The Carleton University Students’ Association (CUSA) didn’t accomplish much of their agenda in the Jan. 10 council meeting, but councillors did vote to remove chairperson Brent Farrington from his post.
In a 16-14 decision, councillors, led by Michael De Luca (public affairs), replaced Farrington with former House of Commons page and Carleton political science student Stephanie Feldman.
Councillors on the plaintiffs’ side of the legal dispute alleged that Farrington failed to give students enough notice for the Jan. 10 meeting.
“Last night, the specific issue we addressed was failures for him to provide notice to the membership, but that’s one pea in a pod,” De Luca said.
De Luca called Farrington a “professional chair,” who makes a living out of chairing student union meetings at various universities across the country. Councillors on the plaintiffs’ side accused Farrington of failing to remain neutral while chairing past CUSA meetings.
“There has been a feeling coming from past years’ councillors that [Farrington] has some sort of bias,” councillor Chris Thompson (public affairs and policy management) told council Jan 10.
Farrington departed the meeting after preparing the new chair, Feldman, for what she would face during the rest of the five-hour meeting.
“If people think that I’m violating the rules, they can call me on it and there’s a forum for which they can decide,” Farrington said shortly after his dismissal. “I wasn’t given the right for that forum.”
CUSA vice-president (finance) Karim Khamisa said “Farrington did nothing to be handled like that.”
Under much consternation from the gallery of roughly 50 students, council then tried to approve the hiring of a chief electoral officer (CEO) and two deputies.
While many in the gallery expressed their interest in approving referendum questions for the 2012 election, councillors of the plaintiffs’ side moved to delay the vote on questions, along with the selection of the CEO.
“We’ve deposed the council chair, so we’ve solved that problem,” councillor Justin Campbell (computer science) said in response to a gallery member’s question. “We’re on to the next one.”
The CEO and deputies were selected by a committee made up of Khamisa of the defendants, Chris Thompson of the plaintiffs, and Carleton ombudsman Jim Kennelly. The special selection was a condition of settlement that both sides agreed on during the legal dispute that shackled CUSA council last term.
After receiving 16 applications for the job, the three-person committee recommended fourth-year political science student MacAndrew Clarke.
Council voted 15-14 to delay the approval of referendum questions and a CEO until a future meeting, which has not yet been scheduled.
De Luca said in council that Clarke was too close to CUSA, claiming he was friends with Khamisa and a member of the same fraternity as Khamisa. Other councillors said Clarke’s former role as a public affairs and policy management CUSA councillor and proxy made him biased towards the defendants’ side of the dispute.
While Clarke is a member of the Omega Psi Phi fraternity, Khamisa is a member of the Kappa Sigma fraternity.
Clarke said he fears he will be rejected when the motion is called at a later meeting. It’s “unfair” to claim that he would be a biased electoral officer, he said.
“My service as a CUSA councillor was listed in my CV, as well as my service in my fraternity,” Clarke said. “I trust that when I’m applying for a job that people are going to read my CV.”
During the selection process, Kennelly said he asked Khamisa whether he and Clarke were close.
“I asked [Khamisa] ‘Is he a good friend of yours? Have you ever gone out for a beer with this guy?’ and the answer was ‘no.'”
However, Kennelly and Khamisa confirmed Clarke did work at CUSA’s main desk for a few hours per week — something that was not mentioned by anyone during the council meeting.
“He was the strongest candidate who put himself forward.” Khamisa said. “[Clarke] just stuck out.”
Even so, Kennelly said “there were enough safeguards in the system” to prevent any abuse of power by a CEO.
“[Clarke] has been away on an internship last semester,” Kennelly said. “He hadn’t been around during this whole dispute.”
De Luca said Jan. 11 that he and other councillors do not think Clarke is fit for the job.
“It’s openly apparent that he is associated with [Khamisa] and friends with all of them,” De Luca said. “We want an impartial CEO who’s not friends with one side more than they are with the other.”
With files from Jane Gerster and Hilary Roberts
