UMSU through history

I found a few interesting tidbits about UMSU presidents and politics in the University's online archives that I thought I should share:

1943: The U.M.S.U. president Albert Hamilton is called before the Board of Governors for his anti-war poem “Atrocities” that appeares in the Manitoban’s Literary Supplement. Hamilton’s marks in his graduating year are held up until he joins active service.

1958: Flying fish, oranges, lunch bags and assorted paraphernalia bring U.M.S.U. election speeches to an abrupt and premature end in February 1958. Engineering students reacting to some earlier comments by candidate Dave Stinson unleashed their barrage of missiles.

When I started this post, I was really hoping there was more than two things in the document that were remarkable. Hmm.

OK, I'll throw this in to the mix, since it's my favourite piece of UMSU history. In 1965/66, Winston Dookeran is elected UMSU President. I'm sure that's a stressful job, but it probably didn't compare to the stress he faced in 1990. That year, he was a politician and deputy leader of the ruling political in Trinidad & Tobago... when the Prime Minister was taken hostage by rebels! Dookeran became the Acting Prime Minister and had to help lead his country out of crisis. Speaking at an UMSU fundraising dinner a few years ago, he remarked how his experience with UMSU helped him through that time.

Pretty freakin' awesome.

So which of our presidential candidates are best suited to fight a protracted civil war? The comments are open.

Meet your presidential candidates

Great debate, or the greatest debate?

In recognition of today's debate at the Bannatyne campus and Monday's Tuesday's debate at University Centre, I wanted to re-post this video, which I had posted earlier in text form only.

Behold, the greatest debate in student union history: Soundwave vs. Dollansky.

UPDATE: Thanks to "kanye west" for the date correction.

Google does the work for you!

Seeking new and outside information about the candidates, I sought the assistance of Google. Here's what I found about each of the presidential candidates.

First, there's a post on the CBC.ca feature Canada Votes 2006, where a poster by the name of Jonny Sopotiuk claims to be supporting the local NDP candidate in Winnipeg South:

I will definitely be voting NDP; this will be my first I'm of age that I can vote in.

Their party best represents my values and in my mind represents what Canadians are known for worldwide. Jack Layton is an amazing speaker, the most confident and trustworthy of all the party leaders.

They are the only party that I can whole-heartedly count on to support my rights and make sure my voice is heard.

Good luck in the polls on Monday Mr. Page!

Posted by: Jonny Sopotiuk | Jan 17, 2006 2:13:46 AM

I suppose there could be somebody else out there with the same name, who lives in the same area and is of the same approximate age (Jonny's Facebook profile indicates he went to Dakota Collegiate and graduated in 2004) but I leave it to the reader to decide.

Troy Unrau from Clean Slate has his own public blog hosted on LiveJournal. His most recent post announces, in a vague way designed to avoid disqualification for pre-campaigning, that he'll be seeking office:

Anyway, this week was supposed to be somewhat of a week off for myself, but things never work out that way, for a number of reasons. First being that I am campaigning for student government at the U of Manitoba. I cannot reveal what position I am campaigning for or any platform points on my blog due to bizarre campaign bylaws that our student union has in place in order to try to make the available resources perfectly equal to all candidates. Now this means that the internet is out-of-bounds except for a small designated webspace, which costs $30 to rent for one month (and you don't get a domain, php, etc...) plus facebook!

This frustrates me, as a long time facebook holdout (disliking that much data in one place), as this essentially says to me that I can do nothing on the internet except talk about things in a very vague manner (such as this post) without disqualifying myself from the campaign. I can't even say that I'd change it if I win, since that would be a platform point, which I cannot release.

Finally, Pierce Cairns of the Regressive Conservatives became quite notorious over the Internet earlier this year by pulling a prank where he... well... I'll let you read about it (with a warning - this link isn't entirely safe for work/public terminals):

Gentlemen (and ladies), meet Pierce Cairns. He's a pharmacy student in Winnipeg, Canada, which is cool. But Mr. Cairns is not of note here because of what he studies; it's because of his contribution to guyhood. Cuz thanks to Pierce Cairns, a whole slew of people in Canada think PMS isn't real; enter, the PMS prank.

Let's get this out of the way. PMS is real. Premenstrual women actually have physical side effects that can affect their mood, among other things. But as Pierce Cairns puts it, "I know it exists, but it's silly how females blame their countless problems on PMS. Being a bitch? PMS. Bad day at work? PMS. Forgot to take out the garbage? PMS. Right. Time for an article."

