Category: Concordia Student Union

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Concordia Student Union News

Our next Concordia Student Union executive team

A look into the CSU’s plans for the future

The Concordia Student Union (CSU) elections are underway, and for the second consecutive general election year, the executive team is running unopposed. Eight members comprise the guaranteed winning team, led by candidate for general coordinator, Eduardo Malorni.

Their platform, Brick by Brick, focuses on COVID-19 measures and safety, community building, advocacy and accountability. The Concordian, The Link, and CJLO hosted a group interview for the candidates, to hear more about their platform and plans for the future.

General Coordinator Eduardo Malorni

Candidate for general Coordinator Eduardo Malorni aims to better help students with the difficulties they face while pursuing their degree this upcoming year.

He plans on addressing a variety of complaints students have had about online learning, including mental health concerns, higher workloads, and issues with proctoring services.

Malorni also wants to work with other student unions to demand a change in tuition fees, considering how many students “are not feeling like the quality [of education while remote] is the same as it was in the past.”

Part of their platform will also be supporting students that would not feel comfortable returning to campus in the fall, and to help with the return to in-person activities on campus, when that time comes.

Malorni, who’s been a part of the CSU for over two years, said one of the greatest things he and other members of the CSU helped to achieve was the pass/fail option for students last year. The same year, however, several councillors resigned, citing a toxic environment.

“Those were some of my friends who resigned,” said Malorni. “I think it’s very important to fix that.”

He said he will continue to push for an affirmative action program in the CSU, and have more discussions with racialized minorities for their input on what else the union could change and provide.

This year, he wants to increase student involvement in the CSU.

“By far the biggest struggle we’re going to have is trying to improve upon our recruitment,” said Malorni.

One of the ways he wants to tackle the issue of increasing student involvement is by improving the branding of CSU services on campus. Malorni said he has seen many students wrongly attribute CSU services to the university, or just outright not know that the CSU is behind several initiatives on campus.

He said he feels confident that his team can tackle these issues going forward this year.

Sustainability Coordinator Faye Sun

Faye Sun is running to be the next sustainability coordinator at the CSU, with the objective of connecting students to sustainability initiatives and resources at the university.

One of such initiatives at Concordia would be transforming on-campus lawns into food gardens. For Sun, restoring habitats for pollinators is one of the top priorities.

She added that urban agriculture and gardening will also benefit Concordia students in the long run.

“If we don’t invest in urban food security [right now], we might not have any food in 80 or so years,” the CSU candidate added.

Being an Environmental Science major, Sun also aims to focus on environmental justice and sustainability issues that specifically affect Indigenous and African American communities.

“Eighty per cent of all of the environment that’s ecologically protected is on Indigenous land, and that’s definitely not a coincidence,” she said. “That’s why I believe in Indigenous sovereignty and stewardship.”

By striving for eco-friendly policies in an urbanized metropolis, Sun hopes to put Concordia on a green path towards sustainability.

Academic and Advocacy Coordinator Hannah Jamet-Lange

Hannah Jamet-Lange aims to advocate for accessibility, anti-discrimination, sexual violence measures, better mental health services, international students, and climate justice. One of her main goals is to strengthen the code of conduct and the sexual violence policy, with the end goal of making the CSU “a more welcoming, supportive and safe environment for everyone.”

Jamet-Lange is in her third year in Communications, Sexuality Studies, and History. They got involved with the CSU in her first year at Concordia, with the Campaign Against Sexual Violence.

Currently there is a question going to referendum to change CSU bylaws, making the code of conduct and sexual violence policy easier to enforce. Jamet-Lange said that is already a great step forward, and as academic and advocacy coordinator they wants to ensure it is enforced if it passes.

Jamet-Lange stated that she also wants to create better definitions around the different forms of harassment and discrimination.

It’s crucial to have clear definitions when complaints go to the Judicial Board, so the board “doesn’t have to refer back to a dictionary or interpret what is seen as racism, what is seen as sexism,” said Jamet-Lange.

They said that the new executive team wants to work together to create a better culture around harm prevention.

External Affairs and Mobilization Coordinator Camina Harrison-Chéry

Camina Harrison-Chéry’s main goals are creating spaces for students to feel safe, specifically creating and supporting spaces for BIPOC students, tackling the lack of diversity at Concordia, and working on better mental health services.

“I think that since I’ve come to Concordia, I felt like my mission has been just to create spaces on campus and off campus where students feel safe, that they know they can contribute and that their opinions are important,” said Harrison-Chéry.

Harrison-Chéry is a Communications student and an entrepreneur of Haitian descent. She is the founder of BUYPOC, pop-ups that support BIPOC youth run businesses, and the owner of a headwrap brand called Urban Wrapper. At Concordia, she works to advance the Black perspective in the community, and is a member of Concordia’s task force on anti-Black racism.

To her, it’s clear that students see a lack of diversity in professors and the curriculum. Thus, Harrison-Chéry wants to work towards more diversity at Concordia, such as training staff to be aware of their biases.

“We [the CSU] are definitely responsible in terms of applying pressure and keeping that momentum,” said Harrison-Chéry, who explained that recently, with the Black Studies Department and the Black Perspective Office, there has been a lot of momentum in creating more Black spaces at Concordia.

As external affairs and mobilization coordinator, Harrison-Chéry plans to advance equity for BIPOC students through a number of initiatives, such as supporting the Black Studies and Black Perspectives Office, and investing in events that advance the Black perspective and centre around Black experiences.

Loyola Coordinator S Shivaane

S Shivaane is running for Loyola Coordinator at the CSU, and aims to improve learning conditions for Concordia students at the Loyola campus.

Shivaane’s top priorities include upgrading the shuttle bus service to and from the Sir George Williams campus, as well as providing healthy and affordable food options for Loyola students.

She noted that, in general, Loyola “has a lack of services and … amenities that pull students to stay there.”

Shivaane plans on laying foundations for “food co-ops,” which she expects will create more student jobs.

As for the shuttle service, she believes that the bus fleet needs to be expanded. According to Shivaane, the lack of accessibility is what makes Loyola seem like a distant campus, despite everything it has to offer.

“There are some students who are graduating, who have been here for four or five years, and they said that they’d never been to Loyola — which is so unfortunate, because it’s a beautiful campus,” Shivaane explained.

By pushing for a reliable shuttle connection, more study spaces and healthier food options, Shivaane is convinced that more Concordia students will be able to appreciate Loyola’s greenery and European-style architecture, and have a pleasant academic experience overall.

