A week after students at Langara College narrowly approved three controversial referendum measures, the Langara Students' Union says its intentions have been misunderstood.
"We will do a recount," LSU media liaison Gurbax Leehl told the Courier. "We welcome all inquiries because we have nothing to hide."
The referendum was to approve sweeping changes to the bylaws of the LSU, which represents students at the college located on West 49th Avenue near Cambie. Critics say these changes would bar students from attending student society board meetings, prevent in-camera meeting minutes from being taken, and prevent students from making copies of student union records.
In two of the referendum questions, the number of spoiled ballots was larger than the margin of victory. For the resolution dealing with the most controversial measures, 661 votes were cast, with 75 percent of votes in favour needed to win. It passed by just 19 votes, with 11 spoiled ballots. The other resolutions were to extend the terms of some councillors. The second resolution passed by eight votes with 30 spoiled ballots, and the third passed by two votes with 28 spoiled ballots.
The LSU will hold a full board meeting next Monday, where board members will vote on ratifying the results of the referendum. Students unhappy with the electoral process and outcome plan to attend, and they are now exploring many options, ranging from demanding a recount to a cancellation of the result.
Leehl added that the true purpose of the bylaw changes have been much misunderstood and she strongly disputed reports by the Courier and Langara's student newspaper, the Voice.
"The LSU has been horribly bashed and given a bad reputation they do not deserve," she said.
Leehl said the bylaw is intended to bar the general public, but not students, from meetings, and that many of the contested points are not new and exist in the LSU's 1969 bylaws. She said those provisions are merely being carried forward in the newest edition of the bylaws. Leehl added that scrutineers from groups opposed to the changes were invited to observe the count but did not attend.
Others objected that students barely understood what they were voting for. The ballot states that the changes were needed to "enable LSU members to hold council to a higher level of accountability." Some campaigners said the changes would have the opposite effect, and the details from the separate 30-page bylaw document were not described on the ballot. Leehl responded that the LSU had consulted students widely and all the bylaws changes were posted online long before the election.
The proposals have roused much debate on campus. The quorum (the minimum number of people required to make a vote official) is 150 voters, or just 1.5 percent of the 9,000 students in the society. Each semester, the LSU collects $390 in mandatory fees from every student, for an income of more than $2 million per year.
The B.C. Society Act, which governs the LSU, is undergoing a review in Victoria. Legislation to amend or replace the Act is targeted for 2013 at the earliest.
