Let Irmak Represent You

LettersKwaku Adomando — Published March 29, 2011

I have seen Irmak Bahar waist deep in student politics.

Upon her first year of entering Concordia, she got involved with Free Education Montréal because she genuinely believes that education is a fundamental right and thus should be free and accessible to all. She fought tirelessly, campaigning for educational accessibility and financial transparency for the international students that suffered the all-of-the-sudden dramatic tuition increase.

This administrative move aggravated the notion of institutional exclusivity, which I think is oppressive and intrinsically xenophobic. I saw this girl everywhere immediately following the free hike, encouraging students to get informed and attend the general meeting that she organized with Free Education Montreal. She hoped to engender a dialogue between Concordia students and (then) university president Judith Woodsworth about a vast array of student concerns; these concerns included (but were not limited to) tuition increases, encroachment of student space due to corporatization, and student inclusion in the decision-making processes that directly affects them.

In terms of how it is that the two slates compare, I cannot vouch for one over the other based on campaign platform because platforms say very little about a slate when both sides will always say what voters want to hear.

But when I look at the Your Concordia team, I recognize most of them from many student social justice initiatives. For example, it was their members who invested an innumerous amount of energy into mobilizing Concordia students to meet quorum for the Feb. 14 day of action in response to the supposed 135 per cent tuition increase for Quebec students.

Already, Your Concordia has an impressive repertoire of past experience under their belt. When I look at Action I don’t recognize any of the slate’s members. Even if they were at any of these events, they certainly weren’t at the forefront, nor did they make their presence known. The aggressive imposition of their visibility as a slate whose members quite frankly came out of nowhere makes me question their credibility and the motives they have behind running.

I definitely recommend Irmak as Student Rep, as never in my life have I come across someone so involved in their student community, who stands up for what they believe in for the benefit of everyone that she shares this institution with. I draw a lot of inspiration from this person, and I hope students will realize the benefit of having someone like Irmak representing them.

—Kwaku Adomando,
Sociology & Anthropology

This article originally appeared in Volume 31, Issue 28, published March 29, 2011.