How extraordinarily pathetic....

I have had a somewhat... lurid fascination... with that peculiar organisation known as the Concordia Students' Union. Its executives, councillors, and bureaucrats have varied from time to time, and the the ideology of the current group differs quite strongly from the radicals that generated a great deal of controversy in 2001/2002. Accordingly, the current CSU controversy is purely internal, involving a ten month long dispute over whether two individuals (Steven Rosenshein [a former CSU executive] and David Korgut) who ran in last year's general election were eligible to do so.

But since then, things have gone seriously downhill. A meeting held to deal with the issue raised far more questions than it answered. An opinion piece sums up just some of the craziness that has afflicted the CSU:

Last March, the student union Judicial Board (a body that is supposed to be the check on council’s authority) found two students, Steven Rosenshein and David Kogut, guilty of committing electoral fraud in the CSU general elections. The decision was allegedly overturned by the outgoing council in a special meeting.

However, the minutes of this special meeting have never been provided (Noah Stewart, spokesperson for the CSU, claims they’ve been stolen) and two of last years’ councillors have signed affidavits stating they were never informed of this meeting to overturn the decision.

....

The council-appointed chair of this circus, Sarah Rodier, took The Link by surprise when she admitted in the paper one day prior to the November council meeting that she did, in fact, see a copy of the minutes of the special meeting where the JB decision was overturned—but “didn’t recall” when she saw them or who showed them to her. Astonishingly, in front of the entire council and observers, she recanted, saying that she “didn’t recall” ever saying she saw a copy of the minutes. Is this enough information to call Rodier a liar? You decide.

Adding to the gong-show, Rodier didn’t see it as a conflict of interest to allow Rosenshein to vote on the motion directly involving him. Kogut was not present—he can be removed from council just by the number of meetings he’s missed.

....

The Judicial Board’s office—along with all the files and documents—were moved this summer without the knowledge of the JB members....

Then suddenly the missing minutes allegedly turned up... and CSU Council then promptly adopted a motion banning further discussion on the whole entire issue.

The Concordian summed up the whole issue with a recent editorial: Is there yet hope for CSU accountability?

Here are a few conclusions that I can draw from this:

1. Support the freedom of the press! The links that I have in this blog entry are just a smidgen of the many news articles, letters to the editor, and editorials that one can find on this subject in The Link and The Concordian.
2. Bring your students' unions out of the shadows. By this, I am referring specifically to the shady meeting that allegedly had inadequate notice, and whose minutes were allegedly lost for many months only to surface much later.... This sort of dysfunctionality can (and often is) used quite deliberately to cover up power-grabs of various sorts.
   
3. If things are getting really bad, then call up a lawyer. Here, it seems as though both sides are simply throwing around allegations and home-made interpretations of the CSU bylaws. This doesn't lead to any kind of resolution of the issue, it simply leads to further bickering down the road....