Campaign Updates and Developments!
It’s been one heck of a week, that’s for sure.
First off, thanks to everyone who has taken the time to read and ask questions about all that’s been happening between the NOPIRG and OPIRG camps. We appreciate all of the demonstrations of support, your words of kindness and coming to our defence. We can’t tell you how much this means to us!
We also want to address a few misconceptions that are floating about. We hope the following will provide you with some clarity.
1. OPIRG Kingston does not tolerate bullying of any kind (including of NOPIRG and OPIRG members).
2. OPIRG Kingston is committed to working towards the end of all oppressions and takes accusations of harassment and bullying very seriously. It is however difficult to respond to anonymous cases that have been reported only to NOPIRG. Should students feel harassed or intimidated by anyone, including ourselves, we hope that they feel empowered to and capable of talking to and making reports with both Campus Security and the Human Rights Office. These organizations are responsible for fully investigating cases and would and will contact us should a case be determined to have involved OPIRG or its members. It should be noted that we have yet to be contacted by either Campus Security or the Human Rights Office.
3. OPIRG Kingston is a non-partisan organization. This means we do not have affiliations with any federal or provincial political party. The use of the term “political” in reference to us is in regards to our ideologies of anti-oppression which forms the basis of every project and working group we support.The reason why politically affiliated groups such as the Ontario Progressive Conservative Campus Association cannot receive a student fee is because they, like other partisan groups, are eligible for and receive funding from their federal and provincial counterparts to promote party agendas (such as the de-funding of PIRGs).
4. OPIRG is STUDENT-DRIVEN. The OPIRG Coordinator is not the leader of OPIRG, in fact, as an employee of the student majority Board of Directors, the coordinator is responsible for implementing the board’s decisions, not the other way around. The coordinator is held accountable to and by the board.
5. The OPIRG Board condemns the inflammatory comments by QSAFE members about Kavita Bissoondial, the OPIRG Kingston Coordinator. Kavita was never witness to nor did she ever condone the harassment of NOPIRG volunteers. Statements saying otherwise are completely false.
We also condemn the inflammatory comments by QSAFE members against Fraser MacPherson, a former OPIRG Kingston Board of Director. Fraser did not write the “Hanky Code”. In fact, this statement has nothing to do with OPIRG and was written four months ago. Statements claiming that Fraser is responsible for this piece are completely false.
These false accusations against OPIRG and its members only further delegitimize the kinds of work we do everyday on this campus to counter harassment and oppression. They make a mockery of the real experiences of students who encounter racism, homophobia and other forms of discrimination.
6. Some of you may have noticed that you can no longer share the ‘Vote Yes’ event on your profile or in messages. For some reason, likely folks reporting us as ‘spam’, that feature has been disabled by Facebook. We have created a new event here, please share widely!
7. Just a reminder that all “I <3 OPIRG” profile photos need to come down by midnight on MONDAY the 30th.
8. REMEMBER TO VOTE ‘YES’ ONLINE ON TUESDAY JANUARY 31st AND WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 1st!
Also, we would again direct folks to our own NOPIRG page which responds to some of the accusations against us.
Any further questions can be directed to info@opirgkingston.org !
Thanks again for reading! We can do this!
