Tag: finance coordinator

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Concordia Student Union News

CSU finance coordinator resigns

CSU finance coordinator Soulaymane El Alaoui resigned on Nov. 22 citing personal reasons. Photo by Kirubel Mehari

Soulaymane El Alaoui is cited personal reasons; fourth finance coordinator to resign in last three years

The Concordia Student Union (CSU) finance coordinator made his way to the ninth floor of the John Molson School of Business on Nov. 22, asked for the attention of the students on council and then read a message aloud:

“My resignation is effective immediately. It was a pleasure to work alongside you all, and I will be available once my replacement is chosen to help him transition into the role. Thank you for your support. Best regards, Soulaymane El Alaoui.”

He then walked out of the room. El Alaoui cited personal reasons as the cause of his resignation. El Alaoui told The Concordian he made the decision “a couple days ago.” Internal affairs coordinator Veronika Rydzewski has been named interim finance coordinator.

El Alaoui was elected as the finance coordinator in March. He is the fourth CSU finance coordinator to leave the position in the last two years. In March 2016, Anas Bouslikhane resigned from the position before finishing his mandate. His replacement, Adrian Longinotti, was asked to resign by the CSU after the executive body deemed him unfit to act as a representative of the student union.

In November 2016, Longinotti was replaced by Thomas David-Bashore, who was the finance coordinator from December 2016 until the following CSU election in March, when El Alaoui was elected.

Rydzewski said El Alaoui did not warn the CSU’s executive team that he would be resigning.

Rydzewski, who as the internal affairs coordinator is responsible for supporting clubs, often communicated with El Alaoui regarding club budgets.

“A large portion of the cheques that the CSU processes weekly are from CSU clubs,” she explained. “My role as interim finance coordinator will be to make sure that cheques are processed in a timely manner.”

According to Rydzewski, there will be a general call out for students to apply for the finance coordinator position. Councillors will also be able to apply. The CSU’s appointments committee will then “collect the applications and only filter out applications that do not meet the most basic requirement, i.e. be a registered Concordia undergraduate student,” Rydzewski wrote in an email to The Concordian.

The appointments committees will forward all the remaining applications to the CSU council for further deliberation, she added.

Apology letter rejected

A letter of apology written by CSU general coordinator Omar Riaz and submitted to council was rejected by an eight-to-five vote, with one abstention, during the council meeting.

The request for the letter, as well as the repayment of two plane tickets, were sanctions decided by the council on Sept. 20, after learning that Riaz and El Alaoui accepted plane tickets from Alliance pour la Santé Étudiante au Québec (ASEQ) CEO Lev Bukhman.

Riaz and El Alaoui used the tickets to fly to Vancouver in August for the Student Union Development Summit (SUDS).

John Molson School of Business councillor Rory James described the letter as “frankly quite insulting to council.”

“There’s no contrition, there’s no apology, no acceptance of what actions were wrong,” James said.

In his letter, Riaz wrote: “I did not deem this sponsorship as a personal gratuity or intend to benefit from it. Instead, I considered it as a cost-saving measure for the CSU.”

The first draft of the letter had to be submitted on Nov. 22, to be reviewed before being submitted to the student body. Due to the rejection, Riaz must resubmit a revised version of the apology letter.

Photo by Kirubel Mehari

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Concordia Student Union News

CSU elects new finance coordinator

Thomas David-Bashore is the CSU's new finance coordinator. Photo by Nelly Serandour-Amar.

Thomas David-Bashore will be the new finance coordinator as of Dec. 1

The Concordia Student Union (CSU) appointed a new finance coordinator during their special council meeting on Nov. 30.

After deliberating between three candidates, Thomas David-Bashore was elected to take on the role.

Bashore, a second year student in political science with a double major in history, has been involved with other student associations, including the Arts and Science Federation of Associations (ASFA). “I think I gained the experience to be a valuable asset to the CSU,” Bashore said.

He said that his first objective will be to make sure all the executives have the financial resources necessary to accomplish their goals. “I also think that financial transparency to council and to students is very important, which I will work on,” he said.   

Lucinda Marshall-Kiparissis, CSU’s general coordinator, was confident in the council’s decision. “All three candidates were very strong, and I’m looking forward to see what Thomas bring to the finance coordinator role,” she said. Omar Riaz and Ahmed Bader were also running for the position.

Dec. 1 will be Bashore’s first official day as finance coordinator. “I hope the students and the executives will be happy about my performance,” Bashore said.

Former finance coordinator, Adrian Longinotti, resigned on Nov. 21, after sending out a letter announcing his departure. Longinotti was asked to resign by CSU councilors due to his problematic behaviour surrounding queerphobia, misogyny and other oppressive politics.

