CSU council approves $10,000 in funding for Iranian students
Council held its first fully in-person council meeting since COVID-19
The Concordia Student Union (CSU) passed a motion to approve thousands in funding for Iranian students on Jan. 28, before spending most of their first in-person meeting since the pandemic debating bylaws, ratification and an executive committee report.
The monthly regular council meeting (RCM) was held only in person after the temporary chair informed the CSU team that there was no bylaw that allowed them to hold meetings virtually—a first since meetings moved online during COVID-19.
Only 18 of the 29 councillors were present.
Financial assistance for Iranian students
After over an hour spent approving and adding items to the agenda, the first motion was presented to the council. The motion concerned the approval of the Iran Solidarity Fund.
The fund, which is in collaboration with the CSU external committee, aims to provide $500 to 20 Iranian international students at Concordia (a total of $10,000) who might be facing financial barriers due to restrictions on international banking, currency sanctions and limited access to external financial support, according to the presented motion.
After a short debate period, the motion was approved unanimously.
Sustainability committee appointments
Next on the agenda was the appointment of one councillor to the sustainability committee. Norah Finlay, Maria Chitoroaga and Liora Hechel nominated themselves. The vote was conducted through a secret ballot, and Chitoroaga was appointed to the seat.
Internal debate over by-election ratification
From the start of the meeting until its end, a number of councillors brought up the ratification of CSU by-election results from the Fall 2025 semester, when John Molson School of Business (JMSB) councillor-elect Michael Eshayek ran unopposed in the by-election.
At the Nov. 26, 2025, RCM, councillors decided the seat could not be ratified until the current JMSB representative’s term officially ends.
During the debate, Leo Litke, CSU’s internal affairs coordinator, said the union was still unsure if the seat was currently vacant.
Following over 45 minutes of debate on the topic, six councillors voted for, and 11 councillors voted against the ratification of Eshayek’s seat, meaning the seat remains unratified.
Library access and overpolicing
Councillor Lina Elbakaye presented a motion that would mandate that only Concordia students be able to access the Concordia library during finals season.
Several councillors and executives had concerns that the motion would enforce further policing by Campus Safety and Prevention Services (CSPS) on campus. Councillors also questioned how this policy would be implemented on the university level.
“I support the ethos of this [motion]. I just think, having seen the way that austerity at Concordia is being implemented, losing shuttle bus hours, the library is closing earlier, I think that passing a motion that gives overtime to CSPS agenda […] is not the best way to present this,” said Danna Ballantyne, CSU external and mobilization coordinator.
After close to 15 minutes of debate, Councillor Elbakaye rescinded the motion.
Questioning rejection of JMSB group application
The external committee report was next on the agenda. It was removed from the consent agenda at the start of the RCM for further discussion by council following a motion by JMSB councillor Hechel.
Hechel had a number of questions for Ballantyne on the report, most related to the reasoning behind the rejection of a JMSB group application.
The John Molson Accounting Society (JMAS) applied for $2,000 in funding through the external committee.
According to the Jan. 20 committee meeting’s minutes, the application was rejected due to a lack of “connection to the mandate of the external fund,” which Ballantyne explained at the RCM.
Hechel then claimed that the union was anti-capitalist and that it consistently rejected business clubs.
“If the CSU continues to reject JMSB clubs, would the JMSB students be able to pay CSU fees at a discount otherwise?” Hechel said.
Ballantyne clarified that the external committee has granted funding for JMAS in the past.
During the debate period, Litke also denied that the CSU doesn’t support business clubs.
Post-debate, council approved the external committee minutes with 11 votes in favour.
Accusations of political repression
Concordia’s Revolutionary Communist Party (RCP) was present at the union meeting and advocated to add themselves on the agenda. Council granted them three minutes of speaking time, while amendments to the agenda were discussed.
One of the RCP’s representatives accused the union of political repression and alleged that the union had barred them from booking classrooms, which they documented in an Instagram video from December 2025.
The representative further alleged that the reason given by the union for denying the RCP’s budget was not substantial.
“There was nothing we could actually address, there was no mention of our expenses, of our events, of our behaviour,” the representative said.
The RCP also claimed that council’s decision to reject the group’s budget was based on decade-old news articles and information and that communication with the union was “extremely limited.”
No debate was held on the issue, as the RCP was only granted a speaking turn.
Councillor Noah Hunt, who sits on the CSU’s clubs and spaces committee, told The Link in an email that the RCP’s claims that they can’t book spaces on campus is false.
In an email to the RCP on Dec. 15, Hunt explained that he voted against the budget due in part to the club’s stated “rejection of identity politics,” which he believes is a rejection of intersectionality and goes against the CSU’s positions book.
In the same email, Hunt also listed allegation of sexual abuse and harassment at the RCP as reasons for the rejection of the club’s budget.
Creation of election reform committee
Before the meeting was adjourned, councillor Ryan Michon presented a motion to establish a long-term working group for election bylaw reform.
The goal of the committee would be to review existing CSU bylaws and standing regulations pertaining to elections; draft a comprehensive set of amendments to be presented to the union’s policy committee; and consult with the chief electoral officer and the judicial board where necessary to ensure legal and operational feasibility.
After the motion was successfully adopted, with seven votes in favour and five against, three councillors had to be appointed to the newly formed committee.
Michon, Elbakaye, Hechel, Nadeem El-Charabati and Gabriela Aragon nominated themselves for the committee.
Elbakaye, El-Charabati and Aragon were voted in.
Following twenty minutes of debate on the matter, the meeting was adjourned after the vote.
