Tag: CSU

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CSU referendum questions spark a digital debate

CSU VP Morgan Pudwell has spent years working on CSU policy reform and says the bylaw changes are well overdue. Photo by Navneet Pall

A Facebook event sprung up last week encouraging students to vote against the two referendum questions regarding the Concordia Student Union’s revised bylaws in this week’s byelections, opening up a lively online discourse.

Created last week by Ace Szmolyan, a political science student at Concordia, the event is listed online as “Demand Knowledge: Vote NO for the CSU Bylaw changes.”

“I meant to raise awareness by this campaign,” wrote Szmolyan in one of many posts on the event’s wall. “I feel like this page could be a great place for students to raise any questions or concerns they have regarding the upcoming referendum.

The topics debated on the event page range from the re-naming and re-purposing of the student centre fund, the changes made to the elections process, and the removal of the Senate of Faculty Associations, a body made up of representatives from each faculty association.

CSU VP Morgan Pudwell has spent years working on CSU policy reform and says the bylaw changes are well overdue. Photo by Navneet Pall
Some users also noted an alleged lack of public awareness about these bylaw changes when compared to the campaigning seen in the lead-up to the Nov.10 tuition fee demonstration.

CSU executives and council members have been posting direct responses to concerns on the wall of the Facebook event in back-and-forth conversations that have so far remained civil.

Morgan Pudwell, CSU VP advocacy and outreach and official chair of the “Yes” committee for the bylaw-related referendum questions, wrote that although she’s excited about the new bylaws, it’s good to see students engaging within their union.

“In general I think students have been asking meaningful questions, and I’m happy to engage in that sort of discourse,” Pudwell wrote.

The event has over 140 members listed as “attending,” including several executives from the Arts and Science Federation of Associations.

ASFA VP internal Schubert Laforest said in an interview that some of the new bylaws lack clarity. He pointed to the the wording of one proposed new bylaw in particular, which states that candidates for CSU executive positions, the council of representatives, the Board of Governors, and the Senate, will run individually. The bylaw would effectively put an end to the slate system, where candidates are voted in as a team.

His concern is that unless the wording is made clearer, someone could use the rule to prevent candidates from affiliating with each other and running as a group.

“I’ve seen a lot go wrong when things are left up to interpretation,” said Laforest, referring to the CSU’s history of contentious elections.

Former CSU president Heather Lucas joined the “Vote No” event despite having been a part of the reform process during her time in office.

“If the ‘No’ campaign had not created their Facebook page, there wouldn’t be the essential discussion and documentation that students need in order to not be going to the ballots uninformed and voting blindly,” wrote Lucas in an email.

CSU council passed a motion on Nov. 23 and a document displaying all revisions made throughout the reform process has since been made available. The CSU has also created a “Vote YES” event which has over 100 people attending as of press time.

Students will be able to vote on whether to accept the new bylaws during byelections this week on Nov. 29, 30 and Dec.1.

“Reform is much needed at the CSU, and for too long it has been put off,” Pudwell wrote. “If any changes are to be made to the CSU electoral policies they would need to be approved during this byelection in order to effect the upcoming general elections in March.”

To view the comprehensive proposed changes to the bylaws, scan the following QR code with your smart phone or visit csu.qc.ca.

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CEO impartiality to go under the microscope

Tomer Shavit at the Nov.1 judicial board hearing. Photo by Navneet Pall

A special Concordia Student Union council meeting has been convened for this Wednesday evening to discuss a motion to overturn the judicial board’s decision dismissing former chief electoral officer Bram Goldstein.

In an email from council chair Nick Cuillerier, members were informed that the special meeting, which will be taking place right in the middle of the CSU byelections, came about after three councillors called for it on Saturday night.

Tomer Shavit at the Nov.1 judicial board hearing. Photo by Navneet Pall

The meeting comes amid accusations from former CSU councillor Tomer Shavit that neither current CEO Ismail Holoubi nor JB chair Ceejay Desfosses are impartial.

Shavit, who ran unsuccessfully for a council seat in last year’s general election with losing slate Action, represented the former CSU council during a recent JB hearing that resulted in the invalidation of the appointment of CEO Bram Goldstein, whose original hiring by last year’s council was deemed to be flawed.