A reminder to everyone: once you post something on the Internet, it's there forever!

Hits from the campaign trail

Student "politicians" aren't professional (and I think most prefer it that way) but that shouldn't stop us from having a chuckle or two at their expense. How many words, Mitch?

"The goal of Students United, I believe, is summed up best by three words: 'we have a vision.' We, I think, touch the campus community," vice-president (advocacy) candidate [Mitch] Tripple said.

Comments no doubt inspired by a triple. Perhaps my favorite quote so far is from Regressive Conservative presidential candidate Pierce Cairns:

The Regressive Conservative slate — doesn’t the name speak for itself? We’re trying to go back to, I don’t want to say, a better time? Every good car is built with reverse.

And I know it's rude to say things like this, but it seems that Clean Slate was born... you know... by accident:

Clean Slate was originally comprised of Christine Brine, Ben Singer, Serena Heska and Jackson Duong, all members of the Arts Student Body Council. After the nomination period, previously unaffiliated presidential candidate Troy Unrau joined their slate.

In an interview with the Manitoban, Unrau discussed how he joined the slate. “I am not an Arts student. I have no real connection to them, other than the fact that they were running without a president, and I was running without a slate.

“And after talking to them for about five minutes, I realized that we have a lot of the same policies and the same ideas. It was a match, basically, made by accident. But one that I’m very happy with.”

Comments are open. How did everyone find the fireside chat today?

Meet the candidates (literally)

A reminder that candidates will be at the Fireplace Lounge at University Centre today at 11:30am. Stop by to say hello, chat, and ask them a few grilling questions.

And for those of you at the Bannatyne campus, your debate will be held on Thursday in the Brodie Atrium, also at 11:30am.

A horse in the race

Analysis

After making a few posts, I've realized that many readers might not be aware of who the slates are this year. It's one thing to review their websites or read their posters (with gems like "increase government funding" - whomever can do that has a great-paying job with the university administration waiting for them), but what do they really stand for?

My fellow election blogger and esteemed Manitoban editor Tessa writes in this week's print issue that "no candidates are allied with the incumbents". This is true insofar as no incumbent has publicly endorsed a slate, but we can infer some information from the candidates' own words.

For example, on the issue of the tuition freeze, always a good barometer of political leanings, let's compare and contrast answers to the Manitoban's always-insightful UMSU candidate questionnaire.

Let's begin with the colourful Pierce Cairns of the Regressive Conservative slate:

It’s perhaps had its use in the past, but we’re hoping to not only thaw the tuition freeze, but it’s going to be a tuition forest fire here. [...] I’m hoping by removing the tuition freeze that the university can start to garner some of the funding needed to provide better equipment and better education, and I know several faculties including my own, over the last several years, have voted to raise their own tuition, and that’s got to be saying something.

Here's what Jonny Sopotiuk of Students United had to say:

I think it’s very important that post-secondary education is accessible for all students, regardless of their background, family income. With any tuition fee freeze, I think we need to make it work. There’s obviously infrastruture deficits, classrooms, labs, not having enough teaching assistants is something that’s failing the students. So working with the tuition freeze, I think we we absolutely need to work on lobbying the government, getting more funding through federal government and provincial government, so that our education is extremely high-quality, but working with the freeze.

Finally, here's Troy Unrau, from Clean Slate:

I’m going to take the middle-of-the-road statement on this one. I feel very good that the tuition fee freeze had a very good motivation when it was conceived.

However, you cannot freeze tuition forever. If you freeze it forever, and don’t take into account inflation into the picture, eventually there’s going to be a degredation of service [ . . . ] The goal posts have been moved, and we’re losing our abilities to compete with other universities in other centrs. I’m not in favour of a blanket tuition freeze release, however I am in favour of negotiation.

As archaic as the left-right political continuum is, it remains popular and useful for classifying most contemporary political positions, and I would argue that it can be applied here, on arguably the most important issue surrounding post-secondary education today: tuition fees and accessibility.

So here's my admittedly archaic (but useful) classification. From right to left:

• Regressive Conservative: lift the freeze; students will pay more (right-leaning)
• Clean Slate: no blanket freeze; negotiate (middle of the road)
• Students United: keep the freeze; increase government funding (left-leaning)
  

And how do these opinions compare to that of the incumbent UMSU administration? Let's ask Gary Sran himself:

“The University’s disregard for the tuition fee freeze is unacceptable to students....”

