Blake Frederick uses UBC VDAY as Vector for Partisan Political Communication
Update: The situation has been resolved
Another shocking development in the sad affair which is the Frederick/Chu AMS Scandal. This evening I received this email from UBC V-Day, the group behind The Vagina Monologues on campus, and an advocacy group against gender-based violence:
AMS Student Union to Decide Tuition Policy
Fellow students,
If you are not already aware, your AMS Student Council is seeking to impeach your elected AMS President, Blake Frederick and Vice-President of External Affairs, Tim Chu who are taking action against the high cost of education. The current AMS Student Council policy is that it is acceptable for tuition to increase by up to two percent each year. Your President and Vice-President of External Affairs were elected on a mandate and made a commitment to lobby for lower tuition and are now seeking to change the official tuition policy of the AMS, but we need your feedback.
If you want to make your voice heard on the cost of education, you should take three actions:
1) Email your Council representatives and let them know what you think about tuition fees (see email list below).
2) Write an email under 300 words for the Ubyssey student newspaper and send it to feedback@ubyssey.ca before 5:00 p.m. on Tuesday, December 1, 2009.
3) Attend the AMS Council meeting on Wednesday, December 2, 2009 at 6:00 p.m. in SUB room 206 and make your voice heard.
The AMS needs your input so that we can decide together on how to move our student union forward.
Sincerely,
Blake Frederick
President
AMS Student Union
* We have been asked to pass on this message. UBC VDay does not take a particular side on this issue, however, we do encourage students to be involved in their community and ensure that their voices are heard on matters of importance
I cannot believe that Blake Frederick could find another way to sink even further. I am so angry that a club like UBC V-Day would allow itself to be abused as a vector for such a partisan political statement, which has nothing to do with their purpose.
The following is an open letter I sent as a response:
To UBC VDAY,I fully support the UBC V-Day organization, and think what you do is an amazing and important part of UBC. I have attended the Vagina Monologues many times, and am friends with several current and former members of the club. However, I must express my utter shock and disappointment that you would allow your club email to be used as a vector to spread partisan messages about a sensitive political issue on campus which has NOTHING TO DO with the purpose of your club. You claim that “UBC VDay does not take a particular stance on this issue”, but by allowing Mr. Frederick to use your club as a vector, you have allowed him to once again cast this as an issue of tuition, again attempting to deflect attention to the real reason for his being asked to resign, which is his consistant and repeated abuses of power and the democratic process (of which this email is yet another example). By allowing him to send email through you, you are implicitly endorsing his position.I must say I am extremely disappointed that a club such as yours, which is a valuable and extremely important part of UBC, would allow itself to be abused in this way.Sincerely,Nicholas FitzGeraldTo UBC VDAY,
I fully support the UBC V-Day organization, and think what you do is an amazing and important part of UBC. I have attended the Vagina Monologues many times, and am friends with several current and former members of the club. However, I must express my utter shock and disappointment that you would allow your club email to be used as a vector to spread partisan messages about a sensitive political issue on campus which has NOTHING TO DO with the purpose of your club. You claim that “UBC VDay does not take a particular stance on this issue”, but by allowing Mr. Frederick to use your club as a vector, you have allowed him to once again cast this as an issue of tuition, again attempting to deflect attention to the real reason for his being asked to resign, which is his consistant and repeated abuses of power and the democratic process (of which this email is yet another example). By allowing him to send email through you, you are implicitly endorsing his position.
I must say I am extremely disappointed that a club such as yours, which is a valuable and extremely important part of UBC, would allow itself to be abused in this way.
Sincerely,
Nicholas FitzGerald
This is not, and never has been, an issue about tuition. It is an issue about two executive who have continuously abused their power, and the democratic process. I said as much as last Saturday’s council meeting:
December 1st, 2009 at 12:30 am
Would one consider me a monster if I suspect this as a false flag attack?
December 1st, 2009 at 12:30 am
Hear, hear! Blake and Tim continue to erode what little credibility they have left.
December 1st, 2009 at 12:36 am
Nicholas,
I think you are being condescending, saying that V-day “allow[ed] itself to be abused in this way.”
The people who made the choice to send this email can make their own choices and can be as partisan as they like.
December 1st, 2009 at 12:36 am
You are aware that Blake’s girlfriend, Emily Griffiths, is heavily involved with UBC V-Day?
December 1st, 2009 at 12:38 am
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by The UBC Spectator, Nicholas FitzGerald. Nicholas FitzGerald said: OMG, Blake Frederic uses UBC VDAY to pass Partisan message to students: http://trunc.it/3kgzx [...]
December 1st, 2009 at 12:51 am
@ Alison Brown:
Not if they are acting on behalf of a club which receives funds from UBC Students for a purpose which has NOTHING TO DO WITH PARTISAN POLITICKING!
December 1st, 2009 at 1:09 am
Nicholas,
I was also surprised when I got this email. But,
The funds that the group recieves from us go 100% to charity. So the money is still being used “for a purpose which has NOTHING TO DO WITH PARTISAN POLITICKING!”