Ultimately, Shavit is hoping for council to overturn the JB’s Goldstein decision, which would require a fourth-fifths majority vote.

”I think this entire thing has been an attempt by [CSU president] Lex Gill to appoint her own CEO,” said Shavit on Friday, referring to Holoubi.

Holoubi ran unsuccessfully for an independent seat on the CSU council in last year’s general election. Shavit had originally accused him of being part of the winning Your Concordia slate, of which Gill was leader, but Holoubi denied it in a statement to council, saying ”I wasn’t affiliated with any slate. I ran independently.” Gill has also denied the accusation.

Holoubi was appointed at a special council meeting on Nov. 2, the day after the JB invalidated Goldstein’s appointment.

Shavit filed his appeal to overturn the JB’s decision on Nov. 11, citing arguments which included criticism of the JB’s fast-track procedure and alleged hostility shown toward him by current JB chair Ceejay Desfosses.

Desfosses assumed her position following the resignation earlier this month of Cassie Smith, who cited a ”toxic environment” as a reason for her departure. Smith was criticized by Shavit for the way she handled the original hearing into Goldstein’s appointment. But it is Desfosses who especially concerns Shavit. He has accused her of being a corrupt official.

”I think that Ceejay was put on the JB by Lex Gill to move decisions in her favour, which is why I don’t have faith in the JB,” said Shavit.

Due to the accusations levelled against her, Desfosses recently emailed CSU council asking for suggestions to deal with Shavit’s appeal. At the council meeting held on Nov. 23, a special council meeting was suggested as one of the routes to take to deal with the JB/CEO matter.

In a statement sent to council and the media on Nov. 27, Desfosses said the JB would deal with Shavit’s appeal, but not with the accusations made by Shavit against her. No date for the appeal was given. The announcement of the special council meeting to discuss overturning the JB’s decision came on the same day as Desfosses’s email.

In an email sent to The Concordian on Nov. 26, Gill responded to Shavit’s accusations by saying they had no basis. With regards to Desfosses in particular, Gill wrote that ”the extent of my communication with Ceejay has basically been sitting near her in a political science class almost a year ago. I don’t think baseless, illogical, politically-motivated attacks are a reason for Ceejay, or anyone, to resign. I’m really disappointed with the way she’s been treated through this process.”

Shavit has accused Gill of being one of the main orchestrators behind the invalidation of Goldstein’s appointment.

”My first and foremost argument is that Lex is trying to make this whole thing seem as if council wanted Bram fired. She brought this to council and said that this was something that needed to be addressed. The idea of council versus Bram is disingenuous,” he said.

When Shavit brought up these same accusations at last Wednesday’s council meeting, councillor Michaela Manson responded that it was indeed council’s decision to refer Goldstein’s appointment to the JB, and not solely Gill’s.

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Student advocacy centre soldiers on in pursuit of more nuanced code of conduct

Over the past academic year, the CSU Student Advocacy Centre has embarked on a number of ambitious campaigns to promote student rights, and has already started to see results, according to a new report published this past week.

The third part of a five-phase campaign initiated by the advocacy centre which aims to reform aspects of the Concordia Academic Code of Conduct is underway, according to a report released on Nov. 23 which reviews the centre’s progress on several fronts in 2010-2011.

For one, the report outlines the steps taken towards advancing its academic fairness campaign, previously termed the intent clause project.

The third phase has revealed that universities are noting an uptick in plagiarism in universities, with international students accounting for a disproportionate percentage of the cases on campus. The report cites University of Toronto legal aid clinic lawyer Karen Bellinger, who noted that while international students make up 12 per cent of that university’s student body, they are involved in over 50 per cent of the academic misconduct cases brought before her.

The lack of a “no intent to deceive” clause in the university’s code of conduct can lead to students being severely sanctioned for honest errors, the report states. The centre also seeks to draw attention to the plight of international students, as punishment for academic offences can often result in disproportionate financial and academic costs.

Reasons given for the discrepancy include a variance in educational experiences from country to country, and cultural differences that account for different notions of what constitutes plagiarism.

