Quoted from reddit u/mundaneexistence

I apologize that this is long winded but please read, its important.

So my Student Union is currently choosing to ignore the results of our most recent election in which an outsider Conservative has won the popular vote. How are they doing so? By claiming he's committed sexual assault while previously slandering him with empty accusations of racism.

So some more context,

I happen to be a student at the University of Saskatchewan where nobody takes the Student Union seriously and for a long time has been run by an inner circle of Art Majors who repeatedly groom and elect their preferred candidates, as most students don't vote.

This year an outsider who goes by the name of Coden Nikbakht decided to run for president and ended up being the only candidate as the inner circle assumed one of their own would run.

Realizing that he was unopposed the Union did their best to discredit them by initially claiming his policies on improving student parking were unsustainable and not environmentally friendly. Once they realized most students wanted parking reform they redirected their attack by claiming he was a racist and heckled him at one of the open forums/debates.

The claim he was racist was sparked by a question regarding self declaration as First Nations on campus (which entitles you to serious benefits) and if the Indigenous Student Council decided to separate how would resources be divided.

The rest of the people running refused to comment and Coden didn't provided an answer but essentially said

'We'd need to have a conversation as what defines Indigenous, is it a blood percentage, is it a cultural choice? As self-deceleration might lead to abuses of the system.'

This was then twisted and spread on social media as Coden referring to people as 'half breeds' which if you watch the debate (I'll link at the end) is never said and even if it were the context makes sense.

Regardless of these attempts Coden did a lot of campaigning and drew a huge amount of support so the Union along with slandering him created a troll facebook group to try and get people to vote 'no' (as in a vote of no confidence). They even produced posters called 'Vote no for Coden'.

After the final forum/debate in which a large amount of support was shown for Coden the Union must have panicked as on the last day of the election, hours before voting closed, the current president of the Union posted publicly on facebook that several anonymous claims of 'sexual assault' against Coden had been brought to their attention and that he would refuse to step down even if Coden won.

Later that day Coden did in fact win with close to 50% of the vote, (one could choice to vote yes, no or abstain) in which the results were booed by a crowd of activists.

Currently a protest is planned tomorrow and social media is on fire with people arguing back and forth. I'll be livestreaming the protest for interested parities.

What will happen next is anyones guess. My Union has shown to be incredibly unprofessional and power hungry, going to the point of trying to ruin a mans reputation to maintain their fully paid positions in which its not required to take classes. Considering they have no interest in acknowledging the majority that elected him our Student Union is essentially operating as a dictatorship.

If Coden happens to be guilty of said crimes we'd like the case to be handled by the proper authorities, not the court of public opinion.

Presidents Message: https://www.facebook.com/david.deon.14/posts/10156138923045119

Debate where he was claimed to be racist: https://www.facebook.com/theUSSU/videos/10156172070915270/?fref=gs&dti=306538383201438&hc_location=group

Second Debate where he was asked to step down: https://www.facebook.com/theUSSU/videos/10156188403650270/

Troll group created: https://www.facebook.com/Tub-of-Margarine-for-USSU-President-2012677808760494/

Protest for tomorrow: https://www.facebook.com/events/583410975328489/

Footage from the protest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZ8uHpXKCu8&feature=youtu.be

Sheaf article: http://thesheaf.com/2018/03/22/ussu-president-deon-to-refuse-transition-after-incoming-candidate-accused-of-sexual-assault/

CKOM article: http://www.ckom.com/2018/03/23/incoming-u-of-s-student-president-accused-of-sexual-assault/

CBC article: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatoon/coden-nikbakht-university-saskatchewan-president-allegations-1.4591108