News
March 26th, 1996
Page 5
Results stay the same despite challenges to SSM U elections By N o a h G itterman
Several protests have been made regarding the results of last week’s SSMU elections. Even after the votes were recounted however, nothing changed. Alex Waxman, who came sec ond to Chris Carter in the race for SSMU president, asked for a vote recount since Carter beat him by only 90 votes. With 227 spoiled ballots, Waxman felt this merited a recount. Warren Tranquada, SSMU Co-Chief Returning Officer agreed. “The spoiled ballots are greater than the differential, and it is Mr. Waxman’s right to examine
and appeal interpretations of these ballots,” he said. The recount, held last Friday, did not change the overall results of the election. Carter remained in the lead by 92 votes. In the race for VP Finance, second place candidate Ted Murata challenged the victory of Jonathan Chomski. In a letter to the CROs, Murata claimed that Chomski had removed his posters and replaced them with his own. “Chomski systematically went from building to building ripping down all traces of my campaign,” his letter stated. After an in vestigation, the
CROs found that these allegations did not provide grounds for an invalidation of Chomski’s election. In a letter to Murata, the CROs explained their reasons. “Your request must be denied not only on the grounds of insub stantial evidence to the effect that Mr. Chomski whitewashed your campaign, but also due to the fact that these allegations had no mater ial effect on the result [of the elec tion],” wrote the CROs. F inally, a recount o f the results for the position o f VP Internal has been requested by Kataneh Behbahanian. She lost to Mark Feldman by only 33 votes
but there were 367 spoiled ballots. This recount will be held on March 25. H owever, the CROs have already ruled to disqualify Behbahanian for going over her spending limit during the cam paign. All candidates were limited to spending a maximum of $300,
but Behbahanian assumed that this figure did not include tax. The recount will still be held, but if it turns up that Behbahanian did in fact garner more votes than Feldman, she will have to appeal her disqualification to the Judicial Board.
C o r r e c t e d E l e c t io n R e s u l t s In an addendum to previous elections results, the Chief Returning Officers have announced a change in the numbers o f votes received in the race for VP University Affairs. Steven Erdelyi actually received 1,263 votes and 39 per cent o f the vote, and Don McGowan received 1,675 and 51.7 per cent.
M cGill community speaks: all student-initiated referenda pass By N oah G itterman
Burma / PepsiCo. A majority of students sup ported two student-initiated refer endum questions forwarded by the Students for Social Responsibility Committee. SSMU is now mandat ed to repeatedly condemn and peti tion corporations to withdraw from Burma, because o f its govern ment’s implication in numerous human right’s abuses. SSMU has also been mandat ed to establish a Financial Ethics Committee. This committee will be responsible for researching companies SSMU might want to do business with. The FEC will evaluate a corporation’s level of social responsibility before con tracts with SSMU are signed. Simone Levine, a member of the SSRC who campaigned to get the two questions passed, feels this is a breakthrough towards making SSMU more responsive to stu dents’ concerns. She explained that many students felt left out of the process when SSMU signed a con tract with Pepsi over the summer, a corporation that has come under fire for supporting the oppressive regime in Burma.
“People were sick and tired of SSMU reps not representing them adequately,” she said. Levine was also pleased that students have made the effort to educate themselves about an issue that goes beyond the boundaries of the McGill campus. “This vote shows that students really can become socially aware,” she said. However, she was quick to point out that the Pepsi/Burma issu e has not been resolved. Levine and the SSRC will continue ' to fight against corporations doing business in Burma, and against SSMU’s contract with Pepsi. “This issue isn’t going to go away until Pepsi gets out of Burma or until we break our contract with Pepsi,” she said.
Nightline saved A final referendum question asking students to pay 25 cents a semester to McGill Nightline also passed. External co-ordinator of Nightline Hugh Potter was over joyed, since the vote means the continuation o f N ightline next year. “W e’d like to really thank everyone who voted for us,” Potter
said. “If they ever want to see where their money is going, then just give us a call.”