The first phase involved examining the policies of other Canadian universities when it comes to academic offenses, while in the second phase the centre conducted a review of 406 random misconduct cases that were brought to them.

That second step, conducted as of August of this year, was conducted with the goal of determining the factors that increase a student’s risk of being charged with academic misconduct. As it was unable to do so conclusively, the centre therefore established a new system for managing data to measure those factors more effectively.

The centre found that nearly 60 per cent of academic misconduct cases involved plagiarism—234 out of 406 cases brought to the centre were related to the offence. Meanwhile, other charges such as cheating and having a cell phone during an examination accounted for 20 per cent and 13 per cent of the cases, respectively. Unauthorized collaboration accounted for eight per cent of the cases.

In the fourth phase, the centre will speak to faculty and administrators to gather input (slated to take place in November, according to the report). In the final stage, the centre will present its findings to Senate.

The centre was successful in asking the university to remove a student’s permanent code in the official transcript because of the private information such as the student’s date of birth and sex that could be accessed. That privacy rights campaign was embarked upon along with the support of student union president Lex Gill.

In the last school year, the centre also embarked upon a campaign to reach out to non-governmental organizations with the goal of potentially creating relationships and collaborations so that its clients may also benefit from these organizations’ services.

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The CSU byelection race is on

While the tell-tale signs of election time have yet to pop up on campus, the Concordia Student Union has just entered its final week of the byelections period.

Students will be able to choose between four candidates vying for three seats reserved for business students on the CSU council when polling stations open on Nov. 29, 30, and Dec.1, while only one candidate has applied for the two vacant independent seats.

Newly appointed chief electoral officer Ismail Holoubi was given the position on Nov. 2 following the controversial dismissal of former CEO Bram Goldstein. Holoubi has had less than a month to pick up where Goldstein left off.

“Time was the only challenge,” wrote Holoubi in an email. “I managed to get everything back on schedule.”

Museb Abu-Thuraia, Saradjen Bartley, Yassine Chaabi, and Eduardo Alves Dos Anjos are competing for three open council seats for the John Molson School of Business.

“John Molson is not very represented at the CSU,” said Chaabi, noting that JMSB councillors rarely showed up to council meetings. “That’s why I decided to get involved in this — to encourage JMSB students to get more involved with the CSU.”

Alves Dos Anjos agrees with Chaabi that students at the business school often feel detached from the rest of the university, writing in an email that as a CSU council member he “really wants to give JMSB students a stronger voice within the student administration at Concordia.”

“In my past years as a JMSB student, I noticed too many JMSB students did not feel that what was going on outside of their classrooms at Concordia to be relevant to them,” wrote Alves Dos Anjos.

While two seats are available for independent students, Omar Abdullahi is the only one in the running.

“I have worked with the CSU on several campaigns including ‘Project Haiti,’” Abdullahi wrote when asked he thinks people should vote for him. “I have been active on campus for the last 3 years, I have worked in the CSU Advocacy defending the rights of students.”

Also on the ballot are two referendum questions from fee levy groups asking for an increase in funding. Campus radio station CJLO and CUTV are both requesting to increase their individual fee levies to 34 cents per credit.

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Students to vote on new CSU bylaws

Students going to the polls at the end of this month will also be voting on whether or not to adopt an updated version of the Concordia Student Union’s bylaws.

The updated bylaws need to be ratified by students in order to take effect. According to CSU president Lex Gill, the new bylaws have gone through “hundreds of revisions” and every change has already been approved by council.

“The bylaws have been woefully out of date for a long time,” said Gill, explaining that the process of modifying the bylaws began during former CSU president Heather Lucas’ term, carrying on into Gill’s.

One of the major changes include the renaming and re-purposing of the student centre fund to the student space, accessible education & legal contingency fund.

This allows the CSU access only to the interest accrued in the fund in order to maintain the union’s general operations in the event of a long-term strike. Gill emphasized that this is a preemptive measure for the years ahead and stated that the current CSU mandate’s funds are in order.

The fee levy for the fund has also been lowered from $2 per credit to $1.50 per credit.

“From what we’ve heard from students so far, students aren’t so keen on a centralized building,” said Gill, describing the change of wording of the fund from “centre” to “space” as a preemptive broadening to remove limitations as to where student-run areas can be located.

