Cut the Crap slate is appealing their disqualification to the Judicial Board
Candidates from both the riZe and the New Community slate have been elected as executives for the Concordia Student Union (CSU). All Cut the Crap candidates were originally elected until they were disqualified by the Chief Electoral Officer, Florian Prual.
Danielle Vandolder-Beaudin, the finance coordinator candidate from Cut the Crap, incited students to vote for the slate during the polling period, which is in violation of the union’s standing regulations. “It’s probably one of the worst things she could have done,” said Prual.
Cut the Crap announced they will be appealing the disqualification to the union’s Judicial Board, however they refused to comment further on the matter.
Elected executives for the 2019-20 year are:
From riZe:
- Margot Berner – General coordinator
- Manuela Simo – Loyola coordinator
- Paige Keleher – Student Life coordinator
- Apochele Christina Kamwendo – Sustainability coordinator
From New Community:
- Jessica Avalos Salas – Academic & Advocacy coordinator
- Emily Faraj –Internal Affairs coordinator
- Nicolas Chevalier – External & Mobilization coordinator
- Désirée Blizzard – Finance coordinator
New Community general coordinator candidate, Marcus Peters, said “I think it’s clear that online presence in popular Concordia Facebook pages will now arguably be the strongest factor in determining the victor in an online election.” Half of the elected executives were from the New Community slate.
The first-ever online-only election brought in the highest voter turnout in the CSU elections, with over 4,600 voters. Since the 2017 elections, voter turnout has hovered around the 1,000 mark, out of the 30,000 students eligible to vote.
Concordia student Miriam Lafontaine was elected as the arts and science student representative for senate. As one of the journalism students who motioned for a strike in March, Lafontaine hopes to influence decisions about unpaid internships in the university. A fall reading week, according to Lafontaine, would be beneficial to students.
Following these elections, the CSU will be adding three new stances to the union’s Positions Book. The CSU will support the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the Green New Deal climate plan for Canada, which was tabled by the group La planète s’invite à l’université.
As previously reported by The Concordian, the union is in conversation with the university about the possibility of being in charge of the health insurance plan for international students. The union has reaffirmed its goal by asking students if they agree and a majority of voters approved the referendum.
CSU Finance Coordinator John Hutton said students “are tired of paying for the country’s most expensive health plan.” He added that “the results send a strong message to the administration that student union management is the way to go.”
In the other approved referendum, the CSU will support the Food Autonomy Campaign through funding, research and campaigns. Its objective is to create a student-run and owned food distributor and to increase flex dollars given to students in residence, among other goals.
Finally, a new fee levy of $0.09 will be introduced in the summer 2019 term to help establish a Student Refugee Program at Concordia. The program will sponsor refugee students and support them in their integration in Canada and at Concordia. The referendum was tabled by Concordia’s chapter of World University Service of Canada.
Photo by Mia Anhoury.
