Slew-footing the SFSS
Matthew De Marchi
I feel competently disillusioned from this whole outcry and I know I’m not alone. I’ve been attentively following the e-mail spam and campus media and I am a concerned student. Unfortunately, as more time passes I’ve come to the realisation that I can’t trust the accusations being thrown around. The amount of rhetoric and speculations coming from some of my fellow students is disgusting.
First, I was told graduate students’ personal information had been accessed and compromised. I now know this isn’t true. I was then told that the health/dental plan was in jeopardy. I now know that those students’ coverage was never affected at any point.
I also heard the executive committee had done things it shouldn’t in firing an employee. However, I have come to understand it was the director in charge of staff relations who made the decision and that people in this position can, and do make these decisions.
One of the stupider things said is that the student society is “hiding” behind the confidentiality agreement with their staff. If your boss received a complaint on you or had a reason to suspend someone you work with, you don’t want them to just tell everyone about how it’s discovered or why your friend has been fired or been given a warning or whatever. It doesn’t have to do with transparency — this is someone’s job. Who’d want to hire someone if their last boss spilled the beans on their personnel files?
This stuff is confidential for a reason. Staff could sue for that, and we, as students, would be on the hook. I think the student society would probably be pretty relieved to get the chance to say their piece, especially when the Georgia Straight quotes their labour lawyer saying it would have been “negligent” for them not to have taken actions when and how they did.
There is an amazing amount of political misinformation being thrown around. But there is also a lack of information coming from the SFSS. It is unfortunate that the web of lies is clouding the legitimate concerns that are being raised. I’ve talked with people on both sides and I’ve come to one resounding conclusion: I’d rather hear the truth in time than be fed pure bullshit today.