A survey about student space is in the process of being designed by the CSU to be distributed at some point near the start of next semester.

Quorum, the minimum number of members required to make a special general meeting valid, has also been changed in the new version of the bylaws to 450 student members. Gill said that this was done in an effort to update the bylaws to accommodate an increased amount of undergraduate students represented by the CSU and to make it easier for anyone to call a special general meeting or assembly.

The bylaws require 2.5 per cent of the undergraduate student body to be present in order to make quorum. As it currently stands, the CSU represents over 30,000 undergraduate students. According to the old bylaws, they would need to gather around 750 students in order to reach quorum, a logistical problem that was witnessed first-hand last February when nearly 900 students packed onto the Reggie’s terrace for an SGM.

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Former councillor appeals JB decision to invalidate CEO’s appointment

Former Concordia Student Union councillor Tomer Shavit has filed an appeal with the judicial board after it ruled to invalidate the appointment of chief electoral officer Bram Goldstein.
In the 3,800 word, 16-page document, filed on the appeal deadline of Nov. 11, Shavit calls for the JB to reconsider their decision on the basis of 10 arguments. Shavit elaborated on the arguments in the first section of the appeal. He criticized JB chair Cassie Smith for her decision to use the ‘‘fast-track procedure’’ to handle the decision. He also pointed to what he sees as a lack of understanding of the appointments process and lack of impartiality at the hearing on Nov.1.
Shavit wrote that he felt JB member Ceejay Desfosses acted towards him in a hostile manner at the hearing. He also alleged that there was evidence submitted that was not available to him prior to the hearing.
At the hearing, Shavit represented last year’s CSU council, which was responsible for hiring Goldstein in May. The former councillor asked that the judicial board re-evaluate its decision and re-appoint Bram Goldstein. He also requested the board consider having a new hearing, stress impartiality to its members, and for Desfosses to recuse herself from further proceedings on this dossier.
The written JB report stated that “the resolution that appointed [Goldstein] was invalidated on the basis that the appointments process was not conducted properly.”
Meanwhile, Smith sent her letter of resignation to council on Thursday. Smith wrote that poor health and being behind in her schoolwork were factors in her decision to resign, adding that she was unwilling to ‘‘sacrifice [her] full commitment to the position.’’ She also noted her illness is ‘‘exacerbated by stress,’’ and that it was not worth it for her to remain involved in the process, which she called a ‘‘toxic environment.’’
Smith recommended Desfosses step in as chairperson.
In a special council meeting held the day after the hearing, council appointed Ismail Holoubi as the new CEO after reviewing 10 candidates in closed session.
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Students swap stories as well as clothes at CSU shop

Not a single item at the Concordia Student Union Swap Shop has a price tag on it, yet they each have a story that students can exchange.
Only a week has passed since the Swap Shop opened on the seventh floor of the Hall building and a wide array of items have already been donated by students. Items on display at the shop on Monday included plaid shirts, an “almost” prom dress and a hamster cage, according to project organizer and VP Loyola and services Melissa Fuller.
The shop, designed by recent communications graduate AJ Korkidakis in collaboration with VP clubs and space Gonzalo Nieto and councillor Michaela Manson, is a student-run, 24-hour space where students donate items or pass by and take whatever they like. Fuller explained the shop is “a sustainable practice in which items you would likely throw away despite being functional are given a second life with someone else.”
Though it may have a similar concept as a thrift store, the main purpose of the space is to “allow people to experience the value of objects beyond price tags,” Fuller said. The tagging system is unique—students won’t find prices attached to these clothes, appliances or gadgets. Instead, each tag is meant to determine the value the item had to the student. This is accomplished by having each person tag their item with a story or comment, allowing future owners to participate in a non-traditional shopping experience. Fuller invited students who aren’t looking to donate or acquire anything to walk by the items and read the stories anyway.
The Swap Shop is a sustainable approach that helps promote a strong community and culture among students “all while questioning disposable consumer culture,” Fuller said.
Swap Shop rules to follow include making sure all clothing is washed before donating and ensuring that items are fully functional.
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CSU appoints new CEO with byelections just weeks away

The Concordia Student Union has replaced its chief electoral officer after a unanimous decision by the judicial board nullified the hiring of CEO Bram Goldstein.

