Glendon Online

Students For Good Governance Petition

Official Petition:
To: Louise Lewin and the Glendon College Administration,
Students for Good Governance hereby appeal to the administration of Glendon College, to carry out a thorough investigation into the performance of the Glendon College Student Union. In reviewing the constitution certain discrepancies have been found and students question the GCSU executive council’s recent compliance with certain clauses. Particularly we question the financial accountability, eligibility of union executives, conflict of interest, constitutional compliance, and validity of the constitution.
We, the undersigned, hereby petition the Glendon College Administration to conduct an inquiry into the following questions:

Financial Accountability:
1. Last year’s Business Manager, who was also the vice-president, was paid in full, $3000. We request an investigation into the reasons for the quantity that was paid and also whether or not it was paid in accordance to section 4 of the Schedule of Wages and Salaries, By-Law # 5. Particularly the students want to know if this was a salary decided by the Council as required, or not.
2. Signing authority of the cheque book was passed on by the previous Vice President to the current one on the third week of September. This does not comply with Part II, section 5 of the constitution which clearly states that “the executive members of Council…. shall hold office from the first day of May in that year until the last day of April in the following year.” We therefore ask for an investigation of the reasons for this delay in the passing of duties. Furthermore we request that the administration review all contents of the GCSU cheque book to verify that all cheques emitted were used for legitimate GCSU related activities, whether signed by the current or previous Vice President.
3. We request that the administration investigate as to the compliance with the reporting of the following, by the dates specified:
• A written statement of goals and objectives for the Council by June 1st (Part II, Sec.12, b)
• A preliminary operating budget for the Council by June 30th (Part II, Sec. 13, d)
• General audit for the fiscal academic year by June 1st. (Part II, 13, h)
4. We also request for an inquiry into GCSU funding for clubs that has been lacking for a full year. Clubs are an integral part of the Glendon community and cannot function without funding.
5. Lastly, we request a full investigation into all matters relating to financial accountability be performed, and results made public.

Eligibility of Union Executives:
1. We request verification that all union executives are enrolled in one full course at Glendon College in order to be eligible to not only be members of the union but also of the executive. (Part I, sec 4 and 9).
2. Verify that the President, Vice-President and Directors have a working knowledge of both official languages and if not, have completed a course in their second language during the summer or will otherwise be enrolled in one during the course of their terms in office. (Part II, sec 24.)

Conflict of Interest and Accountability:
1. Last year, as well as this year, the Business Manager position has been fulfilled by the Vice President. The Vice President is currently and was last year as well, Business Manager. Both Vice-Presidents have received or will receive a salary for their work as Business Manager, in addition to their full Vice Presidential salary. In particular, the former Vice President was paid the maximum salary possible, $3000. Furthermore last year’s VP was paid in full for both positions. We believe that for the Vice President to hold the position of Business Manager is a serious conflict of interest. The roles have been designed by the constitution to be fulfilled by two distinct people. Please refer to Part II, Section 13, clauses g and h. One of the Vice President’s responsibilities is to supervise the function of the Business Manager, and a conflict of interest presents itself when an executive member is responsible only to himself/herself. Where does the accountability lie?
2. As stated above, the previous Vice President did not relinquish signing authority of the cheque book until the third week of September. This was, as reported in the President’s letter to the students released October 19 2004 by the President. He was therefore responsible for the signing of all cheques that were emitted throughout the summer and namely for the payment of Frosh related activities. As reported in the Frosh Week Budget (See Attached), an amount of $4000 was paid to the Café de la Terrasse for the expense of two pub nights that took place. In view of our previous Vice President’s direct involvement with the Café de la Terrasse, there appears to be a conflict of interest when the individual (the Vice President) co-signing the cheque from the GCSU to pay for these events is also directly involved with the receiving of the cheque. We ask for an inquiry into this matter to assure the students that everything was handled in a transparent fashion.

Constitution Compliance:
1. Earlier in the year, the Director of Clubs and Services, having been elected by the students, was stripped of his right to vote on the Executive Committee. This was due to an interpretation of the constitution that we, the students, find highly questionable and erroneous. This interpretation was based on what appears to be a typo in the document found in Part II, section 2 of the constitution. The importance of this position is too great to be omitted and certainly refused a vote in council. Please look into this matter.
2. We further ask that the administration perform a full review of the legitimate constitution of the GCSU, to later avoid misinterpretations, and to give recommendations as to steps the GCSU and students, can take to improve this document.
3. We also request for an inquiry into the status or existence of all required Officers of the Union as stated in Part II, sec 10 of the constitution. Should these positions not be filled we ask that an investigation be done to determine the reasons for why certain positions remain vacant.
4. Compliance needs be to found with section 33 of Part II, and we ask that such written report of the executive committee’s actions and decisions during the summer be presented.
5. Lastly we ask that a full investigation into the compliance, by the CGSU, with the entire constitution be conducted.

Validity of the Constitution
It has come to the attention of the students that the constitution copy version being used by the GCSU does not match the one in use by the Glendon administration. We therefore request an inquiry into the discrepancies between the two documents and ask that the validity of ONE single constitution be determined.
The administration shall determine which version of the constitution is valid. The Council is expected, by the students, to comply with the Administration’s decision. The students request that a copy of the valid constitution be guarded by the Frost Library in the future.
The students of Glendon are deeply concerned about the seeming mismanagements of the GCSU and lack of compliance and misinterpretation of the constitution. It is important for Glendon students to be represented by an accountable and transparent student union. We sincerely hope that the entire student body understands the present situation and that the administration will honour our request to hold this government accountable and clarify any misinformation.

Students for Good Governance

posted by Sam @ 11:22 PM