Anonymous emails criticize YFS electoral changes

Gleb Polstvin
Staff Writer
An anonymous email sent to members of York community Jan. 17 expressed frustration with the York student union over the recent electoral bylaw reforms, claiming the changes made are essentially meaningless.
The email alleged the York Federation of Students (YFS) was “manipulating the democratic process at our University” by ignoring and not implementing many of the changes recommended to them by the elections audit performed by York ombudsperson John McCamus and the third-party elections review by Davis LLP.
Both reports – which recommended that substantial changes be made to the student union’s election bylaws to improve impartiality and election fairness – came as a result of several complaints made by members of the York community.
The email urged recipients to voice their concerns by sending a letter to members of the university administration, including Rob Tiffin, vice-president students, and Mamdouh Shoukri, York’s president, about the YFS disregarding the recommended changes from the McCamus report.
“Although the YFS claims to have reviewed the report, in actuality they have ignored and side-stepped most of these changes,” read the email. “If we want the change we deserve, we need to speak up. We need to stand up for democracy at our university.”
Several students have apparently taken up that advice, and emailed administrators a template-based letter expressing their concern.
A number of students also sent a second letter, apparently written in response to the first, to the same members of the administration, defending the changes made by the YFS and encouraging York admin to not get involved.
In an email reply sent out in reply to both sets of concerned parties, Tiffin said he plans to meet with representatives of the YFS to review the bylaw changes adopted at the December 2010 YFS Annual General Meeting.
According to YFS executive director Jeremy Salter, the changes were voted upon by students and are perfectly well implemented.
“To be honest, it sounds like a few individuals are upset that they’re not getting their way,” said Salter. “This is an individual who is making frivolous claims to the York administration without accuracy or substantial claims. I don’t understand the motivation.”
Salter added that york students have always played a significant part in the democratic process of yfs elections and bylaws.
“More than 150 students came out to the Annual General Meeting (AGM) to make changes to the bylaws,” he said. “We have extremely high voter turnouts. students are engaged and are making democratic decisions.”
According to salter, out of the 48 recommended changes made by the two reports combined, 40 changes were made and integrated into election bylaws through a voting process.
But Gregory Kay, YFS Schulich School of Business director, disagrees with salter. in a recent press release Kay sent out on behalf of an organization called “students for Democracy,” Kay is quoted “this YFS executive has spent years rigging the rules in student elections, appointing their friends into key positions of power, and abusing their role as custodians of student rights here at york.”
As of publication, Excalibur had received 22 copies of the letter in support of the YFS and the changes they’d made, though not all senders were york students.
Among the senders of those messages are founders college president Robert cerjanec, yfs vice-president campus life Vanessa Hunt, pro-Palestinian activist Jesse Zimmerman and Jagat “DJ Knoxx” Jasani. Excalibur also received five emails encouraging the admin to investigate the changes.
Tiffin wrote in an email that as of 5:45 pm Jan. 18 he had received 18 letters questioning the changes and 13 in support of the YFS.
With files from Excalibur archives and Yuni Kim