Editorial: If you’re reading this, it’s not too late, go to the CSU’s SGM

The Link is urging student to go vote at the   CSU’s SGM on Jan. 29 at 6 P.M. Photo Andrae Leron Lewis

On Jan. 29 at 6 p.m., The Concordia Student Union (CSU) will host a Special General Meeting (SGM) where students can vote on the implementation of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions movement (BDS) at Concordia University.

For over a year and a half, students have been demanding Concordia disclose, divest, defend and declare. These demands have manifested in protests, demonstrations, walk-outs, strikes and art events. 

The SGM was organized as the result of a petition created by Solidarity for Palestine’s Honour and Resistance (SPHR) and sponsored by Academics for Palestine. As the petition garnered over the necessary 250 student signatures, the CSU was mandated to organize a meeting. 

The CSU membership hasn’t seen mobilization of this size in years, and the work is far from over. The last time the CSU called a SGM was in 2012 to prolong the tuition hike strikes and failed to meet quorum by 100 students. This cannot happen again. You must wonder why this is important. 

The implementation of a BDS motion will allow the CSU to officially add a BDS position to the CSU Positions Book. It will also empower the CSU to bring the demands that students have been fighting for to Concordia’s Board of Governors (BoG). 

While the university flaunts the excuse that it doesn’t directly invest in weapons companies to avoid tackling the issue of divestment, it is important to remember that it indirectly invests in and supports companies and institutions like BMO—complicit in the murder of over 45,000 Palestinians. 

We, as students, have the moral obligation to support our fellow activists who have been fighting to make their voices heard. Students have been assaulted and targeted by campus security, suspended by the university for protesting and dehumanized by mainstream media for fighting for Palestinians’ basic human rights. 

Even if Palestine isn’t a topic you are interested in debating, even if you don’t care much for politics, this vote comes down to one thing: demanding that the university listen to its students. This vote needs to show the administration that students have the power to demand change from the institution they frequent and fund. A successful and safe learning space for students is dependent on the university’s commitment to their well-being. 

Over the past year, Concordia has time and time again prioritized profits over the needs of its students. From the shuttle bus service schedule reduction to class cuts and the constant repression of pro-Palestine voices on campus, student mobilization is needed now more than ever. 

In addition to these extremely important reasons to vote, an SGM is the best way for students to exercise their democratic power. Regardless of your political stance, all students have the right to vote in this meeting and have their voices heard. Whether you have voted at every CSU election or none, mark your calendars. This is not one you can miss. The SGM’s quorum is 450 people. Without nearly 1.2 per cent of the undergraduate student body present, the result of the meeting will be null—following in the footsteps of the 2012 SGM.

But, if the vote passes, the decision will be on the agenda at the next BoG meeting on Feb. 6. The board that governs Concordia will be forced to discuss BDS. Does that mean that BDS will become a reality at Concordia as of Feb. 7? No. We cannot guarantee that outcome. However, it would be a major step in the right direction. 

Students have suffered enough on account of expressing themselves politically and it is time to vote for a more transparent and ethical university.

The Link has encouraged its team to attend and vote in this SGM and to exercise their democratic right. As journalists, we are obliged to uphold democracy and cover important stories. It is also our right as students to have a say in how our university shapes itself and contributes to the larger political sphere.

The Link urges all undergraduate students to attend the SGM and exercise their right to vote. 

Now is your chance to tell the administration and your student union how you feel. The Link will see you there.

This article originally appeared in Volume 45, Issue 8, published January 28, 2025.