Results for this year’s elections are now available!
It’s that time of year again! We’re looking for our next batch of Directors and Executives to take over for the 2022-2023 academic year.
Below you’ll find all the information you need regarding what positions are available, the election process, and how to run for office!
This Year’s Candidates
Running for GSA Office or Council is a great volunteering opportunity for graduate students at Concordia University. Not only do executives and council member work to improve student-life and wellbeing, but this professional development opportunity can be added to your Co-Curricular Record (CCR).
Please note that GSA Executives and Council Members are not considered employees of the GSA, but rather members of our governing system
Please note that members of the Executive Team are renumerated up to $1100 per month based on the amount and quality of work that they do for the GSA community.
President
The president acts as the CEO of the GSA. They are responsible for the day-to-day operations of the GSA. This includes acting as a key liason between staff and the Council of Directors and ensuring that the other executives are fufilling their duties.
Learn more about the position of president here.
Vice-President Internal
The Vice-President Internal acts as the CFO & head of Human Relations for the GSA. The Vice-President Internal is responsible for ensuring the financial health of the organization as well as upkeeping a institutional record of all documents used in the GSA.
Learn more about the position of vice-president internal here.
Vice-President External
The Vice-President External acts as the head of Public Relations at the GSA. They act as the main liason between the GSA and external bodies (this includes vendors, other external student groups, etc.)
Learn more about the position of vice-president external here.
Vice-President Academics & Advocacy
The Vice-President Academics & Advocacy acts as the head of Academic Standards and Student Advocacy for the GSA. They work closely with Concordia’s Senate in order to uphold academic standards at the university and appoint graduate student representatives to various governing bodies at Concordia University. They also act as the main point of contact between the GSA and the CSU’s Advocacy Center.
Learn more about the position of vice-president academics & advocacy here.
Vice-President Mobilization
The Vice-President Mobilization acts as the head of communications for the GSA. They work closely with the Communications & Outreach manager in order to keep the GSA community informed of all GSA events and opportunities via our various communication channels.
To learn more aboutthe position of vice-president mobilization here.
Please note that the members of the Council are renumerated $60 per council meeting and are additionally compensated based on their involvement in sub-committees at the end of their term.
Director
Directors act as the main liason between the GSA and the members of their faculty. They work together to advocate for the needs of graduate students at Concordia University and improve student life.
Here’s the breakdown of Director positions based on faculty:
- Gina Cody School Director | 11 positions available
- John Molson School Director | 3 positions available
- Arts & Science Director | 7 positions available
- Fine Arts Director | 2 positions available
- INDI Director | 1 position available*
- INDI Vice-Director | 1 position available*
Find more information about the position of Director here.
*INDI Director and Vice-Director must be part of the same slate and must be nominated together.
Senator
Senators represent the interests of the GSA community on Concordia University’s senate. They work to uphold academic standards and shape the future of academics at Concordia.
Find more information about the position of Senator here.
Governor
The Governor acts as the GSA’s representative on Concordia’s highest governing body, the board of directors. They work to ensure that the needs of our community are met.
Find more information about the position of Governor here.
President
Candidates:
- Tafannum Torsha – Team Avengers
- Bhanu Kiran Kancharapu – Team Impact | WINNER
Vice-President Internal
Candidates:
- Harish Kumar- Team Avengers
- Yash Sharma – Team Impact | WINNER
Vice-President External
Candidates:
- Mahammadnahid Gandhi- Team Avengers
- Venkata Sai Santhosh Ella – Team Impact | WINNER
- Vineet Garg – Independent
Vice-President Academic & Advocacy
Candidates:
- Amin ul haq Siddiqui – Team Avengers
- Thenmozhie Rajan – Team Impact | WINNER
Vice-President Mobilization
Candidates:
