A few updates on what the student union has been working on this summer
DAYCARE
Plans are in the works to create a daycare on the university’s downtown campus for Concordia’s student parents. Following a 2010-11 report by the Dean of Students and Concordia University’s Student Parents Centre that stressed the importance of having accessible, flexible childcare services, the Concordia Student Union (CSU) spearheaded an initiative last year to do just that.
“I think that there’s a recognition, especially at a non-traditional university like Concordia in the sense that our average age is a lot higher than at McGill for example,” said CSU president Terry Wilkings. “We have a lot more student parents, who have a high degree of balancing that they need to do between financial, academic and familial obligations. It’s a nexus of stressors that can lead to student parents dropping out of school or taking a significant amount more time to finish their degree.”
According to Wilkings, the process to undergo the development of the daycare was a hefty one, as the Quebec’s family department sets strict guidelines that must be adhered to in order to proceed. Anything from the size of the windows to the ratio of staff to children is taken into consideration, and are all regulations that had to be adhered to, Wilkings said. The CSU is in the process of finalizing the lease agreement and hired an architect this summer to begin renovating the space allocated for the daycare, which has not yet been disclosed.
A questionnaire will be sent out in September to Concordia’s student parents to gather relevant information including how much they currently pay for daycare, how many hours of service they require per day, and also looks to arrange focus groups.
REGGIE’S
Your favourite bar is back in town. The infamous Reggie’s—which closed in the Fall of 2013 due to a much needed infrastructure update—will be returning in October. According to Wilkings, the renovating process that began in May was extensive but is almost complete. At the moment, the CSU is working on hiring a project manager who will work on setting up a menu and hiring staff.
The CSU is also working to make adjustments to the bar’s previous environment.
“Our intention is to take this opportunity to shift the culture that used to exist at Reggie’s away from one that promotes excessive drinking to one that’s more of a venue space, and one that is a safer space ultimately,” said Wilkings.
“In terms of the training, we would like our staff to be trained in harm reduction and consent,” he said. “We’re also eliminating pitchers from the menu because that has a tendency to bring in a certain crowd.”
Edit: A previous version of the article stated that Reggie’s opens its doors to students in mid to late September; Reggie’s is set to open in October. We regret the error.
