ENCS Council Candidate Kyle Arseneau Disqualified From CSU Elections

Facebook Post Leads to CSU Election Regulations Violation

NewsJayde Norström — Published March 27, 2014

The disqualification stems from a post Arseneau made in the Facebook group “2k15 Concordia EngGames – La Course JDG Concordia 2k15,” on Tuesday night.

The post, which read “Hey u baggots, CSU eRections. Go vote. K thx. (Ps dont vote for _____),” was discovered by the Chief Electoral Officer, Andre-Marcel Baril, as he checked the social media profiles of candidates to ensure they were not campaigning during the election. The CEO ruled the post a violation of a number of regulations including campaigning after the campaign period’s end and “breaching generally accepted community standards.”

Another violated regulation cited included the “General sabotage of the campaigns of other candidates.” The CEO explained that the use of the underscores to imply a team name was enough to warrant a violation, citing an incident two years ago when Team Action had written “Lights, Camera, ____” on chalkboards during the election period in an attempt to bypass the rules against campaigning. Baril said candidates had specifically been made aware of this case so that it would not be repeated.

A statement made by Baril, in conjunction with Deputy Elections Officers and the Chair of the Judicial Board, said that allowing Arseneau to continue in the elections would “set a terrible precedent and statement that our student union condones this type of language and behaviour, and that people who use it in public contexts are still welcome to represent our members.”

Arseneau’s appeal to the decision will be heard on Monday at 5 p.m. in room H-711. The Judicial Board is asking that anyone who might have relevant information to the case that should be heard at the meeting register as an interested party or submit a written testimony by emailing the Board at judicialboard@csu.qc.ca by 6 p.m. on Sunday.