Hello to Concordia students and and all those interested in student politics!



This evenings live tweet of the Concordian Student Union council meeting brought to you by @HadassahAlencar from the CJLO news team
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#studentunion
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This CSU council meeting was called by Councillors Christopher Djesus Vaccarella, Harrison Kirshner and Mathew Levitsky-Kaminski as per By-Law 6.6.3.

The By-Law states that either the President, this year being Executive General Coordinator Isaiah Joyner, or any three Councillors can call a council meeting as long as two days’ notice are given.

On the Agenda:
1. Anti-Holocaust Denial
Motion submitted by Councillors Margot Berner, Christopher Jesus Vaccarella and Harrison Kirshner
2. Budget Comparison
Motion submitted by Councillor Lauren Perozek

3. Committee Structure
Motion submitted by Councillor Mathew Levitsky-Kaminski)
4. Equitable Hiring Practices
Motion submitted by Councillor Mathew Levitsky-Kaminski)
5. Extremist Condemnation
Two motions submitted by Councillor Mathew Levitsky-Kaminski and Harrison Kirshner)

6. Anti-Sexual Harassment Initiative
Motion submitted by Councillor Mathew Levitsky-Kaminski)
7. CSU Economic Model
Motion submitted by Councillor Mathew Levitsky-Kaminski)
8. Freedom of Speech
Motion submitted by Councillor Mathew Levitsky-Kaminski)

The first Motion supports an “Anti-Holocaust Denial” be sent to referendum during the 2020 CSU by-elections, and if the motion passes through popular student vote, the position be added to the CSU Positions book.

#Holocaust
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The CSU Positions book outlines how the union stands on a number of different issues, ranging from university policy, to political stances or social and gender issues.

In layman’s terms, this means Concordia students will vote in the fall if the CSU should adopt an Anti-Holocaust Denial position.

#Holocaust
#NoDenyingIt
#NeverForget

Councillor Christopher Djesus Vaccarella says he has heard anti-Semitic rhetoric at Concordia, such as statements denying the Holocaust, and said this form of anti-semitism has been handled with too much tolerance at Concordia.

Councillor Vaccarella said he has made the motion to address this issue that has made himself and others in the Jewish community feel unsafe at the Concordia.

The motion has been approved unanimously and will be accepted at the CSU to be ratified by vote during the 2020 By-Law Elections.

The official position statement:
The CSU opposes antisemitic rhetoric and culture present at Concordia University and within the Montreal community. The CSU opposes Holocaust denial, being the act of denying the existence of the Holocaust.

The CSU also opposes antisemitic remarks and harassment and calls on all levels of government to recognize and address the challenges that Jewish people face not only within the boundaries of the school, but within the Jewish community at large.
#NoDenyingIt
#NeverForget

Second motion is a “Budget Comparison,” submitted by Councillor Lauren Perozek.
The motion defines:

-Council is accountable in responsibly managing student money
-Financial transparency with students is necessary
-The budget should be easy for students to understand

The motion seeks:
-To notify students of budgetary differences from of the previous year that exceed $5,000.
-The Finance Committee provide a brief, easy to understand explanation for the higher
-The explanation must also be given to the CSU council before they vote and approve

Councillor Howard Issley says that they don't want only the finance and business students to understand the CSU budget, they want all students to understand the budget.

The motion “Budget Comparison” has carried unanimously:

-To notify students of budgetary differences from of the previous year that exceed $5,000-

The third motion, “Committee Structure,” was submitted by Councillor Mathew Levitsky-Kaminski

The motion seeks to improve diversity of the CSU board members and committees by implementing a “natural rotation system.”

The rotation system will be:

-Individuals can only serve one full calendar year on any committee. They will have to either change committees at the end of the year, or be reelected unless specifically allowed by council with 2/3s vote.

-Board of director member cannot serve on more than two committees unless specifically allowed by council with 2/3s vote.
-Committees must by represented by at least 3 faculties unless specifically allowed by council with 2/3s vote.

Councillor Tzvi Hersh Filler has made an amendment which passed, to say this motion would apply going forward, and not to current committee composition.

