GSA Fall By-Elections 2024-2025

Being a director is a good role for you if you’d like to make a direct impact on the lives of Concordia graduate students this year and for years to come!
We currently have the following positions available:
  • Faculty of Arts and Science: 6 positions available
  • Individualized: 1 Director position available, 1 Vice-Director position available (Non-Voting member)
  • Gina Cody School of Engineering and Computer Science: 1 position available
  • John Molson School of Business: 1 position available
Elections Policy
Nomination Form
Submit your Nomination

What is being a director like?

You attend monthly council meetings and can also be part of subcommittees that work on specific aspects governing the GSA (like Budget & Funding, Healthcare, Student Life, Policy, etc). Council follows GSA’s policies and By-Laws, including Robert’s Rules of Order, when conducting meetings, voting, and carrying out the will of its members democratically. It’s important that directors familiarize themselves with these governing documents which you can find on our website under gsaconcordia.ca/governance/regulations.
According to the GSA By-Laws, the role of Director has three main functions:
  • enforcing the General-By Laws and Special By-Laws of the GSA
  • aiding Executives in the execution of their assigned duties
  • maintaining the endeavour to improve the general condition of the GSA and of all Graduate Students at Concordia University
Running for GSA Council is a great volunteering opportunity for graduate students at Concordia University. Not only do council members work to improve student-life and wellbeing, but this professional development opportunity can be added to your Co-Curricular Record (CCR). 
Directors are paid $60 per meeting they attend. More than 3 unexcused absences are considered a resignation. At the end of the mandate (June 31st), directors can request a bursary (approx. $200) reflects their work on subcommittees and projects.
Please note that GSA Council Members are not considered employees of the GSA, but rather members of our governing system.

Eligibility for Office

To be eligible to run for a position at the GSA, potential candidates must:
  • be currently enrolled in a graduate program at Concordia University;
  • must not be graduating until the end of the next academic year (June 2024);
  • must not hold an elected position within any the following organizations:
        • CUFA (Concordia University Faculty Association);
        • CUPFA (Concordia University Part-Time Faculty Association);
        • CREW (Concordia Research and Education Workers Union – CREW–CSN);
        • Any GSA Faculty or Departmental Subassociation;
        • Any GSA clubs.
  • must not have held more than 2 consecutive terms as a GSA elected official;
Any candidates that do not meet the eligibility criteria will be disqualified.

By-Elections Timeline

During the Nomination Period, potential candidates must get signatures from their peers and fill out the nomination form below

During the verification period, the CRO ensures that all potential candidates are eligible for office.

The final list of candidates will be released to all graduate students on October 23rd.

During the Campaigning Period, candidates and their supporters work hard to share their ideas and try to win votes from fellow graduate students.

On voting days, GSA members are invited to vote via the Concordia portal for the representatives of their faculty.

How to Run for the Elections

Nomination Period

October 7th to 20th

For Council Positions

    1. Download the Nomination & Authorization Form;
    2. Get a minimum of ten (10) signatures from current GSA members within the faculty that you are seeking to represent;

    3. Fill out the google form above and attach the completed nomination form;

Campaigning Period

October 23rd to 30th

Decide on your platform

Introduce yourself to the graduate student population by putting together a short profile about you.

Choose which student issues you care about the most and how you’re planning to improve student life at Concordia University!

You can choose to run as an independent candidate or as part of a slate.

Submit your campaigning materials to the CRO

Once your candidacy has been verified, you must send all of your campaigning materials (posters, social media posts, etc.) to the CRO for approval.

*please note that the GSA can provide a reimbursable expenditure of $70 per candidate or $200 per slate (which ever is lower)

Participate in the Debate

During the campaigning period there will be a debate held to allow candidates to make their case for election and share their platforms.

All candidates are expected to participate in the debate which will be run and moderated by our CRO and DROs.

The date, time, and location of the debate is to be announced.

Convince your peers to vote for you!

Use any tools available to you to share your platform and reach your peers.

