Self-proclaimed maverick Donnie Northtrup is back on CUSA council
 
 
A student is challenging the process by which three students were appointed as Carleton University Students’
 
Association (CUSA) Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS) councillors at a June 25 CUSA meeting.
 
Heather Murley, Donnie Northrup and Graham Perrin were acclaimed the three seats that remained vacant after the 2009 CUSA general election.
 
According to fourth-year student Michael Monks, engineering student Luke Siemens — the challenger — claims that there was insufficient public notice given regarding the open FASS councillor positions.
 
Munks appeared at the July 28 CUSA constitutional board meeting in an attempt to present Siemen’s challenge on his behalf (Siemens is living out of the province for the summer) but was denied the opportunity to present the challenge.
 
CUSA president Erik Halliwell said he was unaware of a proxy arrangement so Munks could not represent Siemens.
 
There is no formal process for sending a proxy to constitutional board meetings. But the board deliberated privately on Siemen’s e-mail challenge.
 
Siemen’s challenge is based on the fact that the motion to approve Murley, Northrup and Perrin as FASS councillors was not included in the initial agenda provided two days in advance of the June 25 meeting, Munks said, which contradicts the constitutional obligation that requires CUSA to give public notice 10 days in advance.
 
Halliwell said the board will give a public statement regarding their decision.
 
Controversy already surfaced earlier in the month regarding Northrup’s appointment.
 
In December 2008, as a science councillor, Northrup put forward the motion to drop Carleton’s Shinerama fundraiser on the grounds that cystic fibrosis was not “inclusive” enough. He later resigned from CUSA at an emergency council meeting.
 
“There isn’t any way the students would have supported Donnie [if he ran in the CUSA general election},” said Dean Tester, a journalism councillor candidate in the general election.
 
Halliwell said Northrup’s actions last year and the circumstances of his departure have no bearing on his application for council this year.