At the U of T Students’ Union board meeting on Dec. 4, Victoria College representative Zayne Dattu raised a motion to investigate proxy misconduct allegations made by two former UTSU employees. While the motion was defeated, UTSU president Sandy Hudson successfully motioned to have the policy committee create a new proxy policy.
The Varsity reported on Nov. 30 that two former UTSU associates received proxy votes for last year’s general meeting without having collected the signatures themselves. Steve Masse and Alyssa James, now both executives on the Woodsworth College Students Association, say they each received 10 proxy votes. “I have no idea how they collected the student names and numbers,” said James.
Their allegations came on the heels of an investigation by UTM’s student paper, The Medium, which reported that of the 26 UTM students in attendance at this year’s AGM, 22 carried proxy forms that were improperly collected.
“Many students I have spoken to have lost faith in UTSU to properly represent them. Some students felt that UTSU had violated their own policies and bylaws,” said Dattu.
The motion called for an independent committee to look into allegations of policy and bylaw violations, which would include an investigation of proxy mismanagement. Dattu recommended the committee be comprised of law students and faculty, as well as student press. While some board members were receptive to an independent investigation, the motion was not carried.
“[UTSU] felt that it was a matter that should be dealt with internally,” Dattu said. “They did not like the idea of an independent inquiry.” Dattu said that Adnan Najmi, UTSU’s VP internal and services, mentioned that an independent committee would not be protected by the same legal provisions as the union, making it difficult to access student information. Dattu said that Najmi responded with the phase “bring it on” when Dattu raised the motion.
When asked about his statement, Najmi wrote in an email to The Varsity that he did not specifically recall what words he used, nor the context in which he used them.
The details of the proxy policy Hudson put forth are unknown at this point and are subject to approval at the next board meeting. As to whether the policy will alleviate student concerns, Dattu said, “I am not sure that it will unless it has a mechanism to prevent abuses by executive members.”
