Haya Bitar appointed as CSU internal affairs coordinator at last week’s RCM
On Wednesday Oct. 26, the Concordia Student Union convened for the third regular council meeting (RCM) of the fall semester. The major motions discussed at last week’s RCM are as follows:
CSU byelection postponed to late November as election process is already underway
The CSU passed a motion in favour of rescheduling the upcoming CSU byelection dates from early to late November. The election period will now begin roughly three weeks after the original election dates presented to the CSU earlier this semester.
The nomination period will occur between Monday, Oct. 31 and Friday, Nov. 18. The campaign phase will then begin the following week on Monday, Nov. 21 and last until Friday, Nov. 28. Polling is scheduled for Tuesday, Nov. 29, until Thursday, Dec. 1.
Academic and advocacy coordinator Asli Isaaq presented the motion at last week’s RCM on behalf of CSU CEO Ijkot Singh. Singh proposed extending the byelection period to ensure the CSU’s election policies are followed and to allow for additional candidates to come forward.
Singh also assured the CSU that the financial impact of the decision was minimal, since, according to Singh: “most of the prep work [still] needed to be done”.
Former CSU councilor Haya Bitar appointed as internal affairs coordinator of the CSU executive team
Bitar was interviewed alongside two additional candidates for the position during a closed session at last week’s RCM. Bitar’s appointment as internal affairs coordinator was to be announced in the days following last week’s RCM; however, the newly-appointed executive accidentally revealed the decision shortly after council returned to open session.
Bitar is the third person to serve as internal affairs coordinator during the 2022-23 mandate. Both of her predecessors, Fawaz Halloum and Temmy Mthethwa, resigned within months of being appointed to the position, with the former being elected as general coordinator of the CSU and the latter departing from the executive team after experiencing issues with their employment visas.