CASA endorsed Although plebiscite votes are not binding, the results are used by SSMU council to determine stu dent opinion. In one plebiscite, over 64 per cent of voters felt that SSMU should remain in CASA. SSMU became a founding member o f the Canadian A llian ce o f Students’ Associations two years ago. Since then there has been a protracted and divisive debate over the benefits of membership in the national organisation. Andrea Stairs, SSM U VP external and Quebec regional director o f C A SA , was pleased with this strong endorsement of CASA and its mission. “I really would like the stu dents opposed to CASA to accept that the majority of students sup port CASA,” she said. Melanie Newton, who cam paigned against CASA, does not feel that the debate is over. “CASA is a problem atic organisation,” she said. “I don’t think it’s really capable of repre senting student interests.”
Library priority
Clubs and services reps
Students also voted to pay an additional $10 per semester to the SSM U Library Im provem ent Fund. Money from this fund will go towards providing special library services unavailable at the moment, such as automatic check out machines. Senate/Board rep Steven Erdelyi, who originally pre sented the referendum question to SSMU council, feels that this vote means students are fed up with the poor state of McGill’s libraries. “It sends a strong m essage that students won’t accept the con ditions of the libraries anymore,” he said. “They want to see improvements made.” Erdelyi stressed that he will ensure that the university does not see this money as a replacement for part o f the libraries’ current budget. “This fund is goin g to enhance the resources provided by the university, not replace them,” he said.
Another p leb iscite showed that, not counting spoiled ballots, xx per cent o f voters felt that SSMU should increase the number of clubs and services reps to coun cil. Council representation was highly debated this year when SSMU clubs rep and President elect Chris Carter proposed to aug ment council’s three clubs reps with specific representatives for services such as the Sexual Assault Centre and the Black Students’ Network. “This provides a clear state ment that students believe that clubs and services should be increased,” said Carter. However, the debate turned into a general discussion on the recomposition of council when the Presidential Planning Committee of Council proposed to reduce the number of clubs and services reps. As of now, no changes have been implemented.
Open forum... I I Continued from Page 2 Women’s Studies. “It’s a judgement call, whether or not it’s interesting,” Shapiro stat ed. “It is a level of investment that we don’t have or that we don’t choose to make.” In discussing issues of equity, Shapiro responded that he is attempting to combat inequality within the university. “It’s a question of whether or not we have a range of people repre sented or not. There are a variety of equity issues and we have to deal with those as they come along,” he said. “With regard to equity and how people are treated at McGill, our record is spotless. I don’t think we could make progress all at once across this broad issue. We all have to get better together,” he said. On that note, Arts rep to SSMU council Amin Kassam asked the principal how he felt about the Macdonald Task Force Report’s
proposed Estates General — a three day conference where all members of the McGill community could come together to discuss the future of the university. “It was an interesting idea, although not interesting enough so that I took it up,” Shapiro said. “I did not think a process that large and that diverse could produce anything but frustration.” As a result, Shapiro was ques tioned whether or not he would con firm his commitment to hearing the voices of students in the future. “I’m certainly glad to come to meetings such as this,” he said. “But [the future] will not be an exercise in direct democracy. It’s not feasi ble,” he stated. After the hour long discussion, students broke up into groups according to faculty, and formulated a list of questions and proposals that were later handed over to Shapiro. Students for Alternatives to Education member Matthew
Lederman stated that the forum was far more successful than he initially anticipated. “I actually was surprised at how effective it was. The best thing is that students were talking about the issues,” he said. Grushcow was also pleased with the level of student input. “I think the forum showed that wide student involvement is useful and manageable,” she said. “There is potential here. We shouldn’t be so quick to reject direct input.” When questioned whether he would take the written proposals from the students into consideration, Shapiro responded affirmatively. “I promised to respond and I will. I can’t respond on behalf of the whole university but I can.respond on behalf of myself.” Shapiro also stated he was pleased with the forum. “I had a wonderful time," he said. “I learned a lot and I hope that the students did too.”
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