New Walksafe co-ordinator gets criticism

Circumstances surrounding the recent hiring procedures of a Walksafe co-ordinator, including an on-campus altercation that the coordinator was allegedly involved in has sparked concern.
Walksafe is a student patrol that patrols both campuses at Loyola and are an extra set of eyes and ears at Concordia.
Alledged rough handling
The Walksafe program has fallen under scrutiny after the newly hired co-ordinator Stewart Letovsky was reported to have been involved in an altercation with Louis-Eric Simard, the financial director at the CSU and the director of CUSACorp. CUSACorp is a CSU corporation that oversees the operation of the CSU’s profit making entities like Reggie’s.
According to Simard, the altercation ensued when he dropped by Reggie’s on Jan. 26 to oversee its operation.
Simard alleges Letovsky confronted him when he entered a side door, and Simard explained his role and position at the university.
After having completed his inspection, Simard said Letovsky called to a Reggie’s bouncer. “[He] picked me up by the back of my coat, lunged towards me, and took me by the shoulders in an attempt at having me face him.”
Zev Tiefenbach, a co-ordinator for the People’s Potato said in a Feb. 7 letter addressed to Donald Boisvert, Concordia’s dean of student affairs that a shift of mandate had transformed the Walksafe program. “Is the dean of students office corrupting its own procedures in order to form an on-campus bouncer team?” asked Tiefenbach.
Boisvert denied Tiefenbach’s accusations, saying they were unfounded. He said that he had heard two different versions of the incidences concerning the altercations between Letovsky and Louis-Eric Simard, but was under the impression that things had been clarified following discussions between Golden and the individuals involved.
Boisvert said Walksafe volunteers are not bouncers, but people who walk people home or to other buildings on campus. He said Walksafe staff had worked with Reggie’s in the past to help with security controls. “From now on there is to be no further rapport with the Reggie’s staff.”
He also said he had reached an agreement with the administration based on an understanding that if he did not talk to anybody in the media, a private letter of apology would be issued.
Simard said he has not yet received the promised letter of apology and has had no contact with the administration since Rector Lowy made the decision to withdraw CSU funding.
However, he said Letovsky recently told him the letter would not be forthcoming.
Simard and the CSU have interpreted the decision on the part of the administration to deny a private apology as a refusal to recognize his position at Concordia and his right to have been on the premises that night.
He considers the action to be a breach of the Walksafe mandate and said he was still hoping to receive the apology.
‘Not enough students’
Tiefenbach claims there was not enough student representation on the committee that hired Letovsky.
In the letter addressed Tiefenbach questioned the procedures of the hiring committee. “Walksafe is a student funded project having student representation on such a committee is of vital importance.”
“It is not true to say that there were no students present on the hiring committee, in fact it is not true at all,” said Boisvert.
Chantale Dessureau and Caspian Kilkelly, both Walksafe co-ordinators, and Stacia Stewart of the Women’s Centre were three of the six student representatives on the hiring committee.
However, Tiefenbach said that at the last session of the hiring committee which took place on Dec. 20, neither Stewart nor Dessureau was present.
Stewart said she could not attend the second session because of travel commitments. “The whole thing wasn’t well put together and was somewhat haphazard.”
Stewart explained the first session took place on Dec. 17 and that the next session on Dec. 20 was only announced the previous week.
She said she felt confident the committee did want student representation, but she was concerned not receiving any follow-up information regarding the hiring.
Michael Golden, the student affairs co-ordinator presently overseeing the Walksafe program, acted as Chairperson during the interviews. He said he gave Stewart the option to send a replacement student representative in her place.
He added he was unaware that Stewart had not received the updated information. Golden said if she had notified him about the issue, he would have provided an immediate update.