Finance Coordinator Aria Khaksar

Running for Financial Coordinator is not a small feat in a year where there have been class action lawsuits against universities for tuition rates. Aria Khaksar intends on addressing the issue head on.

He said, “I think after the year we’ve had with COVID, and of course the education level that has decreased … we need to talk to the school and to the board to lower tuition for students.”

Many students will be happy to hear this is an issue the CSU’s next financial coordinator is taking seriously.

“Tuition is something that has not decreased in forever and it keeps going up,” said Khaksar.

This is not a change that will happen on its own, since only the students are aware of the realities of online learning.

“It’s something that is very difficult for the school to understand, because for them the education that we’re getting online right now is the same that we would have in person,” said Khaksar.

Student Life Coordinator Malcolm Asselin

Student Life Coordinator is a challenging position in the midst of an academic year like none other. But challenges are what make life interesting, and Malcolm Asselin is excited to revive the student body.

He is prepared for the realities of next year, saying, “I want to be ready for both an online and in-person environment, just because I think it’s good to be prepared.” But this will not stop his goal of reaching students.

“I think a big challenge is, obviously, getting our information [on student events] to be interpreted and centralized, [because it] is key to reaching as many students as possible,” said Asselin.

Once students are informed, they can start participating in student-led events, such as Concordia’s Got Talent, an interdisciplinary event that is hosted by faculty associations collaboratively.

“It was the first time that all faculty associations collaborated together for an event, and we had an amazing engagement, students were involved. There was like some type of community being built here,” said Asselin.

For the coming year, one of his goals will be to bring together all associations at Concordia to work together in gathering the student body. He said, “I want more work like that, getting faculty associations to collaborate together for events.”

Internal Affairs Coordinator Harrison Kirshner

Harrison Kirshner is running to be the next internal affairs coordinator at the CSU, and hopes to concentrate on elevating clubs under the student association’s mandate.

Kirshner wants to help develop clubs by increasing their recruitment and getting the CSU more directly involved, “mak[ing] it easier for clubs to recruit, because that is really something that’s difficult during the online environment.”

Some of the clubs under the CSU’s mandate are Concordia Tennis Team, the Muslim Student Association (MSA), the Concordia Debate Society (CDS) and dozens more.

He is also looking into making a Facebook page for CSU clubs to post material they would like the CSU to advertise. The CSU would then be able to advertise their clubs on the newsletter, on their page, on their social media and more.

This could help get the university back on its feet when we come back to in-person learning. He said, “I believe that incorporating club recruitment into those mechanisms is something that we should do.”

 

Logo courtesy of the Concordia Student Union (CSU)

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Addressing discrimination in the CSU

The CSU is creating letters apologizing and acknowledging past and ongoing discrimination

A motion to create four letters that apologize, acknowledge, and address the issue of racism, anti-semitism, sexism, and queerphobia in the Concordia Student Union (CSU) was passed on Feb. 10. These letters will be published at the end of each month from February to May.

The CSU has had several councillors who have said they have faced instances of discrimination and racism against councillors, leading many Black, Indigenous, and people of colour (BIPOC) members to resign. Eduardo Malorni, the CSU’s student life coordinator who came up with the idea of the letters, sees them as a way to try to remedy this issue, and is helping facilitate their creation alongside the executive team and other CSU members. Malorni hopes the letters will help fix this issue of discimination in the CSU.

“If you look at the councillors that have resigned, many are members of the BIPOC community,” said Malorni, who explained that many members that leave the CSU don’t want to rejoin since they see no change, and the issue was swept under the rug.

On March 13, 2019, former CSU internal coordinator, Princess Somefun, said she resigned due to the toxic environment and online harassment.

“The union that claims to want to empower marginalized and racialized folks has let me down due to their negligence,” said Somefun at the CSU’s meeting in 2019.

On Sept. 6, 2020, former councillor Paige Beaulieu said they resigned due to feeling unsafe in the work environment. According to an article in The Link, Beaulieu, who uses they/them pronouns, said they were mocked for their gender identity by another councillor. In the article Beaulieu explained that it is common for jokes about racism, white supremacy, sexism and transphobia to be made by some CSU councillors.

Former councillor Ahmadou Sakho said he resigned on Sept. 20, 2020, due to how difficult it was to pass motions relating to diversity. In an article by The Link, Sakho stated that it was like an arm wrestle to get councillors to implement measures that would improve the lack of diversity on the CSU.

Former councillor Christopher Kalafatidis resigned during a meeting on Aug. 26, 2020. Earlier in the meeting, Kalafatidis had accused Isaiah Joyner, the general coordinator of the CSU and a person of colour, of refusing to denounce the KKK when Joyner suggested changing a motion from denouncing the KKK to a broader stance on anti-racism.

Honestly, [it was] one of the most racist things that has ever been said to me in a professional context,” said Joyner in an interview with The Concordian.

“It happens year after year and literally nothing has changed. Not our accountability procedures or the way we approach it,” said Malorni.

Malorni explained that he came up with the idea for the letters because he saw the Jewish, BIPOC, and queer CSU councillors were feeling hurt and that their message wasn’t getting across.

“If these councillors are feeling they aren’t being heard and acknowledged, imagine what it is like for the students outside of council,” he said.

“The first thing the CSU should do is apologize, that’s what you do when you are wrong, you apologize,” said Malorni. He explained that the goal of these letters is to hold the CSU accountable for past instances of discimination, and then move forward by ensuring measures of diversity and inclusivity.

“The letters are definitely, if alone, superficial. Part of the letter is going to be actionable steps,” he said. “If a year from now, nothing has changed, then the letters were superficial and completely failed.”

Malorni explained that while these letters will be apologizing for things that the current CSU council has not necessarily done, it is important for the CSU to take accountability for past councillors’ actions.

He stated that this has to be a communal effort, from the CSU as a whole. And that by acknowledging it, the CSU can take the next step, which is fixing the issue.

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Black History Month – but make it year-long

Concordia Student Union (CSU) puts a spotlight on Black excellence

 

For Black History Month, the Concordia Student Union (CSU) has been using their Instagram platform to feature Black activists, writers, artists and scholars on spotlight posts — a solid effort at highlighting the accomplishments and contributions of Black people throughout history.

As part of their latest Black Lives Matter campaign, this initiative aims to uplift and amplify Black voices during Black History Month. The campaign’s broader goal focuses on echoing the demands made by the Coalition to Defund the Police and the calls from the Concordia Black Studies collective.

