Carleton University Students’ Association (CUSA) councillor Saad Khan resigned and council voted on a motion to override past judicial decisions during a meeting on Aug. 29.
The engineering and design councillor resigned from council because he switched to a science major.
“I would really like to thank everyone who supported and encouraged me to make such a huge decision,” Khan said during the meeting.
As of now, 14 council seats remain vacant. Council will hold a by-election in October to fill the remaining seats. Khan said he will run as a science councillor in the upcoming election.
After Khan’s resignation, council voted to overturn judicial decisions McGee v. The Carleton 1949 and Monks v. CUSA (Students’ Council) 2009 under section 82 of CUSA’s Judicial Policy. Eight councillors voted in favour of the motion.
In McGee v. The Carleton, Ian Campbell, then president of the Students’ Council’s Judicial Committee, seized copies of an edition of The Carleton, now the Charlatan, in 1949. Campbell banned the publication of the paper after Frank McGee, former member of the council, complained the paper contained “material that could be detrimental to the name of the college.”
“I don’t think CUSA should ever pretend to have that authority over our school paper. It’s terrible for freedom of the press,” Davin Caratao, vice-president (internal), said.
In Monks. v CUSA (Students’ Council) 2009, fourth-year student Micheal Monks alleged CUSA’s constitutional board violated procedural bylaws. The board rejected Monks’ accusations without justification after a half-hour deliberation.
Caratao said overturning these decisions would increase trust in CUSA’s judiciary moving forward.
“As long as these cases stay in the books, we can’t have a free and independent judiciary that can be trusted when it comes to the big problems,” he said.
At a June 27 meeting, council passed a motion to adopt a revamped judicial policy awaiting board approval. The old bylaw did not mandate CUSA keep records of decisions made by the judicial body and inform councillors of these decisions, Caratao said.
The Students’ Tribunal, formerly known as the Constitutional Board, hears appeals from decisions made by CUSA.
Caratao told the Charlatan he hopes the tribunal will start operating before the October by-election and that the board will approve the new policy.
Council will meet again in person on Sept. 29.
Featured graphic by Sara Mizannojehdehi.