The GSA can share approved campaiging materials across our social media platforms and will be creating a place to house candidate profiles here on our website.

*note that campaigning is forbidden once the campaigning period ends (October 30th, 2024)

Voting Period

November 4th and 5th. Results on November 8th!

Log into your Student Portal

Use your student netname and password to get into your My CU Account.

Go to "Student Voting"

This tile can be found in the “Personal” tab of your My CU Account. Select “GSA Fall By-Elections” on the following page.

Vote for your faculty's Directors

Select the checkboxes next to the name of each candidate you’d like to elect into office, submit, and you’re done!

Referendum Questions

During this by-election period, our community will be asked two referendum questions. One regarding an increase in a GSA fee levy; and the other is the implementation of a new fee levy.

Advocacy Centre Fee Levy

“Do you, as a graduate student at Concordia, agree to increase the Advocacy Centre Fee Levy from $3.00 per semester to $4.00 per semester (an increase of $1.00), annually adjusted to the Consumer Price Index of Canada, to increase support hours for graduate students at the CSU Advocacy Centre. The fee levy increase will be effective in the Winter 2025 semester and billed in accordance with the University’s tuition, Refund and Withdrawal.”

Background information:

The CSU Advocacy Centre (AC) is a confidential and essential service for students at Concordia that provides students with independent student representation in Disciplinary Proceedings, Investigations and Tribunal Hearings at the University under the Academic Code of Conduct and/or the Code of Rights and Responsibilities. It also provides independent consultation and support through unfair obstacles/barriers to academic endeavours, including assistance in drafting complaints, in conflicts with professors or departments, in special requests and in readmission applications, and assistance in understanding the university’s various policies and procedures. Graduate student cases in particular are longer and more complex as they typically involve problems being compounded, especially with regards to immigration in the case of international students. Lastly, the CSU AC reports overarching patterns in student problems to elected student officials.

For close to 20 years, the CSU AC has been supporting undergraduate students at Concordia. Starting in 2016, the CSU AC has been supporting graduate students as well, with GSA through their own fee-levy contracting and paying the CSU for access to the AC, until 2022. And since Fall 2022, graduates students have been directly paying a fee-levy to the CSU AC so that graduate students, like undergraduate students, can have continuous and regular access to the services offered by the AC.

The proposed fee levy increase from $3.00 to $4.00 per semester, starting in Winter 2025, aims to maintain and enhance these services. The additional funding would help extend support hours and improve accessibility to these resources. The fee would also be adjusted annually according to the Consumer Price Index (CPI) to account for inflation. Students are encouraged to evaluate the potential benefits of this increase and how it may impact the support services they might need. The decision to approve, reject or abstain the levy rests with each student. This adjustment aims to ensure that the services continue to meet student needs effectively.

CSU Daycare Fee Levy

“Do you agree to implement a fee levy of $2.50 per semester from all GSA members to support the CSU Daycare services? The fee levy would be implemented with the Winter 2025 semester in accordance with the university’s tuition refund and withdrawal policy and, aims to equitably reflect Graduate student utilization of the services in proportion to the current undergraduate contribution of $0.25 per credit.”

Background information:

The proposed fee levy is a charge of $2.50 per semester for all GSA members, starting in Winter 2025, to support the CSU Daycare services. This initiative aims to equibly reflect the contribution of graduate students towards the daycare, matching the current $0.25 per credit contribution made by undergraduate students. The fee levy will be billed with tuition fees, in accordance with the university’s refund and withdrawal policies.

The CSU, which started the Daycare, wants to parner with the GSA to continue supporting this service. The Daycare operates independently without government subsidies and relies on support from the student union and parents. It features four floors with classrooms designed for toddlers and multi-age groups and follows a sensory program developed by Loris.

The proposed fee levy would provide ongoing financial support to maintain and enhance the daycare services, including funding for activities such as music and therapy classes. This partnership aims to ensure that graduate students with children have access to affordable and quality daycare.

Still have questions?

Email [email protected] for any queries you may have regarding the GSA general elections.