Documents obtained by The Varsity from a confidential source comprise a portion of the campaign plan of an apparent UTSU elections slate by the name of Reboot UofT, which reveals a “tentative” eight-point platform plan to overhaul the union.
One document appears to be a list of candidates to run with Reboot UofT. The executive candidates listed are: Micah Ryu for President, Jessica Leung for Vice President Internal and Services, Keelie-Shay Eaid for Vice President Equity, Micael Thompson for Vice President University Affairs, Nadine Aboud for Vice President External, Abdul Dau for Vice President Campus Life, and Jenny Yue for Vice President Professional Faculties.
The Varsity reached out to Ryu for confirmation on this list; he said that he could not comment due to elections rules that prohibit him from campaigning prior to the official campaign period, however he added that, based on the names of the executives listed, he thought that The Varsity had obtained a recent copy of the candidates document.
None of the apparent executive candidates listed have previously been on the UTSU executive or board of directors. UTSU elections have recently featured two slates — one backed by college student societies and another backed by Canadian Federation of Students (CFS)-connected individuals. There is no evidence to suggest that Reboot UofT matches either of these descriptions.
A document called “Reboot UofT — Tentative Platform” refers to the slate as “a group of establishment outsiders” that is “uniquely equipped to tackle the issues that insiders have turned a blind eye to.” Ryu stated that the term “establishment” has since been edited out of the document. It contains eight platform points.
The first point calls for full-time staff of the UTSU to be “cut” and for their roles to be replaced by part-time student jobs. “The collective agreement negotiated by the UTSU with its staff in 2015 will be up for renewal in the next school year, and we will take this opportunity to cut down on excess staff,” a portion of the document reads.
In a phone conversation with The Varsity Tuesday, Ryu clarified that some of the full-time UTSU staff positions, such as the Health and Dental Coordinator, would remain in place.
The second point calls for the removal of the UTSU executive positions, to be replaced by committees.
Points three through five call for increased transparency regarding clubs funding, and the provision of “accurate representation” of the UTSU membership’s wants and needs. Part of point four declares: “We will also require the UTSU to support political stances supported by a majority of students.”
Point six proposes lobbying Governing Council to abolish breadth requirements. Points seven and eight call for splitting the UTSU into the UTSU and the SGSU, and finding “a way to deal with the Student Commons catastrophe within the year,” respectively.
Ryu stated that a more current version of the platform includes a ninth platform point that pertains to fee diversion for professional students.
This story is developing. More to follow.
With files from Mubashir Baweja and Jaren Kerr.