City
Ryerson Students' Union president-elect accused of ripping down U of T posters
In a video uploaded yesterday to YouTube (embedded below), Toby Whitfield, the VP of finance and president-elect of the Ryerson Students' Union (RSU) was spotted on U of T campus, allegedly ripping down University of Toronto French Club posters.
Whitfield has recently been at U of T postering for the Stronger Together student advocacy group, one of the two student groups running in the U of T Students' Union (UTSU) elections, the other being Change U of T.
According to the RSU 2009-2010 operating budget, as the union's VP of finance and services, Whitfield is paid $27,000 for services performed at Ryerson. It remains unknown why exactly he was campaigning at U of T.
The French club (EFUT) posters advertise an art gala being put on by the campus-recognized group as well as a free crêpes event to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the International Organization of the Francophonie. The video shows Whitfield walking around on campus, and cuts to a shot of a pile of the torn-down posters in the trash, but never depicts him actually tearing them down.
When the cameraman confronts Whitfield at U of T's Sidney Smith Hall, however, the RSU member asks not to be photographed, ignores his questions and appears to busy himself with his cell phone behind UTSU president Sandy Hudson.
The burning question remains: Was Whitfield actually tearing down posters, or is he the victim of an elaborate framing via YouTube?
I've made attempts to reach by phone and email both Whitfield and the Youtube video uploader. So far I have not received a response from either individual, but we'll post an update if we're able to garner any responses.
Photo by sevres-babylone of the blogTO Flickr pool.
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What a crock of shit. Disgraceful that the woman who gets money from my fees (I'm a part-time adult student) had to resort to pulling that shit? What a coward.
I'm not at all a fan of the CFS.
There are tons of idiots at all school.
I'm guessing your a fellow U of T student so lets not forget that UTM and UTSC are pretty crappy schools, yet when students from there are looking for a job they'll simply say "University of Toronto" and hope the employer thinks they're talking about UTSG. We've got bigger fish to fry.
I apologize if the above comment instigates a threatening letter from CFS's lawyers.
After all, they fight so hard to lower our tuition fees by using our union dues to get a bunch of arts students to make signs and skip school for a day! That is very important. After all, with McGuinty running a gigantic deficit and emergency rooms having 8 hour waits, of course he's going to spend a ton of money to further increase the surplus of university-educated people because of a few bitchy students?
And FWIW, I'm paying for tuition for myself & taking care of my family & was rejected by OSAP because I worked too much over the summer. I just think the Drop Fees campaign (among a lot of the other crap the CFS does) is pretty stupid; even if they did make all tuition $0 in Ontario, it just means we're going to pay for it later when we're working and paying taxes...
This guy was so good at capturing Toby, odd that he didn't capture him ripping down the posters.
Bizarre.
Campus police were called in relation to this matter. In his statement to police Toby admitted he tore down the posters and threw them in the can. You can reach campus police at 416 978 2323. The officer who investigated is Const. Monique Altmann.
I did not follow Toby around for the day. All three times were by coincidence. The third time was the most egregious: when I catch him read-handed tearing down EFUT's posters. I was sitting in the centre of Sidney Smith back patio smoking a cigarette with a friend, who witnessed the event. Others in and around Sid Smith also surely saw it.
As for sustainability, EFUT has 1400 facebook members, a listserve of 1800, and the most registered students of any U of T group, so we've gone online. Posters still work the best, and given UT's level of apathy, everything is necessary.
The poster boards at UT are completely covered with elections posters. As are the lamp posts, kiosks, snd electrical boxes. The very first part of the video pretty much speaks to this concern.
Ergo, we try not to cover any, but sometimes that is unvoidable. Candidates down 'own' any of the postering space, other students have that right too.
I SWEAR I DID NOT.
That's not Sandy...
Not all people with dark skin look alike. C'mon, now.
It's clear by that video that the trash can that Toby passed was one with a multi-side opening (one for trash, one for recycling, one for paper)
the trash can thatthe reporter went in was one for multi-purpose that had the opening on top. Clearly not the same.
and if you've ever heard any of Toby or Sandy talk, they do not sound like muppets, so why are their voices dubbed at the beginning.
This is a poor attempt by the French club to publicize yet another poorly attended event, and to discredit Stronger Together Shame
this is freaking garbage, why is BLOGTO writing about posters being ripped down. This is supposed to be a palce to discuss cool happennings in the city
BULLSHIT
Think about how our political leaders are trained - at university's student unions. This Toby's behaviour makes me think of another young man, Adam Giambrone whom I once favoured but his own selfish and two faced actions made me more disgusted than anything else at the end of the day.
"In his statement to the police, Toby Whitfield did not deny tearing down EFUT's posters.
If you have questions you can reach UT Campus Police at 416 978 2323. Ask for Const. Monique Altmann."
mr hate / March 12, 2010 at 6:11 PM
Yeah, i remember university when immensely stupid shit like this seemed like it was of immensely global importance.
Actually, even the students in university now think this is stupid shit.
seems like you are one of those people taking this WAYYY too serious
1. As it seems, Toby is a rep at Ryerson, but is still a regular person outside of ryerson. a regular person that im guessing can take vacation time. a regular person with regular friends from u of t
2. political leaders? i think you need to review what the purpose of a union is. politicians govern and make rules. unions represent. as such, we are elected represenatives, NOT politicians.
and I find it hilarious that theres all these holes in this story, i just dont buy it
That's exactly what happened, red carpet and marching bands came out to usher the Nazis into Paris. Oh, and the British, Dutch and Belgians had no part in the whole affair nor did the Dutch and Belgian retreats lead to the occupation of France.
Could it be, another person who regurgitates second-hand and erroneous knowledge?
http://thecommercetimes.com/20100314/blog-rsu-president-elect-toby-whitfield-taped-accused-of-defacing-u-of-t-campus/
And on top of that, the video doesn't even show him tearing down posters.
It actually shows him walking with some paper in his hand, and then WALKING PAST THE BIN WITHOUT PUTTING ANYTHING IN IT.
He continues inside with the same paper in his hand...duh.
I WILL COVER UP ALL YOUR POSTERS UNLESS YOU PAY ME A WEEKLY FEE TO NOT COVER OVER YOURS!
"Immature aristocratic college kids" tend to have skills such as a decent sense of things like spelling or punctuation that just so happen to be useful in the real world.
There are much more compelling problems with his reign in the RSU
including...
http://www.theeyeopener.com/articles/4387-RSU-execs-staff-on-the-hook-for-70k
He also likes to make his rounds to Ontario (and possibly) universities during election time to ensure that his friends in the CFS backed slates stay in power.
And how is this not a Toronto issue? It's happening in Toronto to Torontonians!