DSU Exposed as a tool of DAL Administrators
On 28th June 2017, Masuma Khan, the Vice-President of the Dalhousie Student Union, put forward a motion that the DSU not participate in the Canada 150 celebrations. The motion passed with the overwhelming support of the union’s voting members, including four of its vice-presidents and president. This was done in respect of the indigenous people of Canada, for whom Canada continues to be a nightmare. Needless to say, the DSU and Masuma Khan exchanged brickbats on social media for their decision. With attempts to oust Khan from within the DSU being unsuccessful, the Dalhousie University Administration has now jumped in to punish Masuma Khan. They are pretending to be concerned about brickbats she exchanged with detractors in a now-deleted Facebook post. They claim to have received a complaint from History student Michael Smith, who also published a scathing op-ed in the National Post (The same National Post which tried to pass off a genuine Muslim charity as a supporter of terrorism; The apology can no longer be found on their website). Dalhousie conducted an “investigation” and gave her the option to undergo counseling and write a reflective essay. Now that she has refused, The Dalhousie Senate Discipline Committee is coming after her. Masuma Khan was on this Committee, but has now been removed. Update: Dalhousie is withdrawing their quest for blood. This time, it seems they have learnt to stop digging when they find themselves in a hole.
Why would the National Post give voice to opponents of Masuma Khan by allowing them to publish in their paper? Would they publish my account too?
The irony of the whole situation is that Masuma Khan was an official of the DSU, which is supposed to be independent of Dalhousie University for obvious reasons. And therefore the matter would normally be resolved within the DSU. But with Cabal presence at the DSU not as strong as it once was, Dalhousie has to intervene from the outside. Darryl Leroux, an Associate Professor in the Department of Social Justice and Community Studies at Saint Mary’s University has penned some interesting commentary about this particular case.
Update: In October 2019, Dalhousie University “tweeted” a half-hearted apology to Masuma Khan, rather than formally issuing a statement. Tweets are usually not documented, and can be deleted when nobody’s watching. If this is how they address serious and well publicized issues raised by a student leader, you can imagine what goes on for issues faced by regular students.
