You are not permitted to discuss the referendum on the internet as per the rules of election.

If you wish to learn more about it you must consult the signs posted in the student centre.

-- Lorend

Silly, silly MSU rules. Well, let ignorance be bliss then.

Macinsiders has no choice but to obey by MSU censorship. It's part of being an MSU club.

We can't hold it against this site. I've had numerous posts deleted based on MSU complaints, and I still support this site.

Whoa whoa whoa!
What the heck?

Have I had my head in a midterm bubble or something cause I have NO idea what the heck this is all about! Enlighten me? Someone?

I'm not holding it against the site. It's unfortunate that our student leaders don't want to get with the times.

Sorry, Sabrina. We're not allowed. You'll have to go on campus and find out about it.

Well here's the announcement from the MSU site

There will be a referendum held on October 22nd, 2008 for the purpose of posing a question to McMaster University students regarding the application of a supplementary fee to establish and operate a DVD rental service on campus and available to all MSU members.

Students wishing to declare an official campaign side must complete a Declaration Form, which is available in the MSU Office (MUSC 201) or from the CRO / DRO. Declaration forms are due back in the MSU office no later than 4:30pm on October 14th. Please note that students who do not declare themselves to be part of an official referendum side will not be allowed to campaign.

However, every MSU member (undergraduate students enrolled in 18 or more units) will be eligible and are highly encouraged, to vote in the referendum on Wednesday, October 22nd, 2008.

For more information, please contact:


MSU Chief Returning Officer, Jonathan Scheiding: (905) 525-9140 ext 24118 or [email protected] .ca

MSU Deputy Returning Officer, Nick Shorten: (905) 525-9140 ext 24118 or [email protected] ca

Remember though, we're not allowed to discuss it.

Wow.

I haven't even heard about this till now.

I should pay more attention to posters.

Well dvy88 don't worry about not knowing about it till now. A lot of people are in the same boat.

As for posters, I haven't seen any in the parts of campus I frequent.

Hi Danny,

Thank you for respecting the censorship rules. The Elections Committee is there to ensure an unbiased election, and unfortunately there is no way of ensuring the factual, unbiased information will be portrayed on any online discussion forum. Students are notified (and have been notified) about every single election and referendum via proclamation across campus. As well, campaign teams have registered with the sole job of providing students with information about this. If you have not heard about it, do not blame it on the MSU as we do advertise it, consider asking the campaign teams why you have not seen anything yet. As well, in the future there is always ample opportunity to get involved on a campaign side. However, as for the internet discussion forums, those are limited because any such forum will incur violation fines on the campaign teams which is not a very good situation for anyone - especially since invalidation can occur with a certain amount/severity of violations. Thank you again for your co-operation. And as Joey said - don't blame MacInsiders, they are an MSU club and have to adhere to MSU policy.

Cheers,
John McIntyre
Elections Committee Member

Thanks for your reply, John. I don't think anyone was blaming MacInsiders for not allowing discussion. Unfortunately they are censored by the MSU.

The main issue at hand here is more that people were not aware of this taking place until the issue was raised. As I mentioned in my reply to you on the Facebook group, I found out about this through this group right here. I did not see ANY announcements in the part of campus I frequent (MoMac, ITB, JHE, occasionally Psych and HH). Having just posters up doesn't cut it nowadays. The MSU has the ability to email announcements to students. It also has the ability to have announcements such as this posted in The Sil.

The MSU should have made sure a proclamation announcement was posted on The Sil site as well, not just printed in the paper (I'm assuming there was a printed proclamation as was done before). We're in the age of technology now, it's about time our student leadership caught up with the times.

The problem is not the campaigning teams not advertising their point of view on this referendum. The problem is the MSU does not make enough effort to make sure all students know about things like this.

I agree with Danny about the bad advertising on the part of the MSU. I consider myself well informed around campus, I work on campus and am often in the student center and this is the first I've heard of it.

As for the censorship on MacInsiders: I am an exec member and we censor any comments or acitivity that we feel is inappropriate. By that I mean anything from a member disrespecting our forum rules to someone saying something that is offensive to a group or individual. We are not under any leash of the MSU but naturally we are part of it and respect it as an institution. Members are allowed to express their opinions on the MSU, as I have just done, but we simply ask that they be respectful in their expression.

Originally Posted by DannyV

Well here's the announcement from the MSU site

Remember though, we're not allowed to discuss it.

Fees to establish a DVD rental service?
Referendum this Wednesday?
https://www.msumcmaster.ca/news/msuNews.htm#
There's a small link on the right-hand side under the thing about SWHAT.

First of all.
lolwat

Secondly:

unfortunately there is no way of ensuring the factual, unbiased information will be portrayed on any online discussion forum

Welcome to the Internet. You must be new here.

If I write something that is not factual or biased, then someone should correct. Not censor me and limit freedom of speech.

So, here are a few questions that everyone should consider:
DVD Rental Service? What is the demand like for that?
How much is the fee?
Who came up with this? I want to know who's responsible for these ideas for when future elections come around.

PS. The above are questions, no facts nor biased information is given.

So, here are a few questions that everyone should consider:
DVD Rental Service? What is the demand like for that?
How much is the fee?
Who came up with this? I want to know who's responsible for these ideas for when future elections come around.

1. The question is trying to gage exactly that - do students want this?
2. The one that will read on the question is $24.
3. Anyone can put anything to referendum if they have enough signatures. This is written in the MSU constitution

As for the talk about MSU "censorship" and not allowing "freedom of speech"... okay. It's annoying that we cannot post online. But what the elections committee sets in stone is what both sides of the argument have agreed to when considering how to conduct a fair referendum. As it stands, by posting anything online that has not been approved by the CRO/DRO or the EC is not considered correct or unbiased information.

If one side of the argument posts something up without having it approved, it creates an unfair environment for conducting this question and might be grounds to invalidate the whole thing.

If you are interested in this question coming to you, make sure you listen to what the yes and no sides have to say through methods that are approved by the EC. I'm sure they'd both be more than happy to tell you stuff.

Moreover, campaigning has only been occuring since Thursday morning. If you're wondering why you haven't heard anything before that, it's because it would have been considered pre-campaigning and again would have hurt the referendum.

Originally Posted by kokosas

I agree with Danny about the bad advertising on the part of the MSU. I consider myself well informed around campus, I work on campus and am often in the student center and this is the first I've heard of it.

As for the censorship on MacInsiders: I am an exec member and we censor any comments or acitivity that we feel is inappropriate. By that I mean anything from a member disrespecting our forum rules to someone saying something that is offensive to a group or individual. We are not under any leash of the MSU but naturally we are part of it and respect it as an institution. Members are allowed to express their opinions on the MSU, as I have just done, but we simply ask that they be respectful in their expression.

On what grounds are links to Facebook groups prohibited?

What is disrespectful about this link?

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=4042938 4401
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=3941104 4918

Thank You,


Joey Coleman