Two GC candidates with disabilities say U of T is failing its equal opportunity mandate by denying them suitable campaign support. Joeita Gupta and Jeff Peters appeared before election officials on March 9 to appeal a decision by the CRO, Anwar Kazemi, that gave their attendants less paid hours and a lower rate of pay than requested.
Gupta and Peters each asked for $20-25 per hour for their attendants at 12 hours per day for the three-week campaign period. Kazemi responded that they each would receive $15 per hour for a total of 28 hours per week. After the appeal, Gupta said she was told the university would revisit the issue around the rate of pay, but was keeping the 28 hours per week limit.
Both candidates are running for a part-time student representative seat. Gupta has a visual impairment and Peters has a speech impediment.
“Given that I really need an attendant to help me campaign, this severely restricts the amount that I could campaign,” Gupta told The Varsity. She said that Ken Davy, the third candidate in the part-time student constituency, was not subject to the same restrictions since he was not disabled. Davy and Gupta are incumbents. Peters, the president of the Association of Part-Time Undergraduate Students, is a former student governor.
“I wasn’t shocked at how unaccommodating the university was. I thought they would at least appear to make it look like they were trying to make accommodations,” Peters wrote in an email. “I found it to be an oppressive experience.”
The Office of the Governing Council could not immediately be reached for comment.
Gupta called the response to the appeal patronizing and paternalistic, and said the university had laid down a “take-it-or-leave-it” deal that left no room for further consultation. “I felt that what I was asking for was reasonable and that I had to constantly justify myself,” she said.
According to Gupta, the university’s rationale was that they needed to account for her academic commitments when calculating her campaign hours, which she found offensive. “I don’t think it was their place to do that,” she said, adding that it was her responsibility to balance academic obligations and extra-curricular activities.
Gupta said she is calling attention to the issue partly out of regret that she didn’t say anything last year when she encountered the same problem. “I’m even disheartened that I had to appeal because it meant that I had to talk about it publicly, which was uncomfortable for me. My hope is that by having put myself through the appeals process, this discussion will at least get on the public record.”
An earlier version of this article reported that CRO Anwar Kazemi allotted Joeita Gupta and Jeff Peters $15 per day for a total of 28 hours per week. In fact, the amount is $15 per hour. The Varsity regrets the error.”