Councillor Lauren Perozek is asking for a document to be created that defines what councillor is on which committee, and to see the feasibility of this motion.

Perozek also suggested the motion go through the policy committee first.

Perozek also asked if this will apply to just standing committees, and Councillor Mathew Levitsky-Kaminski confirmed that the intention of the motion was just to apply to standing committees.

Councillor Ahmadou Sakho said he disagrees with the motion because he believes it unnecessarily limits councillors that voluntarily give their time to work the CSU.

Due to a violation in the motion (standing regulations define that councillors cannot be forced to resign), the policy has been voted to go to the policy committee.

Motion four, “Equitable Hiring Practices,” submitted by Councillor Mathew Levitsky-Kaminski.

It seeks to implement “successful hiring practices… to promote fair and equitable hiring practices,” by:

-All new councillors go through training or mandatory reading/quiz to become aware of their biases.
-Job listing at the CSU be reworded to avoid “masculine wording such as “ambitious, challenging and demanding,” to encourage female or non-gender conforming individuals to apply

-Improve candidate screening by introducing new hiring techniques like blind interviews and new hiring software that ranks candidates on a number of different factors such as and interactive assessment.

-CSU release their own statistics on internal hiring diversity
-All members take a workforce survey to identify any disproportional representation
-Budget no greater than $10,000.
#Diversity
#BIPOC

Councillor Mathew Levitsky-Kaminski wants this motion to "get the ball rolling," for the CSU to do better in implementing real changes to increase diversity.

Executive Internal Affairs Coordinator Daniel Amico says the motion should have been brought to different committees that could have helped develop the motion before presenting to council.

Councillor Lauren Perozek has motioned to have the motion sent to the BIPOC and Appointments committees

Perozek said she is personally offended by the rule to change interview words into non-masculine words and feminine words, because that would imply “ambitious, challenging and demanding," are not qualities women can have.

Correction, the motion would be sent to Policy, BIPOC and Appointment committees.

Councillor Danielle Vandolder-Beaudin said that sending the motion to three committees could make the formulation of the motion take too long. She says she would like to have either a time frame added to how long the motion should take to form, or have it voted on right now.

Councillor Paige Beaulieu says that a previous motion like this one was already brought to council by a member of the BIPOC community.

Councillor Désirée Blizzard confirms that a diverse committee worked for a year on the previous Equitable Hiring Practices motion, but it was voted down and that it was disheartening.

Executive Academic and Advocacy Coordinator Sarah Mazhero says its insulting to move the process quickly when the previous policy was worked on for a while by the many BIPOC individuals.

Councillors agreed to continue discussing beyond the 20 minute maximum for debating the motion.

Councillors have now said their final statements and will vote on whether the motion should be voted on now, or sent to the Policy, BIPOC and Appointments committee.

Vote:
17 yes
2 no
1 abstain

The motion for Equitable Hiring Practices will be sent to the Policy, BIPOC, and Appointments committee.

The following two motions are on, “Extremist Condemnation,” by Councillors Mathew Levitsky-Kaminski and Harrison Kirshner.

They seek to have the CSU officially condemn both:

- KKK and Unite the Right
-Antifa Organization and Resistance Internationaliste.

And “all associated activism groups with identical goals and ideologies”

The motion identifies both groups as extremist groups that restrict free speech.

It defines the motion as the CSU protecting “students rights by creating a safe space as well as denounce all forms of hate speech and avoid instances of discrimination.”

#kkk
#AntiFascist

Executive General Coordinator Isaiah Joyner said he thinks its better for the CSU to take a position to denounce a broader stance against racism in general, rather than looking to condemn specific organizations.

Nicole LeBlanc said she agrees with Joyner, and says the KKK isn't a right-wing organization that Concordia has an issue with, but the Proud Boys is.

Councillor Christopher Kalafatidis says he never thought he would never live to see the day when the General Coordinator of the CSU would not vote to immediately condemn the CSU.

He began to speculate on motivations, but Chairperson Caitlin Robinson stopped him.

Councillors cannot speak on what they think another councillors' motivations or internal reasoning are.

