A Decade of Corruption: How a cult destroyed a students' union

I started my journey at Toronto Metropolitan University in 2015, which at the time was still called Ryerson University. Around this same time scandals and corruption began to plague the students’ union and I found myself swept up in a lot of it.

What started out as a fun way to meet new friends turned into fighting against actual criminals and receiving death threats for standing up for my peers. The years of bullying, coercion, and criminal activity that I witnessed, and often experienced first hand, was shocking. I witnessed many of my peers be abused and taken advantage of by adults who were only out for themselves, and was even almost taken in by what I can only refer to as a cult.

I consider myself fairly lucky, since I had plenty of experience being bullied as an openly gay kid who grew up in the Catholic school system I was able to roll with the punches and make it through mostly unscathed. More and more people around me however, were impacted heavily by the abusive tactics that some wielded in their quest for power. Whether it was people who lied and stole for their own benefit or those who let their egos get in the way of doing the right thing – the result was the same. Students were being taken advantage of and the students’ union wasted time and money instead of working to improve things for the community.

It has over ten years since I first stepped foot on campus, and the same issues still stand. I tried to get involved in the politics and hated every minute of it. I swore to myself that I was done with it all, but I also swore to myself that I’d do everything within my power to stop the people who woke up every day and chose to hurt innocent students. While politics is at the core of it all, I have found it easier to view from a student affairs professional lens.

I worked for three years in various student support offices and three years in residence. I studied student development theory, presented at two conferences on the topic, organized more than five student leadership conferences, and was accepted for a placement at a university in Florida for a full-time internship in the field. I’m tired of seeing adults with the power and responsibility to change things fail to do so over and over again. Students deserve not just a students’ union that functions at its bare minimum, but a place where they know the staff and all of the people involved are fully dedicated to their future development and success.

You can call this a case study, or investigation, or whatever makes you happy. I know some will continue to claim I am just a former staff member airing my grievances to the public, but these aren’t my grievances. They are the grievances of a student body that has been let down by their students’ union, particularly the adults in charge of it, for years. Students deserve better and it is not hard at all for the students’ union to be better.

My Experience

The most frustrating part of my experience in the students’ union is that it was a career that I am passionate about and studied/trained in for years, but drama and politics kept getting in the way of real progress. During my time as a student I worked multiple student affairs jobs and I realized how much I enjoyed the profession. I worked very hard to not only learn as much as I could about the field but to begin a career where I’d be able to support student development. I attended several conferences that focused on student affairs and development, and even presented twice on topics related to improving learning conditions for post-secondary students.

In my job at the TMSU I ran several training sessions bringing together my experience and research in student development theory (see presentation file below) and interpersonal communication so that we could improve our relationship with the student body after years of scandals. Unfortunately, I was fired for refusing to let management cover up a case of sexual violence and I am not sure that I will ever be able to return to the job that I loved. As I move on in my career I would hate to see all of the ideas I’ve had but didn’t get to implement go to waste; perhaps some students in the future can use these as inspiration or as a place to start fixing the students’ union.

DISCLAIMER: While I have based my opinions on the facts available to me and the best practices I’ve learned from student development theory these are still my opinions. Consider this a personal “Case Study” on how I believe the TMSU could better serve students.

Fixing the Structure

The new By-Laws that got passed in the December 2022 SAGM made huge steps to fixing the structural issues that have plagued the TMSU for years but these changes mostly addressed issues that had backed up over the years of neglect. To fully bring the students’ union into the present day the overall structure needs to be re-evaluated. Currently the students’ union tries to operate like a traditional business when it is a community service; the most recent example being the closure of CopyRITE Printing because it was not profitable enough. The management and staff structures should be set up to support student development over traditional profit margins and needs to consider how the post-secondary environment has changed over the last decade, especially post-lockdown.

