Petition Against CSU President on Hold

Agreement to Reconcile Differences Embraced by All Parties

NewsLaura Beeston — Published January 31, 2012

A “ceasefire” agreement has been reached concerning a petition to impeach Concordia Student Union President Lex Gill that began circulating last week.

While issues outlined in the petition remain unresolved, a round-table discussion between the involved student groups and the CSU is in the works.

“We discussed it [and decided] the best course of action was to have a conversation and really lay it on the table, share our grievances and ask our questions,” said Arts and Science Federation of Associations President Alex Gordon, who co-organized the petition with former CSU councillor Tomer Shavit and Commerce and Administration Students’ Association President Marianna Luciano.

“[The petition] was a bold statement that we have issues. Now that it’s out in the open, we want to find a reasonable way to get by this, move forward with as much unity and synergy as possible, and get back to helping students. So we’ll see what happens after this meeting,” said Gordon.

“I’m going in with good faith to get the answers, documents and accountability I’m looking for.”

A parody website called stoplexgill.ca cropped up shortly after.

CSU councillors dismissed the petition at their Jan. 25 meeting as a “waste of time” and unanimously passed a motion of confidence in both Gill and her executives.

It was also determined there is a chance that the petition does not comply with current CSU bylaws, which state that an executive member cannot be recalled individually, but instead must be recalled with the entire executive committee.
For the petition to be considered valid, it would also require at least 10 per cent of all union members, or about 3,500 student signatures.

Over the weekend, Gill explained that “the petition fiasco” stemmed from “rumours, misinformation and unanswered questions,” but once she met with both Gordon and Luciano, all parties decided it wasn’t the most effective way to address the outstanding concerns.

“We came to a consensus that sitting down in a reasonable and diplomatic way and working through things would be the best thing for students right now,” said Gill. “We felt there was a step missing and a conversation was missing.”
Calling the petition “water under the bridge,” Gill said the goal of the round table was reconciliation. “It’s a much more constructive solution that will allow us to get down to work and fix things,” she said.

Shavit, who took Council to the Judicial Board—an independent ruling body of the CSU—over the firing of former CEO Bram Goldstein last semester, said the future of the petition “really depends on Lex and what she’s willing to concede.”

“I really want answers about the allegations I brought up against her,” said Shavit.

“We’ll see if we can reach a constructive way to solve our differences and decide what we want to do after that.”

“We came to a consensus that sitting down in a reasonable and diplomatic way and working through things would be the best thing for students right now,” said Gill.

Shavit, who took Council to the Judicial Board—an independent ruling body of the CSU—over the firing of former CEO Bram Goldstein last semester, said the future of the petition “really depends on Lex and what she’s willing to concede.”

“I really want answers about the allegations I brought up against her,” said Shavit.

“We’ll see if we can reach a constructive way to solve our differences and decide what we want to do after that.”