Nominees Announced for CSU Elections

Campaigning Begins Today, Polling Begins in Two Weeks

Campaign posters have begun popping up around campus for the candidates running in the elections at the end of the month. Photo Nikolas Litzenberger

The candidates for the upcoming Concordia Student Union elections have been announced, and complaints have surfaced about the advertising of the nomination period.

This article has been updated.

At a regular CSU council on Wednesday, two councillors brought forward concerns about the work of the Chief Electoral Officer, who is in charge of administering the elections.

Councillor Jenna Cocullo asked why the elections weren’t—and continue to not be—advertised on the CSU website, which General Coordinator Terry Wilkings attributed to the site’s redesign last year. Another councillor, Jason Poirier Lavoie, said the nomination period where students collect signatures to run for a position wasn’t properly advertised.

Lavoie took issue with the fact that nominations began on March 1, but the CEO began promoting them through Facebook on March 7. Postering started a few days late as well, the councillor added.

There are two teams running for the executive positions: “Act Together” and “Empower Concordia.” Two students are running independently for the general coordinator and external coordinator positions, respectively. Students vote for coordinators individually and not entire teams, so elected executives do not need to be from the same slate.

The executive coordinators are in charge of running the daily operations of the CSU. The 2014 to 2015 executive team each made approximately $28,000 for the year, in honoraria and bonuses. In the fall semester students voted to rename the executive positions from “president” and “vice-presidents” to “coordinators.”

Campaigning begins on Monday, March 14 and ends on March 28. Polling lasts from March 29 to March 31.

‘Act Together’ executive candidates:

  • Loyola Coordinator: Marcus Peters
  • Internal Affairs Coordinator: Rami Yahia
  • Academic and Advocacy Coordinator: Sophia Sahrane
  • Sustainability Coordinator: Lana Galbraith
  • External Affairs Coordinator: Aloyse Muller
  • Student Life Coordinator: Rachel Gauthier
  • Finance Coordinator: Adrian Longinotti
  • General Coordinator: Lucinda Kiparissis

‘Empower Concordia’ executive candidates:

  • Internal Affairs Coordinator: Jing Ruby Zhao
  • Academic and Advocacy Coordinator: Antonia Macris
  • External Affairs Coordinator: Diana-Joy Bautista
  • Finance Coordinator: Tiffana Paulrajah
  • General Coordinator: Eddy Kara-Sarkissian
  • Sustainability Coordinator: Bryan Sa Pimentel
  • Student Life Coordinator: George Moustakis

Independent executive candidates:

  • General Coordinator: T. Persaud
  • External Affairs Coordinator: Omar Riaz

Also up for grabs in this election are seats for each faculty on the CSU council and Concordia University’s Senate. The CSU Council meets twice a month to monitor and approve work done by the executive team and committees.

Eleven candidates, out of a total 14, are running for Arts and Science council positions, including Chloë Williams, who served as a CSU executive this past year. Five people are running for five spots in engineering and computer science.

Four individuals, out of a possible six spots, are running as representatives of the John Molson School of Business. Two people, out of three spots, are running for Fine Arts council positions.

Each faculty has one student spot to be elected onto the university senate, the second highest decision-making body at the university. There is one person running from engineering and computer science, and one going for the JMSB position. Marion Miller, who served as CSU executive and a student senator this past year, is running again as the representative of Fine Arts.

Two candidates are running for the Arts and Science senate seat, including Terry Wilkings, who has been on the CSU executive for the past two years and has served on Senate for three consecutive terms. If elected by the student body this year, he will be ineligible to serve, according to Article 62 of the university bylaws.