Comments on: UTMSU denies a student attendance at CFS meeting

By: Rohit Mehta

Rohit Mehta — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 21:59:22 +0000

I don’t see why Stefanie Marotta should be denied participation in the conference, if she has taken the initiative to represent students and speak up for us, then she should be given a chance.
I don’t see a long line-up of students who are willing to attend a CFS event to ensure that UTM’s voices are heard.
In the article, I liked this: “I dont understand how we can eliminate differences by creating more differences among students.”

By: Anthony

Anthony — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 22:58:50 +0000

I think the solution to this problem would have been simple. Remember what happened in June of last year? If Marottas had decided to play in traffic and get arrested, UTMSU would be more than willing to pay up to $1000 in expenses, easily covering the extra $75 charge.

http://mediumonline.ca/2009/06/25/utmsu-pays-legal-fees/

Diversity is not diversity if someone is racially excluded. Hopefully the new UTMSU executive body will know that.

By: Berkha

Berkha — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 03:35:32 +0000

While I understand the need for student leaders to attend the conference to represent students and the need for diversity, excluding someone over the extra cost of $75 as they don’t fit into a minority caucus group, is a form of discrimination in itself and a bad excuse for saving money.

I doubt the student population would deny someone attendance at a conference for reasons that they were a member of the general student population (instead of a leader at UTMSU) and because they were not getting a discounted rate as a minority group. I applaud UTMSU’s recent work in representing minority groups but discrimination against an individual of Caucasian background, is still discrimination. Subsidies are created to assist individuals that otherwise would not attend; they are not intended to exclude individuals to attend that dont meet the subsidy requirements. This defies the whole purpose of a subsidy.

By: Laurel

Laurel — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 03:38:20 +0000

Unbelievable. Ssali for President next year (though without the support of the current President, he unfortunately won’t have a chance). It’s time to start a true change at UTM, to find true representation for the students. After years of nepotism, it’s time to say goodbye to the Khogali group and welcome in some fresh faces with no ties to past administration.
UTM needs a student council that is concerned with the actual needs of students, a student council which recognises each student’s opportunity to participate in affairs which concern them. Ms. Marotta paid her dues to the CFS (as we ALL did) and shouldn’t have been turned away because of her affiliations or her race. Being a part of the Medium doesn’t show that she can’t represent students as well as an “elected student leader”. We all know elections at UTM are a joke anyway. Marotta’s involvement with the Medium actually adds to the case that she should have been sent to the meeting. As assistant news editor and UTMSU stakeholder, I imagine that Ms. Marotta is well informed about student priorities and would be well suited to represent her fellow students at such a meeting. She shows a keen interest in student politics, and her different background (and perhaps a fresh perspective) could have been an asset to the AGM.

By: Mary

Mary — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 03:24:11 +0000

Sad.