A year of Unity

March – “Unity” elected; promises to expand the subsidized tutoring centre and put course packs online.

August – New CSU executive takes the university administration to court. In June Concordia’s board of governors had voted to increase international student tuition by 10 per cent; the CSU claims the meeting was illegal. While the CSU obtains an injunction, the board has another meeting and passes the increase.

September – The CSU announces they will open a food and clothing bank in October. The service launches in the second semester.

October – Council votes to put the fee levy for the Sustainability Action Fund to a referendum.” CSU VP external Colin Goldfinch said the fund should be cancelled because student money is going to fund sustainability projects run by the administration. “Student money should go to student projects, and right now it’s not,” he said at the time.
While some councillors soon change their minds and call a special meeting to reverse the decision, the executives argued the meeting was illegitimate and it is cancelled soon after it begins. Amine Dabchy introduces the motion to end the meeting early.
Council also votes to fire the two longest serving members of the CSU’s judicial board. At the time VP communications Elie Chivi said they were “making sure there’s an open space for a new student who wants to get involved.” There were three empty seats on the board at the time; they have still not been filled.
Just before the end of the month, former CSU president Patrice Blais files an injunction to stop the referendum.
Blais has his day in court the day the referendum is scheduled to start, but when they go before the judge, the CSU’s lawyer said it had been cancelled, after elections officials failed to show up and open the polls.
It soon comes out that chief electoral officer (CEO) Jason Druker was no longer a student, a requirement for the job.

November – The fired judicial board members are reinstated. Councillors Dabchy and Shandell Jack speak in favour of the reinstatement.
Over at AFSA council, they vote to remove ASFA president Audrey Peek as their representative on the board of the Sustainability Action Fund. After midnight, the few remaining councillors overturn the decision. Goldfinch argues for her reinstatement.
Later in the month Blais begins a petition to recall the CSU.
The executive takes the SAF question off a future referendum ballot. “It’s clear that substantial sections of the student population want us to help make this project work in its current form, and so we’re going to reflect those views in our policies,” said Chivi.

December – CSU council changes some of the rules for referendums, three days later Blais files his.
Keyana Kashfi signs a contract commissioning Morneau-Sobeco/National Student Health Network to begin looking for a new health plan.

January – Council chair Jessica Nudo rejects the recall petition; she says only 1,600 of the approximately 3,600 signatures on the petition are legitimate, she then resigns. Deputy national chair of the Canadian Federation of Students, Brent Farrington, takes over as interim chair.
The CSU begins legal action against their former accountant Marie Lyonnais, who allegedly mismanaged $500,000 in student funds. While the fraud had happened two years earlier, details are slow to emerge.

February – Insurance broker Lev Bukhman, whose company ASEQ manages the student health plan, sends an open letter to university administration, asking them to take over the plan. He claimed the CSU was acting in bad faith and was switching providers because he wouldn’t pay a kickback. They say he mismanaged the plan and cost students hundreds of thousands of dollars.
The e-mail account of a councillor is hacked, with e-mails being sent out to some councillors, executives, media and the council chair. They are then passed around at the next meeting. Some councillors are offended by the content.
Blais files a lawsuit, asking for Quebec Superior Court to order the recall election. The CSU sues him for $125,000 for defamation, claiming the petition was slanderous.

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