- Sina Pourali Rahdari – Team Avengers
- Hiral Parekh – Team Impact | WINNER
Gina Cody School Directors
- Satagopan Desikan Sogatur Veera Venkata – Team Impact | WINNER
- Siva Tejaswini Unnam – Team Impact | WINNER
- Samir Subash – Team Impact | WINNER
- Sujit B Krishna – Team Impact | WINNER
- Nirdesh Vallabh Madhani – Team Impact | WINNER
- Bansi Mukeshbhai Joshi – Team Impact | WINNER
- Aravind Athinarayanasamy – Team Impact | WINNER
- Nitesh Virothi – Team Impact | WINNER
- Manan Dineshkumar Paruthi – Team Impact | WINNER
- Harman Preet Kaur – Team Impact | WINNER
- Kyana Mohammadi – Team Impact | WINNER
- Maninder Singh – Team Avengers
- Alaukik Sunil Tandlekar – Team Avengers
- Nikhil Seth – Team Avengers
- Nikunj Lakhani – Team Avengers
- Zain Bhinder – Team Avengers
- Shahab Hashemi – Team Avengers
- Saimon Bin Islam –Team Avengers
- Muhammad Waqas – Team Avengers
- Harpreet Kaur – Team Avengers
- Suryansh Mani Tripathi – Team Avengers
- Divy Patel – Team Avengers
- Ameer Nizami – Independent
- Monali Patel – Independent
John Molson School Directors
- Navaneet Jayamohan – Team Impact | WINNER
- Gautham Guruswamy – Team Impact | WINNER
- Sridharan Vankeepuram – Team Impact | WINNER
- Akshay Bandooni – Team Avengers
- Harsh Jaswal – Team Avengers
- Himanshu Srivastava – Team Avengers
- Sarah Rahimi – Independent
Arts & Sciences Directors
- Pramod Tiwari – Team Avengers | ACCLAIMED
- Gifty Detty-Wood – Team Avengers | ACCLAIMED
- Tuly Chowdhury – Team Avengers | ACCLAIMED
- Anika Ema – Team Avengers | ACCLAIMED
- Joyce Xinyu Li – Team Avengers | ACCLAIMED
- Bhavya Sachdeva – Team Impact
- Kripali Patel – Team Impact | ACCLAIMED
- Kwunkeyi Isichei – Independent | ACCLAIMED
INDI Director/Vice-Director
- Arockia Dhas Rayappan (Director) & Samuel Sayantan (Vice-Director) | ACCLAIMED
Senators
- Samreet Kaur – Team Impact | WINNER
- Nagendra Sri Anurag Appala – Team Impact | WINNER
- Nachiketh Ravindra – Team Impact | WINNER
- Rajat – Team Avengers
- Negar Hamole – Team Avengers
- Md Yeasin Arafat – Team Avengers
Governor
- Durai Chelvan – Team Impact | WINNER
- Mahek Master – Team Avengers
Referendum Questions
RESULTS:
YES – 502
NO – 284
ABSTAIN – 253
To learn more about how GSA members (graduate students) use and benefit from the CSU Advocacy, click here.
To visit the Advocacy Centre page on the CSU website, click here.
Since 2016, the GSA has bi-annually contracted the CSU for graduate students to access advocacy services at the CSU Advocacy Centre. GSA would like graduate students to continue having access to advocacy services at the CSU Advocacy Centre and in order to reduce administration and management costs and increase efficiency, the GSA and CSU propose that the Advocacy Centre Fee Levy that graduate students pay every semester be paid directly to the CSU Advocacy Centre.
The CSU Advocacy Centre is an essential service for students at Concordia that provides students with independent student representation in Disciplinary Proceedings, Investigations and Tribunal Hearings. It also provides independent consultation and support through unfair obstacles/barriers to academic endeavours, including assistance in drafting complaints, special requests and readmission applications, and assistance in understanding the university’s various policies and procedures. Lastly, the AC reports overarching patterns in student problems to elected student officials. Successful outreach efforts over the past few years compounded with the negative impact of Covid-19 have caused a significant increase in the number of students who consult the AC, thus both increasing the total number of cases and limiting the number of hours student advocates can spend on each case. 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.
Currently, the GSA collects a $2.50 fee-levy within the GSA fee which is then transfered to the CSU for their services.
Here is the Referendum Question as it will appear on the ballot:
“Do you, as a graduate student at Concordia, agree to pay the current Advocacy Centre fee-levy of $2.50 per semester directly to the CSU Advocacy Centre instead of the GSA for graduate students to continue to access advocacy services at the CSU Advocacy Centre and for this fee-levy to be annually adjusted to the Consumer Price Index of Canada? The fee levy will be effective in the Fall 2022 semester and billed in accordance with the University’s tuition, Refund and Withdrawal Policy.”
RESULTS:
YES – 435
NO – 377
ABSTAIN – 237
To learn more about how GSA members (graduate students) use and benefit from the CSU Advocacy, click here.
To visit the Advocacy Centre page on the CSU website, click here.
