Students at the University of Ottawa (U of O) are unsure about what will happen as the Student Federation of the University of Ottawa (SFUO) gets cut off by the school as the main undergraduate representatives for the university following the fall semester.
According to a press release from David Graham, U of O provost and vice-president (academic affairs), the university will terminate its agreement with SFUO on Dec. 24 due to “allegations of financial mismanagement.”
SFUO executives Rizki Rachiq (president), Axel Gaga (vice-president, operations), and Vanessa Dorimain (executive director) recused themselves of their mandated duties on Sept. 27, according to a previous article from the Charlatan. They will be vacating their offices until the external audit conducted by accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers is concluded.
Maddison Sabourin, a fourth-year social sciences student at U of O, described the incident as “unfortunate” in an email statement.
“I would prefer to know about it and it be brought to light than to continue paying for someone’s luxurious lifestyle and consequently missing out on my own student benefits (that I pay for),” she said.
For the fall term, undergraduate students paid a fee of $104.64 to the SFUO as part of their tuition. The press release said that students will not be billed for a membership with the SFUO in the winter term, but that students’ SFUO health and dental insurance plan will be affected.
Sabourin said she relies on coverage from the SFUO insurance plan.
“I use that health coverage to ensure I can see doctors and get important prescriptions and appointments covered,” she said.
The press release said the university has not been satisfied with the federation’s response to concerns of mismanagement.
“The University regrets that this action has become necessary, but emphasizes that the overriding consideration has been, and will remain, the protection of students and their interests,” the press release said.
Sabourin said she’s not content with U of O’s response to the allegations.
“[It’s] way too generic. Saying they haven’t been involved in the legal process but heard about potential charges is crap,” she said. “They should be pressing charges as well as the students.”
The Carleton University Students’ Association (CUSA) president David Oladejo said CUSA had discussed working with the SFUO for Black History Month in February. While programming will continue at Carleton, collaboration with the SFUO is currently at a standstill, he said.
“Right now, in terms of our partnership with SFUO, there’s really nothing that’s continuing to go on because we’re kind of in a state of limbo just waiting to see how things continue,” he added.
Oladejo also said he didn’t know if another students’ union would be formed soon.
“We’re kind of just in a state of waiting,” he said.
Sabourin said she hopes precautions are taken to ensure an ethical students’ union is formed, should that happen.
“I hope one is formed, but I would rather wait longer to have a trustworthy federation [than] one that just screwed over thousands of us.”
—With files from Temur Durrani
