A group of students on campus has begun working on the creation of a new student union. Going by the name University of Ottawa Students’ Union, the group hopes to be on a student referendum ballot in November.
SFUO
The SFUO announced that three executives will vacate office, and their intention to continue operations in light of the university’s contract termination notice.
In a statement released on Sept. 25, the University of Ottawa announced that they have given the Student Federation of the University of Ottawa (SFUO) official notice of termination of the contract held between the SFUO and the university administration.
In a document recently obtained by the Fulcrum, the University of Ottawa administration has said that they expect the resignation of all SFUO members involved in the recent fraud allegations until the completion of a forensic audit.
The SFUO held their monthly Board of Administration meeting to discuss the ratification of the constitutional committee’s choice of forensic auditor, a letter received from former SFUO president, Hadi Wess, and the announcement of an executive’s resignation.
Around 50 students gathered in front of the SFUO office on Sept. 6 to protest and call for impeachment of the SFUO executives named in recent fraud allegations.
The resolution, pertaining to the forensic audit, would ensure that results from the audit cannot be used in a prosecution unless approved by the BOA. Further, the board would call upon Wess to pay the federation $994 in external legal fees by Oct. 1.
“Allegations against Dorimain range from fraudulent use of SFUO funds under the guise of office cleaning and the catering of the SFUO Leader Action event on April 28, while Rachiq is accused in the report of possibly forging the certification of a “faulty” club called Testing Restaurants UOttawa and claiming funds for personal use.”
The petition, spearheaded by Lucie Atangana, a first-year political science student at the U of O and resident of the Henderson building, calls for the move out date to be pushed back to May 1.
The SFUO held their monthly Board of Administration meeting, where they voted on motions that were presented at the General Assembly (GA) on March 13, and one motion that was not presented at the GA due to time constraints.
Following the Student Federation of the University of Ottawa’s latest Board of Administration meeting, U of O president Jacques Frémont condemned the string of BDS motions put forward to the SFUO.
A video shortly began circulating on Facebook that showed Dorimain forcibly removing ballots from the students’ hands who were accused of cheering. By Thursday morning, the video had over 6,500 views and 40 shares.
This is the second time in four years that the GA has met quorum, likely due to the controversial motion on the agenda calling for the SFUO to endorse the Boycott, Divest, Sanctions (BDS) movement.
The elections committee further took measures to “restore faith in the elections office,” like making sure ballots were stored in a locked storage room off campus and that multiple people were counting each ballot.
Leblanc believes that “this is most likely a hacking scheme related to Amazon and not an elaborate and costly prank on Canadian student unions.”
The unofficial results for the 2018 general election of the Student Federation of the University of Ottawa (SFUO) are in, following voting from Feb. 7-9.
Students from federated bodies, clubs, and services on campus have come forward with allegations against the Student Federation of the University of Ottawa, ranging from poor management to misallocation of budgets.
On Wednesday, Jan. 31, and Thursday, Feb. 1, candidates for this year’s general election for the Student Federation of the University of Ottawa (SFUO) went head to head in the annual debates.
In the wake of another year of low student engagement and budget concerns, the Student Federation of the University of Ottawa (SFUO) has modified executive positions and roles for the next academic year.
The board saw a motion regarding just cause for absence of certain members at the Dec. 3 meeting that read: “Be it resolved, that the VP finance, president, and VP equity give the board of administration just cause for their absences at the December 3 meeting.”
There are 13 candidates vying for the six executive positions, which have been restructured and renamed following a governance review motion at the Nov. 5 BOA meeting.
The board saw a motion to lobby to create a Dean’s honour list ceremony for students in the Faculty of Health Sciences. According to the motion, such a ceremony would give students in the faculty recognition, as well as a strong addition to their CV.
The first motion detailed caps on SFUO executive salaries, which was met with applause by many in the room, and the second outlined the need for student involvement in course curriculums.
Bader said she wants to run in the upcoming election, though she did not say which executive position she was running for. She added that she was “blindsided” by the news that under current rules, she would not be allowed to run.
The BOA’s disciplinary committee found that Dorimain had a U-Pass despite not being qualified for one. However, the committee said it was obtained under special circumstances, taken from a group of passes that were not distributed due to errors.
