Representative Union

As the upcoming Concordia Student Union election is approaching, most students recognize Chris Schulz’s name as the presidential candidate of the Representative Union (RU).
“The Representative Union symbolizes change,” said Schulz. “We still have the same message as we did last November. We want students to regain confidence in the CSU. We feel we will be able to do that with our slate,” said Schulz, who is a political science student.
If elected, one of their main goals is to have a subsidized laptop program for Concordia students. This program would allow students to purchase laptops at a reduced price.
Schulz said nothing will become certain until he is elected into office and he added he has begun consulting with the Concordia administration about this program. The way it will work is through a tendering process. The CSU would write up a tender and would send it out to companies to bid on. Schulz asserted this is the best way to get the lowest price possible for students.
“We have to evaluate the nature of the [laptop] program before we begin to do anything concrete. There will be a lot of negotiating with the administration and gathering of information from the student population,” said Schulz.
Besides having a new ideas that include fighting for a tuition freeze and moving CSU services to the Loyola campus, the RU also has new vice-presidents.
“Following the annulment in the November byelection, the old team felt cheated and also realized that they couldn’t sacrifice any more of their time for changing the CSU,” said Schulz, who went on to say that it is a shame that the old team quit.
However, Schulz has full confidence in his new team. He explained several of the new members of the Representative Union are no strangers to student politics. Yasmin Gardaad, Riccardo Filippone and Adeel Merali worked on rebuilding the Arts and Science Federation Association for the last two years. John Evans was involved in the petition process for last November’s byelection while Mindy Eklove ran with the New Organized Way in the last election and Saira Haseeb Khalid has been heavily involved in community activities.
“These are really capable people. I believe that we will have no problem winning these elections because of our team,” said Schulz.
When asked to comment on CANDO (Concordia Action Network for Democratic Organizing), the RU’s only rival in the upcoming March 26 to 28 election, Schulz expressed cynicism.
“I’m not convinced that CANDO represents the change that the CSU needs. When the CSU came out with that handbook last September, where were they? They weren’t there opposing it like we were. I’m also skeptical because many of the members of CANDO are closely tied with the former CSU,” said Schulz.
He added when certain issues like the handbook and the freezing of funds to the Arts and Science Federation Association arose, many members of CANDO did not stand up to the CSU or even voice an opinion at all. Schulz finds it funny that only in the last few months have people from CANDO begun voicing that they want change.
“What makes the Representative Union so different from CANDO is that we were there opposing the CSU on many of these issues. We want to protect the interests of the students, that’s why we chose our slogan to be ‘The Usual Suspects’, because whenever the CSU does something that affects the students, we will be there fighting for them,” said Schulz.

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