Polarized principles cause schism within ASSU
By E.D. Cauchi
Issue date: 3/27/08 Section: News
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On Wednesday, March 19th, few students gathered in the front room of the UTSU building in a protest labelled "Take Back Your Student Union". UTSU members were noticeably absent.
Students took the opportunity of non-supervision to paint a quote from Depression-era Brazilian liberal activist Paulo Freire: "Washing one's hands of the conflict between the powerful and the powerless means to side with the powerful, not to be nuetral (sic)."
The afternoon consisted of a series of one-sided workshops which addressed police brutality, "realities" for students in Palestine, and the elimination of tuition fees, to name a few.
Every speaker was on the minority, "oppressed" side of things.
When Ryan Hayes, ASSU's President and organizer of the rally, was asked why the day was devoid of objectivity and did not once present two sides to any situation, he stated: "When people talk about balance, I think sometimes they try to hide the fact that there are power imbalances." He added that "You can't just say peace before justice."
The event was an attempt to compel UTSU to take positions on major political issues which affect students, both as members of the U of T community and as global citizens.
UTSU was largely absent that day, as execs were in B.C. in an unsuccessful attempt to help keep Simon Fraiser University students in the CFS. They did not reply to repeated e-mail requests to respond to the situation. Additionally, the office was empty until March 25th due to the Easter weekend. Thus, UTSU has yet to respond to the allegations of ineffectiveness made against them.
The controversy continues as UTSU Campus Life VP Camille Cendana had her computer privileges revoked. She was, essentially, removed from her position on the Student Union for reasons she explained in an open e-mail on March 21st:
Viewing Comments 1 - 7 of 7
K
posted 3/26/08 @ 11:34 PM EST
ahhh --- there's an error in this article --- the slate of students that stormed out were HEADED BY RYAN HAYES (Saswati was NOT RUNNING for a position next year and sat inside during the entire event), in fact - she was the only one that was brave enough to raise all these internal concerns that Ryan et al refused to on the basis of "solidarity"
Dave
posted 3/27/08 @ 1:59 AM EST
There is a mistake in this article. I was at the meeting and Saswati did not lead her united campaign candidates out of the room. Instead, I heard Saswati asking people to say. (Continued…)
Joe Howell
posted 3/27/08 @ 2:20 PM EST
Thank you both. The inaccuracy has been corrected in the online article, and our apologies to Saswati. The Strand regrets the error.
Stef
posted 3/28/08 @ 12:00 AM EST
Very good article!
I particularly liked your observation that every speaker at this event (and ones similar) portrays themselves as an oppressed victim. (Continued…)
Ron
posted 3/28/08 @ 11:16 AM EST
There is a facebook group which is demanding for The Group of Four's Resignation.
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=12002092900
Another one: http://www. (Continued…)
Kristen
posted 4/01/08 @ 11:23 PM EST
I would like to point out that only the students in this picture who are *captioned* were the ones involved in this heated debate taking place in the ASSU office. (Continued…)
okoro felix
posted 10/15/09 @ 7:46 AM EST
assu u just make life tired me becos i am a final year student but u people everthing tire why now assu.
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