As the complications related to the ratification of VP Finance-elect, Ian Dasti, piled up over the past two weeks, it became increasingly apparent that the LUSU Board of Directors would not resolve this complicated issue in a timely manner. Last Friday, this was confirmed when the Board showed solid judgment in deciding to pursue legal recourse before proceeding any further down the already slippery face that is the LUSU executive elections.
The Board opted to take a methodical approach towards resolving on this matter, for the first time since Ian Dasti’s status as a student was first called into question.
At Friday’s meeting, the BOD was criticized for making “convenient” decisions over the past few months. Indeed, the Directors’ procedural oversights and inability to stick with and justify their initial decision to keep Ian Dasti out of the LUSU election got the Student Union into this shifty situation. Yet, in this negative situation, the Board is doing the right thing in seeking legal advice to carefully navigate their way out of the hole they dug. This method is anything but convenient, but it’s absolutely the correct method to employ.
There are no clear winners in this VP Finance fiasco. The student body was given no opportunity to elect a representative in a fair election. The candidates lose, having invested significant time, money and energy into campaigning for potentially disposable votes. Nevertheless, this lose-lose situation could have gotten significantly worse had the Board buckled under the pressure of a few partisan, impatient students at their last meeting.
There is no single decision that propelled LUSU into this rut. Bad decisions have been compounded over time by subsequent bad decisions, but this time the Board made the right move by deciding not to decide.
As a result of this stalled decision-making process, the Argus successfully requested to continue the publication of our newspaper, with limited circulation, and in a shortened format, in order to maintain the token transparency of the unfolding of the VP Finance ratification.
We will be accepting letters to the Editor in the meantime, giving members of the Lakehead University community a venue to present their concerns.

Mike Bennett
Editor-in-Chief