Compromise-The UTSU Board Reform Meeting

Last Wednesday three students, Ryan Gomes, Natalie Petra, and Nish Chankar hosted a meeting to work towards developing a new structure for the UTSU Board of Directors. This was necessary because of recent structural changes to the student union.

Last year the UTSU began taking steps to transition to an organizational structure under the new Canada Not-for-profit Corporations Act (CNCA). The old structure which apportioned seats for election to various colleges and faculties would no longer be tenable without a number of tweaks. Meanwhile many of the colleges and faculties have been deeply dissatisfied by the corruption within the UTSU and have held referenda resulting in which students expressed their desire to leave the union.

The CFS Party controlled UTSU executive saw an opportunity and acted to push through a new self-serving structure. They would create "constituency directors", elected by UofT at wide with portfolio's focusing on different campus groups. The idea was quite clever; opposition to a gay or a female students constituency director would make the opponent look hostile to those groups rather than a constitutional structure. This would allow the CFS Party to eliminate the dissenting groups' directorships under the pretense of social justice.

The plan almost worked however, at the UTSU annual general meeting this October, the CFS  Party's opponents managed to deny their opponents the 2/3 majority necessary to make the changes. Thus the justification for the recent meeting.

After hours of discussions with stake holders such as UTSU execs Yolen Bollo-Kamara, Cameron Wathey, and Najiba Ali Sardar, the group came up with a new plan. The so called "Hybrid Proposal" would in effect allow for some college and professional faculty representation while also creating a significant number of equity/other directorships.

The students at the meeting deserve a lot of credit for coming up with a framework acceptable to many hostile parties. Nonetheless the Hybrid Model represents a setback for opponents of the current CFS controlled union. It is likely that once the new system is hammered out, representatives from the dissenting bodies would make up a smaller proportion of the board than under the previous model. By comparison failure to pass a new structure would leave the Union in legal limbo-an unfortunate situation but still one of the few options on the table that might force the UofT administration to overcome their qualms and take meaningful steps towards fee diversion. Despite all the effort, the CFS Party's opponents should not accept any deal that would dilute college and faculty representation on the Board.

A Boston Olympics?

It's official; Boston has been selected by the US Olympic Committee to make the country's bid for the 2024 Olympics.
If Boston is selected by the International Olympic Committee the region will host a massive influx of people within a decade. The Olympics could provide that catalyst for much needed infrastructure and transit funding which otherwise would be hard to achieve in light of a Republican governor and the Commonwealth's recent budget difficulties.
If selected the city will benefit remarkably since most of the new facilities will be useful in the long term. The Olympic village will serve as dorms at UMASS Boston which has been desirous of converting away from its existence as a commuter campus. This dual use will make the buildings easier to fund while also helping spark a renewal of the surrounding area necessary for a center of student life.
Likewise the aquatic center could also become a part of one of the region's many universities. Recent speculation suggests that Tufts is the most probable candidate. The Olympic stadium, once renovated, could serve the Revolution MLS team which is currently looking for a new facility closer to downtown.
The Olympics also would help establish Boston as a destination for tourists and major firms that too often skirt the city en route to New York and Washington. Already Massachusetts, after countless years of loosing congressional seats to reapportionment, has progressed to the top half of the nation in population growth. Bringing home the Olympics could turn old New England into a premier center of growth for the first time in centuries.