A precarious few weeks have come to an end as the Interim Dean of Students Tony Mittermaier communicated that Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) Vice-President (VP) University Affairs Abe Berglas could remain in their position. The decision follows the Committee on Student Discipline’s finding that Berglas had violated the Code of Student Conduct and Disciplinary Procedures at the start of the school year for passing out flyers detailing what they claimed were professor Douglas Farrow’s transphobic and homophobic published works. Under a new clause of the Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) between SSMU and the University, this violation could have deemed Berglas ineligible to be in their executive position at SSMU.

The new MoA, signed on Feb. 28, included section 14.4, which states that executives and directors at SSMU cannot have a disciplinary record at the University, including an infraction of the Code of Student Conduct. While Berglas’ demonstration took place months before the new MoA was signed, it was unclear whether or not they would be allowed to stay in their position. 

Berglas told The Tribune the stated reasoning not to remove them was that the disciplinary charge and the start of their term at SSMU occurred before the MoA was signed. Because of this, McGill will allow SSMU to decide how to proceed. The McGill Media Relations Office (MRO) declined to comment on the specifics of Berglas’ case. However, the Office noted that this case would not set a precedent for how future violations of section 14.4 will be handled.

To Berglas, this situation highlights fundamental flaws within the Code of Student Conduct, including the amount of discretion left to the committee when determining disciplinary action and a lack of specificity in certain clauses such as 10.c, the one they were found to violate. They also noted a concern for the slow timeline of their case.

“The fact that my handing out flyers happened on the first day of class and the hearing itself was […] mid-March […] I think is inappropriate,” Berglas said. “And when these students are in limbo after being accused of a disciplinary charge but not being able to have closure on the case, it can create a chilling effect.”