“We decided to designate this project to Black History Month by showcasing a different person each day to learn about their role and how they’ve impacted society as a whole,” said Victoria Pesce, the CSU’s external affairs and mobilization coordinator.

These posts include figures such as Oscar Peterson, Mary Ann Shadd, Rev. Addie Aylestock, and more.

A blurry line between allyship and performativity

“My relationship with Black History Month has always been shaky,” said Sundus Noor, a second year Concordia student. “I notice that every February there are new initiatives and events that pop up in an effort to uplift Black communities, but I sometimes feel like those things can be done all year around.”

“In some cases, it ends up coming out as trying to profit off of the month or taking advantage by tokenizing people.”

Noor explained how it can be hard to know if the intentions behind someone’s actions are truthful. But, she believes the CSU’s initiative to uplift a community is well-intended.

“It makes you wonder whether someone genuinely wants to celebrate Black people, or if they want to do it because not doing so might make them look bad.”

“I believe the CSU’s initiative comes from a genuine place of wanting to do their duty and shine the spotlight on Black people who have contributed to our societies, but there is always room for improvement,” she said.

Noor expressed her concerns about the dangers of exclusively reserving these discussions and initiatives for February and forgetting them the rest of the year.

“We shouldn’t be dumping everything in one month and forgetting everything about it after.”

“What happens after Black History Month? People’s voices seem to be erased because the month is over, and I think that’s when it becomes a form of tokenization.”

Karim Fall, a Journalism student, echoed this point.

“I’m always on the fence when the month of February comes around because some people might partake simply because they see others do it and they want to avoid being the outlier.”

“In any case, it remains important that conversations are taking place during that month, and that is progressive in a sense because it gives people the chance to learn,” added Fall.

“I’m never going to be mad at a discussion happening because we should always encourage dialogue, but it also bothers me when bigger institutions ignore it as soon as we hit March 1.”

Broader goals: uplifting beyond social media

For many students, the COVID-19 pandemic has made it challenging to connect with the Concordia community and take part in these initiatives during Black History Month.

“I feel so far away from everything that is going on at the university at this moment,” said Florence Ojo, a student at Concordia.

Given that huge parts of our lives have been shifted to the online scene, the importance of social media engagement in uplifting Black voices has become crucial — even more so in the first ever virtual Black History Month.

Beyond virtual events, Pesce explained that the CSU has offered different workshops on topics like activism, allyship and police defunding to keep up the focus on what the Black communities need.

“We have to acknowledge how whitewashed our education is,” she said, “We don’t learn about the Black communities, or the Indigenous communities while growing up and that’s why it’s important to take every moment of the month to realize it.”

On the academic level, Pesce discussed the CSU’s efforts to hold the administration accountable and create different initiatives for the Black communities within Concordia, notably the Black Perspective Office (BPO).

“Similar to the sexual violence workshop, we’re working towards creating a mandatory workshop during which we would learn about the difference between, for instance, racism, oppression, discrimination, and more,” explained Pesce.

“It’s a part of our education that is lacking in our system.”

Fall echoes Pesce’s point, “The more I learn about Black history, the more I realize that it’s really world history.”

Similarly, Ojo believes that Black History Month is a great way to learn and amplify the voices of Black individuals, but we should not limit ourselves to a simple month of the year.

“We’re all here to learn and we should do that every day, not just during February.”

 

Screenshot of the CSU instagram page

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CSU Positions Book expiry

A referendum question was passed for the points in the position book to expire after four years

A referendum question was put on the ballot at the Concordia Student Union (CSU) meeting on Jan. 27 to remove the recent expiry date on positions in the CSU’s Positions Book.

Back in February 2020, a different referendum question passed, giving all positions in the book a four-year expiry date. This referendum question caused a lot of controversy, including a campaign against it, called Vote NO to ‘Democratise’ Positions Book.

A positions book is a common practice in student unions: it is an outline of the unions’ position on political, social, and student-life issues. The CSU’s positions book varies from points such as the CSU being against unpaid internships to the CSU being against racism in all forms. 

Referendums are held throughout the year, and students can add questions to the ballot as long as they gain more than 500 signatures from other Concordia students and present the question to the CSU. Then, it is voted on during the student election, and if it passes, the CSU is mandated to implement it. The next referendum is from March 16 to 18.

The four-year expiry date was brought to referendum by former councilor Danielle Vandolder-Beaudin, who tried to have a similar motion passed in 2019. According to an article in The Link, it would have revoked over 50 positions in the book, such as freedom of expression and Indigenous solidarity.

“This document represents our political beliefs, and this represents our student body. In 10 years, maybe that won’t be a general statement. We can’t assume things like that,” said Vandolder-Beaudin in the 2020 meeting.

Other counselors did not agree with the referendum question, such as former councilor Hannah Jamet-Lange, who said she did not believe that issues such as feminism and Indigenous solidarity should be regularly voted on.

During the recent CSU meeting, there was a similar divide in reference to the new referendum question that would stop the four-year expiry date. 

Many councilors saw the four-year expiry date as a way to keep the position book updated and focused. While others, such as Harrison Kirshner and S Shivaane who presented the motion, saw this as a way to undermine minority groups in Concordia.

In the general election this past fall, students voted on 19 referendum questions, several being for the positions book: Indigenous rights, Anti-racism/Diversity and inclusion, and Antisemitism/Holocaust denial positions. All position questions passed with an overwhelming majority vote.

“We have heard this is a problem from many, many students,” said Kirshner at the CSU meeting on Wednesday, Jan. 27, explaining that many students were surprised the CSU didn’t already support these positions.

“It’s not a good look to say we’re fighting for Indigenous issues every four years,” said Academic and Advocacy Coordinator Sarah Mazhero, agreeing with Kirshner that constantly voting on positions can imply the CSU is questioning their legitimacy.

Councillor James Hanna believes that he has a way to please both sides when it comes to the four-year expiry date.

“I’d much rather prefer the position book to be transformed into something that is binding so the CSU can actually accomplish it,” said Hanna.

He explained that his current idea is to have open-ended headers, such as Indigenous solidarity and climate change. These headers would be permanent, creating an outline of how the CSU should take action.

Under these headers would be things such as actions that should be taken by the university, and organizations to support. These positions would expire after four years, as they change in relevance to the overarching issue.

While the policy committee will work on potentially implementing Hanna’s idea, students will vote on the positions book question during the spring election in March.

 

Logo courtesy of the Concordia Student Union.

