Concordia Student Union

The Concordia Student Union (usually referred to as the CSU) is the organization representing undergraduate students at Concordia University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Its membership totals around 30 people and is elected by students, in recent elections only 4,671 (15.3%) of 30,444 electors voted in the election.[1]

Concordia Student Union
AbbreviationCSU
Formation1979
TypeStudent Union
Legal statusAccredited Association, Not-for-Profit
PurposeStudent Representation
Headquarters1455, boulevard de Maisonneuve Ouest
Suite H-711
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Region served
Concordia University
Membership
35,000+ Concordia undergraduates
Official language
English
Affiliationsnone
Budget
4.5 million CAD$
Staff
50
Volunteers
100+
Websitewww.csu.qc.ca

History

Origin

The CSU was founded in 1979 from the merger of the Sir George Williams Day Students' Association (DSA), the SGW Part-Time Students' Association (PTSA), the Loyola Evening Students' Association Inc. (LESA) and the Loyola Students' Association Inc. (LSA).

The impetus for the merger was the previous merger of Sir George William University with Loyola College, which had taken place at the initiative of the Quebec Government in 1974, that had resulted in the creation of Concordia University.

The CSU was originally named the Concordia University Students' Association (CUSA). It was incorporated in 1982 as the Concordia University Students' Association Inc. The name was changed to Concordia Student Union Inc. in 1994 and the "Inc." was dropped from the name in 2002.[2]

Strike of 1999

As the 1990s progressed, student activism began growing, coming to a head in 1999 with the election of the first in a series of radical slates to the Concordia Student Union. Under the presidency of Rob Green, a referendum regarding of another strike garnered 2,284 votes of support. This was an unusually strong show of support, as student governments at Concordia are often elected on the basis of less than 1000 votes in their favor. The strike lasted from November 3 to 5th and targeted a range of issues, including student representation in the university senate, corporate presence and advertising on campus, and government became evident. There were several demonstrations in which both protesters and police were reported to be injured.

Accreditation

In 2001, CSU undertook an accreditation drive, to legally represent all undergraduate students at Concordia, and was successful in its endeavour, though heavily opposed by the accredited faculty undergraduate student associations for Engineering and Commerce.[3]

In Quebec, the Act respecting the accreditation and financing of students' associations provides for the accreditation of student governments by way of referendum, which requires the educational institution to recognize the association as representative of the students and to collect the membership fee from all students. The Act allows for separate accreditations at different levels in an educational establishment (e.g. departments, faculties or institution wide).[4]

At Concordia University, the CSU is the university-wide association for undergraduate students. There are both accredited and un-accredited faculty associations on campus.

Orientation

The CSU has hosted many popular musicians at the Orientation (Frosh) at the beginning of each year, including the Violent Femmes, Wyclef Jean, Snoop Dogg, The Wailers, K-OS, Matthew Good, Metric, Finger Eleven, Kardinal Offishall and K'Naan.

Speaker Series

The CSU has also brought many prominent figures on campus to speak to students on various issues, including Nobel Peace Prize winnersElie Wiesel Wangari Maathai and Shirin Ebadi, political figure and activist Al Sharpton, David Suzuki, director and actor Spike Lee, 2008 U.S. Presidential candidate Ralph Nadar, Liberal politicians Justin Trudeau and Michael Ignatieff.

Netanyahu protest

On September 9, 2002, a scheduled visit from the then former (and now current) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was cancelled after Montreal Police and pro-Palestinian protestors clashed inside the Henry F. Hall Building.[5] Five demonstrators were arrested,[6] and an additional 12 faced internal disciplinary hearings under the University's Code of Rights and Responsibilities[7]

The university instituted additional measures to avert future incidents, including the banning of any events related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, as well as enabling the use of new student disciplinary rules in case of emergency.

Governance

Council

The CSU is governed by its Council of Representatives (its board of directors).[8] Voting members of the Council are elected annually by the undergraduate students of Concordia University, with seats reserved for representatives of the four faculties at Concordia University and for representatives of independent students.[9]

Each year the total number of seats is set by Council and the distribution is adjusted to match enrollment.[10] There are currently 27 seats for voting members of Council: Fourteen (14) from the Faculty of Arts & Science, six (6) from the John Molson School of Business, five (5) from the Gina Cody School of Engineering and Computer Science, three (3) for the Faculty of Fine Arts and two (2) for Independent students.

The Council elects its non-voting Chair and secretary from the members of the CSU.[11] The members of the Executive are ex officio members and can present and move resolutions and speak, but cannot vote.[12]

Executive

The CSU is managed on a day-to-day basis by elected executives.

