The Rideau River Residence Association (RRRA) council passed an amended constitution at an emergency meeting Jan. 29 after they unknowingly passed an inaccurate version Jan. 22.
At the emergency meeting, council unanimously passed a motion put forward by RRRA president Kaisha Thompson to revert to the 2008-2009 RRRA constitution, plus the amendments approved on Jan. 22.
“We haven’t been able to verify that our original constitution hasn’t been amended without our wishes, so we’re going back to an original paper copy of the 2008-2009 constitution that we know is in full form,” Thompson said.
The Charlatan revealed last week that RRRA accidentally passed a 2011-2012 constitution Jan. 22 with their intended amendments, but also a number of unintended removals.
RRRA executives received emails prior to passing the constitution from a group calling themselves The Real RRRA, describing the deletions and accusing the executive of being responsible for them. But RRRA executives maintain the changes were made without their knowledge.
“I saw no reason to believe that any of their accusations were legitimate, because I knew the changes that I had made to the constitution and I knew that they were of benefit to the students,” Thompson said. “It’s my assumption that whoever is behind The Real RRRA has also made these changes.”
“They were the only ones who were aware of them, and they knew the specificities . . . I feel a bit set up. It feels like . . . the changes were made to put the executive in an awkward situation.”
Thompson said the original amendments proposed by the executive were clearly indicated to councillors. She said the executives didn’t make any deletions, only additions, and that the removals by the “ghostwriter” were made “systematically.”
“From reading these emails, it looks that not only are they coming from within this council, it is also highly likely that the changes were made on behalf of somebody in this council room and that disgusts me,” said RRRA councillor John Mesman.
In an email to RRRA council members and the Charlatan, The Real RRRA said they’re not responsible for the constitutional changes.
“This is not the case at all, as we simply . . . compared the proposed constitution to last year’s constitution. We are simply pointing out the differences.”
Clauses addressing RRRA’s definition of abuse, disability and political exploitation were left out of the constitution passed Jan. 22. While council members received the constitution and reviewed it in advance of the meeting, no one noticed the changes.
“It was very, very easy to miss these changes if you were not looking for them,” Mesman said.
After realizing the situation, RRRA executives called an emergency meeting to address what happened, which they maintain they had no knowledge of.
Thompson said the actions of the executive, specifically the clause-by-clause review of the constitution at the meeting, speak for themselves.
“I think that we as an executive have demonstrated that the changes made to the constitution . . . were indeed not made by us . . . I hope that we have demonstrated a very clear willingness to rectify all wrongs and all issues brought forward by someone that we don’t know at this time,” Thompson said.
RRRA is looking into the matter and hopes “an investigation will shed some light on what has happened,” Thompson said.
The executives are checking every email sent from their accounts, changing email and computer passwords and replacing the locks on the RRRA office, she added.
“We’re doing everything in our power to do our due diligence and to protect ourselves in the future,” Thompson said. “I have no idea how this could have happened. I don’t think it’s ever happened in Carleton’s history.”