About 20 people packed into the CSU conference room to attend the judicial board hearing last Tuesday evening which saw heated exchanges between Goldstein and the JB.

“I think this whole thing’s a circus,” said Goldstein, who was repeatedly asked by JB chair Cassie Smith to “refrain from making accusations.” Goldstein criticized CSU president Lex Gill for being absent at the hearing and said that the JB was keeping him from “telling the truth.”

Frustration was also visible from the plaintiffs, student union vice-presidents Laura Glover and Morgan Pudwell, and from Tomer Shavit, who represented last year’s 2010-2011 CSU council, regarding the format of the hearing, which both parties questioned and argued about at length.

In an interview, Shavit described the hearing process as “peculiar” and said that Smith “did not seem to know what format she was using, and what procedures she was conducting the hearing with.” Shavit said that Goldstein’s dismissal might be grounds for unlawful termination and is appealing the JB’s ruling.

In response, Smith said in an interview that while there was “some mild confusion over the speaking order,” the issue was “ultimately determined by the board with input from all parties and that all of the parties involved […] consented to the format of the hearing at the time.”

The JB rules to nullify appointment

The JB sent out their final written decision regarding the case by the end of last week. The 16-page document explains that the JB dismissed the CSU’s complaint that the uncertain resignation of previous CEO Oliver Cohen was pertinent to the case. The document specified that the wording of the applicable standing regulation, which states that CEOs may resign through written notification, was “sufficiently vague as to leave it open to broad interpretation.”

Shavit’s accusations of unlawful termination were addressed in the report, which stated that Goldstein was not actually terminated, but rather “the resolution that appointed him […] was invalidated on the basis that the appointments process was not conducted properly.”

The final written decision also noted discrepancies with regard to the timeline, as the CSU filed this complaint nearly half a year after the questionable hiring took place in May. The JB asserted that nonetheless “any questions about why the Complaint was brought so late did not discharge the fact that several violations of the Standing Regulations occurred.”

Those wishing to appeal the JB decision have until Friday Nov. 11 to submit their documents to do so.

New CEO, new complaints

The board also mandated the CSU to re-open the hiring process for the position of CEO, and that Goldstein be automatically reconsidered for the job. A special council meeting was held the very next day on Nov. 2, and after reviewing 10 candidates in closed session, councillors elected Ismail Holoubi as their new CEO.

Shavit also plans to file a complaint with the JB regarding Holoubi’s appointment, which he said did not follow procedure.

“It’s ridiculous that one day after a CEO is fired because his appointment did not follow due process, a new CEO is hired without following due process,” Shavit said, citing a lack of an appointments committee meeting as a procedural violation.

Although CSU president Lex Gill confirmed that such a meeting never took place, she insists that all procedures were followed.

“The only reason you call an appointments committee meeting is to shortlist candidates,” said Gill, who further stated that this did not happen in this case because “every single person who applied for that job was presented directly to council.”

Previous CSU president Heather Lucas, who chaired last year’s appointments committee, called the JB’s verdict “frustrating and disappointing,” and continued to maintain that she “adhered to the rules.”

Goldstein was appointed as CEO last May by the 2010-2011 CSU council. This year’s CSU filed a complaint with JB at the end of October over uncertainties as to whether Goldstein’s hiring was done legitimately, worrying that his lack of validity coupled with his role in organizing the upcoming byelections could potentially call into question the election results themselves.

CUTV gets involved

CUTV had also filed a complaint with the JB requesting Goldstein’s dismissal. According to former CSU president Sabine Friesinger, speaking on behalf of CUTV, the TV station asked both Goldstein and the JB at a preliminary JB meeting last Thursday if they were aware that Goldstein had received a bonus of $1,500 as financial compensation for attending a judicial board hearing as a deputy elections officer after the general elections in March.

CUTV has uploaded a video of the question to their website and to YouTube.

“Obviously, Mr. Goldstein did not like our line of questioning at all and became rather defensive,” said Friesinger. “But I consider that this is the role of media, to keep our elected officials and officers of the student union honest.”

