Society of the Douglas Students' Union v. Douglas College
This is what I have been working on:
(P.S.: My sincere apologies for my paucity of blogging these past couple of weeks. I have been very busy. Hopefully blogging will return to a more regular schedule.)
http://www.studentunion.ca/dsu_case/This is the entire contents of the court file in the Douglas Students' Union court case. It's rather large - over 300 pages (which cost me over $300.00 in photocopy charges) - but I think you will agree that the facts and arguments in this file should be of profound concern not only to the students of Douglas College, but also to the student movement in general.
(P.S.: My sincere apologies for my paucity of blogging these past couple of weeks. I have been very busy. Hopefully blogging will return to a more regular schedule.)
46 Comments:
$300?? Where can donations be made to? You should set up a paypal account ...
Agreed!
Nice work Titus! I am very impressed.
It's been said before! Set up a way to donate!
Karen Maynes' Exhibit Q strikes me as particularly interesting.
titus. this is so much work. thank you!
Thanks
Titus... Seriously, where can I send money? I'm going to report on this and I want to contribute!
-outgoing CUP Pres & Editor Macleans.ca/university
Hey,
Nice work! :) The left side of some of the scans got cut off but that's a minor problem. Anyway, Exhibit Q is definitely interesting. It looks like Joey Hansen's tendency to be a bully and do whatever he wants includes grabbing for money in the student union till and then bellowing "WHAT'S YOUR PROBLEM?" to anyone who questions it. :P
So it seems the CFS Services "not a loan" is an advance of $416,000 to the health plan broker. This is the first time I have seen the actual figure.
Isn't this substantially less that what was stated to the media in the infamous "no Problem" interview?? I can't remember if a figure was stated, just that the forensic audit never stated this amount.
So all told, that is $616,000 given to the DSU by the various bodies of the CFS.
Not a loan? WHAT'S YER PROBLEM!?&*%$!
Some rather disturbing revelations in this one: http://www.studentunion.ca/dsu_case/jensen1-d.pdf
If members of the electoral committee can be so easily swayed by a candidate, then something is seriously wrong.
Titus, Susan Witter's affidavit mentions an attached draft Statement of Operations and draft Auditor's Report, but they aren't there. Perhaps they're linked somewhere else...?
Of course, you've already done a lot of work getting all these documents up, so I don't want to make you do any more n.n; Very nicely done.
Gosh golly me, would you look at the name of the legal firm that gave the opinion?
Rush CRANE Guenther.
Why does that name keep showing up everywhere I turn when student union matters come cropping up?
Is it the height of schadenfreude to hope that they get sued for bad/ineffective legal counsel? :P
Oh look,
Rush CRANE Guenther
Gosh golly me... why does that name sound familiar in the legal opinion?
Could it be because these idiots keep giving bad legal advice to student unions whose officers may or may not be possibly backed by a certain organization which cannot be named lest I get a cease and desist?
(I fully agree that they can't give a good legal opinion if the person asking for one chooses to conceal certain facts, but a good lawyer's BS detector should be waving if "nothing seems to be wrong" yet a client wants a legal opinion. So maybe Crane's just brick-wall stupid then.)
Crap. Ok, please delete the first post. :)
Where have you gone, Joey Hansen
A nation turns its lonely eyes to you (ooo ooo ooo)
What's that you sayy, Marne Jensen?
"Joltin' Joey has left and gone away" (Hey hey hey, hey hey hey).
How about this...
"Titus posts a little bit about you on his blog
(More about the CFS debate)
Look around you all you see is cheating, theft and lies
(Most of all we've got to hide it from the kids)
What's your prob-lem, Philly Ottawa
That damn reporter just wont go away, hey hey hey, hey hey hey"
Philly Ottawa? WHAT'S YOUR PROBLEM?
http://72.14.253.104/search?q=cache:TPrsdg8gMwcJ:www.themanitoban.com/2006-2007/0314/120.A.banner.darkly.php+common+sense+slate+%2Bsfu&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=14&gl=ca&client=firefox-a
Well Thank you, Thank you for all this work, and Expense!
You may not know, but the DSU resently had an SGM, set up by our current (CFS) Receiver, Miss Jensen, in which she presented members with UN-audited statements for 2005(STILL), and 2006. The DSU is STILL NOT in Compliance! Even with all it's CFS so-called Help.....or should we call it interferance. Let's see the always entertaining Mr. Crane get them out of this one.
