Mongeau played a controversial role in the recent UTSU elections. He posted a confrontational video on YouTube showing a Ryerson Students’ Union (RSU) exec campaigning on behalf of the Stronger Together slate. In reaction to the video, the UTSU election’s Chief Returning Officer issued 25 demerit points to the Change slate based on harassment from a “non-arm’s-length party.” This compelled Change to publicly distance themselves from Mongeau.
A few days after the cease and desist email was sent, UTSU held an open forum on the state of the Student Commons project in a University College classroom. Mongeau defied the cease and desist by attending the meeting. Forty-five minutes after the scheduled start of the meeting, outgoing UTSU President Sandy Hudson announced that it was cancelled due to “unforeseeable circumstances.” An attendance list went around to the approximately 35 attendees asking for their names, affiliated organizations, and email addresses. Then the meeting dispersed. Within half an hour, telephone calls went out to a select group of attendees to notify them that the meeting would reconvene immediately at the Graduate Students’ Union basement at 16 Bancroft.
Mongeau caught wind of the new location and entered the basement partway through the meeting. Campus police were contacted and a recess was called. Police came and talked to Mongeau privately before escorting him out of the building. The basement door was subsequently locked.
Regnier’s cease and desist request was not a formal injunction against Mongeau. It was not sent to him through UTSU’s lawyers, but was upheld by the campus police. UTSU refused to comment on their harassment claims. Campus police and the university administration have also officially declined to comment.
In the spirit of our Q&A issue, the newsmagazine hoped to provide a platform for UTSU to respond to Mongeau’s questions. Mongeau denies UTSU’s claims of harassment, stating that UTSU’s unwillingness to answer his questions is symptomatic of their opacity. the newsmagazine sent Mongeau’s queries to UTSU with a disclaimer that they do not represent the views of our paper and that the organization should take the opportunity to correct any possibly misleading information. UTSU President Adam Awad’s response: “I am not in a position to debate with Mr. Mongeau at this time.” (Note: The explanations in brackets following the questions were also written by Antonin Mongeau):
How much money was put into the Clubs Funding Rollover fund this year? (During the 2008-09 elections VP Internal & Services Adnan Najmi promised the establishment of a roll-over fund for clubs funding. He later confirmed that the fund was in fact operational beginning this year. The fund would presumably house any unused moneys from one year to increase the next year’s budget. Clubs are chronically underfunded, and the smaller ones have a tendency not to pick up their second and third instalments, meaning that of the purported $180K allocated for clubs, less than $100K actually went out the door. Where is the rest?)
Where will the Student Commons actually be?
If a democracy had a 100% incumbency rate, wouldn’t you say it needed drastic electoral reform to introduce more democratic accountability? (The incumbents have never lost an election since the CFS took over in 2002. No functioning democracy has a similar incumbency rate.)
How often does the UTSU use police to silence dissent?
What proof do you have that Antonin Mongeau is harassing you?
Given that Antonin’s attendance at UTSU meetings and events on University property has been sanctioned by both the police and the administration, how long can you continue to hide in the GSU basement?