In their formal complaint, CUTV also expressed concern that Goldstein would treat both their and CJLO’s referenda questions on their fee levy increases “in a prejudicial matter” if he were to be CEO of the byelections, which are set to begin at the end of November.

Goldstein has been unavailable for comment since the JB announced their ruling.

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Testy emails exchanged over nullification of CEO’s appointment

Discontent over the judicial board’s decision to nullify chief electoral officer Bram Goldstein’s appointment spilled over into a back-and-forth email exchange on Sunday and Monday.
Tomer Shavit, a CSU councillor last year and defendant for last year’s council at the JB hearing that took place on Nov. 1, initially sent out an email whose subject line read “Regarding cancelling the council meeting” to express his disappointment over the potential cancellation of the council meeting set to take place on Nov. 9.
President Lex Gill had previously sent out an internal email to councillors to ask them whether they would have any concerns about cancelling Wednesday’s meeting. By Sunday evening, Gill had decided against cancelling the meeting and sent out notice of the meeting by email.
Shavit’s mass email garnered several replies, both positive and negative, from council members, as well as from Gill.
“The CSU Council, executive, board members and senators do not have publicly available email addresses so that you can send rude, abusive, or irrelevant commentary,” Gill wrote in reply.
Gill noted that other methods would be better suited to express his views. She added, “To whatever councillor continues to forward internal emails to outside actors, please note that a number of representatives have now expressed significant concern to me regarding this, and I recommend that you reflect on your duties and responsibilities as a director of this corporation.”
In an interview, Gill specified that she “[doesn’t] really have a problem with any member seeing those emails — no one really cares — the problem is that person is doing it anonymously, and if they were acting in good faith then they wouldn’t do it anonymously.”
Shavit explained in an email his reasoning behind using the mailing list as a means to express his discontent. “The use of the listserv started because Morgan [Pudwell, CSU VP advocacy and outreach] used it to send ‘confidential’ emails to council regarding the firing of the CEO,” Shavit wrote in an email to The Concordian.
When asked how he had knowledge of the contents of the emails, Shavit wrote, “I became privy to these emails because I have my sources.”

 

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Students vote to strike on Nov. 10

Students filled the Hall building auditorium, raising their hands to vote in favour of striking on Nov. 10.
Students filled the Hall building auditorium, raising their hands to vote in favour of striking on Nov. 10.

Graduate students and arts and science undergraduates voted in favour of an academic strike mandate for Nov. 10, the day of the province-wide protest against tuition hikes, at a special general meeting held last Thursday.
Out of the 570 students present at the SGM, six undergraduate and two graduate students voted against the mandate and one student abstained, according to ASFA’s records.
“This is our opportunity as Concordia students and as an English school in Montreal to show that we have a school spirit strong enough to stand together united with one message,” said Concordia Student Union VP external and projects Chad Walcott. “That message is ‘no’ to this tuition increase.”
ASFA VP external and sustainability Paul Jerajian called the meeting’s outcome “a major step for ASFA.”
The CSU organized the SGM along with ASFA and the Graduate Students’ Association.
There were no faculty or administrative representatives at the meeting and the strike mandate as it currently stands does not exclude the possibility of academic consequences for strikers. According to Jerajian, a motion which states the meeting’s result still needs to be approved by the faculty in order to have a clear academic amnesty. Walcott said that the CSU is sending the SGM result to the administration to inform them of the ASFA strike mandate. Meanwhile, Provost David Graham sent out a recommendation to faculties and departments to be lenient on Nov. 10 in matters of attendance and late assignments, Walcott said.
“A strike mandate from ASFA’s membership means that 18,000 students have democratically decided not to go to school and to support the action on Nov. 10,” said CSU president Lex Gill. “If the university tries to go against the motion and punish students for not going to class on that day they are putting themselves in a very bad position.”
ASFA and the GSA needed to meet quorum—a minimum of 371 undergraduate students and 60 graduate students, respectively—in order to obtain a legal vote. When quorum was met an hour after the meeting started, students voted to skip the information presentation on tuition hikes and to vote for a strike mandate straightaway. They also skipped the open microphone session in the process, a decision which left some students unable to voice their opinions.
“We are both against the mandate and we wanted to speak before the vote,” said Erik Scanlon, and Philip Ryan-Gyroux, two economics students. “They never actually opened the microphone for people who disagree with the mandate. This is unacceptable in a so-called democratic process.”
If the Nov. 10 protest does not meet the expected results, students could meet again to vote for an unlimited general strike, where students would strike continuously until demands are met or until students decide to stop striking. 

