The Provost’s Advisory Committee on Democratic Processes in Student Government, appointed a month ago to create guidelines for student unions, remains suspended after the undergraduate and graduate student union presidents have boycotted it.
Interim provost and VP Cheryl Misak announced the committee in a memorandum to the U of T community last month. The committee would be charged with developing a framework for student unions to follow in order to receive their union dues. The provost met with student union leaders yesterday to convince them to get back on board.
“I have a few letters challenging the legitimacy of the committee. I’m meeting with the student leaders and will try and persuade them that this is a good thing. (But) if they continue to throw objections at the committee, I will just disband it,” said Misak, prior to the meeting.
Students say they were given until 5 a.m. to accept or reject the invitation to rejoin the committee. Misak asserted that she would create the guidelines regardless of whether she has an advisory committee. She could not be reached for comment after the meeting.
“It is grossly contrary to democracy for the university administration to assert itself as superceding democratic decisions made by a student union’s membership,” says Sandy Hudson, president of the U of T Students’ Union in a letter to the provost refusing to participate in its first meeting on Nov. 19.
All students pay levies to their student unions, collected and distributed by the university. University policies stipulate that if the provost has reason to believe that a student union is not operating in a democratic fashion, he or she may decide to withhold that union’s membership fees.
The committee formed after the provost, called to intervene in fraud of the Arts & Science Union elections, decided to withhold their levies until a proper election had been conducted.
“I don’t know if the university has the right to withhold fees if whatever they deem as democracy doesn’t take place. However if there’s gross misconduct, then obviously they’re going to have to take some steps to look into it,” said Terry Buckland, ASSU staffer and president of the Association of Part-time Undergraduate Students, who was also invited to sit on the committee.
All three major student unions on the St. George campus have rejected the administration’s authority to affect their internal affairs by withholding membership fees. They have pointed out that such a move would be illegal in the case of labour unions.
“They have in the past failed to remit fees that were democratically voted on by students,” said Hudson. In 2003, the administration refused to collect a levy for the Canadian Federation of Students after students voted to join in a referendum. This occured after the administration received complaints about the legitimacy of the referendum.
Hudson was concerned with the process by which the advisory committee was formed. She said it was inappropriate that she had been asked to participate as an “individual,” rather than as the student union president. “Student unions should appoint their own representatives to such a committee and report back, seek guidance, direction, and approval to such an important matter as policies that guide the collection of fees,” said Hudson.
Misak said she believes there was nothing controversial about the appointments. “It’s my committee. I can seek advice from whoever I want to ask advice from. I invited the people who I thought would be wonderful on it, including student leaders and faculty with the most expertise and progressive inclinations.”
“The first committee was gate-crashed by people who weren’t on it,” said Misak. The meeting was a closed-door meeting, and outsiders were not allowed to attend.
Hudson said that for the moment, she would respond by asking for more time to be able to take the matter to the board.
WITH FILES FROM NAUSHAD ALI HUSEIN
