were in effect demanding that the board avoid the boondoggle of having to have another election this late in the year.

As of this morning at about 2 a.m., however, and after a six-hour marathon meeting (in which our reporters dutifully sat and tried to hammer out an article by their deadline while being badmouthed by seemingly everyone there), UTSC officially opted for another election. Set for the last official day of classes at that campus, it is going to be a tough slog to get enough students to vote for the election results to be valid. Many students will no longer be on campus, and although only half the normal number of votes will be needed for it to be ratified, it’s still a daunting target.

The Varsity wants to encourage UTSC students to vote in the upcoming April 9 election. Hell, run for SCSU president if you think you could do a better job (nominations close March 23). As much as we all may feel alienated by the political process there, it’s still very important to have your voice heard.

We just wish student leaders wouldn’t resort to the predictable, if still depressing reflex of blaming the press for reporting bad news.