Having faded from the front-page headlines, the CSU is up to its old tricks again.
The Union has failed to comply with the university’s demand (as required by the CSU’s own bylaws) to make detailed financial information available. They also ruled against a complaint that would have kicked “king Patrice” Blais out of office, as he is not even registered in any classes. The following conflicts of interest were also brought to light:
Reporting on behalf of the financial committee, councillor Patrice Blais reported decisions that were made which could be seen as conflicts of interest. Blais said the procedure for such matters is that the person involved would be absent for any deliberations and would not vote on the matter. Among the matters reported:
- $3,000-3,500 were allocated to a project creating a book about the history of the CSU. Both Blais and Adam Slater were involved in this project.
- A $2,000 budget advance to the student group Facing Reality, a group headed by CSU councillors, was approved.
- A newspaper about the situation following the World Trade Center terrorist attacks was given $3,000. VP Finance Sameer Zuberi was involved in this project.
- Four clubs with Financial Committee members as executives received budgets: $2,500 for Adam Slater’s Democracy Now; $5,000 for Bilal Hamideh’s Muslim Students’ Association; $4,000 for Trish McIntosh’s Praxis; and $6,000 for Louis-Éric Simard’s Debating Society (Simard resigned from the financial committee for undisclosed reasons).
Other motions shot down include one that would have gotten rid of any CSU member with a criminal conviction for financial crimes, one that would have compelled the CSU to keep a detailed book of financial records in compliance with their by-laws, and one that would have forbade people from using the general CSU mailing list to campaign for elections. (Tom Keefer used this list the night before the infamous September 2001 by-election, telling people not to vote for the Representative Union. RU won anyway and – surprise, surprise – the CSU overturned the election result.)
The worst part is that despite being the most anti-democratic, unaccountable group around, the same people risk being re-elected right back into power. Concordia students go to the polls at the end of March, and unless enough of them get involved enough to make a change, nothing much will improve. Sad, but true: Voter apathy is democracy’s worst enemy.