STORY posted on March 2, 2010 by dawn
SFPIRG Members Respond to Critics
An open letter from SFPIRG on the planned “coup d’etat” and failed fee referendum
SFPIRG HQ // Photo CC 2.0 by Punkasz
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On February 10, a group of students intentionally disrupted SFPIRG’s Annual General Meeting as part of a larger agenda to take down the organization. The agenda was later revealed in a blog (vanmaren88.blog.ca) written by two of the attending students, Sam Reynolds and Jonathon Van Maren . According to the blog, two students
“Sam Reynolds and Robert Lutener…began formulating plans to orchestrate a coup d’etat [the wording has since been changed to ‘action’] against the group. They worked hard to solicit support from like minded people, such as Jonathon Van Maren…organizing on Facebook in complete secrecy.”
Directly after the AGM, Van Maren presented a motion at the SFSS board meeting to put SFPIRG fees to referendum this March. The motion did not pass and the board decided that a petition by 5% of the student body was needed. The group did not obtain the necessary amount of student signatures for the petition to be successful during this election period.
SFPIRG welcomes open and constructive dialogue about our work and structure. However, we do not consider the ill will and secretive method of organizing used by this group of students as representative of SFU’s student body in general. SFPIRG was established through student organizing in 1981 as an autonomous organization specifically mandated to advocate for social and environmental justice. This means we work to empower student leadership in affecting change towards the full respect of human rights and environmental sustainability. SFPIRG offers a wide range of resources which include a Social Justice Lending Library; a bike tool co-op; and workshop trainings on anti-oppression, consensus decision-making, facilitation and creative media. In addition SFPIRG has the popular Action Research eXchange (ARX) program, which allows students to apply and develop their research skills in the real world through partnerships with community organizations. SFPIRG is home to a number of student-organized action groups on campus including Climate Change, Ancient Forests, Voice for Animals, and Letters for the Inside (a research initiative that helps prisoners access information to facilitate their rehabilitation process). SFPIRG further supports local and on-campus initiatives to achieve social and environmental justice through donations, including in the areas of housing and homelessness, indigenous rights, welfare of women and children, community health, and others. Students who wish to attend social and/or environmental justice conferences or organize action groups can also apply to us for funding support.
Students are integral at every level of SFPIRG – as board members, workers, volunteers and service users. We operate using consensus, a democratic practice that requires everyone’s voice and active consent in the decision-making process and outcome. We have three part-time staff to coordinate resources, provide organizational continuity, and mentor student organizers. We also have 5 to 7 paid student positions in any given semester.
Similar to The Peak and CJSF, SFPIRG is funded by a student levy. Full time students pay $3.00 and part-time students pay $1.50 each semester. In November 2007, the newly formed Graduate Student Society voted on all student fees and SFPIRG received 71.3% votes in favour of continued funding. Any student who doesn’t support SFPIRG can request a refund of their levy during the fourth week of the semester. We publicize this information at the start of each semester.
The students who came to disrupt our AGM have accused SFPIRG of withholding information and being an undemocratic “exclusionary ideological clique.” We want to respond to these charges. At the AGM, we provided a detailed annual report of all our work in 2008-2009. We also provided copies of our financial statements, which according to the BC Societies Act, we are not required to audit. No charges, complaints or concerns have ever arisen about SFPIRG’s financial systems. All of these documents are available on our website.
On February 10th, SFPIRG proposed several bylaw changes to guarantee annual board elections and outline the nominations process and voting on candidates at future AGMs. Currently elections occur only when there are more people interested than there are positions. The proposed amendments would have created a nominations process and an opportunity for members to vote on board candidates at annual elections. They were publicized on our website three weeks prior to the AGM. We respect the outcomes of the voting process at our AGM, where they did not pass in large part due to the disruption we experienced. Our next nominations round for the board will be this summer.
We find it hypocritical for a small group of students plotting in secrecy and abusing the platform of democracy to try and remove a critical space of leadership development, social responsibility and empowerment for all students. SFPIRG has championed social and environmental justice at SFU for the past 29 years and we believe the majority of students at SFU share our values around human rights and sustainability. We are surprised by the forcefulness of anti-community sentiment amongst the small group of students organizing against us. Interconnection between campus and community – both of which contextualize and shape students’ lives – is essential for genuine democracy. Students do not exist in a vacuum and the campus is meaningless without the multiple civic spaces that we inhabit in our daily lives.
If you have concerns or questions, come talk to us. Show your support for SFPIRG by signing this statement of endorsement and visit http://iheartsfpirg.ca for more ways to get involved.
In solidarity with you for a more just, sustainable and meaningful world,
Simon Fraser Public Interest Research Group
TC 326, 8888 University Drive
Burnaby, B.C. V5A 1S6
Coast Salish Territories
778-782-4360 (P)
778-782-5338 (F)
www.sfpirg.ca
The site for the Vancouver local of The Media Co-op has been archived and will no longer be updated. Please visit the main Media Co-op website to learn more about the organization.
Comments
Reynolds and Van Maren
What is even more ridiculous is that both of these students contribute to the peak regularly which has similarly been accused of the same things they are accusing the SFPRIG bored member of. As far as I can remember both Reynolds and Van Maren hold some ridiculously conservative views. They are part of a conservative ideological clique that has been trying for the last few years, and somewhat successfully to hi-jack all student run organizations they perceive as 'too liberal.'
Well actually
I've only been at SFU since September of 2009, so I can't claim membership in this 'conservative ideological clique' that has been trying to hijack all student run groups over the last few years.
I'm not against the right to SFPIRG to exist. Without the 'other side', no political views are legitimate. I'm just against them being funded by the public purse, and having ethically bankrupt management practices.
Heres something that will shock you trying to portray this as ideologically motivated: Robert Lutener (the guy SFPIRG supporters followed and threatened after the meeting) used to work for the NDP in Alberta and was involved in two of their election campaigns. Shocking!
From SFPIRG re: recent allegations
Recently, there has been an allegation that threats have been made against an individual who has been publicly critical of SFPIRG. The SFPIRG board and staff wish to make clear that neither we, nor anyone we are aware of, have ever encouraged, planned or undertaken any kind of violence - whether physical or verbal - towards any persons who disagree with or have criticisms of our work as an organization. We do not condone any of the actions or threats that have allegedly been made on our behalf. If anyone has experienced threats or harassment we encourage you to contact campus security or the police.
Hardy har har
I love how when students come together to question why you are unable to justify $140,000 line items on your annual report and then unable to say why you only donated $8,500 to social justice causes that you call them all 'Conservative'. I'm about as far from Conservative as you can get. And yeah, I was followed to the bus stop and told that my legs would be broken, and yeah, someone called me at 3am and threated to BURN MY FUCKING HOUSE DOWN for having a problem with your undemocratic processes and funny accounting. Give me a break with these half baked denials.
And also, Sam and John aren't trying to shut down orgs at SFU and there IS NO CONSERVATIVE CONSPIRACY at SFU. This is a bunch of BS pulled together by people who for the first time in their 29 year history are finally engaging with students because they had a fire lit under their ass.