Graduate Student Association president gone rogue
Three unauthorized emails and allegations of corruption later, the association is setting the narrative straight
Tensions have been brewing at Concordia University's Graduate Student Association (GSA) for months, dating back to when the association’s current executive team ran unopposed in its general elections and began its mandate in June 2025.
From July 2025 to December 2025, staff members reported filing a number of complaints against the president, some with the Concordia Student Union Advocacy Centre and others as official grievances with their union, CUPE 4512. Complaints about mental health abuse were reported to The Link on at least two occasions.
A timeline of how the controversy started
Based on accounts provided to The Link, Swathi Priya Pasumarthy, the GSA’s now-suspended president, has a history of alleged difficult behaviour.
Her co-worker, Preethi Srikanth, the GSA VP academic and advocacy, told The Link that Pasumarthy was argumentative and claimed she had verbally harassed her and other executives.
“We felt [her leadership] was like a dictatorship,” Srikanth said.
Tensions rose during a GSA council meeting on Sept. 29, 2025, where members attempted to force the president to apologize to two GSA directors for remarks made in a prior council meeting. Pasumarthy ultimately refused to apologize.
That same day, following a request from the executives, an investigative committee was formed to look into claims of harassment against the president. The process involved the committee interviewing staff, directors and all executives to compile a report. According to Srikanth, the president refused to be interviewed.
On Nov. 22, the investigative report issued the suspension of Pasumarthy.
Two weeks later, on Dec. 5, the president submitted her resignation to the association’s council. The council refused her resignation from the presidency, “believing that it is in the best interest of the Association to bring this matter to a Special General Assembly (SGA) to ensure transparency and accountability,” according to a statement from the GSA sent to graduate students.
The SGA will be held on Jan. 19.
Following Pasumarthy’s suspension in November, her access to her GSA email was suspended. The investigator’s findings were not shared with The Link, as the investigation was conducted confidentially.
Pasumarthy did not respond to The Link in time for the publication of this story.
The email saga
On Dec. 5, despite her suspension, Pasumarthy regained access to her email and the association’s Google Workspace and sent out a mass email to all graduate students, claiming the association was experiencing “significant financial fraud and serious procedural violations [that] have been documented within our association's leadership and staff.”
The email linked to a petition she had started, demanding that the GSA conduct an external investigation to ensure transparency and accountability from those involved. She also demanded that students be guaranteed protection should they raise concerns about the alleged fraud.
On Dec. 12, the GSA released an official statement on their Instagram, stating that the message was unauthorized and potentially a cybercrime and a privacy breach.
Two days later, Pasumarthy sent yet another email, this time to Concordia’s administration, urging them to appoint an external investigator for a “comprehensive audit of the GSA.”
The suspended president then sent another mass email to graduate students on Dec. 22, outlining a number of alleged cases of financial fraud.
The GSA was only able to secure its Google Workspace and regain full access on Jan. 6, 2026.
Allegations and half-truths
In her emails, the ex-president alleges that the GSA has not had an audit in over nine years.
The GSA’s bylaws state that the president, VP internal, VP academic and advocacy, and five directors appointed to the Budget and Finance Committee would be responsible for the appointment of an auditor of the GSA.
When asked about the state of the audits at the GSA, Srikanth claimed she and Rohit Rajeshkanna, the GSA’s VP internal, attempted to hire an auditor, with little success.
“Auditors are not ready to do nine to 10 years [of audits]," Srikanth said. "It's not our mistake, it's not our mandate’s mistake."
The GSA’s finance and office manager could only confirm that the association’s last formal audit of record was in 2016 and claims that the association made attempts to find an auditor in the 2021-22 fiscal year.
According to Concordia spokesperson Julie Fortier, the university cannot conduct an audit on the GSA, as the association is independent under Quebec law.
“We are very concerned by the allegations. We have asked GSA executives to order an audit and to seek counsel to determine whether there has been any criminal wrongdoing,” Fortier said in an email to The Link. “Failure to do so will result in the university sanctioning the GSA.”
Fraud allegations
The ex-president also outlined and criticized a number of financial expenditures, most related to the purchase of goods and the payment of trips and event tickets.
According to both the GSA’s finance and office manager, the fraud allegations have been exaggerated.
“There's no room for saying financial corruption, but misuse of funds is correct,” said the finance manager, who has been granted anonymity for fear of professional repercussions.
The finance and office manager, alongside other GSA staff members, were working on compiling a list of those expenditures.
“Let's say last year they misused the funds, we're not talking about thousands of dollars,” the finance manager said. “It's not a big amount. It's something that you could spend in a better way, but it doesn't mean that they spent it illegally.”
One case of alleged excessive spending outlined in Pasumarthy’s Dec. 22 accusatory email involved the hiring of the chief returning officer (CRO) and deputy returning officers (DROs) in the GSA elections.
During the 2022-23 GSA general elections, the CRO was paid $2,040, and the DROs were paid less than $500 each. In contrast, during the 2024-25 general elections, both DROs were paid $3,150 each, while the CRO received $3,780.
Pasumarthy also accused the GSA of committing tax fraud.
According to GSA staff, before they unionized in 2024, the association was using Concordia’s payroll system for its employees to reduce costs.
The GSA continued to use this system even after its staff members unionized and were obligated to pay union dues.
“This creates an issue because union dues are tax-deductible. So if they are not deducted directly at source, then they don't appear on tax forms. That creates issues of essentially a form of tax fraud,” said Charlie Boyd, a GSA staff member who was granted a pseudonym for fear of professional repercussions.
Boyd said the council and CUPE 4512 union are in discussions to solve the issue.
Another issue raised in the Dec. 22 email was the pay for the GSA’s administrative assistant, with Pasumarthy claiming that the association overpaid them by $9,000.
However, the association’s collective agreement with the CUPE 4512 union guarantees a minimum of eight working hours per week, which is a floor payment for the position.
According to Boyd, the administrative assistant was hired to work for 16 hours per week, consistent with past hiring practices at the association.
Moving forward
Despite the controversy, Boyd believes there is hope for the association moving forward.
“I think that, despite everything that is going on, there is an opportunity to fix the GSA,” they said. “I think that there is just a general mistrust of the GSA caused by years of lack of engagement, a lack of transparency.”
The policy committee, which oversees the association’s bylaws, is currently reworking its policies.
“It's the first step. Fix the structure and then work to actually address the underlying distrust, the lack of engagement,” Boyd said. “Get folks in, prove that the GSA is worthwhile for graduate students. Prove that it can do things.”
This is a developing story.
