Author: The Concordian

The Arts and Science Federation of Associations voted April 14 to remain without slates and affiliations during elections, despite the chief electoral officer saying that they would likely increase the number of candidates.

Among his 21 recommendations to modify ASFA’s current electoral system, CEO Nick Cuillerier described the return of the slates and affiliations as a ”positive change for ASFA.”

”The numbers speak for themselves,” he said. ”Last year, we had twenty-seven candidates and this year we were reduced to twelve. However, I still want to create a comfortable space for independent candidates. Therefore, those who run for independent councillor positions would not be allowed to identify themselves with a party or affiliation.”

To be clear, a slate is a bloc of candidates that is voted in as a team. While an affiliation is also a group of people who identify with the same promises and ideals, voters are allowed to pick and choose the best candidates among the affiliations that are running in the elections.

Originally, Cuillerier had hoped to include both slates and affiliations in his proposed change, but outgoing VP external and sustainability Chad Walcott motioned to have the change only include the word ”affiliation.”

”I ran in the ASFA elections with an affiliation, and there is definitely strength in numbers and a real sense of teamwork,” he said.

Outgoing VP communications Natasha Launi, who has run in past elections with a slate, an affiliation, as well as solo, echoed Walcott’s sentiment.

”The affiliation is really good because it allows students to pick and choose the best candidates from each affiliation which in the end makes an amazing team when you go into office,” she said.

However, Cuillerier’s major electoral reform was voted down when VP internal Nicole Devlin had the motions tabled, citing her own personal experience running in elections.

”I actually won two previous elections by myself, so it is doable,” she said. ”The only reason I ran with an affiliation was so that I could have someone to make a poster for me.”

Devlin described previous electoral campaigns with affiliations as ”toxic.” Although Cuillerier’s recommendations were first analyzed by one of Devlin’s internal committees, she indicated at council that she never promised to support them.

Schubert Laforest, who will soon succeed Devlin as the new VP internal, also spoke of his own personal experience, stating that running as an independent is much easier.

”I could really focus on my campaign and what I wanted to bring to the table,” he said. ”I feel that independent candidates are people who really fought for this and who didn’t hide behind a team.”

One of Cuillerier’s other main proposals that was rejected would have seen the CEO given access to the elections section of ASFA’s website. It was voted down when councillors expressed concern over trusting a new CEO each year with some of the more sensitive information on the website. Instead, it was decided that the CEO would be given access to a webmaster ASFA hopes to hire to manage the website.

Proposals that were passed included having a ”No” option added to ballots that already include the words ”Yes” and ”Abstain.” Cuillerier pointed out the usefulness of these ballots especially in uncontested races, where the lone candidate could still lose if they receive more No votes than Yes votes. Council also approved the recommendation that member association executives running for an ASFA executive position still be allowed to retain their duties while running, but be prohibited from using their MA ressources to help their campaign.

”When an MA exec, such as the VP finance, runs and is forced to take a leave of absence, this can really cripple an MA,” Cuillerier pointed out.

Following the vote, Cuillerier, who will not be returning as CEO next year, said he was more or less satisfied with council’s decision, despite the fact that many of his recommendations were thrown out.

”I’m optimistic about most of them,” he said. ”I was disappointed that the affiliation motion was tabled because I felt it would have been the strongest thing for ASFA, but I respect council’s decision.”

MASSA update:

The beginning of the council meeting was dominated by ASFA discussing how to incorporate the Math and Statistics Students’ Association into its structure. MASSA recently voted to become a corporation in the hopes of one day getting its own fee levy. After much debate at previous council meetings and discussion at ASFA’s policy review committee, it was proposed on April 14 that MASSA be designated an ”affiliated association,” instead of a member association. This would essentially allow for MASSA to retain its own bank account for the sole purpose of depositing funds from its fee levy, while still being allowed access to ASFA’s special projects fund as well as request a member association budget. Some councillors were wary of this idea, stating that if MASSA adopts its own fee levy, it would be taking away money from other MAs by also dipping into the SPF and MA budget funds. However, MASSA co-president Bruno Joyal pointed out that MASSA would have the right to do this because MASSA still pays fees to ASFA like all other member associations. ASFA VP finance Alexa Newman was particularly against the idea of an ”affiliated association,” stating that the question of including member associations with independent fee levies should be voted on in a referendum. The ”affiliated association” idea was ultimately thrown out by council. After the vote, Joyal stated MASSA will once again present its case to the new ASFA council in the fall.

