The UASU’s nonpartisanship plays both sides

The University of Alberta Students’ Union (UASU) is not supposed to be a politically oriented group of students on campus, but they can still bend the rules in their favour. At the beginning of September, the leaders of four campus groups put out an op-ed on the effects the referendum could have on the U of A. Noticeably, no UASU executive co-authored the piece. But, as part of the bylaws and policies the UASU abide by, their nonpartisanship status looks like it could be tricky to manoeuvre around. Actually, though, it wouldn’t disallow any of them from co-authoring. Still, none of their names appear. 

Nonpartisanship has seemingly remained unchanged in the bylaws and policies that the UASU comply with. As a nonpartisan organization, the UASU will not endorse any political entities. But, as they pick their language very carefully, it is not “analogous to being apolitical.” The language here allows itself to be somewhat vague. With that, the rules around what is and isn’t allowed for UASU executives are a bit blurred. This isn’t to say apoliticism and nonpartisanship are one and the same, but there is definitely overlap. Regardless, the leeway this policy’s wording allows for draws attention to itself.

With this policy, there is nothing saying that UASU executives have to limit their own voice on matters they find important. And the upcoming referendum may be the one topic they should have allowed themselves to take a stance on since the outcome directly affects the university’s well-being.

The results of the referendum will no doubt affect the U of A. As pointed out in the op-ed published and co-authored by student and campus leaders, this impacts everyone at the university. Just from a financial standpoint, they pointed out that the U of A contributes $19.5 billion to Alberta’s economy every year. Beyond finances, though, the U of A does much more than bring in revenue — it brings people together to better society. The referendum, however, could have uncompromising effects on campus if Alberta decided to separate.

When asked at the Students’ Council meeting on September 22 whether the UASU executives were invited to write on the op-ed, Vice-president (external) Angel Raina replied saying “[they] were in conversation” to contribute but decided not to due to other commitments. Another reason, Raina explained, was in part because of the UASU’s Get Out The Vote campaign, which is nonpartisan. While it is a good thing that they are helping students by advocating on why they should vote, this isn’t exactly a good excuse to not contribute to the op-ed. No one should pretend that the UASU executives don’t have their hands full, or that they aren’t doing anything about the referendum, but their focus doesn’t seem to always be on target.

At the moment, it feels as though the UASU executives have used the nonpartisanship status to forgo any need to comment on the referendum’s possible impact. Of course, there is a lot of debate surrounding the upcoming referendum, but that doesn’t mean going response-less is the right thing to do. By taking the words the UASU has used to describe itself, they are always trying to “do what’s right, even when it’s not easy.” This is by no means an easy task — addressing the possibility of a life-altering change to the province. Stealing their words again, it doesn’t mean that it’s not worth doing. 

With an array of dis- and misinformation out there on the referendum, it would have been nice to have a reliable point of view coming from the UASU executives for all students on campus. It’s easy to be critical when something doesn’t go all to plan. However, when the nonpartisanship the UASU prides itself on seems to only work when it works in their favour, it’s a cause for concern. 

Moving forward, students across campus should do their best to be diligent about the information they consume as the referendum approaches. Even more so, students need to make themselves more involved in today’s politics to avoid the mistakes some UASU executives have made.