Ryerson University terminated its 34 year-old Operating Agreement with the Ryerson Students’ Union (RSU) on Jan. 24 due to the fact that the university has “lost confidence” in the RSU’s ability to represent students.
This decision comes after a tumultuous, scandal filled year involving the 2018-19 RSU executives.
May 2018 – During their first day of office, executive members of the RSU fired their general manager (GM) Sid Naidu. The GM had a credit card with $20,000 on it and the card was subsequently divided between RSU president Ram Ganesh and vice-president of operations, Savreen Gosal. Each had a credit card with $10,000 on it.
May 27, 2018 – The salaries of RSU executives were raised by $11,000 in a private board meeting, going from $36,000 to $47,000.
Jan. 2019 – RSU student groups director Maklene deWever asked to meet with the RSU’s financial controller Dharshini Jay. He was denied a meeting.
Jan. 24, 2019 – At a Board of Directors (BoD) meeting, Jay said the RSU has not submitted receipts for any purchases since May 2018. deWever reads off credit card statements that total close to $250,000, including purchases made at various Toronto nightclubs and LCBOs.
Jan. 25, 2019 – Following the BoD meeting, Ganesh and Gosal were suspended from the RSU.
Jan. 30, 2019 – Ryerson releases a statement saying they will suspend all fee payments to the RSU until a forensic audit is done, the results are shared with the university and there is a renegotiation of their operating agreement.
Feb. 11, 2019 – The RSU votes to impeach Ganesh at a BoD meeting and voted in deWever as the new president.
Feb. 2019 to Dec. 2019 – Several RSU executives resign from their positions, or face impeachment.
Jan. 21, 2020 – The RSU releases a statement on their Facebook page revealing that in March of 2019, they hired PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) to conduct a review of the credit card expenses. The RSU announced that they filed a police report with the Toronto Police Services.
Jan. 24, 2020 – Ryerson announces they are terminating their 1986 Operating Agreement with the RSU, stating they never received any sort of forensic audit.
Jan. 28, 2020 – The RSU releases a statement that they are filing a claim against Ryerson including: requesting $2.7 million in damages for breach of contract; that Ryerson release withheld student fees, aggravated punitive damages amounting $100,000, a statement that the university is in breach of its agreement and the RSU’s legal costs in bringing the claim.
Graphic by Paloma Callo.