CSU Executive 2016/17 [13]
  • General Coordinator Lucinda Marshall-Kiparissis
  • Finance Coordinator Adrian Longinotti (until November 21, 2017), Rachel Gauthier (interim), Thomas David-Bashore (as of December 1, 2016)[14]
  • External and Mobilization Coordinator Aloyse Muller
  • Sustainability Coordinator Lana Elinor Galbraith
  • Academic & Advocacy Coordinator Sophia Sahrane
  • Loyola Coordinator Marcus Peters
  • Internal Affairs Coordinator Rami Yahia
  • Student Life Coordinator Rachel Gauthier

CSU Executive 2017/18 [15]
  • General Coordinator Omar Riaz
  • Finance Coordinator Soulaymane Al Alaoui (until November 22, 2017) [16], Veronika Rydzewski (interim), Kamden Biggart (as of December 13, 2017)[17]
  • External and Mobilization Coordinator Ahmed Badr
  • Sustainability Coordinator Devon Ellis-Durity
  • Academic & Advocacy Coordinator Asma Mushtaq
  • Loyola Coordinator Maria Gabriela Polanco
  • Internal Affairs Coordinator Veronika Rydzewski
  • Student Life Coordinator Leyla Sutherland

CSU Executive 2018/19 [18]
  • General Coordinator Sophie Hough-Martin
  • Finance Coordinator John Hutton
  • External and Mobilization Coordinator Camille Thompson-Marchand
  • Sustainability Coordinator Akira De Carlos
  • Academic & Advocacy Coordinator Mikaela Clark-Gardner
  • Loyola Coordinator Alexis Searcy
  • Internal Affairs Coordinator Princess Somefun (until March 29, 2019) [19], John Hutton (acting until May 30, 2019)
  • Student Life Coordinator Michéle Sandiford

CSU Executive 2019/20 [20]
  • General Coordinator Christopher Kalafatidis
  • Finance Coordinator Désirée Blizzard
  • External and Mobilization Coordinator Isaiah Joyner
  • Sustainability Coordinator Selena Mezher
  • Academic & Advocacy Coordinator Patrick Quinn
  • Loyola Coordinator Melize Ferrus
  • Internal Affairs Coordinator Marin Algattus
  • Student Life Coordinator Eduardo Malorni

CSU Executive 2020/21 [21]
  • General Coordinator Isaiah Joyner
  • Finance Coordinator Holly Mark-Hilton
  • External and Mobilization Coordinator Victoria Pesce
  • Sustainability Coordinator Manuela Simo
  • Academic & Advocacy Coordinator Sarah Mazhero
  • Loyola Coordinator Malcolm Asselin
  • Internal Affairs Coordinator Daniel Amico
  • Student Life Coordinator Eduardo Malorni

Judicial Board

The Judicial Board is appointed by the Council to act as a domestic tribunal to resolve internal disputes. The current composition of the board is at 9 members appointed by the CSU Council of Representatives and has a Chairperson which is appointed internally. It can be overruled if Council overrules the decision by a four-fifth majority, and only if the board's decision was racist, sexist, homophobic, exhibiting a conflict of interest, or manifestly unreasonable.[22]

References
  1. "Elections – Concordia Student Union".
  2. Quebec Public Registry "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2004-06-05. Retrieved 2008-06-17.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) NEQ Reference Number 1141094392
  3. Concordia's Thursday Report
  4. An Act respecting the accreditation and financing of students' associations, R.S.Q., chapter A-3.01
  5. Canadian Press (January 15, 2003). "Concordia U. regrets anti-Netanyahu riot". CTV.ca. Retrieved 2008-05-16.
  6. Canada protests stop Netanyahu speech. 10 September 2002. BBC World News.
  7. Concordia University Press Release. 31 October 2002.
  8. Section 6.1 of its General By-Laws : http://www.csu.qc.ca/index.php?module=Downloads&func=view&cid=6&start=0
  9. Section 6.2.1 and 6.2.2 of its General By-Laws : http://www.csu.qc.ca/index.php?module=Downloads&func=view&cid=6&start=0
  10. Section 6.2.2 of its General By-Laws : http://www.csu.qc.ca/index.php?module=Downloads&func=view&cid=6&start=0
  11. Section 6.4.1 of its General By-Laws : http://www.csu.qc.ca/index.php?module=Downloads&func=view&cid=6&start=0
  12. Section 6.2.3 of its General By-Laws : http://www.csu.qc.ca/index.php?module=Downloads&func=view&cid=6&start=0
  13. "Concordia Student Union".
  14. "CSU Appoints New Finance Coordinator | News".
  15. "UPDATED: Official Results: Concordia Student Union elections". 31 March 2017.
  16. "CSU finance coordinator resigns". 28 November 2017.
  17. "CSU General Coordinator Accused of Misusing Union Credit Card | News".
  18. https://www.csu.qc.ca/about-us/executive-team/%5B%5D
  19. "CSU Internal Coordinator Resigns Amid 'Toxic' Work Environment | News".
  20. "Executive Team – Concordia Student Union".
  21. "Executive Team – Concordia Student Union".
  22. Section 9 of its General By-Laws : http://www.csu.qc.ca/index.php?module=Downloads&func=view&cid=6&start=0
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