University of Manitoba Students’ Union (UMSU) president Jeremiah Kopp states that a lot of his meetings with students occur over lunch and “there’s good reason for that. It’s standard practice” (“UMSU president responds to allegations ,” March 14, 2016). He fails to address what exactly this good reason is. What is this so-called standard practice? It is a vague choice of words if you ask me.
Also, he states that he treats staff members to keep up their morale. Who are these staff members exactly? And is it necessary to spend thousands of dollars as he claims to treat staff and students out of students’ tuition money?
In regards to the recall petition, he claims it is not the “wisest use of student money and union resources.” Isn’t this quite ironic considering that his alleged expenses may not have been the best use of student money?
If he is proven to be guilty, a recall vote for his presidency should be under strong consideration and he should be forced to pay all the unapproved expenses out of his own pocket. Students and their families work hard to pay for their university tuition and these alleged unapproved expenses if proven true should not go unpunished.
Anghela Sivananthan
