June 10, 2008 News

Rosengate saga comes to a close

‘This is fucking bullshit,’ Rosenshein says

by Terrine Friday

The verdict is in: Steven Rosenshein was never an independent student.

But nobody seemed surprised at this tidbit of discovery.

Dania Fawaz, an outgoing Concordia Student Union councillor, seemed unfazed by the old news brought forth by outgoing CSU president Angelica Novoa.

“Are you kidding me?” Fawaz interjected at her final council meeting. “Did you just figure this out?”

Rosenshein, an arts and science student, posed illegally as an independent student in last year’s CSU general elections. He and David Kogut successfully blocked council induction of deserving independent students.

“I am an independent student,” Rosenshein asserted to The Link after a contestation was filed with the Chief Electoral Office.

The Judicial Board disqualified the two councillors-elect based on information provided by the Dean of Students’ office. Independent student Ethan Cox, a council hopeful blocked by Rosenshein, was welcomed to the roundtable as well.

However a special summer meeting chaired by Rosenshein saw only four members of the outgoing CSU Council reverse the JB’s decision.

According to CSU bylaws, the council of representatives is able to overturn a decision of the JB by a four-fifths majority, if the decision engenders racism, sexism, homophobia, xenophobia or collusion, or is “manifestly unreasonable.” When asked if the councillors at the special meeting decided the JB ruling was manifestly unreasonable, Rosenshein replied, “That was the point of the meeting.”

Although the JB continued to uphold its initial decision, Rosenshein remained a councillor representing the independent students during the 2007-08 school year.

In the final 2007-08 Council meeting held May 14, president Novoa asked Rosenshein to “go to the back of the room where he belongs,” as a mere observer—but only after a disagreement regarding CSU health and dental negotiations ensued.

Under current practices, the CSU executive is responsible for making health and dental negotiations. This didn’t sit well with Rosenshein.

“The contract shouldn’t be approved until Council signs it,” Rosenshein said, citing transparency as the main reason for his concern.

Novoa was quick on the draw and ordered that the proposed motion “not [be tabled] by Steven Rosenshein who is debatable as a council member.” A letter from the Dean of Students proving Rosenshein’s student status, obtained the same day as the Council meeting, was thus introduced by Novoa and circulated.

Novoa has since been unable to reproduce this document.

“I should’ve kept a copy, I guess,” said the former CSU president.

Outgoing councillor Matthew Forget made the initial request for proof of Rosenshein’s student status last November. Forget has never received a copy of the document.

“The fact that it comes out in May’s really handy because [nobody] can do anything,” he lamented. Forget believes Novoa’s newfound awakening is just a red herring: the real dispute is behind the health and dental renegotiations.

“It just doesn’t add up,” Forget continued.

Forget also noted that the completed request for Rosenshein’s status “was a matter of days, not months.” According to Forget, the Dean of Students’ office got the request “about a week ago,” dating back to a few days before the document was produced.

Dean of Students Elizabeth Morrey confirmed she was asked only “recently” for information from Novoa and thus “provided the basic information I am obliged to give.”

Novoa initially cited “confidentiality issues” as the reason for the six-month delay of the long-awaited document.

Jason Gondziola, former coucillor, is upset at the last-minute breakthrough.

“I could have had a seat on the Board [of Governors],” he said. Gondziola was Rosenshein’s only opponent in the bid to take a seat on the Board.

Gondziola blamed the ordeal on inconsistency and called for “more ostensibly democratic processes.

“These kinds of things wouldn’t happen if there was a better measure of accountability,” he continued. “I don’t think this happens with governments that are monitored.”

—with files from Rita Cant