After an intense and emotional debate over allegations of illegal campaigning, the Scarborough Campus Students’ Union board of directors ratified the 2009-2010 executive election results late Friday, March 5.
Around 25 students attended the meeting, an unusually high number, and some had to stand because there weren’t enough chairs. Forty people including board members spoke during the discussion on election ratification. Some talked over others, drawing repeated poundings of the gavel. At one point, tension ran so high that Mohsin Jeelani, VP operations and chief financial officer, suggested a recess so that everyone could calm down and order food.
The ratification officially ushers in John Aruldason as president, Sulaiman Abdu-Samad as VP academics, Pagalavan Thavaraja as VP external, and Zahra Murji as VP students and equity for the next term starting mid-May.
Allegations that the winning candidates ran as a slate came after chief returning officer Hamoon Yousefzadeh presented the elections committee report. Running in slates is forbidden under SCSU’s elections policy and can disqualify candidates. According to a student whose name was kept confidential, one of Aruldason’s campaigners told a voter that Aruldason, Abdu-Samad, Thavaraja, and Murji were running as a “team” and that the student should vote for all four.
Yousefzadeh said the campaigner gave “misinformation,” which does not amount to a slate. The elections and appeals committee gave Aruldason a strike.
Appeals discarded
The elections committee deemed many complaints illegitimate and discarded them, according to Sara Bushara, chair of the appeals committee and psychology director.
At the request of presidential candidate Aisha Khaja, Bushara read one of the failed appeals made by a student accusing Aruldason of illegal campaigning. The lengthy email complaint included illegal use of SCSU logo in a campaign video, failure to write a recycling note on campaign stickers, and slating. After the appeal was read, a director reminded the board of article 18.03.07 of the elections policy which reads, “the Board of Directors may not hear any appeals regarding the election.”
“It seems some like some complaints became strikes and others didn’t,” said humanities director Martine Lee. Lee was disqualified from running for VP equity and students. She had collected the minimum 25 student signatures, but one of her signatories was not enrolled in courses. She was sent a late notification of disqualification and not permitted to appeal the decision.
Lee later wrote in an email to The Varsity, “As the Board of Directors, we are there to represent ALL students, not only certain ones. If certain people broke policy to get to where they were, do you think they would do the right thing for students? I believe it is questionable that they would. […] As I walked through the halls, appearance of slating could be seen by how closely all winning candidates’ arms-length parties would stand together, their flyers [having the same] design, and what their [campaigners] would say to potential voters [including] pointing to other partners on their ‘side.’”
Yousedzadeh said he discarded many complaints because they were not in writing, but some board members disagreed, saying there were written complaints that were not addressed. Biological sciences director Tharsnini Sivananthajoth offered to call a person who emailed the elections committee and put them on the speaker phone, but the request was denied.
“It is not right to ignore students who didn’t file a written complaint,” said Khaja, noting that students who are not involved with the SCSU don’t know where to take their complaints. Thavaraja, the VP external-elect, disagreed with Khaja and Lee, arguing that the board should respect the elections committee’s decision and stop “nitpicking.”
No secret vote
After exhausting all views on the motion, the substitute SCSU chair, Fatih Kurt, declared at 10:30 p.m. that “the moment has come” to vote on whether or not to ratify the election results. (Imran Khan, the chair of the board and a presidential candidate, stepped down halfway through the meeting and appointed Kurt as substitute chair.) Khan said that as a candidate he felt “the election was a mess” but advised the board to think of the 1,500 students who came out to vote.
“We were so pumped to vote [and] if you throw out the vote, we’re going to lose faith in you guys,” said one student attendee. Aruldason agreed. “The results are quite clear. It was a record voter turnout and there are so many [reasons to believe] this is what students wanted,” he said. “Students are yelling at the SCSU’s face to do what they want.”
The board voted by a roll call vote after a motion moved by Lee to have a secret ballot failed. Six directors, including still-president Zuhair Syed, voted to ratify the results. Lee, who wept as the results were made official, casted a solo no vote. Eight directors abstained.
Syed still president
The board postponed the decision to ratify Syed’s impeachment to April 9, as SCSU lawyers are still scrutinizing the policies. “I understand the president is being paid [for no work] but there’s also a potential lawsuit,” said Khan. “The union has to make sure that student money is protected.” On Feb.12, Syed threatened to sue the SCSU if they ratify his impeachment referendum, alleging that referendum policies were defied in the process.
Khan also said that if the referendum is not ratified, it doesn’t mean Syed will get his duties back: “That’s up to the board to decide.” Syed was not present when his impeachment referendum was being discussed earlier in the meeting.
