"Building On" official students' union resources
A slate running in these elections to the University of Manitoba Students' Union (UMSU) executive has its website hosted on the UMSU server itself, possibly in violation of UMSU By-Laws governing elections.
Check out:
Building On, a five-person executive slate headed by incumbent President Garry Sran, has covertly hosted its website on the official UMSU domain name. If you go to www.buildingon.ca - the domain that they want you to visit - and hover your mouse over any one of the links on the left side of the website, then you can see a link to an UMSU-hosted page. However, because buildingon.ca simply hosts buildingon.umsu.ca through HTML Frames, the casual browser may miss this fact.
This is no slate of amateurs:
Check out:
Building On, a five-person executive slate headed by incumbent President Garry Sran, has covertly hosted its website on the official UMSU domain name. If you go to www.buildingon.ca - the domain that they want you to visit - and hover your mouse over any one of the links on the left side of the website, then you can see a link to an UMSU-hosted page. However, because buildingon.ca simply hosts buildingon.umsu.ca through HTML Frames, the casual browser may miss this fact.
This is no slate of amateurs:
- Garry Sran (candidate for President) is the incumbent President, and local representative to the CFS-Manitoba Executive;
- Amanda Jonson (candidate for VP External) is currently the VP Internal of UMSU;
- Mike Einarson (candidate for VP Internal) is currently a member of UMSU Council;
- Rachel Heinrichs (candidate for VP Advocacy) is currently the CFS-Manitoba Treasurer and has been involved in many UMSU committees; and
- Marlo Ostrow (candidate for VP Student Services) has been involved in many UMSU committees and other activities.
Campaigning is restricted to Members of the Union, and no one who is not a Member of the Union shall campaign. No candidate, campaign manager, or volunteer may campaign:Presumably the UMSU website is a "service operated by the Union." UMSU Bylaw 1000 (3) (b) further defines the word "campaign" as including "any planned or organized act by or on behalf of any candidate or registered side which is calculated to gain support for the vote."
a. in a business or service owned or operated by the Union;
b. in a University library; or
c. in a classroom during a class period without first obtaining permission from the instructor responsible for the class, or from the Dean of the Faculty (or Director of the School) in question.
19 Comments:
And what will come out of this?
1) Lame-ass story about how all slates would have gotten the same treatment, if only the CRO would have actually spent some time advertising the fact that elections were taking place (but who ever accused the CRO of being impartial?)
2) Nothing (see above.)
You forgot to mention that the CFS' Ian "The Litiginator" Bikeo will threaten to sue someone (likely the campus press).
Then nothing will happen, except someone will be expected to feel bad, preferably everyone, because the national student conglomerate is getting picked on by fascists or racists or sexists or right-wingers or homophobes (I think that about covers all of the national office staffs preferred ad hominem attack angles for impugning the motives of students 20-30 years their junior).
Or, hmmm.... i'm just going out on a limb here, but maybe, just MAYBE, the umsu offers free webhosting for all the candidate? Did you even ask anyone, titus, or just jump to conclusions as usual?
Actually, it seems to me that unless Titus is one of the anonymous commentators on his own blog, that he didn't draw any conclusion. Or more to the point, he didn't put any conclusions in his blog post, but I'd wager he has one or two that he's keeping to himself. Titus' discretion in posting his own conclusions is actually what makes his blog so powerful - he presents readers with a number of points of fact and lets them reach their own conclusion. Looks like Anonymous Commentator #3 can see where the conclusions on this one are heading.
I looked at the website about this election and didn't see another slate listed. Wouldn't that make this a moot point? Did I miss something?
Also, some studetns societies do make webspace available in the same way that they make poster paper and photocopies available.
I think it's pretty evident that Titus IS assuming a campaign violation was committed here. Why else would he go to all the trouble of saying "these people aren't amateurs". What he means is that they should have known better than to violate their election rules.
Which they probably are not violating.
Providing webhosting on the student union site is a great idea, and I hope other student unions take it on. And I also hope Titus apologizes for jumping to conclusions.