We need Titus now more than ever, now that Joey Coleman is in the pocket of Ted Rogers' conglomerate.
And yet now Joey eschews typos! I rather like his MacLean's column, and
I am interested to see if there is an impact from his ascerbic analysis of our student unions in such a mainstream rightwing publication!
As to the titus donation campaign, since he seems unwilling to assist us with Paypal, perhaps money could be sent to Titus by mailing it c/o his Kwantlen office?
But how strange, there is no mailing address on the KSA site--at least not that I can find. Does someone know what the mailing address would be?
Seriously, I would pay to subscribe to this blog!!!!!
Hey, does anyone have a link to the infamous "What's your problem/no Problem" interview? I've been having a real problem finding it. (I've tried google, but I just keep ending up back here).
Thanks & Cheers
1. http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xnbzw_dsu-cfs-corruption-1
2. http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xnc1a_dsu-cfs-corruption-2
3. http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xnc22_dsu-cfs-corruption-3
Sorry it was cut off. Don't know it you can keep these on here because of Global's rights (??), but if not search at dailymotion.com for dsu-cfs-corruption-1
1. http://www.dailymotion.com/video/
xnbzw_dsu-cfs-corruption-1
2. http://www.dailymotion.com/video/
xnc1a_dsu-cfs-corruption-2
3. http://www.dailymotion.com/video/
xnc22_dsu-cfs-corruption-3
#21, allow me some time to chuckle prominently at your description of Maclean's as "right-wing" :P
Now, if you want a /real/ right-wing publication, you ought to check out these folks: http://www.westernstandard.ca/website/index.cfm
As for what Joey is doing on Maclean's, I'll let him answer that.
titus, you need to get your hands on the DSU elections results! word is that the marne jensen slate was crushed, and an anti-corruption slate swept. i obviously don't have to emphasise that this is wonderful news.
It is true.... the entire DSU 'anti-corruption' slate did win, 10 of 12 positions available. There was Very low voter turn out; at least 30% less that last year.
whoa. it's so eerie to see Marne Jensen's name in the documents. She was the replacement General Manager after the UVSS lost a ton of money due to embezzlement and mismanagement. They fired one General Manager and basically gave her the job. It was weird because she was the Resource Coordinator with no financial experience.
It's not weird at all. We know of several people with NO financial background who have been hired to for finance positions before....I guess some organizations like it better that way!
Also, FYI, Elections Insider has now become UBC Insiders: http://ubcinsiders.blogspot.com
Well general managers need to be more than accountants; they need to have vision and experience to help the whole organization, and do work ranging from overseeing finances, to managing staff, coordinating services, supporting executive initiatives. Many big student unions have an accountant or a bookkeeper that works under the general manager.
I don't know what experience Marne had when she was hired at UVic, but hasn't she effectively eliminated the financial debt at UVSS?
I think it would be fair to say that Marne Jensen has improved the management of the UVSS in terms of profit, paying off debt, and operations.
They have some other excellent staff managing the businesses too, and certainly getting rid of the guy who is stealing from you helps!
From the point of view of being able to set up DSU's operations properly and give some experienced advice I think Marne will be fine.
What I find interesting in these documents--and this isn't Marne's fault--is that the fact she is linked strongly to, and preferred by the organization who is a debtee of the DSU in this case (namely the CFS) and this apparently holds a lot of sway with the judge according to the CFS lawyer's letters. I think many people in student groups had thought the preference would run the other way.
Interesting--and apparently a good reason to borrow from your friends before going bankrupt!
