Motion to defund U of M paper after critical column withdrawn

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This article was published 31/01/2018 (3119 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A University of Manitoba students’ union (UMSU) councillor motion to cancel funding for the Manitoban — in response to a critical column last week — won’t be proceeding after all, according to an email source.

The U of M’s 104-year-old student newspaper published a column recently criticizing a non-binding referendum on UMSU withdrawing its membership from the Canadian Federation of Students (CFS), an issue that’s been contentious within the student union in the past.

The motion to cancel funding, introduced by UMSU councillor Cole Parsons on Jan. 28, stated the Manitoban has not been impartial and mentioned the recent column. The motion was to have been voted on by the UMSU council Thursday evening.

However, the Free Press obtained an internal email that said Parsons withdrew his motion Wednesday afternoon and it will not be up for consideration at the Thursday meeting.

In the 2013-14 school year, the student union tried to make an executive decision to withhold nearly $1 million in annual fees to CFS. UMSU ended up paying its debts to CFS in 2016.

The motion would have had students vote on the future of funding for the student newspaper — $12.18 per student annually — in the next general election.

“A recent editorial published by the Manitoban board has sought to influence the results of all UMSU members,” the motion stated.

That’s inaccurate, said Garrett Williams, editor of the Manitoban.

He said the item was a bylined opinion piece written by Shawn Huberdeau, the newspaper’s opinion editor,.

It was not an editorial by the editorial board as a whole, he added.

“It would be hard to argue it’s anything but an attack,” Williams said of the motion.

The column’s author agrees.

“The fact that I wrote an opinion piece on a particular issue doesn’t mean that it is endorsed by the paper at large,” Huberdeau said. “Anyone who disagrees with me — or any other writer published in the paper — is welcome to challenge the position. I would actually love to hear from people who disagree with me.”

Noah Wilson, a UMSU councillor and director of finance for the U of M’s Aboriginal Students Association, said he was appalled when he learned about the motion Monday evening.

“It’s a thinly veiled threat to freedom of the press at the university, aimed at a hundred-year-old outlet that’s been holding UMSU accountable basically since it started,” he said when reached by phone Tuesday evening.

Parsons could not be reached for comment, but in a statement said his intention was to start a dialogue on the topic of funding the Manitoban.

“I think it’s important for media to showcase both sides of a story when reporting the issues, and many students have found content in the student newspaper to be one-sided,” Parsons said. “Ensuring the campus media is fair when reporting, and inclusive of all opinions, is exceptionally important.”