Two student union executives at the University of British Columbia are facing impeachment for filing a human rights complaint to the United Nations over affordable education. Last Thursday, Blake Frederick, president of the Alma Mater Society, and Tim Chu, VP of external affairs, held a press conference to announce that the AMS, which represents over 45,000 students, has put forward the complaint regarding the federal and provincial government’s failure to provide accessible post-secondary education to all.
“Since the tuition fee freeze was lifted in 2002, student fees in British Columbia have more than doubled. The high cost of tuition means that many capable students, particularly those from lower-income families, are unable to get a university education,” said Frederick. The complaint to the UN claims that the provincial and federal governments are violating Article 13 (c) of the International Covenant on Economic Social and Cultural Rights, which states that “Higher education shall be made accessible to all, on the basis of capacity, by every appropriate means, and in particular by the progressive introduction of free education.”
In a press release, Katrina Pacey, counsel for the AMS, said, “We are asking the UN to hold the government accountable for their complete failure to live up to their commitment to provide accessible higher education.”
The UN complaint took the community, including other AMS execs, by surprise. The AMS Council held an emergency meeting last Saturday, and unanimously voted to retract the complaint. The council also called for Frederick and Chu to resign for not consulting the council and the student body before submitting the complaint. Frederick and Chu did not attend the meeting.
“This wasn’t something that had been talked about in the student council, or in any public meetings for that matter,” Matthew Naylor, council representative for the faculty of arts, told The Varsity. Andrew Carne, representative for the engineering faculty, wrote in an email, “AMS Council, which acts as the board of directors for the society, was completely blindsided by this and first heard about it through an article in the Vancouver Sun.” He added, “[T]his is greatly concerning [sic], as it means the entire process of drafting the complaint was carried out in secrecy without consulting students or their elected representatives on Council.”
Frederick told The Varsity that the executive committee was made aware of this complaint and agreed to go forward with the case. “We raised the topic of the UN complaint several times at our executive committee meetings […] VP finance Tom Dvorak and VP academic and university affairs Johannes Rebane signed the contract with Pivot Legal Society to go forward with the complaint,” he said. “Council would have knowledge through the [minutes of the] executive meetings sent for approval.” Dvorak and Rebane did not respond to calls and emails for comment.
A special council meeting is set for next Monday to recall Frederick and Chu. Frederick and Chu were given until Wednesday to resign. If they do not, the council will impeach them at Monday’s meeting. Frederick said the pair have no intention of resigning.
Facebook groups for the two sides have sprung up. As of press time, the group “We oppose the AMS impeachment of Blake Frederick and Tim Chu” had 386 members, and “Impeach the AMS President and VP External” had 1,287 members.
