Engineers Without Borders fee dropped following referendum appeal

Engineers Without Borders' fee of $0.41 will no longer be included in MSU members' supplementary fees following referendum

After an appeal process, the results of the Engineers Without Borders Referendum, held earlier this year during the McMaster Students Union Referenda period, have been released.

The referendum to remove the $0.41 EWB fee from students' supplementary fees has been confirmed as successful, meaning the fee will not be included in next year's membership fees. Over 2,026 students voted to remove it.

The "yes" campaign, which supported the continuation of the fee, was disqualified due to receiving eight standard violations and seven severe fines exceeding half of the spending limit, as per Rule 7.12 of the MSU's bylaws. Multiple violations for the "yes" campaign led to the Elections Committee their campaign invalid.

Sinead Gono, the MSU Elections Department's chief returning officer, provided insight into the disqualification and appeal process. She stated that candidates or groups running in an election or referendum must nominate themselves and abide by strict campaigning guidelines.

While the "no" side of the EWB referendum registered their campaign properly and followed election rules, the campaign to continue the fee did not initially nominate themselves and failed to follow standard procedures.

According to Gono, by the time polling had closed, complaints started to come in when the "yes" side advertised its campaign using inappropriate methods. After review, the Elections Committee determined that EWB’s "yes" campaign exceeded the allowed sum of fines, accumulating over $275.00 in penalties. This amount exceeded the $150.00 limit, resulting in automatic disqualification.

Voter turnout for the referendum was 12.9 per cent. When asked about student engagement during voting sessions, Gono stated that the Elections Department made considerable efforts to promote the referendum.

"Obviously, referendums don’t have the same engagement as presidential elections, but given the year we are in, we felt the turnout was really good," she said

 The use of the club's funding was cause for concern amongst the McMaster community. EWB's use of student funding to send a non-McMaster student from an undisclosed Ontario university on a trip led to outrage amongst the student body. Prior to the referendum, some members of the SRA voiced concerns about McMaster student fees supporting a fellowship program that does not always include a McMaster student.

More than two months after the referendum, due to the results of the appeal process, the McMaster chapter of Engineers Without Borders will no longer be funded by the MSU.