Concordia Student Union (CSU) Chief Electoral Officer Tara Tavender launched a complaint against current CSU president Nathalie Pomerleau yesterday on “the grounds of interference in the current electoral process” by Pomerleau but later retracted her complaint stating that an unfortunate “miscommunication led to a colossal misunderstanding between us.”
Tavender originally launched the complaint saying that Pomerleau “intentionally and repeatedly” blocked the sending of a press release about a complaint filled to the Quebec Access to Information Commission to investigate “an outside party’s alleged promotion of a slate (New Evolution) in the current election,” and stalled the process.
Through this complaint, Tavender accused Pomerleau of misusing her office and that because of this “Ms. Pomerleau should be recommended by the Judicial Board to be relieved of her duties.”
In her later retraction letter, Tavender wrote, ” I no longer think that the delay was calculated or malicious in intent.
Pomerleau received a letter yesterday morning from Concordia University’s attorneys stating the “alleged promotion of a slate” was actually a survey that was conducted by a Concordia professor only as a random sample of students for his research work.
The story started when it was brought to Tavender’s attention last Friday that an external marketing group, Synovate-Americas, was conducting a survey asking students some political questions. Specifically, Tavender said she found out that the questions would start with, “Are you interested in politics.” If the student answered yes, the interviewer would ask who they would be voting for in the upcoming CSU elections.
If the students polled answered a slate other than New Evolution, they would be asked why they are not voting for New Evolution.
Tavender presented this information to the CSU council last Monday and asked them to vote on a motion to support the complaint filed to the Quebec information act because Tavender thought the marketing company may have used confidential student information illegally and that it may have been made available through “high-up administrators or accredited bodies in the University.” The motion was not passed.
Tavender later told The Concordian that after the Council meeting, she met with Pomerleau and CSU VP finance Tyler Wordsworth and decided to issue the complaint to the Judicial Board after having a “blow-up” with Pomerleau and Wordsworth about who was blocking her from sending press releases.
In the end, she said it was a lack of communication between the three.
“She was just delaying, thinking about what the CSU needed to go forth -i.e. not get sued- and she wasn’t communicating this to me,” said Tavender.
Pomerleau confirmed, Tavender “realized that my concern was that this would happen (the possibility of a law suit for possible slanderous statements).”
Pomerleau explained there was an original drafting of the press release that she found to be “extremely slanderous” and then there was a second draft that she was still concerned about.
“At 7 p.m. [on Monday], Tyler was suppose to send out the press release but didn’t. [Tavender] thought he would when we were in the council meeting. Tyler looked at the press release and called me during the council meeting to ask me who the students were that were referred to in the press release.
“He asked if it was the drafted version that we had agreed upon. I asked him to wait until the end of council for me to come and see it. And, I guess that’s what caused these concerns for Tara,” said Pomerleau.
However, in the letter sent to Pomerleau and Tavender from Concordia University’s Attorneys, it was dispelled that all this information was “false, misleading and slanderous.”
“The Press Release incorrectly insinuates that the administration of Concordia is somehow involved in this and that this information is being used to interfere in CSU affairs,” it said in the letter, signed by Stephane Fillion of the Heenan Blaikie firm.
“The survey in question was commissioned by an independent, seasoned and respected Professor of Concordia for research purposes, namely Dr. Guy Lachapelle.”
The letter further states that Lachapelle, a political science professor, has been conducting similar research and that he had been focusing on university student behaviour in Quebec lately.
The letter closed with a warning to the CSU: “DO GOVERN YOURSELF ACCORDINGLY.” (capitals in original)
“My point was not to be contentious or divisive in the CSU, pitting one side against the other. My point was that if a president was intervening in the elections, there is something fundamentally wrong with that and, as CEO, I had to pursue it.
“But the fact is that it wasn’t intended to be a blocking of my power, even though it turned out with the same result. I ended up sending the press release in my name, just explaining what the commission complaint was all about,” concluded Tavender.
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