A request for more seats

Tempers mounted slightly during the first university senate meeting of 2002 on Jan. 18.
Graduate Students’ Association (GSA) President Rocci Luppicini proposed a motion for an additional seat on the Senate, stating that the GSA has only two seats to represent students across four faculties. He added that out of the four faculties, only one (Arts and Science) is being represented.
Dr. Jack Lightstone, vice-rector (research) and provost, leading the attack against the motion, argued that if the GSA is looking for wider representation, then it shouldn’t have put two members of the same faculty on the Senate. “The GSA has to get its house in order . . . to assure that representation is more diverse,” he stated. In response, the GSA stressed that this is an internal matter and what’s really at issue here is the fact that the GSA is poorly represented by the number of seats they occupy in the Senate. The motion was turned down by a vote of ten to nine.
New buildings
In his address to the Senate, Rector Frederick Lowy spoke of the importance of the additional buildings to both the Loyola and Sir George William campuses. “It is in the university’s interest to proceed as quickly as possible.” Concordia’s facilities, he stated, are severely lacking, pointing out how the university is without a student centre and how many offices downtown occupy rented buildings and aren’t nearly as sufficient as they should be. Once completed, the additions will have cost the university over $300 million.
Lowy stressed the need to pursue the board as well as the government for major loans, calling it “a challenge”. He hopes to accomplish this task by winter’s end.
The next senate meeting will be held on Feb. 1.