By Sarun Balaranjan, Contributor
Note: Sarun Balaranjan is a member of the Board of Directors for OPIRG.
Before I begin, I must acknowledge my conflict of interest as a member of the Board of Directors for OPIRG. This year has been troubling for OPIRG in many respects. The Student Choice Initiative forced us to terminate all of our staff. The new Board of Directors had almost no prior experience with OPIRG. Oh, and the McMaster Students Union decided to threaten our very existence.
OPIRG McMaster is a unique group on campus in that it is not a service provided by the MSU, but the MSU plays a role in the process of funnelling our annual budget from students. Because we are autonomous from the MSU, we are able to provide a platform for students who want to engage in activism that the MSU may not condone, potentially for bureaucratic reasons. We are currently supporting new groups like Divest McMaster, a student-run initiative aiming to push McMaster administration to sell the investments tied up in the extraction of fossil fuels through McMaster University’s endowment fund. A group like Divest McMaster would likely have no clear place in advocacy through the MSU, since intuitively, the MSU would protect the interests of the university. By putting OPIRG McMaster to referendum and potentially defunding this organization, the MSU is limiting the extent of student activism.
On Nov. 29, 2019, the Student Representative Assembly proposed sending OPIRG to referendum. A major reason was that we were spending too much money on staffing and administration. Granted, this was fair given the preliminary budget received by the finance committee showed that roughly 87 per cent of our funds were allocated towards staffing and administrative costs. However, upon receiving our opt-out rates, we updated our budget to reflect that only a reasonable 30 per cent of our costs would be allocated towards staffing. Despite this change, the MSU continued to cite this 87 per cent figure in proceeding OPIRG referendum documents.
On Feb. 9, The board of directors were brought in a second time to delegate on the topic of being sent to referendum on the grounds of bylaw infractions. By this time, the previously cited staffing cost issues were pushed into the background in favour of bylaw infractions. At this point, it was clear that the MSU had an agenda to push and that moving goalposts was well within their capacity. One of the broken bylaws cited by the MSU was a late budget submission. Yes, we were four days late in submitting our budget, but we had only received the opt-out numbers near the end of September with an Oct. 15 due date. In addition, our treasurer, the primary point of contact with the MSU, had been taken out of commission with serious personal issues and we were still negotiating with our Union regarding budgeting limitations. Some leniency would have been appreciated in receiving our updated budget, but we admit that there were communication issues due to these external circumstances.
In terms of the other infractions, the associate vice-president (Finance) and their committee ruled, without any consultation with the SRA, that we broke Bylaw 5, article 3.1.2 on financial transparency. Some of these bylaws are fairly vague in phrasing and describe only general tenets that must be followed. I would like to remind you that, originally, the vote to send us to referendum passed by only two votes. On Feb. 23, we returned to delegate to the SRA in the hopes of reconsidering the motion to send OPIRG to referendum on Feb. 9. The motion to reconsider the original referendum decision had seven SRA members in favour, nine members opposed, and the final six members abstained. The ambiguity and uncertainty in the room was palpable each time. It seems inherently unjust that this decision on a bylaw violation was determined by a small subset of the elected body that is supposed to prioritize student interests.
Democracy is a process. The continual reforming, reshaping and restructuring of practices are based on a common understanding of what works and what fails society. A major issue ingrained in democracy is that democratic leaders need flashy campaigns for upward mobility. Sure, whoever spearheads this movement gets to say on their resume that they managed to create “tangible corrective action” against a “financially opaque group.” Or, maybe on their next election platform, they get to flex themselves as proponents of financial transparency. Again, maybe the SRA should provide their own input as to what constitutes a bylaw violation, rather than leave it in the hands of a small, potentially biased group to act as arbiters.
We as a board are deeply aware of the importance of student choice. This is why we advertise students’ choices so that students can opt out of our fees should they feel that they want to. A referendum sounds like the MSU is putting power back into the hands of the students, but, in reality, the opportunity is being provided for the majority of McMaster students to take a platform of free speech and social justice away from a marginalized minority. Even if the majority of students do not believe in the value of OPIRG, the organization remains an important outlet of free speech and support for alienated students who want to engage in activism.
The punishment that has been carried out doesn’t quite reflect the crime.
