Third Time’s The Charm?

LettersMorgan Pudwell — Published March 29, 2011

This is my third consecutive CSU election. In 2009, I ran as a fine arts councillor with Vision; in 2010, I was an executive with Fusion, and now here I am again, asking students to give me one more chance as their VP Advocacy & Outreach with Your Concordia.
2009 was an important year—it was the battle between the Canadian Federation of Students and the students. The CFS ran under a team called Change, while Vision was formed with the main intent of getting rid of the CFS—students from all over the community with varying values and politics came together through Vision to take their school back into their own hands.
We were promised that 2009 would be a year of reform in order to ensure that the CFS kept out of our union politics. However, by March 2010, very little had been done. In March, the makers of Vision created Fusion, and so the line continued. I was asked at the last moment to join Fusion as an executive, and promised it would be the much-awaited year of reform and meaningful “action.” However, despite these promises we’ve seen the union repeatedly fail to represent students and engage in meaningful ways.
So all this has lead us to this moment. We are finally faced with the opportunity for real change. With my candidacy aside, as a student, I am so excited. Your Concordia is a team of students who have been actively engaged in this community, and are ready to bring the union back to you. As a team of extremely experienced and capable student leaders, they have worked tirelessly to reach out to you (all of them long before they wanted your vote).
You can find real representation and passion in each individual of the Your Concordia team, something I’ve never seen in my three years of CSU elections. I’ve never been a part of a CSU slate that I was so proud of—this team gives me hope, something I thought might be lost after my previous experience with the union. I hope that you’ll support Your Concordia, because you deserve the representation they have to offer you.
To the team, I’m so proud to be a part of this moment.
To the students, it’s time you find real representation.
—Morgan Pudwell,
VP Advocacy & Outreach
candidate, Your Concordia
Vote For Real Action

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