It doesn’t hurt to show some pride

It’s time for the Concordia Student Union to reach out and get closer to its constituency. And for once, it the primary tool should not be politics.
The unions of the past few years have attempted to bring students together through political actions on noble objectives like tuition freezes and awareness of global issues. While there may have been successes on these fronts, they have still failed to make students of all political leanings feel like they are part of a Concordia family.
This is the problem with a politics-only student union (or even the perception of such a union).
The union should do more (besides politics) to tap into the potential gold mine of school spirit. There was nobody creating any fuss about our sports teams heading off to play provincial or national finals. And what about former Concordians who competed at the Salt Lake City Olympics in February?
We did not hear a peep from the CSU – or perhaps the noise wasn’t noticeable enough.
These were golden opportunities for the student union to bring people together to celebrate a different kind of achievement. As it turned out, Concordia administration’s advertisements in the Gazette were the closest thing to an expression of school pride.
This is not to say the CSU should avoid politics. The union can give students a voice when it’s necessary, as we’ve already seen in the past few years. Politics and activism are important, but they aren’t the only driving forces in students’ lives.
We need more initiatives like the People’s Potato and the Job and Housing Bank. The union needs to do all it can to prove its relevance to Concordia students.