The way students are elected to the students’ union could also benefit from a review to ensure that elections are accessible and the expectations of the student Executives are reasonable. In previous years elections see abysmal turnout (as low as 2%) and many Executives have found their positions unclear or nearly impossible to navigate. These issues could be solved with a better structure that gives students more power to enact their plans and ensures they aren’t able to be misled or left out of important decisions. The new structure proposal included below is a huge change from the current way the students’ union works but in 2019 I also put forward a proposal that was much more similar to the existing structure. I believe that huge changes are what the students’ union needs to reach its full potential but there are lots of smaller changes that could still greatly improve it, so I included my 2019 proposal as well.

Please note: I do not have all the files from 2018 so I have linked to the old campaign website which contained the structure and basics of the 2019 proposal

Past Reports on Management

In 2015 the RSU was controversially restructured following a report from “the Appian Way Group” and the report was never made public. The Eyeopener reported on this scandal and it also was reported on by the Western University campus newspaper here.

In 2019 following the Ram Ganesh credit card scandal, management put out the following report on the state of the structure of the students’ union: 2019 Executive Director Report. The PDF of the report could not be found online anymore so it is photocopies of the report.

In 2022 following the first independent team in decades taking over from the remaining members of the credit card scandal, the following report was written:

Second Student Centre

Most Ontario universities have built a second student centre, or expanded their existing ones, to meet the needs of their growing student body. Decades ago the students’ union led the initiative to establish the current student centre (SCC) and it is well past time to begin the next phase of this project. Space at TMU is extremely limited and it impacts students in so many ways, from not being able to find study spaces to being unable to get a spot in residence. Building a second student centre could go a long way to addressing these issues and also create more possibilities for the TMSU to offer helpful supports on campus.

While I am not an architect and these plans are very likely to have structural or functional issues, I put together several proposals, including 3D modelling, that could be considered Proof of Concept for a second student centre to be built across the street from the SLC on Yonge St.

The building could have 5 to 8 floors of academic and student life space, and a residence tower built on top. It would connect to the SLC and to the 10 Dundas building, making a direct connection to Dundas subway station.

Both proposals feature the same 6 main floors with event spaces, study spaces, and more room for campus groups. Proposal 1 has a small commuter hostel for about 12 students per night, whereas Proposal 2 has a much larger hostel space. Both proposals assume the highest residence floor could be repeated until reaching either the height limit of city by-laws or when it would cost too much.

Enhance Existing Services

There are several services that TMSU already provides to the student body that could easily, and with very little added costs, be enhanced to benefit a lot more students than they currently do.

Student Advocacy

Students can already access a full-time advocate when they are facing any academic issue, from plagiarism to harassment in the classroom. By following the models most other student unions use this could be expanded to improve wait times and the quality of support. Following the changes above in the staff structure, the new Manager of Student Advocacy would oversee a proper department staffed by law students providing the front line of support to students seeking advice. Complex issues would be escalated to the Manager and they would ensure the advice that the law students are giving is up to their standards. This would create student jobs for the law students, increase the number of students that can get support, and cost very little since the positions could be covered by the CareerBoost program.

Good Food Centre (GFC)

The GFC already does a great job serving as the campus food bank but there are many ways it can be expanded to serve more students. Well before the COVID-19 pandemic the GFC ran the Good Food Box program where students could place an order for fresh food and pick it up from the GFC on a designated day. These boxes were full of the same healthy food that the GFC already hands out in person but the pickup system would greatly improve the efficiency of distributing the food to students in need. The GFC also used to run free breakfast programs and do a lot of other free food events throughout the whole year, even before they started receiving a dedicated fund in 2018. With all of the extra money the GFC has a regular free food program could be established so that all students, not just ones facing severe food insecurity who would continue to get their weekly groceries from the GFC, could get some savings on their monthly food bill.

Campus Groups

The TMSU has traditionally been very centralized and has ignored campus groups in favour of doing Executive or Board led social initiatives. While most students see their course union or a student group as the go-to for any social or professional development events, the TMSU does very little to support these. Instead of focusing on running regular events throughout the entire year, I believe TMSU would see a lot more success if they focused only on the Weeks of Welcome (the first weeks of September and January) and instead directed all their attention to supporting group’s events during the year. There are many ways this could be structured, but all would involve campus groups taking the lead on determining the kinds of programming / events are being run and the TMSU could focus on providing the financial and logistical support that groups may need, especially for larger events. It would also be important to emphasize collaborations because many groups are doing very similar things separately when they could combine efforts to make bigger and better events.

