January 14th, 2012
Over five thousand students vote in the fall elections, McGill Administration ignores the student vote
The McGill Administration has announced that it will refuse to observe the results of a recent student referendum confirming McGill students’ support for CKUT Radio 90.3 FM, as well as for the Quebec Public Interest Research Group (QPIRG) at McGill.
In a referendum conducted by the Student Society of McGill University (SSMU), students voted 72.3% in favour of continuing to support CKUT and 65.6% in favour of continuing to support QPIRG McGill. Quorum was exceptionally high for a fall referendum with a 24.7% voter turnout, equivalent to 5245 undergraduate students.
In a joint letter to CKUT and QPIRG McGill, the McGill Administration stated that the questions were “unclear and as such, will not provide McGill’s Board of Governors the assurance necessary to approve renewal of your agreement with the University”.
“The question was crystal clear,” says Carol Fraser, the SSMU representative on CKUT’s Board. “It asked students directly if they agreed to pay a fee that could not be opted-out of online, and they said yes. McGill students knew exactly what they were voting for.” CKUT’s question was vetted by the SSMU Council and met the standards of Elections McGill. QPIRG McGill obtained over 500 signatures from 7 faculties following the regulations for a student initiated question, and both questions were endorsed by the SSMU and the AUS.
The system of online opt-outs was imposed unilaterally by the McGill Administration in 2007, ignoring objections from campus groups regarding this violation of student autonomy. In 2007, a SSMU General Assembly motion and subsequent student referendum called upon the Administration to put an end to the online opt-out system. Both the motion and the referendum passed, but both results were ignored by the McGill Administration.
CKUT and QPIRG McGill consider the online opt out a threat to their existence. “It is impossible to manage our finances in a responsible fashion if we are not able to predict an important source of revenue,” stated Louise Burns, member of CKUT’s Board of Directors and Finance Committee. “The online opt outs have also prompted unregulated negative campaigning, including the spread of mis-information by anonymous opponents. This creates a toxic environment without any benefit to public dialogue and deliberation. The ease of online opt -outs means that all students groups have to fight for their existence every term during the opt out period at the expense of developing services and programs for students. We believe students are sympathetic to this and this is why the results were overwhelming in our favor. We are very discouraged by the Administrations refusal to acknowledge the results”
Anna Malla, a staff member of QPIRG McGill, stated that “this attempt to undermine independent thinking and free expression, coupled with what appears to be a total disregard for the democratic wishes of McGill students, is disappointing from an institution that is supposedly committed to upholding these very principles.”
QPIRG McGill and CKUT are dismayed by the University Administration’s complete lack of regard for the student vote, and are consulting members to decide how to move forward.