[GSA Council] Council’s lack of integrity

Sun Apr 7 13:59:51 PDT 2019

Hello Directors and Executives.

I am writing to follow-up on the email from the Executives concerning their
possible resignations.

I am surprised that no Director has replied to the email from March 30th.
With very little time left in this year's mandate, I do hope that we can
reach *a solution that is mutually acceptable to both Directors and
Executives. *

*Does anyone have anything to contribute? Should we do a preliminary online
vote (prior to the meeting) to see if Directors are willing to accept
resignations? Do Directors prefer to negotiate a solution that fits
everyone? Can someone propose a motion? *

As Chair, I have no allegiance to either the Directors nor the Executives,
but rather to the proper functioning of the GSA's meetings. While I
understand that the Directors are dissatisfied with the work conducted by
the Executives, I would remind the Directors that per the GSA bylaws
(below) you also have responsibilities which, to my knowledge, have not
been fulfilled by certain if not all directors at times. For example, per
Article VI, Item 1.2, Directors do share certain responsibility in securing
Quorum for the GA (a large point of contention last meeting). Moreover,
there are a few of you who come to every single meeting, you work on your
PC or phone, and do not pay any attention to what is happening.

Despite this, no Directors (again, to my knowledge) have had their
bursaries rescinded or cut drastically. *It would be very de-motivational
if that were the case, right?*

*Article VI – Roles and Responsibilities of the Council of Directors *
1. The Directors shall:
1.1. Enforce the General By-Laws and Special By-Laws of the G.S.A.
1.2. Aid the Executives in the execution of their assigned duties.
1.3. Endeavour to improve the general condition of the G.S.A. and of
Graduate Students at Concordia University

*Article V – Council of Directors *
17. Failure to arrive 30 minutes early as required by bylaws without
documentation shall  result in the withholding or non payment of honorarium
for Directors in question

-----------------

I think that many would agree that the GSA environment has become
acrimonious and toxic.  *What can we do to fix the situation? *How can
we empower
each other to make the last few months of the GSA mandate better?

*I am not taking sides, and I am not weighing in on whether the Executives
have done their jobs or not, since this is not within the purview of my
role.* I will say that the bylaws are a bit of an unclear tool to assess
Executives work (as I have mentioned in the meetings), particularly as the
executives are tasked with many items not falling in the bylaws. For
example, they have resolved 3 grievances from prior years that would have
cost the GSA 20,000$; this is not a "task" that would be recognized under
the bylaws specifically, but would obviously consume a lot of time. *Also,
if we stick strictly with the bylaws to assess people's right to a bursary,
then to be fair/equal, many directors should have their bursaries rescinded
also (per above).*

Hopefully some director(s) can weigh in on the President's email, and
propose some solutions, or motions that we can bring for an online vote in
order to figure out where we stand before Friday night.

Let's try and make this work for the rest of the semester everyone.

Nura

On Sat, Mar 30, 2019 at 1:28 AM President GSA <president at gsaconcordia.ca>
wrote:

> Dear All
>
>
> Unfortunately, some of the council members have been unethically attacking
> the executive committee for the past few months. We have carried out all
> the tasks passed in the motions and proactively addressed the complaints
> including but not limited to GA mobilization. However, after the March
> council meeting, we have no incentive or motivation to keep carrying out
> our duties without any support or participation in our tasks from the
> directors. We would like to question the integrity of the council. There is
> no base on the reasoning of lack of overall performance with regard to
> individual tasks and team performance.
>
> Pertaining to the GA quorum not being met. Each Director is responsible
> for 300 graduate students for their respective departments. How can one
> expect the student to turn up for the General Assembly when most of the
> directors were not present themselves in the General Assembly. This not
> only shows the incompetence of the directors rather it also shows the sheer
> negligence of the said directors. Out of a total of 20 directors, only 4
> turned up, that is an embarrassing 20% attendance amongst the directors. If
> this is not negligence, then we do not know what is. It must also be noted
> that expecting only five students to mobilize the whole graduate student
> body which roughly speaking 7800 students is not only an astronomical
> expectation but also playing “Hot Potato” with one’s own responsibilities.
>
> We demand repercussive measures be taken by next week and the negligence
> to be rectified. Otherwise, all of us will submit our resignations in the
> April council meeting.
>
> We are glad that our work is at least recognised and appreciated by DOS
> and Graduate studies.
>
>
> Best regards,
>
> Amir Molaei
> President
>
>
> Graduate Students' Association
> Concordia University, 2030 Mackay · Montreal · QC · H3N 1J1
> tel  514.848.2424.x7903  ·  fax  514.848.7904
>
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-- 
*Nura Jabagi, MBA*
PhD Candidate | Business Technology Management
John Molson School of Business
*Concordia Public Scholar*
linkedin.com/in/nurajabagi <http://www.linkedin.com/in/nurajabagi>
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