by: Christopher Adam and Catherine Letendre (Arts and Science councillors)
The UNabridged - Councillors' Comments, (The Concordia Student Union's Newsletter), February 2002, p.4.
Last semester Chris Schulz submitted a petition signed by thousands of students who demanded change in their union. For the first time, students participated en masse in the CSU elections in November 2001, and as a consequence elected the moderate and centrist Representative Union into power. Yet, after nearly 3 months, the Chris Schulz led RU has not taken office and the CSU is currently administered by a sort of care-taker, interim government.
As arts and science councillors we were and are in favor of appointing the RU as the interim executive until the upcoming general elections in March. At the January 23, 2002 council meeting, however, only six councillors voted in favor of Chris Schulz's RU. Though we realize that the elections were faulty and even chaotic at times, we believe that it is reasonable to assume that under more appropriate circumstances the RU would have also garnered the most votes among all the other parties. It is likely that the false allegations of bribery, coupled with the fact that the RU was removed from the ballots for hours during the first day of voting, and was only reinstated upon seeking legal recourse actually placed Chris Schulz at a distinct disadvantage in relation to the Umbrella Party. Should there have been no disqualified ballots and should the election have passed without hitches, the Umbrella Party would still have lost the election to the Chris Schulz slate, and the New Organized Way would have still had not even the remotest chance of winning the elections.
If anything, the November election provides the evidence to a simple formula: the greater number of students participate in the voting, the greater the chance that a moderate and centrist executive can take power. No one need subscribe to the illusion that the majority of undergraduate students at Concordia adhere to radicalism, anarchy, communism or any combination of these beliefs. The majority is always moderate, and prefers caution in politics. Extremism, regardless of what side of the political spectrum it may be found, is rejected by and large, by students at Concordia. Those students that hold firm to the notion that dissent in politics must be tolerated, that intelligent and conciliatory discussion and negotiation with university bodies, the administration included, is often preferable to pressure tactics, do not constitute a threatening phenomenon from what the leftist radicals perceive as "right-wing". These are students who have a different vision for the CSU and see a desperate need for renewal.
Many of the moderates who voted for the RU may well feel disenchanted with student politics at Concordia. Perhaps now they will ignore the CSU all together and focus their attention elsewhere. The most constructive solution, however, would be if Concordia students once again turn out in large numbers at the upcoming elections, and speak their mind clearly in both words and numbers.
At the CSU Council meeting on January 30th a motion was passed asking that a section of the UNabridged Newsletter be reserved for Councillors to express their views on the elections, the Judicial Board's report, and other recent events.