Students who turned out to speak about proposed referendum questions at the Carleton University Students’ Association (CUSA) council meeting Jan. 24 were left disappointed as the council degenerated into a series of arguments over procedure and policy.
The marathon four and a half hour meeting, which started and ended with councillors in tears, drove several students to leave in frustration when divisions on council made it clear that no consensus could be reached.
“The lines are so divided, it’s just deadlock,” said CUSA journalism councillor Yaelle Gang.
The meeting started off ominously with vice-president (internal) Ariel Norman bursting into tears when discussing a conversation that took place between councillors Michael De Luca and Justin Campbell that joked about kidnapping her.
“The ridiculous slandering and bickering really needs to stop,” she said. “Violence against women is not funny.”
Norman was a defendant in the legal dispute, while De Luca was one of the plaintiffs. De Luca said he never participated in the conversation.
The principle sticking point throughout the meeting was the plaintiffs’ side insisting the referendum questions be put through a constitution and policy (C & P) committee meeting before being put for ratification to the whole council, as required by CUSA’s rules.
“I did not personally spend five months in legal battle to uphold the rules and regulations only to then come back to council and break them,” De Luca said.
Norman asked for this requirement to be waived. She said there were more students in the room to speak “than had ever attended a C & P meeting.”
The room had a capacity of 75 people, and was full. Campus safety officers kept careful watch as tensions soared in the packed room and frustrated students slowly began to leave as the meeting dragged on.
“If [CUSA is] supposed to represent us at the Board of Governors, and [the board] sees us bickering like this and they see how divided we are as students, they’re going to further infantilize us,” said Christian Belisle, a third-year human rights and film studies student.
Belisle left the meeting after standing up and saying he was “ashamed” at how the meeting had been run.
“I’ve never been so angry before in my life. I’ve never gone in front of a room before and told everyone they’re wrong. I’m a nice person,” said Belisle, who added that he needed some time to calm down.
The meeting brought out similar emotions of frustration and anger from other students who had turned out to speak but never got the chance.
“It’s obvious that they’re just silencing students. They don’t want us to talk about it, and they want to waste our money,” said Iris Hug, a third-year political science student who walked out about three hours into the meeting. “It’s absolutely ridiculous.”
The plaintiffs’ side continued to insist that correct procedure be followed, and the C & P committee be called, while the defendants’ side said that would mean calling a separate election in March for the referendum questions, and paying for that extra election — a cost upwards of $30,000, according to vice-president (finance) Karim Khamisa.
“Maybe it’s time to put forward a referendum to increase the levy of CUSA because of all the goddamn money we’re blowing,” Khamisa said.
The meeting ended on an unexpected note after it was discovered that someone had posted a vulgar and threatening message on the Facebook account of Campbell, CUSA’s computer science councillor. President Obed Okyere asked for a 10-minute recess after the meeting devolved into an ugly shouting match over the message that physically threatened Norman and Sarah Cooper, a FASS councillor.
“This is something that impedes my duty as a councillor and it’s unfair for them to ask me to continue with this meeting when there are people in this room, sitting in the gallery who are making these comments,” Cooper said.
Okyere suspended the meeting after the recess in light of what had just happened and called for a new one Jan. 26 at 6 p.m.
Perhaps the only positive comment came from a campus safety officer watching from the back of the room.
“Beats having to write parking tickets,” he whispered to his colleague.
