conservatives + university administrators + yorku= same old story..

george w. bush famously said:

"there's "an old saying in tennessee-i know it's in texas, probably in tennessee-that says, fool me once, shame on-shame on you. fool me-you can't get fooled again."

we don't always all agree with a lot of what bush did, or any of it, but i think we can all agree that he's right on this one. maybe once we get fooled, we should stop getting fooled by the same thing over and over and over.

case in point, as always, york university.

according to CNW, some intrepid students secured emails through a freedom of information request which revealed the conservative(surprise!) MP peter kent, MPP peter shurman, and "senior york university administrators" had been interfering in the york federation of students election(yfs) this year.

the yfs election was no picnic. it was tense and some people played dirty but in the end it seemed that the right person had won and maybe all would be well at yorku for a little while longer.

we all knew that certain people had certain affiliations with certain administrative offices, but maybe we didn't realize the extent to which certain people were involving themselves in a student election.

according to the report:

"During the elections, Robert Tiffin, York University's Vice-President Students, warned the students' union not to disqualify candidates who were caught violating the elections rules because the University and members of Parliament "werewatching the election closely." MP Peter Kent was later found to have assigned a key staff member to intervene in the election on behalf of a team of candidates. Both politicians appeared to ask if York would throw out the results, despite no evidence of wrongdoing or any authority to do so."

what the fucking fuck?!

the president of the YFS, Krisna Saravanamuttu, stated:

"The York Administration and members of the Conservative Party have no right or authority to interfere in the elections of the students' union simply because they disagree with student criticisms of their policies... University administrators and Conservative politicians interfering in student elections is like an employer attempting to select union representatives. Their objective in silencing opposition is quite obvious here."

sing it, Saravanamuttu.

apparently the emails revealed "persistent inquiries from key political staff on behalf of mpp shurman and mp kent about the results" of the YFS elections but what is most troubling is that this isn't really an isolated incident but is just another development in a series of incidents involving politicians and the university.

earlier this year, a conservative mp was recorded giving a talk to students on how conservative students could set up "front groups" on campus that seemed progressive but really use them to
advance the conservative party agenda and undermine actual progressive groups on campus.(read more about that ----> still think we're paranoid?)


Saravanamuttu also stated that "students have the democratic right to choose their own representatives without the university administration and the Conservative Party interference... tax-payers would be pretty shockedto learn that their money is being used in this way."

i agree, but also, students and taxpayers need to start demanding action when their democratic rights and tax dollars are being overturned and abused.

i think robert tiffin's request that a party breaking the election rules not be disqualified is enough to demand his resignation over.

i also think that the conservative party should be answering for their seediness and interfering.

robert tiffin: rjtiffin@yorku.ca

president shoukri: presidnt@yorku.ca(yes, it's spelled without the 'e')

MP peter kent: kentp@parl.gc.ca

MPP peter shurman: http://petershurman.com/home/index.php?option=com_contact&Itemid=3

stephen harper: pm@pm.gc.ca

email tiffin and shoukri, ask why they think it's acceptable or at all appropriate to interfere in a student election. why is it alright to not demand that participating parties follow election rules?
why do they feel like they can do this with impunity?

email kent and shurman, and ask them the same thing. what makes them think they have any right to be involved in a student election at york university? do their children attend the university? my guess is that, no, they don't. so maybe they can explain it to us.

email stephen harper and ask why he's let the conservative party get so out of control and what he plans to do about it.

i'm with george w. bush on this one: fool us once, that's your fault.. but, once we've been fooled, you can't fool us again.