Big whomping grade of F for policies, and D for practices slammed down against YFS.

The York Federation of Students is the ninth worst student union in Canada for free speech, according to the
2015 Campus Freedom Index, released by the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms.
JCCF assigned the YFS an F-rating for its policies and D-rating for its practices. It claims the F-rating was a result of the YFS lacking a commitment to free speech and D-rating “on account of its currently failing policies.”
Over the past few weeks, the YFS did not respond to repeated inquiries from Excalibur.
YFS policies, JCCF claims, could be used to discriminate against groups on the basis of their views or expression.
Other concerns include election rules, the YFS “taking policies” on issues unrelated to post-secondary education.

According to the report, bylaws 10 and 11 “limit free speech through the governing of campaign finance and resource access.”

Spending limits are set by the Chief Returning Officer and the Referendum Committee for candidates and referendum advocating committees, and candidates/advocates are not allowed to raise funds on their own above and beyond the expenditure limits, reads the report.
Section 10, outlining, among other things, the responsibilities of the CRO and the location of election messaging on campus, received additional criticism.
The CRO is empowered to restrict the number of posters one candidate can post during an election; sections 10.13.g and 10.13.h of the bylaws restrict the quantity of messages a candidate can communicate to voters during the election; section 10.13.k restricts the location of campaign messages on campus.
Subsection I in 10.13 is “particularly restrictive” in giving the CRO the ability to declare union-operated spaces out of bounds for campaigning.
Vague wording in section 10.13.c lends discretion to the CRO and YFS to censor speech during elections, with the report citing the requirement of candidates having to adhere to “generally accepted community standards.”
Finally, the report raises concerns that clubs must submit an outline of their planned events for the school year, which may see clubs denied ratification before they apply for space, based on the content and composition of their events.
Former student union presidential candidate and university governor Emile Wickham says he’s not surprised by the results.
“This year, in a school with over 45,000 undergraduates, I participated in an election debate in front of a crowd of no more than 25 people,” he says.
According to Wickham, there was an active effort to ensure students did not hear about campus issues.
“I wish the YFS promoted their election debates with the same fervor and fanfare as their failed YorkFest concerts,” says Wickham.
Excalibur waits to hear from the YFS.