A motion was passed unanimously at the April 13 CSU council meeting supporting the right of students to wear any kind of article of faith at school.
“There are so many cultures at Concordia, and they should all be represented,” said the president of Concordia’s Sikh Student Association, Mukhbir Singh, in a statement before the passing of the motion. He later said, “I felt it was important to pass a motion in support of our diversity, a mosaic of different cultures, races, religions, that function well with mutual respect for one another.
The motion comes in the aftermath of the passing of Bill 94 by the Quebec government, which demands a face in plain view for reasons of identification, security, and communication. For example, the bill allows civil servants the right to deny a woman from seeking government services while wearing the niqab.
“Because Bill 94 touches on critical issues of freedom of religion, it is of grave interest to not only the Sikh community but the entire province and country,” Singh said. “This motion is a direct response to that bill that regardless of faith, we, here at Concordia University, won’t deny access to any student on the basis of articles of faith.”
According to Concordia spokeswoman Chris Mota, the university would have a fairly lenient stance on the wearing of the niqab, particularly in the classroom.
Singh was slated to deliver his statement at last month’s CSU council meeting, but there was no time. His timing to speak at this meeting, however, could not be more relevant, given some of the comments made in Canadian politics this week. Bloc Québécois leader Gilles Duceppe said in this week’s televised federal debate that “multiculturalism doesn’t fit in with Quebec’s future.”
To exacerbate Quebec citizens’ sentiments regarding the banning of the kirpan from the premises of the National Assembly, Parti Québécois member Louise Beaudoin said several months ago that “multiculturalism is a Canadian value but not a Quebec one.”
Singh said that this was simply not true with respect to Concordia and Montreal.
“I had known about the case in France, where no religious symbols are accepted in public institutions, meaning no turban, hijab, cross, or kippa, etc. I felt that Quebec was potentially heading into that direction as well,” he said. “I feel it is important for the National Assembly to understand that Madame Beaudoin’s comments are not reflective of the vast majority of the Québécois people, especially not in Concordia University.”

An earlier version of this article referred to Mukhbir Singh as president of the Interfaith Chaplaincy. The group is actually called the Interfaith Ambassador Program, and its leader is Sofia Danna. The Concordian regrets this error and any inconvenience it may have caused.

Your Concordia and Action have filed independent complaints with the CSU’s judicial board objecting to the chief electoral officer’s decision to disqualify both slates from the recent elections.
As of 9:37 p.m. Sunday evening, Your Concordia had filed their 11-page complaint and supporting documents to the judicial board, with Action soon following suit with their own six page document.
The complaints were submitted by the presidential candidates on behalf of their slates and declared that CEO Oliver Cohen’s decision to disqualify them was invalid. Each party cited lack of evidence produced by Cohen to support his decision. They also indicated they were not given a chance to prepare a case against the decision. Both slates claim to have complied with all regulations. Cohen was not available for comment.
In addition to refuting Cohen’s allegation of having improperly filed their expenses return, Your Concordia indicated that while three candidates who ran independently did not submit an election expense form, they were not disqualified. These three unaffiliated candidates – Justin Famili, Alex Matak, and Kelly Pennington – signed written attestations to that effect, which were included in Your Concordia’s supporting documents.
In total, Your Concordia’s complaint contains 16 supporting documents, including a series of emails between presidential candidate Lex Gill and the CEO. The exchange reveals that on April 7, the deadline for parties to file their return, Gill emailed Cohen to inform him that her slate had not incurred any further expenses since filing their initial return on March 22. At 6:31 p.m., approximately two hours later, Cohen notified her that what she had provided was insufficient. According to the documents provided, Cohen did not reply to her request for further clarification.
Action presidential candidate Khalil Haddad recommended in Action’s complaint that the judicial board take the long-form procedure to rule on the matter. Once received by the board, a complaint can be dealt with in three ways. The board can choose to dismiss the complaint, issue a written decision based on the complaint (the fast-track procedure), or require an additional four steps to be taken before ruling (the long-form procedure).Those four steps constitute a back-and-forth between the respondent and the plaintiff, whereas the respondent submits a brief, which is then rebutted by the plaintiff, and so on.
If the board chooses not to dismiss the complaint and consequently rules on the matter, its decision can be appealed within five days and is subject to appeal by any party. If the board dismisses the complaints outright, the decision is final, and no appeal will be heard.
According to the judicial board’s code of procedures, the board will try to meet within five days of having received a complaint.