Anon #6: You are fully retarded. Titus clearly did not post a conclusion. The fact that you can't figure that out makes you fully retarded.
^^ LOL!!
I'm sure they will find a mysterious illness to blame it on.
The Bylaws that I quoted clearly indicate that UMSU services cannot be used by election campaigns. The UMSU domain name is an UMSU service.
Also, one has to ask oneself: what possible reason would there be for using an UMSU.ca sub-domain? The "Building On" website content is only 200 KB in size - it would be extremely easy to host that content on buildingon.ca....
There is only one full slate running in the UVSS elections this year! They are also the only slate with a website (www.voteactnow.com) They got around the website rules by giving every candidate a sub domain. They also have colour posters. Do you think this could be the year the power in the UVSS finally changes? Or do you think the slate that is in power right now is just going to find a way to sue, and win anyway, or disqualify the only full slate.
Why do you think something like that would happen? The ACT Now slate seems like a well organized, if somewhat apolitical slate. However, they hardly seem like they are seeking to shake things up at UVic, or bring in any sort of drastic change. Does the other team have a website too?
As a UVic student myself, I think the other poster is just reflecting the viewpoint of many students that those in power will do anything to retain it.
I read the UVSS election rules recently and there are a lot of ways to get disqualified and many rules leave a lot of room for interpretation.
I need not remind this blog of the issues exposed last year.
Ok, so seriously, does no one else think that "in" a student union service or business is different than the internet??? i feel it totally means a business or service such as the health and dental office or the student groups it funds. come on, give me a break...maybe you need to work on your conspiracy theories some more.
also, maybe the su gives free internet space...and if the election people wanted to pay for their own space, it would actually cost students more!!!!
come on titus, how can you be "in" the internet or in the web!?? seriously, it makes no sense.
further, who uses "retarded"...come on seriously!..that term went out with the 80's!!!!
here are a few questions that i have:
1) when did kwantlen students start paying for their student union staff to start interfering in the business of other su elections? you claim the cfs likes to interfer....you're no better!!!!!! plus, students get to vote for the cfs, they don't get to vote for you!!!!
2) how come all your posts are about the cfs? what about the other student group folks...like CASA?....my guess is either they don't matter in student life in Canada, or that you are funded by them!
stop complaining...it seems like the people who whine and bitch about the cfs are the people who students would never elect anyways.
run for election of a student union or shut up, we're tired of hearing about your whineyness.
"how come all your posts are about the cfs? what about the other student group folks...like CASA?....my guess is either they don't matter in student life in Canada, or that you are funded by them!"
Logic class is now in session. This fallacy is called a false dichotomy. Using it makes you look uneducated and your arguments worthless.
Why do I bother arguing with trolls? I'll never learn.
"when did kwantlen students start paying for their student union staff to start interfering in the business of other su elections?"
I blog on my own time, not on my employer's time.
"you claim the cfs likes to interfer....you're no better!!!!!!"
I don't interfere in elections, I simply report and comment on them. I haven't provided any financial, strategic, or logistical support to any candidate.
"plus, students get to vote for the cfs, they don't get to vote for you!!!!"
Your point?
"how come all your posts are about the cfs? what about the other student group folks...like CASA?....my guess is either they don't matter in student life in Canada"
I think that's a fairly accurate assessment.
"...or that you are funded by them!"
CASA hasn't paid me anything.
"stop complaining...it seems like the people who whine and bitch about the cfs are the people who students would never elect anyways."
I was elected in 2004.
"run for election of a student union or shut up, we're tired of hearing about your whineyness."
Then stop trolling on my website....
Then stop trolling on my website....
I second that!
It's funny that an open discourse is such a foreign thing to some CFS-heads that they immediately get all defensive about it. You MUST have some alterior motive to try to destroy the machine! Might it just be an open sharing of thoughts that has you feeling so uneasy? Can CFS not stand up to scrutiny?
As a note, the UMSU elections were uncontested.
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