Montréal’s Dawson Student Union has called in the cops. The union, representing 7,500 full-time Dawson College students, wants to investigate the spending of past executives, totaling $840,000 in three years.

“Last year’s VP finance misappropriated our finances over her eight month period,” said DSU VP external and last year’s president, Charles Brenchley.

The student in question is Shanice Rose, a native of Montréal who studied social sciences. She could not be reached for comment.

Rose charged $29,000 of purchases including clothing, jewellery and travel expenses to the DSU credit card, and kept her statements concealed.

The new VP finance discovered the questionable purchases this summer. Rose, elected as this year’s president, was called in for questioning by DSU. Upon failing to explain the purchases, she was asked to resign.

This September, the reshuffled union executives tallied all past expenses and filed a report with Montréal police. With $43,000 unaccounted for, the case is being investigated and a civil lawsuit prepared.

“We’re hoping we’ll be able to recuperate all the money,” said Brenchley. “We want to be as transparent as possible and show our students that the union is functioning.”

DSU, which received $280,000 in student fees last year, has yet to publish any financial statements since it was accredited three years ago.

At a general assembly meeting held Nov. 17, DSU told students that their financial policy, designed by Rose, was not tightly controlled, and voted on changes to their charter.

The changes, all regarding financial policy, will be enforced in 2009. An independent finance committee and bookkeeper will monitor spending and all previous audits will be published. DSU credit cards were revoked at the meeting.

A part of college administration for decades, DSU was accredited in April 2005, making it fully independent. Students protested against the administration for two years before they were allowed the accreditation vote, which was followed by a legal battle against the admins refusal of legal recognition and withholding of funds.

Dawson College is a CEGEP, thus exclusively for Quebec students who enter after Grade 11 to complete two years before a post-secondary education.

Student Julien Déry is circulating a petition calling for the administration to once again manage student activity fees. Déry told the Montréal Gazette that accreditation of CEGEP unions results in “vast amounts of money that teens are managing without experience.”