The Carleton University Students’ Association (CUSA), sent a writer and two blogs including rabble.ca a letter notifying the parties of possible legal action in response to a controversial article.
CazaSaikaley, an Ottawa-based law firm, is being “retained by CUSA on behalf of Alexander Golovko and the members of the CUSA administration” according to the legal notice.
The notice described the blog’s content as “false, defamatory, factually baseless” saying it was “designed to destroy our client’s impeccable reputation and cause harm to their families.”
The notice, sent Sept. 11, requested the blogs remove the article within 24 hours, refrain from publishing any further material in the same vein, and contribute $300 to CUSA’s legal fees.
CUSA president Folarin Odunayo addressed councillors’ concerns at a Sept. 24 CUSA meeting.
“It’s not a lawsuit, it’s a letter,” Odunayo said. “The costs are so insignificant. CUSA, like I said previously, is not interested in lawsuits but at some time you must pick a side.”
“If someone writes ‘CUSA sucks’ I don’t care,” he said. “They’re entitled to their opinion. At no point are they entitled to their own facts. So I don’t want to be silent because sometimes silence can be almost implicit acceptance.”
The article in question, titled “Carleton ‘F*ck Safe Space’ scandal legacy of conservative student union takeover,” alleged CUSA has ties with the Conservative Party of Canada, has attacked progressive forces on campus as part of their mandate, and gutted the campus discrimination policy, among other insinuations.
“The legal threat from CUSA came as a surprise. I thought they’d refute my piece with facts, not legal intimidation,” Mathieu Murphy-Perron, the author of the article said via email.
“It is not a legal action,” said Odunayo. “At some point last week CUSA sent out a demand letter to individuals who published an article that we felt spoke against our reputation.”
Councillors also questioned the use of student funds in protecting the image of a former president, Alexander Golovko, who no longer serves on the CUSA executive or pays undergraduate student fees.
“The rationale including Alex is because as given by legal counsel he is named explicitly within the article. He is named as acting as president of the association during that term,” Odunayo said in response.
The second blog mentioned, Gender Focus, linked to the article in a Sept 9. “round-up” of feminist news.
“Threatening one of our only pan-Canadian progressive news sources, a small feminist website called “gender-focus,” and myself as a blogger seems to be an attempt to silence dissent,” Murphy-Perron said.
“If CUSA wants to disprove my premise and prioritize equity on campus, maybe they should concentrate on developing anti-oppression campaigns and policies instead of legal arm-wrestling with people they disagree with,” he said.
At the time of publication, the article had not been removed and CUSA had not taken further legal action, according to Odunayo.
Related articles:
CUSA gets extension to file statement of defense in health plan lawsuit
