Sorry about the delayed reply, I’m kind of shit at doing anything in a timely manner.

Turns out, I did know the secret password, and I definitely know who at least a few of the people on the project are. It’s kinda awesome.

I’m really glad you can appreciate me position, and I can definitely appreciate yours (and the rest of your board of shadowy figures). When I go on an SFUO tangent, as I am like to do on facebook etc. the greatest loss to me is admitting I care about this quagmire.

And in that respect I could pretend to hold my position and say something callous like ‘you need to deal with the consequences of what you say,’ but I’m not sure that this would help anyone out.

I’m not saying that the website itself is a bad thing, or that it needs to stop happening (or maybe I was at the timw, I wrote it so long ago… suffice to say I don’t really now), what’s more important to me is that people use the judging part of their brains when reading words courtesy of an anonymous donor. And that inflammatory and sarcastic comments be taken with a grain of salt. Especially with regards to “this candidate is a huge douchebag — to the Tar-And-Feather Mobile”.

Maybe what I’m taking a long time to say is that I appreciate the submission of facts left to interpretation more than taking the piss behind the faceless internet. Or something.

I’ll give you a more detailed reply later. Promise.

The real reason is not to shy away from accountability; it’s for protection. uoLeaks currently has 6 or 7 writers (and more on the way). A few of these writers have real things to lose – their jobs. Some work for the SFUO, some work for the various student newspapers, some are (and some tips are submitted by) SFUO suppliers (various promo companies, etc).

I, for one, do not care if people know who I am. The only reason I do not outright announce it is because of this: if I am the only one who reveals their identity, credit/blame for uoLeaks will go to me and only me…and this should not happen. I am one of many.

It is the same reason that we cannot always post who supplied the tip. They would lose business; lose jobs; lose confidentiality and the ability to continue to supply us with insider information.

Yes, we are biased. At least we give reasons for our bias. We’re not afraid to admit it. But there are those who would like to bash us without reason. If there are valid reasons to think otherwise, by all means…let us know and think otherwise. We have open mind. Thanks for your comments!

Cheers and good luck with the blog!

- Goober Gizzardbrains

I first want to say that I really commend your posting here. You probably deserved my one jaded vote, since I was equally unimpressed with the other candidate. Especially since in the grand scheme of things I don’t matter. I haven’t seen the official results yet, but if La Rotonde is right, I am sorry that you lost.

The topic of the Board of Directors, and Board of Administrators is a difficult one for me right now. My association is in the process of defederating from SAFA, and one of the reasons for this is trouble with the BOD.

I can totally understand having to work during the BOD, and, as a member of an exec I am able to send one of ten people rather than be the only one who sits on the council. But there are consequences if we don’t associate with SAFA as well as our student body and I think that’s lacking on the BOA — not you in particular, but it’s a flaw in that system.

For all of these student government systems to -work- they need to be unified. I appreciate that some people who sit on the BOA are well connected and are canvassing students for opinions, but one person cannot know about every art student. SAFA conveniently brings all of Arts together (Except Communications and possibly soon English and Philosophy). You have the perfect chance to meet us all.

I just wanted to let you know I completely respect your reasoning for your choice of vote, and I apologize if my lack of attendance at the Arts BOD was an influence in your decision. I wish I could have attended more last semester, but I worked weekends at my job and could only afford to take the time off for SFUO Board of Administration meetings once a month. However, any time I felt there was something important going on at the BOA that would affect SAFA or students in Arts, I always made sure to promptly contact the SAFA President Casey Perreault (also a friend of mine) to relay information.

I hope to continue the work I’ve done this year at the Board to fight for more accountable student representation, which I believe I’ve championed since the beginning of my mandate, especially when I sided with the Federated Bodies on the SFUO bulk order issue (coming from a student association background myself, as former President of Communication). I also publicly supported the Federated Body-led initiative to change the composition of the SFUO BOA back to its original incarnation, with seats held by Federated Body Presidents instead of separately elected proportionally-delegated seats according to faculty student enrollment, because I believe that the student associations have a much more direct connection to students than many sitting directors currently do.

Anyways, I applaud you for making a decision based on the accountability of your representative, and I hope that if I do happen to be elected as Vice-President Communications that I can ensure communication between the SFUO and Federated Bodies is improved upon next year.

Thanks for taking the time to read this!

Logan Ouellette