The Campus April 6, 2016

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RYAN MILLAR

The Bishop’s University Newspaper

Surviving exams since 1944

Vol. 71, No.4 No.12

www.thebucampus.ca

APRIL 6, 2016

Matthew Robinson, elections, and the Constitution: a cautionary tale A recap of the year at the SRC SCOTT POTTER Writer

T

his has been a difficult year for SRC President Matthew Robinson. Both rounds of the constitutional reform he pushed through met notable criticism for the General Assembly’s (GA) handling and implementation of the changes. The first set of changes, merging two vice president (VP) positions into one, were voted into the constitution January 10 and 17. Both VP Social Eammon Doyne and VP Academic Chelsea McLellan (now SRC President-Elect) spoke against the timing of the changes, urging that they happen next year instead. Robinson said the timing was unfortunate, and promised that the March changes would not be pushed in such a rushed manner. Both Doyne and McLellan later voted against the changes; the changes passed anyway. The constitution does not require that students be informed of constitutional amendments, and, indeed, the SRC did not announce the Jan. 10 vote—or even that changes were in the offing—to the student body until after the vote had already taken place. The second set of changes saw the creation the new General Councillor (GC) and various representative positions. The first vote was announced well in advance of its Feb. 21 date. However, despite this advanced notice, only five students attended to observe the

process. The first vote failed; second and third votes took place Feb. 24 and March 9, which both passed. Both of these meetings were announced less than 9 hours before they happened. In the executive elections held Feb. 2 and 3, the final vote creating the VP Student Life position came less than a day before nominations opened. Three people ran for each of the three executive positions. John Dillman withdrew during the race because he “lost faith in the integrity of the process.” Although the new non-executive positions were finalized Wednesday, March 9, the final votes were not publicized until the next Tuesday, by which time nominations were already open. The elections were set to run March 30 and 31. Although these dates meant an Easter break campaign, they were the last dates that the election could be held during, in accordance with the Constitution. However, students did not submit any nominations for two Senator, one GC, and the Equity Representative positions. Elections for these positions, if students can be found who are willing to serve, must happen after the March Constitutional deadline. The three students who were nominated to be GCs and the student running for External Affairs Representative all ran unopposed. The constitution says: “A candidate for a position for which he/she is the only candidate shall be

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subject to [...] a “yes/no” vote and the candidate must receive fifty percent + one of the votes cast” to be elected. Although the ballots did not contain a “no” option for the GC or External positions, Bishop’s students may well be assumed to understand that checking none of the boxes would have the same effect. However, the hesitancy of the Returning Officers to release the March election results before consultation with the General Managers and the equal hesitancy of the candidates to comment on the election, might suggest that the SRC is worried about exactly what students assumed. Following a candidate’s threat to appeal the election, an Election Review Committee was formed. Their report recommended, among other things, that in future no GA meetings should be held during election periods. At the March 20 GA meeting, Robinson clarified that this was only meant to apply to executive elections; another member of the committee later denounced that interpretation. The constitutional changes involved rewriting of all sections that spoke of the old VP Social and Student Affair positions. The fact that in the revision, the replacement of the VP Social’s role in the Grants for Clubs Committee was missed is emblematic of the headaches the process has caused. Finally, if including the votes of the extinct VPs does not negate everything

Women are people – I thought we went over this already PAGE 11

done since Jan. 17, the elimination of 10 more GA members at the March 9 GA means that there are now only one President, one VP Academic, and five Senators to compose the whole voting GA. Technically, those seven remaining members do not make a quorum, making the March 20 and April 3 GA meetings illegitimate. When pressed on this issue, Robinson said: “while there was no vote, it was explicitly stated that the old positions would continue until April 30, and that was always the understanding,” so as not “to shut down [the] GA,” which “is not productive.” Both my notes and the official minutes agree that this was not explicitly stated for the executive changes, but during the introduction of GCs and representatives. In both cases, there was indeed an understanding. Perhaps, most concerning is the fact that, although I remember attending the Jan. 17 GA meeting referenced above, and indeed have pages of notes detailing what took place, SRC records do not indicate it ever having happened. This calls into question, again, the constitutional amendments passed that night. Ultimately, of course, however vexed any student may feel about this, the GA members are all lame ducks now anyway, counting down the days they have left; in the words of Robinson: “I’ve cleaned out my desk.”

LAC’s Kinky Corner: showing you the ropes of Shibari PAGE 13 PHOTO DANIEL FELLOWES


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