FOCUS’ mission is to be a progressive voice for students, not defined as right wing or left wing, but rather as moving forward. Two key values in this slate are ensuring that executive representatives are accessible to students and running a transparent government.
Their goals are to guarantee space for students at Council meetings, to raise Loyola’s visibility, to improve communication between executives and the students and to see that all of Concordia’s diverse student population is justly represented.
Team members have been part of the following groups: CSU Executive, Chairperson for CSU (2004-05), JSA (Journalism Student’s Assoc.), JMIBA (International Business Assoc.), JMMA (Marketing Assoc.) CEMA (Commerce and Entrepreneurship Management Assoc.), and LOV (Leave Out Violence).
Platform highlights include:
Consultation before action by the CSU on all aspects of student life.
Working to freeze tuition so that all students can access to education.
Improve communication between the Executive and students by using the MyConcordia Portal and other environmentally-friendly mediums.
To maintain and improve current sustainability projects.
Offer sponsorship for students who represent Concordia in competitions outside their university.
Improve the work/study program
Represent the multiplicity of interests and views of students at Concordia.
Maintain visible and involved CSU presence at both campuses, especially at Loyola campus and be accessible to students.
Start a Winter Carnival on Loyola grounds.
Q: In one sentence or less, tell us your vision for the Concordia campuses:
Concordia should be a place where all students can come to realize their academic, personal and professional aspirations, with the CSU there to support and help these aspirations become reality. – Arielle Reid, President
Q: Will you increase or decrease funding to any group or association?
We do not have any plans to decrease funding to any particular group or association. However, the more demanding the CSU is on clubs, the more funding they will need. Clubs provide support, entertainment, activist and educational experiences to the student body. Those clubs that step up and are out there for the student body to see, will be get the financial and logistical support necessary for them to continue to colour the Concordia landscape. – Arielle Reid, President
Q: What are the three biggest problems facing Concordia and its students this coming year?
The tuition freeze will definitely come under attack during the next year. How to deal with the under-funding of our universities will be a huge debate next year as well. And finally, student ‘apathy’. – Arielle Reid, President
Q: What is your plan to tackle these problems?
Firstly, there needs to be an internal debate on the questions of the tuition freeze and the under-financing of our universities. Slates take it for granted that everyone and their mother is for the freeze in its current form. If we don’t ask students what they think about the freeze, then we cannot assume that there is one answer to that question. Consultation of the faculty and departmental associations and of the general student body will allow us to come away with a clear idea of what students stand for and where they want the CSU to go with it. – Arielle Reid, President
Q: What problems have you seen with how the CSU has been run in the past?
There is a hubris that has been in the CSU for many years; a sense of importance that was drawn from one’s position and not from one’s constituents. Councillors and CSU executives have taken themselves too seriously and not taken their jobs seriously enough. Ego has caused many a CSU exec and councillor to ignore the issues of students that do not have the time, interest or energy to listen to pontifications. – Arielle Reid, President
Q: The voting turnout in the CSU elections is embarrassingly low. How do you plan to get students more involved in politics?
There needs to be massive changes to the way that campaigning is done. People tune out when things are too confusing. A cacophony of posters is essentially confusion. Perhaps extending the election period and giving students more opportunities to interact with their candidates, would cause people to feel much more plugged into what happens. – Arielle Reid, President
Q: If forced to choose, would you rather fund innovative ideas or more proven ones?
Funding innovative ideas always yields more than funding proven ones. Especially if funding has traditionally gone into the hands of one group, the new ideas are not necessarily new.the difference is that there is someone listening this time – Arielle Reid, President
Q: What are three qualifications that make you a strong candidate for the position you seek within the CSU?
I am running for president and more than anything else, the president needs to have a global view of what is happening and how everything fits together. I have been on Council for two years and an executive for one. I went to work for a provincial student federation for 8 months. I have seen internal as well as external politics at work. I understand that representing students has little to do with a title and everything to do with how one engages students. I have always had an open door policy and will continue to have one when I am president of the CSU. – Arielle Reid, President
FOCUS
Arielle Reid, President
Philippe Ostrout Tardif, VP Finance
Kinia Adamczyk, VP Internal
Jean-Philippe Roy, VP Student Life
Dominique Turcotte, VP External
Matthew Forget, VP Academic
For the complete FOCUS platform visit www.votefocus.org.
