Chris Schulz has been let go from his position as clubs commissioner at the Concordia Student Union (CSU). He says that the decision came a month before his term was officially supposed to end, but CSU president Rob Green denied that Schulz was ever held to any contract.
“I was hired by verbal contract starting from August 1st to June 1st,” said Schulz, “and on the 24th of April, Rob Green came into my office and he said ‘I’ve got some bad news for you, we’re going to have to let you go a month early.'”
Schulz said the official reason given for his dismissal was a lack of club activity during the last month of classes.
“There was no contract, there was no specific duration to his employment,” said Green, “We let go of all our staff at this time. It wasn’t that we singled out Chris here.” Green pointed out that Communications Commissioner Jessica Lajambe was also let go by the CSU for similar reasons.
Schulz was hired by the CSU executive last August. Acting as a co-ordinator for all of Concordia’s clubs and associations required 30 hours per week during the academic year, except during the March CSU presidential election campaign, in which Schulz ran for CSU president.
The CSU electoral bylaws allowed Schulz to take an unpaid leave of absence — which he asked for — while he was campaigning.
“As the campaign ended, the school year was also drawing to a close and club activity had reached a minimum. This was the reason Schulz was let go. There’s no sense in having paid staff when there’s no work to do,” said Green.
But Schulz disagreed. “There was lots of preparation to do for the next incoming clubs commissioner and there was lots of stuff to tie up.”
A hot point of debate is whether or not the decision to fire Schulz was politically motivated. As leader of the Chris Schulz Executive, Schulz led a strong opposition to the ACCESS Party during the election campaign. Schulz says he was not surprised at losing his job. “I was sure something like that was going to happen,” he said, “but this is the kind of thing that happens in politics.”
Green calls the idea “a ridiculous assertion. If he [Schulz] had been singled out I could understand it. But the executive basically took a decision that we’d let go all our staff that wasn’t full time.”
“Firing me for financial reasons doesn’t seem to hold weight with me when we’re talking about rewarding the executives with their bonuses,” said Schulz. He is referring to the May 9th Council of Representatives meeting, where council decided to restore the bonuses of the executives. A total of $15,000 was rewarded to the six CSU executives. Critics have questioned how this can be done when the student union was defrauded earlier this year of $200,000.
Schulz says he is proud of his work as clubs commissioner and that he has no regrets about how he chose to do his job. Green for his part, agreed, “for the most part, he did a good job.”
Schulz’s immediate future with the CSU is uncertain. “I’m not quite sure what I’m going to be doing in terms of my involvement with the CSU next year,” he said.
“I was hired by verbal contract starting from August 1st to June 1st,” said Schulz, “and on the 24th of April, Rob Green came into my office and he said ‘I’ve got some bad news for you, we’re going to have to let you go a month early.'”
Schulz said the official reason given for his dismissal was a lack of club activity during the last month of classes.
“There was no contract, there was no specific duration to his employment,” said Green, “We let go of all our staff at this time. It wasn’t that we singled out Chris here.” Green pointed out that Communications Commissioner Jessica Lajambe was also let go by the CSU for similar reasons.
Schulz was hired by the CSU executive last August. Acting as a co-ordinator for all of Concordia’s clubs and associations required 30 hours per week during the academic year, except during the March CSU presidential election campaign, in which Schulz ran for CSU president.
The CSU electoral bylaws allowed Schulz to take an unpaid leave of absence — which he asked for — while he was campaigning.
“As the campaign ended, the school year was also drawing to a close and club activity had reached a minimum. This was the reason Schulz was let go. There’s no sense in having paid staff when there’s no work to do,” said Green.
But Schulz disagreed. “There was lots of preparation to do for the next incoming clubs commissioner and there was lots of stuff to tie up.”
A hot point of debate is whether or not the decision to fire Schulz was politically motivated. As leader of the Chris Schulz Executive, Schulz led a strong opposition to the ACCESS Party during the election campaign. Schulz says he was not surprised at losing his job. “I was sure something like that was going to happen,” he said, “but this is the kind of thing that happens in politics.”
Green calls the idea “a ridiculous assertion. If he [Schulz] had been singled out I could understand it. But the executive basically took a decision that we’d let go all our staff that wasn’t full time.”
“Firing me for financial reasons doesn’t seem to hold weight with me when we’re talking about rewarding the executives with their bonuses,” said Schulz. He is referring to the May 9th Council of Representatives meeting, where council decided to restore the bonuses of the executives. A total of $15,000 was rewarded to the six CSU executives. Critics have questioned how this can be done when the student union was defrauded earlier this year of $200,000.
Schulz says he is proud of his work as clubs commissioner and that he has no regrets about how he chose to do his job. Green for his part, agreed, “for the most part, he did a good job.”
Schulz’s immediate future with the CSU is uncertain. “I’m not quite sure what I’m going to be doing in terms of my involvement with the CSU next year,” he said.
