AGM Video Highlights
I should preface this by clarifying that while the title of this entry is “AGM Video Highlights,” the highlights essentially consist of the salvageable clips I pulled off of my camera. I need to point two big problems with the camera:
1) It could not hold more than 4 minutes of footage at a time, after which I had to transfer everything to my computer. Thus, if you are looking for your awesome quip or amazing display of constitutional mastery, I probably missed it.
2) The lighting was atrocious, and the camera is primarily intended for taking pictures, not videos. The audio came out pretty clear, but the only decent video is of poor Mat and the executives, who were standing under sufficient lighting.
All of that said, some footage is better than nothing, right? For those of you who missed out, the following should give you a taste of the atmosphere if nothing else. For an amazing recap of the night, see Jen Bond’s post below (though since it has 100+ comments, I’m sure that you already have!)
Here goes.
Bethany, Greg, and the Fuzz:
Early in the evening, HRM police officers showed up on behalf of the DSU to remove King’s student/Gazette reporter/punditry.ca frequenter Bethany Horne from the meeting. Much drama ensued, as you might imagine. Greg Debogorski was livid, and got himself in a heap of trouble, as you all know. I filmed a few segments of the incident, though the lighting at the back of the room was horrible, and the sound system drowned out much of the dialogue. If you turn up the sound on your computer you should be able to catch most of it.
Moments before this next video, Greg called the students voting to eject Bethany a bunch of Nazis. Guess how that turned out.
The Battle for The McInnes:
After the drama involving the police passed, things continued to heat up. Watch as rival motions duel for student support! Scream in frustration as the camera cuts out in horrible places!
The move to the ballot vote begins, and much uncertainty accompanies it. Out of nowhere, a mystery man with a story to tell challenges the chair. I swear, I wasn’t laughing in the background – it’s just some bizarre static…
The excitement continues as Butterfly man fails to sway the non-high portion of the crowd, and we go to a ballot vote. Jen Bond races against time to find ballots, as apparently the organizers of this AGM failed to anticipate the chance that there might be some controversy over the vote count in a room packed full of 200 angry people voting on highly controversial issues by a show of hands. Go figure.
Finally, the shocking conclusion to the AGM highlight reel. Mark Coffin lets out the beast within!
So there you have it – a night of good wholesome fun. I would encourage everyone to bring cameras of their own on April 1st. Some body armour wouldn`t hurt either.
These videos are valuable resources on a few levels:
a) Mark Coffin says that former DSU executives are in the room: this means that the executive’s decision to exclude non-DSU-card holding students was selective, and possible malicious. Certain people without Dal cards were obviously allowed entry (Ezra Edelstein? Tara Gault? Those of you not kicked out by cops will have to answer these questions). Were these people not dangerous in the same way other non-Dal people could have been, dangerous enough to merit expulsion by 5 police officers? Was it not possible for them, too, to influence the vote of the true union members?
b) Who was that guy that challenged the chair? I think it is reductive to assume he was from NSPIRG: many of those 60ish people that were voting against the NSPIRG motion were not from NSPIRG. Again, John you are a journalist: I expect better methods of verification from you! This isn’t the first time I have noticed you jumping to conclusions on people’s institutional loyalties, when perhaps it is an ideology that you are assigning to them. Either way: ask!
@Beth
As far as I know, Tara is still a Dal student. I’m not sure about Ezra. Yet it is ironic that you accuse someone of jumping to conclusions
@Beth
I think Mark was referring to Jen Bond (former VP Ed, current law student). I saw Ezra in the room at the beginning but he left when the DSU staff asked him to. “Were these people not dangerous in the same way”? Well, no. They left when they were asked.
I think it’s important that we have a system in place for the next AGM (April 1st) so that Journalists can come in (albeit likely sequestered). The Executive was frankly unprepared for the number of people and the polarity of the crowd. Should journalists be allowed in? Yes. Provided they keep out of the discussion, as Bethany likely would (from knowing her). Would the NSPIRG supporters and other people get involved? Probably, but I’d like to give them the benefit of the doubt. Sequester anyone who’s not a DSU member, and if they try to do anything but listen, kick them out. It’s not their time to be represented, it’s ours. I presume the Herald will send someone to the April 1st fireworks too. Should we leave them out? I don’t think so.
Oh, and get a ballot box and numbered ballots. Please.
@Beth
Amy is right. Tara Gault is still a Dal student. Ezra left when he was asked to (no need to get the cops involved there), and I am still a Dalcard carrying, $157 fee paying member of the Union until May.
Having said that. I think that “That Guy” is right. The April 1st meeting should have a section for non-Dal students/media/general masochists. If people get disruptive, they get ejected; end of story. I say this not because I think these people have any “right” to be there, but because I think that appeasing them would lead to a smoother AGM, and quite frankly I just don’t see the harm as long as they behave.
@Beth
1) The only reason you saw the title or the descriptions on any of the Youtube pages was because I couldn’t figure how to embed them into the blog, and I didn’t care to learn at 3:30 am. That particular title reflects my personal opinion that NSPIRG is responsible for everything that is wrong in the world, including malaria and the fact that Big Brother is coming back for another season.
2) Never, ever call me a journalist. No offence to any of the wonderful people from the Gazette reading, but I don’t want to be in that company. I’m a blogger at the moment, and an opinions columnist at the best of times. I’d rather wear my biases on my sleeve than misrepresent them by, I don’t know, writing a one-sided article for the Coast about the Halifax Coalition Against Poverty without including a mention that, you know, I am a participant within the organization and think it is the bee’s knees. Not that I know of anyone who would do that. Just saying.
