By Kevin Ritchie
After weeks of accusations, tension and squabbling, members of RyeSAC’s board of directors sat down to discuss their differences at an emergency board meeting Thursday—but two controversial issues were deferred to later meetings.
A motion to reconsider a referendum to increase each Ryerson student’s contribution to the Canadian Federation of Students was thrown out after board chair Frank Cappadoccia ruled it out of order. Motions to reconsider board decisions must be proposed immediately after a decision is made, and the referendum decision was made months earlier.
RyeSAC’s v.p. Administration Atif Asghar said he will fund his own campaign against the fee increase of $4.70.
“I’m not confident the RyeSAC information campaign will be entirely objective,” he said, adding he and five other board members will launch a poster campaign beginning March 13.
Cory Wright, who chairs the committee promoting the yes side in the referendum, said his campaign will focus on how students benefit from CFS membership and why Ryerson should raise its fee to match other schools.
But board member Peter Tretter said some members are considering an attempt to repeal the CFS fee referendum at next Thursday’s board meeting.
The board also defeated by two votes a motion that would have allowed members to consider an investigation into allegations that RyeSAC president Erin George shredded office mail.
Board member Rob Haines said the board can expect another “nasty discussion” over the shredding incident at next Thursday’s meeting.
Board members voiced other concerns at the emergency meeting as well.
Haines told the board an upset Ryerson president Claude Lajeunesse called him after midnight the day Jim Wilson, Ontario’s Minister of Energy, Science and Technology, held a press conference at the Rogers Communications Centre.
“The minister called the board [of government secretary] to complain,” Haines said, adding the minister said he will not come back on campus because of the way some students attacked him.
George said protesters only asked Wilson why he was not answering questions from the crowd, and that Lajeunesse told her he did not phone Haines.
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