The Graduate Student Society (GSS) tried to temporarily expel UBC Insiders writer Maayan Kreitzman for publishing an internal GSS report criticizing UBC’s response to sexual assault, and writing articles criticizing the handling of the report during her time as an elected GSS councillor.
Kreitzman’s article claimed that the report was intentionally suppressed by the GSS, but this is contested by the GSS who said that the report had simply not yet been reviewed and approved by councillors for release.
Gabrielle John — who until recently was the GSS's advocacy coordinator — began preparing the report in May 2015 after the society was approached by women from the history department about issues they were facing with UBC’s sexual harassment reporting process. This case was later widely publicized and the subject of a CBC documentary.
According to Kreitzman’s article, however, as the report neared completion the GSS executive began trying to bury it — first by trying (and failing due to insufficient notice) to dismiss John two weeks before the end of her contract. Allegedly, members of the executive did not respond to the final report John sent in for three days until other graduate students sent emails expressing concerns that the GSS would sit on it. Finally, John, in Kreitzman's article, said that a meeting with past GSS president Tobias Friedel made clear that the report would not be published or circulated in its current form. When UBC Insiders received the report through an anonymous source, John gave them permission to publish the report when they approached her — as did those interviewed for the creation of the report.
This version of events is contested by the GSS, who say that the report was going to be published, but that it was considered insider at the time Kreitzman published it because it had not been brought before Council. According to Genevieve Cruz, current president of the GSS, the article’s timeline also didn’t accommodate the GSS’s process for releasing information or reports.
“It doesn’t work the same way as journalism, where you have one person deciding, like an editor, and then they release it,” said Cruz. “Council has to see it. Until Council has seen it, it is going to be internal — it cannot have that GSS stamp on it.”
“There were three people on that report, but there are ten thousand graduate students. Could [Council] have made it better? Of course. There's a whole process for that,” said Cruz.
The motion to expel Kreitzman appears to boil down to two reasons. The first is the belief of some GSS members that Kreitzman shirked her fiduciary duty as an elected councillor, meaning her duty to act solely in another party’s benefit, and the second problem were allegations in the article(s) publicly criticizing the GSS executive — especially then president Tobias Friedel — written by a councillor.
“This went outside of process and completely ruined our reputation a bit and hampered our ability to lobby for these things and advocate for things we care about … especially sexual violence,” said Cruz.
Kreitzman remains confused as to why this has turned into an issue big enough for the GSS to spend approximately five months of time and resources. Before the motion to expel her — and even in the immediate aftermath of the report — she was not approached or spoken to about her writing for UBC Insiders or any potential conflicts of interest.
“I think the example of cracking down on members and councillors that disagree with the executives is an awful precedent to set for anyone’s involvement in the society. It really speaks to the fragility of the democracy within the GSS and it’s inability to look at very reasonable critique and demands for accountability,” said Kreitzman.
Many members of the GSS, however, takes the view that publishing the internal report and critiquing the GSS while being a councillor was wrong and something they do not want to be repeated.
“If this document had come directly to Council and Council had had time to evaluate it and put it forward as a stance from the GSS without being prior to that published or commented, this would have been way stronger as a statement to the GSS,” said GSS councillor Katerina Othonos. “Councillors should know that they need to bring this forward to the council so … we bring forward something strong that is beneficial for all graduate students.”
By expelling Kreitzman, some members of the GSS wanted to send a message about the role of a councillor and conflicts of interest.
This perspective led to the HR Committee, due to their lack of connection to the issue, being given the responsibility of examining the situation and potential repercussions.
After the committee looked into the issue, it was decided that there would be a vote to decide whether Kreitzman should be expelled from the GSS for a year. The council voted against expelling Kreitzman. While the vote was closed, Kreitzman reported the results as six abstentions, 19 in favour and 13 opposed. In order for the motion to succeed, a ⅔ majority was required.
Kreitzman's argument pertained to the lack of basis for her expulsion in the Society's Constitution and Bylaws.
“Any allegations that do not pertain to the Society’s Constitution or Bylaws are irrelevant to the process by which a member may be expelled from the GSS,” said Kreitzman in her case notes.
Cruz noted that different interpretations of the bylaws were presented, from both the GSS’s side and Kreitzman’s, but that in the end there was no true “right” side. Rather, it all came down to the vote and which side was more convincing to councillors.
When looking to the future, Cruz says the GSS now sees the need for a conflict of interest policy, but does not have immediate plans to create one.
“It did expose a lot of gaps in GSS policy, but the more immediate thing we want to address now is sexual assault,” said Cruz.
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