DSU "Unofficial" Election Results
Aboriginal Liaison:
Wendy Case 'Rebuild' yes: 313 no: 71 "ACCLAIMED"
College Relations Coordinator:
Rob Austin 'Independent' 92
Tania Janjua 'Fresh Start' 115
Matthew Steinbach 'Rebuild' 215"ELECTED"
David Lam Campus Representative:
Sebastian Bubrick 'Rebuild' 279"ELECTED"
Pavan Grewal 'Fresh Start' 110
Disabled Students’ Liaison:
Susanne Dykstra 'Fresh Start' 115
Christine Nieder 'Rebuild' 284 "ELECTED"
External Relations Coordinator:
Inder Gill(re-elect) 'Fresh Start' 79
Ally MacGrotty(Current Women's Liaison)'Rebuild' 230 "ELECTED"
Aimee Thompson 'Independent' 105
Internal Relations Coordinator:
Geoff Lenahan 'Rebuild' yes: 320 no: 65 "ACCLAIMED"
Member-at-large:
Shaun Dhakar 'Fresh Start' 138 "ELECTED"
Bal Ghag 'Fresh Start' 125
Jessica McCallum 'Rebuild' 289 "ELECTED"
Deep Singh 'Fresh Start' 130"ELECTED"
Pride Liaison:
Pawan Turna 'Fresh Start' 125
Nathaniel Wolfe 'Rebuild' 288 "ELECTED"
Treasurer:
Roohafza Rahimi 'Rebuild' 221 "ELECTED"
Mona Teymory 'Fresh Start' 129
Patrick Vaillancourt 'Independent' 68
Women’s Liaison:
Manika Boora 'Fresh Start' 133
Tanis Jaarsma 'Rebuild' 256 "ELECTED"
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Um are you honestly suggesting this person who has been placed in a position of trust by the court would violate that responsibility? I really doubt Marne Jensen is going to be giving away a half million dollars or engaging in secret payoffs. She could face criminal charges if she did something like that.
Her CV seems impressive. She has a dozen years of experience in these kinds of groups without ever having a financial scandal, or even any suggestions of financial impropriety. Please be careful here before you drag someone's name through the mud just because they have different politics than you.
If you are referring to Anonymous at 4:31pm when you say:
"are you honestly suggesting this person who has been placed in a position of trust by the court would violate that responsibility?"
No, not at all, in fact said she seems clearly capable at managing the UVSS.
I *am* interested in how the law is structured and how the result of that structure hilights the difference between this case and other cases. You wouldn't normally get a loan from a non profit organization managed by friends...you would get it from a bank. The bank wouldn't advocate for appointing a mutual friend to oversee the books if you went bankrupt, they would want the high priced independent auditor. The law is set up, it seems to me, to protect the debtor when a bankruptcy situation has become hostile.
I spoke with a friend who deals with receiverships and court appointment of receivers as a lawyer and he said he had *never* seen someone who is not an accountant appointed to the position of court appointed receiver.
From the documents Titus posted, it seems the court and Douglas College were OK with Marne J.
Any payouts to Joey would have to be authorized by the current board. They are not her call.
If she can do the job at $100/day, why send student money to a high priced auditor?? Lets see how she does. Joey's gone, let her clean up the mess.
These postings have become very hostile and personal. Let's not drag everybody through the mud.
I agree. And lets hope the slate elected that is described as not being the "marne jensen slate" is not so anti-marne as to be unproductive in terms of getting the books in order.
The DSU needs to get on its feet and the best way forward now is working with Marne Jensen (whether any of us would have picked her or not).
In fairness, though, people have reason to be pissed off. The forensic audit (now public, hurrah, due to thse court procedings) gives us lots of reason to be outraged at past DSU folks and the CFS, and to have an interest as students in seeing this situation fixed and never repeated.
Especially when combined with the news stories where CFS folks were not giving accurate information about the loans.
Actually, it's quite common for court's to appoint as a trustee someone who is recommended by, or associated with, the primary creditor. Like it or not, that is CFS, so there's certainly nothing unusual about their preferred trustee being appointed.
Bottom line is that she is an officer of the court as a receiver. The receiver is to put the DSU back into compliance. Unlike other circumstances, if she doesn't do her job, she is accountable to a judge.
I wish the CFS would be put a position where they have to be accountable.....
http://www.theeyeopener.com/article/3350
CFS accountable?
http://www.macleans.ca/education/universities/article.jsp?content=20070405_142226_1620
Come on, Marne has plenty of financial experience. As the VP Finance of the UVSS, she inherited a $12,000 debt and in only two terms, turned it into a $225,000 debt.
She was instrumental in planning the multi million dollar SUB Expansion which turned a character building into a airport lounge. The building of an expensive nightclub that is used as extra study space is one of her crowning achievements.
Give her a raise!
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Anonymous said...
"This site has no new content"
Which is terrible because I am more addicted to this than to Facebook.
With the increased reports of UFOs, I am wondering if they kidnapped Titus on us?
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