The McGill Tribune Vol. 02 Issue 26

Page 1

The McGill Tribune Published bv the Student’s Society o f M cGill University

V ol. 2 N o. 26, Tuesday, March 29, 1983.

R e co u n t O rd e re d , N e g lig e n ce Fo u n d

C.R.O. Decision Overturned By Gregg Gibbons

In a decision handed down on March 23rd, the Judicial Committee of the Daily Publications Society overturned a decision by Marcy Vigoda, Chief Re­ turning Officer (CRO) regarding the referendum making payment for the D aily optional initiated by Jeff Zimskind. The two-to-one decision of the Committee orders “a recount of the sig­ natures by the CRO under the supervi­ sion of ^n appointed person.... Signa­ tures that appear twice are to be counted once. Signatures of persons not regis­ tered at McGill are to be rejected. From the total number of valid signatures, six are to be struck out.” In closing, the decision reads, “ If the petition be found valid then the Committee deems it prop­ er that the petition be placed on the November ’83 ballot.” The ten-page report includes the non­ binding minority report, rendered by Joseph Rikhof, Chairm an of the Com­ mittee, and the binding majority report, handed down by Ysolde Gendreau and Howard Kalisky, the other two members of the panel. The decision said that there were three issues around which the de­ bate was centered: “the interpretation of the word ‘signature’, the CRO’s course of conduct in the verification of the peti­ tion, and the petitioner’s method in col­ lecting the signatures.” “It is unfortunate, but nevertheless true, that art. 10.2.2.4 of the (Daily) constitution merely requires the signa­ ture, student number, and faculty of the signing students. There is no additional criterion like ‘name’ or printed name.’ ” Thus, their decision is that “it is not incumbent on (the initiator) to develop new rules which, although helpful in de­ termining the validity of the petition, were not perceived as necessary by the drafters of the constitution.” This led the report to recommend that “the con­ stitution be amended to require the sig­ nature, printed name, faculty, and ID number of the signing students.” Regarding the petitioner’s method of obtaining signatures, the Committee’s decision to strike six signatures from the total num ber of valid ones stems from the promise of one free beer for every 25 signatures collected, made by Jeff Zims-» kind. Six people gathered signatures for the beer and although they received no beef Mr. Zimskind decided not to give any out as it may have been questioned, six signatures will be struck. The decision also questioned Ms. Vigoda’s methods of verifying the peti­ tion. Her refusal to obtain the list of students by number from the Registrar the day after she counted the signatures revealed, in the Committee’s view, “a negligence in the performance of her functions which the Judicial Board can­

not condone.” When Ms. Vigoda count­ ed the signatures, she had current members of the D aily staff as well as the petitioner and some of his friends. In addition, she left the room where the counting was taking place for an hour so that she could go to a meeting. “Such behaviour,” the report states, “is most unprofessional and unbecoming of some­ one entrusted with such responsibilities,, especially in view of the fact that the CRO is compensated for the perfor-

mance of her duties.” In the decision of the minority, “the correct interpretation of article 10.2.2.4 should be name, n o t signature.” It also contends that Ms. Vigoda was not neg­ ligent in the performance of her duties. Rather, it cites the initiator of the peti­ tion to have been negligent in preparing the petition. Both the minority and majority reports, however, agree that a recount must be made and that if the petition is found to be valid, the ques-

tion should go on the November Ballot. Ms. Vigoda was “disappointed” with the decision. She also felt that putting the question on the November ballot without circulating a new petition would not be fair because of all the poeple who signed the petition and who won’t be returning next year. Mr. Zimskind was pleased with the results, saying, “Even the minority report advocated the same procedure that I asked for.”

