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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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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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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