From Sept. 12 to 20, the newly implemented Student Choice Initiative will allow university students across Ontario to opt-out of non-essential student services.
According to the Tuition Fee Framework and Ancillary Fee Guidelines, essential services consist of athletics and recreation, career services, student buildings, health and counselling, academic support, student ID cards, student achievement and records, financial aid offices and campus safety programs.
In terms of McMaster Students Union services, this would include services such as WGEN, Maccess, the Pride Community Centre, SHEC, SWHAT, 93.3 CFMU, the Food Collective Centre and more. Non-essential fees include services such as MSU clubs and the Silhouette.
While these budget cuts may not seem to affect you if you’re not directly involved in a club or something like the campus newspaper or radio, opting out of that $9 or $10-dollar fee will be detrimental to the McMaster community.
Let me break it down for you. If you decide to opt-out of the $10 MSU clubs fee, and everyone else follows suit, clubs will lose a huge portion of their funding. Currently, clubs are run solely by student volunteers and many of them hold events for the community, free of charge. Movie nights, de-stressors, cultural community gatherings, discussion groups and karaoke nights — you name it, and a club has probably done it.
Clubs also offer an opportunity to students to help grow their managing skills, creativity and passion for a certain area. For many, extracurriculars are a place of refuge. They can serve as a break away from stressful courses or provide a welcoming community for a variety of identities.
Now imagine all of this — gone. All of this would disappear, or be severely limited, because you wanted to save $10, which can get you maybe two Starbucks frappuccinos. Even if you have yet to join a club, I’m almost certain that you’ve benefited off club freebies, bought food at a bake sale or attended an event in the past.
If that’s not convincing enough, we can also take a glance at the future of the Silhouette. McMaster’s campus newspaper has historically shed light on crucial events that impact students such as MSU presidential campaigns, the student representative assembly, sexual violence surveys and more.
As someone who has just joined the Silhouette team, I can already tell you that we are eager and passionate to break news, events and opinions on things that matter most to students. The Silhouette is constantly striving to hold the MSU and university as a whole accountable. By paying our fee, you are supporting our reporters, editors, managing, production and online team to continue producing relevant content for you. You are helping potential journalists break into the industry and report on news that affects all of us.
There are still so many other non-essential services that I haven’t gone into length, such as MSU Spark, 93.3 CFMU and Mac Farmstand. Maybe you haven’t accessed any of these services, but so many students benefit from them.
You may think that it won’t matter if a few students opt out. What’s a few dollars going to do to a whole service or department?
However, that’s the stem of the issue — many people will follow the herd mindset and believe that if they are one of the few to opt out, then it won’t cause a budgeting issue. Supporting the student body and union means that everyone should be opting in, because it’s more than likely that one of your peers have accessed some of these non-essential services.
A student union cannot exist without students contributing to the union. That’s why these services function so well. Skip on that UberEats order and contribute to your student union instead by #OptingIn.
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The Government of Ontario’s Student Choice Initiative was announced on Jan. 17, 2019. It called into question the tuition and ancillary fee guidelines that many students across the province had grown accustomed to.
The SCI is part of the Government of Ontario’s plan to make postsecondary education more affordable in Ontario. The new framework has already attracted much attention due to its changes to tuition and OSAP support. This year, the SCI will also allow students to opt-out of ancillary fees that have been deemed non-essential by the Government, which includes fees allocated towards clubs and student organizations.
The McMaster Students Union has created a webpage that advocates for students to support the non-essential fees and explains the impact the SCI may have on student life. The MSU represents over 20, 000 full-time undergraduate students and over 30 student-oriented services. Typically, money collected through the MSU fee that students pay as a part of their tuition is distributed amongst various student services on an annual basis.
According to the webpage, the MSU will change to a pay-per-service model in the coming year. Many services that were previously guaranteed will now be subject to optional funding. The list of optional services includes the Child Care Centre, Campus Events, Mac Farmstand, The Silhouette, CFMU and emergency student grants. In addition, all student clubs will be at risk of losing all or a significant portion of their funds.
“The MSU has consistently been our biggest source of funding, and for that, we are very grateful, but that also means we will likely lose a significant portion of our funding under the new opt-out policy,” said Edward Cui, co-president of the McMaster Dragon Boat Club.
