Verification issues slows down process
by Daniel Bitonti
A referendum on continued membership in the Canadian Federation of Students has yet to be scheduled for the University of Guelph despite it being over ninety days since a group of U of G students submitted a petition to CFS-National headquarters requesting a referendum be held on the issue.
According to CFS-National bylaws, a referendum date must be scheduled within ninety days of receipt of the petition.
Student organizers sent the petitions to CFS-National headquarters on Oct. 19, 2009, collecting 1854 signatures, or 10 per cent of the undergraduate population, a CFS-National de-federating requirement.
According to Dave Molenhuis, CFS-National treasurer, it has been the CSA’s unwillingness to help verify names on the petitions that has slowed down the process.
“I’ve never encountered this type of situation in my time as treasurer, where the national executive has requested the CSA’s assistance in verifying the names on the petitions and we have not received any assistance in that matter,” said Molenhuis. “We haven’t encountered this type of hesitancy in assisting us in the verification process.”
Molenhuis said that verifying the signatures on U of G petitions has been particularly difficult in relation to petitions sent from other schools.
“With most student petitions that have come back, there has been a very speedy, quick response in assistance in verifying names with the registrar. And the concern by the national executive was over the number of names that were duplicates and illegible, and incomplete names, student numbers and signatures,” Molenhuis said. “We as the national executive must ensure the names are valid that the student numbers are valid with the petitions that we have received. “
The Ontarion was not able to confirm the exact timeline of correspondence between the CSA and the CFS national executive, but can confirm that that a letter sent from Brenda Whiteside, the U of G’s vice-president of student affairs, included with the petitions, verified 1,854 signatures of the roughly 2,000 that were on the petition.
“In terms of CFS-National, they are in clear violation of their bylaws and we will be pursuing that to represent all the students that signed that petition,” said Gavin Armstrong, the CSA’s communications commissioner. “We have to review the bylaws more and look at what our options more, and we’re doing that…in my mind [to break their bylaws] would be a breach of contract and a breach of the CFS-National which to me is a tragedy for all the students who pay the fee.”
Armstrong said that there is little more the CSA can do in helping verify the petitions with out being in violation of the Student Record Information Privacy policy. On Wednesday, the CSA’s counsel advised them that the letter sent to CFS-National from the University of Guelph’s registrar should suffice in this situation.
But not everyone on the CSA executive believes enough is being done by the CSA to help CFS-National verify signatures.
“I can guarantee one thing, we have not helped in verification,” said Momina Mir, the CSA’s external affairs commissioner. “That’s one thing I can say, we have not helped. I’m willing to sit down with our bus pass list and verify every signature.”
Despite issues with the verification process, earlier this week CFS-National sent a letter via registered mail to the CSA asking them to choose their two members to sit on a Referendum Oversight Committee, which will also include two member of the CFS.
“Even with this issue over the validation of the petitions, we have asked them to nominate their representatives to the oversight committee even when we are dealing with this matter,” said Molenhuis. “So the process is still moving ahead, even when we are incapable of receiving assistance from the CSA.”
Armstrong said it in December when he had indicated to the CFS-National that the CSA had chosen their representatives and were eager to mover on with the process.
According to Armstrong, if a referendum is not scheduled by Feb. 12, 2010, it will be too late to organize a referendum in accordance with CFS- National bylaws.