Judicial board members fired despite protest

The Concordia Student Union removed its two longest serving judicial board members at a special council meeting Oct. 2.
The judicial board is roughly comparable to a court and ensures that actions taken by the CSU are in line with the union’s by-laws. It also resolves disputes between CSU council members, as well as student groups and clubs recognized by the CSU.
The move leaves the board with the minimal requirement of three members. Former judicial board chair Tristan Texteira, who was one of members kicked off the board, describes his removal as illegal. Texteira points to CSU by-laws which state that judicial board members are appointed, “for as long as they are undergraduate students at Concordia University.”
Texteira said he is still an undergraduate and that he doesn’t understand why he was removed from the board. But he thinks the decision may have been politically motivated. “The judicial board is being handicapped, but not dissolved, because it had become a hindrance to the CSU’s agenda,” said Texteira.
CSU VP communications Elie Chivi said the removals were not politically motivated. He said the CSU wants to “cap board positions at 2-3 years to allow for new members.”
Before the two members were removed, there were four vacant seats on the board.
Chivi said the CSU is allowed to remove judicial board members under its standing regulations, a more detailed version of its by-laws. However according to the standing regulations, members of the judicial board can only be removed from their “seats for serious grounds or poor attendance.”
At the meeting last Thursday, Chivi described the move as “making sure that there’s an open space for a new student who wants to get involved.”
Last year the CSU took four months to fill three positions on the board, then president Angelica Novoa blaming the delay on a lack of applicants.