CSU hires new chair at council meeting

Arguments in the announcement period delayed the adjournment of the meeting

NewsBriefGeneviève Sylvestre — Published November 29, 2024 4 minutes

Hiring of new chair 

The CSU has not had an official chairperson since Oct. 9 when then-chairperson Michelle Lam resigned abruptly in the middle of an RCM. The only applicant for the position was Mya Walmsley, a past self-described militant for the Concordia Research and Education Workers Union.

During their interview, Walmsley explained how they first gained experience chairing meetings during their undergraduate degree in Australia, where they also learned Robert's Rules of Order, the procedure used by the CSU during meetings. 

Walmsley completed a master’s degree at Concordia University and is not currently a student, requiring the student union to grant them an honorary CSU membership to allow them to take on the role. 

The interview and question process lasted approximately 20 minutes, after which Walmsley was placed in a waiting room to allow councillors time to deliberate. Following their exit, no councillors raised their hand to deliberate and a motion was moved and seconded to appoint Walmsley as chair. As no councillors objected, the motion passed unanimously. 

Following Walmsley’s appointment, two councillors wondered if other candidates would be interviewed. Interim chair and general coordinator Kareem Rahaman informed them that the two other candidates had withdrawn their applications.  

Councillor Aron Kessel proposed to grant Walmsley honorary CSU membership until the summer of 2025. In the meantime, he proposed that the CSU facilitate training for undergraduate students to better learn the role of chairperson and be able to apply for the position in the following school year. 

Councillor Drew Sylver proposed an amendment to the motion to give Walmsley honorary membership until the summer of 2025 as a probationary period. The motion passed unanimously. 

CSU 2023-2024 finances 

Following Walmsley’s appointment, the finance coordinator Souad El Ferjani presented the CSU’s audited financial statement for the 2023-2024 school year. 

El Ferjani said that the union ended the year with a deficit of $175,000 and is currently working on avoiding ending the current year in a deficit. The financial statements were approved unanimously. 

Council then moved on to the question of awarding honorarium to the previous year’s councillors of $750 per councillor. In an RCM on May 8, then-councillor Gabriel Makinde presented a motion to award the 2023-2024 councillors honorariums as council had passed a policy for future council members to receive an honorarium in that same meeting.

As councillors were not able to vote for their own honorariums, the motion was passed to this year’s council. The motion was amended so that the $750 be divided by the number of RCMs councillors had attended, allowing councillors who did not complete their terms to receive a part of the honorarium. The amended motion passed unanimously.

Squabble during announcement period 

During the announcement period prior to the adjournment of the meeting, councillor Mohammad Abdallah called for the council to “join in jubilation” following the news of a ceasefire between Lebanon’s Hezbollah and Israel.

Councillor Sylver called for this announcement to be removed from the minutes and for the minute keeper to mark it as irrelevant to the RCM. Sylver later added that it is a “policy matter that any external foreign conflict does not get mentioned” at an RCM unless necessary.

Rahaman clarified that comments made during the announcement period are not typically reflected in the minutes regardless. 

Abdallah disagreed with Sylver, saying that “it is very relevant to tell our student community [...] that we're glad that [they] don't have to think about a war that is affecting [their] family and friends across seas.” He also condemned the rise in antisemitism, Nazi ideology and Islamophobia. 

Following Abdallah’s comments, Sylver raised concerns with the comments a CSU executive had made in support of the student strikes that was featured in The Concordian’s coverage of the protests. Sylver then read out The Concordian’s subheadline, which claimed the protest was “marked by actions reminiscent of the Nazi party from one protestor.” 

Sylver’s comments came after eleven student associations and one faculty association at Concordia, comprising over 11,000 students, as well as 85,000 students across Montreal went on strike on Nov. 21 and Nov. 22 for Palestine. 

On Nov. 21, a woman who was identified as the owner of two Second Cup café stores inside of the Montreal Jewish General Hospital was seen raising her arm in a Nazi salute and saying “the final solution is coming your way” to a group of pro-Isreal counter-protestors. The woman was not a student and the act was condemned by the Geography Undergraduate Student Society and other participating student associations. 

After an objection to the adjournment of the meeting by Sylver, councillors proceeded to a vote with 13 voting for and seven voting against adjournment. 

The meeting was adjourned.