The Concordia Student Union appointed five undergraduate students to sit on Senate, two to fill senior CSU positions, and tabled the discussion on whether executives may volunteer without pay during a special council meeting Wednesday night.
Following five hours of conducting applicants’ interviews in closed session, council appointed only five students for the six vacant spots on Senate. Council appointed Gene Morrow, Chuck Wilson, Melanie Hotchkiss, Wendy Kraus-Heitmann and Hassan Abdullahi. Seven students applied for the position.
In previous years, interviews between council and applicants have been held in open session, allowing students and members of the student press to witness the exchange. Closed session is usually reserved to review applicants’ resumes due to the sensitive and personal nature of the information discussed.
At the upcoming regular council meeting this upcoming Wednesday, council will nominate a sixth senator to represent the John Molson School of Business, one of four faculties at Concordia that requires a undergraduate representative on Senate according to the university by-laws. Outgoing Chairperson Nick Cuillerier told The Concordian that the issue will be resolved by Wednesday.
Council went on to appoint a new chairperson, Jean-François Ouellet, to replace Cuillerier who volunteered to chair CSU meeting until a new person was hired. The incoming secretary is Yasmeen Zahar and chief electoral officer is Justin Holland.
Holland, a first-year student at Concordia, said he was excited about his position for the upcoming year and that the timing worked in his favour.
“I’m really excited to be coming in before the by-elections and it’s like the dress rehearsal for March,” said Holland. “Any kinks for March we can fix during November.”
The meeting was also supposed to address the legal notion of CSU executives volunteering and not receiving monetary compensation for their work. The agenda point was made with regards to former VP academic and advocacy Lucia Gallardo not receiving remuneration for the months she worked for the CSU. Gallardo resigned from her position last week due to unresolved student status issues.
Councillor and former VP external Chad Walcott motioned to table the report since CSU President Schubert Laforest submitted the relevant documents the same night. Several executives and councillors expressed concern about issuing the documents outside of session, citing the possibility of a leak. The issue will be addressed this Wednesday at the regular council meeting.
