CSU Minus Two
Pair of Councillors Resign from Council
Less than a month into the academic year, two members of the Concordia Student Union Council have tendered their resignations.
In an email regarding the agenda for the CSU meeting on Sept. 21 that was sent to other Council members and members of the Concordia media on Friday evening, CSU Chair Nick Cuillerier identified the two councilors as John Bellingham, who represents independent students, and Gregory Syanidis from the John Molson School of Business.
Bellingham resigned over a month ago, while Syanidis sent his letter on Sept. 14.
Both candidates had run on the Action slate in last year’s CSU elections. However, Syanidis said that ideological differences had played no part in his decision to resign, but rather a desire to focus on school. “I’m on the JMSB case competition team. We have a case class that falls on Wednesday nights. Because I can’t be in two places at the same time, and academics are a priority for me, I had to drop CSU Council. “In terms of Action and Your Concordia, I think everything is working out pretty well right now,” he continued. “Everyone’s on the same page, and everyone’s working towards the same goal of having a united student body.”
He added that he would continue in his role as VP Finance of JMSB’s Commerce and Administration Students’ Association.
Cuillerier said that Bellingham had told him that he wasn’t planning on taking classes at Concordia this year, which would make him ineligible to sit on campus. In an email, Bellingham confirmed that he would not be attending Concordia, but would rather be completing a graduate degree at McGill.
“I was on council last year, and by about this time last year, I think there were four or five people who resigned. The difference is, we have a Chair who is super on top of what he’s doing,” said Concordia Student Union President Lex Gill.
“Nick is really competent, and when he received resignation letters, he disclosed it to council, which is part of his job. Last year, there were people who were elected, and just never showed up.”
“Unfortunately, part of the problem with the slate system is that people are brought on to a team to fill seats, and I’m not saying this is necessarily the case with John or Greg, but it’s typical that four or five or six people just cease to be councillors by October.”
According to Cuillerier, the resignations will have minimal impact on Council’s ability to function, as only one-third of sitting councilors need to be in attendance to reach quorum, at which point votes are binding.
“It is ultimately up to Council to decide whether they want to call a byelection. They can inform the CEO of such a decision,” he said, adding that he anticipated the topic will come up at Wednesday’s Council meeting.
When asked about a byelection, Gill said that one would need to be held to approve changes to the CSU’s bylaws, which Council voted on in June. Any changes to the bylaws require an approval by Council, followed by a referendum by undergraduate students. “Because we have to have a byelection to approve the new bylaws, we’ll fill those seats,” said Gill.
