TSC students will vote from Feb. 3 to Feb. 5 on whether to keep Zuhair Syed as president of the Scarborough Campus Students’ Union.
At an emergency meeting on Jan. 25, the SCSU board of directors unanimously passed a motion to hold the referendum. Syed is president in name only. He was removed from all his duties as president on Dec. 18 after receiving a tier 3 censure from the board of directors for “his inaction in representing the student interest as the President & CEO of the SCSU.” However, he is currently still being paid by the organization.
Most of the meeting was spent discussing referendum protocol specially written for the occasion, which would enable UTSC students to vote on whether to keep Syed in office as president and CEO until May 14, 2010.
The protocol was written a few days prior by VP external and interim president Amir Bashir and vice-chair Pagalavan Thavarajah, after chair Imran Khan received a deposition containing more than 1,000 student signatures for Syed’s removal.
Bashir is the student union’s second interim president. VP academics Aisha Khaja was replaced due to a potential conflict of interest. Khaja alleges that Syed threatened her after she participated in a Facebook group calling for his removal; Syed has denied the threats but apologized for his unprofessional tone.
Asked why Syed was not at the emergency meeting concerning his status, Bashir replied, “He doesn’t have to [come] and everybody basically doesn’t want him there.”
Among the arguments and debate surrounding the referendum protocol was the board’s level of oversight and involvement in the third-party process. Humanities director Maryann Raby expressed concern that despite a chief returning officer and referendum committees, there was a significant possibility of tampered or suspicious results.
Raby suggested having a referendum appeals committee, similar to an elections appeals committee, with members from and outside of SCSU. Bashir countered that Raby’s argument would strongly imply the board didn’t trust students.
Raby then pointed to the student union’s past. “I’m not going to lie,” she said, “If there’s ever a chance something could go wrong […] I just don’t want to deny that fact that we’re students and sometimes we screw up. And we need to make sure we don’t this time.”
Frustrated at Raby’s call for more oversight, Bashir left the meeting. The protocol was scheduled to be approved at another meeting on Wednesday, Jan. 27.
VP campus life John Aruldason advised his colleagues to maintain perspective. “I think you have to remember that we’re talking about the president of the SCSU,” he said, “not the President of the United States.”
