Ryerson University has ordered a forensic audit of the Ryerson Students’ Union (RSU) finances, and has frozen fees until its release, after the RSU executives failed to explain credit card charges which totalled $250,000, according to the Eyeopener, who broke the original story.
The credit card statements listed thousands of dollars spent on food, clothing, alcohol and hotels.
Receipts obtained by the Eyeopener included purchases at the LCBO, a shisha bar, and Casino Rama. The card is in the name of RSU president Ram Ganesh, with the payments dating back to May 2018 when Ganesh began his term as president.
Ryerson University announced in a statement that they had met with RSU executives to discuss the allegations, and the failure to properly report on finances to the RSU Board of Directors.
Following that meeting, the university announced they were planning to meet with the Ryerson Board of Directors on the evening of Jan. 30 to request a number of measures be taken, including a forensic audit.
“The University takes these allegations very seriously. Protecting the interests of students is of primary concern to the University,” the university said in a statement.
Ryerson is not the first university to face such allegations.
Earlier this year, the University of Ottawa (U of O) administration announced that they will be ending their agreement with the Student Federation of the University of Ottawa (SFUO), after a forensic audit was launched into similar allegations of financial mismanagement of student union funds were made against the executives of the SFUO.
The executives in question, resigned their positions, despite the fact the audit later found no evidence of fraud committed using student union money.
In the aftermath of the investigation, the SFUO’s Board of Administration passed an Accountability Agenda aiming to increase transparency in October 2018.
The process of investigating the allegations into the RSU is ongoing, and it remains to be seen what, if any, actions will be taken in response to the allegations.
Larry Heng, a third-year journalism student at Ryerson University, said if these allegations turn out to be true, he would hope to see similar actions taken as to the ones taken in the wake of the SFUO allegations.
“Over the years I’ve been at Ryerson, the RSU has always had a really bad reputation with students, he said. “It feels like they’re just not representing their students. I’ve felt no benefit from them personally, and I can see that being the same for many other people at the university.”
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Photo by Jasmine Foong