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Concordia Student Union News

CSU on the lookout for a new finance coordinator

: CSU councillors met for their monthly meeting on Nov. 23. Photo by Ana Hernandez

Councillors discuss future finance councillors and Sanctuary Campus

The Concordia Student Union (CSU) discussed the resignation of their finance coordinator at a meeting on Nov. 23 in the Hall building of the university’s downtown campus.

Due to the recent resignation of the CSU’s finance coordinator, Adrian Longinotti, the student council is currently looking for a replacement. Lucy Marshall-Kiparissis, the CSU’s general coordinator, told The Concordian that the council will be holding a special meeting on Nov. 30 to meet with potential candidates. “We are looking for someone who has a passion for the task and is comfortable with making big decisions,” she said. “This person must be ready to put a lot of time and effort in the work.”

Longinotti’s resignation was made official on Nov. 21 after the CSU’s executive body announced he was unfit to act as a representative of the union. Lana Elinor Galbraith, the CSU’s sustainability coordinator, told The Concordian he had instigated a lot of issues surrounding queerphobia, misogyny and other oppressive politics.

For legal reasons, the CSU meeting went into closed session to speak about Longeniotti’s situation.

It was also announced at the meeting that the CSU will publicly support Sanctuary Campus, which is an initiative that was implemented in the United States following the elections. According to Marshall-Kiparissis, it involves an institution guaranteeing a degree of safety and protection for students or immigrants who are undocumented. An undocumented individual refers to either a person with expired paperwork, in deportation proceedings or who entered a country illegally.

“We want to publicly show solidarity with the vulnerable members of the society,” said Marshall-Kiparissis.

She also mentioned that, a few days ago, an agent from the Canadian Border Service Agency (CBSA) was seen on Concordia’s premises. “To see this agent coming to Concordia around that time is a concern to us that they might be getting information about some members of the university,” she said. Marshall-Kiparissis said seeing a CBSA agent on campus is worrisome, as U.S. president-elect Donald Trump promised to deport millions of undocumented immigrants and end the Obama administration’s program, which let some students without the necessary papers into the U.S. to study temporarily.

According to Marshall-Kiparissis, the CSU openly supports the right for people to move freely, unrestricted by borders. They also announced they will be endorsing and supporting the demands of Solidarity Across Borders, a migrant justice network based in Montreal. Their demands include that the CBSA not have the right to access or make arrests in hospitals, shelters, schools or any other spaces that provide essential services.

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Concordia Student Union News

CSU finance coordinator resigns

Longinotti (centre) gave his letter of resignation on Monday. Photo by Ana Hernandez

Executive body cites problematic behaviour, asks him to step down

The Concordia Student Union (CSU) announced the resignation of their finance coordinator, Adrian Longinotti, after the executive body asked for his resignation.

In their announcement, the executive body said they believe Longinotti is unfit to act as a representative of the union and they cannot associate themselves nor maintain a working relationship with him.

An hour after the CSU sent out the letter announcing Longinotti’s resignation, his official letter of resignation was sent to The Concordian.

The CSU’s sustainability coordinator, Lana Elinor Galbraith, spoke with The Concordian about Longinotti before the CSU released their statement. “The rest of the executives see it more as a pattern of problematic behaviour,” said Galbraith. “The way he dealt with things, but also he has instigated a lot of issues surrounding queerphobia, misogyny and other pretty oppressive politics.”

“It creates a toxic atmosphere when one of the people who is supposed to be a leader is the one being the most problematic in the bunch,” said Galbraith. “One, because they’re supposed to set an example. Two, because it’s their job to leave that toxicity out.”

Longinotti was also acting as president of the board members for the Reggies Co-op and the CSU urged him to resign from this position as well, which he did. “Reggies is a pretty sensitive area when it comes to safer space,” said Galbraith. “I don’t think that was something he believed or felt that was important.” According to Galbraith, Longinotti would prioritize his self-interest and allowed his friends into Reggies despite them being banned from CSU events and spaces due to behavioural issues.

The Concordian tried to contact Longinotti several times for comment, but he did not respond before publication.

Galbraith said the council will be taking on his responsibilities for the next couple of weeks. “I will be the CSU representative on the board of Reggies and will be taking care of some things with the health and dental plan,” she said. Rachel Gauthier, the CSU’s student life coordinator, will also be helping out with more book-keeping tasks. “Hopefully, we’ll have someone appointed in a few weeks,” she said

Galbraith said the issue will be further discussed at the next CSU council meeting which will take place on Nov. 23 at 6:30 p.m., in room H-763 at the downtown campus.

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