New Club R ep .’s to C o u n cil By Brian Forsythe Todd

The failure of the Students’ Society fee increase to pass the March 8 and 9 referendum presents the greatest obsta­ cle to the newly-elected club representa­ tives to Students’ Council. As well, the effective representation of the club voice on the Students’ Council remains an ever-present challenge to the three re­ presentatives elected at the club repre­ sentative meeting last Thursday. The three elected representatives were Scott Keating, President of the Debat­ ing Union, Amalia Martinez, this year’s President of the International Students’ Association and finally Marcy Vigoda, a member of Amnesty International, as well as the Students’ Society Chief Re­ turning Officer this year. The problem of cutbacks to the budgets of the various clubs under the auspices of the Students’ Society was deemed the major issue by all three of the new club representatives to council. Keating suggested that cuts should be made across the board rather than simp­ ly in the area of clubs. He suggested that the T ribune's budget could be cut as well as the num ber of employees that the Students’ Society employs. He remarked that he was “not certain that all of them were needed.” But he went on to say that is was a very touchy area “since it’s peo­ ple’s jobs we are talking about.” Keating also suggested that plans for a renovated Gertrude’s and Union Building “could be put off for a few years,” since “the economic problems were not only those of McGill but the economic problems of the whole Canadian economy. Amali Martinez again considered the budgetary problems of the clubs as one of the major issues. She said that she would “try not to get them (club budgets) cut” and suggested that there were “other things that could be cut." With the tight fiscal situation she pro­ posed that the Students’ Society “hold off on an Executive-Director,” since this added approxim ately $40,000 to the budget. Reacting to the suggestion that

renovations to Gertrude’sand the Union Building be held off, Martinez agreed that the measure would save money b u t1 that “you have to consider the average student who wants to get w hat he is paying for.” Marcy Vigoda was also worried about the problem of budget cutbacks. She was particularly concerned with which clubs would be hardest hit. She was concerned about the “smaller clubs who can’t make money on their own— the public awareness groups such as Project Ploughshares, who pay a lot for posters and publicity.” She suggested that the renovations to Gertrude’s and the Union Building “would not be a priority” but went on to say that the budget would have to be fully examined before she commented on it. Amalia Martinez, as well as stressing cutbacks, thought her “first thing to change was that this year the club repre­ sentatives did not have contact with the clubs.” She would try to set up meetings

with the various clubs to canvas their concerns. She also said that “clubs do not make enough use of the T rib u n e." She hoped that next year the Tribune would “have more inform ation on clubs. It would be reaching more people and thus more filling its role.” The Students’ Council elects two of its members to the Executive Committee of the Students’ Society, the Vice-Presi­ dent (University Affairs) and the VicePresident (Finance). When asked whether the new club representatives to council would stand for these positions, Scott Keating was the only one to answer in the affirmative. H e announced his intention to run for the post of V. P. /U niversity Affairs) to make sure that clubs have fair representation on the ex­ ecutive committees, since, as Keating put it, “a lot of decisions are made by the Executive Committee during the summer which affect the clubs—like budgets and continued on page 3

Many Distressed Over Daily, Unemployment

Student Poll Clarified by Gregg G ibbons

A poll conducted by this reporter re­ cently shows conclusively that McGill students are very concerned not only with campus issues, but with world issues as well. In this unofficial poll 100% of those polled thought that the D a ily wasn’t worth the money they paid for it. “ Defi­ nitely not worth the money I paid into it,” responded one pollee. But the worth of the D a ily was not the only question asked of these students. To the question, “Who is the leader of the government in Chad?”, not one of those polled could correctly identify the leader. We may conclude, therefore, that McGill students are apathetic to the world affairs on the American Conti-

nent. Unemployment was another issue touched on by the poll. To the question, “ Do you think that unemployment is bad?”, 100% of those surveyed re­ sponded to the affirmative. “1 think that it’s bad. I mean, it doesn’t help the econ­ omy or anything.” One student was dis­ tressed over the plight of the unem ­ ployed. “ I'm distressed over the plight of the unemployed," she said. Not one of those polled could correct­ ly name all seven dwarves or all of the things that a Boy Scout is supposed to be. Obviously, the McGill student is un­ informed. Lastly, 4 of the 5 students 1 polled recommend chewing a sugarless gum.


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