UVSS Board does not recognize Access UVic

At the August 23 board meeting, the UVSS board passed a motion to not currently recognize Access UVic.

To understand how the UVSS came to no longer recognize its constituency group for students with disabilities we must look at who Access UVic is and the events that lead to this decision.

Background about Access

Access UVic is the constituency group on campus for students with disabilities. While Access UVic is incorporated as its own Society under the Society Act, it receives funding from UVSS student fees in the amount of $3.00 per semester. This fee amounts to about $90 000 a year for Access UVic. The UVSS is legally responsible for all student fees it collects, such as this Access fee, under the University Act. Any groups receiving fees from the UVSS must conduct financial audits annually. Thus, the UVSS has an obligation to ensure that Access UVic is complying with these audits.

To give a background about Access, one cannot forget to mention Rose Mariana Robb. Perhaps the Access Website describes her best:

The driving force behind the Disability Advocacy Centre is Access UVic’s Director, Rose Mariana Robb. Since 2001, Mrs. Robb has organized the constituency of disabled students at the University of Victoria. She is a mentor, friend and leader to many students with disabilities. Mrs. Robb’s vision and leadership sustains the organization and guides planning, education and advocacy.

In summary, without Rose Mariana Robb, there would be no Access.

Events February 2010 to Present

It should be noted that there does exist some disagreement in terms of the events that led to the decision to not recognize Access UVic by the UVSS board. I am primarily using the information presented by the board at the special August 3 board meeting to summarize these events.

For more thorough information download the Access UVic presentation documents:

Access Presentation
Access Presentation Appendix 2
Access Presentation Appendices 1-6
Access Presentation Appendix 7

Questions regarding Access UVic’s finances began on February 24, 2010 when Kyla Berry (then President of Access UVic) met with Marne Jensen (then SUB General Manager) and Edward Pullman (then Director of Finance) to express concerns regarding Access’s finances. The following day Kyla provided Marne Jensen with copies of Access’s financial documents. Kyla discussed this with Access’s Executive Director Rose Mariana Robb.

On March 1, Kyla Berry was informed that she had been removed as President of Access UVic on February 27 by Access’s board members and constituency representative. She was accused of having breached their trust. It does seem quite remarkable that a President of an organization would be removed for raising questions about the organizations finances.

On March 2, Marne Jensen engaged the accounting firm Norgaard Neale Camden to audit Access UVic's finances. By March 11, the accounting firm had completed its first report outlining several unusual transactions. Some of these unusual transactions included $12 367.75 (see Appendix 4) in cash withdrawals (making the expenditures difficult to trace) and $7 700 that ended up in Rose Mariana Robb’s personal chequeing account. On March 10 Marne Jensen requested that the Registrar of Companies freeze Access UVic’s file.

As a result of the initial report, more financial documents were sent to Norgaard Neale Camden on June 25. Quite a few additional questionable transactions were discovered that included cheques being deposited into Rose Mariana Robb’s account as well as Interac purchases at Pepper's Grocery store, 5th Street Bar and Grill, Iris Eyecare, Chevron, Sears, Safeway, Fido Wireless, Pharmasave, People's Pharmacy, London Drugs and others (see Appendix 4).

One detail that further complicates this issue is that fact that Rose Mariana Robb is also a salaried employee of Access UVic. It is further claimed that Robb is owed salary by Access according to David Foster’s comment on his post on this topic.

During this period of time, the UVSS board had spent a lot of time and effort on this issue. The board has had three in camera sessions totalling about nine hours. In addition, Chairperson James Coccola estimates that he has spent approximately 40 hours of his office time on this issue since taking office in May.

August 23 Meeting

There are several reasons why the UVSS board chose to take a measure like not recognizing Access UVic at the August 23 board meeting. Access UVic has not complied with Memorandum of Understanding that would see it have financial statements prepared by a chartered accountant. Despite the concerns about the finances of Access UVic, Access UVic is currently refusing to comply with the University’s order to have its finances audited. Due to these reasons, the motion was added to the agenda to “not currently recognize” Access UVic following roughly 3 hours of in camera discussion on this topic.

The vote passed by a small margin as follows:

In favour:

Bowie, Hall, MacDonald, Marani, Pal, Sall, Sangha

Opposed:

Barrios, Hannan, McNulty (Access UVic), Sutherland (UVic Pride), Warner

Abstained:

McLeod, Paterson, Sherlock, Spilker (Women's Centre)

The outcome of this vote shows that the board definitely has mixed views on the issue. It is also notable that there appears to be no pattern in terms of slate voting which is quite indicative of the rather bipartisan nature of this year’s board. Following this vote, Access UVic representative Trevor McNulty resigned from the board.

Aftermath and Implications

With this decision, several questions arise about the future of Access UVic.

One matter is whether Access UVic will be able to continue using its office following this development. For the foreseeable future it will be able to. Any UVic student may obtain a key to use the Access office.

Perhaps the more important matter is the $90 000 a year fee that is collected on behalf of Access UVic by the University. Without funding, it would be difficult for Access UVic to perform the advocacy work to the level that it has the past few years. Perhaps the Society could even dissolve. That fee is currently being held in trust for Access UVic pending the resolution of this saga through the completion of an audit. It is unclear what would occur if an audit concluded that student money had been misspent.

The question also arises about what Access UVic can do to be recognized by the UVSS board again. By all accounts, this decision appears to be intended to be a temporary one. If Access completes an audit and complies with the Memorandum of Understanding, it is conceivable that the UVSS board would then reverse its decision.

Overall, this situation is a rather unfortunate one as students with disabilities may not be able to receive the assistance they require this Fall. By refusing to carry out an audit, however, Access UVic is only hurting itself.

It is important to note that Access UVic is receiving far more scrutiny over its finances than any other group that receives student money. The University has stated that all groups for which the UVSS collects fees must conduct annual audits and given the UVSS one year to comply with this requirement. It will be interesting to see if this reveals any other groups with questionable finances.

Access UVic’s position

As readers may note, much of the information I have presented has come from the perspective of the UVSS. I have attempted to contact relevant individuals involved with Access UVic and intend to post their perspectives in a future post.