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CSU hosts second event of BLM Campaign: Know Your Rights, Legal Info 101

The virtual workshop helped students to understand their constitutional rights when fighting for change

On Nov. 5, the CSU hosted a virtual workshop as the second part of their Black Lives Matter campaign. The event focused on educating attendees about their basic legal rights when participating in activism and social justice work.

The workshop was given by Arij Riahi, a Montreal lawyer who focuses on cases of racial profiling and works with grassroots communities, students, and individuals from marginalized communities. Riahi has been involved with social justice and anti-racism work for as long as she can remember.

Riahi’s presentation covered the constitutional rights one has if detained, the different crimes that people participating in demonstrations can be charged with, and how to “cop watch” safely and legally.

Riahi hoped the event would equip its attendees with the ability to make informed decisions in their activism.

“I am a firm believer that knowledge is power,” she said. “I am a firm believer that every single person should evaluate for themselves the level of consent when they enter a political action.”

She also advises activists to think of others when protesting. She said, “Come from a perspective of care, and always be mindful of the people around you.”

Put your own political practice within a broader scheme, and make sure that you understand who is involved, and why they are involved.”

While she believes strongly in the importance of sharing legal knowledge and understanding one’s rights, Riahi acknowledges the complexities of the law.

“It’s a learning curve,” she said. “There’s always room to learn more, to know more.”

The event concluded with a presentation from Walter Chi-yan Tom of the CSU’s Legal Information Clinic (LIC). Tom discussed different tickets that can be given at demonstrations, including social distancing infractions, and the ensuing court process, with information about the rights of immigrants and international students when receiving a ticket or a criminal charge.

Tom encouraged students who have legal questions to contact the LIC, a free service for students to receive legal information and referrals.

Jessica Quijano, a spokesperson for Montreal’s Defund the Police Coalition, agrees that it is important for everyone who attends demonstrations and advocates for BLM to understand their legal rights, but emphasizes the importance of centering minorities to ensure safety at protests.

She urges allies to remember the communities that will be targeted and focus on helping the movement.

“It’s really important to not take the voices away from the people that are the most affected by police violence,” she said.

Is this about you or is it about a collective movement?” Quijano asked people to consider.

In addition to attending protests and informational events, Quijano encourages those who want to help the movement to try to do six actions after every protest they attend.

“It could be making phone calls or sending emails to your local representatives … educating people around you, and your family,” she said. “The protests and education part is one piece of it, but then it always has to go further than that.”

The series of virtual workshops provided by the CSU’s #BLM Campaign aims to equip students to participate in anti-racism work. They will be occurring regularly throughout the rest of the fall semester.

Riahi is currently working to allow her workshop to be accessed online.

 

Graphic by Taylor Reddam

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Abolition or reform? A new CSU position

CSU’s police brutality position is controversial in its wording

On Oct. 28, the CSU’s second meeting of the month discussed Arts and Science Representative Shivaane Subash’s police brutality position. In hopes of being added to the CSU’s Positions Book, the position highlights how the CSU does not support the SPVM in its treatment of Black and Indigenous students.

Two distinct positions were recognizable in the discussions: one for abolition, and one against. This doesn’t mean that any parties were against taking a position; rather, they had different approaches to the position.

Subash wrote in the position, “The CSU recognizes its racially diverse student population and how widely reported racial profiling experiences by the SPVM affects their educational experience. Thus, it is vital to advocate for their safety and security to ensure a safe, enriching university environment.”

This universal statement is one that most CSU representatives agree with. However, there are a handful of representatives that have issues with the last clause in the position.

The section originally read, “CSU stands in favour with defunding and abolishing the SVPM, so as to redirect those financial resources to areas such as healthcare, mental health, housing, education, jobs, and restorative-justice models that better suit the needs of our community.” After the discussion, the section of the quote in italics was removed.

Subash explained that she “looked at the Positions Book and realized there was just a small section on police brutality.”

As one of the only remaining women of colour in the CSU now that many have stepped down, she knew that someone needed to take a stand, and change the CSU’s position on these issues.

Subash is aware that abolishing and defunding the police is a controversial idea, and was expecting push back from fellow council members.

“This is natural, there was pushback and confusion from the general public and different leaders as well, so it was expected by everyone,” she said.

Despite this, she said it’s still exhausting to deal with this type of push back.

“It’s mostly tiring … especially when everyone is learning about concepts such as police brutality. They’re not new concepts, but they’re penetrating the public more nowadays.”

She stood by her ideas and statement, based on her own personal experience as a minority.

“A lot of people are against it because the police have always been there as an institution that we’ve had for ages,” she said.

So people are so used to that police presence, they don’t want to consider abolishing/ defunding the police.”

However, this isn’t the section that Tzvi Hersh Filler, a member of the CSU Council of Representatives, had issues with, but rather the word “abolish.”’

In Filler’s opinion, “In this case, seeing as [the police] is an essential service, scrapping it doesn’t make sense. Obviously, you have to fix the accountability issues.” He argues that the word “abolish” will create a sour relationship with the SPVM, which can lead to bigger issues.

Filler compares the situation to a similar one that occurred in New York City, where a group of Orthodox Jews were being harassed with bricks. According to Filler, the police failed to handle the situation properly.

He said, “The fact that the police were unable to properly handle [the situation], came down to the fact that the police felt like [the mayor] was out to abolish them, and that created this atmosphere where they couldn’t do their jobs.”

James Hanna, a Gina Cody councillor at the CSU is of the same opinion as Filler. Both agree that the SPVM is extremely problematic and needs to be fixed. However, these two don’t see how abolition is the key to this.

He said, “Without fixing society itself; without lowering the racism score, the level of [racism in] the police also won’t change because it’s the same pool of candidates, it’s still the subset of that same population, unless you radically change the population.”

As of now, the position’s 12.8 section stands as such: “CSU stands in favour with defunding and abolishing the SVPM.”

 

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A petition proposed by a CSU councillor seeks to defund The Link and CJLO

Both organizations told The Concordian that allegations in the petition questions are unwarranted

 

Disclaimer: The Concordian is a fee-levy organization and Hadassah Alencar also works for the CJLO news team.

Petition questions calling to defund student-run publication The Link and campus radio station CJLO were presented by councillor Tzvi Hersh Filler to the Concordia Student Union (CSU) during a regular council meeting last week on Oct.14.

Added to the agenda the night before the CSU meeting, allegations against the two fee-levy organizations caused alarm among the organizations, other fee-levies, and some CSU members.

The first question claims, “The Link has run smear campaigns against those who tried bringing the opt-out system online.” The second asks, “CJLO is attempting to sue the CSU to prevent online opt out, do you support removing CJLO‘s fee levy?”