One of the primary concerns for many presidents, executives, and general members is that decreasing financial support will reduce the accessibility of club activities.
“I'm sure other athletic organizations at McMaster would agree: sports are not cheap. Yet they are so integral to the health and wellness of our student community,” said Cui. “The team fees of McMaster Dragon Boat have been historically lower than the dragon boat teams of neighboring schools, but there have still been instances where the financial burden becomes a barrier to student participation.”
Katie O’Donnell and Sara Elgadi, co-presidents of the McMaster Classics Club, are worried that without financial support from the MSU fee, they will be unable to afford the larger events that they have offered in years past. They recognize that they will likely no longer be able to execute high quality events, which makes them fear that students will lose interest in Classics. For them, this idea is upsetting because everything they do is for the benefit of students, and to lose their support would be detrimental to their club.
The MSU promises that all of its services will continue to operate this year. However, everyone is already planning measures to face future years of reduced financial support. Elgadi and O’Donnell are already working on fundraising opportunities such as T-shirt sales, book sales and bake sales. Some clubs are turning to external support from the community. Cui and his team have been reaching out to various community partners for potential sponsorship opportunities. He sees a bright side to all of this, noting that regardless of how their budget turns out this year, this is a good chance for the club to establish long-term relationships with local businesses and increase their reach for years to come.
Currently, MSU club members fear that students are not aware of exactly how club budgets will be impacted by SCI. They believe that McMaster clubs are an integral component to student life on campus.
“While we understand the decision to opt-out, we would like to remind students that the fee is very minimal and helps support our clubs which aim to give you a better university experience,” said Elgadi and O’Donnell, “Opting out doesn’t take [money] away from McMaster itself, but rather, it takes opportunities away from you as students to network, make friends and receive guidance.”
Despite the possible changes and challenges that MSU clubs may face, a strong sense of optimism remains for the school year.
“To McMaster students: this policy change may seem to put a damper on your plans for the year,” said Cui, “but don't let it stop you from exploring your passions and interests on campus.”
McMaster students will be able to opt-out of non-essential fees through an online process available on Mosaic from Sept. 12 - 20, 2019 on Mosaic.
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Premier Doug Ford’s recent move to make ancillary fees optional can affect a number of valuable groups and services on campus. On a campus that prides itself in student life as much as McMaster does, many of these groups are left to question what is to be deemed essential by the university. The Silhouette is in a similar position.
The Silhouette has been McMaster’s student-run newspaper for 89 years. For a university without a journalism program, this is particularly impressive. We’ve been through generations of passionate staff members, critical eyes at city hall and decades of keeping McMaster's students and administration accountable.
This past year, we've turned around our online presence and have reached up to 300 per cent more people through our coverage. Our audience engagement is the highest is has ever been and more people are relying on the Silhouette as their immediate news source. Not only that, but over the past decade we’ve won awards, both locally and nationally, for the work that we put into this paper.
If the Silhouette were to dissolve at the hands of a government who campaigned for free speech on campus, what would that look like? Local news outlets do not have the capacity to cover McMaster or student specific news, nor do they have the capacity to cover issues in student government. For the most part, if you look at any student-centric stories that local news sources have covered, student media has covered the same stories first.
If you need an example of this, Ryerson’s student-run newspaper, the Eyeopener, was first to report on a story in which the five-member executive team that governs the Ryerson Student Union had spent over $250,000 using the union’s credit cards. After the Eyeopener reported on this, several major news sites, including the CBC, CP24, BlogTO, Vice and CTV News among other major outlets released coverage on the matter.
If you need an example of something that is closer to home, following our coverage of the Hamilton Student Mobilization Network’s protest at McMaster on Jan. 30, Cable 14 Hamilton covered the protest and used our video footage in their segment, City Matters.
We have continuously proven ourselves as a valuable service that the McMaster Students Union provides, but we’re left in the dark about what our next steps are to prevent the total dissolving of a paper with a legacy as long as the Sil’s. For the past two weeks, we’ve been having long meetings with MSU members, Canadian University Press representatives, lawyers and university administration to conjure up the best course of action and hopefully, we can continue to be a valuable news source for years to come.
