Student union going bare bones

By Graeme McNaughton/The Oshawa Express

The elected president of the student union at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology and Durham College has been placed on leave pending an internal investigation in the latest of a string of issues for the group.

This comes at the same time that the association announces it will be suspending many of its day-to-day operations to conduct an internal review following several resignations, lawsuits and issues with the board of directors.

“We had a few issues with our board, a few members resigned, and after that, after the resignations, we couldn’t meet the minimum requirements from (Durham College), so we had our fees withheld,” says Vianney Nengue, the association’s interim president, speaking to three Durham College board directors resigning after the board put the associations president and vice-president of university affairs on leave, pending an investigation “regarding internal issues.”

“We thought that if this keeps happening, we need to take a look at the association and see what’s wrong with the process itself.”

Nengue says that at this time, he is unable to elaborate as to why the president and vice-president of university affairs are being investigated, but that the student association will be discussing it publicly once the probe – which is being handled by an outside group – is concluded. The interim president adds that the plan is for the investigation to be concluded before by-elections in October.

When students return to school next month, the student association will be running a bare bones operation, minimalizing its non-essential services so that it can conduct an internal review.

However, an issue that could plague the future of the student association is the fact that Durham College has stated it will be severing ties with the group, citing on going issues.

“In May 2016, Durham College notified the Student Association (SA) that it will be ending the relationship between the college and the SA effective May 2017 (one year’s notice). The decision was based on the continued challenges being faced by the SA including its ongoing violation of its by-laws,” an emailed statement from Durham College reads.

“The issues that led to that decision have not been resolved and the college continues to have concerns about the SA’s ability to effectively represent Durham College students. In particular, the SA’s ability to manage student fees. At this time, the SA has experienced several resignations from its board resulting in fees being collected by Durham College and held in trust with the college ensuring the key financial responsibilities of the SA are covered.”

“Not popular with students”

While issues have come to a head in the past few months, with allegations of some elected to the student association colluding with the varsity program at Durham College to get elected, Nengue says that the problems go much deeper than that.

“I know people keep saying there was possible collusion, but it didn’t happen. And the issues with the student association stem from before the election,” he says.

“There are a lot of issues that plague our association in general. We have low voter turnout, our (annual general meetings) are poorly attended. Our AGM, a lot of students walked out because they felt like they weren’t being represented.”

Nengue says the student association has run into problems in recent years getting the group they are meant to represent involved.

“We are not the most popular with students right now. We have very low engagement with the students, so we want to find out what exactly the students want from the association,” he says.

“We’re taking this as an opportunity to take a look, top to bottom, and see what the (student association) actually is, how to better represent students and what the issues are that have kept getting our fees withheld.”

Nengue says going forward, the student association needs to be changed, and one of the things he would like to see going forward is that the group remember that it represents more than just the students at the schools’ main campuses in Oshawa.

“I’m a Whitby student. I come from a satellite campus. The whole reason I ran for the SA was because I felt like my campus wasn’t represented at all,” he says.

“We have very limited SA services at my campus, and the students don’t see any benefits from the SA. We’re trying to make it where it’s more equal, where students at the satellite campuses would see a benefit.”