The petition lacks clarification and proof of the claims, with both organizations telling The Concordian the statements are unwarranted.

The Link’s Editor-in-Chief Marcus Bankuti provided a statement to The Concordian, saying, “Councillor Filler’s claims of smear campaigns are baseless. We stand by the integrity of our reporting.”

Filler would not provide a comment on his claim against The Link “due to ongoing litigation.”

When asked how he will collect signatures if he cannot elaborate on the reasoning behind his question, Filler said, “I would expect that well before next semester, the relevant processes would have been resolved, and I would be able to answer those types of questions.”

He expects the litigation will be resolved before the Winter 2021 semester, and said he would “likely” speak on the allegations in the near future.

Filler said the intention of presenting the petition questions was to validate them so that he may collect signatures at a later date. He does not have any “hard deadlines” for when he would begin collecting signatures.

According to the CSU by-laws, a petition is only valid to be added to the referendum if it is first presented to the CSU before collecting signatures. Members are allowed to voice their opinion and give advice on the questions, but the petitioner is not required to take their advice.

The petitioner must then collect 750 signatures and submit them to the CSU before the deadline to add the question to the referendum. Students would then vote on whether or not they support the question.

As for CJLO, Filler plans “on seeing what [CJLO does] before I start collecting signatures, because I really don’t want to collect 750 signatures without a good reason.”

The petition question claimed CJLO was suing the CSU “to prevent online opt-out.”

CJLO Station Manager Francella Fiallos said the legal letter was a “challenge” to the online opt-out process, rather than an attempt to put a stop to it. The letter “was to challenge the way in which the CSU had decided to implement the referendum question, and how the consultation process was insufficient.”

Back in May, CJLO sent the CSU a legal letter to challenge the online opt-out process, given how the CSU was handling the process at the time.

Internal emails obtained anonymously through a request for information showed former General Coordinator Christopher Kalafitidis was working on the online opt-out system with the Concordia administration before he consulted with the fee-levy groups.

In the referendum questions, students voted to have an online opt-out system created “in consultation with all fee-levy organizations.” Kalafitidis said a survey sent to fee-levy groups was a sufficient consultation process, and said that the document he created with the fee-levy’s answers was adequately discussed with the administration.

Several groups, including CJLO, felt that the consultation process under Kalafiditis was not enough.

But this has changed with the current executive team, who began their mandate in June.

“Now we have a very strong relationship with the CSU,” said Fiallos.“We basically felt that the new administration…seem[s] to have an interest to make sure that fee-levy groups are adequately represented in this online opt-out process.”

“Once they came in, we basically said that the injunction was not going to be a relevant factor anymore.”

Filler said he did not speak to anyone from CJLO or the CSU recently about CJLO’s legal injunction against the student union.

Filler speculated on a legal argument against CJLO’s legal letter, speaking on his interpretation of the limitations of the letter: “It strikes me as grasping for straws and unlikely that a reasonable judge would accept it.”

“But in the event that a judge will accept it, how do I remove that obstacle? And the simple answer to that is remove CJLO’s fee[-levy] entirely,” said Filler.

Should CJLO’s position ever change, he plans on collecting signatures with his currently validated petition question.

“In the event that they do, I want to have the right at that point to collect signatures without having to go to present to council. So I’m trying to remove barriers, so the back up steps are ready to be done, in the events that an actual injunction is filed with the Court of Quebec.”

He believes that “The basis of the potential lawsuit is that online opt out affects the CJLO fee, and if the fee doesn’t exist, then online opt-out can’t affect it.”

Fiallos said, “[Filler’s petition] is not going to impact our judgement.”

“It just felt like he was just trying to intimidate us, but the fact is we’re not going to be intimidated,” said Fiallos.

She said that the decision to back down from the suit was based on how Eduardo Malorni, CSU student life coordinator, is handling the online opt-out process.

“He’s talked directly to us several times about this, he’s advocated for the recommendations that we made to the administration … I genuinely feel like it’s a much better relationship.”

The difference is, Malorni has continually directly consulted with the fee-levy groups since starting his mandate as CSU executive. He has dealt with the online opt-out process by discussing and negotiating the process between the administration, the CSU, and the fee-levy association.

Malorni told The Concordian, “We de-escalated the situation because basically they felt that they weren’t being listened to.”

On the night the petition questions came in, Malorni stayed up late answering questions and speaking with several fee-levy members about their concerns.

Malorni is also in charge of the Fee-Levy Review Committee, which reviews all applications regarding fee-levy groups, and said Filler must “give a clear reasoning as to why he is defunding [fee-levy groups], or he believes that they need defunding.”

Chairperson of the CSU Caitlin Robinson referred to the CSU’s Standing Regulation 259, which explains the manner in which a fee-levy is removed. One must simply provide a reason for the petition: “An explanation of the reasoning underlying the request.”

“That being said, although under the CSU’s regulations a petition can be circulated, the person circulating it needs to be very cautious about what they are writing and disseminating because they could encounter legal issues if they are circulating libellous claims,” said Robinson.

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Concordia Student Union News

New policy will keep CSU representatives accountable

After two long years of pushing the new sexual violence policy through, it’s finally official

The Concordia Student Union (CSU) voted in a new policy with a survivor-centred approach towards handling sexual misconduct involving CSU representatives.

Following a meeting on Sept. 23, the new policy was officially put in place and acknowledged in the CSU bylaws.

This policy was initially voted on in the 2018–19 academic year; however, after a failure to enforce it in the bylaws and delays due to leadership issues, the policy has never fully been enforced. This situation is now rectified.

The policy pertains to any complaints that involves CSU representatives in matters of sexual violence and harrasment, stating, “Creating a Sexual Violence Policy (the “Policy”) will ensure that allegations of sexual violence involving CSU members are properly addressed and that every CSU member is made aware of their roles and responsibilities regarding the prevention and response towards sexual violence.”

Eduardo Malorni, the CSU’s Student Life Coordinator, spoke to The Concordian to explain the circumstances around which the policy was voted in, and the urgency felt within the CSU. Previous to this new policy, there was no way of holding the student union accountable.

Malorni said, “Other than handling it individually one-on-one, or trying to work it out behind the scenes, there was nothing [in place] for a student to make an official complaint against a CSU representative.”

Each complaint will be evaluated by the committee members, who remain separate from the CSU.

“The committee members are someone from the judicial board, a student-at-large that was appointed, someone with experience in sexual violence, an investigator/HR person that has experience dealing with this, and the last one is someone on the Standing Committee of SMSV [Sexual Misconduct and Sexual Violence] from the university,” explained Malorni.