Since 2016, the GSA has bi-annually contracted the CSU for graduate students to access advocacy services at the CSU Advocacy Centre. GSA would like graduate students to continue having access to advocacy services at the CSU Advocacy Centre and in order to reduce administration and management costs and increase efficiency, the GSA and CSU propose that the Advocacy Centre Fee Levy that graduate students pay every semester be paid directly to the CSU Advocacy Centre.
The CSU Advocacy Centre is an essential service for students at Concordia that provides students with independent student representation in Disciplinary Proceedings, Investigations and Tribunal Hearings. It also provides independent consultation and support through unfair obstacles/barriers to academic endeavours, including assistance in drafting complaints, special requests and readmission applications, and assistance in understanding the university’s various policies and procedures. Lastly, the AC reports overarching patterns in student problems to elected student officials. Successful outreach efforts over the past few years compounded with the negative impact of Covid-19 have caused a significant increase in the number of students who consult the AC, thus both increasing the total number of cases and limiting the number of hours student advocates can spend on each case. Graduate student cases in particular are longer and more complex as they typically involve problems being compounded, especially with regard to immigration in the case of international students.
Currently, GSA members have used more services than their membership fee provides, meaning that triaging of the most important/serious cases can occur.
Here is the Referendum Question as it will be presented on the ballot:
“Do you, as a graduate student at Concordia, agree to increase the Advocacy Centre Fee Levy from $2.50 per semester to $3.00 per semester (an increase of $0.50), annually adjusted to the Consumer Price Index of Canada, to increase support hours for graduate students at the CSU Advocacy Centre? The fee levy will be effective in the Fall 2022 semester and billed in accordance with the University’s tuition, Refund and Withdrawal Policy.”
RESULTS:
YES – 578
NO – 184
ABSTAIN – 287
The GSA has secured a partnership with Studentcare (the GSA’s current insurance provider for the GSA Health and Dental Plan) to offer international students a health plan, underwritten by Sun Life Financial at a premium of $1096 per academic year (with a 2 years guarantee on the premium) to replace the current mandatory international student’s health plan of the
University (currently priced at $1344 per academic year).
Details of the plan are available here.
Do you agree with the GSA offering an equivalent health plan for GSA international students, and to fulfill this objective, agree to ratify the changes
approved by the GSA Council of Directors on April 5, 2022 to Article III of the GSA General By-Laws to change the assessment fee collected under article 52 of an Act respecting the accreditation and financing of student associations to read as follow:
Article III –
GSA membership fee (Accreditation article 52)
The GSA membership fee shall be set at the following rate:
- $57.28 per academic year for the GSA operation fee (no change);
- $1096 per academic year (or prorated as necessary) for GSA members that are international students for the GSA international student’s health plan fee (for information in 2021-2022 the university international student’s health plan is costing $1344 per student per academic year)
The GSA operation fee would be refundable in accordance with the university tuition, billing and refund policy.
The GSA international student’s health plan fee would be refundable or prorated for international students who do not require coverage because they are included in the exemptions defined by the laws and regulations requiring the coverage.
Read the full statement on these changes to the health insurance plan here.
See the details of the proposed health plan here.
Election Process
The nomination period is the first step in the elections process.
In order for a nomination to be accepted, each candidate must get a minimum of signatures from other GSA members.
- Executive Candidates need a minimum of 15 signatures;
- Director Candidates need a minimum of 10 signatures;
All nomination forms must be submitted to the CRO ([email protected]) no later than 11:59 pm EST on April 8th, 2022.
If you choose to withdraw your nomination, you can do so by 11:59 pm EST on April 9th, 2022.
The final list of candidates will be released on April 11th, 2022.
Once the nomination process is complete, the campaigning period will begin.
Please note that all campaigning materials are to be submitted to the CRO during the campaigning period.
These materials will be shared on the GSA website and social media channels once approved by the CRO.
If the candidate is planning on postering as part of their campaign, it is their responsibility to come to GSA house to get the posters stamped and dated. Candidates are also responsible for putting up their own campaigning materials.
Each candidate shall be limited to a total reimbursement of $70 CAD to cover the costs of campaigning materials.
Polling Days: April 21st & 22nd, 2022 via the Concordia student portal
Final Results will be released April 25th, 2022.
Important Forms & Documents
NOTE THAT THESE ARE THE MASTER FORMS – PLEASE DOWNLOAD A COPY. DO NOT EDIT DIRECTLY IN THE MASTERFORM.
Click here for the Nomination Form for Executives & Directors.
Click here for the Nomination Form for Senators & Governor.
Click here for the GSA Elections Policy