CSU councillor calls for mass resignation during RCM

Of the 12 people called on to resign, one is not a member of council

NewsGeneviève Sylvestre — Published January 10, 2025 0 minutes

Sylver’s motion was the seventh point of the meeting’s 11-point agenda and failed following around an hour of debate. Other councillors criticized the motion for failing to provide proof of wrongdoing from the listed individuals. 

The presentation of a motion for the CSU to adopt and advocate for the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement was also contested. The chairperson presented the motion to council after they received a petition signed by over 250 students in favour of the motion. 

BDS special general meeting

According to point 5.3.2 of the CSU Bylaws, the chairperson must inform the council as early as possible and hold a special general meeting (SGM) “within thirty days from receiving the petition.” 

Councillor Mohamad Abdallah raised concerns with the motion calling for Concordia to end 
employment partnerships with Bombardier, Lockheed Martin, CAE, Pratt & Whitney, and Airbus due to the potential impact on engineering students seeking internships.

The chairperson clarified that the SGM would be the proper location to discuss the substance of the motion in detail. They further clarified that no amendments could be made to the motion at the RCM because it was only a presentation. 

Councillors debated the validity of the motion for over one hour following the chairperson’s clarification. The main argument against the motion was in reference to the Sean Howard Reference Decision made by the CSU Judicial Board in 2020. 

During the 2020 CSU elections, students voted to remove a number of positions from the CSU Positions Book including position 9.1 on Palestinian solidarity. Following the elections, councillor Sean Howard requested that the judicial board review “the validity of such a position.”

In its decision, the judicial board found position 9.1 to be divisive and recommended “that in the situation the CSU decides to send a political position through a referendum; it must be a domestically related issue.” 

Academic and advocacy coordinator Vanessa Massot said that they failed to see the connection between the Sean Howard Decision and the motion on the table as it was made in regards to a position, not an SGM. 

Councillor Sylver disagreed, stating that he felt that the motion aimed to add a BDS position in the positions book. He said he believed that the Sean Howard Decision should make the motion illegitimate. 

The chairperson clarified again that, even if Sylver was correct, the motion could not be modified in the RCM. 

The debate continued until councillor Hassan Ridha motioned to end the debate and Sylver objected. Councillors voted nine in favour and six against ending the debate. Failing to obtain a two-thirds majority, the debate continued.

Sylver asked the chairperson how they would proceed with the motion considering the judicial decision. The chairperson answered that they felt cancelling the SGM “causes the most immediate prejudice to the bylaws” and that it is up to the debate of the membership if they feel that Sylver’s argument is valid. 

The debate ended once Sylver elapsed his speaking time. 

Appointments 

Council moved on to appointing one councillor to both the Black, Indigenous, and Peoples of Colour (BIPOC) Committee and the External and Mobilization Committee. The chairperson clarified that only BIPOC councillors can apply to the BIPOC Committee. 

Councillor Ridha applied for a seat on the BIPOC Committee and mentioned his previous work in helping to organize campaigns, such as one for World Hijab Day.

At the end of the question period, councillor Liora Hechel asked to nominate themselves to the BIPOC Committee and said: “I thought it [was] only for people of colour, but since neither of us are really [BIPOC].” 

The councillor was quickly interrupted by Abdallah, who stated that it was inappropriate for the councillor to claim that Ridha was not a real person of colour. The chairperson further clarified that the councillor could not run for the seat as it needed to be filled by someone who is BIPOC and that the appointment period had already ended. 

Following Ridha’s presentation, Norah Finlay applied for the seat on the External and Mobilization Committee. Both Ridha and Finley were appointed to their respective committees.

Call for removal 

The following item on the agenda was a motion Sylver submitted to the chairperson. In it, he called for the resignation of seven out of the eight members of the executive team as well as five councillors for failing to act neutrally in their roles. 

The chairperson clarified that they interpreted the motion as a censure motion because, even if passed, Sylver’s motion alone was not sufficient grounds to remove an executive or council member from office. 

One of the councillors listed in the motion was Sanayit Bobrowski. Abdallah asked Sylver to clarify who councillor Bobrowski was as they did not appear on the list of councillors. 

Sylver said that he procured the name from the CSU email list. He added that he could explain why he was calling for each individual’s resignation but did not provide a reason to ask for Bobrowski’s resignation. 

The Link could identify a CSU councillor named Danayit Bobrowski, but cannot confirm this is the same person Sylver referenced during the RCM.

Abdallah criticized Sylver’s motion for failing to provide proof against the listed individuals and claimed that the council should ask Sylver to apologize for his behaviour. Sustainability coordinator Maria Chitoroaga, who was named in Sylver’s motion, also asked Sylver to provide proof of her misconduct. 

“You say that we have acted in bad faith or have a lack of transparency, and yet your motion also fails to be fully transparent,” Chitoroaga said.

External affairs and mobilization coordinator Danna Ballantyne added that the CSU, as a union, is a political organization that is not neutral. 

When asked by The Link to clarify which CSU bylaw states that councillors and executive members are expected to remain neutral, Sylver said the answer to the question was “pending.” 

Sylver proceeded to explain his reasoning for asking councillor Ali Salman to resign, claiming that an article published by The Link referred to Salman as a “member and a leader of Students for Palestine's Honour and Resistance (SPHR) Concordia.”

According to the Policy on Executive, Council of Representatives, and Committees, “no member of the Clubs Committee may hold office as an executive of a CSU club” and “holding such an office will be deemed a resignation from the Clubs Committee.”

SPHR became an independent club on Sept. 3 following a university decision in June 2024 to not allow the group to be signed up as a student club until it removed three posts from its Instagram page. 

Sylver alleged that Salman was still a member of SPHR when elected to his position but did not provide proof that Salman’s involvement in SPHR is ongoing or that it overlapped with his appointment to the Clubs and Spaces Committee. 

Councillor Zeyad Abisaab further clarified that SPHR has not had an active executive team since May 31, which he claimed was before councillors were appointed to their respective committees.

Assad questioned Sylver’s inability to name which bylaws state that CSU councillors must remain neutral and outlined that Sylver himself is involved in political clubs. Namely, Sylver is involved in the Israeli club The StartUp Nation. 

“Would he like to answer whether that also affects his neutrality, considering that that political club is also considered a hate group by a lot of students?” Assad asked. Sylver replied that he is not a member of the Clubs and Spaces Committee. 

Chitoroaga once again asked Sylver to explain why he was calling on her resignation. Sylver said that he would continue going down the list of the names of the people he called on to resign. 

He claimed to have taken issue with a quote from Ballantyne in an article published by The Link, titled “Concordia students gather to learn how to best fight for Palestine,” due to what he claimed is escalatory rhetoric. 

In the article, Ballantyne outlined how Concordia’s lack of actions for Palestine has left many students feeling desperate and claimed that the administration must be aware that if they continue to ignore student demands, the students’ response will “continue to escalate.”

Shortly after, councillor Assad motioned to end the debate immediately. The motion passed with eight councillors voting for and three against. 

After the end of the debate, council voted on Sylver’s proposed motion. The motion failed with three councillors voting for and 10 against its adoption. 

At the end of the meeting, Sylver said that he had found the answer to the question, but did not clarify the answer to which question. 

He began reading the start of the CSU Positions Book which indicates that “positions serve as the basis for the political representation engaged in by the officer of the Union and establish the Union’s political discourse and long-term goals.”