Published by the Students’ Society of McGill University
Volume 4, Number 18
Tuesday, February 12, 1985
N e w P o l i t i c a l B o d y R u n s S la t e by Adeeb Khalid The political scene at McGill is about to be transformed. In a major break with tradition, a group of like-minded students is to put forward a joint slate of candidates for the upcoming Stud Soc elections. The Alliance is an informal group of students belonging to several “ progressive” clubs on campus. Some of the clubs whose members are active in the Alliance are the Women’ s Union, Gays and Lesbians of McGill, South Africa Commit tee, N D P -M cG ill, P ro je ct Ploughshares and Community M cG ill. But, as A lliance spokesperson Daron Westman was at pains to point out, Alliance members do not repre sent their clubs but are members in their own right. The Alliance has not been formally endorsed by the clubs. The Alliance was not created for the express purpose of spon soring candidates in the elec tions, spokesperson Helen Ward said. It came into being last term as an information sharing forum for clubs which
had certain common interests in trying to bring about “ social change within the University structure” . The purpose was to provide such clubs with an op p o rtu n ity to share th eir resources and abilities. The idea o f presenting a joint slate came later and is seen as a way of drawing attention to what the Alliance stands for. So far, the Alliance has con cerned itself with four major issues: divestment from South Africa, military research on campus, sexual harrassment, and unionization of cafeteria workers. The Alliance has helped organize workshops on these issues. But why should the Alliance enter campus politics directly? According to Westman, the Alliance feels there is a certain constituency among the campus population that it represents. A joint slate would mean that the candidates have some sense of responsibility to their consti tuency and to the ideas that move them. Campaigning by in dividuals, the traditional McGill method, means that the elec-
T h e E d U S A ffairs by Stephen Hum
ment last term as a preliminary “ I feel it is my duty to res to a full budget. pond as fully as possible...” Since December, according to wrote Alice Van Den Hoeven, Weston, there has been a high acting President of the Educa turnover rate in the treasurer’s tion Undergraduate Society position, with Sheppard resign (EdUS). In a statement released ing January 7, and her successor on Feb. 1, Van Den Hoeven at following suit two weeks later. tempted to rebut a story printed In a question-and-answer ses in the Jan .30 edition of the sion with the Tribune, Van Den McGill Daily (“ Education Hoeven and several members of Budget Baffles Executives” ) the EdUS executive, past and which charged that the handling present, worked together to try o f EdUS finances is “ ... in a and limit the repercussions of mess.” the Daily article upon their Van Den Hoeven, V.P. Inter organizatipn’s reputation. The nal, assumed the presidency of results were mixed. EdUS in January when the Van Den Hoeven admitted President, Dianea Phillips that her grasp of her presiden graduated in December and tial responsibilities was rather assumed a teaching position at a tenuous in January, but she had remote community in the “ ...all the pieces to the puzzle Ungava Bay area o f Northern now...” , she said. She accused Québec. The Daily of “ taking advan The Daily reported that Van tage” of her inexperience and Den Hoeven had not drawn up misrepresenting her. a budget, though she was ap In reference to EdU S’s parently aware that Phillips budget, the Daily quoted Van would be stepping down. The Den Hoeven as saying: “ For all article also said that EdUS’s I know it could be $1000, or it book-keeping was confused, could be $20 000.” with records from past years “ I wish I could retract that,” remarked Van Den Hoeven, “ I missing and rumoured burned. A cco rd in g to B ren d an didn’t have a figure to give him Weston, the reporter who wrote (Weston) at the time” . Van Den the story, EdUS controls over Hoeven claimed that her inex $7000 in student fees, but Cathy perience was complicated by a Sheppard, the treasurer, had book-keeping system that was a not drawn up a financial state mystery to her. “ I’m lost
torate is asked to commit its vote to an individual who might have had little or no interaction with the general student body. The Alliance hopes that it would receive far better feed back from its constituency. As yet, very few students are aware of its existence. The
Alliance has not made an effort to publicise itself and to widen its membership. Helen Ward, however, says the Alliance was never intended to be a club in its own right; it sees itself as a think-tank and leaves organiza tional matters to individual clubs.
The Alliance slate for posi tions on the Stud Soc executive is: Nigel Crawhall, Daron Westman and Helen Ward. The Alliance will also be fielding candidates for positions in the Senate and Board of Gover nors.
Read about the Fiesta dancers in today’s fantastic centre-spread. without a treasurer” . The session highlights some of the problems EdUS has been experiencing, problems that seem ingly fo cu s on the presidency of Dianea Phillips. “ I didn’t know Dianea was le a v in g ,’ ’ said Van Den Hoeven. “ She said she would stay...we were taken by sur prise.” Carole Deschamps, EdUS secretary, claimed that Phillips didn’t inform the ex ecutive that she had found em p lo y m en t u n til la te December. Van Den H oeven , Deschamps, Cathy Sheppard and Tam m y S m ith , U3 representive on EdUS council, did not deny that the finances and the general atmosphere in EdUS’s executive ranks were both confused and even acrimonious. Phillips, said Sheppard, was a secretive Chief executive who gave her no guidance in her duties, “ she told me to make deposits and keep the books up to date, that’s all.” “ We were acquainted with one another last year,” said Mike Whiston, who resigned as EdUS’s representative to Coun cil last month, “ We got elected together because we wanted to change things...but the system broke down” .
“ I think most of the respon sibility must fall on Dianea’s shoulders. She took on too much, and toward the end she was more interested in im peaching me than anything else.” said Whiston referring to im peachm ent proceed ings against him initiated by Phillips last semester. Cathy Sheppard was kept out of executive meetings deal ing with the Whiston affair. It was, she said, part of the reason for her resignation. Whe didn’t the executive act together to demand that Phillips operate more openly and democratically? “ Dianea is a very apthoratative person. When she says not to worry about something, her friends don’t” , said Tammy Smith.
Van Den Hoeven claimed the
Daily was mistaken to print that EdUS had over $7000 in student fees, “ that’s our total budget not just fees” said Sheppard. However, Van Den Hoeven and Sheppard admitted that last year’s treasurer’s report was missing but refused to speculate on the report in the Daily that it had been burned, “ I don’t see the point in incriminating peo ple who aren’t in the faculty anymore.” “ We want to emphasize that we were in bad shape,” said Smith, “ That’s were. We’re get ting our act together now. I can’t emphasize that enough.” The Tribune was unable to contact Dianea Phillips for comment.