SMCSU BLUES St. Mike's Student Union hits midyear set backs, but remains optimistic for the future. Cam Anderson The student union of St. Michaels College, or SMCSU, had a critical general meeting on December 4th. Like usual, the meeting dealt with typical matters, like events, finances, and general administration. However, the tone this time was extremely serious. By the time the meeting was adjourned, two SMCSU officials had been removed from their positions, casting serious concern over the organization. Kavinda Senanayake,the SMCSU athletics officer, was the first person who was to be reinstated. How reinstating works is after an official is absent from a certain amount of SMCSU meetings and events, it is assumed that individual has resigned their position. Following that, the elected official must be reinstated by the council. Kavinda’s bid to be reinstated failed, and he was removed from SMCSU via secret ballot. Sandro Pehar cited lack of involvement along with missing meetings and office hours as cause for the removal. Kavinda defended his actions, citing the fact he is a commuter from Markham and dealing with a transit strike. Kenny Wong added the decision was nothing personal, strictly business. In an interview with the Mike, SMCSU president Kyle Farren explained the situation. “In no way is his [Kavinda’s] reinstatement a knock on his personality…he should
still be respected in the community… he did more work than thousands of other St. Mike’s students, for St. Mike’s students.” The second person up for reinstatement was Sandro Pehar. After some back and forth discussion, he was reinstated and remains on SMCSU. Other topics like the success of hairspray were brought up. Talk of Kelly’s corner and Movember were also on the list of discussion, followed by an athletics update. There has also been an issue regarding SMCSU and the recent Brennan renovations. Administration is concerned that the newly renovated lounge has been damaged by irresponsible student use, such students using athletic equipment indoors, and moving the current furniture improperly. Sister Anne has noted that SMCSU should be responsible for the damages. SMCSU feels this is unfair, and it is not their job to police students, even though they agree they should be role models. Sister Anne also mentioned that SMCSU could possibly lose their office if they do not comply. When asked about this matter, SMCSU president Kyle Farren replied, “That was a possibility that was brought forward, but it is not something that was imminent… it is more of a ‘get your act together,
7
make sure students don’t do this.’” Vice president Frank Fisico added, regarding their role to fellow students, “We’re not yelling at students, we’re not being mean to students, we’re just trying to get them to not ruin the floors.” Possibly the most serious element of the meeting was on the dismissal of Kristian Koschany, who helped run the recent byelection. According to the meeting’s minutes (posted publically on www. smcsu.com), Farren summed up the allegations as such: “1. Broke election bi laws. 2. Caused security issues. 3. Bad mouths SMCSU in public. 4. Broke financial bi laws 5. Unethical payment of poll-clerk. 6. Failed to comply with initial punishment.” Further dialogue from the document indicate other allegations. The following is an excerpt from the original document, save the SMCSU members’ names which were originally abbreviated and have been elongated for readability. “Aaron Williams: What bi-laws did break? Fran Turco: Polling stations weren’t open, polling boxes were left alone, the way he counted ballots was very weird, he didn’t have a game plan. Sandro Pehar: He didn’t enforce the bi-laws. Slandered smcsu.
8
Amir Torabi: Sold tickets, but he’s not allowed. Sandro Pehar: He asked me how he could improve, and I told him. Nothing can be said now, and him introducing a new system... Lissette Rosado-Ferrari: What was the unethical payment? Yasmin Buttery: He was telling polling clerks to not tell other people they were getting paid. Lissette Rosado-Ferrari: Do they have to get paid? Sandro Pehar: He would ask if they wanted to volunteer and if the said yes, he wouldn’t tell them they could pay. Lissette Rosado Ferrari: Why would he do that? Fran Turco: He thought he could pocket extra money. Half of the polling payroll went to his friend.” Despite this, Kyle Farren insisted that, “It was one of the cleanest elections we have ever had during the time the election took place.” Regarding the actions of Koschany, Farren said “We were looking for professionalism and we did not get it from him.” He further stated that Koschany’s actions have not compromised the election results. In a letter to The Mike regarding the vacant positions, President Klye Farren said “Any elected position that becomes vacant, will be filled through an internal election at the
11
subsequent full council meeting. In the event that a commissioner or officer position is left vacant, only councillors are eligible to participate as candidates in the internal elections. There is no precedent. Council takes each re-instatement seriously with a discussion that is presided over by the Speaker of SMCSU.” These issues come on the heels of a disconnect between the St. Mike’s student union and the larger U of T student union, or UTSU. In a public letter submitted to the Mike and published in a previous edition of our paper, Ferran publicly voiced his discontent with UTSU, even alarming some as appearing separatist. “I’m not trying to distance myself [from UTSU].” Farren explained. “I’m trying to improve on what UTSU has done… I don’t feel like UTSU has been taking care of our students at all.” Farren closed the interview with this, “I do feel my council can perform better, but I do feel my council has performed better than any council in the past…We are going to see a few major changes to SMCSU, that hopefully students in general will appreciate.” To find out more, you can read the full meeting minutes at www. smcsu.com.
12