Carleton’s undergraduate student union has decided to speak out against one of its own members, seventh-year human rights student Arun Smith, for “an act of vandalism.”
Councillors passed the motion at an emergency meeting Jan. 27. The motion calls for the Carleton University Students’ Association (CUSA) to release a media statement supporting any disciplinary action taken against Smith by the university administration. The statement will also call for Smith’s resignation from the Carleton Academic Student Government (CASG), where he is a human rights representative.
Smith pulled down a “free speech wall” erected in the atrium by the Carleton Students for Liberty on Jan. 21.
Immediately after the meeting, which Smith did not attend, he tweeted “I will not be resigning, and I find it interesting that CUSA won’t take a similar stand against Zane’s racism.”
Smith was referring to Zane Colt, the former undergraduate representative on Carleton’s Board of Governors. Colt resigned from his seat after a tweet he sent out disparaged the keffiyeh, a traditional Arab scarf.
A Jan. 19 CUSA council meeting debating the incident was adjourned due to lack of quorum, with the motion to condemn Colt postponed.
“I was against [the motion regarding Colt] because [Colt] had done everything in his ability to mitigate any offense that was caused,” CUSA vice-president (finance) Michael De Luca said.
“Arun has not shown any remorse or apology as far as I’m concerned,” said Lauren Larmour, a second-year Carleton student who moved the motion. Larmour is running in the 2013 CUSA elections as a councillor candidate.
CASG’s vice-president (academic) Harrison Boyd said CUSA’s decision to request Smith’s resignation has no bearing on CASG.
“We’re autonomous bodies,” he said. “I don’t appreciate being told what to do by another body.”
Besides resignation, a CASG member may be removed from the organization if the holder is no longer a Carleton student, by a majority vote of their council, or by a majority vote of their executive.
Any student may ask the executive to review a CASG member’s contract, according to CASG policy.
Boyd said while he understands that students want CUSA executive to speak out on acts of vandalism, he said the organization has no business condemning people.
“You shouldn’t be using student money to condemn a student that is a member of the same association,” he said. “It’s an administrative issue.”
Smith tweeted he will be meeting Feb. 4 with director of student affairs Ryan Flannagan to discuss his offence.
