After being suspended for an entire semester and part of the summer, the Carleton University Students’ Association (CUSA) council is set to resume in January, according to a Dec. 16 press release.
CUSA president Obed Okyere said he’s very pleased with the announcement of a settlement, but now council needs to do its job.
“It’s very important for us to come back and not just waste our time as councillors but make sure we achieve something for Carleton students,” Okyere said.
CUSA has been embroiled in a legal battle with 16 councillors since July 28, when vice-president (internal) Ariel Norman, citing CUSA’s bylaws, attempted to vacate their seats over discrepancies in council meeting attendance.
The councillors responded by seeking injunctive relief through the Ontario Superior Court, naming Norman, vice-president (finance) Karim Khamisa, and several other CUSA executives and councillors as defendants.
The Ontario Superior Court eventually placed an injunctive freeze on all council business at the request of CUSA’s legal counsel, Jonathan Davis-Sydor of Davis LLP. The request was made in attempt to “cause the least damage and irreparable harm to [CUSA’s] members,” Norman said at the time.
In a written endorsement, Ontario Superior Court Justice Colin McKinnon described Norman’s decision to “unilaterally” unseat the 16 councillors as “draconian and affected without due process.”
Just one week ago, Okyere suspended executive pay in order to motivate executives to resolve the dispute.
Norman said she was surprised when she heard the news since the two parties were “so close” to a settlement.
Decisions which under normal circumstances would have been made by the council were being made by CUSA’s trustees: Norman, Okyere, and Khamisa. But CUSA wouldn’t have able to run its annual elections, scheduled for February, without council and the association would have been in jeopardy, Okyere said.
The settlement agreement, which will see all 16 councillors back in their seats by the start of winter semester, also brings about CUSA election reforms.
“We are pleased to announce that we have ensured that CUSA elections will be held in a democratic, accountable and transparent manner for the first time in years,” said public affairs councillor Michael De Luca in the release.
The specific details of the settlement were not released due to a confidentiality agreement, but last week Norman said the two parties were working towards creating a CUSA governance reform committee.
This committee, made up equally of defendants and plaintiffs, would work to combine the CUSA Inc. and CUSA association bylaws since having the two different sets often creates confusion, Norman said at the time.
Okyere said the defendants and plaintiffs are both needed to restructure the bylaws and make sure the “organization continues to operate in a democratic fashion.”