In letters sent out to both the Action and Your Concordia slates late Tuesday night, CSU chief electoral officer Oliver Cohen informed them that they had both been disqualified, despite Your Concordia having been elected to office in this year’s CSU election.

In both letters, which were obtained by the Concordian, Cohen states that the slates violated a plethora of electoral rules, including filing inadequate or even false expense reports, as well as not following the rules in terms of campaigning and postering. However, the letters remain vague as to how the slates violated the regulations. Cohen was not immediately available for comment Tuesday night.

But while both slates were prohibited by the CEO from receiving any kind of reimbursement for their electoral expenses, he added a further penalty for Your Concordia, which was set to take office June 1: the slate is prohibited from running or holding office for the next two years.

Cohen writes that the conduct of Action and Your Concordia during the electoral process ”fell far below the standards demanded by the Regulations and the relevant directives and failed in spirit to adhere to our minimum basic notions of fair play and due process.”

More to come.

About 60 people attended AIESEC Concordia’s recruiting event last Thursday, considerably increasing the number of possible applicants for their Experience campaign.

Launched in January 2011, the campaign is a temporary partnership between AIESEC Canada, Brazil, China, India, Turkey and Ukraine to reserve specific internships for Canadians.

“This session I know that we have two [students going on internships in India and Turkey this summer], but there are still some that are applying and they still have to go through a review board,” said Isabelle Hum, the Experience Campaign’s organizing committee president.

In comparison, AIESEC Concordia sent ten people on internships abroad last year which according to Hum is within their average.

This type of promotional event seems to be working for AIESEC Concordia. By the end of the evening, more than 40 signatures and email addresses were collected for the organization’s next information session.

“The reason why Brazil, India and China were chosen is because they have so many internships available. They are popular countries where a lot of students tend to do their internships,” Hum said. “For Ukraine and Turkey, it is a bit harder to get an internship there without a certain degree of schooling and experience. The Experience campaign gives students the opportunity to experience these two countries without necessarily having to need a high level of schooling or experience.”

That is why they want to promote the campaign and increase the number of applicants. “The best places to find internships are South America, Africa and Asia, but people tend to be more focused on Europe because there are so many different countries over there. It’s almost everybody’s dream,” she explained.

In addition to the students they send abroad, AIESEC Concordia members also welcome interns in Montreal every year. “We were able to recruit three to four Montreal companies willing to hire an intern from abroad. The total number of interns going abroad plus interns from abroad coming here is seven to eight,” added Erica Mazerolle, member of the AIESEC Concordia’s communications team.

It is the review board, a panel of top AIESEC judges, that decides who goes on an internship. While the number of applicants can vary, these judges look for flexible applicants who share the organization’s values.

The deadline to apply for the Experience internships is April 30.

Both CJLO radio and the Void magazine failed in their attempts to gain new funding from students during last week’s CSU elections, as voters chose not to approve the station’s fee levy increase, nor the creation of a fee levy for the bilingual literary magazine.

According to official results issued by the CSU’s chief electoral officer, CJLO garnered 2,554 votes in favour of increasing its fee levy from $0,25 a credit to $0,34 a credit, compared to 3,330 votes against.

“We’re really disappointed of course, however this is what the majority of voters chose and we respect that choice,” said CJLO’s station manager Katie Seline. “We’re honestly really surprised. We ran a really strong and active campaign. We spoke to over 2,500 students and almost never had a negative reaction.”

Seline indicated that the station will have to reassess its priorities and the projects that it wanted to start, including the expansion of its signal across Montreal. She also pointed out that while taxes and electrical costs continue to go up, CJLO’s funding has stayed the same for the past seven years. The loss at the polls means CJLO will have to increase its fundraising efforts as well as rely more on paid advertising.