A march to join the 2 p.m. general rally at Place Émilie-Gamelin near Berri-UQAM metro station will leave the Reggie’s terrace at 1:10 p.m., and will pass by McGill University. The CSU is organizing a pre-gathering downtown from 11 a.m. onwards on the terrace. The student union has also arranged for buses to pick up students from the Loyola campus at 12:30 p.m. and bring them to Reggie’s to join the rest of the delegation

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Accessible education is dead; Long live accessible education

It seems that even the undead are opposed to tuition fee hikes in Quebec.
The Concordia Student Union and the Fédération des associations étudiantes du campus de l’Université de Montréal teamed up on Halloween for a double dose of protest in front of Premier Jean Charest’s Montreal office and home.
Covered in fake blood and wrapped up in toiler paper bandages, students taking part in the CSU-led march moaned and groaned their way along Ste-Catherine St., making their way from the Reggie’s terrace to Charest’s office on McGill College Avenue.
Carrying Jack-o’-lanterns, lit candles and plastic flowers, around 40 protesters led a funeral procession for “the death of accessible education.” Student Alex Matak led the “service” through a speaker system, encouraging passersby to “weep and cry and wail for education tonight.”
While mainly keeping to the sidewalk, protesters took a quick vote and decided to march on the road for one block on Ste-Catherine between Crescent St. and de la Montagne St. The procession then turned onto McGill College, ending at Charest’s office where the mention of his name incited wails of “Shame!” and “Murderer!” Matak then invited protesters to “close [their] eyes and bow [their] heads” in a moment of silence.
Several of the “mourners” were prompted to take the microphone and speak. “I wish I could eat their brains,” joked councillor Kyle McLoughlin when the zombie-protesters called out for the brains of Charest and his cabinet. “Maybe then I could get an education.”
The protesters left behind their lighted candles and pumpkins, which were snuffed out by security soon after, as well as a coffin with the words “See you in 10 days” painted on it in red.
Meanwhile, a similar demonstration organized by the FAÉCUM marched to Jean Charest’s house in Westmount to drop off a coffin representing the death of accessible education on his lawn. Around 120 students participated in the demonstration, according to FAÉCUM press attaché Alexandre Ducharme.
The protests were staged in a lead-up to a massive, inter-university demonstration scheduled for Nov. 10. That demonstration is part of the “$1,625 more won’t pass!” movement which kicked off at the the beginning of the semester. The movement is intended to voice students’ disagreement with the provincial government’s decision to up tuition for Quebec students by $325 per year over the next five years.
In preparation for Nov. 10, the Arts and Science Federation of Associations and the CSU have organized a special general meeting on Nov. 3 to ask students to approve a one-day strike mandate.
Since the SGM is the result of a motion passed by ASFA council at their October meeting,
if passed, the strike mandate will only officially affect ASFA students, according to CSU VP external Chad Walcott.
“I think it would send a very strong message that arts and science students are aware of and against student increases,” he said. “I think it will act as an incentive for students to be out on the Nov. 10 in the streets with us and the rest of the student movement.”
Lisa Raffy, a French international student studying political science at Concordia, said she supports the strike mandate. “In France, we strike all the time,” said Raffy, describing it as the most effective way to institute change.
In the event that the SGM does not meet quorum or that the students vote down the mandate, the student union has been working with university administration and faculty members to grant an informal academic amnesty day to students who do not show up for class on Nov. 10.