"This government is not doing enough to properly fund our colleges and universities [...] While Newfoundland and Labrador – a province with similar economic challenges to Manitoba – has reduced tuition fees by 25% and increased funding to universities and colleges by 45% over three years, our government is short-changing our institutions, and allowing a successful tuition fee freeze policy to be undermined by university administrators."

“If Manitoba Conservative Leader Hugh McFadyen would like to replace the tuition fee freeze with targeted aid for students, he will have to answer to students across the province who benefit from lower tuition fees [...] It would be short-sighted to allow fees to rise, and such a policy would result in higher student debt and reduced accessibility. Targeted assistance for students in need would not neutralise the negative effects of fee increases.”

"But Dana!" you might be thinking. "The tuition freeze, 'tis but one issue!" 'Tis indeed, but it remains an excellent barometer of an individual's politics.

And if you really think that Garry Sran and the other members of the UMSU executive don't have a horse in this race, then I've got a bridge to sell you.

A bad sign

Analysis

The official UMSU Elections website has a running list of recent news.

Here's the news for 26 Feb, only the first full day of campaigning:

Complaint #3 posted.

EDIE Board Appeal Form posted.

[For those of you so fortunate to know nothing of the EDIE (Elections, Discipline, Interpretation and Enforcement) Board process, it's the last stop on the bus when it comes to appeals. Slates can appeal the Chief Returning Officer's decision on certain matters to the EDIE Board.]

So on the first day, we already have our third complaint, and in case anyone's interested in a 2-am chat to overrule the CRO, just fill out this form.

As I like to say about student politics: the smaller the hole, the fiercer the rats.

Playing the odds

Analysis

Odds a campaign will make a promise they can't keep - bet on it (emphasis mine in this and all citations in this post):

Students United will also lobby Winnipeg Transit in conjunction with other students' unions in Winnipeg for improvements to bus service to all campuses, and cheaper fares for students. A subsidized annual bus pass for U of M students and a more organized carpool system, including incentives like better parking and more park & rides closer to campus are also in the cards.

They're in the cards? They must be bluffing. Here's former UMSU President Amanda Aziz talking about a U-Pass in 2003:

Aziz [...] said that UMSU should work towards a “U-Pass” arrangement in which all students pay a fee for transit. "At the U of Vic right now, students pay $11 per month for a bus pass, unlike the $55 we pay here," she said.

Kalyn Bomback, candidate for President in 2005:

We’ve met with the administration and they are ready to work on a number of parking initiatives — one being the extension of the toonie lot; potentially extending the shuttle service [and] working [with] UMSU for joint-subsidization of bus passes.

Aziz again at the UMSU AGM in 2006:

Some alternative means of improving transportation to the U of M that Aziz mentioned were park-and-rides, more carpooling and the creation of a universal buss pass (UPass) to help reduce the amount of vehicles on the road.

In March of last year, the Manitoban reported that discussions had begun anew in February 2007. Ten months later, an article is published quoting VP (External) Amanda Johnson trying to explain why the discussions went nowhere:

Amanda Johnson, vice-president (external) of UMSU, said that, in 2004, UMSU’s plan to integrate the U-Pass to the U of M and other Winnipeg post-secondary institutions was a combined effort put forward by student governments at both U of M and the University of Winnipeg.

So what's the big deal? Plenty of other universities have a U-Pass. The best answer available is buried at the very bottom of a Manitoban article:

The University of Manitoba Students’ Union initiated discussions with Winnipeg Transit in 2004, but the U-Pass would have cost $222.30 for a 3.9-month period. Johnson said that the current amount that a student pays for a four-month period is currently $228 at $57 a month (the price of a post-secondary bus pass), so the saving is only six dollars.

Ken Allen, a corporate communications officer at Winnipeg Transit, said that in 2004, Transit surveyed 1,500 students about their desire for a U-Pass. “A calculation was made for the estimation that would have to be included in student fees for the U-Pass [and] this information was provided to the respective student union and the decision was made not to pursue the U-Pass,” he said.

Allen said that he is not aware of further plans to pursue the U-Pass among Winnipeg universities.

To be fair, the campaign is only promising to lobby Winnipeg Transit. Well I promise they'll lobby them too, just like every administration since 2004. Quoting Albert Einstein:

Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

An introduction, and a look at turnout

Analysis

This is where I introduce myself. My name is Dana, and I was a candidate for UMSU Vice-President in the 2003/04 elections (back when President and Vice-President were the only elected positions).