Last year V-day did endorements for the exec positions (I think). A lot of groups on campus do that. Being anti gender based violence is a political issue, after all (as in some political parties cut funding for programs that aid those harmed by violence, some don’t).
We’re pretty much on the same page about Blake and Tim. I just think let’s give V-day a break. V-day isn’t the problem.
Alison
December 1st, 2009 at 1:13 am
just for the benefit of those who didn’t get the email themselves, it concluded with this:
“* We have been asked to pass on this message. UBC VDay does not take a particular side on this issue, however, we do encourage students to be involved in their community and ensure that their voices are heard on matters of importance.”
December 1st, 2009 at 1:16 am
@Alison
V-Day is entitled to take a stance on issues which relate to their mandate – gender based violence. They are not entitled to use their club as a means to help out their friends when they are in a tight political spot. That’s called a conflict of interest, aka. political fraud. I am not angry at UBC V-Day as a whole. I am angry at whoever it was who allowed their club to be hijacked in this way.
December 1st, 2009 at 1:21 am
Sorry, I didn’t mean to leave that part off, fixed now. It doesn’t change anything though. The email distracts attention from the real issue (abuse of power) to a side issue (tuition), so even if they claim neutrality, by spreading the email without critical commentary, they are spreading the lies, and implicitly endorsing Blake.
December 1st, 2009 at 1:21 am
If it is their club, aren’t they entitled to take a stance on whatever the hell they want?
December 1st, 2009 at 1:23 am
Anyways, I’ve said my bit. It’s your blog. – Alison
December 1st, 2009 at 1:43 am
I’m part of the UBC V-Day group on Facebook, was this an email through a mailing list or a facebook message, because I didn’t recieve a facebook message.
December 1st, 2009 at 1:46 am
No, it was an email from the UBC V-Day mailinglist.
December 1st, 2009 at 2:06 am
Completely agree with you Nick. There are other channels for communicating with students. Student newspapers, twitter (oh -wait Frederick’s is private now…) and oh maybe showing up to emergency meetings rather than attending political conferences downtown. Surely the NDP can function without two university students for one evening? VDay credibility falls a notch in my books.
December 1st, 2009 at 11:09 am
This is misinformation. Frederick didn’t target this group specially. If you are on any AMS or the Council mailing list you’d know that he sent this out to EVERYONE. If a group decided to pass it on (as V-Day seems to have), that’s their own decision. FYI the original didn’t ask anyone to pass this on.
December 1st, 2009 at 11:20 am
Read the note at the end “We have been asked to pass on this message.”. That means they were asked (I’m gonna go out on a limb and say “by Blake Frederick”) to send the letter specifically to those on their mailing list. And again, unless they got the permission of the majority of all members of the club, it’s not appropriate for a member of the clubs executive (whomever sent this email from VDAY) to be sending partisan political messages which have nothing to do with their club’s purpose, in their capacity as UBC VDay executive.
December 1st, 2009 at 11:22 am
And yes, he ALSO sent the message from the AMS Council mailing list – which is ALSO an abuse of power since he doesn’t have the backing of the rest of the council.
December 1st, 2009 at 11:29 am
He sent the e-mail from his own e-mail to the AMS Council mailing list. If anyone can use the Council mailing list, it’s the president. He doesn’t need the backing of Council to do this. I am pretty sure that until he is officially removed from office, he can use it. Other Council members use the Council mailing list all the time. Other Council members have *also* been using the Council mailing list to state opposition to the actions of Frederick and Chu. Students have also been using the Council mailing list for days to state their opposition to the actions of Fredrick and Chu.
December 1st, 2009 at 11:36 am
So Stephen Harper can send partisan political messages (backing the Conservatives, for instance) from “The Government of Canada”? No. That happened a few months ago and people got pissed, for good reason. The head of a government needs support of that government before issuing statements on behalf of that government. It’s pretty simple.
December 1st, 2009 at 11:45 am
Did Frederick send a message backing the NDP? Did he make a statement on behalf of Council? “The AMS needs your input so that we can decide together on how to move our student union forward.” He asked for feedback. He didn’t ask students to “voice their concerns” in support of his position. In fact, the “feedback” that has been coming through the Council mailing list, in response to this e-mail, has been largely, almost exclusively, critical/in opposition to his actions.
December 1st, 2009 at 11:51 am
The message is partisan in that Blake (once again) unfairly recasts the issue of one about tuition increases. As I have said MULTIPLE times (see above), this is not and never was an issue about tuition increases. This is an issue about an elected official continuously and repeatedly abusing his power, and the principles of democracy. It is wrong for Blake to send this message “On AMS Letterhead”, as it were, and doubly wrong for him to have sent it via a non-partisan UBC club.
December 1st, 2009 at 10:04 pm
[...] last night’s message from UBC V-Day, I returned home today to find an altogether more happy surprise: Dear UBC V-Day [...]