By Sarah Krichel
At the Ryerson Students’ Union (RSU) board of directors meeting on March 2, there was a 6 Fest refunds update—but the debacle has still not come to an end.
A motion on the agenda included requests to have Singh submit all financial documents of the 6 Fest refunds to the board and financial controller within 24 hours. Singh said the $80,000 transferred into personal accounts in an effort to refund money to students is no longer in personal accounts. He added that the financial controller is currently reviewing the e-transfer refund screenshots, one by one.
The motion also requested a comprehensive 6 Fest report be submitted to the board and the financial controller within the next 24 hours. It also included a request to release the login information for Eventbrite because as of right now, Singh is the only RSU employee who has access to it.
Singh suggested the due date for refunds be extended to March 15. He proposed a method of using his own money to issue $500 to $1,000 in refunds through e-transfers, then get reimbursed by the RSU and then repeat the process in that amount until refunds are complete.
Singh sent the board members an email on March 1 stating that he is now in the process of “verifying the refund receipts” and is sorting the refunds alphabetically. “This helps us make sure we account for the funds that was allocated for the refunds,” read the email.
Lauren Emberson, board member and incoming vice-president student life & events, suggested they should do callouts for refund requests to the general membership from now until March 15 and complete those via cheques.
Singh says e-transfer fees have come to $1,500 in total @theeyeopener
— sarah krichel (@SarahKrichel) March 3, 2017
Singh: “The reality is it’s going to take another month to get this all wrapped up with more refunds [being requested]” @theeyeopener
— sarah krichel (@SarahKrichel) March 3, 2017
But this motion was not put to a vote as bylaw amendments discussion took up most of the meeting. At 9 p.m., a motion was passed to have a recess and move the meeting from Pitman Hall to the Student Campus Centre to move forward with the 6 Fest motion, but quorum was lost.
Before this motion, bylaw amendments were discussed. The discussion was dominated by how many directors would represent a certain amount of students in a faculty. Board members argued that there should be proportional representation of faculty directors to the number of students.
Board member argues there should be min. of two reps per 2,000 students @theeyeopener
— sarah krichel (@SarahKrichel) March 3, 2017
Internal coordinator Casey Chu Cheong said that proportional representation is not possible because there must be a cap of four directors maximum.
There will never be proportional rep. of directors for students in faculties b/c of the cap that HAS to exist. @theeyeopener
— sarah krichel (@SarahKrichel) March 3, 2017
Amendment to increase student cap that director represents from 1,500 to 2,000: NOT PASSED. @theeyeopener
— sarah krichel (@SarahKrichel) March 3, 2017
The amendment resulted in having minimum two representatives for each faculty.
Another bylaw amendment discussed whether conversation regarding impeachment motions should take place in-camera. Board member Marzia Riaz said the board wouldn’t have known about the 6 Fest refund issue if The Eyeopener hadn’t published an investigation.
Marzia Riaz says discussions shouldn’t take place in-camera b/c a lot of their board members’ knowledge is due to eyeopener investigations
— sarah krichel (@SarahKrichel) March 3, 2017
Others argued that discourse taking place would turn into personal attacks. “We aren’t shaming people,” Riaz said. “We’re holding people accountable.”
“If we’re elected in public, our people should be impeached in public as well,” says another board member @theeyeopener
— sarah krichel (@SarahKrichel) March 3, 2017
Three board members were also reappointed to the board after their positions were deemed vacant due to lack of attendance. Riaz, Nasrudin Mumin, Abisola Asha were reappointed.
The board discussed how to avoid the problem of constant reappointments of board members in the case that they continue to miss board meetings due to classes or other work commitments.
RSU president Obaid Ullah said that the system in place is in the bylaws. “We’re students at the end of the day … it’s difficult.”
Leave a Reply