Langara students vote to change restrictive LSU bylaws

By Stanley Tromp, Vancouver Courier, Dec. 7, 2012

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Langara students voted this week on sweeping changes to the bylaws of the Langara Students' Union that would bar students from attending student union board meetings, prevent in-camera meeting minutes from being taken, and prevent students from making copies of student union records.

The referendum proposals have roused intense debate on campus. Quorum is 150 voters, or just 1.5 percent of the 9,000 students in the society. The polls closed at 2 p.m. Wednesday, but the results were not available as of the Courier's print deadline Thursday.

In the proposed LSU bylaws, point 13.2 states that members may view union records, but "a member of Council or a Staff member must oversee the inspection to ensure that records are not reproduced or noted in any way." The B.C. Societies Act, which overrides all student union bylaws, states in section 37 that all society members have the right to just "inspect" records, but is silent on a right to reproduce them.

Each semester, the LSU collects $390 in mandatory fees from every student, for an income of more than $2 million per year. The LSU does not post its budgets, but reporter Jana Minor of the Langara student newspaper The Voice obtained these from the LSU's annual general meeting in September and provided them to the Courier.

The figures show the LSU spent $360,604 in wages and benefits for unionized staff in 2011/12, and held $1,082,073 in cash, term deposits and bank shares that year. The LSU refused comment to the Courier. Resource coordinator Gerald Hornsby answered the main switchboard and twice ended the call as soon as the Courier identified itself.

LSU shop steward Donna Rainford-Cayenne said the LSU had no need to talk to the media because "we're going to get our own reporters and publish our own newspaper." She suggested talking to an LSU media contact, but would not provide that person's name and hung up. The Courier emailed questions to 14 elected LSU board members who are posted online, but received no reply. The LSU refuses to publicly name their staff members, even the ombudsperson, which stands in stark contrast to other student unions such as those of Vancouver Community College, Capilano, Camosun and other colleges ,which post photos of all their staff with contact data on their websites. As for board meeting minutes, LSU minutes are no longer posted, although they were prior to 2010. In comparison, Kwantlen College posts minutes online with archives back to 2000. The Langara College Board goes a step further, posting minutes even of their closed session meetings, after the matters are no longer thought confidential.

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Langara student union to do a vote recount; LSU says controversial bylaws misunderstood

By Stanley Tromp, Vancouver Courier, Dec. 14, 2012

 

A week after students at Langara College narrowly approved three controversial referendum measures, the Langara Students' Union says its intentions have been misunderstood.

"We will do a recount," LSU media liaison Gurbax Leehl told the Courier. "We welcome all inquiries because we have nothing to hide."

The referendum was to approve sweeping changes to the bylaws of the LSU, which represents students at the college located on West 49th Avenue near Cambie. Critics say these changes would bar students from attending student society board meetings, prevent in-camera meeting minutes from being taken, and prevent students from making copies of student union records.

In two of the referendum questions, the number of spoiled ballots was larger than the margin of victory. For the resolution dealing with the most controversial measures, 661 votes were cast, with 75 percent of votes in favour needed to win. It passed by just 19 votes, with 11 spoiled ballots. The other resolutions were to extend the terms of some councillors. The second resolution passed by eight votes with 30 spoiled ballots, and the third passed by two votes with 28 spoiled ballots.

The LSU will hold a full board meeting next Monday, where board members will vote on ratifying the results of the referendum. Students unhappy with the electoral process and outcome plan to attend, and they are now exploring many options, ranging from demanding a recount to a cancellation of the result.

Leehl added that the true purpose of the bylaw changes have been much misunderstood and she strongly disputed reports by the Courier and Langara's student newspaper, the Voice.

"The LSU has been horribly bashed and given a bad reputation they do not deserve," she said.

Leehl said the bylaw is intended to bar the general public, but not students, from meetings, and that many of the contested points are not new and exist in the LSU's 1969 bylaws. She said those provisions are merely being carried forward in the newest edition of the bylaws. Leehl added that scrutineers from groups opposed to the changes were invited to observe the count but did not attend.

Others objected that students barely understood what they were voting for. The ballot states that the changes were needed to "enable LSU members to hold council to a higher level of accountability." Some campaigners said the changes would have the opposite effect, and the details from the separate 30 page bylaw document were not described on the ballot. Leehl responded that the LSU had consulted students widely and all the bylaws changes were posted online long before the election.

The proposals have roused much debate on campus. The quorum (the minimum number of people required to make a vote official) is 150 voters, or just 1.5 percent of the 9,000 students in the society. Each semester, the LSU collects $390 in mandatory fees from every student, for an income of more than $2 million per year.

The B.C. Society Act, which governs the LSU, is undergoing a review in Victoria. Legislation to amend or replace the Act is targeted for 2013 at the earliest.

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Langara student union ratifies controversial referendum

B.C. bureaucrats called for more accountability and enforcement for non-profits

 

By Stanley Tromp, Vancouver Courier, Dec. 14, 2012

 

The Langara Students Union has ratified the results of a referendum making controversial changes to the organizations bylaws.

The Dec. 5 referendum, which passed narrowly, introduced changes that could allow the LSU to bar students from attending society board meetings, prevent in camera meeting minutes from being taken, and prevent students from making copies of student union records. It also extends the terms of some directors.

The resolution to implement more secrecy passed by just 19 student votes out of 661 students voting, with 11 spoiled ballots. In a meeting last Monday, after a recount that confirmed the original vote results, the LSUs elected board of directors voted to ratify the referendums passage with a vote of four against and eight in favour, just meeting the two-thirds majority needed to pass.

The new bylaws will go into effect early next year but will be defined more in future policies.

Starting next semester the LSU will hold meetings with general members and constituency groups in order to write a great policy, LSU media liaison Gurbax Leehl told the Courier. Bylaws are the highlights but policy will be very, very detailed.

Each semester, the LSU collects $390 in mandatory fees from every student, for an income of more than $2 million per year.

The B.C. Society Act, which governs non-profit organizations like the LSU, is undergoing a review in Victoria. The Act covers 26,000 societies in B.C., and according to the reviews website is outdated and in need of reform.

Lorne Brownsey, assistant deputy minister of advanced education, wrote to the Acts review in 2010 to say of student societies: It is submitted that any new or amended Society Act must include provisions that require not-for-profit organizations to accurately share information about their governance, finances and operations at particular intervals. There must be appropriate investigative mechanisms included in the new legislation to enable the registrar to investigate, and act upon, potential abuses or deceptions.

Student and referendum opponent Muneori Otaka believes the new LSU bylaws are contrary to the public interest. Although a bit drastic, how to dissolve the LSU was one of the ideas some of us have been talking about, Otaka told the Courier.

LSU resource coordinator Gerald Hornsby and LSU shop steward Donna Rainford-Cayenne, who ran the December election, declined to talk to the Courier.

A spokesperson for Langara College administration declined to discuss LSU issues or Societies Act reforms, as did the ministers of advanced education and finance, and the NDP critics for those ministries. Vancouver-Langara Liberal MLA Moira Stilwell and the board members of Langara College also did not respond to requests for comments.

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