The Concordia Student Union (CSU) is trying to kick corporations off campus and the union is calling on the administration to cut its ties to several of its corporate sponsors.
A motion, to be voted on at the Sept. 26 General Assembly, demands that Bell Helicopters Textron Canada (BHTC), Bell Canada Enterprises (BCE) and Nortel Networks be expelled as corporate sponsors of the university, alleging that these companies “supply the tools of war…[and] profit from the murder of union activists by paramilitary death squads.”
The motion also calls for the removal of BHTC’s Jacques Saint-Laurent, its vp of engineering, from the Board of Governors (BoG).
David Bernans, researcher for the CSU said that what was most important about the motion was that it would put pressure on these and other corporations that fund the university to at least adhere to some minimum standards of conduct.
Bernans pointed out why BHTC should be left by the wayside. “[BHTC] has supplied helicopters in every major conflict of the last thirty or forty years and Nortel and BCE, whose efforts to privatize the Columbian telecommunications industry began at the same time that public sector union activists became the targets of paramilitary death squads in that country.”
Dennis Murphy, the executive director of communications at Concordia, was unhappy with the motion. “The motion is completely unacceptable to the vast majority of the Concordia community, including students, staff, faculty, alumni and our various supporters. We have received a flood of calls expressing outrage at the motion.”
CSU president Sabrina Stea explained that the union has always been talking about corporatization of the university. “The corporations have been moving up the university hierarchy in recent years, and now they are on the highest decision-making bodies.” Stea questioned corporate motives for involvement at Concordia. “Corporations are having an impact on the curriculum. Arts & Science classes, such as those that deal with critical-thinking and social ethics, are being cut. That takes away from what a university is. University is a place where critical thinking takes place, and where questions are asked. But corporate involvement is undermining that.”
Stea acknowledged that expelling the corporations from the school would likely mean the end of their funding for Concordia, but argued that the loss of funds would force the administration to action. “The administration will have to go to the government and demand more funding. Education is not a privilege; it’s a right.”
Concordia’s administration will be in no way bound to take action if the motion passes, but the withdrawal of BCE and other companies from Concordia job fairs suggests that the motion is already having an impact.
The motion concludes with a call for the addition of new course to the BCE Nortel-financed International Institute of Telecommunications (IIT) on the social impact of the privatization of public services. But if BCE and Nortel are expelled, the future of the IIT could be in jeopardy.
Stea disagreed. “The [IIT] would not necessarily have to be eliminated. If the university values it, it can exist, but the administration has to get the funding from the government.”
Bernans said that this final part of the motion is at the heart of the issue.
“If we can get the new course in place, we can ensure that students in the IIT know what the corporations that are funding them are doing, and can act appropriately.”
In an editorial published on Sept. 25, The Montreal Gazette suggested that, “student unions should represent the best interests of as many students as possible. By chasing prospective employers from campus through a malicious campaign of intimidation based on distortion of fact, the CSU shows how out of touch it is with student concerns.”
A motion, to be voted on at the Sept. 26 General Assembly, demands that Bell Helicopters Textron Canada (BHTC), Bell Canada Enterprises (BCE) and Nortel Networks be expelled as corporate sponsors of the university, alleging that these companies “supply the tools of war…[and] profit from the murder of union activists by paramilitary death squads.”
The motion also calls for the removal of BHTC’s Jacques Saint-Laurent, its vp of engineering, from the Board of Governors (BoG).
David Bernans, researcher for the CSU said that what was most important about the motion was that it would put pressure on these and other corporations that fund the university to at least adhere to some minimum standards of conduct.
Bernans pointed out why BHTC should be left by the wayside. “[BHTC] has supplied helicopters in every major conflict of the last thirty or forty years and Nortel and BCE, whose efforts to privatize the Columbian telecommunications industry began at the same time that public sector union activists became the targets of paramilitary death squads in that country.”
Dennis Murphy, the executive director of communications at Concordia, was unhappy with the motion. “The motion is completely unacceptable to the vast majority of the Concordia community, including students, staff, faculty, alumni and our various supporters. We have received a flood of calls expressing outrage at the motion.”
CSU president Sabrina Stea explained that the union has always been talking about corporatization of the university. “The corporations have been moving up the university hierarchy in recent years, and now they are on the highest decision-making bodies.” Stea questioned corporate motives for involvement at Concordia. “Corporations are having an impact on the curriculum. Arts & Science classes, such as those that deal with critical-thinking and social ethics, are being cut. That takes away from what a university is. University is a place where critical thinking takes place, and where questions are asked. But corporate involvement is undermining that.”
Stea acknowledged that expelling the corporations from the school would likely mean the end of their funding for Concordia, but argued that the loss of funds would force the administration to action. “The administration will have to go to the government and demand more funding. Education is not a privilege; it’s a right.”
Concordia’s administration will be in no way bound to take action if the motion passes, but the withdrawal of BCE and other companies from Concordia job fairs suggests that the motion is already having an impact.
The motion concludes with a call for the addition of new course to the BCE Nortel-financed International Institute of Telecommunications (IIT) on the social impact of the privatization of public services. But if BCE and Nortel are expelled, the future of the IIT could be in jeopardy.
Stea disagreed. “The [IIT] would not necessarily have to be eliminated. If the university values it, it can exist, but the administration has to get the funding from the government.”
Bernans said that this final part of the motion is at the heart of the issue.
“If we can get the new course in place, we can ensure that students in the IIT know what the corporations that are funding them are doing, and can act appropriately.”
In an editorial published on Sept. 25, The Montreal Gazette suggested that, “student unions should represent the best interests of as many students as possible. By chasing prospective employers from campus through a malicious campaign of intimidation based on distortion of fact, the CSU shows how out of touch it is with student concerns.”