This policy and procedure is very different from Concordia’s policies related to sexual violence. When there are complaints of a sexual nature to be made that do not involve a CSU representative, the university will be responsible for said investigation.

In addition to a new way of handling complaints, this policy also enforces a mandatory consent training for each representative. This training module was the main point used to delay the implementation of this policy.

According to Malorni, ”[CSU members] were casually mentioning how failing or not attending consent training [should not] be a reason to get removed from the CSU; they were implying it wasn’t an impeachable thing.”

However, most CSU representatives were very eager for the training, and saw it as an opportunity to learn.

“There’s always going to be a few people who think it’s a waste of time. Sometime[s] there are people who are generally curious and they ask questions,” said Malorni.

 

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Concordia Student Union News

Concordia’s online fee-levy opt-outs delayed to Winter 2021

Concordia administration plans to disregard some recommendations made by fee-levy groups

Concordia University’s online fee-levy opt-out system is delayed until January 2021, with the administration looking to implement changes that veers away from recommendations made by fee-levy groups, which are student-run organizations funded by the student population at large.

Concordia Student Union (CSU) Student Life Coordinator Eduardo Malorni, who is currently communicating with the administration regarding the new system, told The Concordian two of the six recommendations made by fee-levy groups will not be followed as written, with “four of them being followed more or less.”

Fee-levy organizations are elected by students through a CSU referendum to receive funding from the student population. The organizations provide a variety of different services for students, including food services like free meals and groceries; environmental, gender and advocacy centers; and student media organizations like The Concordian, The Link, and CJLO. They are not clubs, but function independently from the CSU. The majority of groups charge less than $0.40 per credit. 

Last year, the CSU held a referendum on the implementation of an online opt-out system. A majority 61.1 per cent of the student population voted in favour of a system that would be “created in consultation with all fee-levy organizations,” according to the “Fee-Levy Consultation Report.” The report was drafted by a CSU committee as per mandated by the referendum.

The fee-levy organizations outlined six recommendations for the online opt-out process.

According to Malorni, the first recommendation rejected by the Concordia administration is that students be required to read comprehensive descriptions of the groups they want to opt out of before being presented with a legal letter describing exactly which services they are agreeing to lose. For example, if a student wants to opt out of paying fees for People’s Potato, they will first need to read a description of its mandate and services, followed by a legal letter confirming the loss of said services, i.e. free meals and emergency food baskets.

“This process will exist for every group in order to give them a fair chance to showcase what they do and provide to the Concordia community,” reads the recommendation in the report.

Instead, the administration plans to implement a system that provides a general legal letter that applies to all fee-levy groups. Malorni said the letter would be presented before students even select which groups they want to opt out of and before they have the chance to read their descriptions.

The second recommendation Concordia University plans not to follow, according to Malorni, is that every fee-levy group description should include “an external link to learn even more about the group.”

“[Concordia] said they did not feel comfortable having links going outside of the Concordia domain,” said Malorni.

The link would only work if the group was on the Concordia University domain. There is no information as of yet if the administration will create or update existing webpages for each fee-levy group on the Concordia website.

According to Malorni, the groups will also have “only a few paragraphs” to describe what their organization does for the Concordia community, rather than the comprehensive descriptions requested by fee-levy groups.

Malorni will bring up these stipulations during a CSU council meeting next Wednesday, in which it will be determined whether “council still feels comfortable moving forward … knowing that the recommendations they specified aren’t 100 per cent being followed.”

Malorni told The Concordian the next CSU council meeting will be on Sept. 16. Fee-levy group members are encouraged to come to the council meeting to discuss their concerns.

A controversial process

The former General Coordinator Christopher Kalafatidis ran for CSU council on the “Cut the Crap” slate that included the online fee-levy opt-out system in 2019.

The “Fee Levy Consultation Report” was presented by Kalafatidis, who was now a councillor, in a CSU council meeting on June 10. A majority voted to have the university’s administration develop the online opt-out system.

Several fee-levy groups said they felt the consultation process with the CSU was insufficient.

Emma Campbell, Internal Coordinator of the Concordia Food Coalition, expressed concern about a system that does not provide sufficient information about what fee-levy organizations do.

“Ethical responsibility towards other students may be removed if students are able to go in and click all of the fee-levies that they want to be removed from without necessarily knowing what the fee-levies do or how this will impact other students,” Campbell said, citing the weekly emergency food baskets provided to Concordia students by groups such as the Concordia Food Coalition, Frigo Vert, and People’s Potato.

“I also fully understand students who are extremely financially strapped and who need to opt out for these very real and personal reasons that affect many disadvantaged students,” added Campbell.

In May, CSU councillor Margot Berner received a slew of documents revealing Kalafatidis had begun the opt-out system with the administration long before he consulted with fee-levy groups.

Berner accused Kalafatidis of not doing enough to include the input of fee-levy groups.

“I think that the content of those emails showed that the fee-levies were not as involved in the process as establishing online opt-out as Chris was leading everyone to believe,” said Berner. “I think it was a failure to do the work that he was mandated to do.”

Kalafatidis said he was only having conversations with the university because he claims the administration “might have gone ahead and created the system without my input.” He added that he gave the fee levy groups “weeks” to fulfill the consultation process, which took the form of a CSU survey distributed via Google Docs.

“I think there was more than enough input. We created, I think it was a 40-60 page document, containing the input of every fee-levy group that contacted the CSU,” said Kalafaditis on whether he sufficiently consulted the fee-levies. The “Fee Levy Consultation Report” was 44 pages.

“We actually used the feedback to heavily modify the online opt-out system proposal,” said Kalafaditis.

Francella Fiallos, station manager at CJLO, Concordia University’s campus radio station, said she was disappointed with the consultation process.

“They had a detailed plan as to how the online opt-out process would look well before fee-levy groups were even talked to, so it just showed that the consultation was not even going to be respected,” said Fiallos on the documents Berner brought to light.

“We submitted our concerns of having a formal consultation process replaced by a Google Doc,” Fiallos continued. “That report kind of doesn’t really have an accurate comprehensive view of how fee-levy groups feel.”

For the fall, fee-levy organizations have agreed to implement the same opt-out procedure they had during the summer, which required students to contact the groups they wish to opt out of directly.

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Concordia Student Union News

Clashes at CSU meeting underscore the union’s internal division

Members describe a growing “toxic” environment

A contentious last council meeting of the summer highlights the Concordia Student Union’s (CSU) divisive internal culture, with some members saying there are accumulating instances of alleged racism and political bias.

