Second Attempt to Restructure ASFA Fails

Federation Unable to Change Its Bylaws, New Executive Team Elected

NewsJosh Fischlin — Published April 11, 2016

ASFA’s second attempt at changing its bylaws was shot down during the federation’s latest general election, which ran from April 6 to April 8.

The question to amend its bylaws and annexes garnered lost by 12 votes, as 210 students voted “yes,” while 222 voted “no.”

During ASFA’s March 16 to March 18 referendum, a question pushing to restructure the federation lost by 52 votes.

The questions went back to ballot following allegations of procedural errors made by the former CEO, Sam Clement-Coulson.

If passed, the bylaw changes would have cut down the number of executives from seven to three, eliminating Social Coordinator, which would have effectively slashed events like Frosh and the Grad Ball from ASFA’s mandate. It also would have caused executives to gain power through an appointment process, and was meant to give member associations more autonomy. The spirit of the restructuring was to change ASFA from a “big association” to a “funding body” for MAs.

Katie Nelson, philosophy councillor at ASFA and an outspoken voice in favour of the question, does not believe it had trouble gaining support. She cited the latest results as an indication of the support on both sides of the debate.

“I believe that due to ASFA’s poor organization around the elections, students simply weren’t as informed as they could be,” she said.

Nelson does not anticipate that any more change will “come within the federation itself.”

“It is unfortunate that despite efforts from ASFA’s members, an exodus of associations is what it takes for students to be satisfied in their representation,” she said, referring to the The Coalition of Autonomous Student Associations of Concordia University (CASACU), which has been founded by ASFA member associations seeking independence.

Lizzy Duong, who was not in favour of the bylaw changes, hopes the incoming executive team will learn from the federation’s mistakes.

“[They should] take their time to think and consult others, and train electoral staff prior to spending $5,000 on a referendum only to resubmit the questions,” she said.

According to Nelson, it is still important to “actively work to evolve and change the federation.”

“I have strong doubts that students who pay into the federation believe a Grad Ball that excludes them, or a Frosh event that which does not incite them is the best way to garner that professional representation,” she said.

Quorum for the election is 2.5 per cent of the federation’s approximate 15,000 members, as 540 students voted.

Here are the full election results.

Referendum Questions

Restructuring the Federation

Do you, as a member of ASFA, approve of the proposed amendments to ASFA’s By-Laws and Annexes? — NOT PASSED

• Yes: 210

• No: 222

• Abstain: 101

Fee-Levy Increase

Do you as a member of the ASFA approve of the ASFA increasing all its fees (currently totalling $1.22/credit) to a new total of $1.36/credit effective Fall 2016? — NOT PASSED

• Yes: 217

• No: 243

• Abstain: 67

Independent Fee-Levy

Do you agree that Article 25 of the ASFA By-Laws (No Independent Fee) shall be struck from the ASFA by-laws? — PASSED

• Yes: 214

• No: 157

• Abstain: 165

Do you as a member of the ASFA approve of levying a fee of $0.10/credit for the Hive Café Cooperative for the sole purpose of running the Hive Free Lunch Program effective Fall 2016? — PASSED

• Yes: 341

• No: 142

• Abstain: 54

Executive

President: Andrea Kraznai (elected)

• Yes: 318

• No: 69

• Abstain: 145

VP of Social Affairs: Marc Da Silva (elected)

• Yes: 335

• No: 68

• Abstain: 130

Vp of External Affairs and Sustainability: Agunik Mamikonyan (elected)

• Yes: 314

• No: 65

• Abstain: 158

VP of Loyola and Academic affairs: Rachel Rammal (elected)

• Yes: 299

• No: 71

• Abstain: 164

Vp of Internal Affairs: Julia Sutera (elected)

• Yes: 299

• No: 102

• Abstain: 135

Vp of Finance

• Christina Massaro: 218 (elected)

• Rachael Hutchinson: 129

• Abstain: 185

Vp of Communications and Promotions

• Megha Sandhu: 88 (elected)

• Maria Salouros: 70

• Mario Seddik: 63

• David Ness: 63

• Mallory Vigier: 25

• Luslie Henry: 11

• Abstain: 213

Independent Councillors:

Alisa Knezevic (elected)

• Yes: 164

• No: 77

• Abstain: 297

Bianca Bruzzese (elected)

• Yes: 195

• No: 71

• Abstain: 269

Camille Williams (elected)

• Yes: 170

• No: 72

• Abstain: 293

Farah Abdel-Hamid (elected)

• Yes: 180

• No: 82

• Abstain: 278

Laura Bustamante

• Yes: 160

• No: 59

• Abstain: 312

Mark Ausilio

• Yes: 151

• No: 76

• Abstain: 311

Malica Fils-Aimé

• Yes: 123

• No: 81

• Abstain: 330

Thomas David-Bashore (elected)

• Yes: 169

• No: 73

• Abstain: 294

Sakina Bano Mendha

• Yes: 127

• No: 88

• Abstain: 323