During BUSU’s February election, a pair of candidates were disqualified from running to serve on the BoD without warning nor substantiated reason after the voting period had already begun, driving concerns surrounding the credibility of democratic elections within BUSU.
On Feb. 11, 12 hours after the voting period began for the Brock University Students’ Union (BUSU) February election for seats on the BUSU Board of Directors (BoD), the Brock Senate and the Brock Press BoD, two candidates saw their platforms entirely removed from voter ballots in the BoD race.
One of these candidates was Binoy Mahmud, a fourth-year business student at Brock who has served in BUSU throughout every year of his studies until now. Mahmud served a range of positions within BUSU, including as a BUSAC Counsellor, a member of the Clubs Policy Committee and a member of the Election and Referendum Committee. He also held a seat on BUSU’s BoD during 2023 and is the president of the Brock Muslim Students Association (MSA).
Candidates like Mahmud received emails from BUSU stating that the current BoD held a meeting in which they declared some candidates as “not in good standing” with the students’ union, leading to their disqualification.
According to BUSU’s BoD policies, to run in the election, candidates must:
- “Be a member of the Corporation,”
- “Be at least eighteen (18) years of age, must not be an undischarged bankrupt, must be mentally competent and must not have been convicted of any offences listed under the Canadian Criminal Code,” and,
- “Have a minimum 60 per cent average as confirmed by the Brock University Registrar Office before that start of the campaign period.”
In an interview with The Brock Press, Mahmud said that upon reflection of BUSU’s bylaws, he satisfied all of the qualifications to run as a candidate, which left him wondering why he could have been disqualified.
After accumulating so much experience working within BUSU, and unable to think of what may have incited such a consequence, Mahmud likened his disqualification to “a stab in the back.”
“It really was very emotional for me,” said Mahmud. “The moment I received the disqualification email, I sat in my room […] and I was like ‘okay, this was my last shot. This was my last year.’”
What proved to be especially frustrating for Mahmud was the lack of explanation from BUSU following his disqualification from the BoD election. According to Mahmud, BUSU did not follow up with an explanation as to why he was disqualified, other than their initial explanation that he was “not in good standing” with the students’ union.
“Saying that I’m not in good standing is very subjective,” said Mahmud. “I didn’t really expect that disqualification because there are no policies or bylaws that say if someone inside BUSU disagrees with my platform or my stances as a candidate, they can simply remove me.”
According to Mahmud, he satisfied all of BUSU’s requirements to run for a seat on the BoD. The union accepted his nomination and allegedly didn’t mention any issues regarding his candidacy to him in advance of the voting period. As a result, Mahmud was left puzzled as to why BUSU deemed him as “not in good standing” with the union.
Mahmud also said the BUSU BoD did not provide him with an appeal process on their decision to disqualify him from the election.
“An organization I served for four years says that I am not in good standing, […] they didn’t even give me an opportunity to explain my side,” said Mahmud.
Mahmud has some inclinations as to why he faced disqualification which would still not warrant a disqualification under BUSU’s bylaws and BoD policies.
Mahmud considered his past efforts to bring back executive elections while serving on BUSU’s BoD in 2023 as a possible reason as to why BUSU chose to remove his candidacy from voter ballots.
Mahmud also said that his past attempts to discuss reinstating executive elections in BUSU as a director on the board “would always be shut down.” However, Mahmud noted that the reason he advocated for executive elections was to amplify the voices of many “student groups” who wanted them back.
Since Mahmud has advocated for executive elections in the past, he said that BUSU might have thought he was connected to the RESTORE BUSU movement, a group advocating for increased transparency in the students’ union and alleging that BUSU staff compromise hiring processes and democratic elections.
According to Mahmud, he pre-emptively told BUSU General Manager Robert Hilson that he was not connected to the RESTORE BUSU movement in an effort “to avoid controversy,” despite their shared campaign effort to bring back executive elections. He said that if his disqualification did stem from this, it would have occurred “without any evidence” and would be based on “an assumption.”
“Being a loyal member to BUSU, I remembered my fiduciary duty to an organization that I really cared about and served,” said Mahmud. “I do support bringing back executive elections and, if that’s something students want, I […] will push for it in my platform.”
However, Mahmud said that, from his understanding of the bylaws, even being a member of a student-led movement like RESTORE BUSU would not warrant a disqualification, as it is not a criminal offence.
However, Mahmud’s history of pushing for executive elections still brought him to a dead end when searching for answers, citing the electoral success of other candidates who pushed for executive elections “at a much bolder level.”
Despite inquiring, Mahmud did not receive any reasoning for his disqualification. The current BoD, the only elected body in the student’s union, are responsible for any disqualification decisions regarding the incoming BoD, which Mahmud called “a little unfair.”
“I feel that […] there is a little bit of [a] conflict of interest when the current BoD are making decisions on the future BoD,” said Mahmud. “It’s like a systematic way of ensuring the people who get elected follow [their] stances.”
Another board candidate and former Brock Press member, Andrew Hawlitzky, faced a similar experience in February’s election. Hawlitzky shared his letter from BUSU in a post on his campaign Instagram page.
In the caption of the post, Hawlitzky wrote that he did not receive “a single warning” from BUSU in advance of his disqualification.
Hawlitzky also released a public statement via Instagram wherein he outlined a series of events leading to his disqualification that mirror the ones Mahmud faced. In the statement, Hawlitzky wrote that he, too, received a disqualification email from Brielle Kaminsky, the Chair of BUSU’s board, wherein he was also deemed “not in good standing” with the union.
However, in reference to the same BoD election policy, Hawlitzky also said there would be no reason for his disqualification. He went on to explain that he received no response from Kaminsky or any other BUSU personnel upon reaching out for clarity surrounding his disqualification.
His statement goes on to say that “some of BUSU’s board members believe” that he and Mahmud are leaders of RESTORE BUSU, leading to their disqualification. Similar to Mahmud, Hawlitzky denied leading the movement and guessed that BUSU saw overlaps between RESTORE BUSU’s criticisms of the students’ union and Hawlitzky’s campaign efforts.
The Brock Press reached out to several BUSU personnel for comment on this issue, including General Manager Robert Hilson and President Anusha Pahuja, but received no response at the time of writing.