Coden Nikbakht is no longer the president of the University of Saskatchewan Students’ Union (USSU), but he didn’t resign, according to the embattled former student politician.
Nikbakht told Global News he was surprised Friday when he couldn’t sign up for classes, being told he was “required to discontinue” his studies – a process for students with substandard grades.
On Tuesday, the first day of the school year for U of S students, a news release from the USSU stated Nikbakht’s exit was “due to personal circumstances.”
In March, students held a protest inside Place Riel on university grounds, calling for Nikbakht to resign amid allegations made in a Facebook protest, which followed his unopposed run in the USSU presidential race.
Nikbakht said the post alleged he committed a sexual assault. He denies the claims, calling them “malicious attacks” and “slander.”
Saskatoon provincial court records show he has not been charged.
Nikbakht stated he has contacted Saskatoon police about the allegations and said an investigation is underway into the social media postings.
Global News was unable to independently verify the claims in the Facebook post, which prompted outgoing USSU president David D’Eon to refuse to participate in the leadership transition process.
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Following the protest, Nikbakht said he attended a meeting with university president Peter Stoicheff and Patti McDougall, vice-provost of teaching and learning at the U of S.
“We discussed that the campus was an unsafe place for me. I agreed, you know, I felt unsafe,” Nikbakht said.
Despite it being halfway through term, the former USSU president said the parties agreed Nikbakht would not physically attend classes in the College of Arts and Science for the remainder of the term.
“I was promised that I would have all the time I needed to complete those classes,” he said.
He continued to study through to summer and said he expected to take exams in September, before learning he was ineligible to take classes.
“I will be appealing this to the fullest extent,” Nikbakht said, who has retained a lawyer to “exercise the legal framework for a situation like this.”
Students are notified up to two times before they have to discontinue studying and appeal mechanisms are available, McDougall said.
Discontinuing studying only comes as a shock if a person doesn’t read the correspondence sent to them, she added, noting she’s unable to speak to the specifics of Nikbakht’s case.
“This happens hundreds of times in a year,” McDougall said.
“So this is not a small group of students. This process is very clear and structured and it is not possible for this to sneak up on someone.”
If Nikbakht were to appeal his decision immediately and was successful, the soonest he could attend classes would be January.
There is no connection between Nikbakht’s departure and the allegations levied against him in March, according to USSU general manager Caroline Cottrell.
“I can tell you, unequivocally, it is not related,” Cottrell said.
The only requirement for a person to join the executive of the USSU is that they must be an undergraduate student at the U of S.
“I’m not prepared, as the general manager, to have any more damage done by erroneous information,” Cottrell said.
Under USSU bylaws, the next president must be selected through a byelection.
“This is a very standard procedure,” said Brent Kobes, who has assumed the role of acting president, explaining how university student council seats and occasionally vice-president positions need to be filled in the fall.
A byelection date is expected sometime next month, Kobes said.
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