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CSU calls CEO into question

The Concordia Student Union council has filed an official complaint with the judicial board regarding the legitimacy of the process by which chief electoral officer Bram Goldstein was hired last May.
As a result of council’s motion passed at last Wednesday’s meeting, byelections have been pushed back by one week and will now be held from Nov. 29 to Dec. 1. A tentative hiring process has been reopened on the off chance that the JB’s decision leaves the CSU without a CEO just weeks before polling booths open.
“I feel like I was totally sandbagged,” said current CEO Bram Goldstein at the council meeting. He said he was only made aware that his position was being questioned after he was called into a separate meeting at 5 p.m. that same day. Goldstein’s requests to remain in the room during council’s deliberations were denied.
Councillors discussed the matter in closed session for well over an hour, occasionally leaving the room for cigarettes and bathroom breaks. The motion passed with opposition by three council members and an official complaint was sent to the JB via email by VP advocacy and outreach Morgan Pudwell the following day.
At their meeting on Friday morning, the board decided to change the format of their Nov. 1 meeting to a hearing, a decision which JB chair Cassie Smith said was made “to allow Mr. Goldstein an opportunity to speak, since one of the remedies requested in the complaint is his dismissal.” In the event that the board rules to fire Goldstein, bylaws require that the CEO be given an “opportunity to be heard” before being dismissed.
Addressing council immediately after the motion had passed, Goldstein expressed his frustrations with the fact that he is now required to reorganize the elections for the new date while his position as CEO remains uncertain.
“If you guys want to reopen the hiring process and hire someone else who’s going to put together a shoddy election in three weeks, good luck with that,” he said.
Student union president Lex Gill stressed in an interview that the CSU’s complaint lies not with Goldstein himself, but with the procedures by which the previous CSU council hired him.
“We know that there were seven applicants for the position and only three of them showed up for interviews,” said Gill, finding it “suspicious” that there were only records of two of those candidates getting emails asking them to come to council for interviews.
This, coupled with a lack of minutes or records of an appointments committee meeting, a mandatory part of the hiring process which never took place, and uncertainties as to whether or not former CEO Oliver Cohen had officially resigned at the time of Goldstein’s hiring, was why the council decided to bring the matter to the JB. Cohen could not be reached for comment by press time.
Gill explained that she and fellow executive Morgan Pudwell had received permission from council while in closed session at their last meeting to look further into the issue. She said they didn’t want people contesting the election results, as any suspicions regarding the validity of the CEO could result in the election being deemed invalid.
“If anybody at the CSU is going to get hired with integrity and with an accountable system and with a clear transparent process by which they were hired, you hope to God it’s the chief electoral officer,” said Gill.
Last year’s CSU council is also inextricably involved in the controversy. Former 2010-2011 CSU president Heather Lucas defended the decision to hire Goldstein in an email to the JB which heavily criticized Gill for, as she later explained in an interview, “disregarding the will of last year’s council’s decision to democratically appoint Bram.”
“It is saddening that Ms. Gill would stoop so low into petty politics,” Lucas wrote in her letter, referring to the council’s decision to bring the issue to the JB as “part of a strategic agenda that is being pushed to unjustly fire Mr. Goldstein on alleged technicalities.”
The letter itself was accompanied by two screenshots of emails exchanged between Lucas and the appointments committee, in which she decides to bypass holding a meeting due to a lack of availability from committee members and instead asks each person to suggest their top three candidates for the CEO position via email.
Gill, as a member of the previous CSU council, voted against hiring Goldstein as CEO along with fellow councillor Melanie Hotchkiss. According to Gill, both were unimpressed with the three candidates that were ultimately interviewed by council, and felt that the entire process was being rushed. She says that Lucas’ email serves as further proof that hiring procedures were not followed.
“She admits that an appointments committee meeting never took place, which is exactly the issue that was brought up in our contestation,” said Gill, also stating that Lucas “irresponsibly” violated the confidentiality of closed session by disclosing in her email that Gill voted against Goldstein.
“I think what Heather’s trying to do is turn this into some political issue, when really what it is is procedural,” Gill said in response to Lucas’ allegations. “It’s really easy to paint a conspiracy when the fact is it’s her own negligence, if anything, that’s created this problem.”
Former CSU councillor Tomer Shavit will act as defense for the CSU council of 2010-2011 at tonight’s hearing.
JB member Nadim Kobeissi has requested not to be involved in the proceedings as he was one of the seven candidates who had applied for the position of CEO in May.

The JB hearing takes place on Nov. 1 at 6 p.m. in the CSU conference room.

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