The heated exchange happened during the discussion of a motion to publicly condemn the Ku Klux Klan (KKK), Unite the Right, and any other groups with “identical goals and ideologies” at the special council meeting on Aug. 26.

Isaiah Joyner, Executive General Coordinator of the CSU, expressed that he did not recall an official anti-racism position in the CSU Positions Book and that the union should take a broader stance on the issue of racism, instead of denouncing individual organizations.

From there Joyner said the CSU could create “a stringent policy within the organization as to what we define as anti-racism, what we define as hate speech.”

The debate turned sour after the now former councillor Christopher Kalafatidis, who resigned during the meeting, accused Joyner of refusing to denounce the KKK, and insinuated that Joyner’s issue with the motion was geared towards the councillor presenting the motion, not the motion itself. The councillor presenting the motion was the now former councillor Mathew Levitsky-Kaminski, who resigned after the meeting.

Levitsky-Kaminski himself alleged to The Concordian that there is political bias against him on council because of his conservative views. “[The CSU] has a history of anti-conservative thought processes and approaches to certain situations,” said Levitsky-Kaminski.

During the meeting, Kalafatidis expressed disdain for Joyner’s opposition to the motion.“I just saw the general coordinator of the CSU refuse to condemn the KKK, because there’s something else we could be doing. That’s a ridiculous reason not to condemn the KKK,” said Kalafatidis. Joyner responded he did not appreciate the accusation that he, as a Black person, would refuse to condemn the KKK. “Think about what comes out of your mouth, before you say it, because it has an effect on people,” said Joyner. “It hurts.” Joyner became visibly distressed and walked away from the video call.

“Honestly, [it was] one of the most racist things that has ever been said to me in a professional context,”

Joyner said, in an interview with The Concordian after the meeting. Joyner denied the insinuation that he only spoke against the motion because of a personal issue with Levitsky-Kaminski. “That I would take something so sensitive to my community, to my culture, and to my experiences in life, and then think that I would put all of that aside, just to stick it to somebody?” Joyner continued.

Following Joyner’s departure in the council meeting, Executive Academic and Advocacy Coordinator Sarah Mazhero, another Black member of council, said, “This is so heartbreaking, that this is a cycle we have to repeat over and over.” The incident follows a highly contentious summer in which several motions were tensely debated, and members described an increasingly divisive environment.

Former councillor Danielle Vandolder-Beaudin interrupted Mazhero during her speech to ask if the council could keep the discussion “on track.” Chairperson Caitlin Robinson, who mediated the discussion, said she was not going to stop a Black council member from expressing herself and allowed her to continue.

Shortly after, both Kalafatidis and Vandolder-Beaudin left the council meeting video call and sent their resignation while the meeting was still in session, as confirmed by chairperson Robinson. Both Kalafatidis and Vandolder-Beaudin told The Concordian they resigned because they were graduating.

“I just felt like it was a waste of time at that point, and I was going to wait until the end of the meeting, but the moment a motion on condemning the KKK is ripped apart and criticized, that’s just when [I’ve] got to go. I felt like there was no point to being there anymore,” said Kalafatidis, later explaining his fast resignation in an interview.

Several members of the council told The Concordian that situations which come off as inappropriate or alleged racist comments or actions against other councillors are consistent in the CSU.

Councillor S. Shivaane described an incident involving Kalafatidis during a recent diversity training, where he said he never learned anything at these trainings, and left early with Vandolder-Beaudin. Kalafatidis has confirmed this instance with The Concordian, expressing that the CSU needs to do a better job at diversity training.

“I’m not saying I don’t want to do diversity training,” Kalafatidis said. “I’m just really well read on, I don’t know, let’s say, all the theories of racism that currently exist. No one at the [diversity training] has been able to say anything that I haven’t read on the internet before.”

Kalafatidis said he is not concerned about how his words will come off.

“I know at this point that anything I say will be misconstrued in a way that will be used against me. I could say literally anything, like I could even say we should condemn the KKK and I’ll get criticized for that, which is what happened at the meeting.”

S. Shivaane said in regards to Kalafatidis and Vandolder-Beaudin, “I think … their CSU track record [has] been very insensitive when it comes to issues relating to discrimination.”

Vandolder-Beaudin said that these allegations, “seem quite over exaggerated, trying to hurt my reputation when in reality these attacks are just stalling tactics to make sure things don’t get brought up or passed.”

For Joyner, what concerns him is the lack of willingness to communicate and be mindful about speaking on race issues with other members of council.

“People [are] dismissive, they don’t acknowledge their peers. [Council members have] been told ‘I hear you, but I don’t think that that’s an issue,’ or ‘I don’t think that that’s a concern,’” said Joyner. “When you dismiss your peers, or you’re so close-minded that you don’t want to hear your peers, this is a dangerous thing.”

Although Joyner expressed the need for a broader stance on anti-racism during the council meeting, the CSU Positions Book does currently have a position against racism. Joyner said that nevertheless there is a need to “create more [strict], stringent policies,” that would be maintained in the CSU.

At the meeting members agreed with the intent of the motion to denounce groups like the KKK and Unite the Right. But many, such as Joyner, felt the motion needed additional work and could have received more input from other councillors before presenting it to council.

We shouldn’t be doing the brainstorming in the meeting. Take it to the people outside the meeting and work on it together and bring the final product to council,” said Joyner.

Kalafatidis was adamant that the only reason people were against the KKK motion was due to an internal faction rivalry.

“There’s a lot of rivalry on council, and it’s no secret. I’m sure to anybody that the council’s a very toxic place and the reason it’s a toxic place is because there are different factions on council, and to me what happened was it was just a consequence of, you know, two factions — one faction lashing out against another faction.”

The motion to condemn the KKK and Unite the Right was eventually voted to be sent for amendment to the CSU’s BIPOC committee.

“By sending it to other committees it’s not going to condemn the KKK any much more that we needed to do during that meeting,” said Levitsky-Kaminski to The Concordian.

Joyner said that, despite ongoing tensions in the CSU, he does not want the union to be defined by such divisiness.“Anything good that happens is done both (sic) through collaboration which requires parties to come together and to listen, to hear each other, and to understand each other.”

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Concordia Student Union News

CSU’s General Coordinator possible impeachment

The Concordia Student Union (CSU) held a meeting on March 1 for the potential impeachment of the General Coordinator, Christopher Kalafatidis.

