By Вen Li
Almost two months after Students’ Union Academic Commissioner Gavin Preston commented about commissioner remuneration, he will face a hearing on charges of breaking SU bylaws. Scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Tuesday September 10 in Council Chambers, the hearing may determine if Preston is responsible and impose sanctions, or refer the matter to a Review Board.
At issue are Vice-President Academic Rosie Nagra’s allegations that Preston over-reported the number of hours he worked in June, and was hence overpaid by Nagra.
Nagra wrote in her application for a hearing:
"As a member of SLC, Gavin Preston took an oath of office… By seeking hisown personal interests, he has not fulfilled his duty to protect the interest of all members," wrote Nagra to Hearing Chair Irene Enyedy. "Your [sic] deci-sion to provide a false account of hours in your remuneration report and to ‘charge the SU as much as you [sic] can’ based on a personal grievance is a violation of… bylaws."
"It is also important to note that it is students who pay our salary, thus any theft or fraud from this organization is that of one from students," wrote Nagra later in the application.
For the month of June, Preston was paid $250 out of a maximum of $300 by Nagra. Preston claimed a total of 51hours worked; 20 on the pipe smoking resolution for which he received about twice the average remuneration.
"The pipe smoking thing. I’ll be honest. I exaggerated on how long I worked on that. Those who actually read my report would know that I did exaggerate on that very much," Preston said at the July 23 SLC meeting. "The reason why I did that was because I was rather angry about it and I just said ‘You know what, I’m going to charge the SU as much as I can for that…’ I wanted three hundred dollars because I had to screw around with pipe smok-ing when it should have taken fifteen minutes."
Nagra said since commissioners are not employees, the su does not formally track the hours they work. Also, according to Nagra, she relies on the her commissioners’ honesty to determe the amount of remuneration paid.
"While reviewing Gavin Preston’s [June] honoraria report, I noted that he spent a considerable amount of time in General Involvement andParticipation in slc with twenty hours dedicated to formulating and researching a pipe-smoking resolution… It is important to note an exaggeration of the hours spent completing any activity would have also resulted in an exaggeration of the remuneration," Nagra wrote in the application.
Nagra declined to state how many hours she thinks Preston worked in June, only that he did not work exactly 53 hours. She claimed the proceedings are strictly about the hours Preston reported but her application discusses subjects unrelated to remuneration, such as Preston’s acclamation and a personal e-mail about internal su politics.
"Gavin is a leader of this organization, trusted with so much power that his actions have tarnished the reputation of the entire su," she said Wednesday. "By taking this one incident very seriously to the slc, it sets the tone that this is something we don’t stand for."
Preston, whose eccentric style of argument is unpopular with some other slc members, feels he is being singled out and denied a chance to defend himself.
"I can’t get help from Student Legal Assistance until September 16," said Preston on Tue., Sept 3. "I have an appointment on September 23 but the hearing is on September 10. I asked today in Executive Cabinet if I could get an extension of time for this but I got no cooperation.
"I got the notice of hearing on (Thursday) Aug. 29. They had a month to prepare. I don’t have time to seek legal counsel or do anything. I have until Thursday (September 5) to compose and submit a legal response if I want to," said Preston.
Nagra’s August 16 application recommending three actions: disqualification from SLC and SAA (impeachment); compel Preston to submit a formal written apology to those two bodies published in the Gauntlet; compel Preston to submit "an honest account of his hours to his vp Academic for the month of June" and repay differences in remuneration as assessed by the SU Executive. Members of the hearing may choose any or all of the above sanctions.
"If you’re going to impeach me, at least give me these two weeks back. It’s only fair that I get this time," said Preston. "The Chair of the Committee of Hearing [SU VP Events Irene Enyedy] said to me ‘You were not supposed to find out about that [the filing].’ I wasn’t supposed to find out about proceedings against me?"
Nagra maintained that she acted appropriately.
"That’s something we’re doing according to the bylaws," said Nagra on Wednesday. "The bylaws prescribe 48 hours written notice and we’ve given him more than that."
Preston also expressed concerns about the way students were notified of the upcoming proceedings. An 8.5-by-11 inch Notice of Hearing was posted on the SU office window on Thursday August (most recent), giving interested participants until Tuesday afternoon to apply to intervene. As all undergraduate students pay su fees, Preston felt that they would have a legitimate interest in intervening on a matter concerning the use of those fees.
"She [Nagra] has accused me of stealing money, so it affects all students. Every student has a right to intervene if they want to," he said. "Its obvious from the short notice given that they didn’t want any interveners."
Currently, over 22,300 undergraduates attend the U of C. A $250 remuneration would cost $0.0112 per undergraduate student–roughly 13.5 cents per year.