Councillor Margot Berner expressed she did not agree with Councillor Kalafatidis and that it was not good what he said.

Executive General Coordinator Isaiah Joyner said that he does not appreciate the insinuation that he, as a Black coordinator, would be voting against condemning the KKK.

Joyner said he has experienced racism, and he wants to think about the issue from a broad perspective.

Joyner is incredibly distressed and walked away from the camera.

Executive Academic and Advocacy Coordinator Sarah Mazhero said this is so disappointing for the union to have this environment. She said shame on the council members, that council members should to think about what they say and how they treat others in a emotionally movingaddress

Councillor Danielle Vandolder-Beaudin interrupted Mazhero, asking for the regular debate to continue.

Chairperson Caitlin Robinson said she would not interrupt Mazhero during her addressed and asked her to continue.

Councillor Ahmadou Sakho agreed with Joyner and Mazhero, and told councillors to think about what they say because it affects people.

Excutives Sarah Mazhero, Isaiah Joyner, and Councillor Ahmadou Sakho are Black members of council.

Executive Student Life Coordinator Eduardo Malorni said he has seen discrimination from certain council members, and that members chose to rightfully step out when they are being personally attacked.

Malorni also said that its better to vote against a general issue like racism, instead of having to do a statement against each and every one.

He also said it would become difficult to access what groups could be considered discriminatory, such as the Trump campaign.

Councillor Margot Berner asked for a 10 minute recess, so councillors and executives who had to step out of the meeting could have a break and hopefully return.

It should be noted that the CSU does currently have a position in the CSU Positions book against racism, but the motion in play is not for official Positions standing, but a "condemnation."

For clarification: the motion right now is voting whether the CSU condemns the KKK and Unite the Right Organization.

"BE IT RESOLVED, the Concordia Student Union condemn the KKK and Unite the Right for racial inspired violence and hate speech through a public statement"

The meeting has restarted.

Councillor Harrison Kirshner said he said the comments made before against Executive General Coordinator Isaiah Joyner should not be tolerated, and he apologized because he also worked on this motion.

Councillor Lauren Perozek said that the motion should go through the BIPOC committee, because its important to work with the affected community before presenting the motion.

Executive General Coordinator Isaiah Joyner apologized if his reaction was unprofessional and said he was previously trying to add what Perozek said, and supported the motion going through the BIPOC committee first.

Chairperson Caitlin Robinson said no councillor has to apologize for showing their emotions, and said the only intolerable action was assuming motivations of other members.

Councillor Margot Berner amended the motion to include alt-right, and Councillor Matthew Benzrihem amended the motion to add national supremacy.

Councillor Lauren Perozek put a motion to move to the current motion to the BIPOC committee.

The motion to move the Extremist Condemnation of the KKK and Unite the Right to the BIPOC committee passed unanimously.

Councillor Harrison Kirshner has removed the following motion to condemn Antifa Organization and Resistance Internationaliste in the Extremist Condemnation motion.

The sixth motion is, “Anti-Sexual Harassment Initiative,” submitted by Councillor Mathew Levitsky-Kaminski.

The motion says that Concordia University has problem with harassment against women and other students, in cases, “where women and other students have been approached by males who try to use luring tactics or inappropriate language/conduct with students.”

The motion does acknowledge that some steps have been taken to acknowledge the problem, such as, “increased security and security walking students to a desired location.”

The motion seeks to implement:

-A “student led initiative that allows students to help other students navigate safely on the campus.”
-To, “individuals who share similar views on the state of sexual harassment at Concordia”

Budget limited to $5,000.

Councillor Mathew Levitsky-Kaminski says he wants to leave it open to council to send the motion in the best area they see fit.

He says the motion should be a starting point to help students.

Councillor Diana Lukic said the motion should take into account SARC: Concordia's sexual assault and resource centre available for students.

Executive General Coordinator Isaiah Joyner said that its important to take motions to committees first, because its better to present to council a more defined motion, than present something for the group to think about in a limited timeframe.

Councillor Tzvi Hersh Filler is outlining certain laws that the motion might be violating, and to work with SARC because they have extensive resources and are already working on the issue.

