CSU in brief

Simone de Beauvoir Institute supports general strike

The last CSU council meeting began with a presentation from two representatives of the Simone de Beauvoir Institute, a Concordia college dedicated to studying feminism and questions of social justice. The institute announced its full support for the fight against tuition hikes. The representatives said the institute “as a whole” decided to support the general strike set to take place by the end of March.
The two representatives said it was the first clear feminist approach to the general strike.
“What we really wanted to bring to the forefront was the impact of the tuition increase on women,” said SdBI representative Gabrielle Bouchard. “Women today still make less money than their male counterparts so the impact of the tuition increase on women will be significant.”
Bouchard added that the stance will make the institute’s job easier to openly side with the students and to encourage other departments to join them in supporting the general strike. Several councillors congratulated and thanked the SdBI for their decision.

Two fee levy questions approved

Two new fee levy questions will appear on students’ ballots during March’s CSU general election.
CSU council approved the fee levy questions of Le Frigo Vert and the 2110 Centre for Gender Advocacy. The former is asking for an eight-cents increase in its fee levy, from 25 cents per credit to 33 cents, while the latter is asking for a jump from 29 cents per credit to 39 cents.
Le Frigo Vert said they were delighted by the council’s decision to put their question on the ballot, as they are currently struggling with increasing rent and other fixed costs.
“We don’t get a university space and our landlord keeps increasing the rent every year,” said collective member Bronwen Agnew. “The CSU’s decision is a big relief.”
During the meeting, CSU VP finance Jordan Lindsay said the anti-mainstream food industry cooperative offered “the best food on campus.”

New appointment procedure adopted for BoG student rep

The CSU adopted a new procedure for selecting the two representatives on Concordia’s Board of Governors. CSU President Lex Gill, who currently sits on the BoG, reported that the student body at large will not have its say on the selection anymore. Student representatives will be appointed directly by CSU council, but will not necessarily have to be councillors. “The representative could also come from the student body at large,” said Gill. The BoG voted in September to decrease the number of undergraduate student governors from four to one, with an “alternate” governor being added with speaking rights only. The changes come into effect July 1.

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