One easy example would be every Thursday night at the Met Campus Pub could be designated as course union pub nights, and a sign-up would be released over the summer for groups. The catch would be two or more course unions would have to collaborate to sign-up for a date, but the TMSU would provide some funds that could be used for decorations and some free food. This solution would ensure that all students could know that every Thursday there will be a pub night and would encourage cross-program and cross-faculty interactions.

Develop New Services

There are so many areas at TMU that students are experiencing issues in, whether they be new ones that arose after the lockdown in 2020 or just issues that have emerged as the post-secondary landscape has changed over the years.

Student-led WalkSafe

Campus safety has been a big concern for students in recent years and the TMSU could play a huge role in making students feel safer on their campus. A decade ago there was a student group supported by the students’ union and the university called RyeSERT (Ryerson Student Emergency Response Team) and they operated very similarly to how this program could work. The team would be overseen and managed by the Manager of Advocacy and led by students in community services programs like social work and nursing. The program would work similarly to the existing WalkSafe program where a student can request it and a pair of student volunteers would walk the person to any campus building or nearby subway stop. By partnering with local organizations and the security department at TMU the student volunteers would be trained on de-escalation, first aid, and could carry a panic button that would immediately alert campus security to their location if a serious issue occurs. This would provide students with an alternative option if they feel uncomfortable with a security guard, relieve security to handle more serious issues, and give students in programs like social work hands-on job experience.

In the long term if the program is successful, they could also begin doing community outreach work like engaging with homeless people on campus and running workshops to improve students’ awareness about the root causes of safety issues like addiction and the housing crisis.

Job Readiness Program

Disclaimer: This is a program I proposed and was in the process of implementing when I was fired, but I bring it forward again because it fell apart after and I still believe that it would bring a huge benefit to the TMU community.

The TMSU relies on volunteers for all sorts of things but there has never been a proper structure introduced that would streamline all of the volunteers into one single program and this has led to a very disconnected approach across the organization. By creating a single volunteer program with established training, expectations, and recognition programs it will not only save time and money for the TMSU but will also enable students to gain professional experience and training to prepare them for their careers. If done properly it could grow to be similar to the TRSM program and student volunteers could use it as a reference on job applications.

The program would involve a training schedule that would run each semester to onboard new volunteers. All volunteers would receive the same basic training which would enable them to do some of the most common and basic volunteer roles like event setup, and volunteers that want to learn some of the more specific areas, like helping out in the urban farm or with the secxal violence support line, would be able to sign up for additional training. The major categories of volunteer tasks would be as follows:

• Community Garden: Supporting the Good Food Centre’s garden by planting, watering and tending to the plants
• Food Centre: Assisting the Good Food Centre during their weekly distribution hours
• Outreach & Street Team: Helping spread the word about TMSU events and initiatives by tabling, postering, and handing out flyers
• Event Support: Assisting TMSU staff in setting up, taking down, and running our events
• Class Ambassadors: Students that will do class talks and act as a connection point between TMSU and their class
• Admin Support: Helping staff with tasks around the SCC like cleaning out offices, storage room organizing, and similar tasks

Complete Policy Reform

In addition to the By-Laws, which are the foundational rules of the students’ union that can only be changed by a vote of all students at a General Meeting, the TMSU also relies on its Policy Manual to provide rules and expectations for smaller day-to-day issues. The Policy Manual currently has many policies that haven’t even been reviewed in over a decade, and could be vastly improved. The current policy manual is split into three sections: Operations, Issues, and Finances. By adding a few more sections and creating some new policies I know the TMSU could be much more efficient and it would also be easier for a student to find and understand the policies that may affect them.

Please note: Some of these policies are incomplete, I only have so much time to work on a job I no longer have. The idea is to show the overall structure of a new policy manual and what important policies are missing. These policies would need to be reviewed and edited by students anyway before they ever get approved.

Originally posted in 2022 on davidjardine.ca, reposted in 2025 following migration to new website hosting