At 4pm Eastern Time today, history was made at McMaster University. In less than a day, a coalition of students collected the necessary signatures to force their student government to hold an emergency meeting. This is the first time that members of the MSU have envoked their right to require the SRA to meet.
The petition stated the following:
Mr. Ryan Moran
Vice-President Administration – McMaster Students Union
McMaster University Student Centre Room 201
McMaster University
1280 Main Street West, Hamilton, ON, L8S 4S4
Mr. Moran,
We, the undersigned members in good standing (registered in 18 units or more of undergraduate degree courses) of the McMaster Students Union, hereby petition under Article 4.2.4.1 of the MSU Constituition for a meeting of the Student Representative Assembly to be held no later than 10 days after the receipt by you of this petition. Article 4.2.4.1 states:
4.2.4.1. The SRA shall meet within ten days at the call of the Vice President; or on petition to the Vice President of not less than 1% of the MSU membership; or on petition to the Vice President by not less than 10 members of the SRA.
It is your duty under the MSU Constitution to call this meeting. We respectfully request that the meeting be held at 6:30pm on December 10th as it will be on the day of the week and time that the SRA normally meets.
The meeting will be for the purposes of reconsidering the matter of the termination of the Silhouette Executive Editor. We feel this meeting is necessary in light of the statement of Ombuds dated November 29, 2006.
Students have decided they have had enough and we are acting to seek respect for due process. It is time for the SRA to act properly.
The message of students to the SRA is simple; we do not accept your actions. The Speaker of the MSU, membership of the MSU, past MSU Presidents, past Silhouette Executive Editors, and now the McMaster University Ombuds have all told you what happened was wrong. We, the members, were able to grasp that the abuse of power by the BoD was wrong just by taking a simple glance at MSU Policy. Why are you still unable to grasp things? SRA, our message to you is simple. You choose to not act and we the student have.
We will see in the next 10 days what the MSU.