By Damola Omole

On Sept. 26, The Eyeopener sat down with the two interim co-executive directors of the Toronto Metropolitan Students’ Union (TMSU)— Sally Lee and Scott Miller Berry — to discuss the voided 2025 general election, the subsequent investigations into corruption and their outlook on the TMSU moving forward.

Answers have been edited by The Eyeopener for length and clarity

How did the TMSU get to a place of such deeply entrenched corruption? What structures enabled these types of things to occur?

Lee: There were vulnerabilities around corrupting that electoral process, so there was potential for election interference. We’ve heard stories about students being intimidated to vote in a certain way, and when I hear that, I think, oh, you know, there are young people out there who don’t know their rights, they don’t know how to stick up for themselves at the moment. Scott and I were brought in with a specific mandate to repair the organization and get it back on track to its core mandate, which is to serve students.

Miller Berry: This wasn’t the first time that financial malfeasance had occurred. There is a history of students knowing how to use the system, so to speak, to benefit. And one of the reasons Sally and I were brought in was to fix that. I was tasked with addressing that alongside the board to implement better policies and systems that prevent further mismanagement.

What consequences are those who allegedly colluded to manipulate the 2025 election going to face?

Lee: The investigators have been sharing information with the Toronto Police. There is an open file that we have there. We’ll be providing the police with information so they’ll be the ones to determine whether any criminal charges are going to be laid. But in terms of what our jurisdiction is at this point, Scott and I have terminated some people.

Miller Berry: Because the investigation is ongoing, once we get the final report sometime this fall, then the board will have to make some decisions about whether or not to pursue any sort of legal avenues and as Sally said, if there is criminal activity that’s confirmed, that’s a matter for the police.

The TMSU is proposing to delay the election another 8 months to Spring 2026. What do you expect may happen if the motion fails, and the TMSU is forced to hold an election before the end of the fall term?

Miller Berry: We have put plans in place in case it does fail. Of course, it’s up to the students, right? So the vote will happen on Monday. We were in the process of hiring an experienced CRO. The posting went up at the beginning of the month, and that would be a position that would be for the full academic year. So we want to have someone in place, whether the election ends up being in the fall or in the usual winter-spring.

Lee: Regardless of what happens, we’ll be prepared, but we’re asking the students to give us time to put in the substantial reforms required, so that the next board of directors that are voted in are coming into an organization where they’re going to have an ability to do their best job, to serve their fellow students.

For students who are still mistrusting, how exactly does the TMSU hope to regain any of that trust that may have been lost?

Lee: I think Scott and I just need to stay focused on what the mandate of the union is, which is to focus on all the different services that we offer: the funding that we provide to student groups, student emergency loans and also, importantly, being a voice and an advocate for Students. Recently, we’ve been able to be a voice for a student who was brutalized by campus security. We also used our platform to encourage students to use their voice at the walkout on Wednesday. This is the kind of work that we want to continue doing, and we know has not been happening before. The full power of the Student Union has not been tapped into.

On Monday, the TMSU will be holding a Special General Meeting at Tecumseh Auditorium. The meeting will be open to all undergraduate students.