“[This] hurts student groups who currently get their advertising for free. We’ll have to limit those spots in favour of paid ads which we wanted to avoid,” said Seline. “We’ll also keep looking into grants and employment funding. The majority of our executive such as our campus outreach coordinator, volunteer coordinator and promo director are working upwards of 20 to 25 hours a week at no pay.”

Seline said she would not change a thing about the intensive campaign run by her staff over the past two weeks, although she does feel that the electoral system is flawed.

“It’s incredibly difficult to be seen amongst a sea of slate posters and given a much smaller campaign budget,” she said.

She indicated CJLO is exploring the option of putting the fee levy increase back on the ballot next semester.

For the Void magazine, the failure to create a two cents a credit fee levy means that one of its major initiatives – paying its contributors – will have to be put on hold.

“[This] makes us sad because people deserve something for the amount of time that it takes to produce their writing and art,” said the Void’s new editor-in-chief Michael Chaulk. “We also won’t be able to get off newsprint, and our page counts and the amount of colour within the issues will depend entirely on how much money we can receive the way we have always received it in the past, through grants and donations.”

Chaulk said that it was hard to take the results easily because they only lost by about 150 votes. The final tally was 2,887 votes in favour, and 3,032 votes against. Chaulk echoed Seline’s view that maybe not all students were aware of the fee levy groups and were not interested in getting informed before voting. But despite not getting the extra money, the Void is optimistic for the future.

“We received a lot of support from a lot of people and we’re grateful for that,” said Chaulk. “We definitely increased our presence in the school, which will help us in many ways. For one, the amount and quality of submissions that came in for the issue we’re putting together right now was staggering.”

The Void is also hoping to put the fee levy back on the ballot sometime soon.

As for Queer Concordia, the lone fee levy victor, it hopes to begin planning for the future as soon as possible. A mere 58 votes sealed the collective’s fate – 2,953 students voted in favour of the two cents per credit fee levy, versus 2,895 votes against.

“We will be having a meeting this Thursday to begin planning our AGM and moving toward becoming a not-for-profit organization,” said collective member Joey Donnelly. “We’re looking forward to making our space more accessible, developing the safer-sex program and hiring a part-time coordinator to do more outreach. Since Friday, Queer Concordia is facing a whole new reality.”

A total of ten member associations of the Arts and Science Federation of Associations have come out of the election period without a full executive, with two of them not having an executive at all.

Of the 27 MAs, eight did not find enough candidates to fill all of their executive positions, while the Journalism Students Association and the Concordia Physics Students Association are set to fold for now, according to ASFA VP internal Nicole Devlin.

“There’s a requirement to have at least two signing officers to form an executive, but both MAs can always hold a by-election to find more candidates in the fall,” said Devlin.

Losing their member associations means journalism and physics students will no longer have access to ASFA’s MA or special projects funding, but rather the student-at-large fund, which is significantly lower.

“The people on the MA are people that are just generally interested in being a voice for the students and bringing them together,” said Devlin. “They fight for student space, and they hold events to have people mingle outside of class.”

The VP internal said she encouraged MAs to speak to more classrooms and to add first-year representatives to their constitutions in order to gain more executive candidates. She also noted a trend with regards to positions being filled, pointing out that many MA VP finance positions had been left vacant.

Emily White, outgoing JSA president and life editor at the Concordian, felt that journalism students will be losing a key voice in departmental affairs when the JSA disappears.

“It’s a pretty big shame. Aside from social events, students also miss having that voice present at faculty meetings,” she said. “The faculty really value our opinion.”

She also found it unfortunate that outgoing JSA VP communications Aalia Adam had told the Link in a recent article that she was interested in holding a by-election in the fall, when she was well aware of this year’s nomination deadline.

“It’s good news to me that she has that motivation, but it’s also a shame because she had the knowledge of all the dates this year,” said White. “We wouldn’t have had to fold, and lose our start-up budget, and I could have had time to train someone.”

Although CPSA only managed to find one candidate before the nomination deadline, president Glory Sikka is optimistic that more students will present themselves in the fall.

“We are a small department trying to rebuild itself so a student association is imperative at this stage,” she said. “Our focus this year was to try and close the gap between the students and faculty, by getting both parties involved in the activities.”

Although the future remains uncertain for the JSA and CPSA, ASFA is set to welcome one new MA next year, from the early childhood and elementary education program.