., -...—,_ p a . \“AA L45“

they were reported in two consecutive; issues.

During the ensueingfdis- cussions there were seVeral sugestions as to how we could resolve the sitution. President Baker suggested that the "easiest",thing was tocconduct the meeting without either one of them. I then reminded him that we were not here to do what is' easiest' 7 .but what was right. Father Jim Kelly, Andy Robb, and Gary Webster among others suggested two , compromises. One was that we have a unaminious vote recognizing Doug Smith as Senator andthe second was ‘_ that we conduct the meeting contingent on legal advise. In other words they sugges—~ ,ted that we let Doug s

“And/Our

According to the Univers— ity Act, among the members of the Senate of the Univer- fity are inve members of the student body of the maversity elected in such'

in the duly approved Consti- Umion of the student body" and "the President of the StUdents' Union, in the' eVent that he has not other- 186 been elected t9 the §enate." Last year, I was Informed by the Student Ouncil that Marilyn MacPhe— Son had been duly elected to Senate; When I arrived

to Chair the Senate meeting n Wednesday, Februrary 19, Was told that there was new member, Doug Smith.

S Chairmangof Senate, I had

on Senate and risk wasting 2-3 hours. The majority_of Senate appeared to agree with this proposal but Ba-; vker refused to listen and vasked for a motion of ad-

' journment. I asked senate not to move this motion but rit was moved by Jean MacKay and seconded by Regis Duffy. Baker almost immediately brought it to a vote. The* motion was defeated. Pres- ident Baker then ignored ‘the defeat and declared the meeting adjourned. Whenever the chair makes such a rue ling it is subject to chal— lenge from the floor and if so must be voted on. ‘Beli— ving to be completely out

- of order, I challenged the

ruling whereupon President

Baker stood up and said he

“A

manner as shall be set forth“

maurtlectedrresment ‘ lSllmReq’uires Tliut | Tell Him About'l'llo Chunge’

received no resignation

was going home: He packed up his papers and began to I leave as did a handful of othfirJSenators. I asked him if he was refusing to lis— sea to a challenge and he 'repeated "I'm going home". I called the meeting to or- der in an attempt to sal- vage a quorum and elect a chairman from within in the remaining group of Senators

Fourteen members are requi— ' red for a quorum and when

it looked that one flight be obtained Baker returned and stated that he would claim the chair,if it was obtain- ed. The meeting then dis- integrated because it could have gone on.all night with Baker declaring it adjOur— ned (illegally) and us re— cieving a quorum, him re-

ppointed One

«

‘view that Marilyn MacPherson.

from Marilyn MacPherson, and was still a member of the

AI had not been informed

that the Student Union had removed her from the vice-

. presidency, nor had.I been

informed that the Student

:Union did not want her on

the'Senate.

As the President of the University, I am very much concerned about the freedom from pressure of members

7 of the Senate and the Board

of Governors. In the past, we have seen elsewhere gove— rnments change board members

'because the university was - not doing what the governm—

ent happened to wish; I feel therefore, that the drafters of our Act and the governm- ent of the province were wise in not including in

the Act provisions for rec— all of Senate members by

'those bodies that elect,

them. Above all, a univers- ity should be a place to

protect unpopular opinions. If we cannot live with an unpopular opinion until someone comes up for re—ele— ction or re—appointment, there is something wrong with us. . Consequently, I said that as chairman it was my

ISenate. I also said to Doug vSmith that if he wanted to

‘speak at any point I would, recognize him and allow him?

V tomjoin in the discussion.

a When it became quite clear

Zihat'thererwas disagreement "as to which of the students

was in fact a member of;the Senate, especially in view of the fact that a number of people agreed that there was a problem, I tried to proceed with the business by suggesting that neither of the students sitafor that particular meeting. That, however, proved unacc-- eptable. "

Since the legality of a somewhat similar action involving a Senate committee LWaschallenged this year, I was particularly anxious that there be no possibility of dispute over the legality of the membership. Conseque— ntly, I said that I would

like to consult the University

lawyer. It was suggested

that Senate vote on the

matter. In my view, however,

this is a legal question,

and is not solved by the

unanimous vote of the Senate. I was reluctant to leave

\

.The Cadre, Feb. 25, 1925, page 11

turning and reclaiming the chair and declairing it adjourned again.

As it stands now, the

meeting is open—ended. It

fhasn't been officially:ad- journed but President baker

has called for the 8th meeting of Senate on Tues- day night at 7:15 in Kelley ' Memorial Library. This in fact will still'be the 7th ,meeting (part two) and not the beginning of the 8th. Both President Baker and myself have checked with our lawyers and will have their opinions on the mat- ter for Tuesday's continu- ation of the seventh meet- ing.

Sincerely, - Gordon Campbell, Pres, U.P.E.I.S.U.

RiolixB'uker-Flflad Not Been lnformed’

the Senate, particularly when a motion to adjourn had been lost (12 opposed to adjournment; 10 in favor) but,I did not feel that I could continue to be in a meeting where the legality of the membership was in question.

mHad Marilyn MacPherson resigned and Doug Smith been elected by the Student bddy in the normal way, there would have been no problem at all. As it was, however, I had no resignat- ion on the one‘hand; and I had had no notice of a change in the Constitution and election on the other hand. g

The principle involved is extremely important. If the

“government, Holland College,

the Student Union, the facu— lty can remove members of the governing bodies of the University in mid-term, especially without notice

or resignation, we may on some important issue one

.day find ourselves in seri-

Ous difficulty.

R.J. Baker President

Feb 20, 1975