Councillor James Hanna agreed with Filler, and said that a budget of 5,000 would not cover the this motion. In his opinion, this kind of project would need another subdivision in the CSU.

Executive Academic and Advocacy Coordinator Sarah Mazhero agreed and said she did not support the motion. Mazhero said the services for survivors of sexual assault at the university are extremely limited, and that this motion with this budget would also not help the issue.

Councillors are saying the spirit of this motion is well appreciated, and that it should go forward to a more appropriate group.

Councillor Margot Berner put a motion to move this motion to the regular September CSU meeting.

Councillor Mathew Levitsky-Kaminski said the motion is to remove the reliance on the administration, by making it into more of a student-led initiative.

The motion to move the the sixth motion, “Anti-Sexual Harassment Initiative" to the Regular CSU meeting in September has passed unanimously.
@csumtl #studentunion

The seventh motion is, “CSU Economic Model,” submitted by Councillor Mathew Levitsky-Kaminski.

He has removed the motion due to the "climate"

The motion intended to have the CSU accept, “capitalism as its official economic model and view through an official statement.”

The last motion is, “Freedom of Speech,” submitted by Councillor Mathew Levitsky-Kaminski.

It seeks to “denounce any student actions that prohibit students from expressing themselves politically if they directly violate ones respecting of rights or reputations of others.”

Councillor Mathew Levitsky-Kaminski said he has been discriminated as a politically conservative person. He said people shouldn't be attacked on their ideas

"BE IT RESOLVED that the CSU accepts all forms of free speech on campus as it relates to Canadian political affiliations."

Councillor Mathew Levitsky-Kaminski said no one should be attacked on their character or limited unless a person engages in hate speech.

Executive Internal Affairs Coordinator Daniel Amico said that this is already in our charter, and ask what the motion would really do.

Levitsky-Kaminski said that he feels the Charter isn't being respected and this would let students to know the CSU supports any political affiliation.

This is to reinforce what the Charter is already saying.

Councillor James Hanna said he supports the motion, and wants it to become a more concrete policy.

Councillor Harrison Kirshner also supports the motion.

Councillor Désirée Blizzard said asked for context to be added. Such as, some minorities are speaking out against certain kinds of speech and others express that feels like an attack on free speech.

Executive General Coordinator Isaiah Joyner said he supports what Blizzard said, and said if it goes to referendum that the motion should include the notions of diversity and what the limitations that would define hate speech.

I asked how the motion would address the issues related to political parties like the People's Party of Canada, that do have connections to extremist groups and have used free speech as way to not be called out on their extremist connections and agenda.

Councillor Mathew Levitsky-Kaminski said while it is fair to say the PPC has gone around the free speech bubble, he says they will be called out successfully because others can prove their hate speech.

Levitsky-Kaminski said its for the people who do have non-hateful political rhetoric to not be attacked for what they say because others disagree.

He also added an amendment that would define the hate speech:

"The CSU acknowledge that freedom of speech is not absolute if hate speech can be proven present, "if a reasonable, ware of context and circumstances...

...would view the expression as likely to expose a person or persons to detestation and vilification on the basis of a prohibited ground of discrimination."

Councillor Margot Berner motioned to have the motion move to the Regular CSU council meeting in September.

Councillor Lauren Perozek added to the motion, to move the motion to the communications department to be in charge of phrasing and communicating this motion to the student body for referendum.

“Freedom of Speech” vote to move the motion to the Regular CSU Council meeting in September has passed.

The regular agenda has finished, we have moved to announcements.

Councillors are reminding others of training, and saying goodbye to summer, and statements for the next year, including invitation to a back to school event.

Councillor Mathew Levitsky-Kaminski will be resigning soon, and gave a good by in case he isn't in the next meeting.

The meeting has now adjourned.

Thank you for following the CJLO news team coverage of the CSU council meeting!

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The correction was posted last night, but for clarification will be added here to the regular thread:

Councillor Christopher Kalafatidis says he never thought he would never live to see the day when the General Coordinator of the CSU would not vote to immediately condemn the KKK.

The original post incorrectly said "immediately condemn the CSU."

Thank you to all who tuned in!