The Crow's Eye

A critical analysis of the current state of the Mount Saint Vincent University Student Union.

[msvucrowseye-blog]

Democracy Dies in Darkness

It’s about time.

You know, far too few students get involved in the MSVUSU on this campus, as proven by our  2018 General Election. As Political Studies students at the Mount, this is upsetting. On the executive, our first-term President (and sometimes classmate), Nikki Jamieson ran unopposed, as did the VP Communication, Erin Murray.

A number of SRC candidates also ran unopposed. 

We also recall that voter turnout was very low. Perhaps that is why there is no record to be found of the 2018 General Election on the MSVUSU website (or at least in a place that’s easy to access). So low in fact, that one of our fellow students specifically asked about turnout in the comments of that post. The comment went unanswered and still is as of the writing of this post.

The lack of ownership, clarity and transparency is embarrassing to say the least.

So, why the beef? Why now? Why have we waited so long to speak out? 

Truthfully, this has been brewing for over a year, but...

Here we are, in the middle of faculty negotiations. What we are lead to believe is that the university and the faculty aren’t seeing eye-to-eye. 

Our MSVUSU has taken an unequivocal stand with, and in support of the faculty. Not once were we as students asked if this was our preferred position. According to the most recent minutes of the SRC, it wasn’t even discussed there. The student population at-large hasn’t been provided with any information from our MSVUSU executive that would allow us to make such an informed choice. We’ve been largely kept in the dark.

This was our last straw.

Don’t get us wrong, for we love our professors, we really do. They’re amazing people, and they will be a large part of the reason why we have success in life. But, having a love for your professors and blindly (we assume, since no information has been presented to make us feel otherwise) taking their side in a financial negotiation that will long-impact the stability of MSVU are separate ideas, and should be treated as such. 

We’ll address all of this, and many other topics not related to these negotiations in later posts. 

Seeing a void in student journalism on this campus, a group of us have decided to take the MSVUSU to task over their lack of transparency, and imposition of their ideals/personal positions on our student body. As Political Studies students in a society built on a democratic foundation, this goes against everything we should stand for.

In the words of the Washington Post:

Democracy dies in darkness.

There’s no doubt that this executive prefers a student body in the dark, and a student body that’s quiet.

That’s about to change.