Your New CSU

Meet YOUR Heads of Slate

NewsLaura Beeston — Published April 5, 2011

“We knew that we had a lot of support, but we didn’t realize how much,” said an exhausted-looking Your Concordia president-elect Lex Gill with a sleepy smile. “We’re still sort of in shock.”

The president-elect, whose slate won by just over 300 votes, explained that John Molson School of Business voters gave Your Concordia a scare during the ballot count.

“For a while […] we pretty much felt like we were going to lose. There was massive, massive voter turn out in the MB building and the count went straight from Your Concordia to Action without a break,” explained Gill.

“But then we got to the last boxes and they were from Loyola, and the votes were all for us. Everywhere but the MB building we were getting support, and it shows in the results.”

While all six JMSB seats went to councillors who ran on team Action, Gill is confident that, through dialogue and building strong relationships during their summer Council retreat, the new Council will come to an understanding about the shared values of the student union. She said she is thankful that her councillors are independent and have divergent opinions—especially the ones that ran on her slate.

“When we talked to most of them this morning [announcing we won], they said ‘Great, now we’re going to give you a really hard time next year,’” explained VP Advocacy and Outreach-elect Morgan Pudwell with a laugh.

“But this is exactly what we want,” said Gill. “This is part of the cultural shift that we think needs to happen at the CSU.”

Gill seemed delighted to finally come out and say what she believes Your Concordia stands for: the first progressive team to run the union since 2002.

“It’s like Concordia has come full-circle,” she said. “There’s finally this space to build on the positive parts of our history on this campus.

“There’s a difference between being progressive, working for a meaningful bottom-up democracy and fostering grassroots initiatives on campus, and lighting fire to cop cars,” she continued. “This is a distinction I think a lot of people need to make.”

“Being pro-student isn’t radical,” added Pudwell.

“We’re a student union—not a government or an extension of the administration and we’re here to fight for students’ rights,” nodded Gill. “Sometimes that means a polite disagreement with the administration or the government.”

One of the things the pair of Your Concordia-elects seemed most excited for was the possibility that this change will bring for the union.

“We’re all going into this with a really clear idea of what we want next year and what the union should look like. We have a lot of shared frustrations and a lot of shared hopes,” said Gill. “I think that the most exciting thing about next year is not even about being the president of the CSU, but the fact that I get to work with all these incredible people and that’s such a blessing. I think most of us feel that way. This is a team we actually really believe in.”

This article originally appeared in Volume 31, Issue 29, published April 5, 2011.