Presidential candidate Dr. Alan Shepard got a second chance at speaking to the Concordia community during a live-streamed conference call on Friday.
The meeting lasted just over an hour and, while directed specifically to Concordia’s Board of Governors and Senate, had 705 people listening in via webcast according to university spokesperson Chris Mota.
Students, staff and faculty were encouraged to submit questions in advance, and those posed to Shepard ranged from university projects to structure to the ongoing tuition hike debate.
Shepard stated during the presentation that he is a proponent of open communication, referring to a number of ‘town hall’ meetings hosted at Ryerson, but said he could not speak to Concordia’s administration’s handling of the student strike thus far.
“We should not imagine the public debate about fees is isolated to Quebec,” he said.
The call was arranged after student protesters shut down Shepard’s in-person Q&A session at Concordia on April 24.
Shepard spoke from Ryerson University in Toronto where he currently acts as provost and VP academic, but said he plans on moving his family to Montreal should he be hired as Concordia’s next president.
“Improving my French is a priority upon living here, like many new Québécois,” he said.
Following the deadline for written feedback to be submitted May 1, the decision on whether or not to hire Shepard will be brought to the board for consideration.
