Dear Editor,
Our next UTMSU president has been charged for 65 demerit points? For those who aren’t aware, 35 points gets you disqualified. I encourage students to take a look at the Wall of Shame and see what some of the infractions were for. For example, ten demerit points for taking credit for work that was already completed (discounted Raptors tickets). I’m not saying the Blue Team didn’t commit any infractions. But they don’t have three members facing disqualification.
What’s also a joke is that these members facing disqualification will all get a pass from the appeals committee. Why is that? Members of the appeal committee have been known to support the Yellow movement or be a part of the Yellow movement in past years. How can you have an election package strictly outline certain offenses to carry ten demerit points and then have it reduced to five demerit points?
We have to look at the Appeals Committee. It has three members, as confirmed by the CRO of the UTMSU elections. They are Joey Santiago (current UTMSU president), Carol Au Yeung and Hiba Amin. If you are unaware as to who Hiba is, pick up the last issue of The Medium—you will see a screenshot of her Facebook page supporting the Yellow Team. Joey was part of the Yellow ticket last year. It’s easy to see how the demerit point system can be favouring the Yellow Team to reduce the points as is the case when you see the Wall of Shame.
Now the next part to this elections is you can appeal the appeals. This is done by executive members on clubs such as UTMAC. I’d like to mention that certain clubs were publicly endorsing the Yellow Ticket, so what do you think will happen when the appeals get appealed?
Next, the issue of Hiba supporting the Yellow Team while being a part of the elections committee. Wait a minute, let me guess: her Facebook account was “hacked” or her friend did that on her account. How convenient. Once it was determined that Hiba was supporting the Yellow Team, an emergency meeting was called to dissolve the ERC but it was blocked by an individual who I won’t call out (although that person is tagged in the note).
Next up are members on UTMSU this year that resigned to support campaigns. These are the same individuals who should be promoting the elections and encouraging students to get involved. These positions get handed down to hand-picked individuals who act, for a lack of a better word, as “puppets” for the individuals who want to see UTM run in their interests for as long as possible.
I see the same people on campus every year influencing these elections and getting who they want and what they want. This school is a joke, this election system is a joke and I can’t believe students at UTM just stand by and let this happen.
If you feel this election process was not fair, I urge you to contact Jim Delaney, from the Office of Vice Provost, Students, at jim.delaney@utoronto.ca. Delaney has the power to withhold fees or ask for a bi-election if the Office feels that UTMSU has not been operating in an accessible and democratic fashion.
Sincerely,
Yogan Sivanathan
