As [SU President Dalmy] Baez stated in her Feb. 26 2009 Gauntlet Opinion piece [“Letter from the SU prez: Why Campus Pro-Life was de-sanctioned”], Campus Pro-Life has recently been desanctioned by the Students’ Union; an organization designed to protect its students and ensure their rights are not violated.
Well, Ms. Baez is the poster child for not being capable of upholding the responsibilities of the position she was elected to. The president of the Students’ Union should have been horrified that university administration and their bigwig lawyers were harassing a student group on campus with intimidation, threats of arrest and expulsion. Instead, being a mere puppet of the university administration, Ms. Baez proceeded to publically endorse the eradication of a peaceful political group.
Ms. Baez claims that demands made by a party are “policy.” Any first year Law and Society student knows that communication documents are not legally binding until an agreement has been reached. If Ms. Baez would take 10 minutes out of her fun-filled SU presidential life to read the communication between the university and Campus Pro-Life’s legal counsel (which has been made public), she would be shocked and amazed. There was no agreement made. There was no consensus reached between the two parties. Campus Pro-Life never agreed to turn their signs inwards; to merely comply with the requests made by the University of Calgary administration. This request made by the university’s legal counsel was not to be found in any of the official bylaws, procedures or constitutional provisionary documents. The university’s “conditions” of setting up the display are not policy. They are simply non-legally binding requests.
Because Campus Pro-Life is a law-abiding club, they repetitively asked the university’s legal council which specific established and documented policy the club would be violating if GAP were set up facing outwards. To this date, not a single policy, procedure, bylaw or constitutional provision of the SU or of the University of Calgary has been produced that Campus Pro-Life has specifically violated in regards to setting up the GAP display facing outwards. Once again, a mere request made by one party to another is not legally binding if no agreement or consensus is reached.
Ms. Baez made it a priority of her 2008 campaign to pressure university administration to provide quality education. What about pressuring the administration to provide quality treatment of all students and equality and tolerance toward all forms of peaceful expression? Was that not part of your vision, Ms. Baez? Were you lobbying for an administration who can arbitrarily censor one controversial and seemingly politically incorrect group? Why was your conformity and inability to stand up for the little guy not mentioned in your platform?
The Students’ Union acted in a manner that is despicable. By pre-empting the court case and its proceedings, the SU has demonstrated that it chooses to agree with the University of Calgary administration’s unlawful censorship, rather than wait it out and see the results of the impeding court case that will determine if the Campus Pro-Life students are lawfully guilty. Ms. Baez should be ashamed of the job she has been doing leading and directing the Students’ Union representatives. They are nothing more than puppets of the university; asking “How High?” when the Administration says “Jump.”