The motion was brought forward by 10 CSU council members: Elizabeth Tasong, Hannah Jamet-Lange, Christiane Sakr, Naomi Barney Purdie, Esther Morand, Jarrad Haas, Maha Siddiqui, Leigh Kusaj, Victoria Pesce, and Lauren Perozek.

They claim that Kalafatidis has failed to address his mandate, by not appointing a Sustainability Coordinator, failing to have student representation on the Standing Committee on Sexual Misconduct and Sexual Violence, and not fulfilling his duties as chair on the Judicial Board, Sexual Violence Accountability Committee and the University Senate.

The members also claimed that Kalafatidis has ignored mandates given to him by council, which has affected the creation of Recovery and Wellness Centre (RAWCC)–a peer support group for people living with addiction.

“I was shocked to hear about this impeachment,” said Kalafatidis, who explained he wished people had given him a warning or asked for corrective behaviour before moving to impeachment. “It’s coming up for things that happened months ago and no one came to talk to me.”

On the issue of the Sustainability Coordinator failing to be appointed, Kalafatidis said that according to the CSU bylaws, it is up to the General Coordinator’s discretion to appoint a vacant position. Kalafatidis also stated that it is then the council’s job to approve of the candidate or not.

“In reality the council has been exercising an abuse of power, it is not in their right to interfere in this process,” said Kalafatidis, who explained as General Coordinator, it was to his discretion how many candidates he picked. “Even worse, they are undermining my rule in the bylaws by saying I should send them three candidates.”

In July 2019, councillors passed a motion asking Kalafatidis to present three candidates for the Sustainability Coordinator position.

Jamet-Lange, an Arts & Science CSU councilor, explained she understood the motion had been revoked by the judicial board, yet still asked Kalafatidis to have three candidates out of good faith.

“He did not bring up another candidate, he never mentioned anything in his December or January reports,” explained Jamet-Lange.“I believe that is going against his job as a General Coordinator.”

Jamet-Lange explained that over the summer, there were issues meeting quorum for appointments committee – which role is to appoint people to other committees – yet Kalafatidis was not communicating when meetings were.

“It really upsets me that I was hard at work in the summer, working with incredible restrictions,” Kalafatidis said, adding that one of the reasons he was unable to fill seats on various councils––such as the Standing Committee on Sexual Misconduct and Sexual Violence––is because there were not enough councillors to meet quorum on the appointments committee over the summer.

“Saying that only appointments committee wasn’t able to meet is skewing the facts a little bit,” said Jamet-Lange, who mentioned that Kalafatidis resigned from the appointments committee because he wasn’t getting the work done.

“He always brings up the argument that we should have come to him first, but that has proven to be difficult,” said Jamet-Lange, who explained that councillors had tried to reach out previously to talk to Kalafatidis about issues and he was not responsive.

Jamet-Lange said that after the CSU meeting when the impeachment email went out, Kalafatidis yelled at her, calling it a personal attack.

“That reaction proved to me that if we had gone to talk to him it would probably not have helped,” said Jamet-Lange.

In regards to the RAWCC, Kalafatidis said the previous executive team had approved a proposal for RAWCC that he deemed not ready to be implemented.

He stated the proposal was for a part-time student to facilitate support group meetings, and the training requirements were very low. Kalafatidis deemed this to be a legal liability, as this part-time student would have to serve over 30,000 Concordia students with little training.

Jamet-Lange stated the main reason they decided to motion for impeachment was because of various complaints about Kalafatidis they had received from students.

“We don’t want to negate at all that he has been doing work,” said Jamet-Lange. “But at the same time, while he did do work, he did not necessarily do the things he is mandated to do by the bylaws and standing regulations.”

Isaiah Joyner, External Affairs and Mobilization Coordinator of the CSU, felt the impeachment issue could have been dealt with in a better way.

“When I look at the impeachment, I see frustration,” said Joyner, who explained this was not the answer the executive team sought. “We had hoped people felt comfortable to seek us out before so we could have dealt with this.”

Joyner explained that he sees CSU members’––council or executive––personal conflict getting in the way of solving issues. He believes council should be a place where issues are solved, instead he sees them creating issues and having to fix them.

“This serves as a motivation for me, as this is not how it should be, this is not the type of issues we should be having, this is not the union that it could be for the students,” said Joyner.

 

Archive photo by Hanna Ewen

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Concordia Student Union News

CSU in a flash

The Concordia Student Union has up to 30 elected members and eight elected executive members, and their task is to ensure the interests of students are protected and represented. The CSU can pass motions that involve student interests, Concordia then takes into account those motions.

Each CSU meeting will now be summarized so that you, the reader, can keep up with the union’s business. Get ready for tantalizing motions, breathtaking legal jargon and closed sessions that keep you on the edge of your seat.

Let’s get down to business – this is where CSU goes over various forms of business, like passing motions and approving budgets.

 

  • Fee-Levy committee

For context, fee levies are student-elected groups that get most of their funding from student fees, in the past a student had to go in person to opt-out of paying the fee. In 2019, CSU put the question of opting online onto a referendum, the question passed passed on referendum and is now being put into action by Concordia administration.

The motion was to create a committee that ensured online opt-outs are created in consultation with all of the fee-levy groups, and a report would be created and given to the CSU council and Concordia admin. The motion to create the fee-levy committee passed on Jan. 8.

  • Strike down section 9.1.2 of the CSU Positions Book

The CSU Positions Book outlines the union’s beliefs and stances on many social matters. All points in the book were voted on in a referendum in 2013-14. Section 9.1.2 states that “the CSU endorses the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israel’s occupation of Palestine…”

A CSU member motioned for a closed session, where all non-CSU members must leave, but it did not pass.

The motion was to strike down section 9.1.2, a CSU member described section 9.1.2 as “hypocritical enforcement,” adding that it was impractical for the CSU to boycott everything that is involved with Israel.

The motion to strike section 9.1.2 failed, as CSU members pointed out that the Positions Book was a political stance and not a binding contract. As well as the fact that each of the sections in the Positions Book have been adopted by the students-at-large directly through referendum, thus CSU is unable to strike down Position Book sections without a referendum.

  • Bathroom Committee

There was the creation of a committee that would overview the hiring of Concordia’s new cleaning company, as the current one’s contract will end soon. The committee will ensure the new cleaning company takes into consideration student concerns, particularly about cleaner bathrooms. The motion to create this committee passed on Jan. 8.

 

Then, something rare occurred at the CSU meetings: it ended before 10 p.m.

 

Graphic by Ana Bilokin

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