Kimberley Keller, vice president (operations) of the Graduate Students’ Association (GSA), resigned three hours before the association’s virtual meeting scheduled for Nov. 15.
In an email announcing the Zoom meeting will be postponed to next Monday, Keller wrote she is stepping down for “personal reasons.”
Keller told the Charlatan in an email that her resignation was not out of the blue.
“I submitted my resignation to the GSA many weeks ago,” Keller wrote. “However I assured them I would stick around until the by-elections were conducted and my replacement could be properly trained.”
Keller’s announcement comes one month after vice president (external) Hesam Farahani resigned from the association in October by emailing a letter to councillors. In his letter, Farahani wrote the GSA work environment was “toxic and unhealthy” and that “every meeting was just a torture for me.”
Farahani also wrote in his resignation letter the slate system was partially to blame for GSA’s work environment.
“It appeared that some decisions were already made and there was no room for dissent,” Farahani wrote. “Some of this is in the nature of the slate campaigning which occurred, which resulted in some independents winning seats and the subsequent efforts to disqualify me.”
While GSA’s remaining three executives all ran for office on the Team Thrive slate in the association’s last election, Keller ran as an independent and Farahani ran as part of Team Solidarity.
The Charlatan attempted to get a comment from GSA president Chi-Chi Ayagolu by email and received an automatic reply stating Ayagolu is on a “leave of absence.”
GSA is not the only student association facing criticism. The Carleton University Students’ Association (CUSA) has also been called toxic by past executives and scrutinized for its own electoral slate system. CUSA is set to rebuild its structure this year.
According to the GSA constitution section 9.2, the association may either hold a by-election or appoint a councillor to fill the vacant position. Council may also appoint a member to be an interim executive.
If the association chooses to appoint a member to hold the position for the rest of an executive term, GSA members will be able to self-nominate and be approved by council during a meeting. Otherwise, GSA will have to hire electoral officers.
According to Keller’s email, the association will vote on a path forward at a virtual meeting on Nov. 22.
Editor’s note: This article was last updated on Nov. 16.
Featured graphic by Sara Mizannojehdehi.
