One series of events I neglected to mention above were this years clubs and course union days. Vikes sports clubs were not notified of the sign-up dates for tables for clubs and course union days (an essential as having a table allows a club to sign up students for that semester). Andrew Pitre, the sports clubs coordinator (currently on paternity leave), is normally notified long in advance by the director of services (this year, Heather McKenzie). However, he was not, and as a result he was unable to relay this information along to the sports clubs.

In September some clubs did not get notification for the day to sign up for a table, and as a result all clubs had to re-sign up again at the last minute.

Again in January none of the sports clubs were notified, and hours after the clubs table sign-up had been shut down, Andrew Pitre managed to book the remaining tables in the upper lounge for the sports clubs. The clubs were relegated to the last pickings (a poor sign-up place), and were assigned tables tables on a first-come-first-serve basis on the day of the event.

While the end result of these events were not the worst scenarios, they were two simple, easily preventable events that exemplified unprofessional and unorganized behaviour at a cost to student groups. This lack of organizational capacity was visible to anyone who attended the special events committee this past year.

All that said I want to draw a distinction between Heather the director of services, and Heather the person. I respect and like her as a person, but I do not respect the job she has done this past year.

Dylan,

I hope you're listening up, tuning into this, and reflecting on what board meetings have been like this year. Let's start with your quote, "I feel Veronica Harrison is a weak candidate for chairperson. She allows meetings to get out of hand and doesn’t provide the impartiality required of the position." Many things I could say on this messed up opinion of yours, but since you have totally made Veronica out to be some hopeless person during board meetings who can't keep control of the meeting, it's time you hear my opinion. A number of people on the board, yourself included, have been so absolutely disrespectful to Veronica as chair, and a number of other members of the board, by not respecting a speakers list, yelling at the chair, yelling at other board members, talking out of turn, taking up too much space, cutting other people off, inputing offensive comments either overtly, or under your breath, and more. And while you, Dylan, have not engaged in all of these things, what this does illustrate is that the board often becomes a very disrespectful space, and you cannot say that this is because Veronica cannot control the board. It is up to board members to check themselves and be respectful. And it should be noted that when things do get out of hand, Veronica does a good job of reeling people back in, getting them focused again and on task. It is a really big shame, that you bashed Veronica completely devoid of any context and propped yourself up as an authority on who and who to not vote for the Board of Directors. So low, dude.

Brodie,

Leaders aren't affected if a board meeting becomes a "disrespectful space", because they are strong enough to deal with the situation and force it back to being a respectful one.

The problem IS that Veronica cannot control the board. While it would be nice if all board members always behaved themselves, that is not always going to be the case. That's the reason we have a chairperson for meetings in the first place - to make sure things don't get out of control. Controlling the board and ensuring respectful and efficient discussion is Veronica's primary function in board meetings, so why is it unfair that we, as UVic students, expect her to perform her primary function?

Have you never seen a professional board of directors in action? Professional chairpersons, men and women alike, would never allow this sort of out of control behaviour to even start to be a problem in their meetings.

And that is because they are strong enough to control the situation.

I'm sure Veronica is a lovely person, but being a nice person doesn't automatically make you fit for a position of leadership.

It's time to get over the notion that Veronica is the victim here. If the board is respectful, great. If it isn't, it is Veronica's job to make it respectful. And if she doesn't make it respectful, she has failed as a chairperson.

Brodie,

I have read, reflected, I see where you are coming from, and I respectfully disagree. I stand by my statement, and I will explain why, starting by addressing your points:

First off, I have never, not once, yelled during a meeting - let alone at the chairperson or other board members. Many others, including Ed and Nathan are indeed guilty of this. I view this as below the dignity of a director.

Veronica does not always keep a good speakers list. Furthermore, she has the bad habit of looking at her notes, at her hands, or staring at someone in the audience. Quite often she ignores directors and audience members who are trying to get her attention to get on the speakers list. If you view my waving my arms disrespectful, I apologize as this was not the intention; I do this only when Veronica (either intentionally or unintentionally) does not take notice of my politely raised hand, and I admit it's becoming a regular occurance. This would be fully mitigated if she looked around the board table during the meeting like a good chairperson.

Talking out of turn? If I do this it is unclear as to who is supposed to be speaking, or the speed at which Veronica moves through motions. She has a tendency to move rapidly into votes, often before many of the other directors are ready, and often with the result that people are unsure as to what is going on. I don't believe I intentionally talk over people, but honestly when I think I have a right to do so under Roberts Rules.

Taking up too much space? You'll have to unpack that one for me. I am a big person, if you're referring to my stature, and yes I am becoming overweight due to a less-than-optimal exercise schedule. I will work on that. If you're referring to how I lounge during board meetings instead of sitting upright, it's due to an injury to my tailbone I suffered many years ago. I cannot sit still for any length of time before it begins to hurt, so I often find it necessary to shift positions to ease pressure on my coccyx.