I'll be guest-blogging for the Manitoban over the course of the elections.

But who cares about elections? Not university students, that's for sure. Voter turnout has undergone a general decline since the 1960s across all levels of government, spurring Elections Canada to start a campaign to boost turnout among young electors (complete with, um, a "Games Corner" and crossword puzzle ... whatever they paid their consultants, it was too much.)

And what could young people care less about than a "real" government election? Um, a student union election! The fact that no one challenged Team Sran's re-election efforts was doubtlessly a big reason behind the pathetic 7.46% voter turnout in last year's UMSU election, but it wasn't the worst UMSU has seen in recent years:

• 2005/06: ~12% - 2871 ballots cast (one full slate, one partial slate)
• 2004/05: 15.2% (two slates - this was the last year with only Pres and VP on the ticket)
• 2003/04: 11.5% (six slates, only three of which received substantial support)
• 2002/03: 9.1% (two slates)
• 2001/02: 4.6% (three slates, only one of which received substantial support)
• 2000/01: 16.2% (two slates)
• 1999/00: 14.3%
• 1998/99: 23% (five serious slates; this was the last year there was a 14-day campaign period; Steven Fletcher, now a government MP, was elected President)

So why should we care? It's not like each student pays hundreds of dollars in fees to various levels of student government in the form of direct fees, endownment fees, etc. And it's certainly not of our concern how the union lobbies (or doesn't lobby) the government and university, who take in thousands of dollars in tuition and ancillary fees. (Sigh.)

Will turnout be higher this year? It's hard to do worse than 7.46%, especially with two and a half slates. But to really increase turnout, I guess we'll have to hold out and hope that the transformer Soundwave declares his candidacy. Decepticon or not, he'd have my vote.

Facebook more your style?

Are you planning on voting in the UMSU election? Join the facebook group!

http://umanitoba.facebook.com/event.php?eid=9740937029

Election rules, ed. 2: Slates

Analysis

One interesting newish (used for the first time two years ago, in 2006) rule is campaign slates — groups of candidates campaigning "on the same team," as it were.

The intent of the policy was to alleviate the non-official slates that formed at other universities with a four vice-president system (also brought in at UMSU for 2006), and in this aim, they have worked well. I do believe that there are some places where the inarticulateness of the policy could make problems for the CRO, but with any luck this will be a good, clean election (unlike the one at Ryerson).

Anyway, back to slates — here's the relevant UMSU policy.

Slates
12. Candidates may run in slates of up to 5 candidates, each running for a different position.
13. No candidate may simultaneously run as part of more than 1 slate.
14. Candidates running as a slate shall be permitted to identify themselves using a slate name, which may appear on
campaign materials. Slate names require approval by the CRO, and must be submitted in writing to the CRO.
Individual members of a slate must use campaign materials specific to that individual, however, reference to other
members on the slate is permitted.
15. The slate name or an abbreviation thereof shall appear on the ballot following the candidates’ names. Slates may
request a particular abbreviation of their slate name, but the CRO shall ultimately determine what slate name
appears on the ballot. If no slate name is identified by the slate, only the candidates’ names shall appear on the
ballot.
16. No slate shall choose a slate name which is the same as that of a registered federal or provincial political party.
Where 2 or more similar slate names are submitted to appear on the ballot for a slate, the CRO shall choose which
names appear on the ballot.
17. All expenses of candidates will be calculated individually.

Election rules, ed. 1: Dates

Analysis

Voting in the UMSU election will be held March 5-7, Tuesday-Thursday.

Campaigning will begin exactly 12 days before that, on the first Monday back from reading week, Feb. 25 at 6:00 p.m..

This means that:

Bylaw 1007 1. No Member of the Union shall make public presentations or speak to groups of more than 5 Members of the Union
on any subject relating to the election or referenda as determined by the CRO prior to the opening of campaigning
with the exception of private campaign organizing meetings involving recognized campaign volunteers.

Welcome!

Analysis

In just slightly more than 24 hours, the candidates for the UMSU General Election of 2008 will be announced. I don't know about you, but I couldn't be more excited! I'll be posting updates about how to get more involved with the election process (as of right now, you still have time to enter, but more in terms of voting, campaigning, and informing yourself) as the week progresses.

Happy election season!