Nichole Fanara / The Silhouette
Thank you journalism! Thank you for being an inquiring body, thank you for following leads, and thank you for fearlessly publishing controversial topics that will now result in justice for thousands of part-time students!
No thank you to McMaster University for not properly giving a shit about their student’s financial burden.
Anything that has “McMaster” right in the name generally comes back around to the University. I would think that an institution that demands thousands of dollars from its students would bat an eyelash when a student-run government has used its name in vain, and stolen thousands more from their students.
Who is ultimately responsible?
MAPS, the part-time student run governing body (much like the MSU for full-time students) was recently hit with a financial inquiry that found their president and exec team stealing money from their society and feeding themselves inflated salaries, trips to Europe, and expensive and unnecessary luxuries.
The most interesting part to this story is that this went unnoticed by students and McMaster for YEARS. And their president used to be a president for the MSU only a few short years before. Think about that before you vote this time around.
There are two things that bother me most about student governments funded by students. The first is the supplementary fees that we are forced to pay for through our tuition. With no opt-out option, how is this fair for students who do not wish to be a part of the union? Sure, we could debate that the union is here to help us and in our best interest, but that aside, students deserve a choice. If a student doesn’t want to pay for it they shouldn’t have to – this is not a tax. But there is a lot of money involved here. What if I don’t agree with what the MSU is doing? What if I don’t use the facilities, don’t care, or just would like the healthy democratic option to opt-out and save a couple hundred dollars on my tuition?
My second issue is this – how has it become so easy for presidents and exec members to steal money from McMaster students? And why? What is it about our system that makes these sticky fingers so easily satisfied? I don’t think any of us have the answers right now, but I do know that this is more than a moral issue. McMaster should not make it this easy to for her students to suffer financial burdens by the hands of its own. If there is no opt-out option for a fee that costs students hundreds of dollars, than McMaster herself needs to oversee what and where this money is going.
I want to know what exactly it is that I am paying for, and why. If there is nothing to hide, then the answers to these questions should be accessible.
Let’s not allow another president to pick our pockets.
stop being reasonable, this is the MSU u are talking about
Believe me, I totally understand how, in the wake of probably one of the biggest and most egregious mis-uses of student funds in recent memory, you could feel this way.
However, I’d just like to point out that, though Sam was a former MSU pres, the MSU is not MAPS. While the MSU does not have a perfect financial record, I have never seen true signs of extensive corruption (incompetence sometimes, but not corruption).
The MSU posts its audited financial statements, it’s budget and expenditures online for all to see. Remuneration of the executive is public knowledge and the organization has proper financial controls, an accounting staff and a comptroller.
I believe the MSU just hosted its “State of the Union” event, which finances were discussed and shared in a document with students. If you have more questions, I’m sure the VP Finance would love to answer!
(Cards on the table, I was an MSU exec a long time ago)
Hi! I have full respect for the MSU and I do think they do a lot of good. What I don’t agree with is that students are forced to pay fees to student run governments like MSU and MAPS, and have no direct say in where their money is going. On this matter, there is a lot of room for debate because we can look to polls, elections and questionnaires to say that students do have a say.
I think what I’m confused more about is that these student governments (and further, student clubs under the MSU) are not overlooked by the University. They use McMaster’s name, but there is no way of knowing that our money is in trusted hands. Perhaps corruption wasn’t apparent in MAPS before it was looked into. All I am saying is that financial statements need to be made more public by anything that requests money from students under the McMaster name before it is taken with no option of an opt-out.
On The State of the Union, I have been before and am familiar with the literature. It is necessary and well put together, and this year was much clearer in terms of numbers than last years. I apologize for sounding ignorant but I do think that other student governments should be made to publish and be accountable for their financial stuff in a public sense if they wish to take money through our tuition fees.
Whats John McGowan’s salary? Its likely in the 100k+ range!
A few comments are necessary:
1. John McGowan’s salary is less than 100k. He is not on the sunshine list and the significant difference in his salary compared to Sam Mininti’s was a sore point for some members in the MSU.
2. The MSU and MAPS are separate legal entities from McMaster. This allows those organizations greater freedom in lobbying for students. It also means that McMaster has very limited power to directly interfere with these organizations.
3. McMaster was providing oversight on MAPS. The McMaster Board of Governors refused MAPS’s request for student fee increase last year. Furthermore, this year’s student fees were held in trust (barring the money going directly to student awards and bursaries) in the fall because MAPS had not provided audited financial statements. At the same time, McMaster started an internal investigation into MAPS’s finances. Investigating an independent organization’s finances proved to be very difficult.
4. Unless you think it is fair for other students to pay for the benefits you receive from the student union, opting out of student union fees would require that you also opt out of any benefits the student union gives you. This would mean opting out of the ability to participate in clubs, writing for the Sil, the benefits of lobbying for improved teaching quality, the benefits of student lobbying against rising tuition and the 30% tuition grant. How can an individual opt out of all these benefits? Should the individuals who use EFRT be expected to pay the full cost of operating that service? Since we mentioned that the university should be more involved in overseeing student governments, it might be worth mentioning their position on this issue: The university is already concerned that groups such as grad students and part-time students do not contribute to services such as EFRT and would like to see that cost shared by everybody, not just MSU members. That position suggests that if the university were to be more involved in student unions it would be even harder for you to opt out of fees.
5. MSU’s financial stuff: https://www.msumcmaster.ca/governance/msu-finances
It’s under governance on the MSU website.
6. Technically students can have direct influence on the MSU’s spending at General Assembly. If a quorate General Assembly passed a motion telling the MSU to only spend $5000 on EFRT next year, the MSU would be bound by that. I agree that this is not a practical way for students to be involved.
This.
Link for MSU Finances is actually: https://www.msumcmaster.ca/info/msu-finances but other than that spot on!