Cutting people off? I make a conscious effort not to do this, and believe I do not do this. I admit a tendency to do this in casual conversations with friends and family, but in board meetings I really try not to. If you indeed feel I do this, let me know and I will work even harder to mitigate myself from doing it as I recognize it to be a character flaw. However, I am not sure if you are referring to Ed, as this seems to be a favourite manoeuvrer of his.

Inputing offensive comments either overtly or under my breath? Hmm, well, aside from this post which I take it that you view as offensive, could you give me an example? It's lucky I don't take offence from Veronica calling my motions "bullshit", or I could lob that accusation right back. Do I speak under my breath or quietly during meetings? Yes, often to the people beside me, and often to do with the motion at hand. I believe everyone does this. Yes, when something petty or bullshit happens (like the party discipline utilized last meeting to deny Kelsey a 10 minute break - something any director has the prerogative to ask for, and which was in my view pure bullying by a group who merely do not like Kelsey and who want to avoid him "getting another win") I do comment that it was out of line. However, you will not see me rolling my eyes, laughing, and making comments about other directors - activities that Leah and others do regularly, as our Pride representative Gabrielle would testify to.

"and more" - well, you'll have to unpack that one for me too Brodie.

Yes the board can be a disrespectful place, and yes I place the blame for much of that at Veronica's feet. This is not because I believe she is the source of it (although that leaked e-mail suggests she may be a source for some of it). It is because I believe a chair has the prerogative and duty to hold meetings together. If someone is out of line, warn them. If they continue to be out of line, throw them out of the meeting. Were I chair this past year, I would have ejected individuals on several occasions from meetings due to their inappropriate behaviour. I have been to many different meetings at levels from the local right up to the international, and oftentimes these meetings are full of hot tempers and strongly held opinions. However, it always falls back on the chair to moderate the meeting, and in my experience, I have found time and time again that Veronica lets meetings degenerate.

Now, that said, I recognize that the job of a chairperson can be extremely hard. I do want to point out, as I often say to people, that I feel Veronica is a much much better chairperson than Caitlen Meggs was. Veronica is not an bad person, nor is she inept. I do not doubt that she is doing her best and for that I recognize that she should be commended.

It's just that she doesn't command the respect of the board. She is, in my view, a weak chairperson.

The reason I made that statement without putting in all this context was that I was restricted in the print version by word count.

Now that I've attempted to answer you, let me know if you have any other issues about anything I've written. I do respect you and your thoughts, Brodie. I do not always agree with them, but I respect them and I respect you. Please let me know if I can clear anything else up.

I just reread what I wrote and want to clear something up before I get bombarded...

"Now, that said, I recognize that the job of a chairperson can be extremely hard. I do want to point out, as I often say to people, that I feel Veronica is a much much better chairperson than Caitlen Meggs was. Veronica is not an bad person, nor is she inept."

I do not meant to infer that Caitlen is a bad person or inept. She is not. I just realized now that the way it was written this might be accidentally conveyed.

I find it hugely problematic that the Martlet put Dylan's "analysis" at the top of the Opinions section, or that it was even published at all. The Martlet received a number of letters this week from members of advocacy groups etc., and it is disheartening that they continue to grossly misrepresent student issues by publishing such limited and biased pieces.

The Board, and the student community, has heard enough of Dylan's egotistical rants. The above piece should be taken with a major grain of salt, and some critical thought about what this Director has put into the Students' Society over his past two years on the Board- his contributions have been minimal and the space would have better been filled by someone else. Indeed, his "legacy" leaves a lot to be desired.

Sam and Joe, I am surprised by your comments. Not that you disagree with me, but that seeing as I've been on the board for 2 years now, that neither of you could come up with any examples of something I've done that was questionable to either of you. I gather that if the worst someone can say about me and my record are ad hominem attacks, that I've done a better job here than most. I truly appreciate the compliment.

Although I have many disagreements with Dylan, but I think he has offered a fair analysis of candidates in his article.

Dylan is the man, he's a responsible/mature/organized/fair/respectful person and director. I wish he was running again :( All you losers bashing him with dumb personal attacks should grow the hell up.

See you at Felicita's dude!

How much do you want to bet that attacks against Dylan are coming from candidates not endorsed by him or their friends.

I like how someone always blames the Martlet as misrepresenting the student body, yet for most of the contentious issues the Martet has been spot on. I mean, clearly the Martlet was wrong in being critical of the Military Ban. What with it being overwhelmingly voted down by the students. Misrepresentation at its best! Shame on the Martlet!

Or being critical of the YPY debacle over the hypocrisy of Comrie's statements that Club funding should be decided by Club Council (students), which was then overturned. Shame again! Clearly the Martlet was misrepresenting student's rights....Student opinion only matters if it's favourable to the board! Shame Martlet, shame!

And shame for running this article! Had the Martlet not run this article, the student populace would not have voted strongly for Team Renew! The Martlet is absolutely out of touch with the student body!!!

Well good thing for Sam that the Martlet gives back money to students each year if they don't feel satisfied, unlike the UVSS. I'm glad that FAST finally got the boot, wish it had happened sooner.