Inaccessible advertising and technical error lead to the Creative Writing MFA Program being left out of democratic process
Every year, the Graduate Students Association (GSA) holds various elections and appoints new executives from each department.
As the University of Guelph’s democratic process outlines, the GSA sends ballots to all dues-paying graduates so that everyone can have their say regarding their student government representatives.
“GSA is always here to advocate for grad students,” said Akshay Chadha, GSA president and Ph.D candidate.
However, in recent elections, all but those in the Creative Writing MFA program have had their say.
The Creative Writing MFA is a semi-autonomous graduate program offered by the College of Arts School of English and Theatre Studies. Although students in this program pay Guelph campus tuition fees, classes are held at the Guelph-Humber campus. Because of this, graduates in this MFA are given access to Guelph-Humber resources instead of Guelph campus ones.
One such resource is Guelph-Humber’s WeSpeakStudent plan, and health and dental insurance plan for students. However, Creative Writing MFA graduates pointed out that this plan included no mental health support and reached out to Chadha to make the change to U of G’s MyStudentPlan.
While the switch was successfully implemented, these students have consistently been advocating for better inclusion in student government matters, including GSA elections.
Hannah Foulger is a graduate student in the Creative Writing MFA, and she told The Ontarion that while those in the program paid GSA dues, they had never been invited to participate in GSA elections.
It wasn’t until the pandemic began that an online voting method was instated and these graduates were given a unique opportunity to vote in their union elections.
“On finding out about the fall GSA election from another Graduate student, I alerted the GSA of this fifteen year long oversight which prevented students in my program from voting,” wrote Foulger in a statement.
“The GSA executive refused to extend the election and sent us ballots only three hours before the end of the voting period, which was not a sufficient amount of time for everyone to get the opportunity to vote.”
Foulger was told that this wouldn’t happen again. But the following spring semester, no ballots were sent to Creative Writing MFA students.
According to Chadha, this particular situation was caused by a technical error. A student affairs advisor is always responsible for providing a list of graduate students which the GSA uses to send emails on elections.
“I can assure all graduate students that GSA has never run a closed election, and we genuinely believe in democratic processes,” Chadha told The Ontarion. “Nevertheless, all the GSA executives and I felt sorry that some students were not on the updated list that GSA CRO received from the advisor working in the student affairs department.”
In addition to the technical error, Foulger pointed out flaws in the accessibility when it comes to election advertisements.
She stated that although the spring election was advertised in SETS newsletters in February and March, it was not mentioned in the following newsletters. However, the election results were received in May.
“When the election was being advertised in the newsletter, it was close to the bottom in white text on a brown background. As an accessibility consultant, if an arts organization presented me with this newsletter and asked me if it was readable and accessible, I would say no,” wrote Foulger.
She also stated that the text used would make things difficult for anyone using a screen reader, or who has visual processing issues, like herself. She wrote that the first time she was able to read, or process the information was in the May Newsletter when the results were already released.
The inaccessible advertising, paired with technical error prevented Creative Writing MFA students from knowing about the upcoming election and caused them to be excluded yet again.
“It is very frustrating,” Foulger told The Ontarion. “A number of us from our program went to the University of Guelph to read at the Utopias Conference, and that was the first time we really felt connected to the campus … building that connection and then to go to the university [and] be excluded – it’s pretty hard.”
Foulger said there are a number of things that can be done to prevent future elections-related issues. She called for an audit of past election engagement, and an investigation into whether other departments have been excluded from the graduate students list.
The GSA has followed up with the student affairs advisor to discuss ways of overcoming technical difficulties. The student advisor will also check if students from all departments were included in the graduate students list.
Chadha said that he and GSA executives recognize that they are responsible for preventing similar incidents from happening again in the future.
“GSA works to advance the academic and social goals of the graduate students of the University of Guelph through advocacy, social, and financial resources,” Chadha said.
He also outlined the specific resources available to graduate students offered from the GSA.
“GSA also offers different services like negotiating for affordable health & dental plans on behalf of graduate students, negotiating for an affordable transit pass with the City of Guelph, childcare bursary, travel grant bursary, and compassionate care bursary, etc. In addition, GSA holds other fun activities and networking events,” He said.
Chadha also encouraged students to participate in monthly board meetings and the upcoming GD elections, which are held annually in September.