@John Hillman
Zing!
Just a comment, instead of calling him crazy Butterfly guy.. I believe his name is Cliff..
Just saying…
Not anymore it isn’t.
I thought the butterfly metaphor was an apt one. Just because it went over your head doesn’t mean it went over everyone’s.
You’re right, John: you just proved that you don’t ever deserve the title of journalist, when even verifying comments by making a simple internet search is too much of an effort to demand of you.
To find out what you were talking about, John, I went onto the Coast’s website. Are you talking about these two articles about the opening of a new homeless shelter in Halifax:
http://www.thecoast.ca/halifax/shelter-politics/Content?oid=1081104
http://www.thecoast.ca/halifax/out-in-the-cold/Content?oid=1064767
I ask because the first one doesn’t mention HCAP at all and the second mentions the group in passing, and only as a follow up to a quote from someone named Paul O’Hara. If you’re talking about some other Coast story, maybe you could post a link, because these were the only two articles that came up when I searched ‘Bethany Horne’ on the Coast’s website, and they aren’t about HCAP at all.
Wait a minute, not even a mention that a fee paying Union member was removed without just cause or due process?!?
Like is anyone even reading into the implications of this??
Has anyone read the Dalhousie student code of conduct? Does the Chair not have the sole constitutional authority on this, unless otherwise challenged? Doesn’t anyone see the implications of this?
Since I hate myself I decided to look at the DSU constitution and it seems pretty unclear about who can actually attend a GM. It says that only members can vote, but it talks about “people” all having the right to speak. I assume the relevant section is in the description of council where it says that the Chair can determine what non-councilors are allowed to speak (i.e. of the Chair thinks they can contribute)… in which case, as as chaotic as the meeting was it seems like the chair may have made the right call: he decided people wouldn’t be able to contribute in a helpful way and he allowed a challenge to his decision so that the room could decide. It is shitty, but it seems like the only logical way to proceed given how vague the constitution is.
I certainly sympathize with the NSPIRG folks and as I am sure people like Jen can attest, my politics are much closer to theirs than to the DSU exec’s, but it seems totally reasonable to me that a student union would choose to only allow its membership to speak at a general meeting. I can imagine how annoyed I would be if Dal members of the Dal/King’s Conservatives crashed a KSU General Meeting and tried to speak at it and the two situations are analogous.
Non-member media folks who choose not to interject in the meeting should be allowed to attend, obviously.
That said: people need clean up the GM section of that constitution and until that happens the only way to make decisions regarding who can attend is through a ruling of the chair (and the potential of the floor to challenge the chair).
@Beth
Damn straight it’s too much effort! I’m an educated fool with money on my mind,got my ten in my hand and a gleam in my eye. I’m a loc’ed out gangsta, set trippin’ banger, and my homies is down, so don’t arouse my anger, fool.
(In all fairness, I did actually have to look up those lyrics on Google to make sure I had them right.)
@G.C.
Mea culpa. What I should have said was: “I don’t know, writing a one-sided article for the Coast about a cause that Halifax Coalition Against Poverty saw fit to storm the DCS building on Gottingen street until they had to be removed by police without including a mention that, you know, I am a participant in HCAP and think it is the bee’s knees.”
Again, my bad.
To all of the other haters:
Did I actually write somewhere that the Butterfly guy (AKA Cliff)was crazy, or that his metaphor was a hilarious diversion from the process at hand?
I mean, yes, of course I probably thought both of those things at some point or another, but I wasn’t aware that I wrote them down anywhere.
In conclusion:
I ain’t never crossed a man that didn’t deserve it. Me be treated like a punk? You know that’s unheard of. I’m 23 – will I ever live to see 24? The way things is going I’m not sure.
Oh, I see now – Mike called him crazy, and then linked to this post. How very tech savy of him.
@John Hillman
I have a tough time arguing with a man who quotes Coolio circa 1995, especially if it’s true that John’s been spending most his life living in a gangster’s paradise. You can’t argue with Coolio. One man tried, and one man died.
@G.C.
Yeah, it was a pretty awesome metaphor:
A man comes in with a butterfly. Kid says if it’s alive you will crush it and make a fool of me. If it’s dead you will let it fly away and I’ll still look like a fool. You can do whatever you want with the life of that butterfly. So let’s do what’s right and focus on the people!
Hey, pass that shit over here man.
Butterfly metaphor. “Went over your head.” Puns are the lowest form of humour, sir.
@Gregory Djuiosdjiosdski
It’s true, the Chair has the authority to remove individuals from a General Meeting.
However, he does not have the sole authority to ask people to leave the Student Union Building. I quote from page 2 the DSU Facilities and Operations Policy under the heading “Operations: Acceptable Behaviour”:
Could you expand on your reference to the Dalhousie University Code of Student Conduct?
How does that cover what occurred? “their presence is unwarranted; if they are creating a disturbance”???
“in the opinion of the Student Union”.. This would suggest you need an general agreement by the Union?
This is the best executive authority evidence that can be provided for last AGM’s occurence?
What about fee paying, Union members??? It is overly ambiguous and indirect.
@G.C.
Nothing brings people together like Coolio circa the mid 90s. That’s my personal motto, actually. It’s like he said at a concert in Texas on November 15, 1996: “I have a lot of respect for the Navajo Nation.”
Wise words indeed.