At 5:30 this afternoon 31-year-old Rocco Achampong officially throws his hat in the ring to become mayor of Toronto. Every choice made by a candidate on the campaign trail will be read by some as significant, but there are arguably few so significant as a candidate’s introduction.
With that in mind, how are we to read Achampong’s openning his bid for office from the Hart House Debate Room? It is certainly marks a return for the U of T alum, now a lawyer after graduating from Osgoode Hall law school.
Should guests take a glance outside the dignified hall where JFK once took the podium, though, they will notice the Louis B. Stewart Observatory, where Achampong charted his somewhat controversial albeit productive presidency of the Students’ Administrative Council, now known as the U of T Students’ Union.
On how his term as SAC president might relate to his mayoral candidacy, “I think it makes me even better,” Achampong recently told The Varsity. “I have more experience in participatory democracy than most of the other candidates do. I’ve been in the hot seat. I’ve taken the shots.”
With that in mind, The Varsity opens a new series where we look at current events by dipping into the Varsity archives. Here’s our look back at Rocco Kusi-Achampong’s time at SAC.
March 12, 2002—Kusi-Achempong, president of the Black Students’ Association, runs as the presidential candidate on a slate called “We The Students,” which also includes candidates for VP education and VP operations. Priorities include involving club presidents in SAC committees, allowing students to opt out of the SAC health plan on ROSI, improving the U of T health clinic, and tackling student apathy. The three candidates say they are neutral on the upcoming referendum deciding whether SAC should join the Canadian Federation of Students.
March 18, 2002—In an article comparing Kusy-Achampong’s stance on student issues to that of his rival for the SAC presidency, Noel Semple, the former notes that he is now for U of T joining the CFS after speaking to current SAC president Alex Kerner. His campaign axiom is “practical solutions for practical problems.” He also notes that he aims to bring U of T students a discounted metropass. Kusi-Achampong’s rival is compared to Tory leader Joe Clark in his desire to chop ancillary fees and decentralize power to the colleges.
April 3, 2002—Following a heated debate with Semple in the Hart House Music Room and further mud-slinging in a forum at UTM, Kusi-Achampong wins the election. With a turnout rate of eight per cent, it is at the time the second-highest turnout for a SAC election. Kusi-Achampong says he is writing letters to incoming Ontario premier Ernie Eves, as well as opposition leader Dalton McGuinty, NDP leader Howard Hampton, and Toronto mayor Mel Lastman.
September 17, 2002—The Varsity checks in with the new prez as the school year starts to settle down for the fall. The health plan opt-out is now available on ROSI, though Kusi-Achampong admits that if too many students opt out, SAC may have to recalculate the plan’s premiums. The Council of Student Governance—a collection of clubs, societies, and associations—had a poor showing at its first meeting, but he still has high hopes for it. The TTC metropass discount is on the horizon, he says, thanks in part to the double cohort of graduating high school students, which Kusi-Achampong says has provided a sizable surplus for the transit commission. He is planning a party for SAC’s 101st birthday, which may help the council generate a surplus of its own.
In an about-face on the issue, Kusi-Achampong says he no longer believes U of T should join CFS. “Conceptually, the Canadian Federation of Students is a great thing,” he says. “Practically, the CFS is an absolute disaster.” He argues that SAC should instead lobby various governments on its own.
- READ “Student council president gives his efforts good grades in exclusive interview”
- READ “SAC divided over joining left-wing student union”
September 30, 2002—Police are called to the SAC office after a squabble breaks out over a $1,000 cheque. The SAC board of directors approved the expenditure to allow the International Socialists to attend a pro-Palestinian rally in Ottawa. Kusi-Achampong and other SAC execs say the spending is improper, as they claim the event organizers, Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights, disperses hate speech at their rallies. The scuffle, between VP operations John Lea and external commissioner Alexandra Arful-Dodger, is broken up by police and the cheque is signed the next day.
November 21, 2002—After two decades of campaigning, U of T students finally get their discounted metropass. The announcement comes just a month after the TTC announced it was facing a $78-million deficit, and would be raising metropass prices from $93.50 to $98.75. The new discounted rate for university and college students is $87. The deal is not special to U of T—any organization buying more than 50 passes per month for a year can administer the program—but it marks a substantial campaign promise met by Kusi-Achampong. The TTC’s marketing-research director admits the plan, if it continues, could cost the TTC between $300,000 and $1.9 million per year.
- READ “TTC’n is believin’”
January 30, 2003—The result of increasing tensions between the executive and the SAC board of governors since that cheque bruhaha at the end of September, the SAC board votes 31-8 in favour of Kusi-Achampong resigning. Chief among the complainants is none other than external commissioner Alex Artful-Dodger, who claims that Kusi-Achampong puts in only a quarter of his required office hours, does not follow executive procedures, excludes motions from SAC’s meeting agenda, and threw out 10,000 StudentSaver cards provided by the CFS. Other members of the board complain that Kusi-Achampong attempted to block new SAC bylaws and did not provide enough promotion for a party celebrating SAC’s 101st birthday.
Kusi-Achampong responds that the party was more successful than the one SAC held the previous year, and that he has already accomplished two goals he set during his campaign: allowing students to opt-out of the health plan over ROSI, and providing a discounted TTC metropass. He says the rest of the accusations are “patently false,” and that he will finish the mandate students elected him to.
A Varsity editorial notes that while Kusi-Achampong deserves respect for his accomplishments this year—and that the CFS conveniently dumped the StudentSaver cards on U of T campus right before the CFS referendum—the council president must learn to work with his opposition. In a letter to The Varsity, a student defends Kusi-Achampong’s record.
- READ “Between Rocco and a hard place”
- READ the editorial, “Rocco gets the SAC”
- READ the letter from February 4, 2003
February 10, 2003—The sticking issue proves to be the party. The event at the Guvernment cost $15,000 and 2,000 students attended—greater than attendance at previous SAC parties that cost more money. Nevertheless, the SAC board says the event was improperly planned and wasted student fees.
In an article for the Comment section, Andrew Bricker lambasts Kusi-Achampong for spending what the author alleges has turned out to be $22,000 on the party, and repeats the SAC board’s allegations that the party was improperly advertised to students.
- READ “Party planner to face the music”
- READ the Comment piece from February 23, “SAC: Celebrating 101 years of mismanagement with more mismanagement”
March 11, 2003—The SAC election cycle begins anew.
