The Trinity College Meeting unanimously passed a motion of non-confidence in the UTSU late Monday night, a primarily symbolic gesture revealing deteriorating relations between the union and the college in advance of Thursday’s annual general meeting.
The motion, moved by Trinity co-head of college Sam Greene, alleged that UTSU staff and executives have prevented reform proposals from coming before the AGM and actively misled students into surrendering proxy votes.
The strongly-worded motion also calls for the resignation of vice-president internal Corey Scott. Although the motion is unlikely to prompt drastic action by the union or its executives, the Trinity College Meeting will lodge a formal letter of complaint with vice-provost students Jill Matus by this Friday.
“I will not be resigning, and the comments in the article are baseless and false,” said Scott. “I would have liked to engage in a discussion around this apparent misunderstanding, but it is clear to me that there is more interest in attempting to engage in a public smear campaign.”
Scott added that he was “particularly disappointed by the cyberbullying and harrassment that some members of the students’ union have been subjected to this week.”
UTSU president Shaun Shepherd appeared briefly at the meeting, initially answering questions, but insisting that he attended the meeting only as an “observer.” The meeting was also attended by student representatives of University College, Innis College, and the Engineering Society, several of whom spoke in favour of the motion.
